By Walid Shoebat
In America, we have such religious diversity amongst people who say they link to an Abrahamic faith that every flavor thinks that all others are cults. The Muslim and the Jew says that God never became flesh. They say that the rest are all cults while the Evangelical say that they hold the truth and all others are cults. In Russia, they look at non-apostolic churches as cults and limit them and in Rome Catholics say that Evangelicals are Christians who need to join the mother ship in the Vatican while Evangelicals reject the Vatican as “mother harlot”. Evangelicals argue that only the Bible has the answer while apostolic succession churches see Evangelicals trying to sit on a one-legged stool and say that in order to have a strong base, you need Church plus Bible plus tradition.
The answer to all this is simpler than many think. Cults are created by deceivers who never explain that in the Bible there are keys to unlock God’s mind. In the end, the cult followers always resort to man’s lack of understanding God. There are keys to carry and be immune from any cult deception.
In this, I sought to handle all these issues from a theological and a prophetic perspective by examining theological differences on how to use Scripture to immune oneself from any cult. In this, I hope the prudent understands how short is the time and why we need to immune ourselves. This article is long, but well worth the read, I guarantee it.
FIRST ON THE ISSUE OF IMAGES
The Muslim vehemently objects that Christians made an image for God (Jesus) and therefore are Kaffir (unbelievers) and therefore are “idol worshippers”. The Muslim, and as much as he lies, he himself bows to an image: the Black Stone at the Kaaba. The Muslim case is the easiest to refute. Game over.
Reality is, while the Muslim accuses all Christians of idol worship none apostolic succession churches (Evangelicals) argue similarly to the Muslim. They expose the Catholic and the Orthodox as “icon worshippers” and use as textual proof what the Muslim argues:
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” (Exodus 20:4)
They say: “You see, “Making an image of anything in heaven,” should completely be prohibited”. Therefore, there should be no images of Christ, no icons, no Mary or Joseph or saints”.
Yet the Bible provided us ample keys to unlock God’s mind.
If this is true, that this verse means this, then the first question is this: Is Christ God? The next question is: Does Christ who is God, have an image?
After Christ’s Incarnation, to say “no” to either question constitutes utter blasphemy. Both Protestants (non-apostolic-succession) and non-Protestants (apostolic-succession) agree on this. When Christ came, God is no longer a faceless spirit. Prior to Christ’s coming, God had no human face. Therefore, the correct interpretation of this verse prior to Christ’s Incarnation is: to make any face of God or to worship an idol was considered idolatrous. This is the correct definition of the verse and in no way can anyone twist its meaning. Anyone who argues to the contrary must explain how angels who are also “in heaven above” (Exodus 20:4) and then comes Moses by God’s command makes two images of cherubs (angels) and places them on the Ark which God Himself resided in. How could someone argue this? Moses would never break Exodus 20:4.
A cult is known by that no matter how solid your argument is, he finds ways to continue arguing.
So then they say that the images of Christ are not identical how Christ looked like, while others argue that Christ was not European looking but Middle Eastern.
Well, neither were these two cherubs who were made in the likeness of Cherubs looked exactly how Cherubs looked like in heaven and God saw that it was good. God after all was dealing with His children and their art is no comparison to God’s. While we are creative, God is the creator. To God our artistic works which He approves of is still in God’s eyes is ‘lovely’.
Key number one in knowing God from cult is to always go to the first century churches. To the first century Christians, there was a crucial theological issue as to why the first churches had icons of Christ. Before the Incarnation, there was no image of God, but now that the Incarnation has taken place, it would be idolatrous to believe that God has no image.
On such issues, both Catholics and Evangelicals should agree.
So if Exodus 20:4 was speaking of an absolute “in no way” God could have an image, as the Jews and Muslims believe today, Christ Himself shattered such view when He went beyond how the Jews interpret Exodus 20:4, when He said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) and Paul also said that Christ “is the image of the invisible God …” (Col 1:15) and man is also created in the “image of God”.
The cultist still argues: sure Christ was the image of God, but a dead statue is definitely is not since it is a dead idol.
Anyone insisting on this have already committed idolatry, since every Christian adorned Jesus watching movies like The Passion of Christ produced and directed by Catholic Mel Gibson.
Anyone objecting that an actor is no dead-image still faces the reality that a film projected on a screen of someone looking like Jesus are millions of dead images projected tens of frames per second and are in fact weeping through the Jesus movie as they watch more images than the Catholic watches in his/her church.
To accuse someone of giving adoration to the actor or to the moving images in a film or to the still photo of Jesus or to the statue itself is in itself such “spiritual idolatry” and “slander” as if two men having a brotherly kiss are guilty of homosexuality.
Brotherly Kiss
When we watch Jesus movies, we adore and worship Jesus and not the actor, the image or the statue which are simply reminders of Jesus and Who He is.
Therefore, such interpretations make all apostolic and non-apostolic be guilty of what Muslims claim, that icons are so blasphemous and therefore we all then should convert to Islam. God forbid.
What most evangelicals do not know is that Protestantism never prohibited icons. The prohibition of icons was started by one named Zwingli and today they all blindly follow him not even knowing this.
In addition, and to end this silly accusation, Catholics during Christmas (a holiday we are fighting for in the U.S.) have large statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and millions upon millions of Protestants also have small nativity scenes under Christmas trees every year with small statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. So where did God prohibit only the large statues in the Bible, while He only permitted the small ones?
Catholics know how to celebrate Christmas. The Christmas Grande Special Jesus En La Carne
Evangelical Christmas: Small Statues
Therefore, making millions of images of God in a movie is not contrary to the Old Testament Scripture. Besides idols, God after His incarnation as the Son of God made null-and-void the part in this verse since He fulfilled the Incarnation.
To insist that this part of the verse still applies, since “God does not change His mind,” this would beg for another question: did God change His mind on physical circumcision, especially that there are no verses in the Old Testament that predicts or states that circumcision would be discontinued?
Yet the Church in the New Testament says that Peter basically made an executive decision and circumcision was out and the gentiles who were grafted in were no Hebrew Roots either. To insist on circumcision is to follow the Muslim. So why do Evangelicals follow Islam when it comes to icons?
Either God the Son has an image or He doesn’t. This is the question.
To say otherwise is sending a message that God the Son is only a spirit, and that He has no physical body. Before the Incarnation, that was true, yet after the Incarnation, it is false, and therefore is idolatry.
And to further define Exodus 20:4, God was addressing two types of idolatry: 1) Worshiping false gods, deities which man imagines as God or gods in heaven or under the earth which took on the form of idols that represented these ancient deities 2) Worshiping the true God in a way which misrepresents Him such as worshipping Yahweh through the form of a golden calf.
Israel fell in both types of sins when Israelites worshiped Baal, Ashtoreth, and Molech, they committed the first form of idolatry. These are all false gods, and it is idolatry to worship them in any way whatsoever, either with or without images.
And Israel also fell in the second when they worshiped the golden calf, they committed the second form of idolatry regardless that they correctly noted the identity of the true God since they grossly misrepresented Him in the golden calf. Instead of recognizing God as an invisible Spirit, the Israelites made a golden calf, they praised it for delivering them from Egypt, and they even called the calf “YHWH”.
Israel fell into idolatry despite that they recognized that God’s name is “YHWH” Who delivered them from Egypt. The idolatry was that they misrepresented Him. God is not a cow.
The misrepresentation of God is what idolatry is and to insist on bare walled churches absent of icons, no photos, no statues, no images allowed in any way shape or form, no movies of Jesus … these misrepresent God regardless that they praise, worship and recognize that God’s name is “Jesus” or “Yeshua,” since they misrepresent Him. God is no longer a faceless spirit.
Keep in mind, at this point, to still insist that no images are to be made will be in complete agreement with Islam, a religion that follows a misinterpretation of what is said in Exodus 20:4. Islam’s whole purpose is to deny that God took on an image and the more these insist on such interpretations, the closer they are to Islam.
Before God became incarnate in the womb of Mary, He had no body. Images of God were forbidden, because they misrepresented God. But now that God has become incarnate, our worship must reflect this important fact. Otherwise, if we misrepresent God, we become idolaters.
To insist we bow for nothing goes contrary to God’s will since even in ancient Israel, they bowed towards the Temple in Jerusalem. Were the Israelites worshipping the square stones of the building? Were they worshipping the two cherubs on the ark? God forbid.
The Jesus style question is this: the Evangelicals say that “every knee must bow,” so where are your bows when you enter the house of God? None of them can answer this.
Indeed, every knee must bow. Even in Old Testament times, God had all the faithful bow. He did not want His people bowing down before images of Himself, since He did not have a body yet. But He knew that people needed to bow down before something, so He provided the Temple in Jerusalem for this purpose. The temple did not represent the image of God, but it did represent His presence. So God had His people bow down toward the temple which was so clear in Scripture:
“But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.” (Psalm 5:7)
Everyone bows to an image, everyone without exception, even the Muslim who argues that he doesn’t!
So when the Israelites bowed down towards God’s holy temple, where the Israelites worshipping images of angles, especially that the Jerusalem temple included statues and icons of angels, and especially that the early synagogues were covered with icons of many Old Testament saints?
The temple, as the Book of Hebrews taught, was simply anticipating the day when God would become man, when His people would be able to have images of Himself, God taught His people to include many images in the context of worship.
The fact that the Temple had angelic images and icons, and the fact that nowhere did God chastise the Israelites on this issue in the Old Testament (God in fact ordered it) and He sets the record straight. Therefore, no one can argue that the verse “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above …” to mean anything but idol worship. Israel did make images of beings in heaven: angels.
The New Testament also depicted the holy spirit as a “dove” (a bird of peace) and even in the Old Testament, God was depicted as a man with white hair in Daniel 7.
And if all this doesn’t still set the record straight, we can even go further (since so many object on venerations and Messianic Jews object vehemently on statues) the Jews in Old Testament times and even to this day, bow toward dead Torah scrolls when entering and exiting their synagogues, and also during special Torah services and just as Orthodox Christians kiss Mary, Jews also kiss the Torah to venerate it. All of these modern as well as ancient practices anticipated apostolic-succession’s form of worship, including even the veneration of icons.
When it comes to Christianity, they key is to always go back to the first century onwards. The synagogue (and house church) of Dura Europos (Syria, ca. early-3rd century AD) is filled, wall-to-ceiling, with images of Old Testament stories and saints — and all in places where the Jews would’ve been prostrating before the Torah scrolls. The assertion that either ancient or Second Temple Judaism was inherently iconoclastic is truly a modern polemical myth. (see Is There Really a Patristic Critique of Icons, By Gabe Martini, May 25, 2013 http://onbehalfofall.org/?p=6335)
Catacomb archeological superintendent Fabrizio Bisconti points to frescoes discovered with the 4th-century icons of the Apostles Peter and Paul in a catacomb under Rome. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito) Source: AdelaideNow
People who reject the richness and wealth of worship God provided us, live in utter spiritual poverty.
Before the coming of Christ, the Jewish Temple signified God’s presence, the Ruach Ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit) and His people bowed down toward it where He resided, and when Christ came, He referred to His own body as the true temple. Therefore, instead of continuing to bow down toward a building, we now bow down toward images of Jesus.
Still insist this is blasphemy? Why then are we to bow to one another in respect, especially because Scripture says that every Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit?
Bowing to an icon of Christ reminds us that God now has a body, yet to refuse to bow to icons of Christ insisting to bow down before nothing instead, such worship suggests that God has no body, and that the Incarnation hasn’t happened yet and now such worship misrepresents God. An idol can also be a faceless idol and is still idolatry.
When the Word became flesh, iconoclasm became idolatry. The Incarnation changes everything, similar that when, cancelling circumcision, also changed everything.
ON TRADITION, MIRACLES, PROPHECY, SIGNS AND WONDERS
To say that Evangelicals have no tradition is a myth. There is much wealth in Christian tradition. I recall when my Baptist pastor Denise Beaty anointed the whole congregation on the forehead with olive oil. These were customs; usages and practices form our faith. What is wrong then with making the sign of the Cross, blessings, holy water, vestments, candles, incense and even kissing our bibles? I nearly punched my first Christian when I converted from Islam because he placed his Bible on the floor.
Both apostolic succession and none apostolic succession churches agree that when the Bible speaks of “tradition of men,” in Matthew 15:9 it was speaking against teaching human precepts as doctrines.
Tradition (Greek: paradosis), means “handing down,” which is derived from the Apostles and given to the Early Church Fathers, and the early Christians which enriches our understanding of the Bible.
The mistake many fall in is how they view the Bible since we think that everything that is true must be in the Bible, when truth is, everything that is in the Bible is true and not everything that is true is in the Bible.
How else does God in Joel 2:28-29 which promises that in the end days the children will see visions, prophecy and dream dreams:
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days”
The apostolic succession churches (Orthodox) will argue: will we rebuke when these “visions” are fulfilled, that such “visions” and “prophecies” given to “children” and “servants” (priests and nuns) as ‘false’ since they are “not in our Bibles”?
On this, everyone agrees, that all truth doesn’t have to be in the word of God, but also that all truth that doesn’t have to be in the word of God must also agree with the word of God.
And so we ask, where are these “visions” and “prophecies”? How was this fulfilled in our days? Was God silent from heaven? Can anyone who insists that “everything that is true must be in the Bible,” tell us how then will Joel 2:28 be fulfilled?
While Acts 2:17 was a type of fulfillment, the verse insists that this will be in the form of “visions” and “prophecies” with confirmation and evidence regarding the end of times and the destiny of nations.
So crucial was Joel 2, that it was the spark of the Church. This issue that from Joel 2 and Acts 2, miracles must continue until the end of times. In Acts 2 we had Holy Spirit filled and tongues of fire … miracles that the naked eye cannot fathom. Such miracles can never end.
The Bible from the time of Moses sets the record straight, God’s miracles always gulp up the phony ones, just as Moses’s serpent swallowed up Pharaoh’s.
This is the second key I present in knowing the true Church from the cult.
Yet, and here is the dilemma: in Christendom, there is two groups: the first link themselves to an apostolic succession, the second who have no apostolic succession. The difference is that the first can produce many confirmed prophecies and visions, that are not in the Bible, which did come to pass, while the latter has countless predictions which no one confirmed the accuracy of what was said prior to the events ensuring that it matches exactly what was said afterwards.
Anyone cares to prove this wrong, must produce their evidence, keeping in mind that such evidence must adhere to Isaiah 41:
“Let them bring them forth and tell us what is to happen. Let them tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them and know the outcome of them; or declare to us the things to come. Tell us the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yes, do good or do evil that we may stare in astonishment {and} be dismayed as we behold [the miracle] together! Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing! The worshiper who chooses you is an abomination [extremely disgusting and shamefully vile in God’s sight]. (Isaiah 41:22-24)
One’s sect must “declare things to come” by “telling us the former things” before they happen, and that “we may know that you are gods” (linked to God via Theosis, more on that later).
This is God’s signature to show whose side He is on. It is impossible to show visions and prophecies of things to come from non-apostolic Christians. Keep in mind, I left Islam for one reason, that is when I read Isaiah 41. What is amazing is that in the theme of Isaiah 41-44 where God sets up His challenge, He sets it up in an immediate and a long term prediction of someone who comes from the north. God in the Bible did not forget the Copts of Egypt (Isaiah 19) and the Russian Orthodox “the North”.
Christ in the Bible is coming for Egypt’s Copts:
“And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.” (Isaiah 19:20)
Here we have the “Mighty One” is the Messiah who fights on the day of the Lord to fight the oppressors. And for the Orthodox in Russia in Isaiah 44:
“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes. One from the rising sun who calls on my name.”
While 150 years after this prophecy, Cyrus, as type of fulfillment, had come from the east and from the north, he was not one who “calls on my name,” a very specific prediction that this “anointed” comes from the north is also in Daniel 11:44 where a nation comes to finish the Antichrist when: “news from the north [Russia] will trouble him [the King of the North, Antichrist in Turkey] and then he [Antichrist] will come to his end and no one will come to his defense.” (v. 45) Antichrist is north but there is also someone north of him: Russia. Russia is the only country north of Meshech and Tubal which are only in Asia Minor.
The outcome of this battle between the King of the North (Turkey under the Antichrist) and the troublesome news from north of it (Russia) will be a surprise—in verse 45, he (the antichrist) “shall come to his end, with no one to help him”.
Russia will again defeat Turkey. History will repeat itself and it will be the Russo-Turkish Wars all over again. Other allies (Ezekiel 28:7-8) which the Bible says are the “most terrible of the nations” will also join in against Turkey (see Ezekiel 30:5, Lydia which is Turkey today).
Yet this seems not to confirm what is taught in none-apostolic-churches that Russia is Gog and Magog while apostolic-succession churches have predictions that Russia will be on the side of the righteous.
I have seen both sides of the fence where prophetic predictions are made outside of the Bible. The difference is that the none apostolic succession churches have no way to confirm there predictions were made before hand and there is no authoritative body to handle such claims while the apostolic succession churches do.
And it is here where we link Acts 2, prophecy, miracles and such. It is here where we confirm who is right and who is wrong and where miracles match true prophecy versus false interpretations of prophecy.
Take the Apparitions in Fatima. Evangelicals accuse Catholics that these are demonic miracles, while Catholics accuse all the tele evangelists of making up fake miracles, signs and wonders.
Lets take the prophecy regarding the Consecration of Russia. It was given when three children had a vision of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 telling them about the future of Russia and how it must be consecrated through a public act of obedience and prayer where all the bishops gather. Years later in repeated visits to Sister Lucia, she saw a vision of Christ and also Mary appeared saying that Russia is to be consecrated or else Russia’s wickedness will destroy the world. The photos below tells us the results:
Where is today communist Russia whom the false prophets for decades damned and condemned?
And since this was not done (the bishops must gather from all over the world for the consecration), Russia plunged into communism and continued to threaten the world just as the apparition said. The public displays on several occasions were not accepted since bishops at times were not gathered until March 25, 1984 and the request was fulfilled.
Nearly two months later, on May 13, 1984, everything began to unravel. First, an explosion at the Soviets’ Severomorsk Naval Base destroys two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets’ Northern Fleet. The blast also destroys workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of scientists and technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy has suffered since WWII. Then on April 26, 1986, we had Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident, then on May 12, 1988, an explosion wrecked the only factory that made the rocket motors for the Soviets’ deadly SS 24 long-range missiles, which carry ten nuclear bombs each.
Was all this an act from the devil? Why would the devil who made communism destroy it?
Jesus however, confronted the same issue in Matthew 12 when Pharisees used 1 Kings 22:23 saying to beware of “lying spirits” when they confronted Jesus:
“Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
“But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
But in this argument, who of the two was truly following demons? Jesus or these Pharisees? Yet these Pharisees, just as we see today also quoted Scripture. Quoting Scripture is not evidence the quoter is from God. The devil himself quoted Scripture in the Temptation. Jesus in fact addresses such heretics who use half-sciptural-truths with:
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:22-28)
Jesus says that demons do not drive out other demons out. Period.
So why would the devil want the end of communism?
Also, prophecy outside of the Bible needs confirmation. On August 29, 1989 Lucia affirms in correspondence that the consecration “has been accomplished” and that “God will keep His word.” Then on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall falls. Then on December 25th, 1991 (Christmas), the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was complete and Russia today (the other apostolic succession church) has become a beacon for Christianity.
Is that not amazing? That out of hundreds of nations, Russia is in God’s focus?
This, all the while the none-apostolic-succession churches accuses Russia of being Gog and Magog! While the story of Lucia can amazingly be confirmed, Russia behaving as some describe Magog cannot be confirmed and in fact is turning contrary to the predictions proving that all these scriptural interpretations about Russia turning into a devil is absurd. (Read six part series refuting all this nonsense).
I could find nothing like Fatima in any non-apostolic-succession churches. Not once do we see careful approvals, checks and balances made by an institution. Isaiah challenges, “tell us the things to come”. So these churches need to answer: where from amongst your “servants,” “sons and daughters,” (Joel 2) correctly proclaimed “the things to come,” where we can also confirm it?
I have seen so many claims and was unable to find pre-prediction and post-prediction evidence. As I write this article I looked for the first hit on none apostolic prophets and got this. Can someone show us how we can confirm if all this is true:
I have been on Sid Roth show where he asked me on my first visit: “Walid do you believe in the supernatural” and my answer was “not what I see here on your program, no”. He sat me down for dinner and lectured me to no avail, and on my second visit while Sid was in the makeup room, he asked again, if I had given his supernatural arguments some thought, and I said: I did, and my answer is still “no”. I never bought into the abracadabra to be true just because its done in the name of Jesus. In fact I think its sometimes demonic. In the video above Sid Roth promotes Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844-1924) who introduced the “Holiness Movement” to being “Slain in the Spirit.” She had been nicknamed the ‘trance evangelist” and adherents would fall backwards often accompanied with a trance-like state, facial and body contortions, trembling or laughter and all sorts of demonic activity. John and Charles Wesley discerned that some manifestations were unholy laughter. In 1912, Jessie Penn-Lewis and Evan Roberts in their book War on the Saints also write of demonical inspired laughter with twisting and jerking. Even Catholic exorcists have cautioned that the devil may cause laughter to distract and disrupt. (1)
The devil’s miracles are always gulped up and look foolish when compared to true miracles from God. It is just as Christ, when He healed, the followers of satan, accuse Him of being from the devil. God cares about nations and He does send us miracles. Such madness we see on daily basis on TV should not interest us. As a Christian, I look for bottom lines: will Russia be a blessed nation in the hand of God or will it become the Gog and Magog as some none apostolic churches claim? There is no way to avoid this question, only one of the two proposals is correct. These are Jesus style questions where one side is in a checkmate.
So how is it that Fatima seem to correspond to Russia being on the good side as predicted while the modern interpretations started by a drunkard named Scofield disagree with both Fatima and the Bible? It was Scofield who first argued that Russia is what the Bible spoke about regarding Gog and Magog.
Why do millions follow traditions made by men named Scofield and Zwingli? Yet when you ask them of Scofield and Zwingli they know nothing about them.
From a biblical perspective, Russia is against the spirit of antichrist while the U.S. is advancing the cause of Antichrist.
While many will complain of Russia, keep in mind, Cyrus is no perfect person and in Isaiah 44, verse 28 God says, “Who says of Cyrus, ‘he is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please.’” And 45:1 says, “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of …” yet the prophecy is specific, God who says “…I have stirred up one from the north and he comes” and that the future Cyrus “calls upon My name”. Therefore He must be Christian.
Cyrus led his armies from the east, not the north, from Persia to the West and then went up to the north into Asia Minor. He conquered the great kingdom of Croesus, the kingdom of Lydia, and conquered all of Asia Minor (Turkey). Then he returned southward and attacked Babylon.
Likewise, Russia coming from the north, will defeat Lydia: Turkey in the north also. And we see everything lining up where Russia is north of Turkey occupied Crimea and has now stationed its military in Syria. The prophecy analysts predicted for decades that communist Russia will invade Israel were wrong. Russia has no communism. All these books where gulped up by Moses’s serpent.
And God says, “I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes. One from the rising sun who calls on my name.”
The Bible itself tells us that there is more to than what we see in the Bible.
There are keys to unlock God’s mind which helps us to understand who is and who is not a cult.
The word “Trinity” is not in the Bible. Yet a wise Christian knows that the cultist will say “see, here Jesus says that the Father is greater than I, how is He God?” The wise knows the answer. Christ was servant, prophet, rabbi, Son of God, God .. all in one.
Many say that we only need the Bible. What of the millions who say: “I have a word from the Lord for you”?
Fact is, non-apostolic-succession churches practice miracles, signs and wonders, way much more than all apostolic-succession churches combined. All this, and we are in no way allowed to examine what sister Lucia had to say as a message from the Lord, a message that was confirmed by thousands who came to see the sign of the sun spinning? And why would the devil want Russia consecrated to Jesus, Mary’s Heart?
THEOSIS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
What many miss is that God is not a Bible. Scripture speaks of spiritual wealth and not spiritual poverty. Many set up blockades and set up time-periods and dispensations and systematic theology putting God in a box.
And we ask: has everything been sealed after the apostles?
What no man can deny is that the same Holy Spirit Who inspired the members of his Church write down the Gospels is the very Same Holy Spirit Who was active several hundred years after that when He inspired members of his Church to decide what books belong in the Bible and what books to leave out.
Had this act been denied, it makes null and void, not just the entire New Testament, but the acts of the Holy Spirit Himself. The continual denial of the Holy Spirit’s work is not to be forgiven. This is a serious issue. Jesus denounced as heresy the denunciation of this continual work of the Hoy Spirit.
And so when “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8) would this only mean that the Bible as a book stands forever? Such verses include what the Bible promised, fulfillments, Kingdom, Heaven, eternity … it includes what no man can fathom in his miniscule mind as “and the Word became Flesh” (Jn 1:14), an issue much mightier than “the Word became paper.”
This “Word becoming flesh” entails Him instituting and commissioning his Church to be “His body”.
One key that none apostolic succession churches put away involves a process called Theosis: Partaking of the Divine Nature. It is for this reason millions miss so much of Scripture when they try to interpret it.
Without understanding Theosis is similar to when cults do not understand the Trinity where the verses do not fit in our minds and sounds contradictory and plain confusing. All cults take advantage of this and use this type of confusion where they refer to one verse here and it sounds opposite in another verse there. It is for this reason the wolf gulps up millions of sheep.
It is here, in the key of Theosis, where we begin to understand why some of these verses, which at face value, sounds blasphemous and are not:
“You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.” (Psalm 82:6)
Imagine being there at the time of the psalmist inspiration of these words, yet you have not even fathomed God in three Persons, and now you are taught that mere human beings be gods?
The verse does not literally teach that one becomes a god, hardly, but that human beings can have real union with God that we participate in the divine nature of God. In fact such misunderstanding of Theosis, had Christ endure being called a heretic and blasphemer:
“Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? (John 10:31-36)
How else was the word of God inspired had the men of God not been partaking in this divine nature and union with God? Jesus Himself says that this partaking in the unity with God inspired “whom the word of God came”.
So now we understand Isaiah 41 as to why God challenges the false prophecy “that we may know you are gods”. In other words, you do not have Theosis, you are not linked to God. Only through Theosis can one mirror God’s will and prophecy. One’s sect must “declare things to come” by “telling us the former things” before they happen, and that “we may know that you are gods” (linked to God via Theosis, being one with God).
Scripture is much easier to understand and it flows only when we study the early church.
The other key needed is our approach to God must be through Mount Zion.
But before we explain this “Mount Zion,” let us ask: how do cults approach God?
Muslims say they call Him directly while none apostolic succession churches approach God through Jesus by using only certain verses in Scripture, that all pardon for sins must come only from Christ’s finished work on Calvary.
The difference between Evangelicals and Orthodox is simple: Orthodox say that all pardon for sins must ultimately come from Christ’s finished work on Calvary.
The Orthodox when dealing with none-Orthodox arguments, they smile and say: Evangelicals do not follow the whole wealth of Scripture. Millions do not comprehend, that prayers and intercessions is much more complex. Millions need to break the shackles of man-made theology and approach a heavenly host and just as the Scriptures said that with Christ, we now approach “Mount Zion”:
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect [saints], and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
We ultimately come to Jesus the mediator through coming to Mount Zion. All verses must flow and match perfectly. Indeed, all prayer ultimately go to Christ.
We “come to Mount Zion”? We approach “innumerable angels,” “assembly of the first born,” who already “enrolled in heaven,” and “spirits of the righteous made perfect”?
And what man can completely fathom this? What words can I write to start understanding God’s wealth? Or must I come to scarp crumbs off the table of Longshanks from England telling me how I must approach God when I have the best like Polycarp who knew the apostles personally?
I am but a mere feeble man who weeps and begs for mercy: “Son of David have mercy on Me, a sinner”.
And here comes the Son of David to tell me, that a poor sinner can approach all this?
Here we have saints whom were sinners “made perfect” whom we approach and they too approach King Jesus as the angel also approaches taking our prayers to Him.
Now we understand who is this angel who: “was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel” (see Rev 8:1-13) and who are these “saints” these “spirits of the righteous made perfect” whom we also approach and they go to Jesus?
Now we can understand Psalm 91:
“he has given his angels orders about you to guard you wherever you go. They will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.” (v11-12)
So what is wrong with this prayer:
“Angel of God, my guardian to whom the goodness of the heavenly Father entrusts me, enlighten, protect and guide me now and forever.”
Missing such keys is how the devil deceives to block the way to God and is why so many do not understand how Scripture is discerned as it was in the early church. It is Scripture that all cults reject while insisting they only use it.
The wealth of God is mystery for beggars who refuse to partake in the banquet of God.
Cults always miss key scripture verses which they will gymnastically twist and turn instead of looking at how simple they express God’s mind.
And just as God had sent Jesus to forgive sins and after his resurrection, Jesus told the apostles that they too will become one with God. Again, this is Theosis.
How else can the apostles “forgive sin”? In an amazing verse where the same Holy Spirit, Who hovered and breathed onto the waters to bring forth life, now in a unique occasion, Jesus breathes on men and they too can “forgive sins”:
“‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:21–23).
I can even imagine the remake of the Jesus movies, what would the scene be like when God the Son breathed on His disciples the Holy Spirit. What would the sound be, the awe, the power, the mystery …
This is one of only two times we are told that God breathed on man, the other being in Genesis 2:7, when he made man a living soul. It emphasizes how important the establishment of a system where men are chosen to “forgive sins”.
The missing keys unlock everything.
Only through the union with God (Theosis) can we understand how Christ told the apostles to follow his example:
“As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21).
Just as the apostles were to carry Christ’s message to the whole world, so they were to carry his forgiveness:
“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18).
Can an ambassador be prohibited from certain authorities from representing the King? How else can we understand: “So we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20)?
We argue over the authority to “speaking in tongues” insisting that these “ceased” or “didn’t cease,” yet we argue that such other authorities ceased with the death of the apostles?
How then will “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” end with the apostles, especially that Christ Himself promised: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matt. 28:19–20). This can never be unless this ministry, this apostolic succession continues, connects and is succeeded by others who also connect to God and who can teach “to the close of the age”. In other words, like we say culturally, “till Kingdom Come”? This ministry has not ended.
Everything in Scripture fits like a tight glove. It was God who killed Goliath, through David who through a stone as David became one with God (Theosis). Therefore, David becomes the hand of God and what David did is what God did. Hallelu-Yahweh, praise God.
It is sort of like millions of lights (the church), all connect to the dynamo of God through Christ and the heavenly host. Everything fits, from Old Testament defense to approaching Mount Zion—the heavenly Jerusalem, so when we read, “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens” (Hebrews 13:33-34) we understand how the Maccabee (the hammer) defeated Antiochus and at Lepanto Christians defeated the Muslim Ottomans, and how Charles (the other Hammer) defeated the Muslims after Six Days just as Joshua did at the “dawning of the day” just when six days past.
These are the saints who are “the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23), and they reside as royalty in the holy and heavenly mountain of Zion, “the city of the living God” from where the warriors of Orthodoxy receive their inspiration, and by which their very souls are ignited by the awe-inspiring will to advance virtue and justice.
Now we understand “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 3:5). Now we understand how the “prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.” (Rev 8:3-4)
God’s truth is complex indeed. Approaching God is not plugging your socket to the main unit, but through an intermediate where the pastor can pray on your behalf for sins you committed since he is more righteous and we have the complex heavenly Zion.
There are also multiple fulfillments in Scripture where Mary also participated is the New Ark of the Covenant when the Holy Spirit will “overshadow” Mary using the same Greek word—episkiasei—that is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament to describe how the glory of God overshadowed the Tabernacle and Temple where the earthly Ark was kept. Now we can understand David in 2 Samuel 6:9, when he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” which pin-points to Luke 1:43 when both David and Elizabeth used the same language to greet Mary “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord [the Ark] should come to me? And all this happened in three months just as said in 2 Samuel, the Ark of the Covenant is recorded as having remained for three months in the hill country after its return from the land of the Philistines (2 Samuel 6:2) where the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obededom the Gittite for three months, where Luke 1:39 notes that Mary “arose and went to the hill country of Judah” where she remained with Elizabeth for “three months.”
We now understand, how and why, when “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan” (Revelation 12:9) is “angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17)
Now we can understand why we are the spiritual offspring of Mary and not Eve who unlike Mary rebelled. It was John who baptized Jesus into Jesus who told him all this and it was Jesus who told John with his dying breath to care for His mother Mary telling her “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:25–27)
Mary is our Mother and not some incubator. God was not making the movie Alien where He was using humans as incubators for baby alien Jesus.
Nor was John simply interested in chatting about first-century Palestinian domestic arrangements for widows.
It was just as Jesus is the parallel of Adam, so Mary is the parallel of Eve (whose name means “mother of the living”.
This is what the early church believed from as far as Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp, who had heard the Apostle John himself with his own ears saying of Mary:
“being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith.”—Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, 3, 22, 4 (A.D. 189)
It is the first church that is key. And just as we understand the significance of certain words and events as Jesus “breathed on his disciples” in John 20, the significance of these are similar when the archangel Gabriel said to Mary: “Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1: 28) and so “grace” is no small word. Jesus Himself was “full of grace”:
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth — John 1:14.
Was Mary “the Word became flesh”? God forbid. Was she “the glory as of the Father’s only Son”? Also God forbid. But was she “full of grace”? Absolutely, or Luke would be a liar.
Gabriel never even called her by her name, but by her title “full of grace”.
Is grace a small word? Isn’t it by “grace we are saved through faith”?
While no one is saved through Mary, God’s grace was upon her to prevent her from Eve’s sin.
So how could “All have sinned?” (Romans 3:23) a use in a general sense, not with mathematical precision mean: “every individual without any exception” when that would also includes Jesus?
Paul himself recognizes that the unborn infants have not sinned.
If one still persists that “all” mean “all” how could one reconcile Revelation 13 where it says that:
“All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast — all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”
How so, when God does allow repentance when Jesus comes in Zechariah 14:16:
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”
It is obvious that what is left of these nations that came to attack Jerusalem were followers of Antichrist and now they switched to following Christ. How is it then that they come to worship the King and that they keep the feasts of the Lord? God obviously forgave them. God forgives, it is man who is at times is so unforgiving. How is it that we have “the age of Grace” and as soon as Christ comes it is all shut? Our motto should be “out with dispensations and in with the word of God” yet we have the traditions of men setting up what and how God thinks.
The Illumination of the Temple is yet another significant part of Sukkot. During the Illumination of the Temple, candles are lit and bring such light that it is said nothing is to be left in the dark. So when Christ says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” He is revealing that He is able, like the illumination of the Temple, to bring a light that has no end; in His light, nothing remains in darkness. He lights the way to the Father and also sheds light upon our sins. It is in this illumination that we are called to respond, to repent, to seek refuge in His atoning death.
Jesus is our Sukkah, our shelter; He is our water, our salvific baptismal water; He is our light, our illuminated path to the Father.
When interpreting Scriptures, rule number one, is that everything must fit like a glove.
“All” doesn’t mean “every single individual”. For many years, it has been taught that in the Last-Days literally every nation of the earth – including the United States – will be utterly dominated by the Antichrist; there will be no place to escape from the dreaded Mark of the Beast; every last nation of the world will come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12 is usually used to validate the theory, as is the Apostle John. After all, the Antichrist will be given “authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation,” (Revelation 13:7).
This would seem like an ironclad case for the Antichrist ruling the entire globe, including the United States, which he uses in his march against Jerusalem. It is this dilemma that caused many to believe that the United States will be taken over by Antichrist.
Before we attempt to solve this issue, it is necessary to clarify the dilemma. For this, we can ask a Jesus-style question: does the usage of the phrase, “the whole earth” and “every tribe, tongue and nation” in the Bible mean “the entire globe”? If so, then did Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:1 send his letter to every nation, tribe and tongue in the “entire globe”?
“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.” (Daniel 4:1)
“O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him,” (Daniel 5:18, 19).
How about…
“Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom,” (I Kings 4:34)
Did anyone visit Solomon from China?
How about…
“Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt,” (2 Kings 17:29).
Did the inhabitants of every last nation of the earth have Samaritan gods in their homes?
How about…
“the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries.” Isaiah 37:18
Did King Sennacherib of Assyria actually destroy all nations on the face of the earth?
How about…
“As I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth,” (Daniel 8:5).
Did Alexander the Great occupy the whole earth?
So then, let us offer a correct biblical perspective regarding the end-times verses:
Zechariah 14:2 “For I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem for battle”
Matthew 25:32 “I will also gather all nations”
Joel 3:2 “I will gather all nations”
Such verses should not be isolated. In context, Zechariah 12 must fit and only encompasses the surrounding nations:
“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves,” (Zechariah 12:2-3).
In Joel 3:12 we find the same:
“Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.”
“The surrounding peoples” and “all the nations of the earth” are two references pertaining to the same people; “all the nations” and “the earth” is not the entire globe, though the translation may seem to allude to it as such. The problem is that the translation at times makes it difficult since – in English – “the earth” tends to mean “the entire globe” and in Hebrew the word “Eretz” commonly means “the land” and not “the entire globe.”
Then we have the culture. In ancient Hebrew, we find a grammatical construct that makes emphatic statements in order to convey a point, whereas using hyperbole is extremely common in eastern cultures. Throughout the prophecies of end-times the Bible is speaking of a regional war and not global (Ezekiel 36:4, 5, Psalm 79:12, Jeremiah 12:14, Ezekiel 28-32).
One common argument I always get is an objection that “the earth” is meant to be “the known world,” that today’s “known world” must then encompass the entire globe. This assumption is false since all “Four Beasts” in Daniel chapter 7 arise out of “the Great Sea” (Daniel 7:2). “The Great Sea” is the Mediterranean region, not the entire globe. To escape this problem they twist the word of God and say that “The Great Sea” as “the sea of humanity.” How so if the Bible refers to “The Great Sea” as always the Mediterranean Sea (see Num 34:6-7, Jos 1:4, Jos 9:1, Jos 15:12, Jos 15:47, Jos 23:4, Ezek 47:10, 15, 19, 20, Ezek 48: 28).
So where is the United States in the Bible? Daniel 11 tells us that Antichrist “acts against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory” (Daniel 11:39).
Who are these “strongest fortresses” [the strongest military might]”? How could the Antichrist rule the entire globe if we have strongest fortresses that fight against him? Does he truly defeat these strongest fortresses? Does he defeat the United States and Russia? Does he rule the entire globe?
The answer to this is “No.”
The “all” does not always mean “all” just as “all sinned” does not mean that aborted babies sin even though they had the sting of sin. This sure makes more sense since “all who sinned” and without Jesus enter hell. Mary had the sting of sin yet she was prevented from sinning. Indeed, Jesus was her savior who prevented her from sin.
The position that every nation will fall to Antichrist is impossible since the Bible clearly states that some will even resist the Antichrist and even defeat him. The verses are rarely discussed. In Ezekiel 28, it even confirms that the most powerful nations (strongest fortresses) on earth will annihilate the Antichrist:
“Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of [them that are] slain in the midst of the seas.” (Ezekiel 28:7-8)
Similar to Lepanto, Europe will defeat Turkey at the Mediterranean sea when the “ships of Chittim [Romans] come against him” (Daniel 11:30).
“They” in Ezekiel 28, pertains to these powerful nations and the term “terrible” implies to being “terrible in battle,” “most powerful,” “strongest fortresses.” God will rise up several nations who will carry out His judgment and attack the Antichrist in the end. All the verses must fit like a glove and isolating Scripture is of the devil. Therefore, it cannot be true that every nation of the globe will fall to the Antichrist and attack Israel just as “all sinned” does not mean that aborted babies sinned.
As we have seen here, too many today read the Bible narcissistically. Many books have been written that place the West at the center of prophecy and interpret history through a Western-centric lens. Far too many Westerners have missed the obvious fact that the Bible is thoroughly Middle Eastern. In the Biblical worldview, Jerusalem is the center of the earth, not Europe or America. The biblical prophecies about the End-Times are no different.
So now that I expressed all what I expressed they will now accuse me of being Catholic, Orthodox, Copt, Serbian, Vatican, and of course the dreaded Jesuit spy … when all I did was simply use Scripture, the very Scripture which they say that they uphold.
SOURCES
(1) See Adolf Rodewyk, Possessed By Satan, trans. Martin Ebon (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975), 152. B. J. Oropeza, A Time to Laugh: The Holy Laughter Phenomenon (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995), 158. Also see Jessie Penn-Lewis with Evan Roberts, War on the Saints: Unabridged Edition (New York: Thomas E. Lowe, Ltd., n.d.), 320, 324.
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