Prophecy Today

Fred R. Coulter—June 14, 2003

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There are quite a few things in prophecy and we'll look at some things to give us some signs as to where we are. First of all, we will begin in Matt. 24, the chapter that is a the key focal point of all the prophecies in the New Testament, which pulls together many of the prophecies in the Old Testament.

There have been so many prophecies concerning so many things, that so many different ministers and churches have given that there's nothing by mass confusion out there. Plus, we also have the problem that we do not fully understand, and no one can say that they fully understand how far God is going to let everything go to the end, or how great the end-time is going to be, simply because we don't know certain things.

Matthew 24:32: "Now, learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near."

Well, in 2003 we had a long winter and long cold spring, and you can look at not only the fig tree, but any tree, and you cannot tell when the fruit is going to come just simply because the buds for the leaves and the blossoms are on there. It affects the price of food.

When we look at the parable where He's saying what it's like, that even though "…you know that summer is near…" or coming you don't know how far away it is or how hot or cold it's going to be. All of those things determine when the fruit is ready.

Likewise with prophecy. There are times when prophecy looks hot and there are times when prophecy looks cold. One thing we can be guaranteed:

Verse 33: In like manner also, when you see all these things…" This means there's a broad picture. You see what happened in 70A.D. with the fall of the temple, all of these things were not apparent. So, we have a what we call a repeat of history. That's what we call it in just looking at history. So, all of these things have been.

Now we see it coming again. Every once in a while we have, when something happens, you hear the familiar phrase that prophecy is speeding up. When it doesn't work out it's: prophecy is slowing down. Then something else happens and it's: it looks like we're right near the end. Then something else happens it's: looks like we're a long, long away. In one church they were in the 'gun lap' for 20 years and shot off their feet! That never worked.
"…know that it is near, even at the doors" (v 33). Even that phrase has a lot of latitude in it. If it's near, ever at the door, it doesn't tell you when the knock was going to happen, and it doesn't tell you when the door is going to open.

Then Jesus gives this very famous, v 34: "Truly I say to you, this generation shall in no wise pass away…" The apostles at first thought that it applied to there generation.

So, what they did is look in the Bible and the wandering of the children of Israel and that was 40 years. So, they say, 'Okay, a generation is 40 years.'

Jesus was crucified in what we now know as 30A.D. they didn't know it was 30A.D., but however they were calculating time and they go forward 40 years. So, they were anticipating that at the end of 40 years that Christ was going to return. That's why in 63A.D. Christ had to give them the understanding that it was not going to be then, and God says, 'You've got seven years to fix up your act, except for John because I'm going to have him finish the New Testament.'

So, "…this generation…" applies to the last end-time generation! You cannot tell how long a generation is going to be, especially at the end-time, because people are now living longer.

It used to be that in some generations—even coming up in the wild west in America—that if you lived to be 42 you were old. In the frontier age, the average age of a woman to die was 27-years-old. A lot of the girls married when they were 12 and 13; there was nothing else left for them to do. That's just the way that life was. Today it is entirely different. A generation could be 80 years long. How many people are in their 80s today, more than ever before.

Just in these three verses, what do we have? A lot of sliding latitude! But "…this generation shall in no wise pass away until all these things have taken place" (v 34). So, allin vs 33 and 34 connect. That means everything to do with the end-time.

Verse 35: "The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away." We need to understand that Jesus is the One Who spoke the words that were written down in the Old Testament. So, His words include everything: Old Testament and New Testament.

The heaven and earth are still here, so we know that His words are not going to pass away. We know that they are going to be fulfilled. Now then, He gives us a method on what we need to do in the way of watching. And this method also has some latitude because we do know several things.

Verse 36: "But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." So, however prophecy is, God the Father is in charge of it, and He is always on time!

Note Appendix E: When Was Jesus Christ Born? in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order a Faithful Version. It shows a full eclipse of the full moon, which then begins in the evening, beginning the first Holy Day of the Feast of Tabernacles. It has a full eclipse of the moon on the 14th of Nisan, which is the Passover Day.

It happens once in 2,717 years! This tells you that God is on time! In the year that Jesus was born, which was also the year that John the Baptist was born, there were two full eclipses on the 14th day of Nisan and the 15th day of Tishri. That combination happens once in 2,717 years!That's very specific!

God is always on time. It says in Gal. 4 that at the set time—or the due time—Christ was born. So, likewise, when the return of Jesus Christ comes, God the Father is going to let Christ do it.

Matt. 24 gives us another method of how to look at prophecy. The thing to understand and keep in mind is that the knowledge of prophecy is not salvation! It's interesting information and can give us certain guideposts or markers as to where we are.

Revelation 5:1: "And in the right hand of Him Who sits on the throne… [God the Father] …I saw a book written within and on the back, which had been sealed with seven seals."

God is holding it in His right hand, which is symbolic of the work to do. This is telling us the symbolism, the actual fact that God the Father is the one Who is going to do it, and He holds it in His right hand. Nothing is going to happen until God the Father says so and gives the okay at the end-time.

Verse 2: "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?' But no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth was able to open the book, or to look inside it" (vs 2-3)—until John say the vision of Christ! You can see the two things of Christ:

  • line of the tribe of Judah
  • the Lamb that was slain

This is the Savior and the Warrior King! He was worthy. God the Father gave it to Jesus Christ, so when it comes to the time of the end of the things being done, Who is going to start the end? God the Father by giving it to Christ!
Verse 12: "Saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory and blessing.'

Revelation 6:1: "And I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seals…" That's when it's going to happen.

Perhaps the first seal of the great ecumenical religious movement at the end-time has already been opened, but we haven't come to the second seal, and that won't come until the Beast Power decides to make war at the end-time after he receives 'the deadly wound' and it is healed.

Understand that these prophecies, when they finally are fulfilled, they will come fast, very fast. But in the meantime, here's what we need to be doing:

Matthew 24:37: "Now, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man. For as in the days that were before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark" (vs 37-38). That is showing that life still goes on.

How bad can things be and life still go on? Very, very bad! I mean, all you have to do is sit down and watch the news! They are killing each other in Palestine right and left. They are so loving and kind that all they do is slaughter each other. They are willing to compromise that they would just as soon exterminate the Jews and the Jews toward the Palestinians. But neither one can do that, because that's not God's will.

That's to say nothing of the carnage in the Congo today. You can see the ineptness of the peacekeeping forces; they couldn't even rescue two men 35 minutes away by helicopter, and when they came in ten days later they were already cannibalized. That's to say nothing of other things other places where there are fights and warring going on.

Even in Israel, so called, where they have these bombings all the time. What do they do? They go clean up the mess right away and business goes on. The end is not here, yet! However, when it comes, it's going to come like:

Verse 39: "And they were not aware until the Flood came and took them all away; so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man." Then Jesus tells us to watch!

Gen. 6 tells us what it was like and what our society is becoming! Part of the difficulty that we have in comprehending the prophecy today is that we do not know how bad bad is! We do not know how evil evil can become! Yet, at the same time, notice that living in the midst of it was Noah and he was righteous. Just like it was with Lot and his family living in Sodom and Gomorrah.

They were righteous—just that one family—in the midst of everything that was going on. So, as you can see, God certainly—in this age—is not saving the mass multitudes.

Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." That's exactly where we are today. So, God was sorry that He had ever made man:

Verse 6: "And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." But we're all here because of:

Verse 8: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

Then God destroyed all flesh, except those animals He sent to the Ark and Noah's family. It has been my thought that with all of the genetic engineering that we have today that they were probably doing genetic engineering back then. That's why God had to kill the animals, as well as the human beings.

Also, we have in a situation like that, let's see it again, man started again right after the Flood, about three or four generations after the Flood. God did something to forestall and delay what they were doing.

Genesis 11:1: "And the whole earth was of one language and one speech." They came together and wanted to build a city and make a tower to reach to heaven. We're doing that today. We're sending rockets up into space, and China is soon going to join the satellite club.

Verse 6: "And the LORD said, 'Behold, the people are one and they all have one language. And this is only the beginning of what they will do—now nothing, which they have imagined to do, will be restrained from them.'"

What they were doing was greater than just building a tower. Even though Josephus says that they were building a tower and trying to make it waterproof, in case God sent another flood on the earth. Which shows how men think!

Verse 7—God says: "'Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they cannot understand one another's speech.' So, the LORD scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of all the earth" (vs 7-8).

Now let's come toward the end-time, because we've seen how that at the end-time it's going to be unprecedented. Are we living in unprecedented times? Are these things taking place with everything that's going on? You could give sermon after sermon on different technological things. We're going to give you an overview and let you watch the news and things and put it all together.

Psalm 2—this is about the UN: "Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?" Some of those in the UN are thinking about moving it to Europe. That may be very significant.

Verse 2:1: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD…"

How do you do that? You make a society where God is not in the government, not in education, not in the society in general! And you have humanist thinking and reasoning. 'There is a way that seems right to a man, and the ends thereof are the way of death.'

"…and against His Christ…" (v 2). That's exactly what they're doing. They say, 'We don't need a Divine Christ anymore. We are Divine!' Part of that is also talking against the ten tribes of Israel, who are not innocent! But we're going to see that some things are going to happen, and I think it started out with the Iraqi War.

"…saying 'Let us break Their bands asunder…'" (vs 2-3). In other words, they don't want any control from God. They don't want to be restricted in anything that they are doing.

"'…and cast away Their cords from us.'… [let's be free from God] …He who sits in the heavens laughs…" (vs 3-4). God knows that this is going on. It also says in another Psalm that 'only a fool says in his heart that there's no God.' But that's what they are doing!

"…the LORD scoffs at them. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath…" (vs 4-5). He's going to do that; God's judgment is coming! {Note sermon: God's Judgment Cometh Soon}

"…and in His fury He terrifies them. 'Yea, I have set My King upon Zion, My Holy mountain'" (vs 5-6). That's going to be the ultimate result of it, the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.

Then God talks about the whole purpose of Christ being born, and so forth.

Verse 7: "'I will declare the decree of the LORD. He has said to Me, "You are My Son; this day I have begotten You."…. [that's when He became flesh] ….Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession…. [we talk all about that during the Feast of Tabernacles when the Kingdom of God is on earth] …You shall break them with a rod of iron… [God's going to intervene and handle it] …You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be admonished O judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling" (vs 7-10).

It's interesting that the leaders and the judges. Leaders set the pattern and the judges are the ones who establish the law. So, when they establish the laws they create an evil society.

This is really a call for repentance, v 12: "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath can flame up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him"—God!

Here in the last part of the last verse shows that there's a blessing for all of those—in spite of all the troubles going on in the world—who put their trust in God!

  • in spite of everything that's going on, God can bless you
  • in spite of everything that's taking place, God will watch over you

That's quite something to understand!

Dan. 12—this is something that's been going on for quite a long time, and describes the time of the end and what's going to happen. We have never understood the full magnitude of how great this verse is going to be fulfilled.

Daniel 12:4: "But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end…." He's saying, 'Daniel, I'm not yet ready for things to happen. Thank you for writing down what I told you to write down, but go your way! It says later that Daniel will come up in the resurrection.

What does "…even to the time of the end…." What does this tell us? Let's understand what this really says. "…shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end…."

That's the time when it's going to be understood. We've understood certain things, but there are a lot of things we have not understood. Why? Because they haven't been opened, yet!

There is another book that God the Father gave to Christ that was sealed! Christ is the One Who had to open it. So, the only way that we can understand prophecy is when Christ opens our understanding to it; not until! Which means that we understand so much, and also today we understand more than we've ever understood before. But does that mean that we understand everything? No! Of course not!

"…Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (v 4). We've got all kinds of ways to do that today: cars, planes, trains, motorcycles, bicycles, everything.

What are we doing? We're going to and fro! I wonder what it would be like to be in stationary orbit over the earth and to see it turn beneath us and just watch all the countries and cities when sunrise comes. All the activity going here and there, doing this and that: planes, trains, boats, trucks, cars, subways, buses, bicycles, roller-blades, the electric two-wheel scooters, whatever there is.

But it doesn't tell us how frantic it will be, how long it will take and how much knowledge is going to be increased. We used to think 30 years ago that doubling knowledge every 5 years was fantastic. Now it's less than a year! That is absolutely amazing!

One good thing is that with a computer and Internet you can get all kinds of things today: good, bad, indifferent, evil and so forth. With the Internet you can get into specialized libraries and you can get into all kinds of books and things that we never access to before.

Rev. 11 gives us the overall flavor of the society and what it's going to be like in the end-time. It talks about the city of Jerusalem, but if the city of Jerusalem becomes the ecumenical religious capital of the world, then this is telling us a lot. We're not going to talk about the two witnesses, there are several sermons online on them.

Revelation 11:8: "And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt… [those are very specific words, with very specific meaning] …where also our Lord was crucified."

This is telling us what kind of sexual morals the world will have and what will be the religious aspect of the world. Of course, Satan the devil is the 'religious' one; he wants to be worshipped. Since he's not God, he has to create a religion.

Now, let's tie all of this together and then I will read some reports to you, which are going to be quite astounding. We will see some of the things taking place and that are increasing.

Matthew 24:3: "And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him alone, saying, [#1]'Tell us, when shall these things be? [#2]And what shall be the sign of Your coming, [#3]and of the completion of the age?'" Then Jesus answered and said to them, 'Be on guard, so that no one deceives you. For many shall come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ"; and they shall deceive many'" (vs 3-5).

If there's any one thing that is absolutely the most confusing thing in the world, it is what religion is today.

Verse 6: "And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars…." Just watch your television. A hundred years ago if you lived out on your homestead in some territory in the United States, you wouldn't hear of wars or rumors of war. There wouldn't be any false prophets coming by you. You might have to fight off some Indians or robbers.

"…See that you do not let these things disturb you…. [that's hard to do because some things are very troubling] …For it is necessary that all these things take place, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation…" (vs 6-7).

What do we have here all during the 20th century? WWI, WWII, Spanish American War, war in Spain with the Nazis against the communists, Korean War, the Vietnam War, Panama, Grenada and the Gulf War, and there's continuing war going on between Israel and the Arabs: the '67 War, the '83 War and the continuous terrorist bombings. There was Cambodia, Vietnam and Africa. Wars everywhere!

Just the fact that you're going to hear of these things tells us that at the end-time there is going to be communication available so that you will know. How can you watch unless you have some way of knowing?

"…and kingdom against kingdom…" (v 7).—that's to say nothing of the Sudan and the killing of the professing Christians, the Muslims against the professing Christians.

"…and there shall be famines…" (v 7). Great countries like Ethiopia that used to have a surplus of food, there is famine because of war.

"…and pestilences and earthquakes… [and volcanoes blowing off, just this year] …in different places. Now, all these things are the beginning of sorrows" (vs 7-8).

I do kind of have the feeling that the comment I made concerning '9/11' that I wondered if this was "…the beginning of sorrows'; kind of makes you wonder if that wasn't a key turning point where it may be. Look at all the difficulties and problems that we've been having since then.

Verse 9: "Then shall they deliver you up to affliction…" That hasn't happened to us, yet; but we'll talk about lowering the bar as to who a terrorist is.

"…and shall kill you; and you shall be hated by all nations for My name's sake" (v 9). We're getting close to that time. Anyone who is a true Christian that keeps the Sabbath and the Holy Days, you are a sore thumb or bad smell toward people.

Verse 10: "And then shall many be led into sin, and shall betray one another… [spying] …and shall hate one another… [that's sure true] …and many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many" (vs 10-11). We're also in a time of pluralism of religion. When that happens, and because of the way it's taking place, what happens?

Verse 12: "And because lawlessness shall be multiplied, the love of many shall grow cold."

  • we have a heartless society
  • we have a homosexual society
  • we have a mean and vicious society

To where there's no natural affection! What do people do? They just:

  • kill one another
  • hate one another
  • throw newborn babies away
  • have abortions to kill them before they're even born

Of course, you're looked upon as askanced if you are against abortion!

Now notice that there's a little bit of encouragement right in the middle of this:

Verse 13: "But the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved." So, you've got to endure all these things! You can only do that with God's Spirit; you have to endure! Your day is coming!

Verse 14: "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come." It's not going to come before then.

How is going to be preached? Probably in many, many different ways! Of course, the ones at the end-time who are going to preach the most are going to be the two witnesses; they're going to have a great impact!

I believe that the 144,000 of the children of Israel (Rev. 7) is undoubtedly the result of the two witnesses' work!

Let's look at some contemporary things here and see what is going on. Today there are many books you can read that comes along with 'religion.' I want to tell you I was reading out of this book—Christianity Without God by Lloyd Geering—in the chapter: Why Christianity Must Become Non-Theistic.

As I wrote in the Commentary: About the New Testament from The New Testament in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (no longer in print, but available on truthofgod.org) it's because

  • they kicked God out of the schools
  • they kicked God out of education
  • they kicked God out of society
  • you can mention God in a reverent way in the world, otherwise you're:
    • strange
    • odd
    • a kook
    • a 'religionist'

Unfortunately, they like to continually tie fundamentalists with militants like the fellow who supposedly blew up an abortion center in Atlanta.

Those kinds of things should be left to Christ! But they like to identify it with fundamentalists, and especially those who believe that the United States is part of Israel. When they lower the bar enough, we will become the terrorists!

From: Christianity Without God by Lloyd Geering

In 'Christianity without God' there is no place for the traditional figure of Christ as the divine Savior.

You talk about ranting and raving against God and His Son!

Yet there is certainly a place for Jesus the teacher. The man of wisdom, the one who revitalized the path to freedom.

Of relevance to us is not the Jesus who was elevated into a mythical heaven, but Jesus the full human person who shared the tensions, enigmas and uncertainties that we experience.

This is what happens when the humanize Jesus. There is also a movement even within the Churches of God to do it, which is covered in the sermon series Was Jesus God?—before He was human? So, it's part of the same thing even within the Church of God.

The Jesus that's relevant to us is the Jesus who told stories, which shocked people out of their traditional ways of thinking and behaving.

Notice how this is twisted and misapplied:

Who can free us from the mindsets in which we have become imprisoned. In other words, if you have a moral standard you're imprisoned in a mindset!

The Jesus most relevant to us is he who provided no ready-made answers.

No commandments! This is from the Jesus Seminar where they do away with most of the New Testament anyway. That's what he's talking about here.

But by His tantalizing stories He prompted people to work out their own most appropriate answers to the problems of life.

You talk about the twisting the purpose of Jesus; He did not say that! Jesus said, 'Broad is the way and wide is the gate that lead to destruction, and many go there! But narrow is the way and straight is the way that leads to life, and few be that find it!'

That is why the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son will be long remembered after historical confessions and creeds have been forgotten.

Christianity can exist without God. Indeed, Christianity without God has actually been in our midst for quite some time. It has been coming quietly unheralded and unnoticed. It is rather like the way that Jesus spoke with the arrival of the Kingdom of God

Here's how he interprets it:

You won't be able to observe the coming of God's imperial rule. People are not going to say to you, 'Look, it is here!' or 'Over there!' On the contrary, God's imperial rule is right there in your presence.

So, you decide the imperial rule of God!

It was Christianity without God that made possible the series of emancipations mentioned above…

Which is freedom of slavery, homosexuals—so that they can come out of the closet, etc.—and women's movements, abortion and all of this!

These may be regarded as manifestations of the coming of the very kingdom of which Jesus spoke.

Just as the church saw evidence of the coming of the kingdom in such events as the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, so we now may say that though there is yet a long way to go, we can rejoice to see positive changes taking place.

There's an increasing personal freedom to think and speak, slaves are being freed, patriarchy is crumbling, homosexuals are free to come out, mass weapons of destruction are being widely condemned, racist attitudes are being overcome, equality of the sexes is being achieved, the disadvantaged are no longer being ignored, human worth and values are being increasingly honored.

Instead of God!

How did we get to the point where they can even unabashedly say that 'we can have Christianity without Christ, and Christianity without God'? Part of the problem is that they've never known the true Christ, never known the true God! They've only seen the false religions, which have been 'in the name of Christ,' which were just as pagan as some of the other pagan religions.

The first time I even gave a sermon out of The Chicago Tribune Magazine of Aug. 29, 1993, on The World Parliament of Religions. The first one was held in 1893. Then in 1993 they had their 100-year anniversary with 3500 leaders there from all the religions of the world. Here's their goal; the Parliament has two specific goals that the top religious leaders adopt:

Declaration Toward a Global Ethic
{https://parliamentofreligions.org/pwr_resources/_includes/FCKcontent/File/TowardsAGlobalEthic.pdf} September 4, 1993, Chicago, U.S.A.)

What's that for? Remember what Geering called for in the book Christianity Without God? 'We have new ethical standards'! It's what we think of! It's to replace the Word of God and replace the Ten Commandments.

The delegates set up two ongoing interfaith organizations…

which have been going on and they're doing it

…a working group in Chicago and international network of a kind of religious United Nations.

which they're working on

Several years ago I shows a combined scriptures that they have for all the world's religions. It's called The World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts edited by Andrew Wilson. Let's me give you a few things out of this to let you know that this has been going on for a long, long time.

World Scripture
Introduction
by Dr. Andrew Wilson, Editor
(https://www.unification.net/ws/)

A movement for a "wider ecumenism" has begun…

That's where this wider Iraqi War fits in, and I'll show you why. What are they calling for? How are they going to solve the problems of madman religionists! First of all, you've got establish the separation of church and state. That's what's happening in Iraq, which is also another kind of religion, a civil religion.

…bringing together for dialogue leaders and scholars from all the world's religions. Theologians of all faiths are affirming the positive worth of other religions…

The pope has been doing this all along. By the way, in a political move the pope has made more saints than any other pope in history. That's just another way of praying to the dead. That's all it is.

"…and seeking to overcome the prejudice of an earlier time.

Let me read you the prejudice of an earlier time. God is jealous over this. Men view it as prejudice, because they want to have it their way, they want their religions, their rules. As I started out in Psa. 2, cut the cords, get away from God, anything but the true God. 'We'll accept any god but the true God!'

John 14:6: Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.'"

That is very narrow-minded according to these people. That is the Truth and that's what they want to get rid of. That's what they call prejudice! Where is that going to put us later on down the road? Right smack in the middle of the crosshairs! You can find anything about you anywhere. All you have to do is go on the Internet and put in your last name. That was done. Do you know how many pages there are on the Internet concerning the Coulters of the world? 41,000!

Concerning education, the word-police that we have out there are policing all the books to remove anything to do with Christ. You can't mention Christianity because the word 'Christ' is there, and you can't have forefathers and God, unless it's profanity! That's all part of the secular thing that paves the way for the acceptance of a world-religion like we're talking about. What is necessary in order to get a world-religion is to moderate Islam, and that's the whole purpose of the war in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia says they're going to moderate their religion, and they accept Jesus as a man. Sooner or later even carnal killing people get tired of carnal killing. So, they want to get rid of the prejudice in all religions and:

…are affirming the positive worth of other religions and seeking to overcome the prejudice of an earlier time. It is now widely recognized that humanity's search for God, or for the Ultimate Reality, called by whatever name, is at the root of all religions.

The ultimate reality there is Satan the devil, not God!

…Thus the variety of religions would appear to be a testimony to the relativity of human beliefs rather than to the existence of the one Absolute Reality, which stands behind all of them.

In other words, the same thing that Geering said in Christianity Without God. Now they're saying, 'All religions without God!'

THE TRUTH IN MANY PATHS

This section gathers passages from various scriptures which affirm that others who do not share the faith of that scripture are also following the way of Truth.

Hello!

Thus Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism understand the various deities to be expressions of a single Absolute Reality, and the various paths to lead to one Supreme Goal.

Who will be? Rev. 13! This is where it's all coming from and where it's all leading. Rather than just the problems in the Garden of Eden with two people of Adam and Eve, we have the problems of the Garden of Eden with billions of people; everyone doing his own thing! Everyone being and acting like a 'god unto himself.' That's what self-esteem does. It talks about the first beast who had the deadly wound that was healed:

Revelation 13:4: "And they worshiped the dragon who gave his authority to the beast…."

The only way you're going to get them to worship the dragon is to dumb-down and get rid of the Bible, change the Bible. The ultimate thing they're trying to do is because they want to kick God out of the Bible. That's the last place to get rid of Him!

"…And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?'" Here is the great false Christ that's going to arise!

Let's see how they are pushing this and how it sounds so good. You can see this following through. Everyone's opinion is 'holy.' That's where we are in the world today. If you have an opinion, that's your opinion and your right to believe it. I may not agree with it, but to you it's 'holy.' Here's how they're going to do it.

From the magazine of the Jesus Seminar, Jan/Feb 2003; The Fourth 'R'

We're keeping track of them, and we're doing as Jesus said: to watch. We're doing like in the movie Patton, where Patton read Rommel's book and knew exactly what formation he was coming in. Patton said, 'I read your book!' So, read what the Jesus Seminar does so we know where the enemy is.

He sees the hallmark of the post-modern era…

which we're in, we're beyond being modern, because we're so technologically advanced.

…he sees the breakdown of all traditional master narratives….

Those are the commandments of the different religions! They're now saying, 'We have debunked Christianity.' And what's the next one to debunk and modernize? Islam! That's what's happening! 'We've got to change the narratives.' In other words, they've got to change the Bible, and that's exactly what the Jesus Seminar is doing, changing the Bible! They want to add in the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Mary, and the so-called apocryphal gospel of Peter, etc., and have that in the liturgy of so-called Christian lectionary.

All cultures find their own narratives ravaged by science, industrialization, multiculturalism and pluralism. As one might expect, this is precipitated a crisis of meaning, not least in the religious communities.

That means the meaning of: Who are we? Why is there the earth? Why do we exist? Is there a God?

I propose a new way of putting that meaning back together…

Since we've now destroyed it!

…and it is not turning back the clock. With the world shrinking into one interpenetrating global village…

Where have we heard that before?

…just as no one religious denomination can dominate pluralistic America.

How did they make it pluralistic? Through the immigration laws!

So, none of the old master narratives can be dominate anymore…

In other words, the Holy Bible cannot be dominate anymore!

…but there is nothing wrong with any one of them. We accept them as a potent narrative. Not being a master narrative doesn't change that.

We take it from a master narrative to a personal narrative.

Think back to the image of a shelf full of World Scriptures in a bookstore….

I just read to you what they want to do with it from the World Scriptures.

…What we now have is a shelf full of what once used to be the master narratives of the great religious traditions. They're there for us to take down and read and learn from.

Isn't that interesting? 'We're broadminded and tolerant!'

We may adopt this belief from Gita, and that one from the Bible. Another one from the Upanishads. What do we usually call a collection of religious narratives? We call it a cannon of Scriptures.

In a larger, only slightly metaphorical sense, I'm saying that we're coming to see not specific books, but the great cumulative traditions of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sheikism, etc., as a cannon of narratives at our disposal.

A Babylonian smorgasbord to pick and choose you like, precisely as it was in Egypt! Why limit yourself to only one. In today's modern thinking: 'Why not? I'm broad minded! I'm educated!'

While we, as religious individuals mix and match items from various religions…

which they've been doing recently; there are even Jewish Buddhists! They even have a Buddhist seder!

…the religions themselves will stand as great and distinct monuments of historic revelation. As we now page between Proverbs and the Gospel of John and the Psalms and the Sermon on the Mount, making our own synthesis of what we find there, so we will one day sample from Buddhist tradition, the Catholic and Zoroastrianism.

In the process, the integrity of each religious deposit need not be compromised anymore than the distinct books of the Bible.

Well, isn't that lovely? It think today the Bahai sect incorporates many of these things.

I envision a future of inter-religious communities in which members will pursue a spirituality of quest and inquiry, not of answers and dogmas.

With the doctrines, practices and confession propounded by the great religions serving as a menu of options.

This is something, isn't it?

Individuals comprising such communities will revere their religious backgrounds just as we still cherish our ethnicities. Perish clergy will more likely become more what they really are becoming.

Therapists, counselors, social workers, motivational speakers and less theologians!

They will be shepherds of their flocks, as they ought to be….

We're going to final put these religious people in their place!

And it will be left to scholars, theologians and historians of religions to serve as consultants, providers of insight and lessons from history, and the ultimate to tell you what we have formulated as the Word of God.

They will be in Paul's words: stewards of the mysteries of God.

We're the only ones with the intellect and the credentials to tell you what the Word and Scripture of God is! None of the rest of you of the unwashed masses out there can do that! You can go to your smorgasbord and pick and choose and mix it all together if you like.

Perhaps that is a role toward which Wes Starr, the Jesus Seminar, has from its inception been moving and for which it is uniquely suited.

Let's see what God says. That's why He says He's going to hold them in derision. He's going to hold them accountable. That's why, brethren, it's very important what we are doing with the Bible translation—The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version—I certainly did not until I started by doing The New Testament in It's Original Order. Its important that people can have in their hands something that tells them why this is the Word of God, why it is true, how it has been preserved, and why they can put their faith and belief in God and trust the Word of God, because of all of these things out here to tear down!

Deuteronomy 12:30: "Take heed to yourself that you do not become ensnared by following them, after they are destroyed from before you…" That is the Canaanites in the land who worship 'father sky and mother earth' and all the demons, etc. that's what all these other religions are.

"…and that you do not ask about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods that I may also do likewise?'" (v 30). To do what this man suggests, to go to a smorgasbord of eating a little here and little there out of this religion and that, is contrary to what God says.

Verse 31: "You shall not do so to the LORD your God, for every abomination to the LORD, which He hates, they have done to their gods; even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods"—which shows the height of 'religious deception' that people can come to.

They think they're honoring God when they burn their own kids. Or they think they're honoring God when they authorize abortion. There's not really much difference between the two.

Verse 32: "Whatsoever thing that I command you, be careful to do it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it."

Rev. 22—when you understand how the Bible was canonized, this refers to the whole Bible, not just the book of Revelation.

Revelation 22:18: "For I jointly testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book… [the whole Bible is in that sense inspired] …that if anyone adds to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, and from the Holy City, and from the things that are written in this book" (vs 18-19).

Yet, they say that's what they're doing. Let's look at another aspect of religion. Let's look at the Sodom aspect of religion. Like the Book of Mormon. The Mormons are the classic or epitome of New Age religion.

Trail of Pain in Church Crisis Leads to Nearly Every Diocese by Laurie Goodstein; Jan. 12, 2003
{https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/national/nationalspecial/trail-of-pain-in-church-crisis-leads-to-nearly.html}

The sexual abuse crisis that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church in the last 12 months has now spread to nearly every American diocese and involves more than 1,200 priests…

That they know of!

Another report that I have shows that the whole of the priesthood, the majority, are homosexuals. You've heard of having homosexuals in the Boy Scouts, well in Pennsylvania they approved it. Now they want to have homosexual Big Brothers and homosexual marriages. Here's the greatest effrontery of all:

Was Jesus 'gay'? (from World Net Daily)

One of the fastest growing churches among homosexuals in America and around the world is a Metropolitan Community Church a 'Christian' church specifically for gays, lesbians, bi-sexual and transgendered communities.

They had a big flap on the O'Reilly Factor. I couldn't watch it very much because they were trying to justify an Episcopal minister who was openly gay and they wanted to appoint him as a Bishop in the Episcopal Church. Then they had a woman preacher with here collar on backward from Claremont University in Southern California, and that was the same college that took down the Worldwide Church of God, by the way.

What they have done is that they have successful have said that the 'private life of the individual is not our concern.' Whereas, if you read 1-Tim. 3 and Titus 1, yes the private life of anyone who is an overseer—which they like to call Bishops or priests—is the business of the public.

The MCC was originally started by an openly homosexual ex-Baptist preacher Troy Perry who, after the discovery and disclosure of his homosexuality, lost his license as a minister and divorce and estrangement from his wife and children, as well as a failed suicide attempt, rediscovered himself his in rainbow color vocation and ministry.

From his Los Angeles living room in 1968, Perry and his initial 12 members began their gay church. According to their website in 2003, the MCC embodied over 77,000 members fanning more than 17 countries around the globe.

Tens of thousand so-called faithful Christian homosexual men and women flock weekly to the MCC affiliated churches worldwide to be affirmed with the message that God loves them and that 'gay' is okay.

They even had from the Churches of God in Dallas, Texas, a 'gay' Feast of Tabernacles in 2002.

Troy Perry is highly regarded in gay circles has been an invited guest to the White House on four occasions from 77-97, three alone by former President Bill Clinton. In 1997 Clinton celebrated Perry as an honoree at a White House breakfast recognizing 100 national spiritual leaders in America.

Did you know that:

  • The Bible is full of errors from being copied and re-copied and translated over and over?
  • That homosexuality is not a sin in God's eyes, but a twisted teaching of homophobic misguided infallible men?
  • That so-called references to homosexuality in the Bible actually refer to other terms, not to homosexuality at all?
  • That Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed because of the their homosexuality, but because people didn't feed the poor and needy?
  • That Jonathan and David were the most famous gay lovers in the Bible, a Biblical story of hot passionate 'gay' romance, kissing, jealousy and sex?
  • That Ruth and Naomi—daughter-in-law and mother-in-law—may be the most famous committed lesbians in the Bible?
  • That there are undoubtedly numerous other possible gays and lesbians throughout the Bible who have been kept in the closet by homophobic Christians throughout the centuries?
  • That Jesus Christ, God Himself in the flesh, lived an alternative lifestyle?
  • That the Apostle John, the disciple that Jesus loved, literally could have been His 'gay' male lover according to eight other Biblical references?
  • That Jesus possibly loved many other men, as well?
  • Finally, that Jesus wore a robe of purple on the cross; a 'gay' adopted color? A possible gay and lesbian connotation right to His death?

The immoral days in which we live, homosexual men and women are grasping for every possible straw to get acceptance for their destructive aberrant lifestyle. The secret 'gay agenda' has infiltrated the media, Hollywood, public schools, the government, and yes, now even religion.

Sad to say, homosexuals have gone so far as to try and hijack and pervert the Biblical Christianity and the Gospel of Jesus Christ all in the name of 'gay sex' and, America, we have let it happen!

Every time I see the pictures of Jesus with the long hair and with a petulant look, with the feminine face and the long robes, it is very homosexual indeed! And probably drawn by those within the Roman Catholic Church who were homosexual. That's why it was done that way.

Another article: The Queering of the Schools

Also, they had on the O'Reilly Factor how that MTV is becoming absolutely a cesspool of homosexuality and demonism.

I tell you what, even though you may block it off from your kids, they can go to other kids' houses and watch it. You need to sit down and talk with your children and if you can at all home-school your children, do it. They have so many helps now that they will come out smarter and brighter, sweeter and better than anything that you can produce out of the public schools today.

Article: Religious Left says that Religious Right is Wrong

Article: The Culting of Christianity

Anyone who believes in God is going to be called a cult. I've got hundreds of thousands of words on this stuff.

Another article says that the church age has ended so you find God at home—by Harold Camping.

Let's look at another 'religious' aspect, which is the religion of the New World Order, which is not 'religious,' but civil. Let's see how Israel, in rejecting God and looking to themselves and what they are in the form of America today, are exporting secular, civil religion to the world, and are actually setting up that basis for the coming one-world society.

What are we going to setup in Iraq? Which we've already done in Afghanistan? A secular government! Separation of church and state!

Future Fate of Religions by Robert Price (www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_future1.htm)

Our master narrative… [the Bible] …is fraying, coming undone, as witness the debates over the canon of great books to be read in college and the controversies over American history textbooks, where both the oppressions and the neglected accomplishments of non-white minorities are now being highlighted. The result is a pluralistic "equal time" framework in which multiple ethnic narratives fragment and replace the old master narrative.

In other words, we get rid of the Bible!

We used to thump our chests with pride for having conquered the American Indians. Now we cringe in shame as if we were the executioners at Auschwitz. What does it mean to be an American? Anything more than the NFL, shopping malls, and McDonald's?

Jerry Falwell and Ralph Reed insist that we are a Christian country, that only a Christian narrative should inform us. Hence the current disputes over teaching the Bible as history in public schools. But theirs is a lost cause. Ours might once have been a Christian country, but it is Christendom no longer. Falwell screeches that secularism, secular humanism, has replaced Christianity as the sacred canopy of America. As usual, he is wrong.

NO! He is right!
As Harvey Cox (The Secular City) pointed out over thirty years ago, what is happening to us as a culture is not secularism but secularization. The difference between the two is great indeed. Secularism means the imposition of an anti-religious ideology as in the old Soviet Union, an officially atheistic state. But secularization means the absence of any particular dominant ideology. We have far too many religious allegiances in America for any one of them to supply the sacred canopy of values for all of us to live under.

In other words, you don't go by the Bible!

We will not brook the imposition of any particular religion on everyone else. But don't we still need a sacred canopy to avoid chaos and anomie? We all have to live together from a common set of rules and values, don't we?

The American answer to this question is two-fold: the social contract and civil religion. Our Constitution does not really posit a system of values and virtues to be inculcated among the people. Instead it presupposes simply that we will not get in each other's way. We maximize individual freedom, we live and let live. Our laws are based not on morality but rather simply on non-interference. Thus for the government not to outlaw abortion means not that it considers abortion to be morally right and good, but that it feels it has no business interfering in the matter. Religiously, you can do whatever you want to do—except draft me as a human sacrifice! Your freedom ends where mine begins. Such an arrangement is purely pragmatic, and it is a great way of dealing with pluralism. Live and let live.

This is what we're teaching in Afghanistan. This is what we're going to teach as a country in Iraq. This is what they're going to impose upon all the Muslim nations in order for them to moderate or be destroyed. That's the message of Iraq.

But that is not much of a national identity! Religion would have provided that, too, as it still does for each faith community, but if there is no dominant religion, what can fill the vacuum? American civil religion, that's what. Our common scripture is the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights…..

How many people get so religiously fervent over that? Though they may be great human documents, they are not the Bible. Never intended to be religious.

…Our Exodus was the Revolutionary War. Father Abraham was George Washington, Moses was James Madison, Solomon was Ben Franklin, Jesus was Abe Lincoln. The Founding Fathers equal the Church Fathers. The deep rage felt over the flag-burning issue some years ago shows that the basic issue was not simple freedom of speech but rather sacrilege and blasphemy. Our holidays are holy days. It is these things which provide us with our national identity as Americans….

You just watch this any time they have some big sporting event like the Super Bowl and see if this is not exactly what they do. We have the national anthem, the reading of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and all of this:

The deep rage felt over the flag-burning issue some years ago shows that the basic issue was not simple freedom of speech but rather sacrilege and blasphemy….

To burn the American flag!

So religious Americans have two religions. Just as immigrants learn English as a second language, they also learn American patriotism as a second religion. We just don't call it a religion too loudly, lest people catch onto what's really going on. They might not like the idea of having two religions if they realized that's what they are doing!

That's what's happening in the world today! What I see is going to happen is that this kind of civil American religion, with the ideals and standards of Americanism, is going to pave the way for the one world society. Everyone will be able to have their own little religion in their own little homes, but you just don't make it public, because 'we can countenance those kinds of things.'

Two things will result in this. What I just read to you is an absolute recipe to disaster leading to the necessity of the return of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil… [I just read a lot of that] …who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (vs 20-21). To proclaim themselves as saviors. Mankind must save himself!

Verse 22: "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame burns up the chaff; their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up like dust, because they have cast away the Law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel" (vs 22-23).

And called it 'an old antiquated master narrative that now becomes one of many narratives.' I tell you what, God is going to bring a new master narrative! And everyone is going to do it! Isn't it ironic that Israel is going to pave the way for it, and that Israel is going to be the first of the nations punished?

Hosea 4:1: "Hear the Word of the LORD, children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, 'There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and the committing of adultery… [including al deviant sex] …they break out; and blood touches blood. Therefore, shall the land mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall languish, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the heavens. Yes, the fish of the sea shall also be taken away. Yet, let no man strive, nor reprove another, for your people are as those who strive with the priest. And you shall stumble in the day…" (vs 1-5).

That day is going to happen! The United States will fall, and I think it's going to be a total instantaneous disaster without atomic bombs and without a major war.

Verse 6: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge…"—of God. That's what all of this is that I read to you.

"…I will also reject you… [you're in trouble if God rejects you] …from being as a priest to Me…. [we've seen this happen within the Church of God] …Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your children" (v 6). That's exactly what has happened!

Verse 7: "As they were increased, so they sinned against Me. I will change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of My people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. And it has become, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their doings, for they shall eat and not have enough. They shall commit whoredom and not increase, because they have stopped taking heed to the LORD. Whoredom and wine and new wine takes away the heart" (vs 7-11)—meaning that they longer have any judgment left in them to know right from wrong!

They come to the same place that Herod was when he asked Jesus, 'What is Truth?' That's where we are today!

Hold on, it's going to get worse before it gets better. It's going to protracted out a whole lot longer than a lot of people have thought. Watch and see how these things come together!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

  • Matthew 24:32-36
  • Revelation 5:1-3, 12
  • Revelation 6:1
  • Matthew 24:37-39
  • Genesis 6:5-6, 8
  • Genesis 11:1, 6-8
  • Psalm 2:1-12
  • Daniel 12:4
  • Revelation 11:8
  • Matthew 24:3-14
  • John 14:6
  • Revelation 13:4
  • Deuteronomy 12:30-32
  • Revelation 22:18-19
  • Isaiah 5:20-23
  • Hosea 4:1-11

Scriptures quoted, not referenced:

  • Galatians 4
  • Revelation 7
  • 1 Timothy 3
  • Titus 1

Also referenced:

Appendix E: When Was Jesus Christ Born? (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order a Faithful Version)

Books:

  • Josephus
  • Christianity Without God by Lloyd Geering
  • A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts edited by Andrew Wilson

Sermon: God's Judgment Cometh Soon
Sermon Series Was Jesus God?

Articles:

  • The Fourth 'R' (from the magazine of the Jesus Seminar, Jan/Feb 2003)
  • Was Jesus 'gay'? (from World Net Daily 2003)
  • Declaration Toward a Global Ethic {https://parliamentofreligions.org/pwr_resources/_includes/FCKcontent/File/TowardsAGlobalEthic.pdf} September 4, 1993, Chicago, U.S.A.
  • World Scripture, INTRODUCTION; by Dr. Andrew Wilson, Editor (https://www.unification.net/ws/)
  • Trail of Pain in Church Crisis Leads to Nearly Every Diocese by Laurie Goodstein; Jan. 12, 2003 {https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/national/nationalspecial/trail-of-pain-in-church-crisis-leads-to-nearly.html}
  • Future Fate of Religions by Robert Price (www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_future1.htm)

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 5/17/18

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