Heresy — Training for the tribulation
 For
those of us who enjoy history, military programs and
current events there are certain television channels
that cater to our desires with some very good programming.
While Valerie, my wife, can soak up HGTV and The Food
Channel for hours without even blinking, I simply can’t
handle it. I am convinced that if that stuff could be
bottled it would put the most powerful sleep-aid pill
company out of business inside a week. What about sit-coms
and reality shows? Not hardly. No sit-com, reality show
or other such genre of programming has been seen on
our TV for too many years to count. If John Wayne isn’t
taking out some bad guy, if the tactical brilliance
of Washington, Lee, Pershing, Patton or MacArthur is
not being analyzed, or if Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey
is not driving up in his genuine military jeep for a
show (I’d rather own a military jeep than a brand
new Lexus or Hummer any day hands down) then chances
are I am not very interested.
But, there is a problem with some of
the programs that feature history and current events.
To put it plainly some of what we are seeing is subtle
revisionism along with not-so-subtle lies. In fact,
what is being offered for consumption is a string of
connected programs whose purpose seems to be to impugn
the character of God, call into question the integrity
of the Bible and flat-out challenge and deny the truths
we have believed for millennia. Consider several examples.
The Da Vinci Code — the book
and the movie. The heresy presented in both is getting
major coverage on TV. It appears they are being analyzed
on certain programs in such a way as to enhance the
credibility of the proponents and discredit the critics.
Presently the book has sold tens of millions of copies
and the soon-to-to-released movie will probably make
Dan Brown obscenely wealthy all over again. Brown is
an excellent writer, but there is an agenda presented
in his story, and it seems this agenda is seen at the
very start on the Fact Page. However, what Brown says
is fact actually is not.
He says many things that are erroneous,
but the thrust is that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene
and they had a daughter whose descendants live in Europe.
The errors are numerous and the theme is absolute heresy.
Unfortunately, most people (and sadly, some Christians)
will not recognize this. And that makes it dangerous.
For those who have no faith, this could be the barrier
that will insure they will never even consider the truth
in the future. For those whose faith is shaky to begin
with, this could be the final blast that will wreck
their belief system.
Lately we have been presented with
the Gospel of Judas (the good news of Judas;
now, that is an oxymoron for you!). As a group such
writings are commonly referred to as the Gnostic Gospels.
Gnosticism, an early enemy of the gospel, focused on
man’s search for higher knowledge. This knowledge
was not to be found in Christianity, but in the quest
for something greater than the gospel. All physical
matter was considered to be evil and only the spirit
was good. When a person finally arrived at this level
of higher understanding he then experienced salvation.
Since Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh, Gnostics
taught He was a liar because nothing in the flesh could
be good. Some early Christians got caught up in all
this nonsense, became captivated, enthralled by the
mystery of it all and threw their faith in Jesus overboard.
These heretical writings are nothing
new. They were not “just” discovered as
some TV programs would lead us to believe. In fact,
John wrote against such lies in his first epistle. Note
1 John 1:1-4; 2:23; 5:10, etc. John even warned his
readers about giving credibility to every philosophy
they encountered (4:1-6). These writing were rejected
by the early church because they were easily recognized
as being uninspired and absolutely incompatible with
what they knew, without doubt, to be the inspired scriptures
that make up the canon of the Bible. They offer nothing
of any spiritual value for the soul. Most were not even
written by the people whose names they carry. In short,
they were recognized by the early church fathers as
being worthless. Today, however, they are being heralded
as “newly discovered documents” with information
revealing a conspiracy to deny women their equality,
cover up the “truth” about Judas, conceal
the marriage of Jesus, etc. This is the kind of stuff
not worthy to be sold with the smut-sheets at supermarket
check-out counters. So, why are they being promoted
today? Perhaps to prepare lost humanity for an even
more intense and sinister deception soon to come.
Notice carefully the so-called “authorities”
interviewed on certain programs about these heretical
writings. Many of them are professors at seminaries
and universities whose philosophical thrust is basically,
“Believe what you want — we all have the
same goal in mind, we’re just traveling on different
paths.” Quite often, when a biblical scholar is
actually interviewed regarding a controversial issue
his camera time is limited and his answers seem to be
edited. On the other hand the Dan Browns of the religious
world are allowed to drone on and on, framing and espousing
their criticism of the Bible and offering their humanistic
dribble as credible answers to the questions at hand.
Recently a TV program presenting the
“historical evidence” for the destruction
of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah was aired. Knowing something
of the biblical story I tuned in to see how they would
spin this one. Sure enough, it was not brimstone and
fire from heaven, but an earthquake and methane gas
with sulfur that did them in. A purely natural event,
of course. I was interested in seeing if the producers
would actually note the reason for the destruction of
the cities — they didn’t.
There is a reason such books, so-called
lost epistles, movies, and “factual documentaries”
are so popular with many people and why they are the
subjects of so much TV programming of late. Basically,
people are drawn to the clandestine, to the mysterious
and to so-called “hidden knowledge”. They
are not looking for the simple truth of the gospel.
It is indeed too simple, too unsophisticated and too
bloody. The gospel offends the sensibilities of the
masses — the same masses who see absolutely nothing
morally, ethically or socially wrong with murdering
millions of pre-born babies each year all in the name
of a woman’s choice and convenience, but who are
sorely offended by Jesus’ efficacious death on
the cross. You see, there is no scandalous intrigue
in the good news of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.
There is nothing esoteric and mysterious about simply
trusting and following Jesus for our salvation. As a
result many people simply have no interest.
There must be more to what is truth
than just the Bible, they think. And the likes of The
Da Vinci Code, the Gospel of Judas, secret societies,
etc. overshadow the truth by gratifying the cryptic
inclinations of the evil human heart. The result is
multitudes flock to the heretical feeding-trough and
leave with their spiritual bellies full of Satan’s
lie, “You are now in that select group that has
escaped the rigid and outmoded confines of biblical
Christianity; you now have the real key to salvation
and self-fulfillment. You now understand, of course,
you will not surely die…but will be like God…”
Could it be that some of the channels
providing such documentaries and related programming
are owned wholly or in part by large companies with
a history of being antagonistic toward the Christian
world-view? Possibly so. And this is not limited to
the anti-God agenda seen in much of the media. Note
the actions of some major universities, city governments,
and other private and governmental agencies and you
will find what seems to be a pattern of discrimination
against anything and everything biblical. Nothing evokes
outrage like the name of Jesus, whether at a graduation
ceremony, sporting event or the opening prayer of a
state legislature. Even the U.S. military is infected
with the anti-God pathogen — some Christian chaplains
have been told not to pray in Jesus’ name because
it might be offensive to Muslims and others!
So, is there really a pattern here?
And if so, is there actually some sort of plan in motion
to question the sovereignty of God and to discredit
the fact of His existence? To say “yes”
is to risk being labeled as just another wacko conspiracy
theorist, but that is exactly what I am saying. There
is a difference, though, between those who believe there
is an anti-God agenda being imposed upon a gullible
world and those who believe Elvis’ death was a
conspiracy and that he was seen in Memphis last week.
The former was predicted in Bible prophecy and can be
attested to by nothing less than empirical evidence.
Regarding the latter, and contrary to what some Gracelandites
might wish to believe, Elvis isn’t even mentioned
in the Bible.
How is all this this playing out? God
has always had Satan on a leash, but it often seems
to be a long one. Satan is allowed to work in the affairs
of this world with quite a lot of freedom. Soon after
the rapture he will raise up his anti-Christ, the false
prophet and other haters-of-God whose immediate purpose
will be to convince those left behind they are better
off without Jesus, Christians and the Bible. The false
prophet will cause the whole world to worship the anti-Christ,
perform miraculous signs that will deceive the world,
make the anti-Christ-worshipping world take his mark
so they can buy and sell, force the world to worship
an image made in the likeness of the anti-Christ and
other things mentioned in Revelation 13.
Now, for this to happen very quickly
after the rapture there must be some preparation done
now in order to control the direction people will take
immediately afterward. At that critical point a gullible
and fearful world will be ready to follow anyone who
seems to know what really happened and what to do about
it. Very quickly, post-rapture, Satan will orchestrate
what will undoubtedly be a very impressive entrance
of anti-Christ onto the world stage. He will look good,
smell good and sound good to a world in crisis and will
announce with a convincing and reassuring smile, “I
have a plan — trust me.”
It is at this time, I believe, the
current effort to dismiss and discredit God will have
its desired effect. This will be an unbelievably horrible
moment for those left behind who will know what has
really happened. That is, Jesus did return and did,
in fact, take His church out. Any attempt by them, or
anybody else for that matter, to relate the sudden disappearance
of millions to the same Bible prophecy they always ignored
will be drowned out by the overwhelming voice of collective
humanity’s ridicule and condemnation of such a
naive and intolerant idea. Preparation for this collective
voice is going on today.
The ground work being hammered out
by this Satanic plan today using heresies found in books,
movies and TV programs is not so much to prepare people
to accept Satan as God, but to reject God as God. The
point is this: when the truth is rejected there is only
one other option, and that is to believe the lie. There
is nothing in between. Though most will not even realize
it, when they rejected the truth they automatically
and immediately defaulted to the lie.
Satan knows he cannot presently offer
himself to the world as its god. His reputation is not
palatable enough at this point for most people. So,
at just the right time after the rapture he will send
his anti-Christ to center stage with what the world
thinks it needs. The anti-God and blasphemous heresy
we are being spoon-fed today is laying the ground work
for those who will be left behind to willingly bow down
in worship of the beast as he is revealed (Revelation
13:3,4).
Everything we ever believed about God,
Jesus and the Bible is being questioned and ridiculed.
That which Christians have held sacred for 2000 years
is now being made common and of no importance. Everyone
and everything is now given credibility. No religion
or holy book is to be declared wrong. And it is all
being done in the name of toleration and the brotherhood
of humanity. Everything is acceptable. Everything, that
is, except Jesus, Christianity and the Bible.
Folks, none of this is by chance. There
is a dark and despicable hand behind even the most mundane
TV program, book, philosophy or whatever if it discredits
God in any way. But, fear not! There is a Greater Hand
that is overruling even that! For God has not surrendered
His sovereignty, and He is about to act again with the
greatest event in the history of humanity since the
resurrection of Jesus — the removal of the church
from planet earth. Satan’s chain will be jerked
— hard! DLM
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