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December 2006 Email Update

A Note from Ed

Speaking of God

This month, I want to do a study, comparing the God of the Bible with the gods of Mormonism and Freemasonry.

Before we start, please read my in-depth article on the nature and attributes of the God of the Bible

http://www.saintsalive.com/general/character_of_god.htm

The god of Freemasonry

THE GREAT ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE

Masonic ritual is concerned with the recovery of the “Lost Word,” presumed to be the name of God—supposedly lost through the murder of the architect, Hiram Abiff, during the building of Solomon’s Temple.   This quest is attained during the ritual of the ROYAL ARCH DEGREE.

It is here that the SECRET NAME of the DEITY OF MASONRY is revealed.  That name is “JAHBULON.”  “JAH” is the short form of the Hebrew name of God, “Yahweh,” or “Jehovah.”  “BUL” is a rendering of the name, BAAL.  “ON” is the term used in the Babylonian mysteries to call upon the deity, “OSIRIS”!  The secret ritual book of the Craft prints the letters J.B.O.  It states that: “We three do meet and agree—in peace, love and unity—the Sacred Word to keep—and never to divulge the same—until we three, or three such as we—do meet and agree.”  No Royal Arch Mason dare pronounce the sacred name by himself.

In European Masonry, which tends to be more openly occult than the US variety, this sacred “Omnific Word” is pronounced “JAOBULON.”  Now, this totally removes the Biblical God from consideration, because “JAO” is another spelling of “IAO,” (there is no “J” in the Greek alphabet).  IAO is a name for the god of the gnostics, Ialdabaoth, or Iao; also used today in black magic invocations performed by satanists like Aleister Crowley such as the “Ritual of the Rose Cross.” (Israel Regardie, The Golden Dawn, vol.3, p.49, 1970 edition)

Therefore, the god of Freemasonry is a three-headed monster so remote from the Christian Trinity and so blasphemous as to damn the eternal soul of anyone who would dare to pronounce its name in a ritual of worship.

THE GOD OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE

The candidates for this ritual kneel at the ALTAR OF OBLIGATION with arms bound, heads bowed. There they “assume a most powerful and binding oath, inseparably uniting yourself with us, and once taken, it can never be retracted or departed from.”

The oath is curse enough, being four pages in length.  Its penalty included “having my eyeballs pierced to the center with a three-edged blade.”

The revelation of truth is in the candidates’ sealing of the oath, revealing the true nature of the Masonic god of the “Mystic Shrine”:

“…and may ALLAH, the god of Arab, Moslem and Mohammedan, the GOD OF OUR FATHERS, support me to the entire fulfillment of the same, Amen, Amen, Amen.” (The Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, pages 35-39, Allen Publishing Co. New York, NY)

The Mormon / Masonic “God” of The Earth:

“Now is the great day of my power. I reign from the rivers to the ends of the earth. There is none who dares to molest, or make afraid.”

Lucifer, speaking in the LDS Temple Endowment Ritual

“I have a word to say concerning these people. If they do not walk up to every covenant they make at these altars in this temple this day, they will be in my power!”

Lucifer’s parting promise in the LDS Temple

“The light that reveals to us the [Masonic] path comes from Lucifer the light bearer. He is the light giver. He is aptly named the Morning Star [Venus] because it is his light that heralds for man the dawn of a greater consciousness. He is present when that dawn is realized.”

Lucifer, the Light-Bearer!  Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness!  Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! It is he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable, blinds feeble sensual, or selfish souls.  Doubt it not!”
Albert Pike – Masonic Grand Master

Is God an exalted man with a physical body?

The Mormon Church says:

 The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s (D & C 130:22)

But the Bible says:

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.  John 4:23-24

(Jesus says that God is Spirit)

 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
Luke 24:39

(Jesus says a spirit has not flesh and bones)

Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Matt 16:17

 (Jesus says God has not flesh and blood)

Remember 2 Cor 11:13-15

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Beware Their Doctrine

In Both Mormonism and Freemasonry, every attempt is made to humanize God, deify man, minimize sin, devalue Christ’s death on the Cross and separate you from the authority of Holy Scripture. They will also make every effort to convince you that salvation is only available through that group and its special plan for your step into eternity. 

This tells you then, that in order to witness to someone in any of the cultic groups, it will be necessary for you to deify and glorify God, reveal mankind as lost to God through sin, lift up the gift of Christ on the Cross, demonstrate the validity of the Bible and point the way to the cross as the only way of salvation for mankind.

The LDS Priesthood Not Scriptural

 The LDS Church teaches that Christ established the “true church” government before He ascended.  Where is the establishment of the Melchizedek Priesthood?  Where is the witness of even one scripture where Christ laid hands upon any man and ordained him to the Melchizedek or Aaronic Priesthood?

Where in the New Testament does Jesus confirm the Old Testament Priesthood to be established order for His Church?  Quite the opposite was actually true! (See Matthew 16:5-12)

John the Baptist, the man who Joseph Smith said came down from heaven and ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood never even had that authority! (See Matthew 21:23-27)  If he did, the people who controlled the Aaronic Priesthood in those days surely didn’t know about it!

Where in the New Testament does Christ establish temple ceremonies—the rites and rituals, blood oaths, secret words, names, combinations?  The wearing of specially designed and marked garments?

Where did He establish His 12 apostles to be under the control and direction of a prophet and his two counselors?  Who was the first Prophet, Seer and Revelator so established?  Where in the New Testament was he set apart and ordained?

Where did Jesus establish polygamy as the path to righteousness—as the “New and Everlasting Covenant” with God?

If the Church Jesus established was “God’s Perfect Church” (Mormon emphasis), how could Christ establish it forever and miss all these highly important items?

Isaiah 9:16

For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed.

LDS Missionary Work in a Slide, Even at Home

While it is getting harder and harder for the LDS Church to get its young people to commit to a 2 year mission, it is even tougher at home.

"Member-missionary work is powerful and essential to establishing and building up the Church. But our current level of member-missionary work is inadequate. We can and must do better. In the United States, only about 35 percent of active members consistently do member-missionary work." (M. Russell Ballard, "Members Are the Key," Ensign, Sept. 2000)

Scripture Twisting: Methods of the Cults

By James Squire

In debating and discussions with non-Christians such as Mormons or atheists, I have found many areas of twisting of the Scriptures. In the book "Scripture Twisting," James Sire has a chapter devoted to each of the methods, and I have seen them ALL used from time to time. This is a must have book for every one dealing with a cult group.

1. INACCURATE QUOTATION: A biblical text is referred to but is either not quoted in the way the text appears in any standard translation or is wrongly attributed. Example: The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says, "Christ said, 'Be still and know that I am God.'" Whereas this text is found ONLY in Psalms.

2. TWISTED TRANSLATION: The biblical text is retranslated, not in accordance with sound Greek scholarship, to fit a preconceived teaching of a cult. Example: the Jehovah's Witnesses translate John 1:1 as "In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the word was a god."

3. BIBLICAL HOOK: A text of Scripture is quoted primarily as a device to grasp the attention of readers or listeners and then followed by a teaching which is so nonbiblical that it would appear far more dubious to most people had it not been preceded by a reference to Scripture. Example: Mormon missionaries quote James 1:5 which promises God's wisdom to those who ask him and, then, follow this by explaining that when Joseph Smith did this he was given a revelation from which he concluded that God the Father has a body.

4. IGNORING THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT: A text of Scripture is quoted but removed from the surrounding verses which form the immediate framework for its meaning. Example: Alan Watts quotes the first half of John 5:39 ("You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life"), claiming that Jesus was challenging His listeners' over emphasis of the Old Testament, but the remainder of the immediate context reads, "and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (verses 39-40), which shows that Jesus was upholding the value of the Old Testament as a testimony to Himself.

5. COLLAPSING CONTEXTS: Two or more verses which have little or nothing to do with each other are put together as if one were a commentary of the other(s). Example: The Mormons associate Jeremiah 1:5 with John 1:2,14 and thus imply that both verses talk about the pre-mortal existence of all human beings; Jeremiah 1:5, however, speaks of God's foreknowledge of Jeremiah (Not his pre-mortal existence) and John 1:2 refers to the pre-existence of God the Son and not to human beings in general.

6. OVERSPECIFICATION: A more detailed or specific conclusion than is legitimate is drawn from a biblical text. Example: The Mormon missionary manual quotes the parable of the virgins from Matthew 25:1-13 to document the concept that "mortality is a probationary period during which we prepare to meet God." But the parable of the virgins could, and most probably does, mean something far less specific, for example, that human beings should be prepared at any time to meet God or to witness the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

7. WORD PLAY: A word or phrase from a biblical translation is examined and interpreted as if the revelation had been given in that language. Example: Mary Baker Eddy says the name Adam consist of two syllables, A DAM, which means an obstruction, in which case, Adam signifies "the obstacle which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and his Creator."

8. THE FIGURATIVE FALLACY: Either (1) mistaking literal language for figurative language or (2) mistaking figurative language for literal language. Example of (1): Mary Baker Eddy interprets EVENING as "mistiness of mortal thought; weariness of mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest." Example of (2): The Mormon theologian James Talmage interprets the prophesy that "thou shalt be brought down and speak out of the ground" to mean that God's Word would come to people from the Book of Mormon which was taken out of the ground at the hill of Cumorah.

9. SPECULATIVE READINGS OF PREDICTIVE PROPHESY: A predictive prophesy is too readily explained by the occurrence of specific events, despite the fact that equally committed biblical scholars consider the interpretation highly dubious. Example: The stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph in Ezekiel 37:15- 23 are interpreted by the Mormons to mean the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

10. SAYING BUT NOT CITING: A writer says that the Bible says such and such but does not cite the specific text (which often indicates that there may be no such text at all). Example: A common phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is not found in the Bible.

11. SELECTIVE CITING: To substantiate a given argument, only a limited number of text is quoted: the total teaching of Scripture on that subject would lead to a conclusion different from that of the writer. Example: The Jehovah's Witnesses critique the traditional Christian notion of the Trinity without considering the full text which scholars use to substantiate the concept.

12. INADEQUATE EVIDENCE: A hasty generalization is drawn from too little evidence. Example: The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that blood transfusion is non-biblical, but the biblical data that they cite fails either to speak directly to the issue or to adequately substantiate their teaching.

13. CONFUSED DEFINITION: A biblical term is misunderstood in such a way that an essential biblical doctrine is distorted or rejected. Example: one of Edgar Cayce's followers confuses the eastern doctrine of reincarnation with the biblical doctrine of being born again.

14. IGNORING ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS: A specific interpretation given to a biblical text or set of text which could well be, and often have been, interpreted in quite a different fashion, but these alternatives are not considered. Example: Erich von Daniken asks why in Genesis 1:26 God speaks in the plural ("us"), suggesting that this is an oblique reference to God's being one of many astronauts and failing to consider alternative explanations that either God was speaking as "Heaven's king accompanied by His heavenly host" or that the plural prefigures the doctrine of the Trinity expressed more explicitly in the New Testament.

15. THE OBVIOUS FALLACY: Words like OBVIOUSLY, UNDOUBTEDLY, CERTAINLY, ALL REASONABLE PEOPLE HOLD THAT and so forth are substituted for logical reasons. Example: Erich von Daniken says, "Undoubtedly the Ark [of the Covenant] was electrically charged!"

16. VIRTUE BY ASSOCIATION: Either, (1) a cult writer associates his or her teaching with those of figures accepted as authoritative by traditional Christians; (2) cult writings are likened to the Bible; or (3) cult literature imitates the form of the Bible writing such that it sounds like the Bible. Example of (1): Rick Chapman list 21 gurus, including Jesus Christ, St. Francis and St. Theresa, that "you can't go wrong with." Example of (2): Juan Mascaro in his introduction to the Upanishads cites the New Testament, the Gospels, Ecclesiastes and the Psalms, from which he quotes passages supposedly paralleling the Upanishads. Example of (3): The Mormon DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS interweaves phrases from the Gospel of John and maintains a superficial similarity to the Gospel such that it seems to be like the Bible.

17. ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION: Under the assumption that the Bible contains hidden, esoteric, meaning which is open only to those who are initiated into its secrets, the interpreter declares the significance of biblical passages without giving much, if any, explanation for his or her interpretation. Example: Mary Baker Eddy gives the meaning of the first phrase in the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven," as "Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious."

18. SUPPLEMENTING BIBLICAL AUTHORITY: New revelation from post biblical prophets either replaces or is added to the Bible as authority. Example: The Mormons supplement the Bible with the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.

19. REJECTING BIBLICAL AUTHORITY: Either the Bible as a whole or texts from the Bible are examined and rejected because they do not square with other authorities - such as reason or revelation = do not appear to agree with them. Example: Archie Matson holds that the Bible contains contradictions and that Jesus himself rejected the authority of the Old Testament when he contrasted His own views with it on the Sermon on the Mount.

20. WORLD-VIEW CONFUSION: Scriptural statements, stories, commands or symbols which have a particular meaning or set of meanings when taken within the intellectual and broadly cultural framework of the Bible itself are lifted out of that context, placed within the frame of reference of another system and thus given a meaning that markedly differs from their intended meaning. Example: The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi interprets "Be still, and know that I am God" as meaning that each person should meditate and come to the realization that he is essentially Godhood itself.

NOTE FROM ED

This material comes from the appendix of James Sire's Scripture Twisting Methods of the Cults, and summarizes his in depth treatment of each of these points. This book should be part of every Christian's library. I consider it about the best material on the subject!

Order your copy of this tremendous book HERE

WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ISLAM - SPEECH IN 1899!

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!  Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.  No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

Let Me Pray For You

This Christmas Season!

I personally answer about 100 special emails a week from Mormons, Masons and others who are seeking answers and the response is always overwhelming. I receive about that many prayer requests each week to add to my prayer box and I personally pray over each and every one of them.

As I do every year, I set aside the last two weeks of December to step away from the usual work to fast and pray for your special needs, your prayer requests. Please let me minister to you personally in this way. Send in your prayer needs by return card or by email [ed@saintsalive.com] to be sure I have your prayer request.

As always, we urgently need your partnership, your prayers and your financial support.

Please feel free to email us and please visit our website at www.saintsalive.com and click the "Give a Donation" link to let us know you are standing with us in this battle for souls.

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