TRUTHS ABOUT CULTS AND FALSE RELIGIONS PART 2

For your poor choices of worship, Is it from God, or your so called friends, or is it your fault? Who Is To Blame? Adam said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me – she gave me the fruit and I ate.” The Lord asked, “What have you done?” Eve replied, “The snake deceived me and I ate” (Genesis 3:12 & 13). We find in this age of constant litigation, people almost always want to blame somebody else for every event that happens, but few people will take responsibility for their own actions. The ‘blame game’ began with Adam. Adam blamed God for giving him Eve, then he blamed Eve for giving him the fruit. Eve blamed the devil for deceiving her. Neither of them said, “Yes Lord. I disobeyed You.” That attitude prevails to this day. When something unforeseen happens, we need to look at three possibilities for the cause of the event. It could be something the Lord is working out in our lives; it could be an attack of the enemy for us to overcome; or it could be caused by our own actions. The Lord is in complete control of the whole universe and holds everything together (Colossians 1:17), and He does not hesitate to take full responsibility for what happens when it is His doing. In the same way, if an event occurs because of our own doing, we must also take full responsibility. That is what repentance is all about. Repentance is our admission of wrongdoing, and God expects us to take responsibility for it. If our hardship is caused by the enemy, we need to know, nothing happens without God’s permission. Look at the following three examples. Believers often blame the devil for Job’s suffering, but in the end, the Lord took full responsibility for it all. ’Job’s family comforted him over all the calamities the Lord had brought upon him’ (Job 42:11). The sin in Sodom and Gomorrah came to the attention of the Lord so He destroyed those cities in judgement and He did not hesitate to say beforehand what His intentions were, and He explained why. After the cities were destroyed, the Lord confirmed that He had destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, the surrounding cities, every person and everything that grew on the ground (Genesis 18:16 to 19:29). What happened to Jesus on the cross was for the benefit of all mankind. Some people blame the Romans, some blame the Jews, others blame both, but it is the Lord Who takes responsibility for it. ‘It pleased the Lord to bruise Him and crush Him. It was the will of the Lord to make Him suffer’ (Isaiah 53:10). When the Lord does something calamitous, it is always for a divine purpose and He always takes full responsibility for His actions. When we do something that causes a calamity, we need to think twice before blaming God. We cannot blame God for the foolish actions of mankind and there is no reason why He should take responsibility for our stupidity. For example, if we lose our job because we abused our employer, that would be our own fault. Once we have repented of our foolishness, we can ask the Lord to help us find new employment, and hopefully we learned a lesson. If we lose our job suddenly and we know we are not in the wrong, we can rightfully ask God what His plans are because we need to be employed. It may be that God wants us to work elsewhere, so we can trust Him to get us another, better job. What is definitely wrong, is to blame God when a situation is clearly our own fault. That would be berating the Lord for a situation that is a result of our own actions. Some examples of people blaming others for their own foolishness are as follows. Not long ago a man sat in a public bar until he was hopelessly drunk. When the publican refused to serve him any more liquor the man became aggressive, but the publican stood his ground and refused to serve the man. The man was already very drunk. He staggered out of the public bar into the street and was struck by a car. He was not badly injured, but he tried unsuccessfully to sue the publican for making him drunk. Another case was when a young man high on drugs, jumped headfirst into a shallow marina canal. He hit the bottom, broke his neck and was hospitalised. He knew the canal was shallow. The owners of a house situated next to the saltwater canal, had signs erected warning people not to jump into it. The young man should not have been at the house in the first place because the owners were away on holiday and he had broken in, but he then tried unsuccessfully to sue the owners of the house for the accident. Neither of these men were Christians. There are those who blame God for the deaths of some people when the cause of death is their own fault. People who blame God in those circumstances, are trying to place the sins of the foolish on God’s shoulders. That shows a complete lack of rational and logical thought. Blaming God or anyone else when a foolish person suffers the consequences of their own actions, is illogical. If a heavy drug user overdoses themselves, or a hoon drives at 100 kilometres an hour faster than the legal speed limit, or if a person drinks alcohol and drives, or a person smokes heavily for years, and then those people become ill, are injured or die as a result of their own doing, it is nonsensical to then feel angry at God. Logically speaking, if nobody ever smoked, no one would die from smoking-related diseases … if nobody took illegal drugs, no one would die from an illegal drug overdose … if all drivers would drive carefully according to the conditions, obeyed the road laws, kept to the speed limit, never drank alcohol or took drugs before driving, our road toll would be almost nil. The people who do these things put themselves and others around them at risk, so to blame God for the deaths of people who behave in this manner, is illogical and is blasphemy. That is what Adam did – he blamed God then Eve for his own disobedience. The Bible says: ‘The serpent was more subtle and cunning than any creature of the field which the Lord God had made. The serpent asked the woman, “Can it really be that God has said you shall not eat from every tree of the garden?” Eve answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden except the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” But the serpent said to Eve, “You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil.” When Eve saw that the tree was good for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate and she gave some to Adam and he ate, then the eyes of both of them were opened’ (Genesis 3:1 to 7). The serpent would have been an incarnation of the devil but that did not bother Eve and she showed no fear. Fear is part of the curse and only came as a result of sin. Adam said, “I heard the sound of You (God) walking in the garden and I was afraid” (Genesis 3:10). The devil in the guise of a serpent had one objective; to make Adam and Eve doubt the truth of God’s spoken word, which would result in disobedience, thus removing them from the blessing of God, replacing the blessing with a curse. Once he succeeded in doing that, all mankind was lost. Eve was deceived, but Adam disobeyed. ‘It was not Adam who was deceived, but Eve who was deceived and they fell into disobedience’ (1 Timothy 2:14). After this came the ‘blame game’. Adam blamed God for giving him Eve, then he blamed Eve for giving him the fruit. God asked, “Have you eaten of the tree of I commanded you should not eat?” Adam replied, “The woman whom You gave to be with me – she gave me the fruit and I ate.” Then Eve blamed the serpent. “The serpent deceived me and I ate” (Genesis 3:11 to 13). Many Christians today blame the devil for their own sin. Adam and Eve did that too. Neither wanted to take responsibility for their actions. Would things have been different if Adam and Eve fell on their knees in humility before the Lord and immediately repented instead of blaming God and each other? God is a merciful God, and when people repent He will relent. We can see that in the Book of Jonah. When Nineveh repented, God relented. He is merciful, and if Adam and Eve had behaved differently and repented, the outcome would surely have been different. It is not recorded in the scriptures that Adam and Eve ever repented. How different this world would be if they had. When Jesus came, He willingly took all of the blame for what Adam and Eve did by bringing sin onto all mankind. All we need to do is accept the sacrifice Jesus made. We need to reverse the process of Eve’s actions. Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment, they did not trust the Word of God and they did not believe in the promises of God – all the areas where Adam and Eve failed were reversed by Abraham who is our father in the faith and was a wonderful role model for us to look up to. Abraham’s wife Sarah, on the other hand, acted like Eve. Sarah told Abraham to produce a child with Hagar. Once Hagar was pregnant with Ishmael, Sarah was annoyed and said to Abraham, “This wrong is all your fault. I gave my maid to you and now that she is pregnant she despises me!” (Genesis 16:5). Sarah blamed Abraham and Hagar. If we put ourselves in Hagar’s situation for a moment, we can see the poor girl had no choice for she was a slave. She had to submit to having sex with Abraham and have his child, so it is no surprise she resented Sarah who came up with the idea. Again, we see that a woman (Sarah) beguiled a man (Abraham), who fell for it then messed things up. Abraham tried to ‘help’ God bring about the promise of a son, by producing Ishmael. If God gives us a warning and we do not listen to it, but proceed with our own agenda and we suffer the consequences, then we have no right to blame God. In His graciousness, He would forgive us and cover our sin, just like He graciously covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness. If we listen and obey we will not fall, for He is able to keep us from falling (Jude 1:24). If we ignore the written warnings the Lord has carefully outlined in the Bible and we fall, then we must take full responsibility for our own actions, repent and change our direction. The consequences of our own actions may be dire, but we still cannot blame God. If God makes a promise as clearly as He did to Abraham, then God will keep that promise and we cannot ‘help’ God. The Lord will fulfil that promise when the time is right, in His own way. If we try to run ahead of God’s time, we will mess things up and when that happens we cannot then blame God. He is not to blame for our foolishness. We need to trust the Lord and not try to work things out for ourselves. The Bible says, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight (clear). Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil’ (Proverbs 3:5 to 7). Errors Of Mormonism ‘If he who comes, preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit which you did not receive from us, or a different gospel which you did not accept, … such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Jesus. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of Light. It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works’ (2 Corinthians 11:4, 13 to 15). ‘There is not another gospel. Only there are some who want to pervert the Gospel of Jesus. If we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any gospel other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed. As we have said before, so I now say again; if any man preaches to you any gospel other than that which you received (from the Word of God), let him be cursed’ (Galatians 1:7 to 9). ‘I (Jesus) testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book (the Bible), if anyone adds to them, may God add to him the plagues which are written in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book’ (Revelation 22:18 & 19). The Mormons have a ‘Mormon Jesus’ who is not in any way connected to our Saviour, so they do preach ‘another Jesus’. They preach a different gospel from the true Gospel of the Kingdom. They have added to the Bible by having their own book of teaching called the book of Mormon. They call themselves ‘The church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints’. They most certainly are not saintly people. Joseph Smith Junior, who was a very poor farmer and a dedicated freemason, founded this erroneous church in the United States in 1830. Smith and three others started what they claimed to be a ‘priesthood’ with satanic, freemasonry rituals. Sadly, this cult has spread to many other countries via their ‘missionaries’. Smith claimed to have been visited by an angel named Moroni, from where they get their disturbing book of Mormon. The so-called angel would most certainly have been a satanic being because it preached a false gospel. It was masquerading as an angel of Light and brought only deception. At one time this communistic, evil religion was also called the United Order of Enoch Polygamy was already illegal when Smith had other ‘wives’ kept in secret and he secretly taught about polygamy which is against scripture. He also participated in the illegal trade of confiscating land. Although Smith forbade all tea, coffee, smoking and alcohol, he himself would sometimes drink alcohol. Smith may have had as many as 50 wives, but he publicly acknowledged only his first wife Emma Hale who bore him nine children. As an overseer, he should have had only one wife and been above reproach. ‘The overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife …’ (1 Timothy 3:2). Let servants of God be husbands of one wife …’ (1 Timothy 3:12). ‘An elder is blameless if he is the husband of one wife …’ (Titus 1:6). After Smith was murdered in 1844, some of the cult decided to follow Brigham Young who dominated his people, deciding where they should live. They settled in Utah during 1846-7. Young had 20 wives and 47 children. He instituted polygyny in 1852, continuing to defy federal authorities. That is opposite to the scriptures that teach us to obey the authorities. ‘He who resists the authority, disobeys the ordinance of God, and those who disobey will receive to themselves God’s judgment’ (Romans 13:2). Men involved in this evil religion began to murder nonMormons as travellers tried to leave Utah and head for California. Thousands of innocent people where massacred by the Mormons. After that episode, Mormon political rule ceased in Utah and polygyny was reluctantly, officially relinquished by the church. After the massacre many people rejected Young in favour of following Joseph Smith’s first wife Emma Hale and her eleven-year-old son Joseph Smith lll. They called their cult the Reorganised church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. A number of splinter groups started up around the 1850’s. Joseph Smith’s brother Hyrum was murdered on the same day as Joseph was. Hyrum had a son whom he named Joseph Hyrum Smith. Joseph Hyrum had six wives but when polygyny officially ceased in 1890, he was forced to give up five of his wives, then he declared publicly, the Mormon church no longer accepted the practice of plural marriages, although to this day it still continues by lustful men who refuse to be satisfied with one wife. The Mormons accept only parts of the Bible, as long as it agrees with their theology. The teachings from the Word of God is all inspired by God and is written down for us but false teachers distort the scriptures and teach a false gospel. ‘Evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Remain in the knowledge you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from Whom you have learned them. You have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Jesus. Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and for instruction in righteousness, so that the person of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work God has for them’ (2 Timothy 3:13 to 17) We will look at some verses in the Bible so we can see the stark differences between the true salvation message written in the Word of God, compared to the false teachings of this dreadful cult. Truth: God is not flesh and blood, He is Spirit. ‘God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth’ (John 4:24). There is only one God. ‘I am God and there is none else’ (Isaiah 45:22). God is the eternal Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of the universe. ‘Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, does not sleep. He is not weary. His understanding is unsearchable’ (Isaiah 40:28). ‘He is before all things, and in Him all things are held together’ (Colossians 1:17). False teaching: Mormons believe there are many gods and God is an exalted man who was once just a human and became God by self exaltation. They say that since God evolved from being a man, then all humans can evolve into gods. They say God had a God and Father before Him and He also had a similar God and Father. All of them were once mere men and were exalted to be gods by obeying laws of righteousness. They say Man was in the beginning with God as a pre-existing spirit, and that they become humans at physical birth, then pass through a period of probation on earth and advance to angels then on to gods depending on their degree of achievement. They say, as man is, so God was. As God is, man may become. Truth: God exists in a triune Godhead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit – co-equal, co-eternal and self-existent. ‘Jesus is the image of the invisible God … By Him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth,things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and for Him’ (Colossians 1:15 & 16). ‘We are looking for the Blessed Hope and appearing of the glory of our Great God and Saviour, Jesus our Messiah’ (Titus 2:13). ‘In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to children. Yes Father, for it was well-pleasing in Your sight’” (Luke 10:21). ‘As the Father has life in Himself (is self-existent), so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself’ (John 5:26). False teaching: Mormons believe the Persons of the Godhead are three separate evolved former human beings. Truth: Mankind was created by the hand of God, starting with Adam. ‘God said "Let Us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness … God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them’ (Genesis 1:26 & 27). ‘The Lord God formed Man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath (spirit) of life, Man became a living soul’ (Genesis 2:7). False teaching: Mormons believe Adam is the god and father of our earth and universe and they believe humans pre-existed. Truth: We must be born-again and continue walking with God in order to enter the Kingdom of God. All those who reject the gift of salvation that is solely through the sacrifice and blood of Jesus will be lost for eternity by the righteous judgement of Jesus Himself. ‘Unless one is born-again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God’ (John 3:3). ‘The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7). ‘Jesus loves us and washed us from our sins by His blood’ (Revelation 1:5). ‘As I (Jesus) hear, I judge and my judgment is righteous’ (John 5:30). ‘God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man Whom He has ordained, by which He has given assurance to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead’ (Acts 17:31). ‘There is stored up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge will give to me on that day ‘ (2 Timothy 4:8). False teaching: All people are gods, all are inherently ‘good’ and potentially limitless so there is no need of a Saviour, there is no judgement and no lost eternity. Truth: Jesus was divinely conceived of the Holy Spirit and was therefore, sinless and pure. He is the living image of God the Father and was on earth in a flesh and blood body of a Man, yet with the nature and abilities of our Creator God. He was perfect and sinless, yet virtually became sin for us. ‘The angel said, "The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One Who is born from you will be called the Son of God‘ (Luke 1:35). ‘Jesus is the image of the invisible God‘ (Colossians 1:15). ‘By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit who confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God, but every spirit who denies Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist’ (1 John 4:2 & 3). ‘He who knew no sin, became sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). False teaching: Jesus is the naturally begotten child of Mary and His birth made Him a resurrected or reincarnated highly evolved god. Truth: Jesus is the perfect image of God the Father and one third of the Godhead as we read above. The devil was merely a created cherub, beautiful and musically talented, but he became proud and tried to overthrow Almighty God. For that sin of pride, the devil was rejected from his place of honour in heaven and although he can converse with God, he no longer has a home in the heavenly realm. ‘Your pomp brought you down to Sheol with the sound of your stringed instruments … How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground. You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!" You will be brought down to Sheol to the depths of the pit’ (Isaiah 14:11 to 15). ‘You seal up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you … You were the anointed cherub who covers and I set you on the holy mountain of God … You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until unrighteousness was found in you … you have sinned, therefore I have cast you out of the mountain of God and I have destroyed you, covering cherub … Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I have cast you to the ground’ (Ezekiel 28:12 to 17). As a result of his sin, the devil has become the most wicked creature in all of God’s creation. How evil and blasphemous is the next false teaching of the Mormons. False teaching: Jesus was a ‘spirit brother’ of the devil before His birth as a Man. Mormons practice non-scriptural rituals. In one ritual, adults are baptised for the dead by proxy, believing the long-dead will be saved, even though the scriptures clearly tell us we must accept salvation for ourselves. Nobody can do that for us. The participants are washed and anointed with oil in a secret ceremony then they don baptismal robes and are baptised in a bid to save anyone who might be lost to God, so for them, there is no judgement and no lost eternity. The Mormons are trying to take the role of ‘saviours’ negating the need for our personal Saviour and Lord Jesus. Mormons are caught up, almost obsessed with studying endless genealogies which is opposite to scripture. ‘Do not pay attention to myths and endless genealogies …’ (1 Timothy 1:4). ‘Shun foolish questionings and genealogies … for they are unprofitable and vain (worthless)’ (Titus 3:9). Mormons wear specially designed ‘holy’ underwear that they believe will protect them from evil spirits. The underwear has symbols sewn or embroidered and the Mormons always wear these undergarments, especially after marriage. The symbols have been described by people who have come to their senses and left the Mormon church, as being satanic and similar to the symbols found in freemasonry. There is nothing holy about those evil-looking symbols. Underwear cannot protect us from evil anyway, only the blood of Jesus can do that. Mormons have secret handshakes, hand gripping and secret names. If someone has been involved in Mormonism and chooses to leave, men from the church will follow and attempt to intimidate them, as it has been reported in a recent television interview. One woman who left the cult was excommunicated and forbidden to attend her daughter’s wedding. They practice a ‘sealing ceremony’ where an older woman shrouded in a white gown touches the genitals of a young woman who is about to be married. Men wearing a shroud touch the genitals of a young man who is about to be married. That vile practice is not mentioned in the scriptures. No one is to see or touch the nakedness of another except within marriage. See Leviticus 18:6 to 20:21, too much to add here, but the Lord makes it very clear that this practice is evil and shameful. The true Gospel of the Kingdom is not secret. It is open and highlighted for all to see, accept and follow. It may seem mysterious to non-believers, but once we are born-again and walk with God, the Gospel message is so simple, people stumble over its simplicity and try to make it complicated. Silly secret handshakes, ugly underwear, secret names and secret ceremonies are all opposite to scripture. What have they got to hide? Why the secrets? They are very foolish if they think they can hide anything from God. He is all-seeing, all knowing and all-powerful. Although the history and the reality of the United States is well known, well documented and we know white people did not enter America until after Christopher Columbus discovered the exciting ‘New World’, the Mormons have another spin on the history of America. They maintain the Hebrew tribes of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph went to America sometime around 600 BC. That belief very much opposite to scripture and opposite to the known truth of the history of the United States. They believe the Mormon Jesus came around 400 AD. They say the prophet Mormon and his son Moroni wrote some teachings on gold plates and buried them in the ground until they were later given to … yes, none other that Joseph Smith by a reincarnated Moroni in 1827. Where are those gold plates now? Of course, Smith gave them back to Moroni so nobody will ever see them. Yes, the Mormons actually believe that nonsense This Bible study has not listed all the incorrect teachings of the Mormon church but it should be enough to reveal to people the Mormon church is a cult, their teachings are wrong, the book of Mormon is not inspired by Almighty God, the founder of Mormonism was not a Godly man, their ‘angel’ was not sent from AlmightyGod, their ‘prophet’ Mormon was a false prophet, the church follows a false gospel and continues to lead people away from the true Gospel of Salvation. If we look carefully at the scriptures, we can see that unless Mormons repent and turn away from their ungodly cult, they will never enter the Kingdom of God. The verses written above tell us that. Anybody who teaches another Jesus or a different gospel is cursed unless they turn away from such unclean things and turn to God. Any person on earth can have a personal relationship with the living God by accepting Jesus’ blood sacrifice. To be born-again as the scriptures teach, we need to admit we are sinners, unable to save ourselves (Romans 3:23). We must be willing to repent, turn to God and turn away from sin (Acts 26:20). We must believe that Jesus died to take away our sins (Romans 5:8). Through prayer, we must invite Jesus, If you wish to become a Christian and want to be Biblically Saved and have salvation through Jesus Christ, I am going to share important information that many of our Churches are hiding and they don’t want to offend you with, which is the Truth that is being left out of many Church Services today. It is commanded by God and you have to remember that when Jesus Christ went from city to city, He preached His Gospel and offended many. He even instructed the disciples, which is the Christians, to go out and preach the Gospel and Baptize others, in the name of the Father, the Son of the living God and in the Holy Spirit. The Word Baptism in the Bible, means what it says. To be truly saved by God, you have to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Cross, you have to accept God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ. You have to BELIEVE in the Cross, in Jesus Christ and what He has done, you need to confess to Him that you are in the need of a Savior, you need to be Baptized by water immersion, this act needs to be done to be Baptized by the Holy Spirit and to gain eternal Life in Heaven, which is our eternal “SALVATION AND GODS FREE GIFT” to all of those who believe and is Baptized by water. “The Word in the Bible that speaks of BAPTISM mean water immersion. There is no salvation without belief and watery Baptism.” “ The water does not save anyone, if you don’t have belief and faith. Faith, belief, water Baptism runs hand and hand together. If you believe in God and have faith through Jesus Christ, then you have to be Baptized to make it to heaven. We Pray and hope that you will not ingore this Truth from God’s Word and hope that you will continue to do Bible research on your own, I can preach it, teach it, but you have to gain the knowledge and gain understanding on your own. If you want to be obedient to God, then you will do what He has commanded, its part of obedience to God and what is required to gain eternal Salvation and to be Saved from Eternal hell fire.Through prayer, we must invite Jesus to be our personal Saviour (John 1:12; Revelation 3:20). If we have made the decision to commit our life to God, we need to find a good Christian church, based on solid Christian foundations, with good fellowship where we can grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus. To him be the glory both now and forever, Amen’ (2 Peter 3:18).

Amen and God bless you.

Lets close in prayer.

False Religions And Cults, Bible Study

Friends, who are you living for? Are you living like the world or are you living your life for God and God alone? There are false teachings, false doctrine that does not line up in the Word of God. Many so called Churches, which I like to call either Christian wanna be’s or cults. There are Churches who is teaching that you don’t have to be Baptized to be saved, they say that all you have to do is to believe, that is what these cult Churches are teaching and is absolutely wrong, spiritually speaking, dead wrong.We are going to take a close look at False Religions And Cults. False Religions And Cults ‘As you have received Jesus the Lord, walk in Him. Have the roots of your faith deeply planted in Him, be built up in Him just as you were taught, overflowing in faith with thanksgiving. Be careful no one robs you by so-called philosophy and vain deceit, following the traditions of men, of the world and the universe, disregarding the teachings of Jesus. In Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the form of the body, and in Him you are made complete. He is the Head of all principality and power … Let no one rob you of your prize by self-humility and worship of angels, taking his (the false prophet’s) stand on visions he claims to have seen, vainly puffed up by his unspiritual mind and not holding on firmly to the Head (Jesus) from Whom the whole body grows … Such things appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship and self-humiliation of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh’ (Colossians 2:6 to 10, 18, 19 & 23). ‘Give no attention to myths (legends, fables) and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than God’s administration which is in faith … Some have wandered off into sin and have turned aside to useless discussions’ (I Timothy 1:4 & 6). ‘The Holy Spirit distinctly declares, in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines demons teach. Through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid people to marry and teach them to abstain from certain foods, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth … Refuse profane and godless fictions, old wives’ fables and silly myths. Train yourselves towards Godliness’ (1 Timothy 4:1 to 3 & 7). ‘The time is coming when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but having itchy ears, they will gather to themselves teachers, chosen to satisfy their own lusts and will turn aside from hearing the truth and turn to myths and fables’ (2 Timothy 4:3 & 4).‘Beloved, do not have faith in every spirit but test the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you may know the Spirit of God; every spirit who confesses Jesus came in the flesh is of  God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist of whom you have heard will come and is in the world already … By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error’ (I John 4:1 to 3 & 6). The scriptures give us very strong warnings about not believing in things that are not from God. If we study the Bible and hold on to its teachings, false religions and cults will not deceive us. Once we know the truth about Jesus and hold onto the truth, we will never be deceived. We will learn there is no other Person and no other way to eternal life. Only ignorance about Jesus the Messiah, can allow people to be deceived by any cult or false religion. We are to have our roots firmly embedded in Jesus. Any religion that does not have its roots in Jesus the Messiah is false it is not from God, and we are to ignore the teachings. Reading these above passages of scripture, we can see there were incorrect beliefs described in the apostle’s time, that are in the modern world. We are not to turn away from our faith in Jesus once we have believed. We are not to listen to philosophy for it is nonsense, as are idle fantasies, crude notions and false beliefs such as Confucianism, Buddhism, New Age, Darwinism, Hinduism, freemasonry, astrology, science fiction, ‘christian’ science, Babylonianism, Gothic cults, Taoism, Zen, Neo-Nazi-ism, stigmata, wicca and all forms of the occult and witchcraft. People who believe these things are all deluded by seducing spirits and all disregard the teachings of Jesus. Self humiliation is the whipping of ones-self. Some people go so far as to have themselves crucified! That is utter foolishness and will never bring them close to God. The worship of angels is sin. Angels are special ministers of God to help born-again believers. We are to respect and appreciate them, but we are not to worship them (Hebrews 1:14; Revelation 19:10 & 22:9). There are several false religions that have been started by people who claim to have seen a vision. Unless God gives the vision, then it is false. Some examples of false religions started by deluded visionaries and false  prophets are Scientology, Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses and some breakaway Catholic-styled sects. None of these deal with the carnality of the fallen human race, nor do they hold the promise of the reality of eternal life with God. We all need to have our sins washed away by accepting Jesus as our Saviour, and receiving the forgiveness He promises. Not so long ago, it was acceptable for families to spend every Sunday morning in church, and for people not to go, was considered an affront by the community.  In this day and age, people are sometimes mocked when they say they go to church. Millions of people have turned away from faith in Jesus. People think they can be ‘cleansed’ by consuming a vegetarian diet, rather than being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. The inner organs such as the liver and kidneys were designed by God to clean themselves. Going on a ‘liver cleansing’ diet is foolish and has no spiritual value. Eating a normal healthy diet is enough and to teach others to become vegetarians or to abstain from eating certain foods is an evil teaching. To forbid people from getting married is also an evil teaching and the two main religions that have their celibate nuns and priests are Buddhism and Catholicism. Godless fictions are things like reincarnation, evolution and the socalled ‘global warming’. The planet on which we live has a normal cycle of hotter seasons and cooler seasons. In the year 1,000 AD, the planet heated up so much, whole tribes and communities were wiped out. Millions of people died from the heat. We are possibly entering just another warm phase that may last some time – or it may not. There are deluded ‘experts’ who tell us all about the melting icebergs – but they do not mention the active volcanos deep under the sea causing the ice to melt. The Bible says people who teach these things are not just deluded, they are liars (1 Timothy 4:2). These scientists are deliberately lying to us about ‘global warming’ to deceive and lead many astray. The scriptures tell us to avoid these godless fictions and train ourselves towards Godliness. Many people do not like to hear about Jesus because they know they will have to take responsibility for their sins and that is something most people do not like to consider. We are sinful people and we need Jesus to cleanse us from the inside out. That thought is offensive to a lot of people so they follow a teaching that is pleasing to their ears and choose to listen to errors. They will not tolerate the truth of the Gospel nor do they want to repent of their sin (2 Timothy 4:3). We need to have a close look at the teachings of religions, and if their teaching does not line up with the Word of Truth, then we need to dismiss them as being false. How can we identify a false religion? If there is any religion, anywhere in the world that does not confess Jesus as the Saviour and Messiah, it is a false religion and do not listen to the teachings of that religion for they are antichrist. We must not disregard the teachings of Jesus (Matthew 28:20) and the apostles (Acts 2:42). If there is a religion that does not believe in Jesus, then that religion calls God a liar and to do that brings eternal judgment upon ones-self. ‘They who believe in the Son of God has the testimony within themselves. They who do not believe God, has made Him out to be a liar because they have not believed the evidence God has given regarding His Son’ (1 John 5:10). ‘Who is the liar but those who deny Jesus is the Messiah? The Antichrist spirit is in those who deny the Father and the Son’ (1 John 2:22). ‘These are the end times, and you have heard the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know it is the final hour’ (1 John 2:18). ‘Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess Jesus the Messiah came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist’ (2 John 1:7). People involved in cults, sects, false religions and worldly beliefs have been deceived by the deceiver – the devil. Unfortunately, the deceived go on to deceive others and try to drag them down to hades with them. If we do not believe in Jesus then we cannot be saved. If we are not saved then we are condemned to go down to an eternity without God. We need to repent, be born-again by the Spirit of God, forgiven for our sins, baptized and then we will be saved. The scriptures tell us very clearly …‘They who believe and are baptised will be saved, but those who do not believe will be condemned’ (Mark 16:16). If you are involved in a cult, a sect, false religion, follow worldly philosophies and other worldly beliefs, God is saying to you through the Bible, do not believe what they say. Come out of it, turn away from it and find a church that believes the truth of the Bible. Give your life over to Jesus and you will be saved. Learn to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). Jesus is the only Way, Life and Truth and no one can go to the Father except through Him(John 14:6). There are only two places where mankind will spend eternity – either in heaven or in the lake of fire. The Lord will say  'Well done you good and faithful servant … Enter into the joy of your Lord' (Matthew 25:21), or the Lord will say, ‘Throw the useless servant into outer darkness, where there is weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth … Depart from Me you cursed,  into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matthew 25:30 & 41). Where would you prefer to spend eternity? There is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus. Believe the truth or believe the lies of a false religion. It is your choice. Errors Of Catholic Doctrine “I am no more in the world, but these (men) are still in the world. I Am coming to You, Holy Father. Keep in Your Name those whom You have given Me so they may be one, as We are One” (John 17:11). With these words, Jesus called God, the Holy Father. ‘All who desire to live Godly lives in Jesus will suffer persecution. Evil men and impostors will become worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, but you remain in the teachings you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from Whom you have learned them. From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Jesus. Every Scripture is God breathed (inspired by God) and profitable for teaching, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of  error and for instruction in righteousness so the man (or woman) of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work’ (2 Timothy 3:12 to 17). ‘I am astonished you are so quickly deserting Him Who called you by the grace of Jesus the Messiah, to a ‘different’ Gospel. There is no other Gospel, but there are some who are bewildering you, perverting the true Gospel of Jesus. If we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a Gospel different from what we preached to you, let him be accursed! As we said before so now I say it again: If anyone is preaching to you a Gospel different from what you received from us, let him be accursed! Am I seeking the favour of men or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking to please men, I would not be a servant of Jesus. I want you to know the Gospel is not according to man. I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a direct revelation of Jesus the Messiah’ (Galatians 1:6 to 12). If you happen to be a Roman Catholic, some aspects of this Bible study may shock you because there are some shades of Catholic doctrine that do not line up with scripture. This Bible study is not an attack on Catholics, but is about Catholic doctrines that are out of step with some of the Gospel. Most of what  the Catholic Church teaches is correct: The virgin birth of Jesus; His crucifixion; His resurrection; the people’s participation in Communion; Joseph’s role in Jesus’ life; they teach us we should spend our lives wholly focused on walking with and serving God; living a Christian life and raising our children in the knowledge of God; they focus on prayer and getting to know God as our Father; they teach creation; they teach us the prophets foretold of Jesus’ birth; the church correctly stands up against abortion and homosexuality. They have charities and hospitals, caring for the poor and the sick. All these things are correct and scriptural. We have to start this Bible study by searching the scriptures, because that is the beginning. The Bible is the living Word of God and all scripture is inspired by God; not some scripture, but all scripture. Everything that is written in the Bible is there because God wants it there. The scriptures written above are very strong but it is the Word of God and it is important we take notice of it. We have to adhere strictly to the teachings within the Bible and not accept false teaching or a ‘different’ Gospel from anyone. There are many dedicated Catholic people who love the church, but who do not realise they need to be born-again to get into heaven. Just being a Catholic cannot save our soul – Jesus said we must all repent, believe the full Gospel (Mark 1:15),  be born-again, baptized in water by full immersion like He was, and He requires us to be filled with the Holy Spirit (John 3:1 to 8), regardless of what church we choose to meet in, and we are not to be surprised we have to be born-again. That fact has been an eye-opener to many. Just being a Catholic,  a priest or a nun cannot save our soul, no matter how religious we are. When Jesus said we must be born-again, He meant just what He said. The only way to heaven is to be justified by faith, not through any church. The true Gospel is this: We are born-again into the Kingdom of God  by faith in the Lord Jesus. ‘Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus. Through Him (Jesus) we have access by faith into His grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of  the glory of God’ (Romans 5:1 & 2).Only through accepting Jesus can we enter heaven and no one can get to heaven except through Jesus. He said, “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). ‘In Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of the Father’s grace … making known to us the secret of the Father’s will according to His good pleasure which the Father had purposed in Jesus’ (Ephesians 1:7 & 9). There is only one way we can be saved, that is by faith and the belief in Jesus. We cannot enter heaven by ‘buying’ our salvation. No amount of money can do that.‘Peter said, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the free gift of God with money!’” (Acts 8:20). ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus, for it is the power of God working for salvation to everyone who believes’ (Romans 1:16). My personal background is Nazarene, I am now attending Church of Christ, at North terrace in Zanesville,everyone is welcome to join us and I thank God for the Godly Ministers who led me to Jesus when I was just four years old. Never underestimate the power of God and His ability to reach a young child. The Ministers told me about Jesus in a way a young child could understand, and after I accepted the Lord into my life, the Minister breathed on me and said,“Receive the Holy Ghost” in the same way Jesus breathed on His apostles (John 20:22). I immediately spoke with the tongues of angels. Back around 1950, speaking in tongues was a rare event so I feel incredibly blessed and privileged, for the Lord to have given me that gift at such a young age. Thank God the priest was a Spirit-filled man, able to impart the gift to me. None of my family were Christians and I learned what real persecution meant. When I was older, I attended church and evaneglist classes as often as possible and bought my first Bible at age 11. The Lord became more real to me as I grew up in Him. I was alone with God and did not meet another Holy Spirit-filled Christian for nineteen long years. It was the Word of God that kept and sustained me throughout my childhood, just as the above verse teaches, ‘From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures’. I was in my 20’s when God led me on to serve Him in churches where the congregations are filled with the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues. I thank God for the grounding in the Gospel and the knowledge of the out working of Calvary during Christian classes. I have never forgotten the solid Christian foundation I received in the Christian Church, for  which I am eternally grateful. My aim is to try to reach as many people as possible with the full Gospel and tell them we must all be born-again by faith in a heart-felt conversion, not just be church-goers. God demands more than that. He said we are to be doers of the Word, not just hearers (James 1:22). ‘Doing’ the Word is not following man-made traditions, but obeying the Word of God. We are all called to walk a narrow path, produce Spiritual fruit and build our Spiritual foundation on the Rock (Jesus). Many people will end up in hell because they never accepted the true Gospel of faith, but trusted in their religion. Jesus said, “Enter (heaven) through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads away to destruction (hell), and many are those who are entering through it. The gate is narrow and the way is straitened that leads away to (eternal) life, and few are those who find it. Beware of false prophets who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are ravenous wild dogs. You will recognise them by their fruits … Every tree that does not bear good fruit, is cut down and cast into the fire (the eternal lake of fire) … Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who do the will of  My Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day (Judgement Day) ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done mighty works in Your name?’ I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who act wickedly’. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and obeys them will be like a wise man who built his house on the Rock (Jesus). When the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house, it did not fall because it had been built on the Rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand, and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:13 to 27). We can see here, Jesus was speaking about people who were religious, they called Him Lord and they served Him, but because many were never born-again and intimately acquainted with Him, He rejected them. He said that will be the way for many religious people who never seek out the narrow path. Only a few will find it. For the whole of our Christian lives, we must be obedient to Jesus’ teaching. In this parable, the ‘house’ Jesus is speaking of is us, the believer. If we are sensible and obey Him, we will enter heaven through the narrow ‘gate’. If we are foolish and disobey His teachings, He will reject us on Judgement Day. Jesus is our King and our Judge, so He would know exactly what He was talking about. The Kingdom of Heaven is not about any religion, it is about the Kingdom God is establishing with His genuine, dedicated, obedient, born-again believers. Some people will depart from the faith because of seducing spirits. A seducing spirit is one that may look good and make you feel good and starts off with the truth, then goes into error and people are seduced. The age of grace began when Jesus started His ministry and began healing and forgiving people without them having to sacrifice animals for atonement. These next verses are powerful because the Holy Spirit is speaking here. ‘The Holy Spirit distinctly and expressly declares, in latter times some will turn away from the faith, listening to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach. Through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid people to marry and to abstain from eating meats which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth … Ignore false teachings and silly myths. Train yourself toward Godliness’ (1 Timothy 4:1 to 3 & 7). Jesus consistently taught against man-made traditions and spoke of many woes for those who are bound up in religious traditions and rituals, who will not allow for the cleansing of the blood of the Lamb and who will not allow the inward work of the Holy Spirit of the living God (Matthew 23:1 to 39;  Luke 11:37 to 52). Jesus strongly taught against empty religion. We are not to subject ourselves to the doctrines of men. These things have an appearance of wisdom in self- imposed religion but they are of no spiritual value (Colossians 2:20 to 23). We are told people will have a form of Godliness but deny the power of God (2 Timothy 3:5). Many Catholics have a form of religion but they deny the power of God. The Gospel reveals the power of God. It is the Gospel of Jesus we need to be preaching. The true church, the Body of Jesus, is not a building nor is it a denomination. It is God’s people, all over the world,in many different denominations and it is the true church  Jesus is coming back for. People washed in the blood of Jesus, people whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, regardless of what church denomination they attend. They are the true body of believers. The Lord is looking for a holy church of every nation, tribe, people and language (Revelation 7:9). Jesus said, “I will build My church and the gates of hell will not stand against it” (Matthew 16:18). What is Jesus’ church  like? In the whole of Ephesians chapter 5, we have  a ‘picture’ of people living in harmony with one another with Jesus as their Head. ‘As Jesus loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should be holy, without any blemish’ (Ephesians 5:25 to 27). The Word of God in the heart of the true believer always exposes deception and those things that are not of God. ‘When He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all Truth’ (John 16:13). Jesus said you will know the Truth (of the full Gospel) and the truth will set us free (from the effects of sin and the bondage of empty religious rituals) (John 8:32). Cardinal Newman wrote a book, ‘The Development of the Christian Religion; the Catholic Religion’. On page 359 you can read, the temples, incense, oil lamps,  vote of offerings, holy water, holidays and season of devotions, processions, blessings of fields, blessing of the surf, lent, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsures of priests, monks, nuns, icons, rosary beads and images are all of pagan origin. Christmas, Easter and funerals are pagan celebrations. There are several other doctrinal errors taught in the Catholic Church. Ten Commandments, images, icons and idols: The second of the Ten Commandments is, ‘You will not make for yourselves an idol nor any engraved image or likeness of anything in the heavens above or in the earth beneath or in the oceans and you will not bow yourself down to them nor serve them’ (Exodus 20:4 & 5; Deuteronomy 5:8 & 9). To hide this commandment from the people, the Catholic Church deliberately left that commandment out and divided the last commandment into two commandments. That was deliberate deception because for centuries Catholics were not permitted to read the Bible and had to rely on what the priests told them. Early Christians never worshipped idols or images until Constantine merged Christianity with paganism. The crucifix and other icons were introduced to the church in 787 AD. A whole 787 years went by before anybody thought of instituting such things. They are not scriptural. Images like Jesus hanging on the cross, the Madonna and Child, Mary or Jesus with a huge shining ‘sacred’ heart are all idols. Making images is strictly forbidden by God. People who make these images are cursed because the idols are an abomination to God (Deuteronomy 27:15). They may suffer from mental illness (confusion) and will be brought to shame (Isaiah 45:16). We are not to have them in our homes, we are to detest them and burn them (Deuteronomy 7:25 & 26). We can see by these scriptures, God is not pleased when people resort to worshipping these images. Genuflection is another unnecessary man-made ritual brought into the Catholic Church. The person genuflecting is actually kneeling and bowing in an act of worship to an idol situated in the front of the church. Since it is sin to bow the knee to anyone other than the Lord, genuflection is sin. Transubstantiation: In the Catholic mass, the church has what it calls ‘transubstantiation’. Statements in the Catholic doctrine say they believe their communion wafer and wine actually become the physical body and blood of Jesus. The word ‘transubstantiation’ comes from their quote, “Jesus is substantially or physically present in His entirety, God and Man permanently through the conversion of the bread and wine, which is named transubstantiation.” The whole concept is scientifically impossible. Grape juice would always remain grape juice and the wafer would always remain a piece of baked ground cereal. They believe Jesus is being continually sacrificed and crucified for their sins and will keep on doing so until the world ends but that is wrong, because the Bible says Jesus died once only, for all mankind when He offered up Himself on the cross (Hebrews 7:27; 10:10). They believe they are literally eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus. They think the substance of the Eucharistic elements is converted into the substance of the body and blood of Jesus and only the appearance and taste of the elements still remain. The belief in transubstantiation is cannibalistic and it is not the truth, but people have been seduced into believing it is the truth. They believe they are honoring God when they are not doing so at all. That is why the Catholic Church still has Jesus on the cross, but that is not right, because He was taken off the cross and has risen from the dead. When Jesus spoke about our taking of His body and blood, He did not mean we were to literally eat Him (John 6:48 to 58). He was referring to our accepting the sacrifice of Himself for our eternal salvation. We were asked to take the bread and grape juice regularly to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us, right up until He comes again (Luke 22:19). The doctrine of transubstantiation is not the truth. Infant baptism: There is not one word regarding infant baptism in the Bible. Infants were dedicated to God, anointed with a dab of olive oil on their foreheads, prayed over but never baptized. Sprinkling a baby with water will not be an effective baptism because baptism comes after repentance and babies do not know what sin is therefore they cannot repent. That Catholic ritual was supposedly to remove the infant of ‘original sin’. Sprinkling water on an adult is not effective either. Baptism is by full immersion, after repentance.‘Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of sin’ (Acts 2:38). Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River (Mark 1:9). He went down into the water and came up out the watery ‘grave’ (Matthew 3:16)signifying His own death, burial and resurrection. Our baptism identifies us with Jesus’ burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3 to 11). It signifies our ‘death’ to the old life and our resurrection to a new life in God. If infant baptism was God’s way, then Jesus would have been baptized as a baby but He was an adult when He was baptized and He is our example. We need to know what sin is and be able to repent before we can be baptized. John the Baptist insisted people repent before they were baptized and he became angry with the people who came to be baptized without first showing the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:7 & 8). They were acting out of a religious attitude instead of a repentant attitude. We need to have our hearts right with God before we are baptized in water, and babies cannot repent or seek God for themselves. Infant baptism is not scriptural nor is it effective. If you have been sprinkled as a baby, you would need repent and be baptized by full immersion, if you desire to be obedient to what we have been told in the scriptures. Purgatory: It is supposed to be a place where people go after death to be purged of evil then go on to heaven. You are supposed to be able recite prayers and make payments to the church to get other people out of purgatory. That is not scriptural. The Bible never mentions purgatory. The early church did not believe anything like purgatory. Pope Gregory the Great first established the doctrine of purgatory in 593 AD. The ‘payment’ for the souls of the dead made the church a lot of money. The scriptures tell us a man dies once and after that comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). There is only heaven and hell and later the lake of fire for the non-believers (Revelation 20:15). Purgatory does not exist. It is a false doctrine. The Bible tells us believers go straight to heaven as did Enoch (Genesis 5:24), Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) and Stephen (Acts 7:59). People have been told about purgatory for so long they believe it is true, but if they care to look at history they will see it is a place invented in the mind of Pope Gregory and declared to be a church dogma by the Council of Florence in 1439. Confessional, penance and absolution: The priest sits in a private little closet-sized room and listens to a person confess all their sins, then he will tell the sinner to pray certain prayers for ‘penance’ and they will be forgiven or absolved. Some leaders in the Catholic Church took money from the parishioners to pay for their absolution and dispensations, which were never honored. That is contrary to scripture. We are to confess our sins to God and He will forgive us. No one except Jesus has the power to forgive sins on behalf of God. God is the One Who forgives, after we pray and ask His forgiveness. ‘If we freely admit we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). The confession of our sins to God for forgiveness is to bring repentance, a change of our hearts and spiritual cleansing. Only God is able to do that. If you are uncomfortable about going to confession, then you can relax and never go again because it is pointless. Talk directly to God and confess your sins to Him. You cannot shock God – He knows everything already, but He wants us to take responsibility for our own sin by telling Him and then to repent and apologize to Him for our actions. When we take full responsibility for our own actions, it is less likely we will repeat the same mistake. Rosary beads: They were introduced by Peter the Hermit in 1090 AD and the concept was copied from Hinduism. Jesus condemned this type of praying. ‘When you pray, do not speak useless repetitions, repeating the same ones over and over as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him’ (Matthew 6:7 & 8). Repetitive meaningless prayers like saying several ‘Hail Mary’s’ is something the Lord does not appreciate. He wants our prayers to be heart-felt, genuine, spoken with thanksgiving and praise. Our prayers have to come from the heart and be specific. Saying the rosary is a pointless exercise because God does not listen to empty, repetitive prayers. The church says, ‘The Rosary is your key to heaven’. They claim the rosary is a means to salvation. That is very wrong. Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life and nobody can get into heaven except through Him (John 14:6). The rosary beads are a waste of time. We need to get real with God and pray fervently from the heart. Mariology is the worship of Mary, Jesus’ mother. To worship Mary or to pray to her as Catholic’s do is not of God. People who feel uncomfortable using the name of Jesus, sometimes feel more comfortable believing they are speaking to Mary. Back in the early church, people were much the same and did not like hearing about Jesus. The apostles were forbidden to teach in the name of Jesus. Not to be deterred,Peter and the apostles said they had to obey God rather than man, and continued preaching the Gospel about Jesus (Acts 4:18; 5:28, 29 & 40), but they never preached about Mary as being divine. The worship of Mary was set up in 381AD and was decreed by the council of Ephesus in 431 AD; that is recorded in history; it is a fact. There is no mention of worshipping Mary until then and there is no worship of Mary in the Bible. Pope Pius 9th proclaimed the immaculate conception of Mary in 1854. In 1931 Pope Pius 11th reaffirmed that doctrine. Mary was not ‘immaculately’ conceived. She was a normal woman who needed to repent of her sin and accept her Son Jesus as her Saviour like every other person (Acts 1:14). The Catholics believe Mary was the only human born by immaculate conception, so they say Jesus was born without original sin. That implies Mary did not need a Saviour and was divine, but after studying the scriptures we can see that is wrong and is contrary to scripture, because the Bible says we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Mary herself realised  she had need of a Saviour (Luke 1:46 & 47). If Mary did not need a Saviour, she would not have glorified God as her Saviour. Most certainly Mary was chosen by God to bring forth our Messiah, but she died like all mortal humans. Why did people start worshipping a deceased woman? This actually dates back to the days of the Babylonian cult instigated in the Tower of Babel and is still practiced today. After Damascus became the area of the head of the Babylonian cult, which worshipped the ‘queen of heaven’ and her son (Jeremiah 7:18), the Catholic Church thought it would be politicly expedient to give them a parallel figure to bring into their new officially imposed worship, so began the worship of the Madonna and child. That was when Mary was elevated to divine status. The so-called ‘queen of heaven’ or goddess of fertility, was Ishtar where we get the word Easter. In Catholic church buildings, sometimes they have MR etched around the churches. MR means Mary Regina – the queen of heaven. The image of mother and child had been an object of primary worship from the time of Babylon, centuries before  the birth of our Lord Jesus. ‘Behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz’ (Ezekiel 8:14). That god Tammuz was a Babylonian god that was supposed to die every year and be raised again during Easter time along with his mother Ishtar. Ishtar and Tammuz are pagan gods now depicted as Madonna and child or Mary and Jesus. This abomination has been adopted from the Babylonian cult. These false doctrines have nothing whatsoever to do with the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. We need to realise that. The angel Gabriel told Mary and Joseph, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:26 to 38) and He was born without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Mary had never had sex with a man (Luke 1:34) and did not have sex with Joseph until after Jesus was about a month old (Matthew 1:24 & 25). The Holy Child born to Mary was born of the living God (Luke 1:35). In the early church, prayers were never directed to Mary. We are not to pray to Mary but we are to do what the Bible says: we are to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name (John 16:23). If Mary, who was a righteous woman, knew she was being linked to the evil ‘queen of heaven’ goddess she would no doubt be devastated. This whole doctrine of Mary worship is evil in the sight of God. Halo and the Sacred Heart: The halo we often see drawn around their heads of Catholic idols was taken from the ancient practice of sun worshipping. The symbol of the sun god Sol, Baal or Tammuz, is depicted as a ‘T’ then on top of the ‘T’ a loop symbolising  the goddess of the moon or fertility Ishtar, became the Egyptian ankh. An ancient statue of Venus holding her son Sol was adopted by the church as Mary and Jesus. What is even worse than that, is the so-called ‘sacred heart’ that is surrounded by a shining ‘sun’. During the time of human sacrifices, the first part of the flesh removed from the victim was the beating heart that was then offered to the sun god Sol sometimes called Molech. That ancient abomination is what has been adopted into the church as the so-called ‘sacred heart’ and was referred to in the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:21). Instead of destroying the pagan  gods as the Lord commanded in His Word, they were simply adopted into Christianity and masked as Christian themes. Lent: This is ‘mass population, public fasting’. It is also contrary to scripture to fast in this way. We should fast in secret. ‘When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites who put on a sad face so their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have their full reward already. When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so your fasting may not be noticed by others but by your Father Who sees in secret, and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you openly’ (Matthew 6:16 to 18). Fasting in public is pointless and is the only reward those people will get. God is not impressed by it. Genuine fasting is a deeply Spiritual experience that should be between God and the person who is fasting.   Circumcision: (Please note: this paragraph is not a medical opinion for or against circumcision. It is solely to point out the scriptural view.) Circumcision was introduced to Abraham by the Lord to the males in the Hebrew tribe who later became known as the Jews to ratify the Old Covenant between God and His chosen people (Genesis 17:10 to 14). To help the Hebrews understand the seriousness of the Covenant, it was ratified in blood – circumcision. God chose the Jews and entrusted them with the commandments and the oracles of God (Romans 3:2). The prophets foretold the coming of Messiah Jesus, and God said He would make a New Covenant with the Jews (Jeremiah 31:31 to 33) because they broke the Old Covenant when they worshipped idols (Ezekiel 20:16). God considered their idolatry as unfaithfulness (Hosea 4:12). The New Covenant was ushered in by Jesus and was ratified by His own blood. Jesus said,‘This is My blood of the New Covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’ (Matthew 26:28). The New Covenant negated the need for physical circumcision. Circumcision is no longer necessary for the Jews, so how much less important is it for Gentiles? There were Christian Jews in the New Testament who wanted that practice to continue, but Paul denounced it and told them to stop doing it because it is no longer necessary. ‘True circumcision is of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal (or physical) matter. His praise is not from men but from God’ (Romans 2:29). ‘Circumcision counts for nothing, neither does uncircumcision, but what counts is keeping the commandments of God’ (1 Corinthians 7:19). ‘In Jesus, circumcision is of no importance, nor uncircumcision, but being a new creation’ (Galatians 6:15).Baptism is now more important than circumcision. ‘In Him you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but a spiritual circumcision by removing the sins of flesh through Jesus. You were (spiritually) circumcised when you were buried with Him in your baptism, in which you were also raised with Him to a new life through your faith in the working of God, when He (God) raised Him (Jesus) from the dead’ (Colossians 2:11 & 12). If you are considering having your son circumcised because of the incorrect teaching in the Catholic church, you now know – scripturally – it is a pointless exercise and counts for nothing in the Kingdom of God. If you are not right with God and you want that assurance that you are heaven bound, then I want to encourage you to find a good, strong Bible based Church and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, confess to Jesus Christ that you are a sinner and are in need of a Savior, accept Him as your Savior and get Baptized by water immersion, this way you can be Biblically forgiven and Saved, you then will receive and will be baptized by the Holy Spirit, without water immersion, you can’t possibly receive it. You have to be Baptized for the right reasons of God and not by earthly man maid reasons. If you are shy from large crowds and wish to be baptized with only 2 or 3 witnesses, then feel free to call me and I will be honored to do so through the power of God, through Jesus Christ. Lets close in prayer.

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