We must make a sincere effort to look at America through the lens of the Holy Bible. Did the sovereignty of God ordain this nation for the last 200 plus years and does He have a prophetic plan for America as we near the end of this age? The two ideas presented in this thought provoking question are the foundation for this article. As you read this article, remember these two facts. First, remember the Sovereignty of God in the founding of America and in the formation of our government. Second, remember our prophetic future and what we must represent and fulfill in the time left until the golden kingdom of the millennium.

America is clearly the one "shining city on a hill" worldwide. I heard a reporter say on television a few days ago, "If possible, 80% of the world would gladly land on our shores to start a new life under our system of government, and with our rights, liberties, and privileges." That’s probably an overstatement, but it contains an element of fact. People who love America must deal with the gross sins ripping at the very core of our culture. From abortion to the satanic entertainment industry, there is a concentrated, organized desire to make America into a cesspool of filth. We must break this bent of evil by the mighty power of prevailing prayer.

Trashing America is the daily joy of the liberals on the left and the fanatics on the right. The fact that individuals will use our own technology, wealth, and liberties as a means to destroy everything we represent can be only understood from a Biblical viewpoint. We will explain that viewpoint in this article. I just listened to a statement on a video that is being sold and promoted all across America. The name of this video is "911, Descent into Tyranny." It is authored by a far right talk show host, Alex Jones. He blamed our U.S. government for the 9/11/01 event in our country. Our nation has indeed had its share of corrupt politicians, corrupt ministers, and corrupt bureaucrats, but not for a moment could they escape such hideous deeds as this man suggests.

Another view of those on the left and those on the right can be found in Scripture. Liberals and the elite on the far left want a powerful government with themselves in control. Those on the far right hate all government and want unlimited liberties. The Bible thoroughly condemns both. Nimrod was stopped when he sought to establish the first "One World Government." Both Apostle Peter and Jude, a half brother of Jesus, spoke of wild men who hate government and are not afraid to speak evil of those in authority. Read the words of Peter, "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord." (II Peter 2:10-11)

The Bible and Government
The Bible gave man responsibility to be self-governed and to have dominion over the earth. "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:28) "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein." (Genesis 9:1-7) This was a form of government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." It is exactly the form of government envisioned and established by the founding fathers of America. Our Constitution and the Bill of Rights are Biblical to the core. The Bible is the principle on which they were established.

Nimrod tried to establish a form of government championed by the liberal elite in America. "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city." (Genesis 11:1-8) God said a definite, "No," and completely ended the entire project. The only government that our God can endorse and bless is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

America Was Absolutely Founded on Biblical Principles
Story from the "French and Indian War"–George Washington was only twenty-three years of age. (This story was in the textbooks of our public schools for over 150 years. It disappeared approximately forty years ago.) This war was fought over the territory along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The French had enlisted the Indians. George Washington and one hundred Virginia Buckskins were aiding the British. They marched towards Pittsburgh and were ambushed about seven miles from the fort. Of 1300 men, 714 were shot down. Of eighty-six officers, only Washington was left on horseback. When he arrived back at Fort Cumberland, Maryland, and took off his jacket, he found four bullet holes through it but not one touched him. He wrote his family, "By all powerful dispensation of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation."

Let me give you quotes by three of our first six Presidents and our first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court:

George Washington, America’s first president said, "Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars?" In another quote he said, "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained." (America’s Godly Heritage, David Barton, back cover.)

John Adams, the second president said, "The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of Widsom, Virtue, Equity, and Humanity. Let the Blackguard Paine say what he will; it is Resignation to God, it is Goodness itself to Man." (America’s God and Country, W.J. Federer, p. 10.)

John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, said, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." (America’s God and Country, W.J. Federer, p. 18.) He also said, "From the day of the Declaration…they (the American people) were bound by the laws of The Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct." (Ibid.)

John Jay, who was the first Chief Justice of our U.S. Supreme Court, said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty–as well as the privilege and interest–of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." (America’s Godly Heritage, David Barton, p. 7.)

The Congress and the Supreme Court have often stated that we were a Christian nation until the liberals of this present dark period. They have continually been petitioned by groups or individuals to separate all Christian views and acts from the daily life of our nation and its institutions.

A group of persons petitioned Congress in 1853 to separate Christian principles from our government. This is their response as stated by the House. "Had the people [the Founding Fathers], during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, but not any one sect, [denomination] . . . In this age, there is no substitute for Christianity . . . That was the religion of the founders of the republic, and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants." (America’s Godly Heritage, David Barton, p. 14.)

Two months later, the Judiciary Committee (in the Senate) made this strong declaration: "The great, vital, and conservative element in our system [the thing that holds our system together] is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." (America’s Godly Heritage, David Barton, p. 14.)

The U.S. Supreme Court gave the following response after a lawsuit was brought by a church to remove religious matters from the public life of the nation. While I do not have the exact words of this lawsuit, it was a precursor of what the liberals are trying to do to the culture of America today. The response of the Supreme Court in 1892 was the following, "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian . . . This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation . . . we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth . . . These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declaration to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation." (Supreme Court Decision, 1892, Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States.) It was only in 1962 that the idea of separation of church and state finally became a court decision. Prayer was removed from our public schools. Since that day, our schools have become cesspools of evil and humanism.

What is our Prophetic Place?
There is no way to deny that America was founded by Divine Providence and the will of God. I believe the reason we are presently taking back America is because we still have a prophetic place to fill. The last 30-40 years have become a "wake up call" to this nation. The liberals are in disarray. But, do not think they are not planning to retake this nation and continue their humanistic design. Our only hope is the hand of Almighty God.

What God ordained for Israel as a nation in harmony with the coming of Jesus Christ, we are temporarily fulfilling. They rejected Him and were placed on uneasy probation until the appointed hour. Already, the nation of Israel is casting a shadow on the world scene, but her fullness is yet for a while. Until that time, God needs a nation. (Remember, He used Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar and they were totally pagan before Daniel and the three Hebrew boys were brought to the palace. Jesus plainly said that a nation would be chosen to take Israel’s place temporarily. "Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matthew 21:42-43)

Three Great Reasons that America is Fulfilling her Prophetic Role

The Liberties of the World Must be Credited to America in the Present Time
Remember, this was a promise to Israel. "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3) Jesus stated that Israel forfeited that position and it was given to another nation. Who would have stopped Hitler? Who would have stopped the Japanese? Who would presently stop the Al Qaeda? If it were not for America, they would establish a "One World Islamic Government." America has never used her military might to build an Imperialistic Empire. Rather, we have and are using our great weaponry to defend freedom for the helpless nations and people of the world. Remember the Panama Canal, Bosnia, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. We helped them rebuild their economy with billions of our wealth. When nations like Germany and the Nazis had been defeated, we then helped rebuild their economy and feed their starving with billions of our wealth.

America and the Gospel
There is no way to measure the millions of souls that have heard the gospel because of America. Evangelism could have echoed from the nation of Israel but she rejected her right to bless the world and has spent almost 2000 years wandering among the nations of the earth. Imagine the Hudson Taylors and a multitude of soul winners preaching the gospel, pure and simple, around the world. Our defense of liberty has kept the gospel free in many nations. The Bible translators have rendered the Scripture in hundreds of languages. Multi-billions of American dollars have supported missionaries and accomplished missionary activities.

America Has Been the Protector of Israel
Can you imagine Israel, as a nation and the security of Jerusalem were it not for America? We have directly invested over 91 billion dollars in Israel’s economy and military since 1948. Anti-Semitism has exploded, but we stand steady as a friend to the Jewish people. Premier Sharon just stated that Israel has no better friend than President George W. Bush. Our Congress just voted to declare Jerusalem the capitol of Israel. One person on the religious right just called Jerusalem the wickedest city in the world. America is a sheep nation and I believe we will stand by Israel until Jesus returns to establish His Kingdom.

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 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: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." (St. Matthew 25:31-46)

Also, tying America to Israel is a text in Isaiah 30:25 that speaks of Israel’s future blessings and the fall of towers. "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes." (Romans 11:25-28) The future of America is closely connected to the future of Israel. That is one of our most important positions before our God. We are now as subject to terrorism as Israel has been.

Conclusion
America is indeed the one country/nation in our world that can be called "the Shining City on a Hill." It is a blessed and free people. Any person who lives a clean life has nothing to fear in our nation but fear itself. There are evil people and always have been. We have an abundance of undisciplined and careless souls presently because we allowed the God haters to rob us of many freedoms and privileges. It’s time to take back those God given rights and once again experience an awakening from heaven.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14) Again, this is a promise to Israel that we can claim by virtue of their Kinsman Redeemer and our Lord and Savior.

After understanding our place among the nations, it’s easy to see why we have an internal struggle to destroy the principles of our form of government and even our nation itself. The "One Worlders" among the liberal left are desperate to destroy the Bible believer’s influence. They hate fundamental or evangelical standards of morality. Anyone believing the Bible is dangerous to them.

The radical rights are mostly anti-Semitic and hate our defense of Israel. Most of them hold to replacement theology and believe Israel is done with and of no future standing. Any government that is not chosen freely and answerable clearly to the people is anti-Biblical. Let’s believe our Heavenly Father to grant a sovereign visitation of revival and renewing commitment to the morals and values that make our self-government possible.

I’m looking for the Rapture. I’m not watching for the Rapture from a rocking chair, but from a battlefield. Let’s remember, "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12)

As we approach the end of this age, the spirit world is becoming more and more apparent. World events are not accidents, but are part of the overarching actions. The Sovereign God Jehovah is the world architect and His armies are far superior than all the armies of the world together. While our God will use human hands, He is not limited to their action in world affairs.

There are wonderful expressions in the Bible of our God’s appointment of His angels to watch over Jerusalem and the affairs of that city. Hundreds of times in the First and Second Testament, the Lord is named "The Lord of Hosts." Twice in the Second Testament, He is called "The Lord of Sabaoth," which has the exact same meaning, but in a stronger term. The terms mean that He is the "Lord of an Army" or "Lord of a Multitude. "This speaks of His Heavenly Host or His great armies of Heavenly angels. These terms have a military connotation and make it plain that the Lord will fight for right and that He will defend His will on this earth.

The prophet, Isaiah, writing by the revelation of God, stated that angels (watchmen) had been assigned over the walls of Jerusalem and that they would never depart until all their enemies and warmongers were destroyed. This promise is over 2,500 hundred years old and many great events have transpired under these angelic watchmen. Their duty has not been to stop all the transgressors, but to assure their ultimate defeat. The armies of many nations have come to their destruction in God’s time because of Jerusalem. This great revelation is clearly tied to the entire history from the time of Isaiah to the fulfillment of Israel’s glorious future. Read this passage carefully. "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken." (Isaiah 62:6-12).

A multitude of devils and devil-possessed men have tried to assure this prophecy’s failure. The fulfillment is on perfect schedule. Our patience is still needed, but not for long. If angels can weep, these spirit creatures of God have no doubt shed a multitude of tears. Can you imagine these appointed angels looking down upon Jerusalem after Titus had decimated the city in A.D. 70? Think of what they must have experienced when the Romans renamed Jerusalem, Capitolina after they had rebuilt the city. These great creatures wasted no time continuing the Father’s plan and the day hasted when the name Capitolina was relegated to the ash pile. Over and over the fortunes of Jerusalem have fallen but risen again from defeat. God’s appointed watchmen have been faithful and the glory of their task is soon to triumph.

The statement, "give Him no rest till He establish and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth," shows the partnership between God and His people, the saints. He referred to everyone of His chosen remnant when He said, "Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence." We are the ones that He requested that we remind Him of His promise. Does God need to be reminded? Probably not, but nevertheless, His saints are His partners and He desires our constant fellowship in all His plans. As I write this article, I cannot help but stop to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. "May God soon remove every act of uncleanness from within the walls of the chosen city. O, God hasten the day of your coming to sit on the throne of David and establish the kingdom of your holiness to the ends of the earth. In Jesus’ name."

Daniel Saw the Final Triumph of These Angels
Angels are not supernatural as God the Creator. Every act they administer is subject to the Father’s plan and are sometimes allowed to be hindered by Satan or one of his angels. Fallen angels are just as powerful as God’s angels, but can be rebuked in the name of the Lord. The holy angels are organized and have different levels of authority and power. So are Satan’s angels. Daniel had experienced twenty-one days of fasting and prayer waiting for the angels of the Lord to defeat the angels of Satan. Finally, a stronger angel, even Michael, came to assist the first angel. The account of these events helps us understand the powers in the spiritual world. "And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days." (Daniel 10:10-14).

Michael, the Archangel, to Stand Up for Israel
Daniel had special revelations about the very end of the "Times of the Gentiles" and the activity of Michael. Michael is called the one angel that stands for the people of Israel. It appears that Gabriel is the angel of the church, while Michael is the angel of the Jewish people. I believe those angels appointed by the Lord and revealed to Isaiah are still doing their job above the walls of Jerusalem. Now, in this great revelation of Daniel, Michael stands up and joins those angels to bring an end to all matters that relate to the people of the Lord’s chosen. It would appear that Michael has either stood forth or is preparing to do so. All I know to say to those that oppose Israel is, "Watch out for this mighty warrior." Let’s deal with portions of Daniel 12. "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:1-3).

This does not occur until the "end of the age." The words of this revelation make plain the time of its fulfillment. The Lord told Daniel, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Daniel 12:4). Angels are already fighting for the Jewish nation;, Jerusalem is part of their assignment, but soon the reinforcements will arrive to join the battle. Michael’s involvement is one of the last great acts before the Lord Himself descends from the Father’s presence to defeat the Antichrist and gather all the remnant of Israel.

This prophecy is absolutely to be fulfilled at the close of Jacob’s trouble and the seven years of the Great Tribulation. Jesus affirmed this great fact. He said, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matthew 24:21). The Son of God was probably quoting Daniel or at least referring to the same great truth. The truth is that Jesus is the totality of the Word, so Daniel was quoting the Son of God in advance of His coming. We call those great truths given in advance, "prophecy." The Bible is full of such beautiful revelations.

This time is called the Day of the Lord and begins with the resurrection of the dead saints and the rapture of the living saints. Daniel said, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake . . ." Isaiah also spoke of this using similar words, "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." (Isaiah 26:19-21).

Isaiah separates this resurrection time, showing the Rapture and then the tribulation of the earth, while the saints are secured in a prepared chamber (the wedding chamber). And, then, He shows our coming back to be His army as we, with Him, defeat the Antichrist kingdom. This kind of uniting and harmonizing the Scripture is what the Bible calls "rightly dividing the Word of God." (II Timothy 2:15).

The Book of Revelation gives us a similar picture when we see the twenty-four elders in chapter four. This is the one time we see twenty-four elders numbered together in the whole Word of God. The picture is of both the Old Testament saints together with the New Testament saints being resurrected and raptured before the Great Tribulation.

Further truths in this great chapter of Daniel twelve shows the harmony of the writing of Daniel, Jesus, and John the Revelator. All three of their prophecies show the seventh week of Daniel as being seven years divided in the midst by the Antichrist’s revelation of himself in the Jewish tribulation temple. Each of these three gave clear declaration that the seven years would finish the "Gentile Times" and usher in the kingdom of Christ with a Jewish revival and restoration. Daniel had already given witness to this truth but now gives additional information. He stated, "Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." (Daniel 12:5-7). "Times, times, and half a time" represents the last three and one-half years of the seven year period.

Michael, The Angelic Prince
It is of grave importance to understand that this dark period called "Jacob’s Trouble" is under the supervision of a mighty prince acting for God to guarantee the survival of Israel. Daniel made it plain in the first verse of this twelfth chapter that all the proceedings cannot begin until Michael takes charge of the spiritual side of this all-out war. No spiritual victory can be won on this earth until it is first won in heaven. This period of time is set and the days are numbered right down to the final day. Michael, God’s anointed prince, is set to guarantee perfect fulfillment. "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven." (Psalm 119:89) and Michael is keeping the clock.

Look at the precise numbering that the great prayer warrior of twenty-five hundred years ago was given to set the boundaries for the Antichrist. It is important that you note these last words given to this prophet of God. "And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." (Daniel 12:8-13). Oh, for prayer warriors in our day that might wait on God for answers that lock up the spiritual world in perfect obedience.

It is beautiful that our God leaves nothing to chance. Michael is called "one of the chief princes" (Daniel 10:13); he is called "your prince" (Daniel 10:21) in addressing Daniel himself, and called "the great prince" in this twelfth chapter of Daniel (Daniel 12:1). Michael is also identified as the leader of God’s army of angels that defeat Satan and his angels immediately after the Rapture. Satan is cast out of Heaven in Revelation twelve. Both Daniel twelve and Revelation twelve guarantee this time as during the last one week of seven years, right before the glorious triumph of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to reign on earth.

Angels are Deeply Involved in the Book of Revelation
Once the Rapture of the Saints occurs in Revelation four, verse one, and the celebration around God’s throne begins, angels immediately begin to interact with the elders of the raptured saints. The whole proceedings from the beginning of chapter five is interlaced with the angels of God. The role of the angels is clearly different from the elders. Let’s try to distinguish the difference.

In Revelation chapter five, the great book of earth’s redemption is witnessed in the Father’s possession and held forth by His right hand. This book calls for one of Heaven’s strongest angels to set forth the purpose and proceedings of this book. The actions of this mighty God-sealed Book, written within and without, cannot just occur. Powers of great strength must set forth this truth and give testimony against all hindrances. Nothing can be left to speculation. There will be great powers seeking to hinder the proceedings. The devil has been the god of this world and he will not give up easily.

Listen to the Word of God. "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne." (Revelation 5:1-7).

What a picture of this inauguration of the seven years of Great Tribulation. It does not begin with the opening of the seven-sealed book, but with the proclamation of the book by a mighty angel. This book is the record of "the purchased possession." The blood of Jesus has assured the proceeding of this book will be victory. The angel’s loud voice gave complete assurance that Satan and his evil host might hear. God, the Father is on His throne, the seven spirits (the Holy Ghost in His fullness of Revelation) are before the throne, angels, living creatures, and resurrected elders are also before the throne and the Crucified Lord is ready to receive and open the book. The process of redemption cannot fail.

The armies of the Heavenly Host are now united with the elders of the redeemed. This is the picture all through the Book of Revelation. Angels are constantly acting in fellowship with the elders. The angels appear to have more of a proclamation role, while we are witnesses to Satan’s failures and destruction.

Conclusion
As the triumph of the seven years of judgment and redemption is finished, an angel descends to lay hold on the devil and to place him in the bottomless pit and lock him up for a thousand years. "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." (Revelation 20:1-3). God’s angels, mighty in power, are going to be deeply involved in the coming end times. Jerusalem will not be forgotten as all the proceedings of the Book of Revelation transpire. Once the earth is redeemed, then Israel will be gathered for the last time. Jesus, Himself, set forth this assurance. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matthew 24:29-31).

It is time to be sensitive to the Heavenly Host of angels, which will act for the Lord Himself in defense of all that must occur to finish His work and establish His kingdom on this earth.

What an incredible statement, "the Lord for the Body," made by Apostle Paul. He also said, "The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord." (I Corinthians 6:13). In eight verses Paul identified our "bodies" as Jesus’ temples and declares beyond all question that the Son of God came to redeem our bodies and purchase them for Himself as His purpose and place for all redemption. This passage of redemption revelation is beautiful. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s." (I Corinthians 6:13-20).

The mystery of Christ’s death is more fully revealed right here than in any other single passage of Scripture. Eight times Apostle Paul speaks of the body in this great picture. The Creator made man to be His own joy and placed him in His own created world to live out a special fellowship with his God. This creation was made in a unique likeness to the Creator and was given a great measure of freedom to love God and be His pleasure forever. In some strange way, one of God’s prior creations from His Heavenly host became jealous and haughty. He led a rebellion among the angels and then led a rebellion with Adam and Eve on earth. Satan was cast out of Heaven and with the disobedience of Adam and Eve, he became the god of this earth. Man and all that God had made for man to enjoy were corrupted. The only things that were defiled in this rebellion were Satan, his followers, and the world of Adam and Eve. Heaven was protected because Satan and his cohorts were cast out and down to the earth and earth’s environment of the heavens above the earth. Satan and those angels he deceived cannot be redeemed because they are reserved in darkness for the coming judgment. Hell was created for their future abode.

But, our God and Creator had a different plan for His fallen race of man. He had created Him for His pleasure and He immediately declared His intent to provide a redemption plan. He even provided a covering so that Adam and Eve could come out of hiding. "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21). The Words of God also declared that in some unexplained way He, the Creator, would use women in providing a future redemption and defeat of Satan. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15). Since woman had been the first to be deceived by Satan, she would be required to provide the means of Satan’s final defeat and man’s redemption.

The Lord for the Body
The one reason that the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, born of woman, was to redeem the body of a fallen race and the environment created for that race to enjoy. So, then, when Apostle Paul said, "the Lord for the body," he was speaking of the total purpose of redemption. The holy angels, the Heaven where our God dwells, and all that constitutes the possessions of the Godhead has no need of redemption because His dwelling place is undefiled. Man and his world are the locations of all that is defiled and Jesus Christ came to redeem it back to its original purity. The body that God created for Adam and Even, in which we are partakers, was to be, and has now been, redeemed from sin and will soon experience full redemption from the consequence of sin. The apostle spoke of that glory soon to be revealed. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8:22-23).

The ultimate of all redemption is the body and its environment or dwelling place.
We must look at how our God preserved a bloodline of women for 4,000 years to provide a body for the Eternal Son to make His sacrifice of redemption. The Father twice reached into the pagan world, chose and redeemed Gentile women to be part of the "seed of woman." When Abraham took Sarah into Egypt and out of fear lied about her identity, the Father, by His Spirit, smote the heart of the Pharaoh less he defile God’s seed. But, when the "fullness of time was come," the Father "sent forth His Son, made of a woman," (Galatians 4:4). The redemption of the body required a body for the "Redeemer."

When the failure of sacrifices and offerings by flesh was clearly evident, our Creator orchestrated the perfect answer to man’s dilemma. The Spirit said, as recorded to the Hebrews, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a Body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God." (Hebrews 10:4-7). God the Father, by the Holy Ghost, provided a body for His only Begotten Son. In his Psalms, David had prophesied of this truth as recorded in the Book of Hebrews. Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son and the Eternal Word, spoke in the present tense in this prophecy of David hundreds of years before its fulfillment. "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:7-8). Notice carefully that His coming was in the "volume or totality of the Book." His birth of woman was not a secondary scheme or an afterthought of God. It was the one and only plan and was a fulfillment of total truth and revelation.

The death of Jesus Christ and the shedding of His blood provided the sacrifice required to redeem mankind. It was not His greatness as the Eternal Son of God that redeemed us. He offered His body, "sanctified and sent into the world," (John 10:36) as a spotless offering for sin’s atonement. There are many efforts in this last generation to provide redemption without the blood offering of the very body of the Son of Man/Son of God. Every effort will fail and truth will prevail. The sacrifice of His "Body" as an offering to God was the Father’s only plan from the foundation of the world. "… in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8b).

In that great passage to the Hebrews the Holy Ghost plainly said, "A body has Thou prepared me." As the writer continued, He says, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." "For by one offering (His Body) he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:10,14). We must never forget that "His Body" was God’s offering for sin’s penalty. It was "His Body" that was "striped" for our healing and "His Body" that was "smitten, stricken, and afflicted of God" for our righteousness and deliverance." (Isaiah 53:4-5).

The Apostle Paul goes even further in his letter to the Hebrew believers. We now have a High Priest at the right hand of God that is our advocate and intercessor. He is there in the glorified Body that was smitten and wounded. The marks of His sacrifice are forever and indelibly written in His "Body" that sits at the right hand of God. Listen to this. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh (body); And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10:19-22). His flesh or body is the veil, which stands between the Holy Place and Holy of Holies. When you pray, your only doorway to the Father’s glory is the wounded body of the Son of God. If you forget the cross and the sacrifice of His body and blood, prayer is a waste of time. There is no other door or veil into the sanctuary of His wonderful presence. We either enter by that veil or we do not enter.

Healing is by the Stripes on His "Body"
When Apostle Paul said, the Lord for the body, he knew whereof he spoke. The early church was a church full of miracles and supernatural powers of the Holy Ghost. The Son of God’s death was witnessed by a multitude. Slaying His body on the cross started a sovereign move of revival and glorious conversions. Miracles were commonplace because the people either saw His body mutilated or probably knew someone who did. There was a powerful anointing that shook this great company of people after His great sacrificial death and resurrection. By the thousands, people were saved and many people were healed just by the shadow of some of these blessed saints. The crucifixion of the Son of God "opened a fountain in the House of David for sin and uncleanness." (Zechariah 13:1).

That fountain is still open. Apostle Peter stated, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree (cross), that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (I Peter 2:24). The wounds inflicted on His back are vicarious wounds. They have in them supernatural powers to heal the sick and make the afflicted "every whit whole." You cannot utterly trust the victory of those wounds without receiving the triumph they represent for the human body. His body was wounded, His sinless, perfect body, without Adam’s nature, was smitten with a Roman whip in our place and stead. Sickness was totally absent in His sinless body. His body was without guile and He did nothing to deserve His wounds. Instead, these stripes and wounds were a sacrificial offering for every trusting soul. "By His stripes we were healed." It is finished.

Our Bodies, Temples of the Holy Ghost
Every "born again" believer has been chosen to be a temple of the Holy Ghost. The body of every believer has been set aside, purified, and justified. We are not our own, but bought with a price. Holiness of lifestyle and separation from the world is absolutely normal for any believer that has been transformed by the power of God. Religious people of many different pagan religions make a determined effort to look and dress like their faith teaches. Fundamental Muslims dress like Muslims. The same is true of Hindus and other distinct religious groups.

Most of the church world has attacked and denigrated any idea of separation among "born again" believers in today’s modern church. The result is that the church has lost its sense of Godliness. The world and the church look alike, dress alike, and do the same worldly activities. No wonder the church has had to turn to secular humanism and self-help schemes to try to heal their wounded. There is power in a Godly and pure lifestyle. To claim Godliness without the sanctification of the body is totally contrary to Holy Scripture. God will not put His approval on such disobedience.

The message to the Saints of God is simple. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (II Corinthians 6:17-18).

John said, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (I John 2:15-17). Our bodies have been delivered from the world of fleshly living. We do not need legalism to deliver the truly "born again." Their new life repulses the old life and it is unclean to them.

We have been called unto "holiness." Our dress will be a reflection of our desire to present our "bodies" in a Godly light. Women will desire to be pure and feminine and men will follow after a Godly masculine demeanor. It is natural to be what God has made us to be when our bodies have been set-aside as the temple of the Holy Ghost. When God made our bodies in His image, He made us and beautified us to honor the likeness of Himself. When a person tries to change the beauty that is natural into an unnatural appearance, something is wrong in the soul. We have been called unto holiness. "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." (I Thessalonians 4:7).

The Body Will Soon be Glorified
Our "bodies" in their present form, must die. Sin is the fatal flaw, but in the life of the redeemed person, sin has been put to death itself, so that the body can be a temple to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost in us renders sin powerless day by day that we might live victoriously. "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Romans 8:10-11).

As we await our coming change, the Spirit quickens our mortal bodies. This is the very lesson Jesus taught Mary and Martha before they reached the tomb of Lazarus. Martha stated, "… I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." (John 11:24-27).

We are living in a spiritual resurrection as we await a bodily resurrection. This life of the Holy Ghost in us is our guarantee of our future hope. It is the Spirit of God that shall provide the very life of our coming resurrection. Paul said, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8:22-23).

The presence of the Holy Spirit renewing and sanctifying us daily is that firstfruit of our coming glory. No wonder the five foolish virgins were left, because the oil (Holy Spirit) was absent in their lamps. (Matthew 25:1-10).

The Glory of our New Bodies
Jesus ascended bodily and will return to reign on this earth bodily. When He was resurrected, He came forth out of death and the grave with His eternal body. It was no longer flesh and blood to return again to death, but a spiritual body. He was the firstfruits of the First Resurrection, according to the Apostle Paul. Speaking by the Spirit, he said, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming." (I Corinthians 15:20,23).

The Apostle Paul also clarified that there is a distinction between the earthly body and the spiritual body. "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." (I Corinthians 15:42-45).

When we see Him, we shall be like Him. The glory of His spiritual body is an example in which we shall share. While there will always be a distinction between the Son of God and His redeemed saints, we will have a likeness to Him; beautiful to behold. It will be an image of Him, not an equality with Him. "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (I Corinthians 15:49).

The letter to the Philippians adds measurably to this truth. "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:20-21).

Redemption is for the Body
It is exciting to see how intimately the body is emphasized in the entire scheme of redemption. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." (I Corinthians 6:13). The body is where sin was and is manifest and the body is what Jesus came to redeem and then inhabit by His Holy Spirit. The sanctified bodies of His saints now reveal the Lord Himself, by His Spirit to this world. We are His ambassadors and messengers. He has committed unto His redeemed saints the glorious gospel to proclaim. "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God." (II Corinthians 5:19-20).

No wonder the devil hates Godly living and righteousness of lifestyle. Satan wants to remake the believers in Christ into an image tainted by the world and its Hollywood styles. The more like the world we look, the less like the image of Christ we project. No wonder the Spirit said, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2).

Conclusion
Remember, the great statement made in the Spirit by the Apostle Paul. "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (I Corinthians 15:49). This great truth places great responsibility on the saints. But, even greater are the joys and hope of being His temple in this world and sharing His Resurrection in the world to come. His great redemption plan is not just an exercise of the mind or intellect leaving the body in the quagmire of unclean living. We are transformed and sanctified "body, soul, and spirit" and "preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Thessalonians 5:23).

"Sir, we would see Jesus" (John 12:21).

What an incredible request! Miracles at a distance, second-hand information, or even a meeting with the disciples, were not enough. These Greeks wanted a personal conference with this Jesus about whom they had heard so much. They wanted to see Him, and no one else would do.

I would that this generation would take their cue from this beautiful event. Christianity is just another religion unless its participants receive a personal mission of Christ himself. As long as one’s faith is mere theory, doctrine, theology, tradition, or denomination, it is all just another crusty religion.

When the supernatural encounter with the living Christ transpires, the Christian faith moves from religiosity to life. Jesus becomes personal and His presence life changing. Resurrection power, supernatural life, and spiritual glory all flow from His Person and the individual who makes His acquaintance.

An Encounter on the Turnpike 
The Apostle Paul was Saul of Tarsus until his Damascus Road experience. He was a persecutor and a blasphemous individual. This new religious uprising was a threat to his secure position and cold, calculated belief system. Stephen was a great speaker and left his imprint, but it was the Christ revealed, as one born out of due time, that arrested the persecutor of Christians.

He could sit at the feet of the great teacher, Gamaliel, serve in the council of the Sanhedrin, and even read and obey the law of Moses, all without change, but one whisper of the divine voice and he melted like snow in the heat of summer. Sprawling in the dust of the much-traveled highway, his cry was the humbled, "Who are thou, Lord?" and "What wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:5, 6).

Our modern day church needs a Damascus Road experience. We will not need to beg for workers or prayers if (and when) our people encounter the Lord. His presence is intoxicating and addictive.

Spiritual Encounters Fill the Word
History is filled with accounts of people who came in contact with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In fact, it is a series of surprising revelations to study the Bible with that thought in mind.

The Word is a Book of the miraculous, not a dusty chronicle of the normal. It is laced with visions and encounters from the beginning when God said, "Let there be light," through the final "Amen" of John the Revelator. Spanning 66 books, 45 authors, and 1,600 years in the making, the wonderfully inspired Word moves from one miraculous encounter to another.

Adam and Eve seemed to think nothing of their evening walks with God (Genesis 2-3).

God spoke directly to Noah (Genesis 6), and a small remnant of mankind was saved from one of the greatest tragedies of human history.

Abraham heard God speak in a vision (Genesis 15), and the patriarch’s family became the chosen nation. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, saw a ladder stretching from the earth to heaven with angels descending and ascending. Out of this vision came God’s promise of coming blessings.

Moses, on the backside of the desert, 40 years after he had fled from the wrath of Pharaoh, heard the voice of the Lord (Exodus 3:2) and stood in His presence. He was moved to lead the Exodus to the Promised Land.

Elijah and Elisha saw visions in a heavenly realm that would make today’s motion pictures pale in comparison.

David, Daniel, Zechariah, and John all saw into this dimension–supernatural events and supernatural scenes, which the mind can hardly grasp.

But the vision of visions is to see what Peter saw as he walked with the Lord. "When Jesus cam into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 16: 13-17).

People may understand Jesus in a historical sense. They may quote His teachings. They may be able to speak about the Gospels, Epistles, the Old Testament records, and the Prophets, but until the believer sees Jesus as his lord, and can say with conviction, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," all our religion is but a dying ember.

Flesh and blood cannot reveal Jesus. This can come about only through the miracle of personal revelation. It is more than the normal Christian life would seem to suggest. This kind of experience is awaiting one’s self-spent surrender. The Holy Spirit is knocking at one’s heart anticipating that very moment. It never happens accidentally!

"For no person will be justified–made righteous, acquitted and judge acceptable–in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For (the real function of) the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith and holy character]." (Romans 3:20, Amp.).

The Vision of Jesus Christ
In John 11, death had invaded a home. Two sisters, Mary and Martha, were left without their beloved and caring brother, Lazarus. The scenario unfolded like millions of times before and since when death strikes. Neighbors came to comfort. Weeping and sadness permeated the heart of those who shared this tremendous loss.

It appeared to be settled. Death had locked the door. Jesus arrived, but to Martha and Mary it was simply too late. They said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, our brother would not have died."

Martha and Mary knew Jesus as a friend, they believed in Him. His power was well sufficient to forestall death; but beyond death–eternal life–was beyond their present faith. They doubted all the way to the tomb where Lazarus was buried. They even suggested, "By now he stinketh."

Then the miracle of seeing Jesus occurred. He had said, as they doubted and spoke of future resurrection, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." (John 11:25). Those words, "I am," were words only God could speak.

Jesus had said of Lazarus, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." (v. 4). He must reveal Himself to His disciples. He is not just a prophet or a good man. He is the Son of God and that is the vision . . . the miracle that they must see.

When He said, "I am the resurrection and the life," He was speaking in the present form. It was a statement about now . . . today. He was endeavoring to move them from mere information about Himself to the miracle of seeing Him. The reason most people cannot move into the supernatural is that they are waiting tomorrow for a miracle-filled walk. They have locked God off in some distant past, or a yet-to-be future.

But the moment spiritual understanding of the "I am" breaks forth in one’s life, that supernatural walk is available 24 hours a day! This is the miracle of seeing Jesus.

So much of religion today is like stuffing the Thanksgiving turkey–a lot of pleasant spices and tantalizing tastes, but very little meat.

"I am the resurrection and the life" is pure spiritual substance when locked together with a self-giving hunger and a trusting faith. Grasping this statement moves the believer from head knowledge into the realm of heart experience. As with Martha, it requires a clear desire and a desperate faith.

If only each one of us could move from believing on Him to believing in Him. What a difference it is. Our total concept of life, of faith, of life experiences will be transformed when this occurs.

His desire is for each human being to know Him as Martha came to know Him. When Martha transferred her head knowledge into heart knowledge, it got His attention. Her struggling faith gripped His heart.

"When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who were with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled–He chafed in spirit, and sighed and was disturbed." (John 11:33, Amp.).

And during those moments of grasping faith, Jesus unfolded one of the most glorious miracles recorded in the Bible.

The "I am" is a present reality, not some ethereal being. He is God in the flesh, the Emmanuel. And when He uttered His command to the dead, "Lazarus come forth," death obeyed. Bound with grave clothes, the dead brother appeared. The presence of Jesus Christ transformed a weeping household into a joyful reunion. Seeing Jesus in His glory is the first step to a lifetime of miracles.

Experiencing This Miracle
The same Jesus who commanded Lazarus to come forth from the tomb is the One who desires His followers to get a new and fresh vision of Him. If only we could see that He wants to pull back the windows of heaven for us, to enlarge our vision until we can see Him at the right hand of the Father in His glory, dressed in priestly robes, interceding for each of us.

All of us must start with small beginnings. Our spiritual perception of Jesus begins when we see Him as our Savior, our sacrifice for our sins. It’s the level of first love–a childlike excitement about Jesus and His wonderful grace.

Oh, that the entire world could see Jesus as Savior! But we should not stop there. There is more. The heart in search of the supernatural must desire to see Him as absolute Lord of all the kingdoms of One’s heart. Some call it "sanctification," others call it "the lordship of Christ," and still others may call it, "growing in grace." One’s theological term is not half as important as the hunger inside the heart. We must set our sights on Him and not let anything distract our attention.

Looking Unto Jesus the Author
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2).

The infilling of the Holy Spirit will bring a deepening of faith, a growing hunger for His Word and a fresh, new vision of Jesus. The Holy Spirit seeks not to glorify Himself, or His gifts but rather the Giver. He will speak of and show only Jesus.

"He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you." (John 16:14, Amp.).

But the miracle of seeing Jesus is marvelous; it excels beyond measure because it never needs to grow antiquated. So much of human experience is dependent on thrills and discoveries. Emotions to satisfy must become more ecstatic and bizarre. Miracles, for the sake of miracles, must be bigger or greater in number or they lose their crowd. Not so with Jesus.

He gets sweeter as we serve Him longer. His words have a fresh blessing every time we read them. I rejoice that after 49 years His name is like water from the rock (I Corinthians 10:4). Worship never needs to be drab and will not as long as it is worship directed toward Him in spirit and in truth.

Those Who Have Seen
God said, "This is my beloved Son." Jesus, of Himself, said "All power is given unto me in heaven and earth." (Matthew 28:18).

Peter revealed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16).

Pilate could not keep from admitting; "I find no fault in him." (John 19:4).

Thomas, when faced with Jesus’ supernatural marks, trembled, "My Lord and my God." (John 20:28).

Mary Magdalene called Him, "Rabonni . . . Master." (John 20:16).’

Stephen saw Him in a vision at the right hand of God and said, "I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 7:56).

Paul wrote, "God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." (Phillipians 2:9).

Jude likewise recorded, "To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power." (Jude 25).

John exclaimed, "Lord of lords and King of kings." (Revelation 17:14).

Christ is the central figure in world history. To Him everything looks forward or backward.

To see Jesus is personal and life-changing experience.

To see Jesus as our Savior, our Baptizer, our Healer, our Miracle Worker, and our Soon Coming King–this is the Father’s delight!

(Excerpted from Miracles, My Father’s Delight, Joseph R. Chambers, D.D., D.S.L., 1986. Originally published by Pathway Press, Cleveland, TN. In process of being republished by a different publisher.)

The absolute beauty of a fat soul and a shining face is hard to resist. Sinners are not moved by most so-called Christians. In fact, most Christians make sinners disgusted with any thought of becoming one themselves. Those few Godly saints that live the life and bubble with holy joy are rare jewels. Living a separated life is wonderful if the separation is to something as well as from something. There certainly is no glory in living separated from the world if you only become a critical Pharisee.

God has called His saints to be a shining city set on a hill. We are to be salt (healing) and light (direction) to those around us. They should find glorious delight in being in our presence because of the glory cloud we live under. It was the glory cloud by day and the fiery cloud by night that set Israel apart as they traveled to the Promise Land. Their enemies were terrified by this glorious overshadowing of the camp of Israel. Everything in that camp was a type of the New Testament church and the Redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. If they had His presence, then we should be overwhelmed by His glory.

The Apostle Paul spoke of this glory as changing from "glory to glory." Look at his word from the Holy Scripture. "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) This glory is explained as always becoming more glorious as we behold the Lord and follow after Him. His reflection is to be seen in us.

Jesus spoke of something similar when He declared His purpose to the Jews at the "Feast of Tabernacles" in Jerusalem. His words were, "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:37-39)

Let’s get back to those shining faces and rivers of living water. Your world will be turned upside down and the world of your acquaintances will be divinely affected. We will win souls when our faces are lit with His glory.

The Catholic writers and apologists reserve their strongest attack for Bible-believing fundamentalism. When I dare to show how farfetched the doctrines of the Catholic Church are, my mail, whether by post or by e-mail, and phone calls are vicious. I’m called terrible names for daring to show how far from the Bible the Catholic system has departed. But, listen, Bible discussion and debate is a two-way street. The Catholic leaders have no right to be angry when we disagree with them if they are going to disagree with us and publish their strong attacks.

This booklet is mainly a treatise of a book I purchased at the Catholic bookstore. It is entitled, Fundamentalism: A Pastoral Concern. Their attack of fundamentalism is premised on the most unfair arguments possible. Please note the following reasons they give for anyone being a fundamentalist Christian:

"Fundamentalism is a social problem." (Fundamentalism, A Pastoral Concern by Eugene LaVerdiere, published by The Liturgical Press, p. 12.)

In the face of "social instability, cultural transformations, demographic dislocations, and sweeping changes … a large segment of the human population is bound to suffer from enormous insecurity." (Ibid., p. 13.)

"Unable to cope with such instability, many turn to the absolute authority of a divine Word that they grasp in a fundamentalist way." (Ibid.)

"Second, we note that fundamentalism is most rampant among the poor, in depressed areas, and among those who have seen nearly every fact of life change and who find themselves struggling to find a stable footing in life." (Ibid.)

"It should not surprise us to find fundamentalists in populations of poor immigrants for whom church structures in the land to which they have immigrated are inadequate." (Ibid.)

If that is not enough to insult you beyond measure then go buy this book at your local Catholic bookstore. Some of the most intelligent, well-adjusted human beings in the world are Bible-believing fundamental Christians. To use that kind of rhetoric is insulting, degrading, and evil. This gives you a picture of what Roman Catholicism thinks about anyone that is not under their wings of control. This is the spirit that prompted the death and martyrdom of hundreds of thousands of godly saints during the unchecked reign of the Catholic Church over several hundred years.

A Catholic Description of Fundamentalists
The author of this attack against fundamentalists gives a very accurate description of what we believe and why we reject their doctrines of additions and their mystics and the mysticism they have added to the Roman Catholic Church. Look at these descriptions quoted directly from this book,

"Fundamentalism is a theological challenge. To understand the theological nature of Christian fundamentalism and to situate its challenge, it is important first to describe it theologically.

First, it should be pointed out that for fundamentalists the biblical word is seen as an absolute, as a reality in itself whose statement is clear and unchanging. It is not relative to the understanding of those who hear it in varying cultural and historical contexts. As a result, it does not require interpretation. In a sense fundamentalism is not a kind of interpretation but a denial of the need and legitimacy of interpretation. It presupposes that the word can be immediately grasped by all." (Ibid., pp. 8-9.)

"Second, the fundamentalist views the biblical word as the absolute point of departure for knowing the truth in faith. The Scriptures, however, both in their origins and in their traditional role in the Church, presuppose a life experience of God and faith. Life and faith come first. For the Israelites and the early Christians, the Scriptures formulated life and faith and inspired those who share them to grow religiously as they faced history’s challenges. The same has been true in the Church’s tradition, and this is how the Church presents the Scriptures today. For the fundamentalist, the biblical word comes first. Life and faith follow. This approach leaves little or no room for development in revelation. For fundamentalists the scriptural word does not represent a quest for understanding in which faith reaches for God and progressively opens itself to revelation." (Ibid., p. 9.)

"Third, a fundamentalist stance views the biblical word as a divine word, which it is. It also stresses the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God. In doing so, however, it practically denies the humanity of the word and has no emphasis on Jesus’ humanity. Like Jesus, the biblical word is both fully human and fully divine . . . Failure to appreciate the humanity of the divine word sometimes has terrible consequences, as we see today in some parts of the Moslem world, which also has its fundamentalists. When human beings act on a word that they judge to be purely divine, they may engage in actions which common sense and decency label as inhuman. With a lopsided view of the divinity of the word, we can easily think of ourselves as divine, and our divine word becomes an inhuman word." (Ibid., pp. 9-10.)

"Fourth, fundamentalist interpretation is often associated with an apocalyptic view of history. This is so often the case that fundamentalism and apocalyptic attitudes are almost inseparable in the mind of many. Contemporary apocalyptic attitudes find little or no hope in the created world. So permeated by evil, the world is not redeemable. It consequently focuses sharply on the cataclysmic end of the world in divine judgment." (Ibid., pp. 10-11.)

What a wonderful picture of us fundamentalist Christians. Let me respond to each of these assertions individually. If you need to, please go back and read their statements before you read my assertions. These four solid principles show how far apart Catholicism is from fundamentalism and why fundamentalism is authentic Christianity.

First: This author gave as their first problem with fundamentalists the following, "It should be pointed out that for fundamentalists the biblical word is seen as an absolute, as a reality in itself whose statement is clear and unchanging." (Ibid., p. 8.) What a marvelous statement about Bible-believing Christians! I stand accused with joy and great delight. The Bible is the final word. No one has the right to depart from Scripture or to teach one word as truth that is not totally true to the whole Word of God. John the Revelator settled this, "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19)

This forever settles that Roman Catholicism is nothing but the traditions of apostate popes, mystical nuns, and doctrines of devils. Who can prove one of these strange ideas and document that they came from the Holy Spirit’s revelations? The ideas that are about the Virgin Mary are so far from Biblical facts and completely in harmony with the Babylonian goddesses. One has but to study the doctrines of Inanna, Isis, Diana, or one of the many other goddesses that descended from Inanna to see the same systems of thought.

Second: The second problem this author gives for their understanding of fundamentalism is very closely connected to the first. Mr. LaVerdiere wrote, "The fundamentalist views the biblical word as the absolute point of departure for knowing the truth in faith." (Ibid., p. 9.) He then makes his case for the Bible being only a foundation of partial truth from which the church voices have perfect right to interpret, add to, and perfect. It’s easy to see that the one real difference between Bible-believers and the Roman Catholic Church is the question, "What is truth?" Does the Roman Catholic Church have truth or does the Bible have truth?

This cannot be a hard question. The history of the Roman Catholic Church is the best source to answer their question. There is not one strange doctrine in the Word of God. The Word of God produced a pure church for over two hundred years. They literally changed the face of the earth in a beautiful fashion. When the early church was hijacked by the Roman government and merged with Babylonian concepts, it became a vicious institution of whoredom, murder, greed, and sorrow. To say less would be an untruth. Read "Book of Martyrs" by John Foxe or "A Woman Rides the Beast" by Dave Hunt.

Third: Again, the problem is our view of the Word of God vs. Catholic doctrines. Mr. LaVerdiere said, "A fundamentalist stance views the biblical word as a divine word, which it is. It also stresses the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God. In doing so, however, it practically denies the humanity of the word and has no emphasis on Jesus’ humanity." (Ibid., p. 9.) To the Catholic mind, the Bible is reduced in the same way they see the humanity of Jesus. Jesus, according to the Catholics, had to have a co-redeemer in Mary because His humanity was less than the Bible-believers know Him to have been. To the Catholic mind, Jesus’ humanity was almost void of divinity, and they believe that even His body was actually put back piece by piece by Mary and angels that she commanded. To a Bible-believer, this is blasphemy.

That view of Mary is carried over to the Word of God. To a Catholic, the Word of God is human instead of absolute. If it is human, then it is imperfect; and the Catholic popes, priests, and nuns can interpret, perfect, add to, take away from the Word of God at their own whim. And one major problem is when a pope declares any idea as official, no other pope can later deny one word because the pope, even those that were homosexuals or had secret wives and/or children, could not be less than perfect in every word they officially declared. What a system to have to defend!

Fourth: The last problem addressed about fundamentalism also connects to the authority of Scripture. Mr. LaVerdiere stated, "Fundamentalist interpretation is often associated with an apocalyptic view of history." (Ibid., p. 10.) The problem here is our view of the End Times, such as the Rapture, the Seven Years of Tribulation, and Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ on this earth. The Catholic doctrines have preempted the kingdom away from Jesus Christ, and they have declared themselves the source of the kingdom. From the early days of the Roman Catholic Church, they developed a theology of Kingdom Now or an earthly kingdom under the powers of the Church. This same deception has carried over into much of Protestantism because Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other Protestants never completely broke with some Catholic beliefs.

Fundamentalists take every part of Scripture as being pure and absolute. The Biblical teaching of prophecy is just as absolute as every other Word of Scripture. The church is a spiritual entity, with a local and a worldwide responsibility. It is not a government over the secular governments of the world. The Catholic Church believes that they and they alone have the right to police and rule the world and have often done so to the sorrow of the people under their feet. They will do this one more time, but it will be their last. The coming One World Order will have its religious One World Religion and the powers of Rome will be at the top.

Conclusion
It’s thrilling to know that the Word of God was not and is not a human book. The Holy Ghost gave every word, and it was perfect and complete from the beginning. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." (II Timothy 3:16) "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven." (Psalm 119:89). "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (II Peter 1:21)

The one difference between fundamentalists and Catholics is the Holy Bible. Their Bible is human and can be corrected and enlarged; and it has been many, many times. Every strange doctrine of the Catholic Church is part of their human Bible that they have enlarged and even corrected. Bible-believers are committed to the absolute Word of God that is pure and perfect. No one has the right to add to or subtract from it one word. Remember, you will be judged by this Book that is forever settled in Heaven. At the judgment, if you present your earthly Bible as your argument you will be found guilty. The rest will be tears and sorrow forever.

The "Left Behind" series by Tim LaHaye is thoroughly trashed and hated by the Catholic apologist. Biblical teaching about the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, the Great Tribulation of seven years, and the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ all flies directly against the Catholic revisions of Scripture. Of course, there are some variations of teaching about the Rapture and the Millennium in our midst, and Catholic writers make much out of those differences. What they fail to do is explain the many variations of doctrine in their own camp about Scripture and major truths.

The Catholic view of both the political world and the church is that of a dictatorship rather than a democracy. They brag about their One World views and international monopoly of their contingencies, but their dictatorial and dogmatic approach has always squashed any private views or open debate. Look at any culture dominated by its hierarchy and there are limited human rights, almost non-existent private enterprise that creates great wealth, and very depressed personal freedoms. Let’s especially look at their condemnation of the Rapture and then at their doctrines of End Time prophecy.

"The Rapture Trap": A Catholic Attack
I have two books from the Catholic bookstore that attack the Rapture with a fury. Both are written by disenchanted Evangelicals who have turned Catholic. The first book is The Rapture Trap by Paul Thigpen.

Let me quote Marcus C. Grodi, another Evangelical who has turned Catholic, from his forward to Mr. Thigpen’s book. He described his background among the Evangelical world. This is the forward he wrote for The Rapture Trap.

"In the mid-seventies, an engineering student I know experienced a powerful, life-changing adult re-conversion to Christ. He was ‘born again,’ in the popular language of evangelical Protestantism, and he grew intent on loving and serving the Lord as completely as he could. Not long afterwards, a friend, anxious to share a book that had shaken his own life to the roots, passed along a copy of The Late Great Planet Earth, a book of apocalyptic speculations by the Protestant fundamentalist writer Hal Lindsey.

"Unable to put the book down, the young man, now working as a plastics engineer, read it from cover to cover. Without adequate religious training to challenge the book’s premises, and trusting in his friend’s sincerity, he accepted the book’s teaching, hook, line, and ‘rapture.’

"In time, the book’s emphasis on the notion of a ‘rapture’– and imminent ‘secret’ coming of Christ–led the young man to question his vocation: ‘If Jesus were to return tonight, would He be pleased with what I’m doing with my life? Would I be content to tell Him that I’m dedicating my life to making better plastic cups, butter tubs, and coffee decanters?’ Eventually this was one reason that the engineer decided to leave his secular career and enter the seminary instead.

"In case you haven’t guessed, I was that young man, and for several years I was caught up in the apocalyptic views expressed in books such as Hal Lindsey’s little volume and more recent ‘Left Behind’ series. During my years of study at an evangelical seminary, I was confronted with every Protestant ‘end times’ notion imaginable. Often during theology classes, or especially around the dinner table, seminarians would debate over the details, the timing, and the imminence of Christ’s return.

"Sometimes contradicting views would split us along denominational lines. (The majority of mainline Protestants actually do not believe in the secret rapture.) Too often these debates led to unchristian anger. I must even admit, shamefaced, that I once lost a close friendship because my friend and I could not see eye-to-eye about whether the timing of Christ’s second coming was preordained or whether it was dependent upon man’s free will in his efforts to reform the world.

"I encountered again these same issues constantly during my years as a Protestant minister. In every congregation I served, some member or members would challenge the longterm planning of the church because the rapture of true believers, snatching them out of the world into heaven, was to occur any minute. ‘Forget tomorrow!’ they insisted. ‘We must insure that all are ready to meet their Maker tonight!’" (The Rapture Trap, by Paul Thigpen, Ph.D. Published by Ascension Press, pp. 11-12.)

Please forgive the long quote but this helps you understand why the Catholics are promoting this book big time. It’s impossible to believe in the Pre-Tribulational Rapture and still be a Catholic. Their entire worldview makes the Rapture anathema to them. The introduction in this book is entitled, "The Truth Will Set You Free". A few quotes will give you their basic argument against the Rapture. Thigpen said, "Sadly enough, a mistaken and rather novel idea about Christ’s return, rooted in fundamentalist Protestant teaching, is making the rounds of our culture these days. It claims that Jesus is coming back, not once more, but twice. One of those times, this teaching asserts, He will come secretly to snatch away true believers from their troubles on earth. This even has been dubbed the ‘rapture’ (or ‘secret rapture’), from a Latin verb that means ‘caught up’ or ‘snatched.’

"If you are Catholic, when Jesus comes, many of the preachers of this idea insist, you had better be careful. If you have failed to renounce some of the essential beliefs the Church has taught you, too bad. You are not a true Christian. You will be left behind.

"That claim is simply not true. It is a dangerous error. And that is why this book was written. In recent days many unsuspecting Catholics have gotten caught in the ‘rapture trap.’ I want to help them get free of this unbiblical idea and the anti-Catholic theology to which it is typically shackled. I want to warn other Catholics who might be in danger of getting ensnared. And I hope to help equip Catholic pastors and teachers to dismantle the trap whenever they encounter it." (Ibid., p. 19.)

Please note in the following quote that the basic argument against the Rapture is church dogma and not the Word of God. They simply do not argue from scripture but from the dictates of previous popes. He further stated, "’The Rapture Trap’ is written primarily, then, for everyday Catholics who accept the God-given teaching authority of the Church and who have a good dose of common sense. They will find here ample grounds for rejecting the rapture teaching as misguided and alien to both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. I trust they will also discover much more in these pages: an overview of Catholic teaching on the ‘close of the age’ (Matthew 24:3; 28:20); some insights for responding to other questionable claims about the end times; and encouragement to grow spiritually strong in the rich soil of the Catholic faith." (Ibid., p. 20.)

Note that he calls the teaching of this church, "the rich soil of the Catholic faith".
Author Thigpen states, "’The Rapture Trap’ is written primarily, then, for everyday Catholics who accept the Godgiven teaching authority of the Church and who have a good dose of common sense." (Ibid.) Read this statement from his book, "All the tedious and prickly debates over the true meaning of a biblical Greek term used by St. Paul, or over the true significance of a horned beast pictured in the book of Revelation, really count for very little until this larger issue of authority is resolved, some of these minor debates may count for nothing at all." (Ibid., p. 21.)

The question is the authority of the Catholic Church to teach doctrines, above and contrary to the Bible. This author closes his introduction of this attack of the truth of Scripture by saying, "To know Christ, who is Himself ‘the Truth’ (John 14:6), we gladly turn to the teaching of ‘the Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth’ (1 Timothy 3:15). After all, it was the Holy Spirit’s preaching through the Catholic Church that first told the world about the good news of Christ’s coming. And it is the Holy Spirit’s teaching through the Catholic Church that can keep us safely in the truth about His coming again." (Ibid., p. 23.)

The author’s first chapter is an out-and-out attack on the idea of being "Left Behind." He calls it, "The puzzling popularity of an odd idea." He discusses Tim LaHaye’s "Left Behind" series as following, "Breaking new ground in the religious publishing world, this author’s vision of the end of history has created a multimillion-dollar apocalyptic industry…What exactly has Jesus to do with this startling story line? Why in the world would He want to make people disappear and throw the human race into chaos? … Once they are gone, the Devil will be free to take control of the world through his puppet, the Antichrist. Gross horrors will accompany this diabolical man’s wicked reign." (Ibid., p. 27.)

How can this author that was gloriously saved, and the evidence points to a real experience, become so totally determined to destroy some of the greatest truth in Holy Scripture. It was Jesus who said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:1-3)

With that great promise from Jesus Christ in mind, let’s listen to Thigpen’s reason to attack our glorious hope. "The rapture doctrine is dangerous in yet a third way: It is often tied to a larger, complex body of religious teachings that are explicitly anti-Catholic. As we will see in chapter seven, when fundamentalist authors such as LaHaye and Jenkins write nonfiction books to explain the theology behind their novels, they make it clear that they believe the Catholic Church is a creation of the Devil and will be a tool of the Antichrist. They go so far as to associate the Vatican with the bloodthirsty ‘whore of Babylon’ pictured in the book of Revelation, who drinks the blood of the Christian martyrs in the last days of the world (see Revelation 17:1 – 18:24)." (Ibid., p. 35.)

To add to this statement Thigpen stated, "Catholics who read the ‘Left Behind’ books or see the movie are thus at risk of being deceived into thinking that the very Church Jesus Christ founded on St. Peter and through the other Apostles is actually a counterfeit church. Drawn into reading other books or attending religious meetings that use these spiritual scare tactics, they may not be prepared with an adequate defense against such high-pressure fundamentalist propaganda." (Ibid., pp. 35-36.)

I believe we are getting the picture. The debate is not about the Bible or what Scripture teaches, but the endangering of the Catholic Church. There is no doubt for a Bible-believing person but that any doctrine that anyone teaches contrary to the plain truth of the infallible Word of God is wrong. The Catholic Church must attack and destroy any idea that confronts their established institution. They cannot create their One World Religion unless they can control the way the people think. Whenever Bible believers begin to make an impact, they always come out fighting. These books against the Rapture are wonderful evidence that truth is making an impact.

The second book that we must discuss is entitled, Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind. It is written by David B. Currie. He is also a former Bible believer who was raised to believe in the Rapture. He and Paul Thigpen have the kind of understanding of Biblical truth to make them well prepared to pick at every point. No person is more dangerous to truth than that person that knows it but turns from it. The Bible makes it plain that when Satan is defeated in someone’s life, he returns looking for an opportunity to reestablish his control. If that life returns to its former empty state, the demon returns with additional demons and the latter state of that person is worse than their former condition. These men are perfect examples.

In the preface of his book on the Rapture, which was written for the Catholic Church, Mr. Currie stated the following, "My own experience cannot help but influence this book. I was raised in a devout Protestant home, the only son of a Fundamentalist pastor. Many of the leaders of the "pre-mill, pre-trib" movement were close family friends. I attended Trinity College and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. While still a believer in a pretribulation rapture, I team-taught a college class on prophecy and preached it from many pulpits. Although I had no natural inclination toward Catholicism, I finally reconciled with the Church in my forties. The rationale behind that lifechanging decision can be found in my book, Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic." (Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind, by David B. Currie, published by Sophia Institute Press, p. XV.)

What is perfectly evident in this book as well as The Rapture Trap is that the difference is based almost totally on the skewed teachings of Catholicism. I do not know whether these personalities changed their views of the Rapture before they converted to the Catholic Church or after, but I strongly believe it was before. The loss of the literal Biblical interpretation of the End Times sets a person on a sea of change. The church denomination, where I spent over forty years, has, for the most part, left the literal and authoritative sense of Biblical interpretation and, in the process, has changed radically. There is a very strong development in that church hierarchy of a growing acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church. Recently, a leader of that denomination was invited as a guest to a celebration at the Vatican and this was reported, along with a picture, in their official publication. That would have caused a revolt twenty years ago.

Let me simply give a few quotes in the order of development from Mr. Currie’s book.

"Left Behind author Tim LaHaye wants to convince America that the rapture ‘could be any time: today, tomorrow, next week’ (CT), while protecting his flanks with the ‘rolling end of the world’ strategy. He will not compromise on the fact that we are in the final generation." (Ibid., p. 21.)

"Anything touching on Jerusalem in Israel or Babylon in Iraq strikes a raw nerve with them." (Ibid., p. 23.)

"A second problem with premillennialist has to do with their vision of the Kingdom of God. Is it spiritual or physical? The premillennialist would claim it must be a corporeal reign of Christ here on earth. Critics would counter that this completely misunderstands the message of the major prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel), not to mention the message of the entire New Testament." (Ibid., p. 47.)

"The third view, amillennialism, is the one held by the vast majority of Christians, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant. It is the only acceptable option for the Protestant who claims to stand in the tradition of Luther or Calvin and for the Catholic who seeks to remain faithful to the teaching of the Church." (Ibid., pp. 48-49.)

"While the Catholic appeals to Scripture, Tradition, and the teaching authority, or Magisterium, of the Church to guide his beliefs, rapturists claim to rely exclusively on the ostensibly clear and self-interpreting text of the Bible. So it is fair to ask whether the rapturist belief system is the best way to understand the relevant Scripture passages, considered apart from other authoritative voices. Of course, as Catholics, we would say this approach removes two legs of the three-legged stool of truth. But discounting for our purposes Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium, can the rapture theory really do justice to what the Bible teaches?" (Ibid., p. 51.)

"The Book of Daniel lays the foundation for the entire time framework of rapturist theology." (Ibid., p. 79.)

"In fact, this gap does great violence to the text, to the fundamental message of the vision – all for the purpose of protecting rapturists from the idea that the Catholic Church might have to be examined as a possible candidate for the present-day Kingdom of Heaven." (Ibid., p. 82.)

On and on this author espouses the doctrines and teachings of the church he has embraced. When you couple his support of the Mass and the literal transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the substance of His body, with the Marian message, the infallibility of the words of the pope, purgatory, etc., only demonic deception could lead souls to such depths of untruth.

After both of these books attack Bible believers because there have been so many false claims, false prophecies, and false prophets; they describe the situation in their own Catholic ranks to be equally flooded with false alarms. Listen to author Thigpen speak to this issue. "To complicate the matter even further, contemporary ‘messengers’ have sprung up and multiplied as fast as wild mushrooms, and some of them may be just as poisonous. Their messages sometimes agree with one another, sometimes not. Meanwhile, anyone who wants to stay up on the latest alleged locutions has to invest considerable time reading through the stacks of visionary emails that fly around the world daily via the Internet.

"A number of these messengers call for concrete, immediate actions from their listeners. Some insist, for example, that Catholics must procure a supply of blessed candles (a few sources even dictate that they must be beeswax candles), because only these will be capable of providing light in homes during the ‘three days of darkness.’ Others call for the creation of hidden sites of refuge, well stocked for survival, to be used soon when the great persecution of the Church arrives. Still others urge the faithful to move away from coastal areas, because the coming comet will cause tidal waves that will wipe out the populations of coastlines around the world." (The Rapture Trap, by Paul Thigpen, Ph.D. Published by Ascension Press, p. 227.)

After warning of the dangers from Catholic mystics, Thigpen states, "Even so, we certainly do not want to miss out on any extra graces our Lord may want to give us through private revelations. How much poorer we would be if our Lord had never asked St. Margaret Mary Alacoque to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart! How many souls have been drawn to God because that revelation has spurred them to make use of the more ordinary means of grace! If God has truly spoken, and His words have meaning – perhaps even urgency – for us, we are wise to want to hear and obey them." (Ibid., p. 82.)

Conclusion
The Rapture of the Saints and the Pre-Tribulation doctrines of Scripture have never been so attacked in church history. This of itself is prophetic. By Apostle Peter, the Holy Ghost said that men would say, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." "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." (II Peter 3:4, 9)

This vicious attack on the Rapture by the largest religious organization in the world, the very church with much to lose if you believe the truth, is prophetic of where we are in final history. Man cannot set the hour because the Father alone knows the time. Our joy is to watch, occupy, be busy for His Kingdom on earth, and be ready. In a moment that you think not, He may well return.

The NIV Bible is clearly possessed by a Catholic spirit and is leading a multitude of churches back to the Mother Harlot. I awoke at approximately 4:00 AM a few days ago and was gripped to document this fact. The thought startled me, but I have found the facts to back it up. This paraphrased version (NIV) of the Holy Scripture is designed to deceive and apostacize the unsuspecting. The translators admit that it is not a word translation but a thought translation. They call it "dynamic equivalence" but God calls it "adding" and "taking away" from what the Holy Ghost has delivered to men guided by His Spirit. Somebody will pay dearly at judgment.

My former denomination of 41 years has only recently moved from complete devotion to the Authorized Version (KJV) to a partial acceptance of the NIV. Their transition to the NIV is only at the early stage, but already they are beginning to play the game of the Roman Church. Here are a few quotes with a picture from the January 2001 edition of their official publication. "Just recently Bishop John H. Mambo, regional superintendent for the Church of God in Central Africa, was invited to attend the 22nd anniversary of Pope John Paul’s election as the head of the Catholic Church. ‘I count the invitation an honor not only for me but also for the Church of God,’ Bishop Mambo says." How can a previously staunch Bible believing denomination find honor in the Roman Harlot? To seek her favor is to forsake the God of Holy Scripture.

I’m convinced that there is a spirit of deception that underpins this particular bible. If you follow the sign’s evidence, it leads back to the influence of the people involved and forward to the conduct being manifested in the evangelical world. Something is wrong. No, everyone involved is not bad and deceiving. They are just as sincere as those of us who disagree with them, but that does not eliminate the problem.

The Background of the NIV
No translation of the Bible can be better than the manuscript from which it is translated. Ninety-nine (99) percent of all the known manuscripts and other documenting materials support and agree with the Textus Receptus stream. This stream of manuscript is sometimes called "The Received Text" or the "Byzantine Text." These text types have been preserved through the centuries and accepted by the true believers all the way back as far as can be documented until the last 100 plus years. Dean Burgeon, an English scholar, documented thousands of quotes, statements, and sermons from the early church fathers that proves beyond question that the Textus Receptus is the pure stream of "Truth."

A modern scholar, Randall Price, has reviewed the Dead Sea Scrolls and written an excellent book on the text and facts of this marvelous discovery. While Randall is not a KJV enthusiast, he personally stated to me that these scrolls support the Old Testament Masoretic text as translated in the King James Version 80% of the time. When you study the nature of these Jewish descendants and their lifestyle, an 80% agreement with the Masoretic text cannot be less than a miracle. No wonder there has been loud voices claiming that the Catholic church sit on this discovery for over forty (40) years.

What most students of Scripture do not know is that the Old Testament Masoretic Text in the new Bibles is not the Masoretic of the King James Version. Here is a clear quotation from an excellent book by Dr. D.A. Waite, graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. "Here’s some background on it. The Daniel Bomberg edition, 1516- 1517, was called the First Rabbinic Bible. Then in 1524-25, Bomberg published a second edition edited by Abraham Ben Chayyim (or Ben Hayyim) iben Adonijah. This is called the Ben Chayyim edition of the Hebrew text. Daniel Bomberg’s edition, on which the KING JAMES BIBLE is based was the Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text. This was called the Second Great Rabbinic Bible. This became the standard Masoretic text for the next 400 years. This is the text that underlies the KING JAMES BIBLE. For four hundred years, that was the Old Testament Hebrew text. Nobody translated the Old Testament except by using this text. [This is from Biblical Criticism Historical, Literal, Textual by Harrison, Walkie and Guthrie, 1978, pages 47-82.] (Defending The King James Bible, Rev. D.A. Waite, p. 27.)

The new Masoretic is then described according to Dr. Waite as the following, "The edition we used when I was a student of Dr. Merrill F. Unger at Dallas Theological Seminary (1948-53), was the 1937 edition of the Biblia Hebraica by Kittel. All of a sudden in 1937, Kittel changed his Hebrew edition and followed what they called the Ben Asher Masoretic Text instead of the Ben Chayyim. They followed in that text, the Leningrad Manuscript, (B19a, or "L.") The date on it was A.D. 1008. This was not the traditional Masoretic Text that was used for 400 years and was the basis of the KING JAMES BIBLE. They changed it and used this Leningrad Manuscript. So even the main text used by the NKJV, NASV, and NIV in the Hebrew is different from that used for the King James Bible. In addition to the various changes in the Hebrew text at the top of the page, the footnotes in Kittel’s BIBLIA HEBRAIC suggest from 20,000 to 30,000 changes throughout the whole Old Testament." (Ibid., p. 27.)

Must I say more to show you what is happening behind the scenes that most good and studious people have very little opportunity to learn? That is, unless they study beyond the average book available on the bookstore shelves.

No one has hated and opposed the King James Bible and other similar versions of the Bible, as has the Roman Catholic Church. When you read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, research the many thousands of men and women burned at stakes or savagely tormented and murdered by Catholic priests just because they were devoted to translating, printing, or reading the Holy Bible in the common language, you cannot just walk away. Now couple what is happening today with the history (beyond argument) of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Greek Text Behind the NIV Bible
Here is a plain statement from the NIV translators themselves. They said, "What Greek text was used by the translators of the NIV New Testament. It was basically that found in the United Bible Society’s and Nestle’s printed Greek New Testaments, which contain the latest and best Greek text available.

"In many passages there is no way of being absolutely certain as to what was the original reading because the best Greek manuscripts, both earlier and later ones, have variant readings. In such cases the translators were asked to weigh the evidence carefully and make their own decision. Of course such decisions were subject to reexamination by the Committee on Bible Translation." (The NIV: The Making of a Contemporary Translation, Kenneth L. Barker, p. 53.) Please note that they stated that the "United Bible Society" and "Nestle’s" Greek New Testaments were their primary sources.

Before we look at these two "Greek New Testaments" and their modern translators, let’s look back to the source for these Greek translations. The same book above also documents the manuscripts these translators used for their modern Greek translation. Let’s let them speak for themselves. "Soon after the middle of the nineteenth century (1859), N. Tischendorf discovered in the monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai a fourth-century uncial manuscript of the entire New Testament, together with much of the Old Testament in Greek translation. From its place of discovery, it is called Codex Sinaiticus. ("Codex" means a bound book, in distinction from a scroll.) Soon after that he pressured authorities into making another fourth-century manuscript available to scholars. It is called Codex Vaticanus, because it is held in the Vatican Library at Rome. Codex Sinaiticus is now in the British Museum. (Ibid., p. 55.)

It is absolutely clear that two main manuscripts, both from Roman Catholic sources, are the heart and soul of these translations of the Greek New Testament. They stated, "we should be grateful to God for making these early manuscripts available to us." I say, why not "thank the Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest" for making them available. God knew where they were all of the hundreds of years that this Harlot church was using them for their false doctrines.

Everyone should read the story of two men, Westcott and Hort, that are credited with bringing these false manuscripts into the stream of the modern Bible text. These men were lovers of Rome and Mary and were notedly involved in occultic activities.

Now, let’s look at the modern translators, both for the United Bible Society and Nestle’s New Testament Greek. There were five men named as the committee for the editing of the second and third editions of the United Bible Society text. Here are the names, as listed in the front of The Greek New Testament, Third Edition, "Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren." Listen as they describe the activity of these five men in the preface. "The Third Edition, however, contains a more thorough revision of the Greek text. In a series of meetings the Committee, including Carlo M. Martini, who has been a member of the Committee for both the Second and Third Editions undertook a thorough review of the text of the First Edition by carefully considering not only a number of suggestions made by specialists in the hold of New Testament studies, but also numerous recommendations resulting from the experience of the members of the Committee as they worked with the text of the First Edition. The greater part of these suggestions for further modification came from Kurt Aland, who had been making a detailed analysis of changes proposed for the 26th edition of the Nestle Aland text. A number of these were textual alterations that had not been previously discussed by the Committee in their work on the First Edition. As a result of the Committee’s discussions, more than five hundred changes have been introduced into this Third Edition.

The Committee, sponsored by the United Bible Societies, has thus been able to establish a single text for the Third Edition Greek New Testament and for the 26th edition of the Nestle Aland Text. (Notes on The Greek New Testament, viii.)
Please note the way Carlo M. Martini is emphasized in the preface quote above. He continued on to the last and fourth edition and is apparently still one of the five persons responsible for the on-going changes in both the United Bible Society and Nestle Greek New Testament. This is incredible information explaining why the NIV is such a strong change-agent toward Catholicism. This man is not just a Catholic, he is a Jesuit Priest and a leading teacher of New Age ideas. Let’s investigate some of his ideas of Biblical truth.

Jesuit Priest, Carlo M. Martini
This man is a noted New Ager teaching the Cosmic Christ and his universal presence in all religions. The born again experience has always been anathema to the Catholic Church. Knowing Jesus Christ to them is a process, a journey that has now evolved to include all religions though they are considered inferior and subject to the Roman Harlot. Listen to this statement by Martini. "The risen Jesus is present to each one, as though the individual loved person were the only object of his love. The risen Christ is the love of God revealed in our hearts by the Spirit, in the heart of each and of all and in each of all. Jesus does not individualize this "each"; he gives himself to the church, the world, the angels, and the universe. Jesus exists for all. But he is for all in such a way that he is for each one, thus making each one become a part of the whole. Such is the power of the resurrection of the "abbreviated" Word, which has made itself small. Whoever accepts the scandal of the Word-become-small will share in the glory of the universality of the cosmic Word which embraces and synthesizes everything, in which all things find their order and fullness, in which everything is resumed and established. (Through Moses To Jesus, Carlo M. Martini, SJ, page 121.)

What a revelation of heresy. Note such statements as "the cosmic Word," the "Word-become-small," and the "abbreviated Word." No wonder the NIV has eliminated the word "Lord" 76 times, "God" 45 times, "blood" 23 times, "miracles" 21 times. The title "Master" was changed to "teacher" 43 times. The "Word-become-small" fits his theology perfectly.

He speaks of the "scandal of Jesus" when speaking of His earthly sojourn. Here are his words describing Jesus as possessing the universe and all human will, "Along the way of the scandal of Jesus’ particularization until the funereal opacity of the cross, the glory of God totally fills every being. The more I think about it, the more truly grandiose and almost incredible this truth seems to me – that God fills every being with himself. He gives himself, not merely a little but in full. This divine fullness transforms into a divinized totality the entire universe of the human will, which the Son has won for the Father. Though it is true that here we do not yet have the ‘all in all’ that is the final perfection which we are to attain, nevertheless by lovingly contemplating God in all of us, we already obtain a glimpse of how the fullness of God is gradually actuating the ‘all in all,’ according to the measure in which each one is able to accept such a vision." (Ibid., p. 122.)

This is the exact message of the New Agers and is slowly becoming the message of the evangelical world. Ask any minister that has had a few years in the NIV and you will usually find an accommodating attitude toward other religions. The theology they would probably deny, but the acceptance of a broader way to salvation has become almost universal in the church world.

In another book by Martini, he speaks of "deification" (all becoming divine) as embracing the pagans of the world. Here are his exact words, "The deification which is the aim of all religious life takes place. During a recent trip to India I was struck by the yearning for the divine that pervades the whole of Hindu culture. It gives rise to extraordinary religious forms and extremely meaningful prayers. I wondered: What is authentic in this longing to fuse with the divine dominating the spirituality of hundreds of millions of human beings, so that they bear hardship, privation, exhausting pilgrimages, in search of this ecstasy? (In The Thick Of His Ministry, Carlo M. Martini, p. 42.)

Such a statement coming from the man who is being projected as the next Pope of the Roman Catholic Church has far-reaching consequences. Are Hindus actually on a quest that will end ultimately in their becoming divine? They believe so and the new religious evolution is now accepting the same.

Mr. Martini continues to teach this deification but proceeds to show the "Diabolical Mass" as a process. He stated. "The ministry of reconciliation goes on throughout our lives, but especially at two moments.

The first in intercession, that is in the Eucharist. We take on this ministry when we offer Christ’s body and blood and show it to the people. This is the chief moment in which we are ministers of reconciliation. ‘This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.’ If only people could understand the extraordinariness of this action and these words! We often lament the sins of the world, the newspapers full of crimes, atrocities and vulgarity.

But then we say:

‘This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ And we are certain that this world sunk in sin can be restored. When in the offering and intercession of the Eucharist we pray with the Church that the Lord remove from his holy people all evil, discord and hostility, we are ministers of reconciliation." (Ibid., p. 58.)

Does the presence of a Jesuit Priest, a New Age, and heretic on the translation and editing of your Bible make any difference? Do we believe that this man, possibly in line to be the next "Pope and Vicar of Jesus Christ" for the world’s largest cult, would waste his time on that committee unless he was making a difference? Now you are beginning to understand why the Evangelicals are talking of working together with the Catholic Church. It has been happening subtly for many years while the church world was spared the facts until the influence could be guaranteed.

What will be the attitude of these committee members for the Greek New Testament and the translators for the NIV, should their working friend Martini soon become the Pope? The present Pope said in his book, Sources of Renewal published by Harper and Row, "little by little…all will be gathered together into the unity of the one and only church." (Sources of Renewal, P. 328)

The NIV and Catholic Doctrines
There are very important changes in the NIV that clearly lean toward dogmas highly esteemed in Catholicism. These changes are very important and clearly help in either establishing or leaning toward the developing merger between Evangelicals and Catholics. Let’s list just a few of these text changes. We will list scripture changes after naming the Catholic doctrine.

Transubstantiation - The mass teaches that the communion bread and cup is actually transformed into the flesh and blood of the Son of God. Not the subtle change.

KJV: "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." (John 6:55).

NIV: "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (John 6:55).

Confessing Your Sins to a Priest - We believe we can confess our faults to one another and forgive each other but only God is to receive your confession of sin.

KJV: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16).

NIV: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16).

The Saying of "Hail Mary" - To use this vain repetition is rejected by Bible believers. The NIV changes the words "vain repetition" to babbling.

KJV: "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." (Matthew 6:7).

NIV: "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6:7).

Mary was Immaculate and Childless Except the Virgin Birth of Jesus - We believe Jesus was the firstborn to Mary with brothers and sisters.

KJV: "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." (Matthew 1:25).

NIV: "But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." (Matthew 1:25).

Mary is the Co-Redemptress - The Bible clearly states there are only three that bear record in Heaven.

KJV: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." (1 John 5:7).

NIV: Removed to make way for Mary.

Mary was equal with Christ - We believe that only Mary needed purification.

KJV: "And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;" (Luke 2:22).

NIV: "When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord." (Luke 2:22).

The NIV Bible is clearly a Catholic version designed to harmonize the doctrines of Scripture with heretical doctrines of the Roman Harlot. Unless we quit trying to be so civil with the enemies of the gospel, the gospel itself is going to be lost to a multitude of sincere souls. Many additional changes can clearly show this bent toward the Catholic Church.

Conclusion
The Catholic writers are extolling the fact that Evangelical leaders are willing to work together in the translation of Scripture. One writer said: "Catholics should work together with Protestants in the fundamental task of biblical translation…[They can] work very well together and have the same approach and interpretation…[This] signals a new age in the church.." (Patrick Henry, New Directions in New Testament Study (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1979), pp. 232-234.)

The Papel evangelical "Divine afflante Spiritu" in 1943 called for an ecumenical Bible. "[T]hese translations [should] be produced in cooperation with separated brothers." (New American Bible [New York: The World Publishing Co., 1970], p. vii.)

Without a doubt the present NIV and other versions are well on the way toward a "One World Bible" for a "One World Church." It will certainly continue on a downward spiral. The NIV’s recent talk over their "inclusive edition" is a good sign of where they are headed.

The Catholic Church will infiltrate every possible ministry and undermine the truth wherever they find an open door. Those that compromise will certainly face the William Tyndale’s that willingly died at the stake for copying the Holy Scripture. He and the great heroes of the Reformation plus those of us that fight the good fight will be rewarded for our love of a pure Bible untainted by Rome.

The new abandonment to error within Charismatics circles is the pagan idea of the Eucharist. The reformation and resulting revival for the last 400 years plus was born out of sacrifice and death to thousands of saints. The Catholic Church slaughtered a multitude because they refused to eat a wafer that the priest claimed had been transformed into the body of Jesus. You cannot call the idea of the Eucharist anything but bloody paganism.

Charisma Magazine just published an article entitled, "Where Is The Bread Of His Presence?" It is a slickly designed article to deceive the gullible. Within this article was a side note with a testimony of the miracle bread that they were apparently promoting. Here are a few quotes from the testimony.

"At the Rock Church in Baltimore, where revival erupted in January, 1997, Pastor Bart Pierce sensed God directing him one morning to bring a loaf of bread for the evening service. Members routinely bring food to help feed the poor, so Pierce thought this was just a reminder to bring bread for the outreach."

"When I walked out to preach on that topic, and I saw the loaf of bread, I told Bart, ‘I believe God is up to something,’ Tenney says."

"Tenney and Pierce tore the loaf into small pieces and gave them to church members to take home. During the next week some reported that friends and family members were healed, or that unsaved children and husbands came back to the Lord."

"Unusual stories began to circulate. A man from Japan ate a piece of the bread and was healed, Tenney says. And in Virginia, an Episcopal priest used some of the bread for the Eucharist, and about 70 people in his church ‘fell out under the power of God,’ Tenney says."

"Today, Rock Church bakes four to eight loaves every Monday and Tuesday for the revival services. As people take them, Tenney says the miracles continue." (Charisma Magazine, "Hungry For The Living Bread," by Adrienne S. Gaines, February 1999.)

The idea that a loaf of bread has replaced the Word of God in feeding hungry souls shows the depth of deception invading the church world. Those same people are saying that God is bigger than His Word or that you cannot put God in a box (limited by His Word). It’s amazing how Catholic this entire idea sounds. You cannot miss the preparation of this idea for the mindless descent into the Catholic Mass.

The NIV Bible is clearly possessed by a Catholic spirit and is leading a multitude of churches back to the Mother Harlot. I awoke at approximately 4:00 AM a few days ago and was gripped to document this fact. The thought startled me, but I have found the facts to back it up. This paraphrased version (NIV) of the Holy Scripture is designed to deceive and apostacize the unsuspecting. The translators admit that it is not a word translation but a thought translation. They call it "dynamic equivalence" but God calls it "adding" and "taking away" from what the Holy Ghost has delivered to men guided by His Spirit. Somebody will pay dearly at judgment.

My former denomination of 41 years has only recently moved from complete devotion to the Authorized Version (KJV) to a partial acceptance of the NIV. Their transition to the NIV is only at the early stage, but already they are beginning to play the game of the Roman Church. Here are a few quotes with a picture from the January 2001 edition of their official publication. "Just recently Bishop John H. Mambo, regional superintendent for the Church of God in Central Africa, was invited to attend the 22nd anniversary of Pope John Paul’s election as the head of the Catholic Church. ‘I count the invitation an honor not only for me but also for the Church of God,’ Bishop Mambo says." How can a previously staunch Bible believing denomination find honor in the Roman Harlot? To seek her favor is to forsake the God of Holy Scripture.

I’m convinced that there is a spirit of deception that underpins this particular bible. If you follow the sign’s evidence, it leads back to the influence of the people involved and forward to the conduct being manifested in the evangelical world. Something is wrong. No, everyone involved is not bad and deceiving. They are just as sincere as those of us who disagree with them, but that does not eliminate the problem.

The Background of the NIV
No translation of the Bible can be better than the manuscript from which it is translated. Ninety-nine (99) percent of all the known manuscripts and other documenting materials support and agree with the Textus Receptus stream. This stream of manuscript is sometimes called "The Received Text" or the "Byzantine Text." These text types have been preserved through the centuries and accepted by the true believers all the way back as far as can be documented until the last 100 plus years. Dean Burgeon, an English scholar, documented thousands of quotes, statements, and sermons from the early church fathers that proves beyond question that the Textus Receptus is the pure stream of "Truth."

A modern scholar, Randall Price, has reviewed the Dead Sea Scrolls and written an excellent book on the text and facts of this marvelous discovery. While Randall is not a KJV enthusiast, he personally stated to me that these scrolls support the Old Testament Masoretic text as translated in the King James Version 80% of the time. When you study the nature of these Jewish descendants and their lifestyle, an 80% agreement with the Masoretic text cannot be less than a miracle. No wonder there has been loud voices claiming that the Catholic church sit on this discovery for over forty (40) years.

What most students of Scripture do not know is that the Old Testament Masoretic Text in the new Bibles is not the Masoretic of the King James Version. Here is a clear quotation from an excellent book by Dr. D.A. Waite, graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. "Here’s some background on it. The Daniel Bomberg edition, 1516- 1517, was called the First Rabbinic Bible. Then in 1524-25, Bomberg published a second edition edited by Abraham Ben Chayyim (or Ben Hayyim) iben Adonijah. This is called the Ben Chayyim edition of the Hebrew text. Daniel Bomberg’s edition, on which the KING JAMES BIBLE is based was the Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text. This was called the Second Great Rabbinic Bible. This became the standard Masoretic text for the next 400 years. This is the text that underlies the KING JAMES BIBLE. For four hundred years, that was the Old Testament Hebrew text. Nobody translated the Old Testament except by using this text. [This is from Biblical Criticism Historical, Literal, Textual by Harrison, Walkie and Guthrie, 1978, pages 47-82.] (Defending The King James Bible, Rev. D.A. Waite, p. 27.)

The new Masoretic is then described according to Dr. Waite as the following, "The edition we used when I was a student of Dr. Merrill F. Unger at Dallas Theological Seminary (1948-53), was the 1937 edition of the Biblia Hebraica by Kittel. All of a sudden in 1937, Kittel changed his Hebrew edition and followed what they called the Ben Asher Masoretic Text instead of the Ben Chayyim. They followed in that text, the Leningrad Manuscript, (B19a, or "L.") The date on it was A.D. 1008. This was not the traditional Masoretic Text that was used for 400 years and was the basis of the KING JAMES BIBLE. They changed it and used this Leningrad Manuscript. So even the main text used by the NKJV, NASV, and NIV in the Hebrew is different from that used for the King James Bible. In addition to the various changes in the Hebrew text at the top of the page, the footnotes in Kittel’s BIBLIA HEBRAIC suggest from 20,000 to 30,000 changes throughout the whole Old Testament." (Ibid., p. 27.)

Must I say more to show you what is happening behind the scenes that most good and studious people have very little opportunity to learn? That is, unless they study beyond the average book available on the bookstore shelves.

No one has hated and opposed the King James Bible and other similar versions of the Bible, as has the Roman Catholic Church. When you read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, research the many thousands of men and women burned at stakes or savagely tormented and murdered by Catholic priests just because they were devoted to translating, printing, or reading the Holy Bible in the common language, you cannot just walk away. Now couple what is happening today with the history (beyond argument) of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Greek Text Behind the NIV Bible
Here is a plain statement from the NIV translators themselves. They said, "What Greek text was used by the translators of the NIV New Testament. It was basically that found in the United Bible Society’s and Nestle’s printed Greek New Testaments, which contain the latest and best Greek text available.

"In many passages there is no way of being absolutely certain as to what was the original reading because the best Greek manuscripts, both earlier and later ones, have variant readings. In such cases the translators were asked to weigh the evidence carefully and make their own decision. Of course such decisions were subject to reexamination by the Committee on Bible Translation." (The NIV: The Making of a Contemporary Translation, Kenneth L. Barker, p. 53.) Please note that they stated that the "United Bible Society" and "Nestle’s" Greek New Testaments were their primary sources.

Before we look at these two "Greek New Testaments" and their modern translators, let’s look back to the source for these Greek translations. The same book above also documents the manuscripts these translators used for their modern Greek translation. Let’s let them speak for themselves. "Soon after the middle of the nineteenth century (1859), N. Tischendorf discovered in the monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai a fourth-century uncial manuscript of the entire New Testament, together with much of the Old Testament in Greek translation. From its place of discovery, it is called Codex Sinaiticus. ("Codex" means a bound book, in distinction from a scroll.) Soon after that he pressured authorities into making another fourth-century manuscript available to scholars. It is called Codex Vaticanus, because it is held in the Vatican Library at Rome. Codex Sinaiticus is now in the British Museum. (Ibid., p. 55.)

It is absolutely clear that two main manuscripts, both from Roman Catholic sources, are the heart and soul of these translations of the Greek New Testament. They stated, "we should be grateful to God for making these early manuscripts available to us." I say, why not "thank the Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest" for making them available. God knew where they were all of the hundreds of years that this Harlot church was using them for their false doctrines.

Everyone should read the story of two men, Westcott and Hort, that are credited with bringing these false manuscripts into the stream of the modern Bible text. These men were lovers of Rome and Mary and were notedly involved in occultic activities.

Now, let’s look at the modern translators, both for the United Bible Society and Nestle’s New Testament Greek. There were five men named as the committee for the editing of the second and third editions of the United Bible Society text. Here are the names, as listed in the front of The Greek New Testament, Third Edition, "Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren." Listen as they describe the activity of these five men in the preface. "The Third Edition, however, contains a more thorough revision of the Greek text. In a series of meetings the Committee, including Carlo M. Martini, who has been a member of the Committee for both the Second and Third Editions undertook a thorough review of the text of the First Edition by carefully considering not only a number of suggestions made by specialists in the hold of New Testament studies, but also numerous recommendations resulting from the experience of the members of the Committee as they worked with the text of the First Edition. The greater part of these suggestions for further modification came from Kurt Aland, who had been making a detailed analysis of changes proposed for the 26th edition of the Nestle Aland text. A number of these were textual alterations that had not been previously discussed by the Committee in their work on the First Edition. As a result of the Committee’s discussions, more than five hundred changes have been introduced into this Third Edition.

The Committee, sponsored by the United Bible Societies, has thus been able to establish a single text for the Third Edition Greek New Testament and for the 26th edition of the Nestle Aland Text. (Notes on The Greek New Testament, viii.)
Please note the way Carlo M. Martini is emphasized in the preface quote above. He continued on to the last and fourth edition and is apparently still one of the five persons responsible for the on-going changes in both the United Bible Society and Nestle Greek New Testament. This is incredible information explaining why the NIV is such a strong change-agent toward Catholicism. This man is not just a Catholic, he is a Jesuit Priest and a leading teacher of New Age ideas. Let’s investigate some of his ideas of Biblical truth.

Jesuit Priest, Carlo M. Martini
This man is a noted New Ager teaching the Cosmic Christ and his universal presence in all religions. The born again experience has always been anathema to the Catholic Church. Knowing Jesus Christ to them is a process, a journey that has now evolved to include all religions though they are considered inferior and subject to the Roman Harlot. Listen to this statement by Martini. "The risen Jesus is present to each one, as though the individual loved person were the only object of his love. The risen Christ is the love of God revealed in our hearts by the Spirit, in the heart of each and of all and in each of all. Jesus does not individualize this "each"; he gives himself to the church, the world, the angels, and the universe. Jesus exists for all. But he is for all in such a way that he is for each one, thus making each one become a part of the whole. Such is the power of the resurrection of the "abbreviated" Word, which has made itself small. Whoever accepts the scandal of the Word-become-small will share in the glory of the universality of the cosmic Word which embraces and synthesizes everything, in which all things find their order and fullness, in which everything is resumed and established. (Through Moses To Jesus, Carlo M. Martini, SJ, page 121.)

What a revelation of heresy. Note such statements as "the cosmic Word," the "Word-become-small," and the "abbreviated Word." No wonder the NIV has eliminated the word "Lord" 76 times, "God" 45 times, "blood" 23 times, "miracles" 21 times. The title "Master" was changed to "teacher" 43 times. The "Word-become-small" fits his theology perfectly.

He speaks of the "scandal of Jesus" when speaking of His earthly sojourn. Here are his words describing Jesus as possessing the universe and all human will, "Along the way of the scandal of Jesus’ particularization until the funereal opacity of the cross, the glory of God totally fills every being. The more I think about it, the more truly grandiose and almost incredible this truth seems to me – that God fills every being with himself. He gives himself, not merely a little but in full. This divine fullness transforms into a divinized totality the entire universe of the human will, which the Son has won for the Father. Though it is true that here we do not yet have the ‘all in all’ that is the final perfection which we are to attain, nevertheless by lovingly contemplating God in all of us, we already obtain a glimpse of how the fullness of God is gradually actuating the ‘all in all,’ according to the measure in which each one is able to accept such a vision." (Ibid., p. 122.)

This is the exact message of the New Agers and is slowly becoming the message of the evangelical world. Ask any minister that has had a few years in the NIV and you will usually find an accommodating attitude toward other religions. The theology they would probably deny, but the acceptance of a broader way to salvation has become almost universal in the church world.

In another book by Martini, he speaks of "deification" (all becoming divine) as embracing the pagans of the world. Here are his exact words, "The deification which is the aim of all religious life takes place. During a recent trip to India I was struck by the yearning for the divine that pervades the whole of Hindu culture. It gives rise to extraordinary religious forms and extremely meaningful prayers. I wondered: What is authentic in this longing to fuse with the divine dominating the spirituality of hundreds of millions of human beings, so that they bear hardship, privation, exhausting pilgrimages, in search of this ecstasy? (In The Thick Of His Ministry, Carlo M. Martini, p. 42.)

Such a statement coming from the man who is being projected as the next Pope of the Roman Catholic Church has far-reaching consequences. Are Hindus actually on a quest that will end ultimately in their becoming divine? They believe so and the new religious evolution is now accepting the same.

Mr. Martini continues to teach this deification but proceeds to show the "Diabolical Mass" as a process. He stated. "The ministry of reconciliation goes on throughout our lives, but especially at two moments.

The first in intercession, that is in the Eucharist. We take on this ministry when we offer Christ’s body and blood and show it to the people. This is the chief moment in which we are ministers of reconciliation. ‘This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.’ If only people could understand the extraordinariness of this action and these words! We often lament the sins of the world, the newspapers full of crimes, atrocities and vulgarity.

But then we say:

‘This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ And we are certain that this world sunk in sin can be restored. When in the offering and intercession of the Eucharist we pray with the Church that the Lord remove from his holy people all evil, discord and hostility, we are ministers of reconciliation." (Ibid., p. 58.)

Does the presence of a Jesuit Priest, a New Age, and heretic on the translation and editing of your Bible make any difference? Do we believe that this man, possibly in line to be the next "Pope and Vicar of Jesus Christ" for the world’s largest cult, would waste his time on that committee unless he was making a difference? Now you are beginning to understand why the Evangelicals are talking of working together with the Catholic Church. It has been happening subtly for many years while the church world was spared the facts until the influence could be guaranteed.

What will be the attitude of these committee members for the Greek New Testament and the translators for the NIV, should their working friend Martini soon become the Pope? The present Pope said in his book, Sources of Renewal published by Harper and Row, "little by little…all will be gathered together into the unity of the one and only church." (Sources of Renewal, P. 328)

The NIV and Catholic Doctrines
There are very important changes in the NIV that clearly lean toward dogmas highly esteemed in Catholicism. These changes are very important and clearly help in either establishing or leaning toward the developing merger between Evangelicals and Catholics. Let’s list just a few of these text changes. We will list scripture changes after naming the Catholic doctrine.

Transubstantiation - The mass teaches that the communion bread and cup is actually transformed into the flesh and blood of the Son of God. Not the subtle change.

KJV: "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." (John 6:55).

NIV: "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (John 6:55).

Confessing Your Sins to a Priest - We believe we can confess our faults to one another and forgive each other but only God is to receive your confession of sin.

KJV: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16).

NIV: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16).

The Saying of "Hail Mary" - To use this vain repetition is rejected by Bible believers. The NIV changes the words "vain repetition" to babbling.

KJV: "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." (Matthew 6:7).

NIV: "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6:7).

Mary was Immaculate and Childless Except the Virgin Birth of Jesus - We believe Jesus was the firstborn to Mary with brothers and sisters.

KJV: "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." (Matthew 1:25).

NIV: "But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." (Matthew 1:25).

Mary is the Co-Redemptress - The Bible clearly states there are only three that bear record in Heaven.

KJV: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." (1 John 5:7).

NIV: Removed to make way for Mary.

Mary was equal with Christ - We believe that only Mary needed purification.

KJV: "And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;" (Luke 2:22).

NIV: "When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord." (Luke 2:22).

The NIV Bible is clearly a Catholic version designed to harmonize the doctrines of Scripture with heretical doctrines of the Roman Harlot. Unless we quit trying to be so civil with the enemies of the gospel, the gospel itself is going to be lost to a multitude of sincere souls. Many additional changes can clearly show this bent toward the Catholic Church.

Conclusion
The Catholic writers are extolling the fact that Evangelical leaders are willing to work together in the translation of Scripture. One writer said: "Catholics should work together with Protestants in the fundamental task of biblical translation…[They can] work very well together and have the same approach and interpretation…[This] signals a new age in the church.." (Patrick Henry, New Directions in New Testament Study (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1979), pp. 232-234.)

The Papel evangelical "Divine afflante Spiritu" in 1943 called for an ecumenical Bible. "[T]hese translations [should] be produced in cooperation with separated brothers." (New American Bible [New York: The World Publishing Co., 1970], p. vii.)

Without a doubt the present NIV and other versions are well on the way toward a "One World Bible" for a "One World Church." It will certainly continue on a downward spiral. The NIV’s recent talk over their "inclusive edition" is a good sign of where they are headed.

The Catholic Church will infiltrate every possible ministry and undermine the truth wherever they find an open door. Those that compromise will certainly face the William Tyndale’s that willingly died at the stake for copying the Holy Scripture. He and the great heroes of the Reformation plus those of us that fight the good fight will be rewarded for our love of a pure Bible untainted by Rome.