May, 2006

Dear Brethren,

During the Feast of Unleavened Bread I traveled to Atlanta, GA, Manchester, NH, and Phoenix, AZ. In each location we had a great turn out—with 57 in Atlanta, 52 in Manchester and 57 in Phoenix—and the brethren were happy and enthusiastic. It was a long trip, but very fruitful. From the letters and reports that have come in from numerous individuals and our various fellowship groups, it is evident that God the Father and Jesus Christ blessed everyone with an uplifting and meaningful Feast.

At each location, I delivered a sermon on the so-called lost “Gospel of Judas.” (This mailing includes the taped message that I gave in Phoenix on the last day of the Feast, as well as the one I gave on the Sabbath of April 29—both on the subject of this alleged gospel.) As you will come to understand, the promotion of the “Gospel of Judas” by the National Geographic Society, combined with the “Star Wars” movies and books, “The Lord of the Rings” movies, Harry Potter books and movies, “The Da Vinci Code” book and movie—as well as countless other attacks against Jesus Christ—are all having a combined impact on the people of the world. There is little doubt that these attacks are aimed at destroying as much true knowledge about Jesus Christ and God the Father as possible. Most will inevitably ask, “Why would anyone want to believe in Jesus Christ, or God the Father, if all these attacks are true?” All these falsehoods promulgated to the public continually degrade Jesus Christ in the eyes of a generation that has already removed God from their personal lives—as well as from the public arena, from government, education, and even from churches and public prayer.

Such lying deceptions tend to appeal to the human carnal mind—a mind hostile to God in the first place—blinding people to the truth of God’s Word. As Jesus said: “For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘In hearing you shall hear, and in no way understand; and in seeing you shall see, and in no way perceive; for the heart of this people has grown fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and should hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts’ ” (Matt. 13:13-15).

The National Geographic Society (NGS) has exclusive worldwide rights for the “Gospel of Judas”—including translation rights, media rights, book rights, etc. You may have already seen presentations on the subject on the NGS television channel. In addition, the May 2006 issue of the NGS magazine features a long article on this false gospel with a headline that reads, “An ancient text lost for 1,700 years says Christ’s betrayer was his truest disciple.” When one considers this latest assault against Christianity and against Jesus Christ personally—combined with the numerous additional attacks going back for more than a century and a half—it is evident that Satan is preparing the way for the coming Anti-Christ.

Think about it: If the Judas of the New Testament—described as the lost “son of perdition,” a “traitor” and “betrayer” possessed of the devil—can be rehabilitated and portrayed anew as one of Jesus’ “truest disciples,” then cannot Satan the devil also rehabilitate himself, to once again appear as an “angel of light” to this world and be worshiped as God?

Now we can better understand what Revelation 13 and II Thessalonians 2 are telling us. The whole world will be utterly deceived and open Satan worship will sweep the world: “And I stood on the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne and great authority.

“And I saw one of his heads as ifit were slain to death, but his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, who gave his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?’ And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And he was given power to make war against the saints, and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear” (Rev. 13:1-9).

After the deadly wound is healed, Satan will personally possess the beast. Then the false prophet will proclaim him to be the very manifestation of God in the flesh—the savior of the world. Paul warned us about this time so that we might not be deceived with the world: “Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as if from us, saying that the day of Christ is present. Do not let anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless the apostasy shall come first [mankind’s total rebellion against God at the end—a worldwide repeat of the tower of Babel], and the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition, the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the temple of God and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God.

“Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in his own set time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already working; only there is one Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst. And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming); even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved. And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. 2:1-12).

For the second sermon on Judas, I was able to get the NGS’s book, “TheGospel of Judas,” which included the English translation of this so-called gospel. When I read out of it last Sabbath, it became crystal clear that these writings have come straight from the cauldron of Gnosticism—inspired by Satan the devil. It is no wonder that the only remaining copy laid buried—much of it in fragments—for over 1700 years in the southern desert of Egypt.

To give us a better understanding of this false gospel, I asked Alan Knight to write a paper on the subject for our next mailing. Alan is the author of Primitive Christianity in Crisis, which many of you have already read. More than perhaps anyone else in the churches of God, Alan has studied and written in great depth about Gnosticism and its effects on modern Christianity and on the churches of God. Alan’s paper will give us greater insight into this Gnostic gospel of Judas, as well as perhaps other Gnostic gospels found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, also in southern Egypt. I am sure that much of this information on Judas will also be included in his next book—The Spirit of Antichrist—due to be published in the spring of 2007.

Gnosticism Creeps Into the Churches of God. Satan is busy deceiving the whole world, but his primary goal is to deceive the ministers and brethren of Jesus Christ—to cause them to reject the truth of God’s Word, thereby jeopardizing their salvation. One of Satan’s main false doctrines that a number of ministers and brethren have fallen victim to is the belief that there is only “one God” in number. Adherents of this idea proclaim that Jesus was not God before He became the Son of God in the flesh. Satan has used this point of attack since the beginning of the Church in 30 AD—continuing it even into our time. The apostle John countered this false idea by repeatedly declaring the truth about Jesus Christ—Who He was, where He came from and where He was returning to. Refuting the deceivers of his day, John begins his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…. The true light was that which enlightens everyone who comes into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, but the world did not know Him…. And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us (and we ourselves beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-4, 9-10, 14).

What John wrote is clear and easy to understand. He tells us exactly who Jesus was and is—God and Creator! But deceived men—even supposed ministers of God and brethren of Jesus Christ—refuse to believe these simple, but powerful truths that God inspired John to write. Throughout his gospel, John makes it clear that Jesus came from heaven—and if He came from heaven and existed before the beginning, then Jesus was and is God! Notice John’s emphasis:

• John 3:13. (And no one has ascended into heaven, except He Who came down from heaven, even the Son of man, Who is in heaven.)

• John 3:31. He Who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthy, and speaks of the earth. He Who comes from heaven is above all.

• John 6:32-33. Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven; but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

• John 6:38. For I did not come down from heaven to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me.

• John 6:41-42. I am the bread that came down from heaven…. Why then does He say, “I came down from heaven”?

• John 6:51. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever.

• John 6:57-58. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven.

• John 6:62. What if you shall see the Son of man ascending up where He was before?

• John 8:23-25. And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. That is why I said to you that you shall die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins.” Then they said to Him, “Who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “The one that I said to you from the beginning.”

• John 8:58. Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.”

• John 17:4-5. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work that You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me with Your own self, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.

The apostle Paul also made it clear that Jesus was God, Creator of all things, before He became human:

• Phil. 2:5-8. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men, and took the form of a servant; and being found in the manner of man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

• Col. 1:16-17. Because by Him were all things created, the things in heaven and the things on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether they be thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all, and by Him all things subsist.

• I Cor. 15:47. The first man is of the earth—made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

• I Tim. 3:16. And undeniably, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh.

• Heb. 1:8-9. Of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is into the ages of eternity; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; because of this, God, even Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.”

Again John writes, describing Who Jesus was and is:

• Rev. 1:8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending,” says the Lord, “Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come—the Almighty.”

From what John and Paul wrote in these scriptures, there is no question that Jesus was God, Creator of all things. Jesus was with the Father, Who is also God, before He came to the earth. Because some ministers and brethren are not grounded in the Truth of God’s Word as they should be, they have unfortunately fallen victim to clever, Satan-inspired arguments—such as the idea that Jesus did not exist before He was begotten in the womb of the virgin Mary. When one rejects the clear and simple truths summarized in the above passages, he or she has taken a giant step away from the Truth about the nature of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Deceived, some end up rejecting the very God-breathed words of the holy apostles, claiming that what is written in the New Testament about Jesus—Who was God manifested in the flesh—is merely the ideas of men. They create arguments by twisting the scriptures quoted above, alleging that these words do not actually mean what they say. In the final analysis, they are following the disbelieving Jews and teachings of Judaism—which reject Jesus Christ and the New Testament.

Several sermon sets are available that cover all these topics and more. They include: Who Was Jesus? Who is Jesus? Would You Receive Jesus? The Prophecies of Jesus in the Law, and The Prophecies of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. If you do not have these sets, you may write, call or e-mail us and we will send them to you. For easy access, we will also post these sets on our websites, cbcg.org and biblicaltruthministries.org. We also have booklets available on the nature of God: Defining the Oneness of God, The Two Jehovahs of the Pentateuch and The Two Jehovahs of the Psalms.

The new book, Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days—Which?, is now finished, ending up a total of 288 pages. We sent every thing to the printer, Thomson-Shore, on April 24, and are having 15,000 copies printed. It generally takes about three weeks for them to finish such a book, so you should have your copy/copies by the first part of June. To speed up the process, we will have copies mailed from Michigan by a company called Unit Packaging, which is located only one mile from the printer.

As you will see, the cover is quite striking, indeed. We know that you will love this book and will want to share copies with other brethren—as well as with people not in the Church, but who are sincerely interested in the truth.

Brethren, as you can see, our combined efforts are bearing much fruit—in serving the brethren and in teaching the truth of God’s Word. Once again, we thank you for your continued support through your love and prayers, as well as through your tithes and offerings. May God continue to bless you with His love and grace in your life and in all that you are doing.

With love in Christ Jesus,

Fred R. Coulter

FRC