2012 – THE END IS NOT YET!

False Prophets Abound!

Related Post: Modern Day False Prophets

Well, well, well! 2012 is just another 2 days away!

It is interesting to note that many Christians have been asking me what I think about the 2012 and the end of the world. “There is even an exciting movie about the end on 2012! What do you think?”

Why bother even to ask, unless you are fearful of these predictions, I say.  Did not the Lord say of the “Mar 13:32  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”,  and Acts 1:7 “ It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. "  But ask they did, half-believing and half-unbelieving; and that can only happen because their own teachers and leaders have failed to teach them properly, which is something I always lament.

You Have Been Fore-warned

The world is full of false prophets and false teachers ……. even false Christs. Did not the bible warn us of them?  I have always emphasized bible reading and believing, and am always against Christian books reading.  When one reads the bible with a simple believing mind and heart, one gets clear answers from God.  But instead of reading bibles, Christians are fond of reading and believing books, which tells you somebody’s opinion of what the bible means.  And authors are driven by their desire for profits from high sales volume, not the truth.  And sensation sells.  Fear sells.  They are not interested in telling you the truth.  They just want your $$$$.  So too, the tele-evangelists!

Is It So Easy To Be A Prophet of God?

Deu 18:22 says: When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.  This so clearly tells us that a true prophet will never miss.  If he misses just once, he has not spoken for the Lord.  It is truly difficult to be a true prophet.  Imagine, 999 true predictions and one miss makes you a false prophet!  So, forget about all the books, the Mayan calendar researchers and the NASA information and Planet X and Nabiru doomsayers.  Nothing comes anywhere near what the bible tells you.

The Latest (rich) Fool

The last one in the long line of false prophets who became an embarrassment to himself ( for a short while at least, before they start all over again ) was Harold Camping, a 90 year-old radio

False prophecies make good business. 

 preacher who had predicted that the end would come on 21^st May 2011, publicized with over 6000 highway billboards, vehicle broadsides, banners and over the radio.  Thousands ( of silly Americans ) believed him and helped him to publicize it in street walks and processions.  Nothing happened on that day.  The shameless aged “experienced” preacher Harold Camping revised it to Oct 21^st, 2011.  Again, thousands of foolish Christians continued to believe in his revised date.  Well, we are still here and Harold Camping has disappeared ( with much $$$, I supposed ) , and those foolish Christians sheepishly went on with their daily lives ( do you ever wonder why Jesus call Christians "sheep" and not rabbits or ducks?).

The Next (rich) Fool : Jack Van Impe

The next prediction for the end of the world is on 21^st Dec, 2012 ( watch and listen at 2:51 minutes here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4zclBbXusxo#! )

Are you his follower?

 and that prediction is by the 82 year-old tele-evangelist Jack Van Impe, purportedly “the walking bible”, who will be confirmed a fool on that day.  Truly, experience does not make a man wiser.  Obedience to and fear of God do.  And I don’t care much for walking bibles or people who memorize the bible, or who read the bible without believing.   Jack Van Impe will be shown a fool, but he will be a rich fool because of greater fools who believe him and buy his books.

So, the usual evil perpetuated by evil doers will happen around the world in 2012.  The labour pains of earthquakes, pestilences, wars and rumors of wars shall happen, but of these, the Lord says “be ye not troubled”.  Be watchful for the real signs: which are things like the sun darkening and the moon not giving out light, the revealing of the name of the Antichrist and the mark of the beast, for you are children of the day and of the light that the Lord SHALL NOT come upon you like a thief in the night.  Until these real signs are revealed, the Lord shall not come, and if the Lord does not come, the end is not yet.  Beware of any “christ” who comes before that, lest you follow another christ.

A Few of the Past Record of Failed Predictions

Some of these names might surprise you.

1794: Charles Wesley ( surprise!) , one of the founders of Methodism, thought that Doomsday would occur in this year.

1832 Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church ( a cult ) said, "I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be written--the Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old.", which is 1890.

1843-MAR-21: William Miller, founder of the Millerite movement, the predecessors of the 7^th Day Adventist church ( a cult ).  When it did not happen, he gave another date, 1844-OCT-22:

1850: Ellen G. White, founder of the Seven Day Adventists predicted on Jun 27^th 1850 “My accompanying angel said, 'Time is almost finished. Get ready, get ready, get ready.' ...now time is almost finished...and what we have been years learning, they will have to learn in a few months."

1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, 1984 and 1994.  The champion of failed prophecies is the Jehovah Witness movement operating under the name of the Watchtower Organization.  They will never learn.

1981 Hal Lindsay, the author of that famous book and movie “Left Behind” said the rapture would occur before Dec. 31, 1981.

Con-men prey on foolish Christians

Oct 28, 1992 Lee Jang Rim predicted the end would come.  Incidentally he made 4.4 million dollars out of his 10,000 followers over this prediction, which he put into stocks and bonds which matured after his doomsday date.  He was jailed for it.

To see a fuller list go to:  http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm

So, do you believe the bible or do you want to believe books, movies and preachers?

Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

What is a cult?

CULTIST BEHAVIOR IS SO TYPICAL

Just yesterday, someone from India, a so-called "bible translator" got very, very upset with me.  I believe that he happens to hold the belief that there is no eternal punishment in hell, and he also happened to read my earlier post that describes such believers as cultists.  He charged that I do not read the scriptures, accused me of unjustly labeling anyone who disagrees with me as a cultist.  Boy, was he mad.  Anyway, I have nothing against the person; he is a deceived person and does not know it.  It is the organization and the leadership which deceives that need to be addressed.

The "pagan" cross still on Jehovah Witnesses' founders tomb

Consequently, we had an extraordinarily long exchange of views over Facebook, which covered many other cult teachings.  And as can be expected, in typical cultist fashion he responded with what I called "canned teachings" and could not answer questions posed to him.  Finally it all ended with him literally foaming in the mouth, scolding, grumbling and calling me names, including denigrating my command of the English language.  After he got checkmated twice in the discussions, he went growling grrrr! grrrr ! grrrrr ! on Facebook against me for the next 3 hours!  Now, that is a really bad loser!  Ah well... all in a day's work of upholding the word of God.  I had a bit of fun goading him on his childish grumbling, though. He was also very deceptive declaring that he does not belong to any group or organization.  But I do recognize the pattern of his arguments and can guess which cult he belongs to.  He denies it though. That's honesty for you. So, for formal purposes, I'll just say I do not know which cult he belongs to, since he is too chicken to admit it.

Now, one of the things that he hankered on was the question "Where does the bible define a cult?".  It appeared that he was trying to say that since a cult is not defined in the bible, then nobody knows what a cult is.  Really?  I think that is silly, blinkered logic.  The bible does not contain the word bible either.  So the bible cannot exist either.  Does it sound logical to you?

So, what is a cult?

Here is my view of what is a Christian cult.  Any group or organization of people who label themselves as Christians but teaches against the essential doctrines of the Christianity is a cult.  It does not matter that the members live exemplary lives under the rules of that organization.  If their teachings go against the grain of Christianity, deny the deity of Christ or they teach another gospel, another Christ or another Spirit; they constitute cult.  So, just because a person disagrees with me does not make him a cultist.  For that matter, a person who disagrees with the bible might not even be a cultist; he is only an unbeliever.  It is those who pass themselves off as Christians and bible believers, who pass themselves off as followers of Jesus that are cultists.  These are the pseudo-Christians.  They are not bible believers.  They are bible readers who do not believe what they read.

Characteristics of a cult

It is very easy to spot a cult. The most glaring one is this stand of theirs: "If you do not belong to our church ( or organization, or assembly ) you are going to hell".   And with that, you immediately spot the Roman Catholic church, the Watchtower Organization aka Jehovah Witness, The Church of the Latter Day Saints aka the Mormons and the 7th Day Adventists.  The Jehovah Witness condemn everybody to hell.  The Mormons condemn them and all others to hell. The pope does the same to everybody ( but of late, he is ecumenising though ). And the 7th Day Adventist think that only heaven is full of Sabbath worshippers only.  They have yet to learn ( or prefer not to acknowledge ) that it is one's personal relationship with Jesus that is the only deciding factor. 

The 2nd characteristic you never fail to spot is the presence of a strong personality, dead or alive or a leadership position whose instructions and teachings are considered infalliable, and authority is held unquestioned awe; and even if these clowns have been proven to be wrong or prophesized falsely, it does not matter to them.  That brings to mind the Pope, who is considered infalliable despite all the boo-boos of his position, Pastor Russell of the Watchtower, Ellen G. White of the 7th Day Adventists and Joseph Smith of the Mormons are all proven to be false prophets and false teachers.  Ellen White has been proven to be plagiarize her teachings from other authors and mistakenly predicted the 2nd coming of Jesus in the 1840's; Joseph Smith was jailed for the infamous magical wheat plant fraud, and died fighting his way out of jail; Pastor Charles Russell also wrongly prophesized the 2nd coming as being 1872, a habit his successors continued with a not less than another 5 dates until 1975!  These false prophets still have many willing followers.

Thirdly, you can always recognize the cultist by his doting and blind defense of the founder or the head of that organization.  Among the behaviors you will see are:

1)      He gets very upset or even offended by any criticism of the leader

2)      He ignores all evidence ( evidence, mind you not hearsay ) against the leaders or the organization

3)      He responses by making excuses on behalf of the leader, like "Oh, you must hear the full teaching first" or "You must listen to the full series", "No, he didn't mean it that way", even when you point out to specific errors.

4)      He often even attacks your person ( by attacking your integrity or calling you names ) rather than discuss the evidence.  Why he might even attack you physically.

The 4^th characteristic of a cultist is his inability to hold a meaningful discussion on what he thinks he knows and what he thinks you don’t know.  He is there to tell you that he is right without being able to rationalize or substantiate, except with what he has been spoon-fed with.  He is not there to listen for intellectual debate and truth-seeking.  He just wants to state his spoon-fed views to you.  He even taunts and mocks at you with spoon-fed standard remarks that he learned from his superiors.  As you point out issues and scriptures to him, he either begins to ping-pong around by switching topics midway or he puts up his mental shutters.  He will not listen to you and say, “Hmm, let me check this out first”.  And finally, be ready to be called names if he is cornered and cannot back out.  Words like “ignorant”, “stubborn”, “unlearned”, "illiterate" and then "semi-literate", “ignoramus” and so on will be used to describe you.  They accuse you of being prideful and conceited.  All standard behavior of a cultist.  The more refined ones will just keep silent, shutdown and asked to be excused.   So, as the word of God says, the god of this world has veiled their minds.

Now, I am writing from the experiences of direct encounters with them.  I am not writing out of copying from other people’s opinions.  I invite cultists into my home for discussions as often as I have the opportunity.  They never last more than 5 sessions, the longest being a Korean, a really sweet guy.  Usually 2 sessions maximum.  When they cannot answer questions, they stop coming and shut you out from their list.
There are many, many more identifying marks of a cult and cultist.  Let me just refer you to these sites:

 Apologetics Index - Characteristics of cults  and The Christian Research Institute 

You just google for more information on your own.  The foremost teacher against cultism is the late Dr Walter Martin whose teachings are real eye-openers.

It is interesting to note that cults are never consistent in what they teach.  As an example, Watchtower aka Jehovah Witnesses claim that the cross is a pagan sign.  But it is strange to note that they used the sign of the cross on the tomb of their founder and also on the Watchtower Magazine.  So, what are pagan signs doing in their libraries and bookshelves?  Why is the cross still on the tomb of their revered founder?

Cultist Inconsistencies -Cross on the Watchtower Mag.

Conclusion
So, if you do not agree with me, you are not a cultist.  If you do not believe the bible and do not claim to be a Christian, you are not a cultist.  If you are a Christian, and you disagree with me on non-salvation issues like head-covering for women, how baptism should be done, whether the rapture is before or after the tribulation and for that matter even the nature of the Trinity, you are not a cultist in my book.

But you are a cultist if you claim to be a Christian but you teach against the core doctrines of Christianity and especially if you claim that membership in your organization is the ONLY way to heaven. So, do you teach believers to talk to statues and dead people or their pictures to ask them to mediate for you?  Do you teach that you must do good works so that you can be saved?  Do you teach that Jesus is not God?  Do you teach that the there is no eternal punishment, or soul sleep?  Do you teach that the Holy Spirit is a thing, an energy field or a power of God: at "it" and not "HE" ?  You do? Then, you are a cultist because you are teaching another gospel, another Jesus and another Spirit. And for, that you are cursed ( not by me but ) by the bible which you profess to believe, but don't:

Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

The cultist does not realize he is already under mind-control, else he would not be under mind-control, would he?  And so, when he read the scriptures his mind would skip over this verse:

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him

He does not realize that the bible warns against people coming to teach another Jesus, another gospel and another spirit which does not fit the description for them as is in the bible.

So, you are cursed by the bible.  That means you are going to hell!  Do I judge you or is the word of God judging you.  Your soul – you decide.

Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

NO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT ?

HOW CULTISTS TWIST, MANGLE AND IGNORE SCRIPTURES

 

Let me just answer the cultist’s with this one verse:

Rev 20:10  The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever

And because of this verse, all their arguments become so futile that nowadays, they had to resort to redefining the meaning of “forever and ever”.  And when they do, they make themselves look like even greater fools.

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I abstracted these arguments of a cultist from this page: http://www.remnantofgod.org/hellfire.htm .  I suspect this fellow is a 7th Day Adventist follower who is trying to conceal his origins.  Deceptive.  And he run a site without identifying himself.


And let me point out to you the ways in which cultists deceive, double-speak, ignore scriptures, twist words and meanings just so that they can deceive others.  Most of these cultist writers are actually minions in the cultist kingdom.  Their arguments are never original.  They simply regurgitate what they learned from their senior cultists.  Actually these minions are actually themselves deceived people.  I do not think these small fries intend to deceive you, for they themselves are deceived, just like the bible says:

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

My response is made out in red.  I have edited out some of his ramblings which are too frivolous to answer to.  But whatever is reproduced here is totally unedited.


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Cultist: “One doctrine of devils that has had it's way in today's society with great ease it that of the doctrine that says there is a Hell that lasts for all of eternity and those residing do so in screams of torment. Most take a verse in Revelation chapter 14 out of context and preach a Hell that is a place of eternal torment. “  See how confidently he makes this statement?  Now read Rev 14, and you find nothing about screaming.  The verse merely gives symbolic expression of God’s wrath.  This is what I call regurgitation.
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Cultist: Some also take three repeated verses from Mark to proclaim their belief in a worm filled eternal torture chamber. But before discussing these verses, and many other verses that speak of hell. One needs to ask one question of themselves. Do they believe a God that would send His one and only Son to die a torturous and humiliating death would create a place that would be used for TORTURE for ALL eternity?  This is how cultist appeal to human emotions – “Do you believe your God is such a cruel God?  Aren’t you insulting your God?”.  So, would God create that horrible place called hell? The obvious biblical answer to this is YES!  God created it and the bible says so.  But God also said it was not created for mankind.  Instead,  God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die a humiliating death so that we do not have to go to that horrible place, which was created for satan and his angels, not us. ( see Mat 25:41 ) Are you ashamed of what God has done?  I am not.  Are you? 
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Cultist: Does the character of God come off as a tyrant who enjoys hearing the screams of people who have decided not to worship Him? See the continued play on your emotions.  His trick is, he plays on your dread of being accused of calling God a tyrant, so that you will be forced to agree with him.  My answer to him is this: “No, God does not enjoy sending people to hell.  He has no pleasure in the death of the soul that dieth ( see Eze 18:32 ) ”.  Just remember that He did not create hell for mankind, but for satan.  But if wicked men choose to follow satan to hell rather than follow Jesus to heaven, He will allow it to happen.


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Cultist: I pray at this time that you will allow me to share with you some things of God's character as well as His Scripture that PROVE this "doctrine of a devil" is simply a lie to get billions upon billions throughout all of time to "blame" the Almighty and ever living God of all creation for creating such a place and sending them there. See again how the cultist twist the situation by continuing to ignore the bible verse that says that hell was not created for humankind, but for the devil?  See how he continues to ignore the accountability of man for following the way of the devil to hell, but continue to insist that wicked man goes to hell because God “sends” him there?

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Cultist: Not long ago I was in a conversation with a person about truth in Scriptures in a Newsgroup on the internet. He promptly told me that God was a tyrant, and a very hate-filled vengeful God.  I asked him why he believed that about his Creator. He replied, "Because He SENDS people to hell! I will never worship a God that would send people to such a place like that! A place were people go to be tortured for all of eternity screaming at the top of their lungs for ever!! How can He sit on His throne knowing that while all His "loved ones" are worshipping Him in their happy go lucky Heaven, there are countless BILLIONS in hell at that very moment writhing in a pain that cannot be described?!?!" I assured him that he has fallen for the oldest trick in the book. The devil has painted a picture of the Almighty for him that is the exact opposite of what His Word says He is like. For example. God does NOT send anyone to hell. Nor does He want to. See how the cultist continues to play on emotions?  He should be giving a straight answer to the newsgroup, that God does not send man to hell, but instead God even sent Jesus to provide the way out for man. But the cultist does not do what is right  because he thinks like the newsgroup people and agrees with them.  The cultist does not have the mind of Jesus.

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Cultist:  2Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Here’s an example of quoting out of context.  This verse in its full context expresses God’s long-suffering to allow mankind full opportunities to escape …… but if he does not, God has no choice but to let them go with the devil to damnation!  This verse does not say that a righteous God will not punish.  This verse says that a righteous and just God is doing, and has been doing all He can for mankind not to go to eternal damnation.


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Cultist: James 1:13
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:  See the word twisting here?  Is God doing evil by punishing evil?  This verse merely says that the evil that is in man is the cause of his own downfall, God did not put that evil into man!  This is how cultists take verses out of context to support their cause.



Cultist: No, the Lord God Almighty cannot be tempted of evil and He would not SEND you evil. Wrong! The Lord God Almighty is not sending you evil by allowing people to go to hell.  A righteous God punishes, but He warns before He punishes.  A just God even came to take the punishment upon Himself so that a wicked man can escape hell by receiving His gift and repenting.
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Cultist: The Almighty and ever living Creator did NOT create you to burn. He WANTS you to live!  This is the truth. This is how a cultist will mix truth with lies.  If he tells all lies, you would not believe him, would you? 


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Cultist: Jesus warns us in a loving way that there IS a hell. He warns us that YES the Earth and everything in it will BURN UP.   2Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 
Here is another example of taking verses out of context.  This verse explains that God will destroy this sin-infested earth to be replaced by a new earth.  This verse has not connection to hell or the lake of fire. But the cultist will deceive you into connecting it to punishment.
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Cultist: The Almighty is NOT the one putting anyone in hell. Wrong!  God is putting wicked man to hell, but not because He wants to.  He puts the wicked man to hell because the wicked man chooses to follow the devil there!  (  Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: )  Why be ashamed of the righteousness of God?

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Cultist: The devil must make hell look like a VERY torturous place so that our view of God is altered into a view that is NOT merciful. Wrong!  It is God who makes it very clear that hell is a tortuous place so that man be made aware of it, and he will choose wisely.  The devil is using cultists to create a negative impression of God for creating such a tortuous place for him and his angels.
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Cultist: It is not a place where the devil rules See this lie? Where in the bible does it says that the devil rules in hell?  It is not a place of eternal torture See this outright denial of what the bible says, and playing on human emotions?  It "IS" a place of eternal death however. And death is ETERNAL SEPARATION from God and all that is salvation and happiness. See how truth is mixed with lies in order to deceive into believing his next misquotes  Notice the following verses... Remembering all the while, that this is NOT God's will for you or me or anyone to burn in hell.

Cultist: 2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  Therefore, if someone choose not to repent, is it God’s fault ?
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Cultist: Ezekiel 18:32, "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."  See this truth?  But the cultist uses this for his own ends by taking it out in isolation.  This verse tells us that God has no pleasure in seeing souls die – which is correct!  But it does not say that God will not allow it to happen.  God will allow it if the evil man does not repent.
Cultist: John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
And Hell is DEATH. Regardless of the fact that the Scriptures state that those that go to Hell "shall not see life," the world calls hell "eternal life" IN FIRE doesn't it? Yet the Bible says that the "wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23 How can this be eternal life in fire? How can this mean eternal life anywhere? Do you recall this from your studies? See how he deceives you with his play on the word life?  The bible says specifically that to burn in the lake of fire is the 2^nd death.  The 2^nd death does not mean that existence is extinguished.  The bible makes it so clear.  The cultist ignores the fact that the bible also says that living people who are without God have no life in them.  Does that mean the living people are therefore dead at the same time?  It is the nature of cultists to twist words to suit his argument,  and ignoring situations where the same words would expose his duplicity.
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Cultist: Genesis 3:4, "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:"
The devil has been saying for 6000 years that WE WON'T DIE! This life in fire doctrine is no different than the serpant (sic)  in the tree. BOTH are openly declaring the Lord a liar! See how he mixes a truth with a lie again? See how he makes use of your dread of insulting God and using it to force you to agree with him?

Cultist: 2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 

Yes, we learned this earlier. The Lord will help us in times of temptation and deliver us out of it. But notice what happens to the "unjust" here. They are RESERVED unto the day of judgment to be PUNISHED. Notice what this verse is not saying here. It is NOT saying "PUNISH-ING" It is saying punished! See how he twisting the word "punishment" to be different from his self-created “punishing”?  Does cause you some confusion, doesn’t it.  That’s a typical cult argument technique.

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Cultist:  Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: He knows that hellfire is for the devil, and not for man, doesn’t he?  But he will ignore this, while using the same verse to suit his other purposes.

Cultist: "EVERLASTING FIRE?" Some use this verse to proclaim the fire will last forever and ever and ever and ever... But look at these verses using the same word "everlasting"

2 Thessalonians 1:8,9
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;  Again, mixing truth with word twisting to confuse you to his side.  The 2^nd death is everlasting destruction … and do not be ashamed of it.  He is playing with the term everlasting fire lead you to agree with him that it is only the fire that is everlasting, and not the torment. Really devious.  Now, let me refer you a verse he conveniently ignores at this stage, but which he will use in another place to suit his purpose:

Rev 20:10  The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where^[2] the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

So, can you see that the bible disagrees with the cultist?  Can you see the bible says that “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever?”
Need I explain more to you?


Cultist: The result of the FIRE is and EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION. The wages of sin is DEATH not life eternal in hell fire!  See how he decides on his own (mis)understanding of the world death here?  Death here obviously mean eternal death, not the fleshly death he wants it to mean.   Life in hell fire would mean we have a mean and very angry God who enjoys the screams of billions of people for all eternity. See how he plays on your human emotions and sense of charity.  “Oh dear!  You and your God must be very cruel to ‘enjoy’ the screaming”.  Then you will find yourself trapped into agreeing with his next lie.   This is the devil's plan to get you to believe this is the character of God. The devil NEEDS you to look at God in this way!  That’s exactly what the devil is using this cultist to do.  No!  A just and righteous God will punish as it has been set from the beginning.  A just and righteous God has already provide the way out, by taking punishment upon Himself, and conquering death on our behalf.  We only have to accept the gift and follow Him.  If we do not, we are saying to Him “Let me go to hell like I want to”.

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Cultist: Matthew 25:46
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. 

Do you see the word everlasting PUNISH-MENT being used here by Jesus Himself to explain the fate of the wicked? If Jesus meant eternal punishING don't you think He would have said that? The Bible never counterdicts itself. Jesus meant what He said. The "wages of sin is death" Death is PERMANENT. Punish-ING is an "ongoing" process. This is not what Jesus said. Nor does any verse in His Word say this. Some even preach that yes, indeed, the "body" is killed in hell fire. But, the "soul" lives on for all eternity in flames of hell. If so, I challenge them to explain this simple and very easy to understand verse...   See the continued attempt to differentiate between ‘punishment’ and his attempt at confusing you with “punishing”?  Cultists can be ingenious with word twisting techniques.


Cultist: Malachi 4:1,3 : For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts.  Here is another attempt to distract you by playing on the word “ashes” to mean physical destruction of the soul.  For a fact, you will notice that this verse says nothing about the soul.  Malachi was issuing a warning from God to the Israelites about their bodily destruction …… nothing to do with the soul.  You can so easily be deceived by their tossing of scriptures in isolation here and there.
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Cultist: And if Satan is running Hell and in control of the eternal torments of all those that reside in Hell, then why would the Word of God tell us in the following passage that Satan will burn up RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES?
Ezekiel 28:17-18, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee."  See how he plays with words again?  He is trying to trick you into believing that that metaphorical expression ( ashes ) is a literal expression, but at the same time, keep the other metaphorical expression ( devour ) as metaphorical.  Very inconsistent, isn’t it? 


Cultist: Revelation14:11
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

This verse in Revelation is favored by literally millions of preachers to prove hell is eternal punishING. Before proving what this verse means we must find out what the term "for ever" actually means to God when He says it. Understand first, God Almighty is an ETERNAL God and we, are a MORTAL people. Looking to Isaiah 34 you will see that the same language is used to describe the fate of Edom. 

Isaiah 34:9,10
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. Yes, this is poetic.  But does it mean Rev 14:11 is also poetic just because this Isaiah verse is?

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Cultist: Mark 9:48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 

The worm will live as long as it takes to finish the job. And the fire will NOT be quenched until the "fuel" is depleted.  See how he twist it to suit himself?  The verse says “the worm dieth not” but he added in his own meaning “The worm will live as long as it takes to finish the job” which the bible doesn’t say.
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Cultist: Exodus 21:6
Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever. 

Cultist: "SHALL SERVE HIM FOR EVER"???? How is this possible? What happens when the slave DIES? Another attempt at taking verses out of context.  “Forever” is also used in the context of one’s lifetime, and not always in the immortal eternal sense only.  Each incident of use must be interpreted to the context.  The context in his verse is clearly referring to the lifetime of the slave.  Cultist can get pretty tedious in their vain efforts to deceive

Cultist:
That's right. The definition of FOR EVER is not eternity. Of course not!   When the slave dies his master no longer has his service. And that is correct. But when God uses forever in the context of eternal life and eternal death, He does mean “eternity”.
Cultist: By the way.. If Hell is for eternity, then why did Jesus only stay dead three days?  If Jesus stays dead forever, are you saved?  He obviously cannot understand the power of God over death.  Was He not to be our perfect Saviour and sacrifice for sin? If the wages of sin is death, then Christ died for us, and that's that. See how he tries to confuse you by ignoring the power of God over death with this argument?  Or maybe he really doesn’t know, which is why this cultist is deceived.  

Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE?

Cults Say That Eternal Punishment Is Not Eternal

Coming next : 

1) Explaining Heaven and Hell
2) Sabbath for Christians or Sabbath for Jews? 
3) Sabbatarians' Scripture-mangling Skills

The late Ps Patrick Lopez, to the far left

At 4.34am on 12^th Nov., 2011 I received a phone call from the wife of Pastor Patrick Lopez saying that he had just passed away.  I was asked to go over to help.  When I reached there, she was alone and grieving tremendously.  And we went ahead to wash the deceased and change his clothes, with the help of Raymond who came a little later.  It was my first experience touching the body of a deceased person.  But there was no fear.  Just a little sense of discomfort.  I had just lost a good partner in scriptures, for Pastor Patrick was an exceptional proponent ….. knowledgeable and gracious.

Well, it just so happened that for the 2 days preceding his death, I had been debating a gentleman called Geoff, the webmaster of  http://www.thetruthabouthell.net/ on 2 issues over the internet, one was whether keeping Sabbath was necessary and the other was “Is the soul immortal”?  To Geoff, the soul of the wicked is burnt to ashes ( or annihilated; poof! vaporized into nothingness ) upon death and only hell fire is permanent. 

You see, the cultists like 7^th Day Adventists and Jehovah Witnesses came up with the idea that the soul dies together with the person.  In fact, the Jehovah Witnesses copied that idea straight out of the 7th Day Adventists!  They also believe that the dead person is resurrected on judgment day and the unrighteous are annihilated in hell fire.  It is only the fire that is eternal.  Not the punishment.  

Now, are you able to catch the illogical reasoning from the above?  You can’t, can you?  The cultists are actually presenting 2 irreconciliable positions!  On the one hand, the cultist say that the soul dies and disappears, and on the other, they are also saying the dead without the soul can be resurrected!

But what does the bible teach?  Let me first explain here what the bible teaches and in the next article, I will demolish for you all the deceptions in the explanation given by the cultists.  Geoff was absolutely upset when I called him a cultist.  Boy, was he mad!!

What The Bible Clearly Teaches

Now, the bible says we are made in the image of God.  God is a trinity, so are we.  We are body, soul, and spirit – 3 in one.  Here is what happens to the 3 components of our being:

1. The body returns to the earth and becomes dust ( Gen 3:19  … for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. )
2. Spirit being the breath of God, returns to Him (  Ecc 12:7  Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. )  also (G en 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.  )
3. The soul rests in paradise or suffers in a place called hades ( see Luke 16:19 – 31, the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man  ) awaiting either a resurrection into a new body for the final judgment for rewards or for eternal damnation ( see Matt 25 - Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:   )

 

The bible makes it so simple to understand.  But cultists must differentiate themselves in order to draw their own members.  So they resort to splitting hairs, writing lengthy explanations using semantical tricks and acrobatics, playing on verses and focusing on words taken out of context to support their views.   Reading through their material easily confuses and impresses the person who is not familiar with scriptures and their human logic can sound so convincing; until you take the trouble to check against the bible verses in their context, that is.

So I found Geoff playing on the word ashes, replacing the meaning of eternal punishment with eternal punishing (!!??)  and so on, and twisting the interpretation of the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man in order to deny the meaning of it.

After a few exchanges of email with Geoff, he started calling me names, describing me as stupid, and so on.  Well, he studiously avoided my challenge to him to pray to and seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  In fact, I told him all his explanations were “canned” from standard cult literature.  Much of what Geoff used as his materials are in fact taken out of the standard teachings of 7^th Day Adventist and the Jehovah Witnesses, although Geoff denies that he is affiliated to them.  In fact,  I told him he is a Judaizer of the type condemned by Paul in Galatians, the only difference being that he tries to differentiate between “moral law” being the 10 commandments alone  and “Moses’ Law” being the ritualistic laws.  He ignores my challenge to him to check the fact that “The Law” or “Torah” always refer to everything inside the 5 Books of Moses.

Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

The Lord's Supper - They Make It So Complex

Just Keep It Simple and Solemn

The Lord’s Supper, or the Holy Communion is an important Christian practice and should be done correctly.  But even if there are errors in its practice, it would not affect your salvation.  To do it correctly also does not mean to do it in a complex and ritualistic manner.  It is actually the simplest thing to do.

It is said that Jesus required his disciples to observe 3 “sacraments”, so to speak.  The first is baptism, the second is the Holy Communion and the third is the washing of feet.  The first two are studiously observed.  The washing of feet is mostly carried out by cults today.  Hmmm.  Strange indeed.  Mainline churches do the strangest things.  Anyway, the matter today is not about feet washing.  It is about the Holy Communion.  And here, I hope clear up the silly deviations that have developed over the centuries.  As usual, the seminaries and bible colleges do a great job helping to perpetuate the wrong ideas.

This passage from the book of Corinthians is almost identical to that which is in the gospel of Luke: 

1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

And so, the instructions and explanations are simple – eat to remember Jesus, as often as you would for what He has done.  No other conditions.  But look at how man has turned such simple instructions into a complicated thing. 

1)           “Only believers who are baptized are “qualified” to partake of the Holy Communion.”  You will note that Jesus did not say anything like that, neither does the bible say that anywhere.  As long as a person believes in Jesus, he should partake of the Holy Communion, and as often as he does it, to remember Him.

2)           “Before partaking of the bread and wine, the believer must ‘examine himself’ to see if he is worthy to partake, lest he fall sick and die.”  This is by far, the most prevalent teaching, and I dare say, at almost all sessions you will hear the presiding person reminding the congregation to examine themselves.  And the cause of this careful reminder is a careless understanding of these few verses,

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 1Co 11:30  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Yes, and very, very careless indeed.  This is typical of those who take verses out of context.  These verses must be read in context to the full passage, and especially these verses preceding the above:

1Co 11:20  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 1Co 11:21  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 1Co 11:22  What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

So, the “unworthily” issue relates to the manner in which the Christians came together for the Lord’s Supper!  It does not relate to the sinfulness of the person.  You see, in those days people came for church meetings bringing their own food.  Some can afford to bring more, some less and others cannot afford to bring any hope to share what others brought.  The Lord’s Supper was taken with real dinner bread and wine, not with wafers and syrup as we do now.  Paul scolded the Corinth Christians for having a selfish attitude, eating without consideration for others who came late or did not have anything to eat.  Some were even getting drunk! They were showing loveless attitudes. And drunkards get no share of the kingdom of God.  These then, were the unworthy attitudes towards the Lord's Supper, not the sins and transgressions of the Christians.  So, there you go.  Bible colleges forgot to teach the truth and wrongful teachings take root to become  tradition.  As Jesus scolded the Pharisees in Mar 7:13  that they make “the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”  Are the church leaders any much different today?

3)          "Partaking the holy communion heals diseases".  Oh, indeed!  Why are so many believers still sick?  Why are so many pastors suffering and dying from cancer?  I know, I know.  You base it on Isaiah 53:5 and also 1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.   

By His stripes you are healed, spiritually. 

 Has it occurred to anyone that this logos refers to spiritual healing and not bodily healing?  But if God gives this verse as a rhema for bodily healing to any particular person or situation, that's a different matter.  As far as the logos is concerned, it is for spiritual healing!  For if these verses refer to bodily healing, then the word of God is not proven true!  God's word is always true.  Man lies.  Not God.  No wonder so many Christians are so easily disappointed with the the word of God!  Our teachers give the wrong meaning to the verses and create unreal expectations.

"Kneel & receive" - a sense of power over others

4)         “The holy communion is to be ‘served’ only when there is a pastor present or only by church elders.”  It is made into a church affair, forgetting that the church is the believers, not the organization.  Any gathering of believers can serve holy communion, anytime and at any place.  Even a gathering of the family members in the name of Jesus constitutes a church!  This kind of rule smells of the spirit of control and vanity.  Boosting of the ego of church positions and self-importance, and the desire to keep the common believers in awe of the leadership.  Hambug!

Mumbo-jumbo- Jesus becomes bread

5)           And the Roman Catholics turn the Lord’s Supper into something else totally!  And they do it with fancy chalice and all.  You know, their need for grandeur and vanity?.  Roman Catholics added an extra feature into it - it is for the redemption of sins!  I do not know where in the bible they found this suggestion, but you can count on their traditions to lead you into error.  Their traditions are of greater importance than scripture.  They forgot that it is to “eat, drink and remember Jesus”.   Even more ludicrously, the Catholic priest recites some mumbo jumbo ( like some witchdoctor or shaman priest ) and calls down Jesus into the wafer, turning wafer into Jesus’ flesh - so called "transubstantiation".  And you are not supposed to bite into the wafer because of it ( lest Jesus say “ouch!”?).  The way the religious men ( religious does not mean “godly”) do it, it is like Jesus is some minion spirit waiting to be turned into roti at anytime, anywhere all over the world at their beck and call.

Pomposity!  Fulfilling a vanity need

I have made this explanation as simple as possible.  Remember, partake of the Lord’s Supper only to remember Him for what He had done for you.  It is not a salvation matter.  It is not about washing of sins.  It is about remembering Jesus.  Do it as often as you can.  Do it solemnly.  Do it with your family any time you want.  No need for fancy silver goblets and gold cups.  No need to kneel to some other human being to "receive" the bread and wine.  Being baptized is not a precondition.  Age is not a precondition, as long as a child understands what it is all about and the solemnity of it, it can partake of it.  If anyone says age is a precondition, just ask him to show you the relevant bible verse.

Forget about all those churchy rules.  Different churches want different practices just to differentiate themselves.  You can trust the cults like Jehovah Witnesses to do it differently, putting in their own rules which do not come out of the bible.  The Recovery Church puts a bowl of wafers and cups of syrup on a stand in the centre of the congregation, and people are free to walk up to serve themselves anytime during service, while mainline churches make a great ceremony out of it. 

Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."