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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 3

2. FROM THE FLOOD TO JESUS CHRIST 6

3. THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST 14

4. CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CHURCHES 16

5. JUDGING OTHERS 23

6. EATING AND DRINKING 27

7. TEMPTATION TO SIN 30

8. SALVATION 35

9. BEING A CHRISTIAN 41

10. CHRISTIAN ZIONISM 46

11. OUR GATHERING UP TO JESUS CHRIST 48

12. THE FINAL STRETCH 51

13. EPILOGUE 61

14. REFERENCES 62

15. ABOUT THE AUTHOR 63

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:14

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INTRODUCTION

The Lord God Almighty, our Saviour Jesus Christ stirred up in me his Holy Spirit to write this book to bring to light

the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not to give you another ten step program but to shed light on some of the

most fundamentally important Christian doctrines and to address some myths, miss-conceptions, imaginations and

controversies that people don’t want to talk about. The whole truth of the Christian lies in the bible and as such my

whole focus was to write about what the bible says and why everything points back to the bible, the creation,

religions, day to day living and his kingdom come.

Throughout the book I stress the need for every Christian to read and take a serious study of the Holy bible. Taking

the example of the people in Acts 17:11 to whom Paul and Barnabas ministered who received the word with all

readiness of mind, but went home and searched the scriptures daily to confirm whether those things they were

being taught were true. Likewise when you go through this book refer always to the bible to make sure if what I’ve

written is the truth, if it contradicts the bible by any margin go ahead and tear it up. As the bible is the Christian’s

highest authority we should give it its rightful place, we need to know that the bible is God written and as such it

towers above every other publication be it church service books, commentaries, newsletters and this book. So

don’t just accept everything I am writing but that you should read and search if what I am writing is the truth.

The bible in authority is say at the pick of Mount Everest and every other book is at sea level, that is how it should be for every Christian. We should stop elevating the teachings of men to be equal to or even above the bible. A Christian believes in the bible 100% there are no in betweens, it’s either you believe it totally or you don’t, if you doubt the bible you are not yet a true Christian. Not necessarily saying that everything else outside the bible is wrong and that the bible is the only truth there are some things that are not included in the bible. “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book" John 20:30. If we come across books containing the miracles that Jesus did that are not recorded in the scriptures it does not render them false only if they are contradictory to the bible. "But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25). The Holy Spirit designed the bible to be a total package for our salvation. In addition to the bible we also hold to the teachings of the apostles some of which are not recorded in the bible but were passed on from one church generation to another. It is very surprising how many people call themselves Christians but rarely read the bible, they just take in all they

are told. Modern evangelists are good at dropping verses, they pick a verse from this book and that book and they

will mesmerize you with their preaching clichés. Some things are picked out of context and if we don’t read the

bible we may be deceived. We need to base our doctrines on the whole council of God’s word which starts from

Genesis and ends in Revelations to fully understand his ways and what he wants from us. We can read the bible

and still not follow it. We can quote the Bible in every conversation, read it every day, and yet fail to apply it. Real

application of the Bible requires us to follow it in a practical way as it instructs us. There are still others who think

the stories in the bible are just fables, I was shocked when one of my sisters came to ask me about the existence of

Jerusalem which she had heard being talked about on the TV earlier on even though she was a keen reader of the

bible.

The whole purpose of this book is to help us enter into the kingdom of our great God through the bible truth of

Jesus Christ, that’s our ultimate prize, Philippians 3:14. I structure the book on how to be saved, how to remain

saved and what salvation is not. I deal with how it all started, why Jesus, why do I need him and how do I give my

life to him, I also include some interesting insights into the so called aliens, and global warming. Even though some

of the topics are not directly biblical and I have relied on circular sources they may not all be entirely correct, they

may even be wrong as the bible is the only complete truth. Anything else contained anywhere be it a history book

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or an internet publication the source is only as honest as its writer, so my presentations that are not scriptural may

not be entirely correct.

If there is ever anything that will anger or offend you in this book it is not my intention. I’ve written the truth of the word of God and if you get offended then take it as an opportunity to examine yourself or something in your life, the bible being your standard. I myself am ashamed of some of the things I’ve written as they have exposed my sinful nature but still it had to be written as it is the truth. I did not take anybody’s feelings or considerations when writing this book but simply presented the word. Christianity has so much love that is why I write this book for everyone to know the truth and to encourage each other in our journey to the kingdom. Equally important is that we do not compromise when it comes to the word of God. We will not bow down to another Messiah, another God or pray together with other religions, we ought to stand on the word of God alone. I’m not saying that I have all the answers as many questions still remain unanswered, of which I myself have several that I also need answered, and there are things I still don’t understand and things that even scare me. But I will tell you that I know enough to understand that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour.

I hope to stimulate your interest in discovering the amazing truths of the bible, those that happened and those

that are unfolding right before our very eyes. I guarantee you’ll enjoy every step of the journey as you dig deeper

and realise that God’s word has never failed and will never fail. Let us not be like the members of the Sanhedrin

who when they found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, they covered their heads with ashes

and their bodies with sackcloth, and bemoaned that the sceptre had departed from Judah and the Messiah had

not come according to the scripture, Genesis 49:10. Since the authority of the Sanhedrin had passed to the

Romans and they had not seen the Messiah they actually thought that the Torah, the very Word of God, had failed.

Indeed the sceptre had departed but little did they know that a young son of a carpenter, our Messiah was

growing up in Nazareth.

I have attempted to put the same ideas in each topic so as to present a continuous message that looks at the

whole bible taking into account the context from which the verses are drawn from. As a word of advice each time a

verse appears in the book it would be profitable to read the whole passage or chapter just to understand the

context in which the verse is contained.

We should be bold, strict Christians that have an open mind, by this I mean Christians that are aware of what is

happening in the world around us and what it means. We need to know what is out there, to give you an example

there are some followers of Nostradamus’ and Mayan teachings that are claiming that the world will end on the

21st of December 2012, even if we know that’s false, a background knowledge is essential to better prepare

ourselves of similar falsehoods. It should help us discern between truth and fables which have the potential to

overthrow the faith of many.

Before I begin and take your through this extraordinary journey I want to tickle your minds by asking you a set of

questions that I have used as part of my research in finding out how people view the word of God. For each

question pause to think, answer the question and ponder about the source of your answer or how you came up

with your answer.

1. Do all religions pray to the same God and why?

2. Why believe in the bible and not the Koran?

3. Is Jesus Christ the only way?

4. What happens to those who have never heard the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

5. Are you saved? How are we saved?

6. Where did Cain’s wife come from?

7. Are the Israelites still God’s chosen people?

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8. Why are there so many churches? Is there one true church of God?

9. Which is the Sabbath Day? Are Christians expected to observe the Sabbath day?

10. Are we allowed to judge others?

11. When is the rapture going to occur? Is it before or after the great tribulation?

12. Are Aliens truth or fiction?

I write this book with joy in my heart of the hope of his appearing in the clouds to take us home, I also feel sad

when I think about how the world is stamping and perverting the word of our Great God. Just think of all the

movies that curse the name of our Messiah. I hope you enjoy this book and that it leads you to the realization that

we hold a very powerful tool the “Holy Bible.” Ultimately that it helps you change your life and that you give your

life to our master Jesus Christ that’s all I would want from you.

Sit back and chill and let me narrate to you the history of how this present world began and why our Lord had to

come to redeem us.

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FROM THE FLOOD TO JESUS CHRIST

“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” Genesis

9:1. After the destruction of the former world by a global flood God made covenants with Noah and his family as

they emerged from the ark. He gave them rules by which he and his family were to live and instructed them on the

kind of food they could eat. As the families of Shem, Ham and Japheth grew, they multiplied and journeyed

towards the east and they found a plain in the land of Shinar and dwelt there. “Then they said, come, let us build

ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be

scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4. It is not mentioned in the bible why they were building

this tower but literature suggests that they constructed this massive tower as a means of escape if a similar global

deluge would recur. Other sources say they wanted to wage war, wanting equality with God either by going up to

God’s level or by bringing him down. Whichever the reason was of building such a massive tower it was in defiance

to their Lord and a challenge to their creator. As they all spoke the same language they could easily communicate

and hence work together more efficiently and got the work done hastily, Genesis 11:1-2.

Although the bible does not tell us the size of this structure known as the tower of Babel some scholars estimate

that it was somewhere between 2.5 to 13 square kilometres. Most literature point to Nimrod the son of Cush who

was the son of Ham one of Noah’s three sons who were with him in the ark. History goes on to say that twelve

men refused to work on the construction of the tower, among the twelve was Abraham, Lot and Nahor. These

twelve refused to bring bricks for the construction of the tower and as a result they were arrested but were later

released by prince Joktan one of the princes building the tower because his brother was among the rebels.

Abraham felt that the construction of the tower was a rebellion against God.

It is further said that those who gave counsel to build the tower drove forth multitudes of both men and women,

to make bricks, a woman making bricks was not allowed to be released in the hour of child-birth, but brought forth

while she was making bricks, and carried her child in her apron, and continued to make bricks. This was a very evil

endeavour by Nimrod and his counterparts.

The Lord came down to see the tower that the people had built and all the evil that was being done and how they

had defied his command to scatter and to fill the whole earth but chose to settle at one point. Instead of

destroying the wicked people for defying his command he chose to confuse the language of the people. God loved

man and he still does that is why he created us in his own image. Man lived in perfect harmony with his creator

walking together in the Garden of Eden until the fall of Adam. The minds and eyes of men from that day were

opened and they now had an understanding of good and evil. The desires of man’s hearts are evil that is why the

scriptures tell us not to trust our own hearts but to do the will of our Father, Proverbs 28:26. This giving in of the

heart’s desires was the reason why God destroyed the former world and saved only Noah and his family. Even

after the flood when man started to multiply they still would not stop following the evil desires of their hearts.

For this cause God came down and beholding what they had begun to do he confounded their language that they

would not understand one another’s speech, how’s that for a linguistics challenge? So the Lord scattered them

upon the face of the earth and they left off building the city, Genesis 11:7-8. Each language was confined to a

particular group of people and they only could understand each other and as a result they started to separate.

History puts the number of different languages at 72 being the number of Noah’s grandsons mentioned in Genesis

10. Fifteen names from Japheth's descendants, 30 from Ham's, and 27 from Shem's sons. Abraham was allowed to

keep the original tongue which was Hebrew because he would not partake in the building of the tower.

Although God succeeded in stopping the evil at the tower of Babel people still carried their evil ways to all parts of

the world in which they chose to sojourn. The scattering of the people did not lead to people seeking God but

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resulted only in the wide spread of evil over the face of the earth and further separation from their God. Man

continued to multiply and explore the beautiful world set before them and settled in diverse places with differing

weathering conditions. Each group of people developed a certain way of living, a culture which was passed down

from generation to generation with new developments incorporated into society. This new way of life was a

godless society that continued to deny their creator and with each generation moving farther from God.

God’s love for man did not cease and having let the people do as they pleased also meant they could forget about

their creator and worship what they pleased, Acts 14:16. God must have gone out into all the earth only to

discover the evils that man performed, I can imagine one man after another God calling on his people but non

heeding to his call until he called Abraham and he listened and obeyed God. Hinduism began around the same

time that Abraham was born and is referred to as the oldest religion in the world, archaeologists have traced it

back to 2000BC. Abraham was called by God to come out of this polytheistic culture which was developing in India

and revealed to him as the only one true God. Hinduism is a complex system of beliefs that advocates an attitude

of tolerance and inclusiveness. Hinduism centres on the theme of one god who is many, or one god with infinite

manifestations. A Hindu can be pantheistic (believe that god is not a personality, but that all laws, forces, and

manifestations of the self-existing universe are God). He can be polytheistic (believe in many gods), monotheistic

(believe there is only one god), or be an atheist (believe there is no god). He can also believe in the Trinity of

Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Destroyer), and Shiva (Preserver). A people lost, following a religion with no clear

definition allowing people to worship whatever they felt like.

Just for his obedience to God’s call it was accounted to Abraham, as righteousness, Galatians 3:6. And as a result

God made a covenant with Abraham that he would bless him and his descendants and he also chose his

descendants to be his own special people, Deuteronomy 7:6. These people known as the Israelites were the first

people to know and follow the one true God Yahweh. God commanded the Israelites not to associate with the

Gentile world as they worshipped idols. For a long time the children of Israel where in the desert under the Lord’s

leadership and care but they too became disobedient to his commands. As a result God gave them up to captivity

at the hands of the Babylonians.

About the same time that Israel was released from Babylonian captivity, new ideas began to emerge around the

world. In India, Siddhartha Gautama (563 BC-483 BC), the Buddha, “Enlightened One” founded Buddhism in the

6th century around 533 BC. After he became enlightened, he taught that the way to eliminate suffering begins

with understanding the true nature of the world. He rejected speculation about such matters as God, the nature of

the universe, and the afterlife, urging his followers to focus instead on the “Four Nobles”, to fully understand the

universality of suffering, to abandon desire which causes suffering, to achieve supreme truth and final liberation.

Buddhism teaches that the question of God's existence is not very important but that what counts is following the

eightfold path for right living, (right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right

effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration). It teaches that through earning merit in this life we will

reincarnate to a better state. Buddha started a school of thought that is embraced by modern New Age

movements that teach that we hold the key to our own salvation, this we archive by looking within us, through

such methods as yoga. These teachings cultivated a godless society that denied and continues to deny the one true

God creator of heaven and earth. Instead of looking up to God for salvation we become our own little gods that

are capable of saving ourselves. A religion that teaches that everyone is accountable to themselves and not to a

creator. Buddhism began in India, but later moved and flourished further east in China. More Buddhists are now

found in China and South America than anywhere else in the world and recently Buddhist practices are widely

being accepted by the west.

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All people that occupy the face of the planet earth are all descendants of Noah’s three sons Shem, Ham and

Japheth, every tribe, family, clan or race can trace their roots back to these three people and all carry a similar

historical origin. It is not surprising that in every tribe, society, religion or clan there are stories passed on from

generation to generation about the great flood and how the language of the people was confused. What is most

striking about these stories is that they have a core congruency indicating that they all originated from the same

events that happened at some point in their ancestors lives. As these stories were transmitted and the people

continued to separate these stories started to vary according to personal experience, how they were told as well as

twisting the stories to make oneself a hero or to raise the clan name. Others edited the stories to make them more

thrilling. To make the stories more understandable others started to change the characters of the stories to things

that they knew such as animals and planets.

In Cameroon there comes a tale that goes, a girl was grinding flour and a goat came to lick it. She first drove it

away but when it came back she allowed it to lick as much as it could. In return for the kindness the goat told her

there would be a flood that day and advised her and her brother to run elsewhere immediately. They escaped with

a few belongings and looked back to see water cover the village. After the flood they lived on their own for years

unable to find mates. The goat reappeared and said they could marry themselves but they would have to put a

hoe-handle and a clay pot with a broken bottom on their roof to signify that they were relatives.

In Hindu, the first man Manu found a small fish in his wash water. The fish begged protection from the larger fishes

in return for which it would save Manu. Manu kept the fish safe transferring it to larger and larger reservoirs as it

grew eventually taking it to the ocean. The fish warned Manu of a coming deluge and told him to build a ship.

When the flood rose the fish came and Manu tied the craft to its horn. The fish led him to a northern mountain

and told Manu to tie the ship’s rope to a tree to prevent it from drifting. Manu alone of all creatures survived. He

made offerings of clarified butter, sour milk, whey and curds. From these a woman arose calling herself Manu’s

daughter. Whatever blessings he invoked through her were granted him. Through her he generated this race.

Another bizarre story comes from the island of Victoria, it says that Bunjil the creator was angry with people

because of the evil they did so he caused the ocean to flood by urinating into it. All people were destroyed except

those whom Bunjil loved and fixed as stars in the sky, and a man and woman who climbed a tall tree on a

mountain, and from whom the present human race is descended.

A sure Hollywood blockbuster is told in Washington by the Skokomish. The Great Spirit angry with the wickedness

of the people and animals decided to rid the earth of all but the good animals, one good man and his family. At the

Great Spirit’s direction the man shot an arrow into a cloud, then another arrow into that arrow and so on making a

rope of arrows from the cloud to the ground. The good animals and people climbed up. Bad animals and snakes

started to climb up but the man broke the rope. Then the Great Spirit caused many days of rain, flooding up to the

snow line of the Takhoma (Mount Rainer). After all the bad people and animals were drowned the Great Spirit

stopped the rain, the waters slowly dropped and the good people and animals climbed down. To this day there are

no snakes in Takhoma. Compare these flood accounts to the account given in Genesis 6 and 7.

Diverse and amusing as these stories maybe all have a connection to the biblical account of the flood, the floods

were caused by the gods, all living things died except for one or a few, and the reason for the flood was

disobedience, wickedness or rebellion. These are stories told by people who are separated by oceans, high

mountains and deserts, these stories are everywhere, the Chinese, Mexicans, and even those down in Australia

have these tales. It shows us that we all originated from the same ancestors regardless of geometric or geopolitical

location or skin colour.

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What began as a piece of history became past time tales and eventually for some became symbols of worship and

still up to this day some of these things are still worshipped as gods. In Jeremiah 9:13-14 God was angry with the

children of Israel for forsaking his law which he had set before them but had walked after the imagination of their

own hearts, and after Baalim which their fathers had taught them. It is the same with everyone in our cultures, as

the norm we just follow what our parents tell us but we never stop to ask if what we are being told to do is the

right thing.

The seriousness with which some of these societies have held on to these beliefs is highlighted in Acts 14. Paul and

Barnabas had been preaching the gospel in a place called Iconium. The Jews and some of the Gentiles sort to use

them despitefully and to stone them. The apostles were made aware of the evil plan and they fled to Lystra and

Derbe cities of Lycaonia and the surrounding areas and there they preached the gospel. Now there sat a certain

man at Lystra who had never walked from birth who heard the preaching of Paul. Paul perceiving that the crippled

man had faith healed him with a command that he should stand upright on his feet and he leaped and walked.

“And when the people saw what Paul had done they lifted up their voices saying in the speech of the Lycaonia, The

gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he

was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter which was before their city brought oxen and garlands unto the

gates and would have done sacrifice with the people.” Acts 14:11-13.

The people that lived in this region believed that the planet Jupiter was the supreme god and other planets were

lesser gods. Paul and Barnabas knowing the one true God Yahweh stopped the people from offering sacrifices to

them and explained and pleaded with them that they were just ordinary man like them and not gods. They pointed

these Gentiles to the one true living God Yahweh who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all things

that are there in. Yet sadly many people still pray to these vanities, the Romans and the Greeks worship the

planets as their gods, Ra the sun god worshipped in Egypt, and the statue of Buddha among other vanities. Hindus

are said to pray to over a million gods and hold to countless beliefs and superstitions.

Again as Paul was waiting for Timotheus and Silas in Athens his spirit was stirred in him when he saw that the city

was wholly given to idolatry. "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mar's Hill and said: Ye men of Athens, I perceive that

in all things ye are too superstitious; for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this

inscription: To the Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him I declare to you. “Acts 17:22-23.

Among the gods that these Greek people worshiped was an unknown god, a god their ancestors knew from time

immemorial but was neglected and sidelined for other gods and they had forgotten who he was, the creator of all

things, Jehovah being his name. Our forefathers forgot who they were, where they came from, and what their past

religion was, and Paul was telling them to seek this very God and preparing them to again become united with the

One True God, who came unto them in the form of man, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Islam emerged from the midst of the polytheism culture of Saudi Arabia 600 years after the Messiah. Ubu’l Kassim (570 A.D - 632 A.D) whose name was changed to Mohammed came from a humble background and was raised by his uncle after his father died. He became a successful camel merchant and married at the age of 25. During this time, religion had become very profitable in Mecca the cross roads of the world and was the main thoroughfare between India, Persia, Syria and Greece. Priests charged money for people to worship or pray to any of 360 images they housed in a central location called the Kaaba. Mohammed became affiliated with a small group of devout men called ‘the Hunafa’ or seekers who were disturbed by these practices.

The word "Allah" was not something invented by Muhammad or revealed for the first time in the Quran. Allah was known long before Muhammad was born. In the pre-Islamic era the Ur of the Chaldees mentioned in the account of Abraham’s journey in Genesis 11 worshipped the moon god. Archaeological excavations have revealed that from the mountains of Turkey to the banks of the Nile, the most widespread religion of the ancient world was the

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worship of the moon-god. The most popular names were Nanna, Suen and Asimbabbar. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and the Akkadians took the word Suen and transformed it into the word Sin as their favourite name for the moon-god. In ancient Syria and Canna, the moon-god Sin was usually represented by the moon in its crescent phase. Nabonidus (555-539 BC), the last king of Babylon built Tayma in Arabia as a centre of moon-god worship. When the popularity of the moon-god waned elsewhere, the Arabs remained true to their conviction that the moon-god was the greatest of all gods. While they worshipped 360 gods at the Kaaba in Mecca, the moon-god was the chief deity. Mecca was in fact built as a shrine for the moon-god. According to numerous inscriptions, while the name of the moon-god was Sin, his title was al-ilah, i.e. "the deity" meaning that he was the chief or high god among the gods. "The god Il or Ilah was originally a phase of the moon god." The moon-god was called al-ilah, i.e. the god, which was shortened to Allah. The pagan Arabs even used Allah in the names they gave to their children, both Muhammad's father and uncle had Allah as part of their names. The Quraysh tribe into which Muhammad was born was particularly devoted to Allah, the moon god, and especially to Allah's three daughters who were viewed as intercessors between the people and Allah. The worship of the three goddesses, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat, played a significant role in the worship at the Kaaba in Mecca. An Allah idol was set up at the Kaaba along with all the other idols. The pagans prayed toward Mecca and the Kaaba because this is where their gods were stationed.

Followers of Islam believe that when Mohammed was 40, the angel Gabriel transmitted the Quran to him in a vision that told him there was one god Allah, not the many that filled the town square. Mohammed began to preach this message to Ishmael’s descendants one of Abraham’s sons, Genesis 17:20-23. While the pagans believed that Allah the moon-god was the greatest of all gods and the supreme deity in a pantheon of deities, Muhammad decided that Allah was not only the greatest god but the only god. That is why the symbol of Islam is the crescent moon, a crescent moon sits on top of their mosques and minarets and that a crescent moon is found on the flags of Islamic nations. Muslims fast during the month which begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon in the sky. Islam is nothing more than a revival of the ancient moon-god cult. It has taken the symbols, the rites, the ceremonies, and even the name of its god from the ancient pagan religion of the moon-god. As such, it is sheer idolatry and must be rejected, the Old Testament constantly rebuked the worship of the moon-god, (Deuteronomy. 4:19;17:3; 2 Kings. 21:3,5; 23:5; Jeremiah 8:2; 19:13; Zephaniah 1:5) most often when Israel fell into idolatry, it was usually the cult of the moon-god.

The worship of these gods have turned people away from the one true God and as a result they have led sinful lives being involved in idolatry, human sacrifices, spiritualism, necromancy, sorcery and witchcraft among other forbidden practices. Many religions such as the African tradition and voodoo are involved in these practices. The worship of idols and images reminds me of Isaiah’s remarks in his 44th chapter were he describes how a man hews down a tree of which one part he uses to bake his bread, to another part of the same wood he uses to warm himself on the fire. To yet another part of the same tree he curves for himself a god to worship, how illogical is that? Why not worship him who created that very log you are crafting. Paul had an encounter with one spirit. “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, "These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” Acts 16:16-17. Here was a young girl who was possessed by this evil spirit, a spirit having foresight, much like the “svikiro” and false prophets. We are also told that this spirit helped the girl’s master to acquire material possessions, a lot like our African society today. A dark force that is behind the scenes that builds your wealth. But the spirit was not from God, neither is a “chikwambo” from God. The spirit even confessed that it was not a servant of God, eventually Paul cast out this spirit from the damsel. Even thou it may seem as a good thing in that the spirit was helping them gain material wealth it knew that Jesus whom Paul was preaching was the only saviour. It was leading the master of the house into a path of destruction in hell fire. Satan that rebellious angel was and is still destroying God’s people and leading them astray in worshipping idols and doing all sorts of ungodly practices. It pained God to see his people serving other gods after he had given them the whole world to be their home.

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Even though they did not know God, Paul tells the people of Lycaonia “ Nevertheless he left not himself without a witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” Acts 14:17. Even though God suffered to let the people do as they pleased he still took good care of them and left them signs that he was, such as the rain and the covenant of the rainbow in the sky that he made with our ancestors soon after the flood. So each time you see the rain and the beautiful rainbow in the sky we ought to remember that God is with us and takes care of our needs. But the people were already lost and given to idolatry and praying to strange gods, how was God going to bring back all these lost souls? Paul continued his testimony in the midst of Mars’ hill and gave them important instructions, “That they should

seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him though he be not far from every one of us.” Acts

17:27. It is not that God did not desire to be known but that they did not want to seek him even though they and

us included are filled with evidence that he exists and that he is never far from us. He then gives them and us a

warning and the totality of the whole gospel, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now

commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world

in righteousness by that men whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he

hath raised him from the dead” Acts 17:30-31. And who is this man the redeemer, the Messiah who was ordained

and raised from the dead whom all men have been given assurance of eternal life? What was so distinct about

him?

Picture this scenario, you’re in a class and you have just written a revision test prior to an all important

examination, there are 200 students in your class and only one person gets 100% and the rest average around 40%

which just happens to be your score. You are in need of help in your revision and all 199 students offer to come to

your aid and help you to pass your forth coming exam. There is Tawanda who says, “That test was easy, I can help

you easy pizzy” but he scored 32% in the test. There is also Chido who has 60% but happened to copy some

answers from Emmanuel who got a perfect 100. Samantha wasn’t even present for the test but she is offering to

help and lastly there is Tendai who is not in that class and has never done that subject but he is offering to rescue

you from your demise. Of all the people offering to redeem you Emmanuel would be the unanimous choice

because he got a perfect score.

How can the spirit of my great grandfather who was a murder surely redeem me, he probably would have scored

10% in the test, what would I gain from appeasing him? In fact, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of

God” Romans 3:23, no man can redeem another man unless they are perfect. Peter tells us who our perfect

redeemer is, “Forasmuch 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. But with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb

without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18-19. Jesus Christ was the only perfect man to ever have walked on

the face of the planet earth and there shall never be another until his kingdom come, not Mohammed, not

Buddha, the Mahdi, Maitreya, our ancestors, you, me, none. We cannot be redeemed by corruptible things, we

can’t even get 100% gold or silver there will always be an impurity, this to say a golden statue cannot redeem you

neither will a carved wooden image that will soon be home to termites and its fate is in the fire.

Paul answers a burning question on a lot of people’s minds, what am I redeemed from? Total isolation from God’s

love in a place that is beyond horrific, a place where the fire is never quenched a place of a terrible stench and

worms, a place of eternal torment with no way out, Hell is its name. This place is as real as is heaven, and we’ll all

end up there if we continue in our sinful ungodly way of life. But God having loved us before we were in our

mother’s womb has set a path for us to avoid this place. He sent his Son the Messiah to be our Saviour from this

dark place and to point us to the one true God, to serve him in spirit and truth, ultimately inheriting that which is

prepared for us in his Kingdom come. Who is this Christ, The Messiah, The Redeemer of the whole world whose

destiny is to save all mankind through their belief in him as one sent from the Father?

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Jesus being wearied from his Journey from Judea, and having reached Samaria sat at Jacobs well. A Samaritan

woman came to draw water from the well and Jesus started to converse with her and asked for water to drink. As

they were talking she perceived that he was a prophet because he told her the truth about her life. She listened to

Jesus as he spoke about worshiping the one true God. “The woman said unto him, I know that Messiah cometh,

which is called Christ, when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.”

I might sight many verses but this is the clearest verse that tells us that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah he

proclaimed it himself. So what if he proclaimed to be the Messiah how do we know that he is the true Messiah?

Anyone could claim to be the Messiah.

The coming of Christ the Messiah was prophesied and documented all through the Old Testament by such

prophets as Isaiah, Zachariah and Micah but none as precise as the prophecy given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel.

It is of greatest interest how the angel Gabriel begins this verse, it gives the notion that whatever he was about to

say was very important and that we should pay attention. “Know therefore and understand that from the going

forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks

and three score and two weeks, the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times” Daniel 9:25.

Among all the other prophecies given to the prophets by the Holy Spirit this stands out as it has a time frame

attached, it was a mathematical prophecy. The angel Gabriel told Daniel that the Messiah was to enter into

Jerusalem after exactly 69 weeks of years which translates to 483 years from the time that a command was given

to rebuild Jerusalem.

During the time that this prophecy was given, Jeremiah had prophesied before and had warned the Jewish people

that if they did not repent and turn back to God, they would be conquered and carried off to Babylon, Jeremiah

25:12. The Jewish people did not repent, and consequently the first Jewish exile occurred in 586 BC when

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jewish people captive including Daniel.

Jerusalem was left in ruins and the Jews were carried off to Babylon. So the question is when was the

commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem given?

There are four decrees to rebuild Jerusalem that are recorded in the scriptures, one by Cyrus king of Persia Ezra

1:2-4 dating 537BC, Ezra 6:1-5, 8 and 12 by King Darius, Ezra 7:11-26 by Artaxerxes king of Persia in 458 BC and

Nehemiah 2:5-8, 17-18 by Artaxerxes king of Persia in 445 BC. The first three decrees were to build the temple of

the Lord, only the last decree was to rebuild the city and is the decree spoken off by the angel Gabriel. This

commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus and has been calculated by

scholars and found to correspond to March 14, 445 BC. The Jewish and Babylonian calendars used a 360 day year

thus 69 weeks of 360 day years totals 173,880 days. In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the

commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days. Thus

counting 173 880 days from March 14 445 BC we arrive at the date April 6 32 AD. What happened on this day?

Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to fulfil this identity prophecy given to Daniel by Gabriel. It’s not the

only prophecy that he fulfilled on that day Zachariah 9:9 was also fulfilled, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion

shout, O daughter of Jerusalem behold, thy King cometh unto thee He is just, and having salvation lowly, and riding

upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Just as recorded on that day in all the Gospels signifying the

importance of this event we celebrate as Palm Sunday, Mathew 21:1-9, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:29-39, John 12:12-

16. Jesus indeed is the Messiah, if he had been off by a single day we would have known that he was a false Christ.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem as the Jews did not do their homework to know the time of their visitation by the Lord

Luke 19:41-44. They were the very people to whom the scriptures were given and as such they should have

worked out this prophecy given to Daniel with ease but they did not recognize his coming.

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It is of utmost interest to know that the Magi that presented Jesus with gifts at his birth were not Jews but pagans, how did they know about the birth of the Messiah? Remember King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, a dream to which he needed answers. The King gathered together all his "Wise Men", and demanded they tell him what the dream was and what it meant. He threatened all the Wise Men with death if they could not tell him what he dreamed and what it meant. As the King's soldiers were rounding up all the Wise Men to put them to death, Daniel asked for a one-day extension. That night, after much prayer from Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, God revealed the dream to Daniel. Daniel told the king his dream and its interpretation, as a result Nebuchadnezzar spared the lives of Daniel, his three friends, and all the Magi, Daniel 2:1-19. From that moment on, the Magi revered Daniel and his God given insights greatly. They did not become believers in God as the only god of the universe but rather they believed him to be a powerful god. They still remained polytheists. The Magi must have had copies of Daniel's writings passed on from generation to generation, and they knew of the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. At the time of the appearance of the star, they knew they were within a lifetime of this prophecy coming to pass. When they saw the star, their knowledge of this remarkably precise prophecy, plus the promptings of the Holy Spirit may have caused them to embark on the very long journey to Israel to pay their homage to the Jewish Messiah. I will not be surprised if they were part of the people that shouted, “Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” Luke 19:38. It is also interesting to note that the Samaritan woman that Jesus met at Jacob’s well knew that there was a coming Messiah called Christ, John 4:25. I just wonder how she knew of the coming Saviour yet Samaritans and Jews were hostile towards each other. Even thou our Saviour came and was preached to the world there are still many people that are not yet Jesus’ disciples. It is our duty to preach to Hindus, Moslems, Chinese traditionalists, Buddhists, African Traditionalists, Jews, Neo pagans, Rastafarians, Scientologists, Wiccans and the Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheists which make up over 1 billion people alone. In totality two thirds of the world’s people do not believe in Jesus Christ, over 4 billion souls need to be reached. As I said before among those that call themselves Christians there are those that deny his Lordship and hold to a different worship system which is contrary to the bible. These churches are not Christian and they are leading people to worship Satan unknowingly. Sadly many people in these churches are in denial and do not want to face the truth. There are many God loving, God fearing people in these churches some of whom are aware of their errors but still remain in that ungodly worship system. “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelations 18:4. If we say it does not matter if I am in it and say that the important thing is that I know where I stand then we are risking hell fire, the angel is warning people to distance themselves from the harlot Babylon which is a global false religious system under Satan’s rule. It does not matter if that church has the highest number of followers, it is not about democracy but the truth of the word of God. Jesus tells us that wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction, stop following the crowd and search for the truth, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:22. John sums up this chapter, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16-17. No other name on earth can save us except the name JESUS, it does not matter if you live on a deserted island or in the heart of the Amazon he is our only saviour and we ought to give our lives to him. God has warned us that the time of ignorance has passed and now he commands everyone everywhere to repent as he will judge the whole world in righteousness through Jesus Christ, Acts 17:30-31.

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LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST

Jehovah says, "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?" Isaiah 46:5. We worship an awesome God who created a beautiful universe, millions of different and unique animals, stars and plant species. He also created the complex human body from the dust of the earth. There is nothing on the face of the earth, in outer space or under the sea that we can compare our God to. No curved stone or image can compare to our God who knows the past the present and the future. A God who knows all, sees all, (Proverbs 15:3) and hears all at the same time, there is a greatness about him that cannot be equalled. His name is Yahweh, Jehovah the Lord of Lords. We just cannot perceive God in our 3 dimensional world, he is as we say “out of this world” in a dimension of his own for he says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8-9. Despite God being an omnipotent being he manifested himself to Abraham and the children of Israel as one God. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” Deuteronomy 6:4, Malachi 2:10. In spite of God revealing himself as one being he is comprised of distinct personas, a plural form that is well documented in the bible. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle.” Genesis 1:26-27. The first verse describes the plural nature of God, we are created in the likeness of the personas of the Godhead but God is one as we read in the next verse. At the tower of Babel where the people were being rebellious God came down to see what they were doing, “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Genesis 11:7. Who was speaking to whom? Same pattern is recorded by Isaiah, “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6. The king has a redeemer and the two are saying that they are a single God, who can you compare our God to? Who can understand his ways? “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Mathew 28:19. Many people even thou they acknowledge the existence of all three personas, they argue that Jesus Christ was not God. John starts of his Gospel by these unmistakable words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In verse 14 he then tells us who the word is, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The first verse expressly says that Jesus Christ was with God in the beginning and he himself was God, further more he tells us that the word which is God was made flesh and dwelt among us, this verse can only describe Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Others will try to make Jesus a lesser god apart from the Father but John never mixed his words. His third verse of his gospel is probably the powerfulliest, “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” John1:3. Jesus Christ created everything, all that you see in this world and beyond was made by him, not through him but by his own power as the God of heaven and earth. He is the same God who is described by the psalmist in Psalms 33:6. Paul demystifies the deity of Jesus Christ when he writes to Timothy, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16. There is no controversy there, God was incarnated and came down in the form of a man, this description can only be spoken of Jesus Christ. Isaiah spoke about the incarnation, Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Take your pick, Jesus Christ is God and the Father all at the same time. Isaiah knew about Jesus’ Lordship way before we even started arguing about it. The Godhead can be likened to the executive board of a company, even thou the owners have equal partnership and they are collectively called by their company name each board member has his own distinct function to

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achieve the vision of the company. One member takes the role of a lesser important position to fulfil a certain function in the company but it does not mean he is any less than the guy who holds the role of the CEO. All through the scripture we see how Jesus Christ portrayed himself, a lowly person just like you and me, this is the role that was accorded to him by the Godhead to be the saviour of the world. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zachariah 9:9. Jesus got hungry, was tempted, but he remained perfect to set an example and teach us the heavenly way of life, Mathew 11:29. In spite of all the humbleness Jesus still remained fully God (Colossians 2:9) as Paul explains it to us in his letter to the saints in Philippi, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” Philippians 2:6-7. As Paul further explains he subjected himself to be under the Father’s command to fulfil the redemption of mankind to the point of death on the cross. As Jesus lived a perfect life without sin it also means he was justified when he forgave the sins of the man who was suffering from the palsy. As the scribes pointed out that no one but God could forgive sins it meant that if Jesus did not blaspheme then he was God. I might sight a lot more verses but these that I have selected from both the old and the new testaments show that the doctrine of the Holy trinity is consistent throughout the whole council of the word of God. Saints the awesomeness of our God is beyond our intellect and as such he is greatly to be feared. In fact the bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, Proverbs 1:7

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CHRISTIANITY & ITS MANY CHURCHES

A survey has shown that there are well over 30 000 Christian movements, sects and denominations worldwide

and the numbers are growing by the day. Ever wondered why so many churches? The Roman Catholic church, The

Dutch Reformed Church, Apostolic Faith Mission, Salvation Army, the United Methodist, Southern Baptist

Convention, Presbyterian Church of East Africa, United Church of Christ, The Pentecostal Mission, Calvary Chapel,

Seventh-day Adventist Church, Russian Orthodox Church, The Anglican Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses just to mention a few. I should point out that the preceding list is

inclusive of all churches that hold certain belief in Jesus Christ, to go into detail and tackle these divergences would

be to comprehend. Divisions in the church go way back to the first century. In his first letter to the Corinthians, the

apostle Paul lamented that strife and divisions had resulted in some saying, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of

Apollos" as recorded in 1 Corinthians 3:3. Something that is very much prevalent in the church of today, we fight

over property rights, money and power. Further divisions occurred when orthodox believers defended the

teaching of the apostles against the distortion of the gospel with false teachings based on pagan or

Jewish traditions.

I often encounter people conflicting on which church is the true church, when asked to comment I just answer, “The church of Christ”, anyone who is a truly converted believer is part of Christ’s church. It does not matter where you worship but how you worship and follow God’s commands, a church is just a gathering of people. Those in Jesus’ church are those that worship him in spirit and truth. The true church is firmly established on a foundation of doctrinal biblical truth such as the belief in the Lordship of Christ, and acceptance of the established Canon of the Holy Scriptures. Out of the millions that attend church services it should not surprise you if I say that if we continue in our sinful way of life only a handful of people per congregation will inherit eternal life. I also stress the point that we will not be judged on the basis of which church service we attended but on righteousness, truth, and pureness of heart. I end with the point that Jesus wrote to seven different church types in the book of Revelations, for each church he had words of appraisal, his concerns and words of encouragement. In one of the letters to the church in Thyatira Jesus instructs John to write, “I know thy works and charity and service and faith…” Revelations 2:19. Jesus commends them for their charity in helping the poor and less privileged in society, are our churches doing the same today? Jesus wrote these letters to these seven churches, his church “his bride”, every one of those churches formed a part of the body of Christ. Not all churches can be the arms or legs of Christ some form the mid-section, even though we might be functioning differently the head of us all is Christ, Christ died for all. “Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 1 Corinthians 3:22-23. As one commentator put it these seven churches are a check sheet of the churches of today, each church can use these seven letters to see if what they are doing is in line with Jesus Christ’s appraisals and if we are addressing his concerns whilst heeding to his warnings. Instead of coming together as the body of Christ to fight the united kingdom of Satan we spend time quarrelling among ourselves about who is the true worshipper. Who has the greatest number of followers, who is worshipping on what day and most recently which is the most spirited church with more healings, diversified tongues and demon exorcisms. It has even gotten to the point that neighbours from two different churches do not see eye to eye over differing Christian doctrines. “Which church do you go to?” if your answer is for a different church then they say, “Oh! That one, they don’t pray come to our church.” It has become so bad that some of these issues and doctrinal differences end up being politicized. Whenever church issues grip you point to the parable spoken by Jesus in Luke 18:9-14, he spoke this parable unto certain of the people which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. “For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11. Have we forgotten why we go to church, is it for the status, money or just that we have nowhere else interesting

to go? In Jesus’ letter to the church in Ephesus he says, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou

hast left thy first love.” Revelations 2:4. Let’s review our goals, are we still walking in the right path. Have we lost

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the focus of our journey to eternal life? But how can we work together if we do not agree on certain Christian

fundamentals? Don’t we all read the same bible? On what are all these churches basing their doctrines on?

As I always reiterate the highest authority of a Christian is the bible no other document precedes the written word of God. The bible is a total package and whatsoever doctrine there maybe it should be derived from or consistent with the bible, as Christians we base most of our doctrines on the New Testament as it echoes the life and teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Not disregarding the Old Testament as any less important as Paul tells us in Romans 15:4 “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” He also tells us in his first letter to the church in Corinth that the Jews that tempted Christ in the wilderness were destroyed by serpents and “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. “ 1 Corinthians 10:11, we ought to learn from these stories in the Old Testament so that we do not repeat the same mistakes as the Israelites did the result was that they were exiled for 2000 years from their promised land. Paul summaries what we ought not to do, “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.” 1 Corinthians 10:6-8. That’s a scary number let us serve the Lord with fear. What then as Christians are we supposed to do in keeping the Almighty’s word? It would be misleading to assume that every law that was given to the Israelites in the wilderness under Moses also applies to us although some of them may still be applicable today. We need to understand the time line of certain of these laws, God gave these Old Testament laws to Israel that by following them they would keep themselves pure from the ungodless Gentiles. It would be wrong to pull out a verse commanding animal sacrifices and use that as a church doctrine, “And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.” Deuteronomy 12:28. Yes! It is a bible verse but the context does not pertain to us Christians but the Jews, not the Jews of today but the Jews of that day. To base our church doctrines on such an old law is leading people astray and handing them unnecessary burdens. In some churches certain sections of the bible are out of bounds, a common one is the apocalyptic book of Revelations, their excuse “It’s scary.” Or “It’s irrelevant”, how can it be irrelevant Jesus tells us in Revelations 1:3 “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand.” The book of Revelations was written for our benefit, for us to understand the latter days as such that we live in, to warn us of the coming judgments and an assurance of the kingdom under Jesus Christ’s rule. Other Christian sects leave the bible reading to the elders of the church, how can you be sure if what you are being taught is the truth if you personally don’t read the bible? “Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof as the carmel because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you.” Leviticus 11:4. Such a law was given to Moses to give to the Israelites, it would be misleading to take this verse into church and bind God’s children in unnecessary bondage, Christ taught us that what we eat is not what makes us unclean, Mathew 15. Others have taken up the old Jewish custom of eating unleavened bread. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with observing these old laws and customs, as some of them are done in God’s honour, just that they are unnecessary burdens on the Christian’s shoulder. Meer observation of these customs does not make one righteous, Paul writing to the saints in Colossi posed a question “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not which all are to perish with the using) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Colossians 2:20-22. We should concentrate on the more important issues such as what do we have to do to earn eternal life, spreading the word to all corners of the world and helping the less privileged in society. However in spite of all these differing doctrines and countless churches there are churches that are not of Christ our Lord and Saviour. They may seem so and even have the title of our Messiah but their beliefs and practices are

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contrary to the bible, the very foundational doctrines of the Gospel. Fortunately for us we have a way of determining which church is of Jesus Christ and which is of the devil. Our beloved brother John tells us how, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3. These verses would not have a more relevance in a life span of any other era as today were churches and ministries are emerging like mushrooms in almost every region of the world which would be good for the gospel but on the contrary are doing much more damage to the Christian faith. What did John really mean? If we back a little to John’s Gospel starting from the first verse it says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We are then told who the word is in verse 14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.” Paul sets the record straight about the doctrine of incarnation of God in his letter to Timothy when he says, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16. You will notice that I repeat this message of God’s incarnation as it is very important for us to understand it. Jesus being God is known as the word and he came down to us in the flesh and dwelt among us. That is to say if the spirit confesses that Jesus Christ our Lord the only begotten of the father was born in the flesh into our world and that his innocent blood was shed on the cross for the redemption from sin of the entire world. Rose again in the flesh, and ascended to heaven and he is seated on the right hand of the father as we speak. If the spirit believes in the statements I have just written it is from God, all these truths about Jesus Christ are in the bible anything that is not consistent with scripture is of the devil. We often assume that everyone who says they believe in Jesus Christ has the spirit of God, you will see all kinds of churches that have the name of Jesus Christ inscribed at the entrance in bold aesthetic letters. It is dangerous to just jump into any church before testing if it really has the spirit of God, we need to exercise what the apostle Paul taught our forefathers. One thing that bothered me as I was growing up and starting to learn about Jesus and all his goodness is that there was resentment towards certain door to door preachers. I could not understand the reason why because I would hear them talking about Jesus, which I assumed was the same person whom we were learning at church. I would ask why that was so and I would be told they were satanic, it got me really confused. I would like to think they had applied John’s instructions practically. It’s a tried and tested method, even the early saints in Ephesus tested the spirits and the King of Kings praised them for it, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.” Revelations 2:2. I can imagine the false apostles being exposed and possibly running for cover. If we don’t test these spirits we will be led into worshipping another Jesus. It takes me back to one of my favourite chapters in the new testament were Jesus says “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” But Jesus professes and says he never knew them. That would be a most disheartening thing for Jesus to say, but he would be telling the truth as we would have been praying to the spirit of demons. As I said there is a misconception that when someone says Jesus Christ we assume that everyone knows the Jesus I am talking about. It is the same thing with God, if I say “praise God” and a Muslim says the same words it does not mean that our words are directed at the same God. My Muslim counterpart would be praising Allah and I would be praising Yahweh, “Do you believe in God?” Of course we both believe! But which God? The point that the apostle John was trying to put across was that we need to go beyond just asking the spirit if it believes in Jesus Christ, the next question would be to ask the spirit to define who Jesus Christ is. You will be surprised by the number of different answers you will get upon asking this question. These are some of the answers of who Jesus Christ was, “Jesus Christ is the Arch Angel Michael who was the first creation of God, died on a stake and arose invisibly as a spirit.” Yet another goes, “Jesus Christ was the brother of Satan, a man who evolved into a god.” Sad but true people are made to believe these lies, and surely when Jesus professes that he never knew us he would be telling the truth. Then where are people getting these deceptions from?

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There is a powerful message that Paul gave to the saints in Galatia, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-7. Paul was surprised how the people could entertain doctrines that are contrary to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the bible tells us that Satan was a created being, how could Jesus be Satan’s brother when he created him. The prophet Ezekiel gives us some insight into Satan and why he fell, “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth and I have set thee so thou wast upon the holy mountain of God thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Ezekiel 28:13-15. Satan was a high official in heaven he was appointed to lead the host of heaven until he sinned and was cast down to earth most importantly we are told that he was a created being. Isaiah sheds light on Satan’s sin, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15. Satan wanted to be like God but he was cast from the midst of heaven, we need to give God his place, the ultimate fate for rebelling against God is the bottomless pit. Pride is one of the things God hates and cannot tolerate, Proverbs 6:16-19, Satan had lots of it. On analysing the origins of some churches, we find that their formations came about when someone somewhere claimed to have been given a new revelation. A revelation from a passed away relative or saints, and even angels, these so called visions and dreams bring new light, new teaching and that the visionary is most often chosen to teach this new truth. They are also told that everything else being taught including the precious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ has errors. They write a book and go on to start their own ministries, dig around and you will see what I mean. Paul tells the Philippians,” For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” Philippians 3:18-19. Beware of these scammers all they are concerned about is filling their pockets with your hard earned money by asking for donations and selling their publications. It strikes me that Paul actually weeps as he is giving this message to the people, it must have pained him to see the enemies of the Gospel prevailing. He also gives the Colossians a similar warning, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8. I just love this verse at the same time it sends some shivers down my spine, Paul continuing his message to the Galatians says “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8. That very person who is leading the flock of Christ to hell fire let him be accursed. It shocks me when he says even if an angel preaches another Jesus do not accept. Even if an angel appears in the most glorious light, even Gabriel himself appears and preaches anything contrary to the word we should not accept. A most followed deception is the practice of praying through Mary and her rosary promises. There are differing views on the history and origin of the rosary. According to tradition, the rosary was given to Saint Dominic in an apparition by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the year 1214 in the church of Prouille. In the 15th century it was promoted by Blessed Alanus de Rupe, a learned Dominican priest and theologian, and established the "15 rosary promises" and started many rosary confraternities. History goes on to say that on 11 February 1858 at Lourdes, France a 14 years old Saint Bernadette Soubirous when questioned by her mother, said that she had seen a "lady" in the cave of Massabielle, about a mile from the town while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar appearances of the "lady" were reported on seventeen further occasions that year. Mary had a beautiful Rosary, and recited the Glorias with Bernadette. Bernadette Soubirous was canonized as a saint, and many Christians believe her apparitions to have been of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius IX authorized the local bishop to permit the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes in 1862. There are over 500 reported Marian apparitions as they are popularly known.

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People actually pray through Mary who they believe will take their prayers to God as they recite the rosary, this has no biblical basis. Mary was just an ordinary person like you and me, she found favour with the Lord and was chosen to carry our Saviour whose going back is from everlasting. To say that Mary was the mother of God is to bring Christ down or to elevate Mary to God. Mary was a virgin but she was not sinless, in Luke 1:38 she admitted to be the maidservant of the Lord. She also knew that she needed a Saviour, “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Luke 1:47. And most importantly she pointed people to Jesus, John 2:5 “His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” It is true that she bore our Lord thus biologically became the mother of our Lord. She is blessed among woman and is a model of how a woman should keep herself pure before marriage and be obedient to God. I am not disputing that they saw visions, they probably did, they are just too numerous to discard. All I will point out is that Jesus Christ is the only way, the only mediator between God and man, and any other who makes such claims is a deceiver. Let us not forget that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, Paul tells us that we should not marvel at such falsehoods, 2 Corinthians 11:14. Miracles have been reported, which I believe have happened but the source of these miracles are derived from the prince of darkness. These appearing messengers have been preaching a word of peace which is agreeable to the bible but have twisted the focus of worship which is Jesus Christ. Satan’s goal has been achieved, everything remains the same but Jesus is no longer the centre of worship, which means souls are being lost and Satan is prevailing. It does not matter how real it may seem or how many people have seen it, it might be a hard fight but the bible has forewarned us against such appearances. It could be difficult for you to dismiss a massage that your late mother was to tell you if she appeared to you convincingly even in front of other people. Even if this massage was contrary to the teachings of the bible it would be fearful and difficult to brush aside but the Lord Jesus remains our only strength. That is why Jesus says blessed are they that believe without seeing, the generation of today is becoming more and more like doubting Thomas. If they don’t see miracles they will not believe, it is through this new found spiritualism that many are giving in to seductive demoniac spirits. Either transforming themselves into angels of light or appearing as our dead relatives and friends, and working miracles through false prophets. The bible is our final word and authority no matter how convincing it may look if it contradicts the bible the power behind it is the prince of darkness, Satan. A symbolic necklace called a rosary is worn by worshippers as a sign of obedience to Mary. I have come across the 15 promises supposedly given by Mary to those who recite the rosary. Just looking at the 11th Promise, “You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.” Compare with John 14:14, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” Isn’t that playing God, she supposedly offers the same thing that Jesus Christ our Lord offers. The fifth promise reads, “Those who recommend themselves to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.” She now becomes our saviour, compare with John 3:5, “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Jesus is the only way the truth and the life no one can come to the father except through him. “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” Colossians 2:18. On the topic of dreams and visions Jeremiah had a word for the false prophets of Israel straight from the Almighty’s mouth, “I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.” Jeremiah 23:25-27. These prophets led the people to serve other gods such as Baal, the Lord continues in the thirty third verse, “Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.” The problem is that we have these teachings in books that even though they may contain biblical connotations are teaching things that are contrary to the fundamental doctrines of the gospel. We now have weekly or monthly church editions that indoctrinate us along a certain path, the final result is the abolishment of the bible, the word of God is being brushed aside. We are being brain washed to believe that these books are of a higher authority

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than the bible, others claim that the Bible has errors and that the teachings in their books correct the the Holy book. The bible is slowly being dethroned as the Christian’s highest authority, instead of comparing what we read in these books to the scriptures we are doing the reverse. We should reject any doctrine that does not conform to the doctrines of the bible. Jesus tells us, "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8: 31-32. I hope that you will check if what I have written in this book is not contrary to the bible, if there is even one that is in contrast throw it away. Our precious bible was God written, over a hundred times the scriptures say, “Thus saith the Lord.” Let no one deceive you if it is not consistent with the bible do not entertain it, the scriptures are so precious to us because they are our guide to eternal life. “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people) and when he opened it, all the people stood up And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” Nehemiah 8:5-6, verses 8 to 9 go on to say, “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.” That is how precious the word of God was to the Israelites to the extent of morning over the word, nothing can be compared to our Holy bible, I repeat nothing. Another reason for the numerous churches could stem from the fact that not everything that was said and done by the apostles is recorded in the scriptures. Paul writes in his epistles, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15. "The things which you have heard from me through many witnesses you must hand on to trustworthy men who will be able to teach others." 2 Timothy 2:2. Some of the trustworthy men turned out to be not so trustworthy and edited the apostles’ teachings for their own cause. “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” Philippians 4:9. Paul taught the people on how they were to live Godly lives and how they were to serve him in spirit and truth. Some of the practices in our churches even thou they are not biblical are done for the edification of the word of God. These teachings have been passed on from one church generation to the other. But due to geographical locations and surrounding environmental and political influences some teachings and practices are kept and others have been done away with. Take for example the practice of selling all of one’s positions as recorded in Acts and submitting the money to the church even thou it was done during the apostles, time it is no longer practiced. I am not saying all practices are okay as some practices are not just non-biblical but are actually anti-biblical they are those that we ought to avoid. One practice that I heard is that each year the childless married woman in the church would be sent to a house alone where they would wait for helpers. The church elders would then select competent young man from the church to go sleep with the women. This would be done in darkness so that they would not know who they would be sleeping with. With luck they would become pregnant, is this Christianity? Is this what Jesus taught? Surely we need to ask ourselves, what are we doing in our churches? There are little things that we do in our congregations that do more damage to the faith than we realise. Have you

ever taken some thought on why we have choir competitions, why? The body of Christ has no need for

competition. What does it mean when you come last in these choir competitions? Does it mean you are a lesser

worshiper? Or that my voice is not good enough for worship. Christianity shuns anything to do with competition, in

Christ we are all equal. In Christianity we ought to identify one’s talent so that they can use it to its fullest for God’s

work not to show everyone that they are better than others. Competition is deep rooted with Satan who thought

he could compete with God for his throne. The moment we think that we are or can be better or above others we

become proud. Have you heard about the glitts and glamour of the Gospel music awards?

There is a preacher who alluded to the fact that the message that Paul delivered to Timothy, “For the time will

come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,

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having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy

4:3-4, is slowly coming to fruition. The modern church is so full of energy, singing, jumping up and down and

shouting hallelujah every minute as the spirit possessed pastor delivers the word. The message almost every

sermon is about good health and wealth, after all that’s what we want to hear, that our lives will be okay especially

financially. We no longer want to hear about suffering for Christ, we no longer speak about repentance,

forgiveness and following Jesus’ commandments but yet we flock in our thousands to hear such baseless

Christianity. We concentrate on, “Ask and you shall receive.” The preacher then closed by saying that because we

do not want to follow the truth we are bringing God’s judgement upon ourselves unknowingly. The end result,

Jesus will deny us even thou we called upon his name, Mathew 7:21-22.

“As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let

him be accursed.” Paul repeats this warning in Galatians 1:9, Saints this is a matter of life and death, if we heed to

these other gospels we end up missing our salvation. We need to be on guard at all times, the Bible is our

standard. The gospel of Jesus Christ as it was preached by Paul, Barnabus, Silas and Stephen over 2000 years ago is

the same gospel today it will not change, Hebrews 13:8. Let us stop embracing unsound biblical doctrines all in the

name of moving with the times.

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JUDGING OTHERS

“Judgment is for God we are not allowed to judge others” is a very popular saying among both believers and

nonbelievers, but what does the bible instruct us to do? In 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 in Paul’s letter to the church of

Corinth, Paul openly judges the young man who was having a forbidden relationship with his stepmother whilst

the church did nothing about it. “For verily as absent in body but present in spirit, have judged already as though I

were present concerning him that hath done this deed.” Paul condemns this brother as he is committing adultery

with his stepmother even committing incest. Paul judges this young man, was he then contradicting the words of

the Gospel? Nay, in fact on the contrary we ought to judge.

This is something that the church of today has failed to do, we do not condemn the works of iniquity being committed by our fellow members. We have people in our congregation committing adultery, fornication is a normal thing among the youth of today. Yet we do nothing about all these abominable acts and we even go on to appoint these same people to lead us in church. They happen to be the same people who sing loudest in the church choir. How can the Holy Spirit dwell in such a place, Paul tells us to “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” Don’t let people in the church live in sin as they spoil the body of Christ, we should dismiss the evil doer from among our midst. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such as one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” Galatians 6:1. We ought to correct one another when we fall away and restore each other back on the right path, if we choose to ignore then as Paul says this yeast will infect the whole church. There is a form of sinning that should not be associated with a believer. When we sin we sometimes do not know that we have sinned and as soon as we realize our fault we repent from our sins. The kind of sin that I am talking about someone who calls him or herself a believer but is a drunkard, someone who stays with a woman he did not marry and comes to worship with you, with such we ought not to associate. I’m talking about someone who calls herself a believer but has been a practicing witch all her life. Paul then gives us a list of other things that should not be found among Christian saints “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints, Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Ephesians 5:3-5. Fornication is a terrible sin, it is the only sin that a person commits against his or her own body. God despises fornicators as we being the temple of God should keep ourselves pure and undefiled. We live in a world were sexual immorality among the young and the old is common place, it is so bad that those that keep themselves are embarrassed to come out in the open. On the contrary you should be proud as Christ lives in you and no one can touch you. It is surprising how many of these people hold some sort of position in the church. “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such as one no not to eat.” 1 Corinthians 5:11. If we are not to associate with such members of the church what are we to do? We are to expel these people from the church until they turn away from their sinful way of life. We judge these people according to the standard of the word of God as we have chosen to give up our old sinful lives to follow Jesus. The bible is the standard by which we live as Christians, Paul tells us, “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. That is why it is essential for every Christian to read the bible, how can we judge if we do not know the word? My sister you cannot believe in Christ and at the same time believe in the appeasing of ancestral spirits, you cannot serve two masters. Don’t err by trying to please the whole world, its either you are of the world or you are Christ’s. Just for choosing to follow Christ you become the enemy of the world. Don’t do things just because you want to fit in, remember that you will also fit well in hell. Its either you put your whole trust in Christ or you don’t, there is no in between, Jesus expects your complete allegiance.

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How can we judge and even expel such people if they are the same people in high places? We will surely be the ones expelled for causing conflict and division in the church. It is no longer what it used to be, a church position used to be for the old and wise in the spirit but these days it’s a position of power. There are now secrets in the church, ‘If this comes out it will destroy the church.” It’s more about reputation, an image to be upheld even if it is far from the truth. The church of today is full of false converts, people that head to the nearest drinking hole as soon as the church service ends. There are those that visit spiritual healers’ shrines and some spend their day relaxing at their “small house’s” place. Church members have been known to bewitch those opposed to their line of thinking, what has the church turned into? The church is becoming more dramatic than the world, church members and pastors frequently feature in newspapers and televisions, “Pastor molests fifty children.” I heard one pastor died at a spiritual healer’s shrine, how embarrassing. Jesus tells us to, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” John7:24. We should pass judgment not based upon whether one is black, rich, or holds a high office in the church, we should judge truthfully according to the word. We are again told,” Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:9. Our Lord instructs us to stand on the truth and tell it like it is. We are to fight for the cause of God’s people, to fight for the voiceless, remember James 4:17. Don’t mistaken Christianity for weakness, let the devil know that he who is in you has conquered the world. We need to stand and speak boldly, just like Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah who spoke against the mightiest king of their time, Nebuchadnezzar. “But the bible says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Mathew 7:1-2. There is a saying that goes, “If you say a lie long and loud enough people will eventually start to believe it.” These verses are taken out of context. Here Jesus was talking about hypocritical judgement, you cannot judge someone against God’s word if you are guilty of the same sin. “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Verse 5. We should first repent of our own sins, only then can we clearly see the faults of others and led them back in the path of Jesus’ glorious light. Jesus called Paul to be an apostle but because of the sinful life that he led he had to be converted first so that he could convince the people of the very err that he had been committing. As they say, “Actions speak louder than words” It is easier to convince someone to come to Christ when they see his peace in your home and the way you interact with others. How can I preach peace if I spend the whole night fighting with my wife. Judgement does not only stop among church members and friends, it goes beyond that. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world” 1 John 4:1. The scriptures instruct us to try, we Christians are becoming if I may say too soft, we are beginning to tolerate other spirits that are apart from the Holy Spirit. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” Isaiah 8:20. Every message or messenger is to be judged according to the Word of God. Jesus commended the church at Ephesus “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars” Rev.2:2. It is important that we test all teachers lest we be led away to worship Satanic spirits. If we find them to be liars we ought to chase them away and to never tolerate them, we need to let people know by exposing such false teachers no matter how high profile they might be in society. Christianity knows no compromise when it comes to the word of God. Upon exposing them we ought to mark and avoid them, they might have the sweetest voices but if they blaspheme the name of Jesus we are to never listen to them and we are not to attend their conferences and like gatherings. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” Romans 16:17. It would require on our part an understanding of the bible so that we can verify each and every doctrine that is put forward. We can only mark and avoid, if we judge them according to the Word of God. This is a serious matter, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 2 John 10-11. It is not only door to door preachers but with the turn of the century we have false teachers on our TVs, radios and computers we need to know them, expose, them and avoid them.

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If we expose and avoid them but they still continue to spread their false teachings we ought to rebuke them, “Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13). Sometimes we need to use what is termed “tough love” to knock some sense into someone who is erring. Paul wrote to Titus, at a time when there were people going from house to house and subverting whole houses with false doctrine Titus 1:10-16. We are not to sit silently and watch the word of God being perverted right in our faces, we should rebuke those teaching things that are contrary to the bible and warn people to avoid their teachings. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” Eph.5:11. “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which ye received of us” 2 Thessalonians 3:6. It is often difficult to dissociate yourself from someone who has been your friend since you can remember and to stop associating with them can be difficult. We may end up being labelled such terms as “Holier than thou” it takes great strength, courage and even sacrifices to carry our cross and to follow Jesus Christ. I have cut a lot of ties with people I called my friends because of certain habits that I saw as being contrary to the word of God. An ex-schoolmate of mine keeps a bible in his car but is often drunk every weekend, sometimes even when you would tell them they knowingly ignore you. We are to withdraw from those whose conduct does not conform to the Word of God. “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet, count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother”, 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15. As I said Christianity is overflowing with love, we do not hate people but we despise ungodliness, we want them to know the truth so that they can repent and be saved. Some will say, “Okay but we aren’t supposed to name names, it is not right.” On the contrary how can you expose someone without naming them, in fact the Bible abounds in examples of false prophets being named and exposed. Paul rebuked Peter’s actions in Galatians 2:11-14, he told him that he had not walked upright according to the Gospel as he and Barnabas had withdrawn themselves from eating with the Gentiles as they feared the Jews. Peter was acting as a typical Jew who believed in following the Mosaic law but Paul told them that as Christians they were not justified by the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul told Timothy to study that he might be able to rightly divide the word of truth, he warned them of Hymenaeus and Philetus who concerning the truth had erred, saying that the resurrection had passed and as a result overthrew the faith of some, 2 Tim.2:15-18. These two men were probably pre-tribulation believers. We are so easily led to follow things that are not biblical, those who are proclaiming falsehoods must be exposed. John named Diotrephes. “I wrote unto the church; but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not” 3 John 9. He related how this man had stood against him “with malicious words”. Peter exposed the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 2 Peter 2:15. Balaam was a prophet who was in the work for money, just like some of the TV false prophets today. They beg for money and in a few months they are millionaires and they live like kings, while multitudes of innocent people give them their hard earned monies. As Jude was writing his book, he had in mind to write about salvation but the spirit moved him to shift into warning us about false doctrines, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 3. Faithful messengers will warn the sheep of these heretics, and identify them by name. It is not enough to broadly hint of their identity, for the young lambs will not understand and will be destroyed by the wolves. All this modern day talk about love is used as an excuse for not exposing doctrinal error and as such many souls are being lost to Satan. I was raised in an Anglican home and schooled in the Anglican Christian worship culture, it is through this church that I became a child of God. I’ll stress that even thou I was raised as an Anglican my allegiance is not to the Anglican Church but to Christ Jesus my Lord and Saviour. To him only will I stand and give an account of myself at Judgment day and so will you. The biggest issue we have in the Anglican Church is the issue of homosexuality, which really for a truly converted Christian is a clear cut topic. The Anglican Churches of the western world are no longer condemning this sinful act and are now allowing homosexuals into the church. And as if that wasn’t enough the Anglican Church in America has ordained a gay bishop, next thing will be gay marriages. How can such a church

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leader teach any doctrine that is against homosexuality, I now understand Paul’s words, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4. This sinful infection is now slowly creeping into the rest of the Anglican churches of the world. We go to church to repent from our sins but allowing sin to be a permanent part of the church is trampling the word of God and relegating it to no effect. The church has now become a law unto itself, having the power to decide what is sin and what is not. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, let us worship the Lord with fear and trembling. Let us stop this heresy and repent whilst there is still time, such actions have grave reparcations. Let us not be misunderstood we do not hate homosexuals as some are our brothers and sisters but we do not condone their sinful way of life. The exhortation of Mary and the prayers through her are contrary to the word of Christ as I have explained in the preceding chapter. It was one of the main reasons why a lot of people broke away from the Roman Catholic Church as it was no longer holding to sound doctrine. The Roman Catholic worship system is not directed solely through Jesus Christ the saviour. Jesus Christ is the only way, not Abraham, not Moses, not Mary but the spotless lamb, the Messiah. This worship system is leading people to hell unknowingly. I may receive a lot of backlash for the last few words but it is the truth. A word of warning to those attending modern day spirited churches, if its miracles that you are looking for keep in mind that the Anti-Christ will do more wonders than these. He will even bring down fire from heaven. We have a tendency of following whoever is performing the greatest miracles, the result is that we will end up following the false messiah. We do not need miracles to know that our Lord exists or that he is in the church, he is with us wherever we are. It is not that those exposing false doctrines intend to cause divisions in the church but it is that we no longer want to listen to the truth. It is our duty to judge and expose all false doctrines and those teaching them accordingly with the written word of God. If you love your brethren you will not let them be led astray, even unto hell. This we must do even if it means losing our lives. Even more so during these end times people should know the truth as a great deception is coming upon the world, and many will be lost to the dark side.

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EATING & DRINKING

“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” Mathew 15:11. Jesus goes on to say in the seventeenth verse “Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Often times we get into serious debates over trivial issues that in themselves do not lead to the edification of the gospel. We need food for our human bodies to survive, for growth and restoration of broken cells and tissues. The Chinese eat dogs and cats, we eat mopane worms and wild rodents, the Jews and a sizeable number of Christians do not eat pork. Jesus did not outlaw the killing and eating of any kind of food, of course with the exception of human flesh. Luke recorded a vision that Peter had in the Acts of the Apostles. He records that while Peter went up to the house top to pray he fell into a trance, and he saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descended unto him with all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts, and creeping things and fowls of the air. “And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”Acts 10:13-15. In so saying God declared all animals to be clean and edible. If we could just take time to read the bible we will not spend so much time hauling insults at each other. Through our different Christian upbringings we are taught that some foods are unclean and we ought not to eat them as a way of being obedient to God’s word. If you choose not to eat fish I should not take you to task for not eating it because you are doing it in honour of your Lord, I should respect that. “For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.” Romans 14:20, he also says in verse 14 “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.” Paul is saying here that all food can be eaten but I should not critises my brother or sister for not eating certain kinds of food, neither is he to criticise me for eating all kinds of food. When he comes to my house I will not cook that which he doesn’t eat as I will not be doing it out of love. In essence, “Wherefore, if meat makes my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” 1 Corinthians 8:13. But food is just food, after all Paul tells us “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Romans 14:17. So it does not really matter if we eat or not, “But meat commendeth us not to God for neither, if we eat, are we the better neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.” 1 Corinthians 8:8. Whether I eat chicken or a plain bun and beans it is not counted for anything in the kingdom of God. Merely eating anything or not does not make you righteous, we eat to stay alive nothing more. What I can also add hear is that some foods are not good for one’s health hence we need to watch what goes into our bellies. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17 We shouldn’t waste devoting our time on food or the observance of special days as if they are the pillars of Christianity, rather we should focus on Christ, to know him better and understand what he requires from us. Paul in his first letter to Timothy warns us “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” 1 Timothy 4:1. I would like to believe that we are leaving in these latter days that Paul was talking about, “Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving” 1 Timothy 4:3-4. I heard a former work colleague of mine say that they were not allowed to eat bread with yeast by the church, these are some of the commandments of demons that Paul talks about. We live in a world where there are more unbelievers than Christians and many of them are our friends and colleagues. We have Muslim and traditionalist neighbours, we are bound to be invited for dinner one of these days, should we eat what they prepare? What quickly comes to mind are Halaal meat products, should we buy these products?

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Paul gives us the answer in his letter to the Corinthians, “If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 1 Corinthians 10:27-28. God is the creator of all things, idols have no eyes, or ears they are nothing, you are eating that which Yahweh has created. When we are told before we eat that the food has been offered to idols we must not eat, we will not eat because we want them to know that there is no other god but Yahweh. By eating that which has been offered to idols it means we are accepting the divinity of that idol, refusing to eat it is an act of denouncing the idol. We do it out of love for them to know that Yahweh is the only true God and none else. “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” Revelations 2:14. Jesus was not happy with what Balac was teaching the church at Pergamos, among other things to eat foods offered to idols, thereby resulting in the separation of the church from God. God forbids us from eating foods offered to idols! I now turn to the issue which I would say is the most debated topic not only in the church but is also popular in the circular world, a subject that makes a lot of people feel uncomfortable. Often times this sensitive topic causes people to become defensive or even aggressive. People can spend hours talking and looking at all the dimensions of this topic, “Jesus turned water into wine so it’s okay to drink”, then some will say, “It was not alcoholic wine but grape fruit juice.” Then the learned get into the whole chemistry aspect of the percentage levels of alcohol and fermentation and so on and so on. There never seems to be a consensus, some would rather not talk about it. There are then those who go too far and insult our creator, “Jesus turned water into wine so he was a drunkard too.” Let us be careful about what we say, let us not forget that one day each one of us shall give an account of themselves before Jesus Christ. I am not selling you my view points but I am just laying it down for you to decide whether to continue drinking or not. What we all as Christians agree is that drunkenness is a sin and is strongly condemned in the bible, “Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21 and 1 Corinthians 6:10. What then is getting drunk? The dictionary definition of drunkenness goes, “To be intoxicated to the point of impairment, the impairment of physical and mental faculties”. Impairment is to have diminished strength, value, quality and quantity, it in tells the effect of being less effective. When you drink such that your response systems to the physical, moral, mental or spiritual is affected you are drunk, if your vision becomes blared, you struggle to balance, you are drunk. If you say you are a drinker but not a drunkard then you really need to have an understanding of where to draw the line. As for me, I stopped drinking when I realized that no matter how little alcohol I drank there was a certain degree of impairment. Not that it is easily visible but you yourself know that all is not normal, you will be drunk, any impairment is drunkenness. Most importantly alcohol affects your response to the word of God, it douses your spirit, you won’t pray when you know you have to, neither are you able to lend a helping hand or lead anyone to Christ in that state. Would you like Christ to appear when you are in such a state? Luke 21:34. The consumption of alcoholic drink leads to ungodliness, which usually leads to sin. The bible speaks a lot about the effects of drinking as well as its consequences, Noah got drunk and became naked the result was immorality and family troubles that led to a number of wars among his children, Genesis 9:20-26. Lot’s daughters gave their father wine and he got drunk, he lost control of his senses the result was that Lot impregnated his daughters, Genesis 19:30-38. We live in a society that venerates alcohol, drinking alcohol is viewed as a symbol of the good life as purported by celebrities on TV. The most noticeable advertisements which have become relaxation clichés driven by the mainstream media are that after a hard day’s work one should sit down and enjoy a cold beer. What people don’t see is the depression, the suicides and adulterous practices that are associated with alcohol abuse. Satan is deceiving people into believing a lie that alcohol goes hand in hand with success. It is not that once you are a Christian God wants to limit your pleasure but that he wants to guard us from destruction.

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The central theme surrounding alcohol is not limited to drunkenness but it is about self-control. Any substance that affects the normal functioning of our body response systems are to be avoided. Such things as cocaine, LSD, heroin, cigarettes and marijuana have lead to countless deaths throughout the world. Eating also requires self-control, “Be not among winebibbers among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” Proverbs 23:20-21. The consumption of intoxicating drinks causes woe, sorrow, fighting, babbling, wounds without cause and red eyes, Proverbs 23:29-30. The last three verses of this same chapter describe how when you are drunk you will imagine and speak perverse things and you will in essence act like an idiot. This should not be so saints, in contrast to being drunk we should be filled with the spirit, Ephesians 5:18. In fact Paul tells us that we should not associate with a brother or sister who calls themselves a believer but is a drunkard, 1 Corinthians 5:11. It is for you to decide, as Christians we have freedom to choose what is good and fitting as Jesus’ disciple, Peter warns us, “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” 1 Peter 4:7, Let us not be found wanting when Christ appears in the clouds.

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TEMPTATIONS TO SIN

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12. The Christian war is not physical, chemical or of a nuclear nature, it is of a spiritual nature, it’s against our adversary Satan. The classical view that Satan the devil is red, has a long tail and holds a fork is one that I laugh at today but it is something that used to scare me when I was a kid. Satan was once God’s angel and that should give you a good picture of what he looks like. Satan has always been a deceiver from the time that he deceived other angels to rebel against God, his primary goal toward us is that we forfeit our place in heaven. Jesus tells us in John 8:44 that the devil has no truth in him and that he has been a murderer from the beginning. Satan has already been judged, John 16:11, his mission is to bring as many souls as he can to the lake of fire. As we approach the end times Satan is upping his game as John tells us in Revelations 12:12 that he has great wrath and that his time is limited. He then tells us who the dragon is angry with, “And 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” Revelations 12:17. Christians are Satan’s target enemies, we are enemy number one! For him to succeed in his plans, he has to convince us to do that which is against God, in so doing we fall into sin. This war is fought in the mind; we need to know our enemy so that we can better understand how he attacks us and how we can defend ourselves from him, 2 Corinthians 2:11. We are up against a very powerful adversary one who has over 5000 years of experience in deceit, and he possesses the world’s worst C.V. Satan is a very patient and passionate being and takes his job seriously, we ought not to under estimate him or go about challenging him, remember what happened to the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13-17. Satan takes time to study our weaknesses and our earthly desires, in them is where we think we will find happiness, you will be surprised to know that Satan even quotes from the scriptures. Our desires can lead us to sacrifice anything even our very own children, Satan focuses his attack on our desires. James gives us a source of some of the chaos that we see in the world, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” James 4:1. These lustful desires aimed at pleasing the flesh have displaced millions of people all over the world and left countless dead. The Psalmist tells us to seek our happiness in the Lord and that he alone will give us our heart’s desires, Psalms 37:4. “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. When we desire for something to the point that we are prepared to do anything we give in to sin. In our African society many people have sacrificed their own children in the hope of amassing great wealth, but the end result of it all is death. Satan focuses and models his temptations around our desires and lusts, he knows that this is where we are most likely to give in and sin. Satan was at the top of his game when he went to tempt Jesus and Jesus was at his weakest in the flesh after spending forty days in the wilderness, he pulled the best he had but to no avail. “And when the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from him for a season.” Luke 4:13. Satan was done he had tempted Jesus in every way possible, if we study carefully the temptations of Jesus we can understand the ways in which Satan tempts us. In the first temptation Mathew 4:2-4 Satan was tempting Jesus’ bodily desires, things that will satisfy your flesh be it food, drugs, alcohol, money, power and sex. We want these things so badly that we are prepared to give anything away, no matter how short lived some of these desires maybe. Satan propels you to act so as to obtain, and when we give in to this temptation we sin. This temptation leads to rape, deceit, murder, and robbery, just to fulfil our sexual desires, to claim the prize, get the position or to get rich respectively. Paul tells us the result of such actions, “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:9-10. This temptation violates the commandment, “Love thy neighbour as thyself” which encompasses commandments 4 to 10 of the Old Testament. When you love others you will not rob them of their hard earned money we ought to treat everyone with love and respect.

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“Thou shall not tempt the Lord your God”, was Jesus’ reply in his next temptation Mathew 4:7. Many a times we question our faith, “why do we believe, what if we are wrong?” “If he exists let him strike me now.” We are tempted to question the very existence of our creator, Satan tries to plant a seed of doubt in our minds. “The bible says if I am sick and I pray to him he will heal me.” What then if he doesn’t heal you? You start doubting him. How much do we understand the word of God, we learn that Satan quotes Psalms 91:11-12 but Jesus counters him with another verse. Our own interpretation of the bible maybe misleading, when it doesn’t happen as we think it entails we start blaming God and even end up cursing his name, we take the name of the Lord in vain. This is in violation of the commandment which warns us against taking the Lord’s name in vain. Just think of all the Hollywood movie busters that swear and blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ. “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” James 5:12. In the third temptation Jesus puts it plain and simple, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.” Mathew 4:10. Satan tempts us to try other gods, this is in violation of the first two commandments. The alternative god Satan suggests is himself but he will be working through witches, magicians, fortune-tellers and false prophets. These are the ways in which Satan tempts us, Jesus overcame all these temptations and it is from him that we learn how to overcome them. As holy and all knowing as he was Jesus used scripture to overcome the temptations, with each temptation Jesus countered with a written scripture. As Christians we ought to do the same, the scriptures are our weapon against Satan. It is surprising to note Satan’s resilience in Luke 4:13, when the devil had finished tempting Jesus he only left him for a while. Even as holy as Jesus was Satan only left him for a while, he had the audacity to come back and try again. Just think about it, if Satan was that courageous to tempt his creator what more of us ordinary people, how much more can he do to us? But here is the comforting part, Paul shares it with us in 1 Corinthians 10:13. ‘’ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.’’ How comforting to know that we can overcome all temptations. Temptations are fought in the mind, we always have a choice its either we choose to listen to God’s word or follow Satan’s advice. Both God and Satan never force us it is of our own free will. God does not tempt anyone for God cannot be tempted by evil so all temptations are from Satan and his cronies. However God puts us to the test, we read in the book of Job that Satan went to God to ask for permission to try and tempt Job into cursing God. God gives him permission but gives him restrictions so that he could not tempt Job on more than he could bare. In the end Job overcame the devil’s temptations and God elevated him and gave him twice as much as he had before. Satan’s plan as I have said is to tempt us into breaking God’s laws and commandments. Keeping these laws and commandments means that one follows God. God gave Ten Commandments to the Jews on Mount Sinai on things they were to do and things they weren’t supposed to do. If they broke those commandments they would be committing sin, so sin in essence is doing things that are against God. God gave the Israelites about 600 laws with 10 being the main ones. One had to study the laws to understand them. What of us today? Do we know the laws that we are supposed to keep so that we do not transgress against the Almighty? For instance during the time that the Jews were wondering in the desert, one was required to be circumcised, to desist from certain foods and they were required to bring offerings to God for the cleansing of their sins. As we are doing none of that today are we sinning against God? It is important for us to know what God requires from us so that we do not do that which is contrary to his word and end up sinning. A dispute arose between Paul, Barnabas and certain man from Judea and a certain sect of the Pharisees that taught that the only way for the believing Gentiles to be saved was that they had to be circumcised after the manner of Moses and to keep the law. As a result Paul and Barnabas went with this question to meet together with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem and discuss this matter. Among the elders were Peter and James the disciples of Jesus. The outcome as explained plainly to the people was that the Gentiles were not expected to keep the law as the law was a burdensome yoke even to the Jews themselves. “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” Acts 15:11. James stood and spoke of how God’s power had

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worked miracles among the uncircumcised Gentiles, he then adds, “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well” Acts 15:28-29. Christians are under a new law, the law of the Christ which is the law of love. Romans 13:9 “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Verse 12 then says, “Love does no harm to a neighbour therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.” We must also realize that this new law of love is different from some of the aspects of the old law. Jesus as an example outlawed the teaching of Moses of an eye for an eye, or tooth for a tooth, Jesus’ new perfect law teaches us to love our enemies. Paul in Romans 12:20-21 says “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Jesus came to be born under the Mosaic law to fulfil scripture, Galatians 4:4. It was not until after Jesus’ death that the old law was put to rest. Romans 10:4 tells us that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believeth. In Ephesians 2:15 Paul explains that Jesus did away with the law that separated the Jews from the Gentiles and created one people thus making peace. This brings into question a most disputed topic, “Must we observe the Sabbath and on which day?” The English word “Sabbath” comes from a Hebrew word meaning rest, cease, and desist. I’ll just lay down what the bible says about this issue as every other commandment is stated clearly in the new testament except the Sabbath. The reason I am living it open for you to decide is because of Romans 14:5 ‘’One person esteemed one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” God was the first to rest on the Sabbath and then he glorified the seventh day, Genesis 2:3, we understand from this statement that the observance of Sabbath was there since the creation of the world. If we study the Old Testament we notice that the Sabbath was observed even before the institution of the 10 commandments. God instructed the Israelites to bake twice as much bread on the sixth day as the morrow was the holy Sabbath, Exodus 16:23. It is clear that the Sabbath was instituted before the 10 commandments, God instruct them to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy Exodus 20:8. You can’t remember something you don’t know. When the full limit of the time arrived God sent forth his Son who came to be out of a woman and who came to be under law. So Jesus was expected to observe the Sabbath even though he was the Lord of the Sabbath, Mathew 12:8. His purpose was to fulfil the law, Mathew 5:17, and as such as he being the creator of the Sabbath he knew the exact purpose of the day. The Pharisees criticized Jesus’ actions on the Sabbath when he healed a man with a withered hand Mathew 12:10-13. The Pharisees equated what Jesus did to work, and thus in their eyes it was an unlawful act, but Jesus answered them by asking them if one of their sheep fell in a pit wouldn’t they lift it out. I have met Christians who have strict rules about their Sabbath if you come on the stroke of the start of the rest they will not help you even if you are asking for a hoe to dig your garden. They consider that if they give it to you they will be sinning against God by letting you stumble on the Sabbath. In verse 12 Jesus then concludes that it was unlawful to do good on the Sabbath according to the Pharisees. Would you not help your neighbour if they are in need, just because it is the Sabbath? In a sense Jesus was trying to explain that human need had precedence over the Sabbath, love over law, Jesus desires mercy not sacrifice. Jesus explained that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Jesus also pointed to the fact that the priests who serve in the house of the Lord every day and night profaned the Sabbath but were held guiltless because they were doing the work of God, Mathew 12:5. Also that the Jews circumcised on the Sabbath day, John 7:22-23 but did not break the Mosaic law. Good deeds of faith and love shown to others are far more important and rewarding than the mere observance of the Sabbath. Paul writes to the Colossians, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

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Colossians 2:16-17. I would interpret the first verse as Paul saying that if you observe Saturday as your Sabbath day do not judge those who observe Sunday and vice versa. He also explains to the Romans, “He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.” Romans 14:6. What interests me is that Paul says that this is a shadow of things that will come, it is already happening today. We are not identified with Christ because of the day we observe the Sabbath but by his spirit that indwells within us. His spirit makes us one body of Christ. Paul refers to those who observe these days, months, and seasons to be in bondage, Galatians 4:9-10. The ritual observance of days is a characteristic of the man who is weak in faith, Romans 14:1-5. Paul emphasises that the law was a yoke of bondage from which the Christian has been set free Galatians 5:1. Jesus and the apostles taught us against the many sins that we shouldn’t commit and it is saddening to note that some people including so called Christians have adopted some of these sins and have made them part of the church. Of one, homosexuality, most people spend lots of time debating about the issue and has resulted in many divisions. A true Christian will not compromise on such a biblically clarified issue, homosexuality is a sin and those practising this unnatural act will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Paul writes in Corinthians 6:9-10. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Let me say that I do not hate anyone who is a drunkard or a homosexual as Jesus Christ has taught us to love all. If I happen to meet a homosexual in need I will assist them in any way possible but I will not forfeit my salvation in accepting this sexually immoral act. Allowing such practices in church is an abomination, call me insensitive but I stand on the word. What is so special about the generation of today that we need to take their feelings into consideration? How different are they to the generation that perished by raining sulphur? Paul warns us, “Do not be deceived”. There are a lot of intellectuals who know how to talk and convince people, do not be fooled. I would now like to talk to my own generation which makes up one of the greatest group of sexual offenders. We have lost our morals, people are having sex way before marriage, which is fornication. I’ve heard answers like, “Why not everyone is doing it, it’s the normal thing, we just need to use protection.” I like to use this following illustration, if you had a relative living in Sodom and Gomorrah and you went to visit them, the sexual immorality that was in Sodom would seem normal to you as everyone was fornicating and getting involved in all kinds of perverse acts. The result was that the whole city was burnt. Don’t go with the flow we need to exercise self control. Do not worry if everyone else is doing it, you are just not anyone, you are a beloved child of God. Paul in his letter to the Galatians writes, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21. Inheriting the kingdom of God is our ultimate prize for righteousness, let not what you do take that away from you. Paul instructs us, “Flee also youthful lusts but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22. The key word is flee, do not try to be canning Satan is much cleverer than you, Satan tempts us on our sexual desires. I have a very small but effective three letter word, “run”, this is the best way out. Let us pray always that we do not fall into Satan’s snare. We need to occupy our minds with Godly things and not give the devil room. We need to desist from pornographic materials and overcome peer pressure as youths, it is hard I know but it will save you from the lake of fire. I was shocked when I read Revelations 12:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” It struck me when it mentions the fearful, it is not fear in the sense of fighting with a bully but someone who will not stand up to what they believe in. Someone who is afraid to proclaim that Jesus Christ came down from heaven in flesh and blood and arose from death and that he is coming again. All liars, I will repeat all liars are destined for the lake of fire. I have heard of a funny term a “white lie”, to mean something that is harmless. It’s just another way of how the devil uses his vast experience to trick us into

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sinning. In Proverbs 6:16-19 Jehovah God mentions seven things that he hates and cannot tolerate and lying is one of them. We ought to pray to God that he teaches us to put our lying habits into the bin. Our mouths are very destructive to our lives and as such we need to watch what we say. “But shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” 2 Timothy 2:16. The writer of Proverbs 10:19 puts it that the more we talk the more likely we are to sin, it is better to keep quite than fall into temptations, we end up lying just to impress someone. Neither are we to use vulgar language but rather we ought to use our mouths to praise and give thanks to the Lord. I’ve heard people using all sorts of profane statements and using them as if it is the norm to use such filthy language. Even to the extent of calling other people with such demeaning language, it is not fitting for a Christian to use such language. Jesus says in Mathew 12:36, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.” Dear saints let us watch what we say. Sometimes we use our mouths to insult people, a person just like you and me who was created in God’s own image. Proverbs 14:31 goes, “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.” We need to love everyone regardless of how poor one maybe, you might be likewise tomorrow, remember who is in control of this world, Satan! As I said we should talk less according to Proverbs 10:19 but not to be silent, we need to speak out and defend the voiceless and innocent. I didn’t know till I read it that when you do not do the good you ought to do you commit a sin. If you don’t help your neighbour when you know you can you sin against God, James 4:17. Proverbs 3:27 then says, “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” One of my favourite verses goes as follows, “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” Proverbs 24:11-12.” Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:9 let us not be silent when our brothers and sisters are being treated unjustly. We live in a sinful world we are part of this world in the sense that we live in this world but we should not do as the world does. We should not pretend as if we live in isolation we should uphold the truth and live justly. Summing it up we are under the law of Christ which is fulfilled in love. If we love him as we say we do we ought to obey his every commandment faithfully. We need to overcome temptations by using the word of God just as Jesus did, there is no temptation that we can’t bare. Satan will come with everything his got to trap us, let us stand on the word and not compromise with the devil.

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SALVATION

By far this is the most important topic in the whole book, it answers the question why we believe what we believe,

why we live the life that we do and why we often meet to read and talk about the bible. What is the ultimate goal

of every Christian? Summing it up it would be flying and being caught up with our Lord Jesus in the air at his

second coming and thus live and reign with him in the New Jerusalem and the New Earth forever and ever, Amen!

A wonderful peaceful happy place, John tells us in the book of Revelations, “And God will wipe away all tears from

their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for

the former things have passed away.” Revelations 21:4. Oh! How I wish to be there, even Paul tells us in his letter

to the Philippians “I press toward the goal of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:14, eternal life

is our goal.

How do we secure a place in God’s holy city, a city of pure gold like unto clear glass? How do we get there? Is

believing in Jesus as my Lord and Saviour enough? Or that God is all merciful and will not condemn his children to

destruction, how about not believing but having charitable works? We all have our theories or takes on this topic,

derived from tradition, friends, science or the church pastor, but what do the scriptures instruct us to do to inherit

eternal life?

I will begin with a real shocker, a reality check which some would call a wake up slap on the cheek, “Not everyone

that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father

which is in heaven.” Mathew 7:21. If we have called upon the name of the Lord and not all of us will inherit

paradise then what does that mean? You may need to take a moment and meditate on this verse to understand

the gravity of Jesus’ declaration. How is that when we called upon the name of the Lord we will miss out on our

ultimate prize? But the bible tells us in Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and

shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” What did Jesus mean

when he said that statement? Was he contradicting Paul’s statement? Certainly not! Jesus continues his teaching,

“Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils?

And in thy name done many wonderful works.” Mathew 7:22. These people are not Moslems or Hindus neither are

they atheists but these are people who considered themselves to be Christians, who did many wonderful works in

the Lord’s name. Jesus then tells them that he never knew them and that they should depart as they worked

iniquity. You and I both are Christians are we going to be part of this group? Think about it. What then are we

saying? If we are uncertain of salvation when we call on his name then why believe in him?

Let me first debunk the various views that some Christians hold which is a source of the many divisions that we see

in Christianity today.

Some say, “It doesn’t matter if you are religious or not, or to which religion you belong so long as you do good works of charity and helping the less privileged in society, God is for us all.” “It doesn’t matter if you believe in Jesus or Mohamed you just need to be socially acceptable and of good works of charity.” But we are told in Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” As much as we would want to be the world’s most charitable person it means nothing to Christ, Only by the name Jesus and not the name Charity are we truly saved, John tells us in 1 John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Neither Charity, Buddha nor Mohamed died for the sins of the entire sphere. “If we keep his commandments faithfully then we will be saved.” This is the conclusion of some of our church members, if we observe the Sabbath, we don’t kill anyone and obey our parents then we are guaranteed eternal life. There was a rich man who came to Jesus and asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus first asked him if he followed the commandments, not to kill, to honour thy mother and father and not to commit adultery.

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To which he confessed that he had kept these commandments from youth. If it was today this young man would have been a real saint a true Christian but Jesus told him that he lacked one thing. Here is an honest young man who honours God and his parents, does not take possession of other people’s belongings and even observes the Sabbath day. Yet Jesus told him that he lacked one thing, he told him to sell all that he had and distribute to the poor, Luke 18:22. Jesus was trying to teach this young man something very important. You can follow God’s commandment perfectly but at the same time you can be the world’s worst. You can be a very rich person, never helping anyone, or leading anyone who is spiritually deprived to God but still keep the Ten Commandments flawlessly. There is no righteousness in following the law. Selling all he had and distributing to the poor was an act of love, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8. If you hate someone you sin but love knows no hate, if your neighbour’s child is sick and needs to be taken to the hospital yet you have a car and you don’t help you commit sin. If you know someone who is hungry and you have plenty but do not lend a hand you sin. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. Love perfects the law, it will propel you to give a helping hand, even to someone you don’t know, go the extra mile for zero benefit, it is the gift of God as God is love, 1 John 4:8. Your sins accumulated against the good that you think you have done cannot save you. “I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”Galatians 2:21. Merely observing the Sabbath day will not earn you eternal salvation, it assumes to annul Jesus’ death on the cross, what did his death purpose if we are still bound by the law? There is the overlooked teaching of Jesus when he relates our relationship to a slave and his master. A servant is not rewarded for doing his duties, he is owned by his master, “But which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do.” Luke 17:7-10. And as such we are God’s slaves we ought not to steal, lie or have any other god, it is our duty to do these things it does not warranty salvation. In the parable of the talents recorded by Mathew in his 25th chapter the unprofitable servant even though it was not his duty to grow the talents was condemned by his master, “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Mathew 25:30. Whether you observe Saturday or Sunday as your Sabbath it will not earn you salvation. Some say, “We are no longer servants but friends of Jesus Christ.” well if you are his friend then take heed of his command, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:14. As one of my sisters put it, “We do not obey the law to be saved but we obey the law because we are saved.” “Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” Luke 18:22. In addition to selling all that he had and to give to the poor Jesus also told him to be his follower, only then could he truly inherit eternal life. He had to follow Jesus to be saved, he had to have faith in him, to believe that he was the son of God the anointed Messiah. Paul sums up the teaching Jesus gave to this ruler in Galatians 5:6, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” Whether we follow the law or not, it does nothing for our faith in Christ but love works a whole lot more for the faith. In fact Jesus made love a commandment, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35. So are we saved by faith in Jesus alone? “As long as you acknowledge that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Saviour that’s enough to get you into the promised land”, “I gave my life to Christ it doesn’t matter what I do I was saved.” Is just having faith enough? John writes in 1 John 2:4-5, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him.” If you are a witch and claim that you believe in Jesus you are a liar, if you are fornicating and say you love Jesus you are a liar, if you are a drunkard and say you follow Jesus you

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deceive yourself, you are a liar. In Paul’s epistle to Titus he says,” They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16. It is not enough just to profess that we believe in him our works ought to show that we are now Jesus Christ’s disciples, who help others in need, visit the sick in hospital and feed the hungry. James says, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” James 2:24. He tells us in his twentieth verse “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead” Some will argue and say, “Well isn’t that salvation by works?” They do not understand that saving works follow saving faith, because you cannot see my faith you can only see my resultant works which are based on my faith in the Messiah. There are those that say, “Our God is a merciful God and he loves us no matter what we do.” “It doesn’t matter if you’re good or bad we are his, he created us, he won’t condemn us his love is unconditional.” But Jesus tells us in John14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” It’s a very simple statement but one that is overlooked by the church of today. We know he loves you but do you love him back? If your parents love you they will give you direction and show you the right path, if you love them back you will not disappoint them, you will obey. If you do things against your parents’ will you are in danger of being disowned, same applies to our relationship with God. What he desires from us is a pure heart that seeks after him ever continually. We want to a have a God to whom we are not accountable to, a God who will allow us to do as we wish, a God who will give us anything we ask of him, the truth is we are but nothing in God’s eyes, our lives are as the passing wind. It is a blessing to be alive, to have food to eat and a roof over our heads. Some people are barely surviving, many in Africa are dying of hunger and countless number of people live on the streets and some reside in dilapidated houses. It is true God’s grace is all around us, the rains fall on the good and the evil, the most cruel Godless people have gone on to archive greatness, God showers his blessings on everyone. But there is an ultimate grace from God, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11-14. You can have a great life here on earth, have all the money I can’t count, and do all your heart’s desires but remember, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 In spite of God’s grace and mercy Jesus tells us in Mathew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the

gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is

the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” One of my favourite

evangelist had this to say about the preceding verses, “We love to talk about the gate but we have forgotten that

there is a way and our Lord Jesus is that way.” If we are solely saved by God’s grace, why then is there going to be

a day of judgement were everyone will give an account of themselves? “For by grace are ye saved through faith;

and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8. You need to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved, “He

that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not

believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18. John also tells us that the grace that we so love

to talk about came by Jesus Christ, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

John 1:17. Some conclude, “God is all merciful he won’t let us go to hell.” Very true but let us not forget also that

he is a righteous and just God, he is the executer of righteous judgment.

Some churches of today hold to the view that baptism is an unnecessary practice, and don’t baptize their members, it is not about what we think but what the bible says. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. Baptism is the washing away of the sins upon repenting, thus burying the old sinful person and resurrecting into newness of life just as Jesus did. Peter says something important when he tells them that upon baptism they would receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can only dwell in a cleaned heart that has been washed through baptism, Romans 6:3-5. Jesus expressly warned the people, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent,

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ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3. We are also told in Acts 22:16 that baptism is the washing away of sins. In Acts 8 we read Philip talking to the Ethiopian Eunuch about the scriptures, when they came unto a certain water the Eunuch asked Philip what hindered him from being baptized. In response Philip asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ as the son of God to which he asserted that he believed. If we pause here and look at this situation this means that the Eunuch had faith. But what happens next, the Eunuch was baptized, even thou he believed he was baptized. “And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.” Acts 18:8, even thou they believed they were baptized, there is no true conversion without repentance, which is the washing away of sins. Paul also tells us, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” Ephesians 4:5, he also says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” Peter explains that during the disobedience of Noah’s time only eight people were saved by water, “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 3:21. Baptism by water in Jesus’ name saves us, it is not about the physical washing of the body but a transformation of the inner person. Jesus himself tells us, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:16. Paul, Peter, Philip and Jesus Christ our Lord preached on baptism. But we need to understand that simply being dipped in water does not save you. For one to bake a chocolate cake you need sugar, salt, flour, and cocoa powder among other ingredients. Overlooking a single element can be costly to the end result even as insignificant as it may seem. And as such with the word of God, if the bible tells us that by doing this and that we will be saved we ought to follow it. We have something major to lose which is our part in the coming kingdom. In summation our title as Christians means total submission to Jesus Christ and his word, we believe in him as our Lord and Saviour the Messiah. We believe that Jesus Christ is thee way, he is the saviour of everyone in the entire world no matter where you are or who you are. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has appeared to us, it is a gift from God, it is a blessing from God to know our redeemer. Not many people have the opportunity that we have of knowing and worshipping him, and as such we are privileged to be part of those that will have a better resurrection, Hebrews 11:36. We need to acknowledge and worship him as our master, who made the heavens and the earth and everything in them including the angels and us in his own image. We ought to acknowledge that we are sinners and ask him to cleanse us from all sin. Jesus tells us in Luke 13 that except we all repent we will all likewise perish. We need to be washed clean by the precious blood of the spotless lamp of God. Only through him are our sins forgiven and washed away, baptism is the burial of the old person, we are buried with Christ when we are submerged in the water and arise just like he did to a new life, Romans 6:4. Truly speaking the work of an evangelist or pastor stops here, a lot of people when they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ they stop there. What I am saying is that they go back to the bar and get drunk, they go by the side road and pickup a prostitute, or mug the next person they meet. Yet these same people claim that they are saved, but not one part of their old life has changed. It is now up to the Holy Spirit to work that person’s heart to truly trusting in the name of Jesus Christ. The gospel is an absurd message that is difficult to explain, imagine trying to explain the virgin birth to a biologist, no matter how well you try to convince him you cannot easily win them over. That is the work of the Holy Spirit, I am a scientist and the virgin birth, the resurrection, and the crucifixion in actuality do not make scientific sense but the Holy Spirit worked the gospel to my understanding. It is up to us if we want the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts which we would have cleaned through repentance. Let me tell you a truth, if we continue to harden our hearts God will let us have our way and will blind us from the truth forever, pray that he will not let us be on our own, Romans 9:18, Hebrews 3:13. In 2 Thessalonians 2:11, Paul warned the church in Thessalonica that God will cause those that continue in sin to believe a lie, repent now before it is too late. Jesus describes true and false conversion in the parable of the sower in Mathew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. As long as we don’t open up to the work of the Holy spirit in our hearts we will never receive the message. We will just be creating an army of false converts that are destined for destruction. The first group of false converts are those that

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receive the word with all gladness but Satan quickly converts them back to the world. The second group of false converts are many of those that occupy the churches of today, they are those that believe but since they are not rooted and do not understand the fundamental principles of the Gospel they give up. This is the church of today, we have so many ministries opening up and advertising and luring people to church hinging on the theme of healing and prosperity. Instead of telling people the truth about the Gospel which involves suffering for Christ even unto death, we are losing souls to the dark side. Suppose that you are in an aeroplane and the attendant hands you a parachute. Here comes the dilemma what is the function of the parachute? Is it for you to enjoy your ride or that its purpose is to save your life in case something happens to the plane? The first mentioned function is the reason why many pulpits are creating false converts. Jesus Christ is that parachute, we are promised that when we put on Christ its smooth sailing which they soon find out that it is not the case. We do not put on the parachute to enjoy the ride but to be saved. Here is the difference between a true and a false convert, if an attendant accidentally spills hot soup on your trousers should you curse the parachute? Of course not we stand up and clean ourselves and then we get on with the journey wearing our parachutes. We should not throw away the parachute and complain that it did not save us from the hot soup, that is not its function the attendant has lied to you. True conversion is when you hear the word, you receive it into your heart and then you apply it every day of your life. We need to put on Christ, Galatians 3:27. Jesus Christ becomes the centre of your life, you despise that which is wicked and walk in the narrow path. In every Christian’s life Jesus Christ should come first, not after the wife, the kids, the job, the business, the bottle or soccer, Mathew 10:37. He later says if you turn back after you have decided to follow me you are not worthy of me. I remember in one church service were the Pastor hurried through the service so that people could go watch the football derby at the sports stadium. How can we elevate football a lifeless thing and compare it to the eternal life giving message of Jesus Christ. You should realise that the thing that most consumes your time and mind is your god. Some people have permanent seats in bars and they worship their god “alcohol” everyday without fail. I admire the allegiance that people have for soccer, it has become a god to millions of people around the world. If one’s team is defeated violence may breakout or even the frustration vented on the family. Some will not eat that day but they have never once in their lives fasted for Jesus Christ. I always say if people had the same zeal that they have for football as for the word of God this world would be a better place. I was listening to one preacher who I thought was going out of his mind when he said that he despises thought that say, “In addition to all that you have, the good house, nice cars, and a beautiful family you need Christ in your life.” He went on to say that we should not compare or equate Christ’s death for us on the cross to a car or some other essential item. Christ is our everything, without him we are nothing. If you are ashamed of the Gospel, to stand up and dance for your Lord when everyone else is sitting you are not yet a Christian. We need to understand the importance of Jesus Christ in our lives, he and only he is our salvation. We do not make Jesus Christ Lord of our lives he has always been your Lord whether you believe in him or not. To end this chapter there is a question that I had problems answering, “What will God do to those who have never heard the word of the Gospel?” Ever thought about it? The majority of the Jews do not believe in Jesus Christ but yet they are God’s friends because of their forefathers. If Jesus is the only saviour does that mean they are perishing? Or does God have another way to save them which is not through Jesus Christ. What of the millions of Moslems, Hindus, and other religions? I am talking about a tribe in the middle of the Amazon forest who have never heard of the bible, what will God do to them? Are they already condemned? Obviously it is not their fault that they do not know the word but the bible tells us that we shall all stand before the Judgement seat of Christ. When it comes to the topic of global salvation there are three distinct groups of people, the first group comprises those who have heard the gospel and are believers and are called Christians. The second group comprises those that have heard the gospel but have chosen to reject it. Then the last group are those that have been blinded from the gospel of Jesus Christ our saviour. This group includes the Jews and those that have died and are still dying without having known a single verse from the gospel. Paul

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gives us the answer to this seemingly tough question in Romans 2:12-16. “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law” If you have known the law you will be condemned by the law. You have heard that it was said don’t covert your neighbour’s wife but if you do the bible condemns you. If you proface ignorance for the word and reject it you are in danger of hell fire. If you have not heard the word you are not spared as you will also stand before Christ, this time you will be judged according to the societal laws. Every society has in it inherent elements of the law or a version of their own law, that is to say there are things that are acceptable and those that are unacceptable in society. If society outlaws killing then Jesus will judge you according to that. Verse 15 tells us that our hearts know what is wrong and what is right, we have no excuse. We shall all stand before Jesus’ Judgement sit.

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BEING A CHRISTIAN

The mark of a true disciple of Jesus according to the Lord himself is found in John 13:35, “By this all man know that

you are my disciples if ye have love for one another.” This is how the world will know that you are a Christian. A

loving heart is a heart that is pure, a heart that knows no hate, a heart that is merciful and forgiving, a heart that

holds no grudge, a heart that is not jealous of anyone, a heart that suffers for others, this is the mark of a truly

converted Christian. I’ll talk about two things that will sum up what every loving disciple of Christ should have and

exercise in their daily lives. The first is the whole armour of God and the second are the fruits of the disciple.

The first element I will look at is the whole amour of God. I have come across people that say that they find it difficult being Christian. I have heard some say, “l am failing to fit Christianity into my life.” or “I just don’t have the time.” In Christ we have become new creatures, the old us has passed away and the new us is walking in Jesus’ marvellous light. This light shines on us every second of the day, it guides and protects us where ever we are. We don’t fit Christianity into our lives, Christianity is our way of life. The Christian life is the life of a soldier who is totally obedient to the commander even unto death. As a soldier you no longer live for yourself but for your country which is the Kingdom of God for every Christian. Christianity is your way of life, the way you interact with people around you or how you do your work or spend you spare time should be in accordance with Christ’s commandments. Everything has to fit into your Christianity not the other way round. Paul in his letter to the saints in Ephesus tells us that as soldiers of Christ we ought to guird the Whole Amour of God. The moment that you accept Christ into your life you become the devil’s number one enemy. Peter gives us a warning, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” 2 Peter 5:8. Paul then tells us our weapons arsenal, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11. A careful study of our majestic armour will help us to be able to overcome and defend ourselves and others from all of the devil’s temptations. Each part of the armour reveals some important tools, even more so than that of a real soldier as we fight not against flesh and blood but against invisible powers. This armour is that sophisticated, to fight wars in other dimension, we need to be able to understand and wear it so that we can use it effectively. The first piece which is usually the last to be worn is the helmet of salvation. The salvation given to the believer was procured by the precious blood of Jesus. Paul tells us in Romans 10:10, that salvation is obtained upon confession by the mouth that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. Putting on the helmet of Salvation is acknowledging that the believer recognizes each and every second of every day that they are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. That confirmation, which is putting on the helmet of salvation, causes you to realize that you are saved, not of yourself but by one who is mightier than all, he will help you get through the day and to fight the good fight. If we realise this each and every day it will stop us from being pompous and humble ourselves as we wear Jesus’ helmet to protect the most vulnerable part of our body. Not many people realise that the spiritual battle is fought in the mind. Ideas come in through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and sensory nerves of the skin, these are first processed is the brain. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” Romans 12:2. It is where we get to chose if we want to follow Satan or God’s word. The armour is given through spiritual conversion, after we have repented, born again and are walking in God’s will. The helmet is a symbol of your salvation in Christ, Paul tells us, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5. The unsaved person has no hope of warding off the blows of false doctrine because he is without the helmet of salvation and his mind is incapable of discerning between spiritual truth and spiritual deception. We need to tighten the belt of truth around our waists as it supports the rest of the armour. If it is not tight enough our armour will fall down and we will be ashamed. We need to stand firm on the truth and the truth is Jesus Christ. The truth of the Christian is the word of God that is found in the bible, we tell it like it is. If we chose to lie about our conviction for Jesus Christ then we lose our shield of faith, how can I be able to use the sword on my enemy if I don’t believe that the word of Christ is sharper than a two edged sword. It requires courage to tell

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the truth, we can come to know this truth by reading the bible and learning from others. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32. The truth is what Jesus has told us to say and do, I will not lie because I am Jesus’ disciple, I know that lying is a sin. Being one’s self, and being sincere sets us free from being a fake. It frees us from the fear of man or peer pressure. God hates hypocrisy. The word hypocrite means “actor” or “one who wears a mask.” Being real keeps you from so many attacks of the enemy, forget about impressing anyone be yourself. Some define truth as when word and deed are one. If I say I don’t fornicate yet I do then I am not telling the truth. We live in a world where there is no regard for the truth. The definition of truth in our society today is that truth is what you believe or feel is the truth regardless of overwhelming evidence that what you believe in is wrong. The truth of Jesus Christ is the only power that can stand before the lies and deceptions of Satan, the devil cannot stand the truth. Let us stand on the truth, to call a spade a spade and not cover up or water down the truth. “Guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life" Proverbs 4:23. Every emotion we experience in life comes from the heart. The root word of righteousness is “right” right living guards our heart from wrong emotions and temptations. The habit of right living is a defence against wrong. Righteousness is a condition of the heart not of the head, Paul tells us that man believe with their hearts to righteousness, Romans 10:10. What we have in our hearts determines the course of our lives. If our hearts are filled with bitterness, unbelief and fear, our lives will go the wrong way. The word of God is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, Hebrews 4:12. If our hearts are filled with faith, peace and love, our lives will go the right way. We see that the breastplate protects the heart which must remain completely devoted and obedient to God’s ways no matter the situation. It does not matter if your wife has cheated on you, you remain obedient to his word, even if your son is murdered by someone you know and nothing was done to that person your heart must remain true to God’s ways. In addition to the protection by the helmet, and breastplate the first line of defence for every believer is the shield of faith. In ancient warfare fiery darts were launched in great numbers from all directions. This was done to confuse and cause panic to the enemy. Thoughts, feelings, imaginations, fears and lies can be hurled by Satan as fiery darts. Paul tells us in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, in him our protection is complete. The shield of faith is only as big and strong as our trust in Jesus Christ. Remember all the times that Jesus remarked, “Or ye of little faith”, try to picture how each person’s shield of faith would look like. I’m picturing a paper shield, as small as a business card or for most of us an air shield because we do not believe in Jesus Christ. We require a shield that withstands Satan’s weapons arsenal. What of such a statement? “There is now scientific evidence that man evolved from ape.” How would you react to such a statement? I’ll laugh as I know that my Saviour is the creator of all man, I will not let such a statement shake my faith, don’t let such things put holes in your shield of faith. You cannot have a half shield were you partly believe in Jesus and partly in necromancy or witchcraft. If your shield has holes in it you are more susceptible and tolerant of false teachings. We need to build on our faith, we build on it through reading and understanding his word and also listening to other people’s testimonies, Romans 10:17. Only then can we fully defend ourselves from Satan, a shield of faith that is as strong as diamond and without holes of doubt. The size, shape and strength of you shield is proportional to your belief in Jesus Christ, as you grow in your faith you shield becomes impenetrable to Satan’s schemes. Jesus requires your complete allegiance, he wants us to trust fully in him so that he can be able to protect us. Shields were primarily used for individual protection, but could be overlapped to form a large wall of protection. If we stand together as Jesus Christ’s disciples we will be invincible. While all the other pieces of spiritual armour are defensive in nature, the sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon in the armour of God. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. It speaks of the holiness and power of the Word of God. Paul tells us in Hebrews 4:12 that the word of God is powerful and sharper than a two edged sword. A greater spiritual weapon is not conceivable. In Jesus' temptations in the desert, the Word of God was always his overpowering response to Satan, “It is written…..” What a blessing that the same word is available to us, we can only use the sword effectively if we have knowledge of the word, this is achieved by constantly reading and meditating on the word which is found in the bible, Joshua 1:8. Anywhere were the word of God is truthfully and sincerely spoken or sung Satan is driven away he cannot stand to hear God’s name being praised.

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We are to have our feet shod in the preparation of the Gospel of peace. The word preparation tells us this has to be done in advance. Part of the Christian's walk is to be ready to go out at any time to present the Gospel of Peace. That Gospel of peace is the Gospel of Jesus Christ found in the bible. We have to know his word inside and out and be prepared. Many people do not know how to explain to others the steps one has to take to be saved. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” 1 Peter 3:15. If we are going to share the peace of God, we need to have his peace. We need to experience his peace for ourselves. We impart what we are, more than what we say. We have to live the life before we can impart it to others. “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:26- 27. We can’t speak about the peace that passes all understanding, if we don’t have it. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isaiah 52:7. Again, “And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:15. A Christian soldier preaches the peace of Jesus Christ which brought both Gentiles and Jews to be one people, it is a gospel of unity, Ephesians 2:14. As you cannot see my faith or the size of my shield you will know me by my works of faith. Jesus tells us in Mathew 7:16 that false prophets are known by their sower fruits, it is the same for all of us. A truly converted Christian is one who bares good fruit in his life, they are the ones to whom the seed was sown on good soil and produced 100 fold. Jesus tells us that every tree that does not bare good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire, Mathew 3:10. We aim towards Christ’s perfection but we can never be like him and such we fall from time to time, that is why we need to bare the fruit of repentance every day of our lives, Luke 3:8. We humble ourselves before the Lord and ask for his mercy and forgiveness, acknowledging that we need him to save us from our sinful way of life. Repentance stops you from putting yourself above anyone as you know that Jesus Christ is the only perfection. It will stop you from despising anyone as God created us all in his image. As we walk towards Jesus’ perfection we ought to bare fruits of righteousness, Philippians 1:11, we are to do what is right. How much do you trust in the Lord before you take matters into your own hands and do what is contrary to the word? Whether it is in sickness, poverty or suffering we ought to remain completely obedient to his commandments no matter how difficult it may seem. Remember that there is no test hard enough that you can’t get out of, God assures us of victory. Galatians 5:22-23, summarises much of the fruits given to us by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that we ought to

bare each and every day and so ever in abundance. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,

gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” It is an expansion of the golden

rule that we should love our neighbour just as we love ourselves. These fruits are born from the heart they are the

laws that Jesus left when he nailed that piece of paper that was against us to the cross. “For the fruit of the Spirit is

in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” Ephesians 5:9.

When you walk with Christ there is no need of the written law, keeping his law comes naturally to you because the

spirit that dwells in you guides you in the right path. I will not consult a spiritual medium because I know my

healing comes from God, I ought to exercise patience. Even if my sister curses me, and runs away after having

stolen my money and for many year she doesn’t communicate and latter requires my help I will assist her because

I love her. Love admonishes you to do things for others, it compels you to work for Christ. Paul tells us that we

ought to bare fruits of good works, Colossians 1:10, to go that extra mile just to do something for someone asking

for nothing back not even expecting a simple “thank you”. I read this quote somewhere, “True happiness is

knowing that someone somewhere is smiling because of me.” It is such a blessing to hear someone say “thank

you”, it fills my heart with so much joy.

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We often forget that we were created to worship our creator, we spend most of our time bombarding him with

our requests, “Lord do this for me”, “Jesus I want this.” We forget to thank him for each and every day of our lives,

we need to bare fruits of thanksgiving, Hebrews 13:15. Thank him for the plate of food before you, many people

are starving to death in Somalia and Ethiopia among other poor countries. Thank him for the children he has given

you and raise them up to know their God. Thank him for your health, many are born with hereditary diseases and

are in suffering most of their earthly lives. Some are born crippled and some are born with mental challenges such

that they cannot do anything on their own let alone worship God. Thank him because you can freely proclaim his

word and pray whenever without persecution as some Christians in Islamic nations.

Being a Christian is not something that is found on the outside it is on the inside. A Christian is not defined by what their wearing, be it a church choir uniform or that they carry a cross around their neck, those things mean nothing, nothing at all. It is not that you attend church service every week or that your car has stickers of “Jesus” on them. It does not matter if you partake of the Holy Communion every week or that you have been giving your tithes to the Lord for the last twenty years. It does not matter if you do many works of charity or deposit one thousand dollars into the church basket. “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Micah 6:6-8. God desires mercy not sacrifice, he wants your pure heart, remember that he created all, he owns everything. Some of those that posses Christian visual material such as stickers, necklaces and T-shirts are not truly converted, they try to convince people that they are. Posting a Christian message on Facebook or any other social network does not make you Christian neither does writing a book.

Christ expects that we follow his commandments when we have been born again? Surely if you have been saved

something has to change in your life. If you continue robbing banks then your conversion was false, if you continue

fornicating then your conversion was fake. I am not saying that you change automatically but that there should be

a continuous change in your life, walking towards Christ’s perfection. A change from the darkness to a life of living

in Jesus’ marvellous light. If there is no visible positive change in your life you have not been truly converted as

you are not following any of Christ’s commandments.

“Being a Christian is very hard” I’ve heard some say, it is hard being a Christian because we harden our hearts, it is because we want to entertain the desires of the flesh. As a young man an ideal Saturday night would be that I go for a party, get drunk and jump into bed with someone. King Solomon who had it all tells us in Ecclesiastes that it is all vanity, its artificial fun that will be gone the next minute, it doth not profit you in any way. You wake up with a hangover, sleeping next to a stranger and confused about what had happened the night before. The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in such a filthy temple, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” Romans 8:5, Paul then tells us that those in the flesh cannot please God, let us walk in the Spirit. The love that Christ has given us makes our lives so simple. I don’t spend my time thinking about how much I hate someone and what terrible thing to do to them. Love clears your mind it frees you of worldly things. Have you ever realised that when you hate someone each time you see them they occupy you mind, you frown and look to the side. Hating someone only hurts you not the person you are hating. Just as a soldier dresses up before a battle, so should a Christian put on his or her armour each morning. As you put your belt on in the morning, ask God to make you sincere. Determine in your heart to be truthful with yourself and with others. Have no shame in telling the truth as you know that it will set you free. An honest person will bare fruits of repentance each day as we acknowledge our wrong doings. As you put on your shirt or blouse for the day, determine to live right with everyone. Guard your heart and watch your emotions for the day. Bare the fruits of the Holy Spirit where ever you will be during the day, be gentle, patient, tolerant, and loving to everyone. Also bare the fruits of good works, help were ever you can. As you put your shoes on, ask God to make you a peacemaker. Ask him to give you power and courage as you look for opportunities to witness for Christ. As you put on your jacket or jersey, remember that you are complete in Christ. Shun that which is ungodly and concentrate on

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things of the Spirit. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31. Carry you Bible in your clothing or purse to have it with you all day. Find scriptures to meditate on all day, this will stop Satan’s firry darts from reaching you. Do all this in prayer asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion as the spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up, pray always for all God’s people, Ephesians 6:18, Mathew 26:14. As you comb your hair, reminisce about the day you were saved, praise God for it, bare the fruits of thanksgiving, guard your thoughts. Begin your day with a song, it will keep depression and worries away. Before you leave the house for the day, remember you are a soldier. There is a warfare to face, Satan will through everything his got at you. Do not be surprised or discouraged over problems during the day. Just remember that what you are facing is faced by every other Christian in the world, 1 Peter 5:8-9.

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CHRISTIAN ZIONISM

Christianity has its roots in the Jewish religion, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour was Jewish, our highest authority is the Jewish bible written by Jewish man, everything about Christianity emanated from the Jewish religion, we cannot dissociate ourselves from the Jews. I do not understand why there is so great a resentment for the Nation of Israel, a tiny little country with only about six million people, a meagre 0.1% of the world’s population. This hatred is even widespread among the Christian community were pastors propagate lies that the Jews are no longer God’s people. Many factors could be the cause of this hatred, the promises that God gave the nation of Israel which has seen great material wealth possessed by the Jews. And of course their occupation of the Promised Land which the Palestinians claim is theirs. We ought to give thanks to the Jewish prophets and the apostles for preserving and transmitting the good news of Jesus Christ to us so that we may receive eternal life. If we call ourselves Christian but despise the Jews we deny the power of God’s word, their unbelief was foretold many years before Jesus was born. Some Christians hold to the claim that the church replaced Israel a term popularly termed “Replacement theology”. This has no biblical basis and tends to discredit God’s promises for Israel. “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 7:6. Let us not forget that the first Christians were Jews, how can Jews replace themselves? It was not of their choice but God elected them, “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” Romans 9:15. Verse 20 goes on to say, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” My dear brethren let us worship the Lord in fear, why do we want to question God, “For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” Isaiah 14:27. Yahweh chose Israel as a model, to be a light, a beacon, for the rest of the world, to show us how to worship and obey the one and only God Yahweh. At Jacob’s well where Jesus met the Samaritan woman, a Gentile, Jesus had this to tell her, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22. After the great flood the Jews starting from Abraham were the first people to follow the one true God. Jesus then tells us that salvation came from the Jews, him being the saviour. Paul tells us in Romans 11:17-18, “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” We have been grafted into the family of God as adopted sons. The Christian faith came out of the Jewish religion, we should not boast and think that we are more important than the Jews. Paul then warns us, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” Romans 11:25. Read that again, they did it for us, until you, I, he and she have entered into the kingdom. Paul then tells us the reason why the Jews do not believe Jesus Christ, “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” Romans 11:28. The Jews were blinded for our sake so that we can receive salvation, they became the enemy of the Gospel for our cause, but they still remain God’s chosen people because of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. Abraham was a righteous man who obeyed his creator and just because of that God made a covenant with him in Genesis 17:8 “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” The Israelites have the right to the land of Israel because God gave it to them, not because of anything that they did but because of God’s promise to Abraham. The God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David is the same God that we worship.

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We might not realize it but the nation of Israel made a huge sacrifice for the Gentiles. But throughout history Christians have persecuted the Jews who they hold responsible for executing the Messiah. As much as we did not want him to die he had to because he had to fulfil prophecy including his death at the hands of the Jews. Many a times Satan tried to thwart Jesus’ fulfilment of prophecy, we read from the Gospels in Luke 4:29-30 that Satan stirred up the people to kill Jesus by attempting to throw him over the brow of a hill but all was in vain. Yet we know the Old Testament scriptures predicted that the Messiah would fulfil prophecy at his coming. There is nothing that we can do to change the course of prophecy, if it was prophesied then it was to happen as exactly as was foretold whether we like it or not. It is not the faulty of the Jews that Jesus was crucified, it is because of our sins yours and mine. Besides we know that Christ is alive and is seated right now at the right hand of the Father, our Lord is alive why are we still living in the past? “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. Jesus our ultimate sacrifice died for the atonement of all sins for both Jews and Gentiles, Paul continues in the next verse, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. ” Jesus death on the cross abolished the laws given to Israel which divided the Jews from the rest of the world, “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:13-14. We are already heirs of Abraham’s promise together with Israel, why then do we want to push them out or replace them? For through Jesus we have access to the same Father by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 2:18. The bible speaks volumes about this tiny Middle Eastern nation, a nation that began with Abraham and his family and then his descendants. But not all of Abraham’s descendants are Israelites, all those that are descendant from Ishmael did not receive the promise of the land of Cannan. But God heard Abraham’s request and assured him that he would bless Ishmael and that he would give him many children and many descendants. Besides Ishmael Abraham also had other sons by Keturah Genesis 25:1, but these also were not part of the covenant. The descendants of Ishmael, together with the children of Keturah and Esau make up the Arab nations. God foretold even before Jacob and Esau were born, “And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:23. , “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” Genesis 17:19. The children born in the normal way were not part of the covenant that God made with Abraham, but those that were born of promise are those that God established his covenants with. Each time a person is born again they enter into the promise that God gave Abraham and such we become his adopted children. “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” Galatians 4:28-29. The Arab nations resent the Israelites because they received the promise and they are in conflict with them even today. It should not surprise us if the conflict in the Middle East is insolvable, the conflict was foretold long ago we cannot do much to stop it, only the Lord of heaven can stop it. Some of the Arab nations such as Iran have called for the complete removal of the nation of Israel, to wipe it off the face of the earth. As much as they would desire to see that come to fruition it will never happen as God has not purposed it. However it does not mean they are immune from persecution, the Jews are our brethren and as such we need to pray for them, as well as those that persecute them. In the media Israel is portrayed as an evil nation but in reality they are a peace loving nation that is in a volatile region. Don’t believe everything you read or hear in the media read on and dig for the untold truth, take it from me I used to hate Israel. The United Nations as an organisation works against Israel, they are quick to criticise the Jews when they retaliate after prolonged bombardment from such groups as Hezbolla. Keep in mind that when the New Jerusalem that holy city, our home comes down from heaven, Revelations 21:2, the twelve gates through which we will enter into the city are named after the twelve tribes of Israel, verse 12.

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OUR GATHERING UP TO JESUS CHRIST

I remember when I was young during the time I was in primary school I often had a frightening dream. I would find

myself standing in the graveyard with a bright light illuminating all around the cemetery. Somehow I just knew that

the atmosphere was during the end of the world as there was an unusual sound that I could not understand. Then

the most frightening part was that the graves would open and people would awake. Even though I could not make

out who these people were it really scared me, and it has helped me through my childhood years to be a God

fearing child. I never knew that God was actually showing me a vision of the end times and now that I have heard

and read of these forth coming events in the bible I believe that God was warning me. “For the Lord himself shall

descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in

Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to

meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. These two verses have

helped me understand my dreams. This gathering up to meet him is known as the rapture.

The occurrence of this event is agreeable to all professing Christians but the dispute is about the timing of this

great day, there are basically two views about this event. The first view is that the rapture will happen after the

great tribulation and those who hold to this view are post-tribers. Most institutions of today hold to the view that

the church will not go through the great tribulation but will be saved and are known as pre-tribers. I have read a lot

of articles about this topic from the pre-tribers and post-tribers as well as debates and what I have found is that

there is a lot of name calling as well as Satan pointing. This event as much as we would like to write volumes on is

not a fundamental Christian doctrine, what I’m saying is that whether we believe in the pre- or post-tribulation

rapture scenario at some point we will be ruptured even if we believed in the wrong rapture theory. For the

Kingdom of God is not a matter of which rapture theory you believe in but about righteousness peace and joy

which the Holy Spirit gives, Roman 14:17. Why then do we have to call each other names? I could stop here and

close this topic but there is something to be learnt from this study.

It is important to understand that the scriptures contain answers for proof of doctrine, if it does not appear then

we weren’t meant to know about it, if we can’t find it we can argue all we want. We know that the bible was

written under God’s directive, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for

reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16. Any kind of doctrine that we may come

across can be tested by the bible, if it has errors it should be corrected by the bible. This world that we live in has a

lot of evangelists who are master orators and they are very good at getting people excited. I have observed that

straight from a political rally opposition parties have been known to topple governments whether through violence

or protests. One thing you can never tell is if that which they were being told is all true. Even Paul warned the

people whilst he was preaching to the Colossians, “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing

words.” Colossians 2:4. Same applies to us Christians we hear very exciting speakers and we jump up and down,

dance and run around but the difference with us is that we can prove if what was being said was truth or fable. We

do this by searching through the scriptures just as the people in Acts 11:17. They received the word with all

gladness but searched the scriptures daily to prove if what they were being taught was the truth. Don’t accept

everything you are told confirm with the bible, even if what is being said sounds logical. Again the bible tells us

that we should not trust our hearts as they are full of wicked thoughts but we should follow what the bible says as

it is the source of all truth.

Any doctrine that may arise should be consistent with the rest of scripture, the context in which a certain doctrine

is found is important in identifying the relevance of that doctrine. Taking the temptations of Jesus as an example

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Satan quotes Psalms 91:11-12 “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall

bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” It is amazing to know that even Satan knows

the scriptures, if our enemy knows the word of God how much more should we be in the knowledge of God’s

word. Here is Satan opening the pages of the bible and showing us this very Psalm and telling us, “Its okay you can

jump of the bridge God’s angels will catch you.” we would probably take the bible, read the verse and then we

agree as it is in the bible and then we go ahead and take the plunge. But then Jesus counters him with a more

authoritative response, “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.” Deuteronomy 6:16.

Jesus defended himself using the scriptures, and as the scripture was used to reproof Satan’s claim the scripture

can also be used to test these rapture theories.

As I said before the contention is about the timing of the rapture, is it before or after the great tribulation? Such

verses as 1 Corinthians 15:52 only describe what happens at the rapture it has no timeline attached to it, you

cannot use it as support for the pre-tribulation or post-tribulation theory. What gives an indication of the period in

which it will occur are verses 54 and 55, “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal

shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in

victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” When our bodies are changed at the rapture

there will be no more death, death would have been defeated. We very well know that a lot of lives will be lost

during the great tribulation, how can the saying come to pass that death is swallowed up in victory if we are

ruptured before the great tribulation? Death will only be defeated at the last day when all the saints will be

resurrected as Jesus tells us in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw

him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” I am sure if we are raised before the unveiling of the antichrist that

definitely will not be the last day of this age.

In Revelations 20 verse 4 John sees the resurrection of those who were beheaded for their witness of Jesus, he

then tells us that they lived and rained with Christ for a thousand years. In the next verse, “But the rest of the dead

lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” If the first resurrection

happens just before the millennial reign of Christ what resurrection would that be purported by those who believe

in the pre-trib theory? “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death

hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

Revelations 20:6.

Apparently such beliefs existed even during the time of the apostles, someone was causing mischief and anxiety in

the church by spreading false rumours. There were people in Thessalonica who were going around telling people

that the day of the Lord had arrived, probably some pre-tribers. Paul wrote to the church informing them that this

was not true and that they shouldn’t be deceived in any way. In fact Paul tells us that there are things that will

precede that day, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling

away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The rapture will not happen

until the antichrist is revealed, furthermore we are told in the next verse that he will exalt himself to God’s position

and sit in the temple in Jerusalem. At this present moment there is no temple in Jerusalem it has to be built first.

The rapture cannot happen until these things are fulfilled, God is true to his word. Jesus himself tells us in the

gospels that there are preceding events before he comes back to planet earth to take his saints. “Immediately after

the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall

fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man

in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds

of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall

gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Mathew 24:29-31. The

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rapture happens after the great tribulation, it is worth noting that Jesus says that all the tribes of the world will

mourn, not just the twelve tribes of Israel but everyone in every continent. It is not an isolated event but it will

affect everyone.

Similar events are also recorded in the Old Testament by the prophets, Isaiah describes the rapture and assures that we will be raptured just before God assures in his anger on the ungodly, Isaiah 26:19-26. Zephaniah also records in Zephaniah 2:3, “Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.” The great tribulation is not the wrath of God but it is actually the wrath of the antichrist. We will not be raptured before the antichrist starts his persecution but we will be raptured before God’s anger is revealed. Those who quote 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and Romans 5:9 are correct God will deliver us from his wrath. Paul assures us in his letter to the church in Colossi, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” Colossians 3:5-6. I might go on and on quoting verse after verse but it is not necessary to spend time over such minor issues, we

ought to concentrate on winning hearts for Christ and knowing God. It is good to discuss and argue constructively

as it helps us to study and search the scriptures. I will leave that for you to research, it’s a very exciting and hope

filled topic. One positive I can draw from the pre-tribulation theory is that even though it has no biblical support it

makes the un-believer feel the urgency to seek Christ right now without delay as he is expected any time. It serves

to make the Christian purify oneself preparing for the imminent departure. I must warn that the belief of the pre-

tribulation theory may be detrimental to one’s faith. Suppose that one day you wake up, you turn on the radio and

you find out that the antichrist has signed the seven year peace treaty with Israel and that you have not been

raptured. At the least you would realize that what you believed in was wrong and you now know the truth and will

now stand on the word. It can lead to some totally losing their faith and begin to question their very belief system

and the gospel. A falling away from the Christian faith may happen which would be very sad indeed. It is better to

know the truth today and teach the correct thing than attract people by assuring them of a non-event.

We need to prepare ourselves for the worst time in the history of the world. We are told in the book of Revelations

that the antichrist will be given power over the saints, many will be beheaded for their allegiance to Christ. I do not

write this to scare you but to tell you to prepare, many Christian saints were persecuted and continue to be

tortured, burnt and killed, who can forget the Dark Ages when tens of millions of Christians lost their lives. Some of

God’s most devoted servants suffered greatly to the point of death, John the Baptist was beheaded, Steven was

stoned and Antipas was burnt to death. What makes the last generation of Christians any special such that we will

not go through the great tribulation? Paul shares his own tribulations in 2 Timothy 3:11 and 2 Corinthians 11:24-27

and how Jesus delivered him from all of them. The great tribulation is the final test, “Fear none of those things

which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have

tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelations 2:10. We need to

hold onto the hope that we have been promised at all cost. We should endure to the end even onto death, Jesus is

waiting with our crown of everlasting eternity.

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THE LAST STRETCH

Having read through the preceding chapters you may have realised that some things that we hold on to are not all

correct. There is a lot that is going on behind the scenes, try to be open minded, we were all furnished with a

brain, make up your own mind but first dig for the truth as it will set you free. I’m going to run a lot of things to

give you a story behind a story so to speak. But do not believe everything I am writing, do your own research and

be amazed. Let’s dive into it!

The world is becoming more and more ungodly, homosexuality is spreading like a veld fire throughout the world. I

heard about a state in the USA that is considering issuing short term marriage certificates. Marriage has become

nothing more than a piece of paper, there are now courts dedicated to divorce cases. Prostitution is legal in a

number of countries and is now being recognised as a profession. With the advent of the internet school children

can now easily access pornographic material and are fornicating at an early stage. Even worse condoms are now

being distributed in schools. Drug abuse is on the increase even now in Africa. These days women are competing

with man for the bottle, something that was taboo to see a woman drinking beer in a bar. Whoever heard of

women raping men? Brace yourselves this is just the beginning. “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the

coming of the Son of man be.” Mathew 24:37. So what were the days of Noah like? Why did the Lord purge the

human race with a great flood? Was it because of ungodliness? No! We are still as ungodly as ever, there was more

that was happening.

“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the

daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of

renown.” Genesis 6:4. Who came unto the daughters of men? The Old Testament referred to the angels as the

sons of God, Job 1:6, 38:7. The sexual union between angels and the daughters of man bore giant super humans

that were called Nephilim. The evidence for the existence of the Nephilim goes beyond the biblical record. The

book of Enoch although not part of the inspired canon was written by a godly man, Jude quotes from Enoch in his

14th verse. Enoch in his book describes how the fallen angels defiled themselves with the daughters of men and

taught men how to be more ungodly. They instructed people on earth in many studies, including the use of charms

and enchantments, the arts of magic, and the secrets of the cosmetic trade. They taught man about astrology, with

all its concomitant evils. They also instructed men on how to fashion weapons of destruction, particularly swords,

knives and shields.

Another source of information is the abundance of myths, legends, folklore and fables that speak of "giants" upon

the earth in ancient times, and how there was sexual union between gods from heaven and women from earth.

These legends did not just emerge from nowhere they had an origin. Remember the tales of Hercules, half man

half god, the Genesis 6 story corresponds to the Age of the Heroes in Greek mythology.

There is something interesting that Enoch talks about in his book, although his book is not in the bible we cannot

exactly call it inspired. However Jude quotes from it so he viewed it as a reliable source. This was an instruction

given by Enoch to the fallen angels (Watchers), “The giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be

called evil spirits upon the earth...Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men

and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin... And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress,

attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth...And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and

against the women, because they have proceeded from them...thus shall they destroy until the day of the

consummation, the great judgment in which the age shall be consummated over the Watchers and the godless,

yea, shall be wholly consummated.”

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Peter tells us that, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them

into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;” 2 Peter 2:4. Jude adds on, “And the angels which kept not

their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the

judgment of the great day.” Jude 6. These fallen angels are in hell waiting for judgement, Enoch tells us that their

offspring the Nephilim are the evil spirits that torment us day and night. These are the things that we exorcise in

our churches every day. The fallen angels are no more but the spirits of the Nephilim are all around us they did not

perish in the flood. Genesis 6:4, tells us that the Nephilim were there before and after the flood.

A lot of scholars tie the UFO phenomenon to these human angel hybrids. UFOs or more popularly termed aliens

are becoming a common site in our earthly skies. You may call it fiction but the evidence is too much to ignore,

millions of people claim to have been abducted. They have been picked up on raider and they leave tangible

evidence. Implant chips have been found in some of those who claim to have been abducted, descriptions of these

visitors have been consistent. You may ask what am I on about, we cannot simply dismiss them as hoaxes or

people’s wild imaginations, there is something going on.

What I am looking at is that if indeed these extra terrestrial beings are from another planet how does that affect

our Christianity. Those that have been abducted say that the aliens claim that they are higher beings than humans,

are they then sinless? Did Jesus also die for their sins? If what they claim is true then we can as well throw away

our bibles because we have been believing a lie. It would mean that there are other worlds out there apart from us

and that these aliens are more advanced societies visiting us from another planet. Scientists have spent millions of

dollars building facilities for the sole purpose of communicating with life beyond earth to no avail.

“And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be

for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” Genesis 1:14. God created the host of heaven for planet earth

to help its inhabitants for what I would sum up as time keeping, personally I don’t think there is any life out there,

God would have told us. What then are they? They have been known to appear and disappear without a trace and

move of at very high speeds. This gives us the notion that these extra terrestrial visitors are not from our

dimension, the only other dimension we are aware of is the spirit realm. Angels have been known to appear and

disappear at will. Observations by some who have witnessed aliens recall distinct insignias or emblems on their

uniforms. Alien symbology is identical to that of the Mystery Religions of ancient Babylon. There are different kinds

of these aliens, the winged-sun disk symbol is worn by aliens known as "Draconis" or Reptilian race and is a

popular display of occultism. The double-headed eagle or Phoenix is associated with the “Lyrae-Grey” a trademark

of the Scottish Rite branch of Freemasonry. What then is that all about? How does it affect us?

Paul describes to the Church in Thessalonica the time of Jesus Christ’s coming, “Let no man deceive you by any

means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son

of perdition;” 2 Thessalonians 2:3. With Israel back in the land and the stage being set for such prophecies as the

Magog invasion we are ever closer to the coming of our Lord. But first there will be a falling away of people from

the true faith which will lead to the worship of the son of perdition, the anti-Christ. Satan is working to achieve a

One World Government, economy, and religion where he will appoint his seed to rule. He is doing this through

Secret Occultic societies, Christian heresies, United Nations, the New Age, and UFO's.

A deception is something that looks very harmless, and if we are not careful we will fall, ever heard of the term

Chrislam? It is a religious movement whose goal is to unite Christians and Moslems so as to stop wars between the

two religions in countries like Nigeria. “Sounds like a noble idea, surely it will bring about peace why not?” you may

say. One spiritual leader said “l wish that one day Moslems, Buddhists, Earthiest, Hindus, and Christians can pray

together as one.’’ Do not be fooled there is a bigger picture behind this movement, Moslems pray to Allah a moon

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god, we pray to Yahweh the only true God. Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 10:20 that we should not fellowship with

them as they sacrifice to devils and not to God, Jesus is the only way not Mohammed. The ultimate goal of this

deception is to unite the world religions preparing them for the son of perdition’s rule. Look up on NASA’s blue

beam project.

The things that we were taught as kids that we all pray to the same God is a lie, however there are many gods but

only one true God Yahweh. Remember Nebuchadnezzar’s dream were he rounded up all the astrologers,

magicians, sorcerers and Chaldeans and commanded them to tell him his dream and its interpretation. Their

response, “And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king,

except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Daniel 2:11. In other words only true gods could describe the

dream and its interpretation, that is exactly what Yahweh did through Daniel. Same thing, the classic showdown at

the top of Mount Carmel one against 450 prophets of Baal, just proves that numbers is just a number, Jehovah

through Elijah proved that he was the one true Elohim.

Let me a be a bit scientific and share something I have observed in this world. The beginning of the world to the

end of the age is like an equation, everything that happens in this world falls within the limits of prophecy. The

combined armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon with the help of Iraq, Saud Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria and Sudan

were defeated in only 6 days by Israel in 1967. God will defend this little nation, his reputation is at stake. Jesus

said, “For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till

all be fulfilled.” Mathew 5:18. What I am saying is that if you had all the money and power in the world and you

woke up today and decided that you would arm yourself with the most sophisticated military artillery and attack

Israel and wipe it off the face of the earth you would not succeed as it is against prophecy. Everyone in the world

plays a part in this equation, if you continue to reject the word you are fulfilling a prophecy, each time the word is

preached somewhere a certain prophecy is being fulfilled. Sometimes we don’t know the impact of our actions, we

may mean well but we can be taken advantage off. Fighting for the rights of homosexuals can seem like a noble

idea, “We should be allowed to love who we want whether male or female, we should not judge anyone on their

sexual orientation.” Human rights activists will tell you. What they don’t know is that they will be increasing

ungodliness in the world and fulfilling such prophecies as, Romans 1:24-27, and more directly, 2 Timothy 3:1-4,

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,

covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,

trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded,

lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”

The formation of global organisations such as the United Nations and the European Union are instruments for

global control leading to the one world government under the coming world leader. Daniel in his 2nd and 7th

chapter indicates that there would be four world governments, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, and out of

Rome would come the last world empire before the return of Christ. The formation of the European Union seems

to indicate some strides in reviving the last Roman Empire. Lucis Trust is the publishing house which prints and

disseminates United Nations materials. Lucis Trust was formally founded in 1922 as Lucifer Trust but was changed

as it revealed the true identity of this organisation. The United Nations has created a commission for global

governance, released a report entitled Our Global Neighbourhood that predicates a world court, a global tax, and

global police force. These organisations are funded by wealthy ungodly men who belong to such societies as

Freemasonry, the Illuminati, and the Skull and Bones whose main agenda is global control.

New Age movement is now a fast growing religion in the West. It is not a single organisation but more like a

network of groups, it embraces an interfaith agenda, with a belief in the equality of all religions there by denying

Christ as the only saviour. Some of the groups that comprise the New Age Movement include sorcerers, witches,

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magicians, Satanists, wizards, mediums, fortune-tellers, psychics, and pagans. They teach that you hold the key to

your own salvation and you can reincarnate into a higher state of consciousness, they believe in evolution,

meditation techniques, crystals, charms and amulets, chants and mantras, pendulums, occultism, astral travel,

astrology, spiritualism, gurus, and enlightenment through the emptying of the mind. These very things did the Lord

of heaven instruct the Israelites not to practice, Deuteronomy 18:9-12. Yet a lot of people are embracing this

movement because it does not emphasise repentance and accountability to the only creator.

The demoniac New Age Movement teachings are slowly infiltrating Protestant churches. The so called ongoing

movements of the spirit such as the laughing movement, slain in the spirit movement and the murmurings of

unknown tongues. And not forgetting the speak it into existence "Word of faith" and the crusading healing gurus

can hardly be distinguished from methods and practices used in the occult New Spirituality movement. Let us be

careful about what we are practicing, Paul tells us that all things should be done decently and orderly, 1

Corinthians 14:40.

Those who have been contacted with these so called aliens have revealed that they use New Age terminology. The

best illustration of this is their teaching given to the "contactees" that "the Ascended Masters of the Hierarchy" are

preparing to intervene again in world history, to lead mankind to a higher level of consciousness. "They will select

a human person and endow him with superhuman powers and knowledge. This man will lead us to world

government and world peace." This can only describe the rise to power of the Anti-Christ. This match in wording

and concept shows that the "Guiding Spirits" of New Age writers are the same "Guiding Spirits" for the Aliens.

There is only one guide of the forces of darkness and it is the prince of darkness himself, Satan.

Remember the mire clay that Daniel spoke about in Daniel 2:41-42 concerning the last Roman Empire. It is highly

likely that the union between this miry clay associated with death represents these demonic manifestations and

the iron represents the revived Roman Empire evidenced by the growing strength of the EU. Why all this info you

may ask? There is going to be a great falling away from the faith in the last days which we believe we are there

more than ever, 1 Timothy 4:1-3. The great falling away prepares the way for the worshipping of the Son of

Perdition.

A Christian author who studied alien phenomenon wrote, "Without exception, every person claiming an alien

contact...had one thing in common. Each had a prior connection to metaphysical activity or cults. Some had been

in devil worship, witchcraft, psychic phenomena, New Age, channelling...Those involved in direct contact with UFO

aliens already had a connection to the dark side of the supernatural world." People today who have thus given

themselves over to Satanic activities in some degree are the ones who are being used to deceive people further

into believing in UFO's and aliens. “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are

coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” Luke 21:26 what could the Lord have been

alluding to here? Possibly this alien phenomenon. A lot of people including Christians are not conscious of the

existence of the spiritual realm, the appearance of these aliens will send panic throughout the world coupled with

the lying wonders of the anti-Christ will cause a lot of people to worship him.

That’s not the most scary part, Paul tells us that God will send a strong delusion that we who are unrighteous will

believe this lie and surrender our souls to the Antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. God will harden our hearts if we

continue to reject his truth, brothers and sisters surrender you lives to the Master today before it is too late. No

true Christian has ever had a direct encounter with the so called aliens, God is already protecting his elect from this

satanic deception.

Another widely accepted deception is the theory of evolution, if indeed evolution is correct, then the bible

obviously is not the literal word of God. And, as a matter of fact, widespread belief in evolution is one of the major

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reasons why many people do not believe in the Bible. Evolutionists will tell you that for billions of years step by

step each group of mammals gave way to a more advanced form, until one million years ago Homo sapiens,

modern man, appeared on the scene. Today he totally dominates the earth, and will continue to do so until he

gives way to a higher form of life. They point to the so called aliens that are invading our skies to be highly evolved

life forms. They talk about dinosaurs having lived millions of years before humans by using carbon dating

techniques which are questionable. I do not dispute the fact that these creatures existed of course they were

created by the Almighty. From all the fossil evidence archaeologists will not tell you that they have discovered

fossilised dinosaur footsteps with human footprints together in the same strata of rock. What this means is that

dinosaurs lived at the same time as man, but they keep this information concealed as it will throw the theory of

evolution in the trash can. Such large animals as dinosaurs and mammoths were most probably wiped out in the

great flood of Noah.

Another deception which a lot of people are not aware of is the global warming phenomena. We have been

programmed to hate carbon dioxide like it’s some diseases yet we forget that we need it to grow our crops from

which we get our food. There is no denial that global warming has been happening in the past years but carbon

dioxide is not the cause. It is being taught in schools as a fact and so much so in the media that it is almost

becoming law that man-made activities are the cause of global warming. Surprisingly the reason why carbon

dioxide is blamed as the cause of global warming is based on a model, no scientific evidence is there to prove that

carbon dioxide is the cause of global warming. There have been periods of global cooling and warming that have

characterised the past century, early 90s was characterised by a global cooling scare. These climate changes can be

explained by changes in the activity of the sun and not due to carbon dioxide.

Putting it on the global raider what is going on? Global warming is being used to cause fear and panic. Those

behind the global warming drive are using it to control people’s lives and financial gain. It is not surprising that the

global drive or green revolution to cut down carbon dioxide emissions is embraced by New Age movement

followers. They teach that mother earth is alive and that we need to take care of her, “She is a force that holds all

things together and is connected to everything on the earth.” A teaching that venerates animals, plants, and any

other created thing above humans. The life of one man is more precious than one million of the most endangered

species. It is all done in the name of conservation, “We need to preserve the world for the next generation.” Which

is all good, God gave us the command to multiply and fill the earth he is our only sustenance. Before the discovery

of petroleum people were surviving what makes us think that if it miraculously runs out we won’t survive, God has

got us covered. Do not be fooled, those who are sponsoring organisations like Greenpiece want global control of

world resources. America is losing its super power status as it battles to cut down on its carbon dioxide emissions,

this means cutting back on development. We are slowly giving up our freedoms to a few very powerful individuals

whose agenda is global control through the one world government.

A one world government can only be effectively when there is a one world religion hence the need for the

combined effort of these deceptions. These deceptions mind you are aimed at Christians as they hold to the truth

of Jesus Christ according to the bible. Now the perversion of the word of God has taken a new twist, as the bible

does not conform to the beliefs of false messengers there is now a ploy to change the scriptures so that the bible

conforms to their doctrines. How can they do that you may ask, by editing the scriptures. Ever heard of the new

NIV 2011? It is said to be the best addition ever, as it is more gender balanced and translated such that those who

are non-believers such as Hindus and Buddhists can relate to its message. This will be a hit with the New Age

movement. How can such a bible be accepted by other religions if they themselves contradict the bible when Jesus

says that he is the only way, the truth and the life and that no one can come to God without him. Jesus Christ

proclaimed himself as the son of God of which the Jews and Moslems refute. I challenge you to do your own study

on how we got the English Bible, it’s a rich history that is very fascinating. It answers accumulative questions such

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as why so many bible versions? As the bible says God will preserve his word, which is the correct version, Psalms

12:6-7? And why are they different? Importantly does the bible that I am reading lead me to eternal life with Jesus

Christ?

Briefly, before the invention of the printing press by Gueternberg in the 1600s the word was passed down from

generation to generation being written mainly on scrolls made of animal skin, usually sheep, but sometimes deer

or cow skins known as parchments. Animals considered as “unclean” by the Jews, such as pigs were never used to

make scrolls. The bible was written by over 44 authors who included kings, shepherds, prophets and others whom

the spirit of God guided in writing his words. By approximately 500 BC, the 39 Books that make up the Old

Testament were completed, and continued to be preserved in Hebrew on scrolls. Approaching the last few

centuries before Christ, the Jewish historical books known as the “Apocrypha” were completed, yet they were

recorded in Greek rather than Hebrew.

About 450BC these scriptures were arranged by councils of Rabbis who then recognized the complete set as the

inspired and sacred authority of God. The Old Testament manuscripts were written primarily in Hebrew until in

586BC when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jews captive. The Jews started to

speak Aramaic, Daniel’s book (555-545BC) was partly in Aramaic as well as some chapters of the book of Ezra. The

conquests of Alexandra the Great saw the spread of the Greek language which was the language of the New

Testament. About 72 Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew bible between 300-200BC at Alexandria to cater for

the Jewish community that was increasingly losing their language. Most quotations found in the New Testament

are quotations from this translation which was called the Septuagint LXX. This became very popular among the

Christian community, it contained all the 39 books of the Old Testament and some apocryphal books but these

were not regarded by Protestant Christians and Orthodox Jews as inspired. However, the Roman Catholic Church

and the Orthodox churches include the Apocrypha in their Bible except for the books of Esdras and the Prayer of

Manasseh.

The Jews at the Council of Jamnia in AD 90 rejected the Septuagint LXX because of its popularity with the Christians

which recognised the Deity of Jesus Christ. The Jews sought to separate themselves from the Christians and thus

decided to produce their own unified translation of the Tenakh called the Masoretic Text. The Masoretic Text was

primarily copied edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the seventh and

tenth centuries AD. The rise of Rome saw the translation of the bible into Latin. The Old Latin was written between

the 1st and 2nd century and was a much loved translation and it remained popular even after its revision by Jerome

in the 3rd

to the 5th

century AD. Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damascus and his translation became to be

known as the Latin Vulgate which became the official bible of the Roman Catholic Church.

The first hand-written English language Bible manuscripts were produced in the 1380's by John Wycliffe, an Oxford

professor, scholar, and theologian. He was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the

organized Church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. With the help of his followers, called the Lollards,

and many other faithful scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the scriptures.

They were translated out of the Latin Vulgate, which was the only source text available to Wycliffe. The Pope was

so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he

ordered his bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river.

William Tyndale was the Captain of the Army of Reformers, and was their spiritual leader. Tyndale holds the

distinction of being the first man to ever print the New Testament in the English language on Gueternberg’s

movable-type press. Tyndale was a true scholar and a genius, so fluent in eight languages that it was said one

would think any one of them to be his native tongue. He is frequently referred to as the “Architect of the English

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Language”, (even more so than William Shakespeare) as so many of the phrases Tyndale coined are still in our

language today. Tyndale's translation was banned by the authorities, and Tyndale himself was burned at the stake

in 1536, at the instigation of agents of Henry VIII and the Anglican Church.

Myles Coverdale and John “Thomas Matthew” Rogers had remained loyal disciples the last six years of Tyndale's

life, and they carried the English Bible project forward and even accelerated it. Coverdale finished translating the

Old Testament, and in 1535 he printed the first complete Bible in the English language, making use of Luther's

German text and the Latin as sources. Thus, the first complete English Bible was printed on October 4, 1535, and is

known as the Coverdale Bible. John Rogers went on to print the second complete English Bible in 1537. It was,

however, the first English Bible translated from the original Biblical languages of Hebrew & Greek. He printed it

under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew", (an assumed name that had actually been used by Tyndale at one time)

as a considerable part of this Bible was the translation of Tyndale, whose writings had been condemned by the

English authorities. It remains known most commonly as the Matthew-Tyndale Bible. In 1539, Thomas Cranmer,

the Archbishop of Canterbury, hired Myles Coverdale at the bequest of King Henry VIII to publish the "Great Bible".

It became the first English Bible authorized for public use, as it was distributed to every church, chained to the

pulpit, and a reader was even provided so that the illiterate could hear the Word of God in plain English. It would

seem that William Tyndale's last wish had been granted just three years after his martyrdom. Cranmer's Bible,

published by Coverdale, was known as the Great Bible due to its great size.

During the reign of Mary Tutor (“Blood Mary”) in the mid-16th century, several able theologians and translators

from English speaking lands gathered in exile in Geneva, Switzerland. This was a time of great persecution for

Protestants in England. It was during this period, that John Rogers was martyred. Working in the relative safety of

Geneva, and under the tutelage of Calvin and other like-minded Reformers, the group of translators set out to

produce an entire English Bible that would be suitable for study by Reformed Christians, as well as for use in public

worship. The New Testament appeared in 1557, and the Old Testament in 1560. The work is mainly credited to

William Whittingham, a brother-in-law of John Calvin. The Geneva Bible was the first Bible to add numbered verses

to the chapters, so that referencing specific passages would be easier. Every chapter was also accompanied by

extensive marginal notes and references so thorough and complete that the Geneva Bible is also considered the

first English "Study Bible". The Geneva Bible was exported from Switzerland to England, and it became the bible of

choice for over 100 years of English speaking Christians. The Geneva Bible itself retains over 90% of William

Tyndale's original English translation. The Geneva holds the honour of being the first Bible taken to America, and

the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims.

In 1568, a revision of the Great Bible known as the Bishop's Bible was introduced. Despite 19 editions being printed

between 1568 and 1606, this Bible, referred to as the “rough draft of the King James Version”, never gained much

of a foothold of popularity among the people. In 1582, the Church of Rome surrendered their fight for "Latin only"

and decided that if the Bible was to be available in English, they would at least have an official Roman Catholic

English translation. Because it was translated at the Roman Catholic College in the city of Rheims, it was known as

the Rheims New Testament. The Douay Old Testament was translated by the Church of Rome in 1609 at the

College in the city of Douay. The combined product is commonly referred to as the "Doway/Rheims" Version.

There is just not enough space to talk about, among other scholars such as Erasmus, Martin Luther, Eusibus,

Origen, and the controversial pair of Westcott and Hott as well as the council of Nicene.

Then there are two of the oldest discovered manuscripts in existence, the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Siniaticus

written in the 4th century. These were written in Alexandria the centre for Gnostic heretic teachings that

undermined the deity of Jesus Christ. There are well over 3000 contradictions in the 4 gospels alone between

these two manuscripts. Westcott and Hott embraced these Gnostic heresies and wrote a Greek New Testament

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beginning in 1853 relying on these corrupt manuscripts. They changed the traditional Greek text and undermined

the Textus Receptus written by Erasmus. A great number of the bibles in circulation today are based on these two

manuscripts with the common notion that the oldest is the most accurate. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls by

a shepherd boy in Qumran in 1947 sent shock waves in the archaeological world. Hundreds of manuscripts

containing the entire Old Testament except for Ester were uncovered. This Qumran site contained a library with

hundreds of precious texts of both biblical and secular manuscripts that dated back before the destruction of the

Second Temple and the death of Jesus Christ. One of the most extraordinary of these scrolls released in 1991

actually referred directly to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This remarkable five-line scroll contained fascinating

information about the death of the Messiah. It referred to "the Prophet Isaiah" and his Messianic prophecy

(Chapter 53) that identified the Messiah as one who would suffer for the sins of his people. This scroll identified

the Messiah as the "Shoot of Jesse" (King David's father) the "Branch of David," and declared that he was "pierced"

and "wounded." The word "pierced" reminds us of the Messianic prophecy in Psalms 22:16: "They pierced my

hands and feet." The scholars also discovered that the Hebrew manuscript copies of the most authoritative

Hebrew text, the Textus Recepticus, used by the King James translators in 1611, were virtually identical to these

ancient Dead Sea Scrolls.

The manuscripts on which the Textus Receptus written by Erasmus was based on Byzantine texts compiled by

Lucian of Antioch in the 3rd century and became standard in the Byzantine world. These numerous texts are highly

regarded because Antioch was the centre of the missionaries of the apostles and it is here where the disciples

were first called Christians, Acts 11:26. Take time and get into the nitty gritties of this important study, it gets

interesting when you start to do the bible parallels.

If you want to test the bible, follow the story of the nation of Israel, for so long they have been strangers in

faraway lands throughout the past 2000 years. But something incredible happened in 1948, God regarthered the

nation of Israel fulfilling Ezekiel 37:21, “And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the

children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring

them into their own land.” We need to view the world through the bible, the gathering of Israel back into the land

was not an overnight thing, it happened over many years. We need to understand that God has established

everything from the foundations of the world. Jesus also says that heaven and earth will pass away but all

prophecy will be fulfilled, Mathew 5:18.

Study the Middle East especially the partitioning of Jerusalem spoken of by the prophets of old such as Joel 3:2, an

ever present almost unsolvable conflict. Israelis and Palestinians Arabs have been firing artillery shells at one

another for years in such regions as the Gaza strip. Paul in his letter to the Galatians tells us that the descendants

of Ishmael did not inherited the promise of God to Abraham hence they hate the descendants of Isaac up to today,

Galatians 4:22-31. This conflict will only end when Christ comes to establish his everlasting kingdom.

The jicksaw pieces of Ezekiel’s prophecy in his 38th chapter are slowly falling into place. Ezekiel describes a similar

war as the six day war of 1967 but of a much larger force. This military offensive will be led by Magog (Russia) and

supported by the rest of the Arab League. Russia is at the present moment helping such countries as Iran to

develop nuclear weapons, whose purpose is to one day wipe out Israel. Peace is far from this part of the world, but

wait! there is someone who will establish a temporary seven year treaty to end the conflict, Daniel 9:27. Who is

this person, surely if this person can solve this crisis and establish peace he will be a real hero. Just imagine solving

centuries long conflicts he will be a global influence and command a lot of power to pull it off.

Mind you for the orthodox Jews the Messiah has not yet come, Islam is awaiting the coming of the Mahdi,

Buddhists and New Agers are looking forward to the coming of Lord Maitreya and Hindus are expecting the coming

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of the 10th avatar Kalki. These religious expectations seem to have a connection with the Middle East as they all

originated around that region. Anyone who can bring about an end to wars and conflicts and establishes world

peace could be hailed by any of these religions as their saviour the Messiah and he will become the world leader.

I have forgotten the Christian Messiah, well we already know that our Messiah came just over 2000 years ago and

as we are bible believing Christians we will point it out to the world that he (the world leader) is a deceiver. “What

is wrong with you Christians, you preach about peace but now that he (world leader) has established it you are

now saying he is evil, make up your minds.” Expect such response from those that would have been deceived. True

Christians will be marked and labelled as a radical sect against world peace, a good reason for the Antichrist to

unleash his terror on Christians. Brothers and sisters there will be a time of serious testing to the point of death,

just know that whether we live or die we are Christ’s, Romans 14:8. Finally halfway through the seven year peace

treaty the Anti-Christ will show his true colours he will enter into the third temple and proclaim himself God.

By the way the temple has not been rebuilt since it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, it is yet to be built

before the Anti-Christ is revealed. A group in Israel called the Temple Mount Faithful have obtained most of the

clothing, instruments and other equipment required for temple worship and are actively preparing for the laying of

the third temple's cornerstone. Saints things are happening.

History says Andrew was crucified in Edessa. Bartholomew was beaten and then crucified in India. James the Less

was beaten, stoned, and then clubbed to death at age 94 in Jerusalem. Jude, brother of James, was crucified in 72

A.D. in Edessa. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece. Mark was dragged to death in Alexandria. Matthew

was killed with a weapon that had a blade and spike in 60 A.D. in Nadabah. Matthias was stoned and then

beheaded in Jerusalem. Paul was beheaded with a sword in Rome. Peter was crucified head down by request as

unworthy to die the same as Christ, in Rome. Philip was scourged, imprisoned, and then crucified in 54 A.D. in

Heliopolis, Phrygia. Simon was crucified in 74 A.D. in Britain. Stephen was stoned to death in 34 A.D. in Jerusalem.

Thomas was thrust through with a spear in India. James the older brother of John, was killed by the sword under

Herod’s command, Acts 12:2. Surely if the gospel was a lie why would the apostles risk their lives in preaching

about someone who had died long back.

These people and at one time by 500 eye witnesses saw Jesus after his resurrection, “For we have not followed

cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were

eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16. God placed a rainbow in the sky as a witness of the covenant he made

with our forefathers after the flood, there is so much evidence of God’s hand. Dr Simon Greenleaf the Royal

Professor of Law at Harvard University was one of the greatest minds that ever lived, who at one time thought that

the crucifixion of Jesus was a hoax. He examined all the evidence and came to the conclusion that according to the

jurisdiction of legal evidence the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the best supported event in all of history.

If you want to prove the bible reference secular history and literature and you will be astonished at the accuracy of

God’s inspired word. Forget what the scientists say remember that at one time they claimed there was no God and

some of them still do. I am going to just touch on one global event that blew my mind, “Then spake Joshua to the

LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of

Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the

moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of

Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was

no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for

Israel,” Joshua 10:12-14. Most people do not comprehend what happened, the sun and the moon stood still

literally, fact or fiction? If we say it never happened then the whole bible is questionable. Nothing is impossible

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with God who stretches the heavens like a curtain. This was a global event it was impossible not to notice that the

sun was not moving or that the sun was not rising depending on one’s geometric location.

In West Africa there is a tale that says that the night lasted too long because the owl over slept and did not wake

the sun. In Chinese history in the time of the 7th emperor Yao the sun did not set for 10 days in the year of the

world 2554, this year corresponds to the date of Joshua’s longest day. The length of the time is too long being

attributed to inaccurate watches, trauma of the event and in the transmission of the event through time. In North

America the Ojibways, Wyandot Indians and the Bungee Indians from the Lake Winnipeg area in Canada also tell of

a long night. In the Annals of Chauhtilan the Mexican Indians tell of a long night, The Aztecs wrote of an extended

period when the sun did not rise. In their national book the Popol Vuh, (Book of the princes) the Quiche Mayans of

Guatemala wrote about the people’s reaction to a long night. All these accounts can be tied to Joshua’s longest

day, this was an actual event and not a myth. It is so unbelievable how we continue to deny the truth but there is

so much evidence of God’s awesome work.

It has been discovered that the reason why males are circumcised on the eighth day is that the blood clotting

hormone prothrombin is at its highest level (110%) ever in the life of a male on the eight day after birth. If the

scientists of old believed the scriptures they could easily have saved years of hard work. Isaiah even before the

invention of the telescope was inspired to write that the earth was a sphere, Isaiah 40:22. In old times people were

persecuted for suggesting that the world was spherical and were labelled as madman. Microscopy has revealed to

us the amazing uniqueness of each snow flake which Job told us about in Job 38:42. Science does not prove the

bible, science has a lot to learn from the Bible. Still on science there is a lot that is going on in the field of genetic

engineering, cloning and the development of genetically modified soldiers which is the next arms race. These

humanoid hybrids are not-quite-human. These genetically altered humans are no longer sons of Adam, and no

longer able to be saved by the Kinsman Redeemer. The second wave of hybrid "nephilim creation" is Satan’s last

effort to destroy all sons of Adam, so that none can be redeemed when Jesus Christ returns at the end of the Age.

Watch this space!

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EPILOGUE

This will probably be one of the shortest epilogues you will ever read...... Just take a moment’s thought to picture

yourself in heaven....................................................................................wow!

Picture an everlasting life of no sorrow, no pain nor hunger, a place so beautiful even the best gardens on earth

cannot match......just take a moment’s thought. How we all long to be there. All that is required of us is that in this

short time that we are on earth, we shouldn’t waste time hating anyone, we should love all, smile at our enemies,

and help cheerfully were we can. Above all we should surrender our lives to Jesus Christ who is our only gateway

to heaven, Right now! It’s not about when the world is going to end but when is your world going to end. Do what

he commands and I will see you in that magnificent city, God bless you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour

Jesus Christ.

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REFERENCES

1. Is it Right to Judge by Pastor E L Bynum

2. Why are there so many Christian denominations - Answers to Tough Questions

3. Grant R_ Jeffrey Ministries

4. www.geocentricity.com

5. Enoch & the Nephilim - Part III

6. Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? by Timothy Ball

7. The green party starts a world counterculture movement-Don Koenig

8. How we got the bible-Chuck Missler

9. Wikipedia-tower of Babel

10. What was Israel doing when the world religions emerged? By Penny Warren, B.A., M.A., D.D. (c)

September/October 1996

11. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/Allah - the Moon God

12. Daniels 70 Weeks- by Chuck Missler

13. Learn the bible in 24Hrs-Chuck Missler

14. Ezekiel Wheels, UFOs, Elohim, Seraphim, Alien Hybrids and Nephilim.mht

15. Ron Patton, Demons in Alien's Clothing

16. Paul Belien-New World Order

17. Mystery Babylon and The rise of modern paganism-Don Koenig

18. The Issue of Alcohol Born Free- Russell Kelfer

19. True and false conversion – Ray Camfort

20. Spiritual Warfare By Bob Deffinbaugh

21. How To Know If You Are A Real Christian by Jonathan Edwards

22. English Bible History-A timeline of how we got the English Bible

23. Are the Biblical Documents Reliable? By Jimmy Williams

24. Examine yourself-Paul Washer

25. Jesus Never comes next-Vance Havner

26. What happens to the uncalled –Fred R. Coulter

Many thanks to all the God fearing man and woman that risk their lives and devote their time and resources in

delivering the word without fear or favour in pulpits all across the world. Some sermons brought me to my knees,

continue in your work, your crown of life is ready prepared for you in heaven. Not forgetting my fellow brothers

and sisters in Christ whose contributions were priceless.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I would probably say I am half Malawian half Zimbabwean, my name is Ian Nachamba, I was born in Malawi in

1985. I lived with my mother in Zomba until she got remarried and then I had to live with my grandmother in the

rural areas. My father moved back to Zimbabwe while I was being enrolled to begin Standard 1 in a rural school in

Thondwe, Zomba. When my grandmother (dad’s mother) heard about me she came to fetch me and brought me

to Zimbabwe in December of 1991. I was then re-enrolled into Grade 1 in 1992 and lived with my grandparents in

Harare. These two lovely old people one of whom is late (grandfather) raised me up in a loving manner and taught

me how to respect all especially my elders. One, if not the greatest lessons in life that they taught me was that I

was never to despise anyone. Most importantly I would like to thank them for guiding me to Jesus’ feet. I

remember as I was growing up my grandfather had an old Peugeot 504 that ferried us to mass at St Michaels and

All angels Anglican Church in Mbare every Sunday. With my grandfather there was never a good enough excuse to

miss church. Whether you wanted to go or not you had to, you had no choice it was law. It was my grandparents’

persistence that I learn about God that has led me to be where I am today spiritually. The first time that I ever

fasted was when I was in form one at St Augustine’s Secondary School. This is the year that I acknowledged and

surrendered my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord, Saviour and my Father. I had always been a keen reader of the bible

but I was not a member of any church group. As I was growing in the faith I was once invited to a boys prayer

meeting, there was so much commotion during prayer that I couldn’t understand. People were pacing up and

down while others were banging their hands on the benches as they prayed, it got me confused as the bible taught

me differently. During one evening in 2008 when I was at my uncle’s place I happened to be watching an End times

programme on God TV and one of the speakers was Chuck Missler. Something caused me to pay attention, the

way he showed how various prophecies of the bible were being fulfilled led me to realise that God’s word was

true. It led me to start a serious study of the bible only to discover the wonderful works of the Almighty and how

his word has never failed. A book with a 100% prophecy fulfilment on all predicted events. I discovered so much

during my research, it has strengthened me ever more in the faith and caused me to seek my God. 2008 was also

the year that I started to write this small book with a purpose to share the wonderful truths of God’s word with

everyone, everywhere. I also wrote this book to warn you that there are a lot of ungodly activities out there and

many of which are being absorbed into the church. I am neither a prophet nor a theologian I am just an imperfect

disciple like you who wanted to share God’s word. The word of God is free for all, it should not be bound and as

such the cost of writing this book can only be repaid by freely distributing these pages electronically or by print

media. The blessings and tender mercies of our Great God be upon you all, Amen!

If you want to contact me: Email iannachamba@cooltoad.com, tel: +263774764104