Church of God News

In the late Roman Republic, “legal” tampering with voting rolls caused the great First Civil War.

This happened by sudden, massive additions of “new citizens” by legislative fiat.

The parallels to today offer many lessons. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/hjWtwL1SiI

— Alex Petkas – Cost of Glory (@costofglory) October 28, 2024

COGwriter

There is a lot of chatter from the left and the right related to violence and even a possible civil war after next week’s presidential election.

Notice a report claiming that the left is preparing for civil war:

Is The Left Preparing For War If Trump Wins?

October 31, 2024

The propaganda campaign labeling Donald Trump as an aspiring dictator determined to use the military and national security apparatus against his political opponents is designed not to affect the upcoming election but rather to shape the post-election environment. It is the central piece of a narrative that, by characterizing Trump as a tyrant (indeed likening him to Hitler), establishes the conditions for violence — not just another attempt on Trump’s life, but political violence on a massive scale intended to destabilize the country.  …

Accordingly, planning is focused on undermining the incoming president with enough violence to rock his administration. Prominent post-election scenarios forecast such widespread rioting that the newly elected president would be compelled to invoke the Insurrection Act. With some senior military officials refusing to follow Trump’s orders, according to the scenarios, the U.S. Armed Forces would split, leaving America on the edge of the abyss. 

By vilifying Trump as a despotic madman who must be stopped before he can commence his reign of terror, the regime’s propaganda apparatus not only slanders Trump but also pre-emptively threatens the reputation, as well as the livelihood and perhaps the liberty, of current military personnel. The point is to push the military against Trump: When the time comes to act, will you stand for democracy or side with a tyrant who sees the military only as an instrument to advance his personal interests? 

For instance, last week the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, quoted former Trump administration officials claiming that the Republican candidate is contemptuous of America’s armed forces and, according to Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, wishes he could command the same respect that Hitler commanded from his general officers.  …

The purpose of the Hitler narrative is not to alter the electoral preferences of left-wing media audiences already solidly in the anti-Trump column, but rather to justify taking extreme measures against the Republican candidate and the America First movement and ensure that the bulk of the military sides with the anti-Trump plot. Thus, it is best understood in the context of recent accounts promising, or urging, violence after the November vote.

For example, last week the New York Times published a long interview with a scholar of fascism who declared that Trump is a fascist. The paper of record followed up with another long article by two Harvard professors calling for mass mobilization in the event of a Trump victory. The proposal suggests that private industry join civil society organizations to ostracize Trump and his supporters and engage in large public protests to provoke a crisis. Kamala Harris herself, commenting on Kelly’s allegations in the Atlantic story, claimed that her opponent “is a fascist” during a CNN town hall.

These stories are only the latest in an ongoing series of media reports warning of a Trump dictatorship. …

The purpose of the Hitler narrative is to force members of the military to turn against Trump. After all, loyalty to the constitution means fighting Hitler, not obeying his orders. 

With the two recent attempts on Trump’s life, we’ve seen how the regime’s narratives simultaneously create the conditions for violence and explain it away. When Trump was shot at a rally in Butler, PA, Democratic Party officials and the media not only denied any connection between the shooting and their inflammatory rhetoric but even blamed Trump himself. After all, he and his aspiring assassin were cut from the same cloth: “The gunman and Trump, at their opposite ends of a bullet’s trajectory, are nonetheless joined together as common enemies of law and democracy,” wrote David Frum in, of all places, the Atlantic.

On this view, Trump has polarized the country so profoundly that he is ultimately responsible for the attempt on his own life. But that is another inversion of reality, tailored to suit the bloodlust of a dark regime. It is the logic of terror: It is only the violence of our victims that drove us to slaughter them. 

This self-serving logic not only gets the Left off the hook for past depredations; it serves as the pretext for future violence against Trump, his aides, and his supporters. After November 5, this weaponized narrative could be expanded to justify violence on a mass scale designed to break the republic. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/left-preparing-war-if-trump-wins

Here is a report from Politico, which is on the “left” side of the political spectrum, mainly about the right preparing for civil war:

Feds see uptick in online chatter among extremists preparing for ‘civil war’

U.S. intelligence authorities are seeing a rise in online discussions among domestic extremists about preparations for what they imagine to be an imminent civil war, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.

The discussions — which largely take place in anonymous, unmoderated online forums — are linked to the 2024 election and concerns about immigration. …

After President Joe Biden won the election four years ago, a mob of former President Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to derail the transfer of power. And in the years since, many public officials and election workers have faced sustained harassment and threats.

At least five people who promoted the idea of imminent civil war this year now face criminal charges, according to the report. Four are accused of making violent threats or preparing for violence. The fifth is charged with murdering and beheading his father, a retired federal employee, to try to “save America from traitors” in a purported war between the government and the citizens.

The DHS report said that “perceptions of election fraud” could trigger violence, as could fears of mass migration and crimes committed by non-U.S. citizens. One internet user said a hypothetical executive order granting citizenship to migrants would justify murder, according to the report.

“Biden does that executive order, we shoot all democrat officials,” the user wrote. “And the supporting federal agents.”

While warning of the potential for violence, the report said large-scale action by extremists is unlikely because of law enforcement infiltration of online groups and the convictions of prominent organizers of the Jan. 6 attack. …

DHS is far from alone in warning about election-season violence. Law enforcement agencies around the country have been scrambling to develop polling-site safety plans with local election administrators. And the Justice Department has put in place a task force to prosecute people who threaten election workers. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/25/domestic-extremism-civil-war-report-00185610

Notice something from last year by Politico:

The Threat of Civil Breakdown Is Real

We and others have written of the prospect of a new civil war in the United States …

As the 2024 election approaches, the threat of political violence and civil breakdown is only going to increase. And despite all that U.S. national security and law enforcement officials have learned since Jan. 6, the country is still not prepared for a far-right revolt.

Several discomfiting questions arise: How many right-of-center Americans believe violence will be necessary to repel a perceived racial or cultural threat? Do those who harbor that belief have genuine intent to take up arms? If so, what it would take to make them shoot? …

The 2024 election. Presidential elections are won or lost in the center, and moderates and independents — most of whom don’t want to think about politics — do seem increasingly alert to the dangers of Trump. …

Given recent trends, it is reasonable to hope that moderates and independents will have had enough in November 2024. A clear rejection of Trumpism might then deflate the MAGA movement for the time being. But if the Republican nominee loses narrowly, declares himself the winner and rallies dispersed local groups prone to violent local resistance rather than an easily repulsed assault on the Capitol, it might be too late for orderly de-escalation. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/21/political-violence-2024-magazine-00093028

So both the left and the right are concerned about civil unrest and even civil war.

As far as Donald Trump’s reaction to the election results might go, notice the following:

May 2, 2024

Donald Trump said Wednesday he would accept the 2024 general election results “if everything’s honest” but vowed to “fight” if it is not. …

“If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results. I don’t change on that,” Trump told the newspaper. “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.” https://www.newsmax.com/us/donald-trump-2020-election-fraud/2024/05/02/id/1163224/

Could the comment about fighting be more than legal battles?

We will see, but it does suggest possibly “rumors” of possible civil war.

Notice the following headline:

‘We’re heading for another civil war’: Trump supporters doubt peaceful transition of power

https://www.irishtimes.com/video/video/2024/10/28/were-heading-for-another-civil-war-trump-supporters-doubt-peaceful-transition-of-power/

Essentially, what is being presented is that the left considers that Donald Trump is such a threat that all steps need to be taken, perhaps even violent ones, should he be declared the winner.

Essentially, the right considers that if Donald Trump is not declared the winner that the election process will have been tampered with, hence that justifies protests and perhaps violence.

Related to voter tampering, notice the following which referenced the tweet shown at the beginning of this post as well as other tweets by Alex Petkas:

How Tampering With Voter Rolls Can Lead To Civil War

October 30, 2024

Earlier this week, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that ballots with no postmarks that arrive three days after election day must be counted. Of course, the Democrats were happy about this decision, while Republicans weren’t. In general, Democrats have been in favor of loosening standards to expand the voter rolls, because the additional voters added–low propensity voters, foreigners, etc.–are more likely to vote for them.

Even if this sort of thing is done legally, it can have negative consequences, as the X thread below by Alex Petkas shows. In ancient Rome, it led to a civil war. …

Background: in the 100s BC, there was widespread discontent with the elites. The oligarchic establishment was getting rich Forever Wars, Petty plundering, government contracts, foreign bribes, importing cheap labor Inequality skyrocketed The Gracchi Brothers were the first to try to do something about it, in the previous generation …

By the late 90s, however, Rome’s allies, the Italians, were demanding voting rights & citizenship. Arguably, they deserved it – they’d shed much blood in Rome’s wars (That’s one important difference w/ the US situation) Marius saw opportunity in these new potential citizens. …

Marius’ rationale: Whoever grants citizenship to 100,000s of non-citizens will get a permanent 100,000s-strong voting block. –> If you struggle to get enough votes in the elections, just IMPORT new voters loyal to you. Every serious Roman saw what was at stake. …

Many fine speeches were made about these “good, deserving men” But again, serious people knew the real stakes. …

With citizenship hopes dashed, the Italians revolted. The incredibly bloody Social War ensued (91-88 BC) Many Italians were offered citizenship (!) as a concession to keep them loyal: A legislative fiat, made possible by the chaos & desperation of war. …

By 88 BC, the Social War is over. Gaius Marius sees his chance: B/c the newly minted Italian “citizens” were gerrymandered into electoral irrelevance. (Major Roman elections used a weighted voting system, it’s complicated) …

Lesson: Every serious Roman knew, new citizens, new voters, are one of the most powerful political leverage points. It’s never just about “What’s best for Rome” What schemes can you pull off with new voters loyal to you & your political party?

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-10-30/how-tampering-voter-rolls-can-lead-civil-war

Yes, there could be lessons for the US here. We expect that there will be some voter fraud and irregularities. Whether or not these occur enough to change the claimed results is something that may not be known for sure.

But such matters can lead to rumors and violence.

Jesus warned:

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:6-12)

We are in the “beginning of sorrows” and we are more and more seeing “lawlessness” abounding as Jesus warned.

Many are concerned. USA Today posted the following:

Could 2024 election cause society to collapse? …

More Americans preparing for disaster ahead of election …

December 4, 2023

“On the left, you have people afraid (Trump) is going to declare himself dictator of the United States and people on the left are going to end up as targets in some sort of authoritarian system,” said prepping expert and author Brad Garrett. “On the right, it’s general malaise and a fear of society unraveling. They point to these smash-and-grab robberies, riots and protests.” …

U.S. Air Force Col. Drew Miller … He’s prepared for a full societal collapse caused by war, a nuclear explosion or rampaging mobs angry at election results. …

“There could easily be a civil war during a Biden-Trump election,” he said, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/04/doomsday-preppers-and-election-2024-fears/71695426007/

The USA is deeply divided. It has politicized more and more. Replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris has not seemed to have improved the situation. Related to the 2024 election, here is a link to our video: Trump vs Harris vs Scripture.

Jesus warned:

25 … Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. (Matthew 12:25)

24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  (Mark 3:24-25)

17 … Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. (Luke 11:17)

Notice that God inspired this to be written three times in the Gospels.

God normally seems to repeat something in scripture for emphasis.

The division is a BIG DEAL.

The end of the USA is coming (cf. Daniel 11:39).

Instead of fighting each other, love is what is needed.

As Jesus taught:

37 … “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. (Luke 6:27-36)

Instead of true love, a lot of hate and anger has been displayed and whipped up.

Troubles are prophesied (Mark 13:8).

Here are parts of numbers 7 and 15 from my article 24 items to prophetically watch in 2024:

7. Strife and the Red Horse of War

Notice the following:

3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. (Revelation 6:3-4)

Somewhat paralleling the ride of the second horseman of Revelation 6:3-4, Jesus warned about wars and disturbances:

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (Matthew 24:6-7a)

“Nation … against nation” is literally “ethnos … against ethnos” in the original Greek. Notice how the Orthodox Jewish Bible translates the first half of Matthew 24:7:

For there will be an intifada of ethnic group against ethnic group,

In places like the USA, were are seeing more ethnic strife.

Consider that the opening of the second seal (Revelation 6:3-4) is to result in less peace on the Earth.

While this is commonly called the red horse (or horseman) of war, that is not quite what is stated. Notice that he “takes peace from the earth AND that people should kill one another.” Could it be that events in 2020, such as COVID-19 were consistent with taking “peace from the earth”?

Around the world people are AFRAID. The feeling of normalcy is gone for many around the globe. Consider that the travel restrictions are basically because of fear (and often politics). The media and government officials are saying everything will not go back to how it was and that we need to accept what they have called “the new normal.” Speculatively, could this be related to the opening of the second seal?

Not since World War II have we seen anything affect the entire planet so much. I have had a kind of gnawing feeling that perhaps the second seal was opened the late Spring or early Summer of 2020 (if not in the Fall of 2019) that perhaps we needed to better reconsider the opening of the second seal as possible.

Now in addition to COVID, we have had Russia’s ‘special military operation’ into Ukraine which has devestated Ukraine, killed many Russians, and take the facade of peace off in Europe. Then there is the Hamas-Israel war–that is one to watch as it is likely that we will see a regional war in the Middle East before we see a peace deal consistent with prophecies such as in Daniel 9:26-27.

Plus, we also have the USA presidential election. Should Donald Trump win, there are likely to be violent demonstrations, etc. If Joe Biden or anyone else is declared the winner, we may see protests and violence.

People are afraid or at least uneasy to a degree we have not seen around the world anytime in the 21st century.

Barnes Notes on the Bible states:

The power given to him that sat on the horse: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. This would seem to indicate that the condition immediately preceding this was a condition of tranquility, and that this was now disturbed by some cause producing discord and bloodshed. This idea is confirmed by the original words – τὴν εἰρήνην tēn eirēnēn – “the peace”; that is, the previously existing peace. When peace in general is referred to, the word is used without the article: Matthew 10:34, “Think not that I am come to send peace – βαλεῖν εἰρήνην balein eirēnēn – upon the earth.”

So, this rider is not just a rider of war, but taking away THE peace.

The old WCG taught about the time of the red horse:

John was not speaking about the fall of Jerusalem. That war was already some twenty years behind him. John was referring to future events that would bring 6000 years of human history crashing to a cataclysmic close. … John is referring to a time yet ahead of us when “peaceful coexistence” will be a thing of the past. …

It’s no wonder that Jeremiah, in referring to these tumultuous times, stated: “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble …” (Jer. 30:7). (Ritter G. 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Red Horse – War, pp. 48, 52; see also Ritter R. The War that could end it all. Good News, December 1975)

We expect to see more wars, rumors of war, and civil unrest. …

15. Unrest, Terror, and the Dividing of the USA

There have been many protests in the USA.

Some protested racial, economic, and policing matters. Some have called for a “civil war.”

The Bible prophesies, “There shall be terror within” (Deuteronomy 32:25).

Will that happen to the USA?

Yes.

Jesus taught:

25 Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. (Matthew 12:25)

We are seeing more divide in the USA and parts of it certainly appear to be intentional. Much of it is ideological. The USA is becoming less and less united and more polarized.

Notice the following from 2022:

WND: Ex-Army generals fear insurrection or ‘civil war’ in 2024

Expect more divide in a nation where half of its people cannot tell the different between males and females and the other half still sticks to some facts about that. And of course, there is the abortion divide and other issues.

More terror is prophesied to hit the USA. The same is true for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

The time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), also known as the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21), is coming and the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies (including Canada) will be affected.

National repentance is the only way to prevent it, and that does not look likely. Though for the nation, the Kingdom of God is the solution, but first there will be a horrific 3 1/2 years.

Personal repentance, however, is still possible. Your personal future can still be much brighter than that of your country. Jesus, in addition to being the source of salvation, also offered physical protection to the most faithful (see Philadelphian Christian Great Tribulation Protection and/or watch Great Tribulation Protection).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Could God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2031 or 2025 or? There is also a video titled: When Does the 6000 Years End? 2031? 2035? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
Philadelphian Christian Great Tribulation Protection What will the Great Tribulation be like? Does Jesus promise physical protection to some or all Christians? Where might the place of protection be? What about fleeing to the mountains? What did Ezekiel warn? Here is a link to a related sermon: Great Tribulation Protection.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2024, 2025, or 2026? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Tribulation in 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
Should a Christian Vote? This article gives some of the Biblical rationale on this subject. Would Jesus vote for president/prime minister? Is voting in the Bible? This is a subject Christians need to understand. A video of related interest is available titled: Should Christians Vote? Another video is Biden, Trump, and the Bible. Related to the 2024 election, here is a link to our video: Trump vs Harris vs Scripture.
Crime can be stopped…here’s how! This was a booklet that was edited with some updates by Dr. Thiel. Here is a link to a related sermon: Crime and How it Will be Stopped!
God’s Grace is For All Is being Jewish a hindrance to salvation? What about not being a descendant of Israel? What does the Bible really teach? Here is a link to a related sermon titled Race and Grace; Do you view race as God does? Watch also Mystery of Race.
24 items to prophetically watch in 2024 Much is happening. Dr. Thiel points to 24 items to watch (cf. Mark 13:37) in this article. Here is a link to a related video: 24 Items to Prophetically Watch in 2024. Here is a link to related video in the Spanish language titled 24 Cosas a tener en cuenta en 2024: https://youtu.be/6f7oqEhjhbg
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available inover 1,000 languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Here are links to shorter videos: These Signs of the 4 Horsemen Have Begun and Biological Weapons and the 4th Horseman of the Apocalypse.
USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. A related sermon is titled: Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection; here is a message in Spanish: Me Está Llamando Dios Hoy? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
About Baptism Should you be baptized? Could baptism be necessary for salvation? Who should baptize and how should it be done? Here is a link to a related sermon: Let’s Talk About Baptism and Baptism, Infants, Fire, & the Second Death.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about the peoples of Africa, Asia, South America, and the islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Martin Luther

COGwriter

October 31st is known by many Protestants as Reformation Day.

October 31st marks the day that Martin Luther reportedly hammered his now famous 95 theses on the Wittenberg (Germany) church back in 1517.

Here is a report from a Protestant source:

October 31, 2024

Today marks the 507th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation didn’t have a formal beginning that was recognized in the moment. However, it certainly had a symbolic beginning. When Martin Luther nailed the “Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on Oct. 31, 1517, he had no idea his critique of indulgences would lead to the reshaping of Christianity in the West. The rest, as they say, is history.

Some might question whether the Reformation still matters in 2024. Since Vatican II and the charismatic movements of the 1960s, millions of Roman Catholics claim a personal conversion experience and emphasize individual Bible study. It isn’t uncommon to meet Christians who refer to themselves as “evangelical” or “born-again” Catholics. For our part, many evangelicals have a greater appreciation for the rootedness found in the Great Tradition of Christian orthodoxy. There is also a growing willingness among evangelicals to learn from pre-Reformation Christianity (especially the Patristic era) than was the case even a generation ago. It isn’t uncommon to meet evangelicals who love liturgy in public worship, follow the Christian calendar, and value the great creeds of the early Church.

Socially conservative evangelicals and Catholics also work together frequently to promote the sanctity of human life, a Biblical understanding of sex and marriage, and religious liberty for all people. Evangelicals and Catholics have learned from each other’s respective social-ethical traditions, and we’ve labored alongside each other as conservative cobelligerents in a society increasingly hostile toward our values and much of its own history. We are allies in preserving what Russell Kirk called the “permanent things” in an amnesiac nation committed to disordered notions of liberty. https://wng.org/opinions/the-enduring-relevance-of-the-reformation-1730371658

Back in 1517, Martin Luther was essentially posting, on a board, issues he felt that the Church of Rome needed to fix.

Since then, the Church of Rome has ‘fixed’ nearly all of those issues.

The Greco-Roman Catholics and Protestants have been working towards more and more ecumenical unity, particularly in the past three decades.

But in this post, I would like people to pay attention to many statements few seem to know that Martin Luther made. Reading them should help people realize that Martin Luther was not an actual Christian leader like most Protestants tend to believe. Nor did he actually believe in the sola Scriptura rallying cry that Protestants tend to point to.

For one thing, Martin Luther was an antisemite.

Martin Luther wrote:

I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them. But since I learned that those miserable and accursed people do not cease to lure to themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little book, so that I might be found among those who opposed such poisonous activities of the Jews and who warned the Christians to be on their guard against them…They are so blind and stupid that they see neither the words found in Genesis 17 nor the whole of Scripture, which mightily and explicitly condemns this lie…They are real liars and bloodhounds who have not only continually perverted and falsified all of Scripture with their mendacious glosses from the beginning until the present day. Their heart’s most ardent sighing and yearning and hoping is set on the day on which they can deal with us Gentiles as they did with the Gentiles in Persia at the time of Esther…The worse a Jew is, the more arrogant he is, solely because he is a Jew … David and other pious Jews were not as conceited as the present-day, incorrigible Jews … I wanted to present this to us Germans so that we might see what rascals the blind Jews are and how powerfully the truth of God in our midst stands with us and against them (Medieval Sourcebook: Martin Luther (1483-1546): On the Jews and Their Lies, 1543)

Martin Luther advised his followers:

… to burn down Jewish schools and synagogues, and to throw pitch and sulphur into the flames; to destroy their homes; to confiscate their ready money in gold and silver; to take from them their sacred books, even the whole Bible; and if that did not help matters, to hunt them of the country like mad dogs (Luther’s Works, vol. Xx, pp. 2230-2632 as quoted in Stoddard JL. Rebuilding a Lost Faith, 1922, p.99).

Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is: First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss in sulphur and pitch (Martin Luther (1483-1546): On the Jews and Their Lies, 1543 as quoted from Luther’s Works, Volume 47: The Christian in Society IV, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971).

We in the Continuing Church of God do not condone antisemitism.

We strive to reach Jews and Gentiles about Jesus (see also the free book, online Proof Jesus is the Messiah) as we have literature available online in over 700 languages.

While the following does not show antisemitism, notice something Martin Luther reportedly said about a disabled child (who seems to have had seems to have had symptoms of Prader-Willi Syndrome) in one of his Table Talks:

Eight years ago, there was one in Dessau whom I, Martinus Luther, saw and grappled with. He was twelve years old, had the use of his eyes and all his senses, so that one might think he was a normal child. But he did nothing but gorge himself as much as four peasants or threshers. He ate, defecated, and drooled and, if anyone tackled him, he screamed. If things didn’t go well, he wept. So I said to the Prince of Anhalt: “If I were the Prince, I should take the child to the Moldau River which flows near Dessau and drown him.” But the Prince of Anhalt and the Prince of Saxony, who happened to be present, refused to follow my advice. (T.E.C., Jr. MARTIN LUTHER’S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE MENTALLY RETARDED. Pediatrics, May 1968, VOLUME 41 / ISSUE 5)

He also reportedly said that child should be suffocated (Mile M. Martin Luther and Childhood Disability in 16th Century Germany: What did he write? What did he say? Independent Living Institute, 2005). Yet, there are some who have tried to defend his indefensible statements (e.g. Ibid).

When Jesus dealt with a disabled child, He healed him (Mark 9:17-25), not advocated for his death like Martin Luther.

Martin Luther had a history of promoting hate and violence.

The Apostle John was inspired to record:

9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints (Revelation 13:9-10).

Notice that even until the end, saints are to be patient and NOT be among those that kill with the sword. Is it any wonder that Martin Luther discounted the literal understanding of the Book of Revelation? Otherwise he and his followers would have to change their positions on warfare

Martin Luther, himself, was a type of warmonger:

I, Martin Luther, slew all the peasants in the rebellion, for I said that they should be slain; all their blood is upon my head. But I cast it on the Lord God, who commanded me to speak this way (Werke, Erl. Edition, lix, p. 284 ‘Table Talk’ as quoted in Stoddard JL.Rebuilding a Lost Faith, 1922, p.96).

Pure devilry is urging on the peasants…Therefore let all who are able, mow them down, slaughter and stab them, openly or in secret, and remember that there is nothing more poisonous, noxious and utterly devilish than a rebel. You must kill him as you would a mad dog…

The authorities must resolve to chastise and slay as long as they can raise a finger… The present time is so strange that a prince can gain Heaven easier by spilling blood than by praying (Luther M. Against the Murderous and Rapacious Hordes of the Peasants, May 4, 1525-Erl, 24, 287, ff. As cited in O’Hare PF. The Facts About Luther, p. 232).

God did NOT command Martin Luther to speak that way. That is Satan’s way–Protestants generally do not act like Satan is the “god of this world,” but he currently is (2 Corinthians 4:4, KJV).

Anyway, it was reported that 100,000 perished at that time.

The followers of Martin Luther also condemned those who were not willing to be warriors. And they officially declared “it is right for Christians … to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers.” (Melanchthon P. The Augsburg Confession, Article XVI).

We in the Continuing Church of God hold to the original Christian teaching on this and hence do not participate as soldiers in carnal warfare nor do we endorse watching intentionally violent sports.

As far as sin goes, believe it or not, Martin Luther actually taught,

Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger…No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day” (Let Your Sins Be Strong: A Letter From Luther to Melanchthon Letter no. 99, 1 August 1521, From the Wartburg (Segment) Translated by Erika Bullmann Flores from: _Dr. Martin Luther’s Saemmtliche Schriften_ Dr, Johannes Georg Walch, Ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), Vol. 15,cols. 2585-2590).

Martin Luther and many others do not understand that the Bible teaches:

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29)

Martin Luther, despite claiming sola Scriptura, disparaged various books of the New Testament as of questionable value.

Up to this point we have had the true and certain chief books of the New Testament. The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation. In the first place, the fact that Hebrews is not an epistle of St. Paul, or of any other apostle (Luther, M. Prefaces to the Epistle of the Hebrews, 1546).

St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw…for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it” (Luther, M. Preface to the New Testament, 1546).

James … In the first place it is flatly against St. Paul and all the rest of Scripture in ascribing justification to works…Besides, he throws things together so chaotically that it seems to me he must have been some good, pious man, who took a few sayings from the disciples of the apostles and thus tossed them off on paper. Or it may perhaps have been written by someone on the basis of his preaching (Luther, M. Preface to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, 1546).

Concerning the epistle of St. Jude, no one can deny that it is an extract or copy of St. Peter’s second epistle…Therefore, although I value this book, it is an epistle that need not be counted among the chief books which are supposed to lay the foundations of faith (Luther, M. Preface to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, 1546).

Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Therefore, James’ epistle is NOT “against St. Paul and all the rest of Scripture,” but instead is against Martin Luther’s misunderstandings of law and grace.

Contrary to Martin Luther’s assertion, it also should be understood that Jude’s epistle is not too similar to 2 Peter. Yet, if even it was, should it be discounted?

Maybe Martin Luther discounted it because Jude warns people:

3 … to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

And this, sadly, is not something that Martin Luther really did (though he did sometimes make some efforts towards that).

Perhaps none of Martin Luther’s writings on the Bible are as harsh as what he wrote about “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1). Specifically he wrote,

About this book of the Revelation of John … I miss more than one thing in this book, and it makes me consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic … I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it. Moreover he seems to me to be going much too far when he commends his own book so highly-indeed, more than any of the other sacred books do, though they are much more important-and threatens that if anyone takes away anything from it, God will take away from him, etc. Again, they are supposed to be blessed who keep what is written in this book; and yet no one knows what that is, to say nothing of keeping it. This is just the same as if we did not have the book at all. And there are many far better books available for us to keep…My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book. For me this is reason enough not to think highly of it: Christ is neither taught nor known in it” (Luther, M. Preface to the Revelation of St. John, 1522).

The above may be part of why Martin Luther did not accept the millennium and certain other teachings. Did Martin Luther not care that Jesus was the one who told John to write the Revelation down (Revelation 1:9-11)?

Martin Luther’s discounting of prophecies is dangerous for his followers living in the 21^st century.

Another reason Martin Luther may not have been able to accommodate this Revelation of Jesus Christ is because he clearly violated this warning from it:

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book (Revelation 22:18-19).

Martin Luther took away from this book through his comments about it, and this is the same Martin Luther who, it will be shown, added words to the Bible that were not there.

Although Martin Luther decried John for penning the Revelation of Jesus Christ, he did like John. According to Martin Luther:

The first three speak of the works of our Lord, rather than His oral teachings; that of St. John is the only sympathetic, the only true Gospel and should undoubtedly be preferred above the others. In like manner the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul are superior to the first three Gospels (O’Hare PF. The Facts About Luther, 1916–1987 reprint ed., p. 203).

Martin Luther’s position on this, and some of his other matters, appear to be blasphemous and in contraction to 2 Timothy 3:16. It was Jesus’ oral teachings, in Matthew 24, for example, that Martin Luther disagreed with.

The Bible, in Romans 3:28, states:

28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Martin Luther, in his German translation of the Bible, specifically added the word “allein” (English ‘alone’) to Romans 3:28-a word that is not in the original Greek. Martin Luther wanted people to believe that Romans 3:28 “a man is justified by faith alone,” but that verse does not say that.

Notice what Protestant scholars have admitted:

… Martin Luther would once again emphasize … that we are “justified by faith alone”, apart from the works of the Law” (Rom. 3:28), adding the German word allein (“alone”) in his translation of the Greek text. (Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, pp. 64-65).

Furthermore, to justify his change, Martin Luther reportedly said:

You tell me what a great fuss the Papists are making because the word alone in not in the text of Paul … say right out to him: ‘Dr. Martin Luther will have it so,’ … I will have it so, and I order it to be so, and my will is reason enough. I know very well that the word ‘alone’ is not in the Latin or the Greek text (Stoddard J. Rebuilding a Lost Faith. 1922, pp. 101-102; see also Luther M. Amic. Discussion, 1, 127).

This passage strongly suggests that Martin Luther viewed his opinions, and not the actual Bible as the primary authority–a concept which should be prima Luther and not sola Scriptura. By “papists” Luther was condemning Roman Catholics.

He also made another change in Romans. Romans 4:15 states:

…because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

Yet in his German translation, Martin Luther added the word ‘only’ before the term ‘wrath’ to Romans 4:15 (O’Hare, p. 201).

This presumably was to attempt to justify his position to discredit the law.

Matthew 3:2 states:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Martin Luther, in his German translation, according to at least one Catholic source, changed the word ‘repent’ to ‘mend’ or ‘do better’ (ibid, p. 201), presumably to justify his position that one does not need to obey God’s laws through repentance (others disagree on that point and indicate that the German term chosen can or should be translated as repent).

Acts 19:18, states:

“And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds…”

Yet according to one source, Martin Luther rendered it, “they acknowledged the miracles of the Apostles” (O’Hare, p. 201).

There are several possible reasons why Martin Luther intentionally mistranslated Acts 19:18, but the point here is to show that he did.

Martin Luther also taught:

And John 1 says: “The Word was made flesh,” when in our judgment it would have been better said, “The Word was incarnate,” or “made fleshly” (Disputation On the Divinity and Humanity of Christ February 27, 1540 conducted by Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546 translated from the Latin text WA 39/2, pp. 92-121 by Christopher B. Brown).

This was apparently done to justify his belief that Jesus was fully God and fully human while on the earth, in conflict with being emptied Philippians 2:7 (literally translated).

Luke 10:28 states:

“And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live” (KJV).

Yet Martin Luther taught:

To do means to believe-to keep the law by faith. The passage in Matthew: Do this and thou shalt live, signifies Believe this and thou shalt live. The words Do this, have ironical sense, as if our Lord should say: Thou wilt do it tomorrow, but not today; only make an attempt to keep the Commandments, and the trial will teach thee the ignominy of thy failure (O’Hare, p.205).

It is because of such misinterpretations of what the Bible states that many Protestants have tossed out the necessity to keep the Ten Commandments, even though scholars agree that they were kept by the early Christians. (Note: Although Martin Luther mentioned Matthew’s account–which is in Matthew 19:16-21–the quote in question is actually from Luke 10:28.)

Martin Luther’s disparaged various books of the Old Testament as well. Martin Luther changed or diminished the importance of at least 19 books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Esther, Job, Ecclesiastes, Jonah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation) and did not truly believe in his sola Scriptura rallying cry.

Martin Luther was not a real Christian.

Anyway, instead of being a celebration of rebellion against the Church of Rome, Reformation Day is being used for ecumenical purposes.

Let me add here that according to the Bible a false ‘ecumenical’ church will rise up (Revelation 17). According to Roman and Eastern Orthodox writings, their churches and the Protestant ones will get together in some type of ecumenical reformation. According to the Bible, that will not end well for the Church of Rome (Revelation 17:15-18) or others involved with it (cf. Revelation 18).

How many now view ‘Reformation Day’ should serve as a warning that an unbiblical, ecumenical reformation is coming.

The fact that Martin Luther really did not believe in sola Scriptura is a factor in Rome’s ‘daughters’ working to refer to her.

In order to assist those who wish to believe the Bible, we put out the following book this year: Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism. Here is some information in it related to the figures shown on its front covers:

Protestant scholars sometimes call Polycarp a “proto-orthodox” Christian. This essentially means that they believe Polycarp was a faithful Christian, but that various doctrines people like him held were changed to be what is now considered to be acceptable (or “orthodox”).

The following chart has religious details about Polycarp and Martin Luther (which includes understandings of their early successors) which is intended to highlight many of their differences:

Polycarp	Martin Luther
Baptized at age 18 by a Church of God leader.	Baptized as an infant by Roman Catholic priest.
Trained by the original apostles.	Trained by the Church of Rome.
Ordained by the original apostles.	Ordained by the Church of Rome.
Related all things in accordance with scripture.	Relied on tradition if he did not care for the scriptural position.
Taught the word of God.	Felt he could change parts of the word of God.
Taught the importance of all the scriptures.	Diminished the importance of many books of the Bible.
Had a binitarian view of the Godhead.	Taught a trinitarian view of the Godhead.
Only baptized adults.	Promoted infant baptism and condemned those who did not accept it.
Did not eat unclean meat.	Ate biblically unclean meat.
Taught the Ten Commandments.	Taught a version of the Ten Commandments.
Kept the Sabbath.	Promoted Sunday.
Observed biblical Holy Days.	Observed non-biblical holidays.
Kept Passover on the 14th.	Kept Easter Sunday.
Had no idols or icons.	Had crosses and Christmas trees.
Warned that a Latin man would be 666.	Taught that the Pope was the Antichrist.
Believed in “soul sleep.”	Taught “soul sleep.”
Understood that God would offer salvation to all and that most would be saved.	Taught that most would be lost and that most would not get a real offer of salvation.
Taught the Kingdom of God was the reward.	Taught that heaven was the reward.
Endorsed the millennial doctrine.	Condemned the millennial doctrine.
Walked in the ways taught by the Apostle John, who was considered to be a Jew.	Ordered followers to burn Jewish synagogues, take Jewish wealth, and hunt Jews down.
Taught against Christian military involvement.	Condemned those who did not endorse Protestant military involvement.
Warned about the “vanity of many.”	Warned against select Roman Catholic positions.
Died as a martyr.	Had ill health for many years and died shortly after having a stroke.

Polycarp stood for and taught the original apostolic Christian faith (additional details on Polycarp’s specific teachings can be found at https://www.cogwriter.com/polycarp.htm), while Martin Luther often did not.

Although Martin Luther had some positive positions, he compromised too much and did not truly accept his own sola Scriptura rallying cry. You do not have to dig very deep into history to prove that.

We in the Continuing Church of God do not believe that Martin Luther was a true and faithful leader. We believe that he accepted the “vanity of many,” which is also happening in the 21^st century with the ecumenical movement.

Early Protestant leaders, like Martin Luther and John Calvin really did not believe in (or practice) sola Scriptura.

Actually, anyone who does, would not actually be a Protestant, but part of the Church of God.

That is something Protestants who think they believe the Bible should consider and prayerfully look into.

Those interested in learning more should consider studying the following:

Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
Is Halloween Holy Time for Christians? Here are some historical and biblical insight on this question. There are many cultures that have celebrations and observances that are similar to some associated with Halloween. What did the Druids do? Is Halloween one of the most important holidays for Satanists? Do the Japanese, Indians, and Chinese have any practices that are similar to some associated with Halloween? Does the Bible endorse or condemn practices that are associated with Halloween? Here is a link to a related sermon: Let’s Get Real About Halloween. Here are links to three related sermonette length videos: Debunking 17 reasons to celebrate Halloween, Halloween: Are there 7 reasons for Christians to celebrate it?, and International ‘Halloween’ Should Christians observe Halloween?
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
The Similarities and Dissimilarities between Martin Luther and Herbert W. Armstrong This article clearly shows some of the doctrinal differences between the two. At this time of doctrinal variety and a tendency by many to accept certain aspects of Protestantism, the article should help clarify why the genuine Church of God is NOT Protestant. Do you really know what the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther taught and should you follow his doctrinal example? Here is a related sermon video: Martin Luther and Herbert Armstrong: Reformers with Differences.
Why Should American Catholics Fear Unity with the Orthodox? (And the Protestants) Are the current ecumenical meetings a good thing or will they result in disaster? Is doctrinal compromise good? Here is a link to a related video Should you be concerned about the ecumenical movement?
Will the Interfaith Movement Lead to Peace or Sudden Destruction? Is the interfaith movement going to lead to lasting peace or is it warned against? A video sermon of related interest is: Will the Interfaith Movement lead to World War III? and a video sermon is also available: Do You Know That Babylon is Forming?
Freemasonry and the Destruction of Rome? What is Freemasonry? What about ties to the Illuminati? Could they be involved in the fulfillment of prophecy? Here is a link to a related sermon: Freemasonry, Armageddon, and Rome.
Sola Scriptura or Prima Luther? What Did Martin Luther Really Believe About the Bible? Though he is known for his public sola Scriptura teaching, did Martin Luther’s writings about the Bible suggest he felt that prima Luther was his ultimate authority? Statements from him changing and/or discounting 18 books of the Bible are included. Do you really want to know the truth?
Protestant and Church of God views of the United States in Bible Prophecy Is the USA mentioned in Bible prophecy? Some Protestants say yes, while others say no. What does the Bible really teach? Learn the truth about this. There is also a video available: Is The United States Mentioned In Bible Prophecy?
The Dangerous Rise of Preterists Has the Great Tribulation finished? What was the view of early Christians? Why is the preterist view dangerous? A related sermon video is titled Preterism: You’ve Gotta Be Kidding…Right?
Pope Francis’ Celebration of Reformation’s 500th Anniversary The Vatican announced that Pope Francis plans to attend a celebration commemorating the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. Is this part of the ecumenical movement? Is this a good thing? Does the Bible warn against this? Do Protestant leaders favor ecumenical unity? What did early Protestants teach about the papacy? Should the Bible or human committees be listened to?
Beware: Protestants Going Towards Ecumenical Destruction! What is going on in the Protestant world? Are Protestants turning back to their ‘mother church’ in Rome? Does the Bible warn about this? What are Catholic plans and prophecies related to this? Is Protestantism doomed? See also World Council of Churches Peace Plan.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.

‘ Day
Day of the Dead decorations
(Tomascastelazo)

COGwriter

Many Greco-Roman-Protestants plan to celebrate Halloween tonight.

It is not a biblical nor a Christian holiday.

The BBC posted the following:

Samhain to Soulmass: The Pagan origins of familiar Halloween rituals

31 October 2024

With its goblins, goosebumps and rituals – from bobbing for apples to dressing up as vampires and ghosts – Halloween is one of the world’s biggest holidays. It’s celebrated across the world, from Poland to the Philippines, and nowhere as extravagantly as in the US, where in 2023 $12.2 billion (£9.4 billion) was spent on sweets, costumes and decorations. …

Halloween is often viewed as a modern US invention. In fact, it dates back more than 2,000 years, to Ireland and an ancient Celtic fire festival called Samhain. The exact origins of Samhain predate written records but according to the Horniman Museum: “There are Neolithic tombs in Ireland that are aligned with the Sun on the mornings of Samhain and Imbolc [in February], suggesting these dates have been important for thousands of years”.

Celebrated usually from 31 October to 1 November, the religious rituals of Samhain (pronounced “sow-win”, meaning summer’s end), focused on fire, as winter approached. …

Samhain was the pivotal point of the Celtic Pagan new year, a time of rebirth – and death. “Pagans had three harvests: Lammas, harvest of the corn, on 1 August; the one of fruit and vegetables at autumn equinox, 21 September; and Halloween, the third,” says Baylis. At this time animals that couldn’t survive winter were culled, to ensure the other animals’ survival. “So there was a lot of death around that time, and people knew there would be deaths in their villages during the harsh winter months.” Other countries, notably Mexico, celebrate The Day of the Dead around this time to honour the deceased. …

It was believed that at this time the veil between this world and the spirit world was at its thinnest – allowing the spirits of the dead to pass through and mingle with the living. The sacred energy of the rituals, it was believed, allowed the living and the dead to communicate, and gave Druid priests and Celtic shamans heightened perception.

And this is where the dress-up factor came in – costumes and ugly masks were worn to scare away malevolent spirits believed to have been set free from the realm of the dead. This was also known as “mumming” or “guising”.

Those early Samhain dressing-up rituals began to change when Pope Gregory 1 (590-604) arrived in Britain from Rome to convert Pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. The Gregorian mission decreed that Samhain festivities must incorporate Christian saints “to ward off the sprites and evil creatures of the night”, says Baylis. All Souls Day, 1 November, was created by the Church, “so people could still call on their dead to aid them”; also known as All Hallows, 31 October later became All Hallows’ Eve, later known as Halloween. …

Echoes of Samhain also live on today in fire practices. Carving lanterns from root vegetables was one tradition, although turnips, not pumpkins, were first used. The practice is said to have grown from a Celtic myth, about a man named Jack who made a pact with the devil, but who was so deceitful that he was banned from heaven and hell – and condemned to roam the darkness, with only a burning coal in a carved-out turnip to light the way.

In Ireland, people made lanterns, placing turnips with carved faces in their window to ward off an apparition called “Jack of the Lantern” or Jack-o’-Lantern. In the 19th Century, Irish immigrants took the custom with them to the US. …

Leaving food and sweetly spiced “soul cakes” or “soulmass” cakes on the doorstep was said to ward off bad spirits. Households deemed less generous with their offerings would receive a “trick” played on them by bad spirits. This has translated into modern-day trick or treating. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20241030-samhain-to-soulmass-the-pagan-origins-of-familiar-halloween-rituals

Yes, Halloween is clearly pagan.

Israel365 News made the following comments:

October 31, 2022

Halloween is seen by many as a child-oriented holiday with no religious connotations. But the truth is that it has roots in paganism and many religious Christians and Jews reject Halloween on this basis. …

Halloween has gained in popularity in South Korea in recent years with some of the more boisterous celebrations taking place in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul, an area known for its nightlife and trendy restaurants. On Saturday night, the festivities were interrupted by a crowd crush. 154 were confirmed dead and over 133 were injured. …

Halloween has become enormously popular but its pagan roots go very deep. With connections to necromancy, religious Jews do not participate in what most Americans see as a family-oriented holiday. …

There are many Christians today that look at Halloween as a pagan holiday during which the devil is worshiped and evil is glorified. A recent survey by Lifeway Research revealed that 78% of Americans are planning on celebrating Halloween this year. …

Despite its current secular manifestation, Haloween’s pagan origins proscribe Jewish participation. This is also due to the prohibition of copying the practices of other nations (Lev. 18:3).

Halloween began as Samhain (pronounced Sow-in), one of the four main pagan holidays celebrated by the Celtics, who lived in areas of Ireland, northern England, and France before Romans conquered the region in the first century CE. Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year.

Similar to modern Halloween, Celtic pagans dressed up in costumes on Samhain and lit bonfires. Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the spirit world could more easily be crossed. As such, it was an auspicious time for summoning dark spirits to aid in necromancy, communicating with the dead to foretell the future, a practice explicitly prohibited in the Bible. …

n what is widely believed to be an effort to subsume the Celtic pagan holiday into the Christian religion, in 1000 C.E., the church declared November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day honoring the dead. The night before All Souls’ Day was re-adopted in the Celtic region, with the name changed from Samhain to All Hallows’ Eve. …

The Church of Satan, the first organized church in modern times to be devoted to the figure of Satan, perceives Halloween as an opportunity for the average American to indulge in secret Satanist fantasies. On its website, the church claims that Halloween is “the night when the mundane folk try to reach down inside and touch the ‘darkness’, which for Satanists is a daily mode of existence.” They claim that by dressing in costume, the average American is taking “a brief dip into the pool of the ‘shadow world.’” https://www.israel365news.com/276146/how-do-jewish-and-christian-traditions-view-halloween/

The truth is that those who really obey and believe the God of the Bible do not celebrate Halloween.

Yet, several years ago, actor Kirk Cameron put out a film called Saving Christmas. As it turns out, it was reported to be a box office flop (see Kirk Cameron’s Christmas movie flops).

The Continuing Church of God put together the following sermon related to Halloween on its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:15:14

Halloween, Protestants, and Scripture

Should Christians celebrate Halloween? It became an official holiday in the 9th century after a pronouncement by the Roman Catholic Pope Gregory IV. Protestants such Joy Wendling, Kirk Cameron, Hailey Bieber, and Alan Rudnick think Christians should keep it. But other Protestants have issues with that. What about the Church of God, which is not Protestant nor Roman Catholic? What about Martin Luther, the Apostle Jude, the original faith, and licentiousness? Does Halloween have its origins in a pagan Druid holiday which has many of the same features as modern Halloween celebrations? What do Satanists and those who practice Wicca (witchcraft) think of Halloween? Is Halloween the right time to be a Christian witness? What about lewd Halloween costumes? Did a Roman Catholic write, “Catholic feasts are in continuity and fulfill the meaning of the pagan ones”? What did the Apostle Paul say about combining biblical and demonic practices? Did early Christians endorse anything like Halloween or ‘All Saints Day’? What is the state of the dead? Should real Christians rely on the word of God or feelings some ascribe to the Holy Spirit? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to the sermon: Halloween, Protestants, and Scripture.

Some Protestants and many Roman Catholics will not only observe Halloween, they will observe All Saints’ Day on November 1st, with some Mexicans celebrating the ‘Day of the Dead’ until November 2nd.

I have noticed that mainstream secular sources have pushed the ‘Day of the Dead’ a lot in the past few years–they used to basically ignore it before.

Related to all three of these observances, the Continuing Church of God put together the following sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:

COGwriter

The US dominance of international financial transfers known as SWIFT has been affected by its weaponization of its dollar, including sanctions against nations such as Russia.

This has been going on for at least a decade, so Russia and other nations have taken steps.

Notice the following:

Can BRICS Pay become a challenger to SWIFT?

October 30, 2024

Countries in today’s globalized economy are increasingly interdependent, relying on international payment networks to facilitate cross-border transactions. SWIFT, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, is the most widely used payment network, processing transactions predominantly in US dollars.

Although it operates from Europe, SWIFT is influenced by the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and other G-10 financial authorities, which allows the US considerable sway over the system. This influence has been described as the “weaponization” of SWIFT, as control over global payments can have strategic consequences. …

Russia has been working to insulate itself from SWIFT dependency since it annexed Crimea in 2014. This initiative led to the development of the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), an alternative platform created by Russia’s central bank. Currently, SPFS connects 557 banks and companies, including 159 foreign entities, with 160 banks worldwide participating in the system.

China has similarly developed its own alternative with the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), launched in 2015. By 2021, CIPS had processed a significant 80 trillion yuan (approximately $12.8 trillion), connecting 1,280 financial institutions across 103 countries. Among these are 30 Japanese banks, 23 Russian banks, and 31 African banks, marking its wide international reach.

The origins of BRICS Pay

Events like the US’s recent seizure of Afghan reserve funds and frozen Russian assets have highlighted the vulnerability of dollar-denominated reserves, undermining trust in dollar debt as an international savings tool. This experience has prompted many nations to seek alternative trade settlement and currency security systems.

In response to this shifting landscape, the announcement of BRICS Pay from Kazan, Russia, marks a significant milestone in the ongoing efforts to diversify global payment networks beyond the established US dollar-dominated systems.

The BRICS Plus Summit of heads of state was held in Kazan, Russia, from October 22 to 24, 2024. The Kazan summit marked the first post-expansion gathering for BRICS, highlighting initiatives like the introduction of “BRICS Pay,” which aimed to fortify economic and trade ties within the group.

The introduction of BRICS Pay aims to challenge SWIFT’s global monopoly and reduce dollar dominance, positioning it as a significant step towards financial autonomy for BRICS nations.

However, BRICS Pay cannot yet replace SWIFT entirely unless BRICS members agree on a unified or common currency—a challenging task given the economic disparities among member countries. https://www.tbsnews.net/thoughts/can-brics-pay-become-challenger-swift-980256

Notice that Europe theoretically controls SWIFT. That also means that Europe could interfere with the US’ own ability to use it.

That said, because of the use of financial sanctions by the US, some are concerned about their ramifications on its economy. Notice the following report:

The Biggest Story that’s NOT Being Told Will WREAK HAVOC on the US Economy

On February 26^th, 2022, the U.S., EU, UK and Canada, agreed to ban a select group of Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, aka… SWIFT.

The move was originally intended to cripple Russia’s financial system in an effort to pressure Putin into ending his military operations in Ukraine. Seven Russian banks were denied access to SWIFT, initially causing somewhat of a negative impact on the Russian economy, but this move ultimately backfired on the U.S and its allies last week when, during the BRICS conference, the bloc introduced BRICS Pay.

While there are some news outlets giving this story a bit of attention, it’s not nearly getting the exposure it deserves, as this is one of the biggest economic developments of our time. In fact, 159 out of 195 countries will have the ability to bypass the SWIFT system entirely using BRICS Pay Blockchain based payment platform. Let that sink in for a moment…more than 3/4 of the countries in the world will be able to trade in currencies outside of the U.S. Dollar.

In addition to the BRICS Pay announcement, Vladimir Putin confirmed that discussions of creating a gold-back currency, known as the “Unit”, are accelerating in an effort to replace the U.S. Dollar as the Global Reserve Currency. While the dollar still remains king of all currencies, the Federal Reserve seems to be doing nothing to neutralize the threat.

The big question is, what kind of impact will this all have on the cost of imports, such as Crude Oil, Grain, Rice and Corn, if we are not able to buy those commodities in US Dollars? The bottom line is, the US Government shot themselves in the foot, and now, we may have to deal with a level of inflation that could be shocking. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-10-28/biggest-story-thats-not-being-told-will-wreak-havoc-us-economy

Yes, these moves can wreak havoc on the economy of the US. Notice something I posted about that back in 2019:

Can this hurt the USA?

Yes. By having alternatives to US dollar-dominated financial systems, it provides openings for others to not use the US dollar and hence decrease wealth that the US gets from its dominance of international finance.

Are these moves away from SWIFT simply Russian and Chinese propaganda?

No.

Notice something from the Wall Street Journal:

Brussels and European Union states seem ready to stage a battle with Washington over an obscure but important financial-service network—against Europe’s own interests.

The looming brouhaha concerns Swift …

Swift is particularly prone to U.S. pressure because the American financial system looms so large in the world. Swift’s board includes representatives of European and American banks, and many messages across its network travel to or from the U.S. Some Europeans believe Washington wields too much influence over a network they think should operate on a multilateral consensus like a financial EU. 10/17/18 https://www.wsj.com/articles/europes-not-so-swift-diplomacy-1539730896

Here is some information about SWIFT:

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment. SWIFT also sells software and services to financial institutions, much of it for use on the SWIFTNet network, and ISO 9362. Business Identifier Codes (BICs, previously Bank Identifier Codes) are popularly known as “SWIFT codes”.

The majority of international interbank messages use the SWIFT network. As of 2015, SWIFT linked more than 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories, who were exchanging an average of over 15 million messages per day (compared to an average of 2.4 million daily messages in 1995). (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Wikipedia, retrieved 04/01/19)

Basically, most international cross-border payments seem to use SWIFT.

Because of US sanctions and threats of sanctions, and its pressure on SWIFT, many nations are looking to develop ways to bypass it. (Thiel B. ‘SWIFT end’ as Russian banks move towards Chinese financial system? Can this hurt the USA? COGwriter, April 1, 2019)

In that post, I also had the following from 2018:

Since those came out, the BRICS group has expanded, the US put in more sanctions, and we are seeing more steps being worked on by more and more of the world to bypass the US dollar and to bypass the SWIFT system.

When she was US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton used to brag about how the US could use its so-called ‘soft-power,’ which mainly means imposing Washington’s will through economic blackmail and other pressures.

While that may seem successful in the short-run, in the long run it pushes nations away from the US.

Dethroning the US dollar will cause massive economic problems for the USA. Much more than almost anyone believes. The standard of living in the USA has been raised/subsidized for decades because of the status of the US dollar. That status is weakening. This will ultimately severely hurt the USA.

What will happen to the economy of the USA will be much worse than what happened to the UK when the pound sterling lost its status as the world’s primary reserve currency.

Another thing that has been happening is that Russia may have yet another way around SWIFT–making the Ruble a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Notice something from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:

A central bank digital currency could provide Russia with an alternative to the SWIFT international payment system from which it has been cut off, …

In recent years, central banks in several major countries, including Russia and the United States, have been exploring the creation of digital assets, commonly known as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Russian policy discussions about the creation of a digital ruble center on its potential utility for facilitating international trade and mitigating the impact of sanctions. The advantages for Russia of CBDCs, including enhanced cross-border payment capabilities and reduced transaction costs, are fairly straightforward. They could provide Russia with alternatives to traditional payment systems like SWIFT that it lost access to as a result of Western economic sanctions introduced in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

The digital ruble project initiated by the Russian central bank in 2020 has progressed rapidly, with real-world testing involving several commercial banks and clients now under way. Positioned as a retail CBDC, the digital ruble is intended to integrate seamlessly into everyday transactions. …

The potential success of Russia and China in this field does not pose an immediate threat to either the dominance of the U.S. dollar or the viability of the existing Western sanctions regime, but it does pave the way for gradual yet significant changes to the global financial system as we know it. 10/17/24 https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/10/russia-digital-ruble-development?lang=en&center=russia-eurasia

Yes, steps being taken by Russia, China, and others related to bypassing the US dollar and moving towards CBDCs are setting the stage to end the need for SWIFT–as well as the end of US dollar dominance.

It should be noted that one of the reasons that the euro came about was to bypass the US dollar in intra-European trade, and to a major degree, that was successful. The Europeans want to dominate international finances, the Bible points to them temporarily succeeding in that (cf. Revelation chapters 17 & 18), and the US being gone (cf. Daniel 11:39).

We are getting closer to the great tribulation (Matthew 24:21; see also When Will the Great Tribulation Begin?) and final time of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) that Jesus spoke of when the European Beast power will rise up.

As far as financial matters being a factor, notice something the late Pastor General of the old Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong, said in a sermon on July 7, 1984:

And I can see now, the event that is going to trigger the formation of the reunification in Europe; the resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire that we’ve been looking forward to that is prophesied to come…

But I believe that some event is going to happen suddenly just like out a blue sky that is going to shock the whole world and is going to cause the nations in Europe to realize they must unite! … Well now I think I can see what may be the very event that is going to trigger…that is the economic situation in the world…

The whole banking structure in the United States is a network all jointed together. But not only that, one nation has to deal with other nations and imports and exports. And so they have to have a means of transforming money from one nation to another. And so the banking structure is international and interwoven…

Now when the financial structure breaks down, all civilization is going to break down…

So, an economic or banking crisis is what Herbert W. Armstrong concluded would drive Europe to unite. That, along with trying to cooperate with some of the plans of the BRICS nations, could cause Europe to put the final nail in the use of SWIFT for the US dollar.

The fact is that the Gentile nations are taking steps that the Anglo-American nations will one day regret.

Related to BRICS and the USA dollar, we put together the following video:

14:31

BRICS Push Aside USA Dollar

The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have as one of their founding goals, to eliminate the need to use USA dollars in cross-border trade. Six additional nations have been invited to join BRICS in 2024, and India reports that six more are also being looked at. The BRICS nations have already begun to drop the USA dollar for some cross-border trading with Russia and China, indicating that they had almost done so completely in late 2023. What will happen to the economy and value of the USA dollar if more and more nations stop using it as a primary reserve and trading currency? What about hyperinflation? Does the Bible prophesy destruction for a highly indebted nation in the end time? Is the USA the most indebted nation of all time? What about the intent and use of the Euro? Will Europe and Asia cooperate to eliminate the USA and its British-descended allies?

Here is a link to our video: BRICS Push Aside USA Dollar.

UPDATE 11/03/24: We just uploaded a SWIFT related video:

14:50

SWIFT end to the US dollar?

After World War II, the US dollar became the world’s primary international trading currency. In this video Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie go over some of the reasons for that development. They also discussed US dominance of SWIFT. SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. SWIFT provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions. The use of sanctions and the weaponization of SWIFT by the US is brought out as are alternatives to SWIFT development by Russia (System for Transfer of Financial Messages-SPFS) and China (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System-CIPS). Also the BRICS Pay alternative to SWIFT, mentioned at the BRICS Kazan Summit in October 2024 was mentioned as well as “the Unit”, which is a potential gold-backed currency that Vladimir Putin brought up as another alternative. An article titled ‘The Biggest Story that’s NOT Being Told Will WREAK HAVOC on the US Economy’ was discussed along with the specter of extreme inflation hitting the US once its dollar is no longer relied on internationally. The fact that SWIFT is supposed to be a European system, and one that Europeans want more control of, was mentioned along with the fact that the Europeans could also push harder for the end of SWIFT and/or the US dollar dominance. The timing of the coming Great Tribulation and US banking/financial matters was also mentioned.

Here is a link to our video: SWIFT end to the US dollar?

The USA dollar will no longer remain “king.” This will greatly impact the economy of the USA.

As Jesus said: “And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:37).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
The End of US Dollar Dominance Is the USA losing its economic status? What about the petro-gold-yuan? A related video is also available: US Dollar being challenged by Gold-Petro-Yuan.
The Plain Truth About Gold in Prophecy. How Should a Christian View Gold? What do economists and the Bible teach about gold? Gold and silver may drop in value. Inflation/deflation? What do Christians need to know about gold and silver? Two videos of related interest may be: Germany, Gold, and the US Dollar and Silver, Science, and Scripture.
Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end? There is also a video sermon available: Russia in the Bible and in Prophecy as are two video sermonettes Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy and Ukraine in Prophecy?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is are links to related videos: European history and the Bible, Europe In Prophecy, The End of European Babylon, and Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?

PESCO logo (via Wikipedia)

COGwriter

A new report by the European Union urges the EU to spend more on its military and to be better prepared:

EU urgently needs to act on defence, says landmark report

30 October 2024

The EU urgently needs to be more pro-active in its response to the increasingly complex crises facing the world, according to a report on Europe’s civilian and military preparedness published today by former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

Writing just a week before key US presidential elections, Niinistö said the EU needed to send a signal that it was willing to pay its way on defence, adding that the bloc should spend around 20% of its budget, currently worth around €1 trillion over seven years, on security and crisis preparedness.

“Threats don’t stop at our borders, they cascade between the interconnected sectors of our economy,” said Niinistö’, whose report was requested by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, adding that “if we are not doing all we can for our own security, we cannot expect others to do it for us”. …

The report comes as the US prepares to go to the polls on 5 November. The idea that Republican candidate Donald Trump might cut aid to war-torn Ukraine, or even abandon his mutual defence commitment to NATO members, has sent panic across Europe. …

Despite an increase in member states’ defence budgets last year, fewer than one in five investments in defence programmes are made jointly, and 82% of defence funding and procurement is allocated nationally. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/10/30/eu-urgently-needs-to-act-on-defence-says-landmark-report

European leaders are concerned about defense and the possible re-election of Donald Trump.

Some in Europe want Donald Trump to win so that they can use that as a reason to further arm. Politico reported the following:

‘Bitter medicine’: Why some EU officials quietly yearn for Trump

October 30, 2024

BRUSSELS — Here’s a dirty little secret about the U.S. presidential election: Some European officials think a victory by former President Donald Trump could be what the European Union needs to muscle up on defense and get tough on China.

“The return of Trump would be a beneficial shock that will enable the EU to move forward, like the pandemic or the energy crisis following the war in Ukraine,” said one senior EU diplomat who, like others quoted in this article, was granted anonymity to speak freely.

This view, shared confidentially by several EU diplomats and EU officials, doesn’t stem from affection for the Republican candidate or his policy proposals.

Nevertheless, a second Trump term would administer the “bitter medicine” a fractious EU needs to overcome its divisions and move forward as a bloc, six EU diplomats and officials conveyed to POLITICO.

A Trump presidency would be so hostile to Europe, the thinking goes, that the bloc would have no choice but to bolster its defense spending, …

As the Nov. 5 election draws near, don’t expect European officials to voice these views in public. Trump is deeply unpopular in most of Europe, and there are few political points to score from embracing him.

But officials have said it might be time to embrace autonomy, suggesting that Europe should prepare for a big change in EU-U.S. relations, no matter who is elected.

“Europeans must take their destiny into their own hands, regardless of who is elected U.S. president,” French Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad said on French TV last week. https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-eu-officials-china-union-policy-kamala-harris-medicine-ukraine-defense/

Yes, many in Europe want it to have a stronger military. The Bible says that Europe will end up with a “great army” (Daniel 11:25) and “many ships” (Daniel 11:40).

A Donald Trump presidency will further motivate the Europeans to arm more.

Even if Donald Trump does not take office again, EU leaders are more and more losing confidence in the USA related to military matters, and will arm consistent with biblical prophecies.

Consider, also, that it was right after Donald Trump’s election in 2016 that Europe formally decided that it needed its OWN military alliance–and it then formed one called PESCO.

Some have called PESCO Europe’s “last chance” as the following from the Spring of 2024 declares:

PESCO: the last chance

La Council Decision 2017/2315 which established the Permanent Structured Defense Cooperation (PESCO) stated that “A long-term vision for PESCO could be to arrive at a coherent package of forces for the entire spectrum (a coherent full spectrum force package) of military operations …

The new strategic situation demands a new posture of European forces. All troops from all European Allies / EU Member States added together They do not constitute a complete set of forces capable of acting throughout the entire spectrum of possible operations. Furthermore, in many essential areas European armies have little or no capacity; They are only fully operational if the United States makes up the difference. In view of the current North American strategy, this represents an unacceptable strategic risk. …

Europeans will also have to rebuild for themselves the logistical depth (in relation, for example, to the strength of supply chains, the production of military material or in terms of maintenance capacity) and the military mobility necessary to sustain this package of forces. …

A credible European expeditionary force requires nations to assign entire brigades (and air squadrons, and ships…) and train them as part of a community force package (within the global package of European forces) within the framework of periodic multinational maneuvers. …

PESCO could be the central mechanism through which EU Member States wishing to cooperate to achieve capabilities objectives translate them into concrete initiatives and direct all defense cooperation within the EU framework, both within the of the CSDP and that of the Commission. …

PESCO would benefit greatly from the existence of a permanent presidency; …

EU Member States … must … build on this idea to advance the objectives that would lead to a complete and coherent European force package. 04/18/24 https://www.revistaejercitos.com/en/focus/european-defense/I-catch-the-last-chance/

Despite issues with PESCO, European leaders have concluded that it is not in their interest to rely on the US for defense.

Perhaps it should be noted that even Switzerland, which is not officially part of the EU, decided to join PESCO this past Summer:

The Bundesrat, Switzerland’s Federal Council, approved the country’s participation as a third state in the European Union’s (EU’s) Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) Military Mobility and Cyber Ranges Federation projects on 21 August, the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) announced in a press release later the same day.

Co-ordinated by the Netherlands, the PESCO Military Mobility project aims to facilitate armed forces’ movements through standard administrative procedures, allowing applications for cross-border transport and deployments to be processed and approved within days. The DDPS expects this to simplify Swiss deployments abroad, for example for training or peace support operations.

Asked whether Swiss participation in the PESCO Military Mobility project would allow EU members’ convoys to move through Switzerland, DDPS spokesperson Mireille Fleury told Janes on 22 August, “It is already possible, under certain conditions, for EU member states to travel through Switzerland to transport equipment. The Military Mobility project is solely intended to simplify administrative processes in international co-operation between authorities. 08/22/24 https://www.janes.com/osint-insights/defence-news/security/switzerland-approves-participation-in-eu-pesco-mobility-and-cyber-projects

So, PESCO has grown.

And yes, Donald Trump has been a factor in its formation and probably growth.

As it turns out, at least twenty predictions I made about the first Donald Trump presidency were confirmed by world events. For details, see the article: Donald Trump in Prophecy.

Related to Europe and its military, notice some things posted here in 2016 as well as some world events that confirmed them:

WARNING FOUR: The fourth warning was that Donald Trump’s rise would encourage the Europeans to arm:

If he becomes president, Europeans will intensify their desire to arm themselves. (Thiel B. BBC: ‘Europe hates Trump. Does it matter?’ COGwriter, March 4, 2016)

I have been saying for a long time that Donald Trump’s rise would encourage the Europeans to arm. (Thiel B. Growing anti-Americanism will change the USA/UK world order. COGwriter, October 3, 2016)

Since 2015, I have written that Donald Trump’s rise would be a factor in Europe deciding it needs more unity and its own army. (Thiel B. As foretold here, more calls for a European army! Guttenberg: ‘There will be a terrible awakening for Europe’. COGwriter, November 11, 2016)

That has happened. Notice the following:

DONALD Trump’s election victory – along with Brexit in the UK- will speed up the plans for a European army, according to Germany’s defence minister Ursula von der Leyen. (Thiel B. As foretold here, more calls for a European army! Guttenberg: ‘There will be a terrible awakening for Europe’. COGwriter, November 11, 2016)

10 November 2016

Europe should build its own army and not rely on security guarantees from Washington, the European Commission president said following the election of Donald Trump. At the same time, Jean-Claude Juncker called for the preservation of the transatlantic partnership. …

“We need more security in Europe, and I do not mean just the anti-terror fight,” Juncker said.

“Talking about security we need a different way of organizing a European defense … the French National Assembly in 1954 prevented the European community of defense.”

“We need it now. The idea that the Americans will eternally see to … European security is not true. Independent of the outcome of the US election, the Americans will not see to Europe’s security forever. We have to do it ourselves. And this is why we need a new approach to the European community of defense, including a European army,” Juncker said. …

The EU ministers are expected to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss plans to strengthen the EU military cooperation and capabilities. https://www.rt.com/news/366177-european-army-security-juncker/

Furthermore, in December 2017, Europe’s new military cooperation organization, called PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation), formed (see PESCO: The making of a European Defence Union) and announced plans related to military cooperation and technology (see PESCO moving forward with technology).

In November 2018, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put together the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

15:25

PESCO and a Great European Army

In November 2018, French President Macron called for a “true European army” because of China, Russia, and the USA. Some others in Europe have echoed that sentiment. On November 9, 2018, US President Donald Trump called that an insult, but the next day said that the USA wanted “a very strong Europe.” Emmanuel Macron referred to Donald Trump as “my friend” and indicated a desire to strengthen Europe’s military spending. In December 2017, 25 European nations agreed to be part of a military alliance called PESCO. Europe also has NATO and IEI. Will Europe end up with “a great army”? Has Donald Trump’s announcement to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty gotten some to say that Europe must rebel against the USA? Is the idea of a United States of Europe and a European army a “paranoid fantasy” or a biblical reality? Will the USA regret Europe becoming a stronger military power? Will the USA be betrayed by “friends” such as its continental European allies? Does the Bible teach any or all of this? Are there connections to the Beast of Revelation or the King of the North of Daniel 11? Dr. Thiel addresses these matters in this video.

Here is a link to the sermonette video: PESCO and a Great European Army.

Notice also:

10 January 2019

‘This community needs to be able to defend itself’: Germany’s defence minister says the EU is already building a ‘united’ army

• German defence minister says how Europe is already creating a joint force
• Ursula von der Leyen said Germany and France are the ‘driving forces’ of defence
• She hit back at those sceptical at the European Union’s PESCO defence scheme
• One PESCO project, adopted in late November, involves France, Belgium and Cyprus developing a Beyond Line of Sight Land Battlefield missile systems family …

The PESCO scheme, an acronym for Permanent Structured Cooperation, involves 25 armies working with one another.

One such project, adopted in late November, involves France, Belgium and Cyprus developing a Beyond Line of Sight Land Battlefield missile systems family.

Another project, adopted in March last year, involves Greece, Italy and Slovakia developing and building a prototype European Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

She said that 25 countries had joined ‘not because we’re following requirements from Brussels but voluntarily because the benefits are obvious and because it’s in Europe’s security interests’. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6579077/Germanys-defence-minister-says-EU-building-united-army.html?ITO=applenews

November 10, 2019

With less than a month until the next big NATO meeting, scheduled for the first week of December, France’s Macron has jumped into public relations mode to prepare the public for some big changes on the horizon. Indeed, Macron’s major interview with the Economist on November 7th on the question of the US’s alleged wavering commitment to NATO is a stunning sign of the times.

Europe wants its own Army

Cutting through a lot of intentionally confusing messaging, is that France and Germany are just fine with any end to NATO because it helps justify the coming European Army – one that they want, and believe they need anyhow. It only happens to be part of the same reality that US hegemony, and its ability to finance NATO in turn, are coming to an end. In sounding more like a radical post-structuralist international relations theorist than a fiscally conservative leader of a capitalist democracy, Macron shocked the world when he stated in no uncertain terms that this period we are in marks the end of ‘Western Hegemony’. …

We will recall when President George W Bush attacked Iraq, it came not long after moves by the Iraqi government to do their oil dealings in Euros. The Europe-wide hatred for Bush’s war on Iraq seemed to the politically naïve as an expression of social-democratic pacifism, but in reality was an expression of Europe’s sovereign financial interests versus dollar hegemony. These questions really have not gone away. …

Macron’s apparent lamentations over the ‘brain death’ of NATO is quite revealing. In this, he refers to truths that everyone knew, but couldn’t say: “NATO is essentially a military occupying force against European sovereignty – for the EU to be a geostrategic entity, it must be in control of its own military forces”. …

Macron has iterated the call for an EU army a number of times. … Back in August, speaking on how isolating Russia is a mistake, Macron explained that “Western hegemony” is over. This leave us an interesting formula: Western hegemony is over, European regional hegemony must begin. …

Turkey is NATO’s second largest army after the US.

Macron isn’t wrong then to imply – what is NATO without the US and Turkey? It is the European Army. This is the view which both France and Germany enter into the December meeting with. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/11/10/end-nato-macron-laments-brain-death-pushes-for-european-military/

Donald Trump’s NATO statements have encouraged that (see also Donald Trump allegedly saying United States should leave NATO, while PESCO is building a European army).

Europe is again concerned about a Donald Trump presidency and its military.

Notice also the following which is in our free online book Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?:

Donald Trump also upset many in Europe by calling NATO “obsolete.” [i]

Furthermore, he called out many European countries for not paying enough on the military in relationship to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). He also threatened to NOT defend NATO nations that would not spend more on their militaries.[ii]

While many in the Trump-Pence Administration thought that the Europeans would have no choice but to cater to their demands, the Europeans moved in a way many did not expect. Less than one year after the Trump-Pence Administration began, 25 European countries formed a pan-European military alliance called the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). [iii]

The Europeans are concerned about Donald Trump perhaps again becoming U.S.A. president[iv]—and the prospect of another Trump presidency is pushing them to be more independent of the U.S.A.

While some have resisted it, there have been more and more calls for Europe to develop its own military force that will not have to defer to the U.S.A. [v]

Furthermore, shortly after Russia’s “special military operation” into Ukraine began in 2022, Germany announced it was increasing its military spending to levels that Donald Trump had pushed for.[vi]

Europe already has its own space agency, satellite system, and many other military components.

For decades, Washington has pushed the Europeans to spend more on their militaries. The U.S.A. needs to be careful about what it has been asking for. Although it is true that the U.S.A. contributes a vastly disproportionate share to NATO, the more the Europeans themselves spend, the more independent they will be about their spending and military priorities.

Since the Bible says that Europe will have a “great army” (Daniel 11:25), we know Europe will end up with a great army. It will also end up with a substantial navy as the Bible says it will have “many ships” (Daniel 11:40). Europe is prophesied be an amazingly marvelous military power that will surprise the world (Revelation 13:3-4).

This will not end well for the U.S.A. or the other Israelitish nations. …

While European leaders have begun to publicly challenge reliance on the U.S.A., biblically, the time will once again come when Europe cannot be trusted militarily (Isaiah 10:5-11; Daniel 11:21-39; Lamentations 1:2).

The U.S.A., itself, has repeatedly shown the Europeans that it does not trust them, yet scripture suggests it sometimes will trust them too much. According to the Bible, the time will come when the U.S.A. will find that continental Europe will be an enemy (cf. Isaiah 10:5-11) and not an ally (Ezekiel 23:4,9-10). The Bible warns:

² All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies. (Lamentations 1:2)

Europe will cooperate with the U.S.A. as long as it feels the relationship is beneficial, and then (as prophecy foretells) one day turn totally against the U.S.A.

The Bible is clear that there will be problems in Europe (Daniel 2:41-43), yet it also shows that Europe will undergo several reorganizations (Revelation chapters 16-18), and the two reorganizations in Revelation 17:12-13 specifically will not turn out well for the U.S.A. (cf. Daniel 11:39), the Arab world (cf. Daniel 11:40-43), nor ultimately Europe (cf. Jeremiah 50:41-46, 51:27-32; Daniel 11:44-45; Joel 2:2-6). … the Bible shows that the Beast of Revelation (also called the King of the North in Daniel 11) and the final Antichrist (a European-supporting false religious leader) will rule in Europe and over some of the American lands (Daniel 11:39) …

This King will employ deceit:

²¹ … he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue. (Daniel 11:21)

²³ “And in the latter time of their kingdom, When the transgressors have reached their fullness, A king shall arise, Having fierce features, Who understands sinister schemes. ²⁴ His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, And shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.

²⁵ “Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; And he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. (Daniel 8:23-25)

The King of the North will deceitfully proclaim “peace and safety” while plotting for the sudden destruction of those opposing him (1 Thessalonians 5:2–3). He will destroy the mighty American-British alliance.

Because of not accepting and understanding biblical prophecies, many political and other leaders will be hoping for and believing in a false peace. The sudden destruction to come is likely to include a nuclear or other high tech attack, and could possibly happen in conjunction with a NATO training or other exercise that would catch the U.S.A. and its Anglo-Saxon-Celtic allies off guard (cf. Lamentations 1:1-2). Other nations are likely to also be involved.

Nuclear Destruction?

Doesn’t the following sound like nuclear-type destruction?

²³ ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ ²⁴ All nations would say, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ ²⁵ Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers … (Deuteronomy 29:23-25)

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their pride and sexual immorality (Ezekiel 16:49-50; 2 Peter 2:6).

God’s word points out what will happen to the Anglo-lands will actually be worse than what happened to Sodom:

⁶ The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown in a moment, With no hand to help her! (Lamentations 4:6)

The time will come when the U.S.A. and NATO will be no more. NATO or other arrangements will give the Europeans cover for publicly preparing for a military event, while giving it the ability to publicly state that such preparations are only parts of an exercise. The Germans have historically used the element of surprise to gain military advantage—remember WWII and blitzkrieg? Europe one day will turn on the U.S.A. (Lamentations 1:1-2, Daniel 11:39; Isaiah 10:5-12). Weapons of mass destruction, and not necessarily just nuclear, will be employed.

Europe to Rise Up

Germans and others see the U.S.A. declining. Europe will go in a direction that U.S.A. leaders, including its ‘foreign policy experts,’ do not comprehend (Daniel 11:39; Isaiah 10:5-11).

[i] Trump worries Nato with ‘obsolete’ comment. BBC, Janaury 16, 2017

[ii] Trump defence chief Mattis threatens less commitment to Nato. January 15, 2017; ^{Sanger DE, Haberman M. Donald Trump Sets Conditions for Defending NATO Allies Against Attack. New York Times, July 20, 2016}

[iii] ^{Stur B. The making of a European Defence Union. New Europe. December 12, 2017}

[iv] Trump 2024 is a threat to Europe’s security. Public News Time, July 1, 2022

[v] ^{Bosotti A. EU army plot to fuel ‘antagonistic’ fury from global enemies and spark conflict threat. December 1, 2020; Flores J. The End of NATO? Macron Laments ‘Brain Death’ and Pushes for a European Military. Strategic Culture, November 10, 2019}

[vi] Germany commits €100 billion to new armed forces fund. Deutsche Welle, February 27, 2022

Current leaders in the European Union are more and more calling for the Europeanization of national militaries and the increased ability to function militarily without the USA.

They are helping to set the stage for what is coming.

Furthermore, the Bible shows that Europe will reorganize and become totalitarian:

12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. (Revelation 17:12-13)

This Beast leader will eliminate the Anglo-American world order with a new, and even worse, world order.

Consider the following prophecies about the one who will be in charge:

21 And in his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not give the honor of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue. (Daniel 11:21)

39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain. … the king of the North (Daniel 11:39, 40)

23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom,
When the transgressors have reached their fullness,
A king shall arise,
Having fierce features,
Who understands sinister schemes.
24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power;
He shall destroy fearfully,
And shall prosper and thrive;
He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.

25 “Through his cunning
He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule;
And he shall exalt himself in his heart.
He shall destroy many in their prosperity. (Daniel 8:23-25)

The above leader is the final European King of the North Beast power. He is an autocrat. He will eliminate the USA, Canada, and the UK.

As far as being an autocratic strong man goes, old Radio and Worldwide Church of God published the following decades ago (bolding mine):

Watch the emergence of a strong man in West Germany (Hogberg G and Walter EM. NATO at the Crossroads. Plain Truth, May 1969)

The attempt to unify Europe as one economic, military and political power bloc restoring the “Holy Roman Empire,” has been the one aim of all the “great” men who dominated European history from Napoleon’s “Waterloo” until now. Mussolini, dominating Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Libya, and conquering Ethiopia, did officially name his weak “Empire” the “Roman Empire.” But now the dream of a mighty, powerful, resurrected Roman Empire at last is becoming a hard-driving reality. …

“Fascism in Europe is about to be reborn in respectable business attire, and the Treaty of Rome will finally be implemented to its fullest extent.. the dream of a Holy Roman, Empire returning to power to dominate and direct the so-called forces of Christian mankind of the Western world is not dead, but still stalks through the antechambers of every national capital of continental Western Europe… IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE LEADERS IN THE COMMON MARKET NATIONS TO RESTORE THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE WITH ALL THAT THAT MEANS!” (Northwest Technocrat, Vol. XXV, No. 205.) United within the ancient boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire; united by the common spiritual bond of universal Catholicism; united in a burgeoning and booming industrial economy that dominates today’s world; united geographically in the most productive and industrial complex of all the earth — at least TEN NATIONS OF MODERN EUROPE WILL MARCH ONTO THE SCENE OF WORLD HISTORY AS THE GREATEST SINGLE HUMAN FORCE EVER SEEN BY MAN! (Hill DJ. What is Germany’s Destiny? Plain Truth, March 1962)

The prophecy of Daniel 11 details events — at that time, still future — dynasty, and later, in the New Testament times, to the Emperor of the Roman Empire. … in its final end-time application, the “king of the north” is the prophesied strong man who will lead a coming union of ten European nations — the seventh and final revival of the ancient Roman Empire prophesied by Daniel and in the book of Revelation (see Revelation 17:12-13). (Stump K. THE ARAB WORLD IN PROPHECY. Plain Truth, December 1979)

When Europe has faced some additional crises, some there will be persuaded to support an autocratic leader.

That is what the Bible teaches.

This will not end well for the USA, nor Canada, the UK, Australia, or New Zealand. Nor, according to the Bible, will it end well for the Muslim nations  (cf. Daniel 11:40-43)–nor, ultimately for Europe itself (cf. Daniel 11:44-45; Revelation 17:14).

COGwriter

The late WCG evangelist Leroy Neff wrote:

Those who are ready will be doing God’s Work, giving “meat in due season.” (Good News, May 1982)

Having seen a lot of Halloween decorations on lawns as well as seeing them for sale in stores, plus seeing Protestants who often are advocating the celebration of the Roman Catholic holiday of Halloween, reporting on this topic now is consistent with providing “meat in due season.”

Halloween, itself, is an old English word which means “hallowed evening.”

The following are from Roman Catholic writers:

It should be noted that Halloween is a Catholic holiday. Pope Gregory IV in 835 made it the universal practice in the Roman Catholic Church to celebrate All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1. All Souls’ Day follows the next day as the commemoration of all of the faithful who have departed.

“All Hallows’ Even” as the evening before All Hallows’ Day — All Saints’ Day – eventually became shortened to Halloween. Hallow, as in “hallowed be thy name” in the Lord’s Prayer, is an older form of the word “holy.” …

Nov. 1st was the day of the Celtic Summer’s End feast of Samhain, the day when the dead returned to the earth. We have retained some of these pagan elements to Halloween, as is true of Christmas and Easter.

Why would a pope put the Catholic celebration of the dead on top of the pagans’ celebrations of the dead? Because the Catholic feasts are in continuity and fulfill the meaning of the pagan ones…

So what about the indulgence in the spooky and scary? Skeletons are spooky, but they are also very Catholic. In fact, one couldn’t find a better haunted house for a Halloween pilgrimage than the various “chapel of bones” that can be found across Europe (Killian Brian. Halloween, as autumn celebration, reminder God’s name is hallowed. Catholic Online International News. 10/31/06. http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=21818).

In the 9th century, Pope Gregory IV moved the celebration of All Saints Day (Martyrs Day at the time) to Nov 1…in effect “baptizing” these ancient pagan celebrations (Warner M. Evangelizing with Halloween. National Catholic Register – Oct 31, 2012 http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-warner/evangelizing-with-halloween)

Repentance is to proceed baptism (Acts 2:38) and paganism is to be removed, not continued.

Consider the following words of Nehemiah:

29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan. (Nehemiah 13:29-30)

Nehemiah was a leader that God appointed and he rightly stood against foreign pagan contamination that affected what was supposed to be the religion of God’s people. Today, as the New Testament also supports (e.g. 1 Corinthians 10:21), true Christian ministers are to stand against pagan contamination.

The date and many of the practices of Halloween predate Christianity and are of heathen origin.

The Bible teaches the following:

2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the people are vain: (Jeremiah 10:2-3, KJV)

Or as the NET Bible puts it:

2 The Lord says,

“Do not start following pagan religious practices.

Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky

even though the nations hold them in awe.

3 For the religion of these people is worthless. (Jeremiah 10:2-3, NET)

Halloween involves pagan-heathen ways–it is vain and worthless to observe it.

Furthermore, it is very important to some Satanists.

Back in 1969 Anton Lavey wrote The Satanic Bible. On page 96 (in the 1976 version) it mentions Halloween:

After one’s own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht and Halloween (or All Hallows’ Eve). (Lavey A, Gilmore P. The Satanic Bible. Avon, September 1, 1976, p. 96–note it is on page 53 of an online version I found also).

It is interesting that Halloween is considered one of the three most important holidays to these Satan worshipers (birthdays are actually number one according to Anton Lavey’s book–Walpurgisnacht is observed sort of like another Halloween).

The Bible never encourages the celebration of Halloween or other pagan worship practices. Instead, it tends to speak in a negative manner concerning them (cf. Matthew 14:6-11; Jeremiah 10; 20:14-18).

Despite all of this, many Roman Catholics and Protestants observe it.

Furthermore, each year, some Protestants will go out and support the idea that it is fine for Christians to celebrate Halloween. Here is something from earlier this month from Joy Wendling, with my comments inserted throughout in italics:

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

October 7, 2023

Halloween. Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

The obvious biblical answer is no.

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

First, I don’t think this is the right question to ask. I am not a fan of the word “should” or its negative, “shouldn’t.” “Can we” is probably a more appropriate question. But, that question still doesn’t have a simple answer.

Actually, it does. One CAN do all type of things that is wrong. But Christians should NOT do them.

I believe the Holy Spirit can and will guide your family if you seek his wisdom. If you have convictions, strong convictions about Halloween, that is your number one thing to listen to.

No, one’s feelings about how one believes the Holy Spirit is leading one is irrelevant if one concludes to go against scripture. It is the “word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), not one’s feelings that a real Christian would understand that he or she needs to listen to. The Apostle Paul wrote:

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. 17 And their message will spread like cancer. (2 Timothy 2:15-17)

Practices associated with non-biblical Christianity have spread like a cancer, and real Christians should not be a party to them.

But I think that there is so much freedom in the Spirit and in our faith that I encourage you to not judge other Christian families based on their Halloween choices.

While there is freedom in Christ (Galatians 5:1), notice something else that the Apostle Paul wrote:

18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. (Romans 6:18-22, AFV)

So, we as Christians are to be slaves of God. Notice what the Apostles said related to that and the Holy Spirit:

29. … Peter and the apostles answered and said, “We are obligated to obey God rather than men.

30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus Whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree.

31. Him has God exalted by His right hand to be a Prince and Savior, to give repentance and remission of sins to Israel.

32. And we are His witnesses of these things, as is also the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:29-32)

So, we are to OBEY God to be granted His Holy Spirit. Yet, some seem to believe that we can CLAIM that the Holy Spirit allows activities that the Bible condemns.

How My Christian Family Celebrates Halloween

My girls love spooky, silly things and we love driving around looking at spooky houses. We’ve even sent thank you postcards to our favorite decorations. We stay away from scary and keep it fun, light, and say spooky.

We do the costumes and the trick-or-treating and my girls love Halloween music, especially the older music like Monster Mash and Purple People Eater. And I have absolutely no conviction in that at all.

No, Christian families do not celebrate Halloween. Joy Wendling is saying that her family loves things associated with Halloween and hence she and her family keep it.

I think it is just a fun way for us to be neighborly, to get to know our community, to be a part of our community, to celebrate and enjoy life with our friends and my kids’ friends and their classrooms for us. We have no convictions whatsoever and I understand that other people do. And please follow those convictions.

As far as the community and religious celebrations go, the Apostle Paul wrote:

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”

17 Therefore

“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

As far as being unclean goes, notice the Bible warns:

31 You do not turn to those having familiar spirits, and you do not seek for wizards, to become unclean by them; I [am] your God YHWH. (Leviticus 19:31, LSV)

As far as the Holy Spirit, convictions and sin goes, Jesus said:

8. And when that one {the Holy Spirit} has come, it will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment: (John 16:8, AFV)

Note that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, but is not a source of licentiousness. The Apostle Jude wrote:

4 there came in certain men stealthily, having been written beforehand to this judgment long ago, impious, perverting the grace of our God to licentiousness … (Jude 4, LSV)

Well, the above also would include women who teach that God’s grace is a license to rely on feelings over the word of God.

The licentious also are related to something else that the Apostle Paul wrote:

12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:12-14)

Halloween is a work of darkness and often involves revelry and various lusts. Christians are not to participate in it.

The Bible also teaches God’s people to:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

Sadly, many do not see that by justifying paganism that they are being wise in their own eyes and simply are not trusting the God of the Bible over their feelings.

The division of Christians at Halloween does far more damage than costumes and candy.

The acceptance of Halloween by professors of Christianity does the damage. The Apostle Peter wrote:

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words … (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Halloween does often involve covetousness and is a destructive heresy. Because of pagan celebrations among professing Christians, the “way of truth” has been blasphemed among non-Christians, such as Muslims who know that celebrations like Halloween are demonic.

What does the Bible say about Halloween?

Halloween is not in the Bible. Trick or treating is not in the Bible. Yes, I recognize that there may be some historical elements of evil and demons and whatnot from Halloween, but that’s not what I’m celebrating.

It is not that there MAY be some historical elements of evil and demons in Halloween, there clearly are. Satan likes to make evil appear to be something that it is not. The Apostle Paul wrote:

13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

Just because something may be appealing does not make it right. Eve found that out in Genesis 3:6.

Redeeming Halloween Celebrations

There’s so many great ways to love Jesus through Halloween. And to me, my biggest thing is that God is a God of redemption. He takes the gross broken, sinful things of the world and he brings light into those dark places.

Why can’t we allow God to do the same thing with Halloween? And so for me and for my family, that is the direction that we have gone is we embrace the fun part. We don’t worship Satan, do witchcraft, or any of those things that I know happen, but those things happen every day. And my kids putting on a costume and eating candy is not encouraging or discouraging the people who want to follow Satan.

Redemption is provided after repentance. Halloween does not repent and is not subject to redemption. Halloween obscures God’s plan of salvation and redemption and is not part of it.

As far as what Joy Wendling is celebrating, it is demonic. Consider something else that the Apostle Paul wrote:

20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Corinthians 10:20-22)

Christians are not to have fellowship with demonic worship practices, like Halloween.

The Apostle Paul also wrote:

21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

Protestants do not PROVE Halloween is good, and those who celebrate it are certainly not abstaining from the appearance of evil.

Furthermore, the Book of Revelation warns:

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)

The principle that God’s people are not to mix paganism with Christianity is in the New Testament.

Christians are supposed to believe “the word of truth” (2 Corinthians 6:7; Ephesians 1:13).

God is Sovereign Over Halloween Celebrations

I just want us to not limit God. And I don’t want to cut off abundance out of fear. And I don’t want to make my kids feel like they can’t enjoy non-Christian things and that God is only sovereign over certain parts of the world.

God is sovereign over all of it. He is in control. God is he has the power.

God is sovereign. But as far as celebrations go, His word lists His holy celebrations in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus:

2 … The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. (Leviticus 23:2)

Yet, it is not likely that Joy Wendling observes them, which is one of the reasons she would tend to advocate demonic holidays such as Halloween–which, of course, is NOT listed as one of God’s feasts.

God’s Holy Days picture His plan of salvation, yet many prefer their own plan of salvation, which is not God’s plan at all.

If we are Christians, we have the power to obey God. And that is what we should do–we should not see how far into the world we can stray. The Apostle John wrote:

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Observance of Halloween is of the world–it is not doing the will of God.

I want my kids to know that God is in all of it and that he gives us grace and he gives us freedom and he gives us room to enjoy the world. That’s why I celebrate Halloween, because God can redeem things.

God can redeem prostitutes, thieves, and murderers, but we do not go about doing those things to see if we can be redeemed. We are to repent, turn away from sin, not move towards it.

Sadly, many Protestants have been affected by Martin Luther, who perversely stated:

Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger…No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day” (Let Your Sins Be Strong: A Letter From Luther to Melanchthon Letter no. 99, 1 August 1521, From the Wartburg (Segment) Translated by Erika Bullmann Flores from: _Dr. Martin Luther’s Saemmtliche Schriften_ Dr, Johannes Georg Walch, Ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), Vol. 15,cols. 2585-2590).

Martin Luther and many others do not understand that the Bible teaches:

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29)

I think if we allowed Him to use us in our communities at Halloween, there could be some redemption, some love getting us a little step closer to his kingdom.

We don’t need to fight against it, fight through it. Shine Jesus’s light on Halloween.

We shine the light of Jesus on October 31st by not participating in a pagan holiday. Doing that makes us shine for the kingdom of God. Observing Halloween does not do that.

Should Christians celebrate Halloween? Let’s look at a verse:

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT

This really is between you, your family, and the Lord.

Well, celebrating demonic holidays is not for the glory of God. Again, let’s look at 1 Corinthians:

21 … You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21)

Halloween celebrations do not glorify the true God.

In addition the Bible specifically teaches:

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: … 20 idolatry, sorcery, … outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 … drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21).

Halloween is clearly a heresy that with elements of revelries that the Bible teaches against.

Halloween is rebellious against God and specifically promotes aspects of witchcraft. Furthermore notice:

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you. (Deuteronomy 18:10-14).

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:23).

17 And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. (2 Kings 17:17-18).

The original KJV also has this statement:

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18 KJV).

Of course, we do not kill nor advocating the killing of witches by people now (capital punishment was always supposed to be implemented by the civil authorities). But Christians also should not participate in a holiday that glorifies or otherwise honors them either.

That said, of course, Joy Wendling is not the only Protestant attempting to push Halloween for Christians.

Here is a view from another Protestant:

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions.

But what about today? Perhaps we can still learn from history. In the fourth century, Christians attempted to co-opt the holiday by celebrating the lives of faithful Christian saints the day before Halloween. This was a conscious attempt to provide an alternative and re-focus the day away from ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and other “haunted” experiences. Since that time many Christians have decided to allow their children to dress in more “innocent” costumes of pumpkins, princesses, Superman or as a cowboy. Part of this is due to the simple reality that in today’s Western culture it is nearly impossible to “avoid” Halloween.

Just before reaching a conclusion on the subject, I was struck with the thought that I ought to further my search and find out what Wicca, the official religion of witchcraft, has to say about Halloween. Perhaps they viewed the day as a simple fun and innocent neighborhood activity?

“Shock” is the only word to describe what I found. Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who follow Wicca. In fact, it is one of two high and holy days for them. The Celtic belief of spirits being released is current, along with the worship of Samhain (the lord of death) – both are promoted as something to embrace on that day. There is no question in my mind that to those who believe and follow the practices of witchcraft, Halloween represents an opportunity to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the spiritual world.

So after discovering this, what is a reasonable conclusion? As Christians you and I are placed in this world to be a light in a world of darkness. There is no lasting benefit to ignore a holiday that exists around us, but it also does harm to celebrate Halloween as it has originated and grown over the centuries. (Watson E. Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? CBN. http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/onlinediscipleship/halloween/halloween_watt05.aspx accessed 10/18/15)

Notice something related to an ex-Satanist turned Protestant:

John Ramirez spent much of his early life with strong ties to the devil–he drank animal blood, conducted sacrifices, was baptized with the devil and got married in a demonic wedding on Halloween. …

“I wonder why people celebrate Halloween these days,” the 55-year-old told Fox News. “Because in essence, I know what Halloween is about. I was in witchcraft for 25 years … selling my soul to the devil, I was a general for the devil … as a warlock.”

He added: “Have you ever heard a Satanist say, ‘I can’t wait for Good Friday to go to church with you?’ So, why would the Christians say, ‘I can’t wait for Halloween to say I want to dress up’ … It’s cheating on God, really.”

Ramirez, who grew up in the Bronx, was part of a Satanist church from when he was 8 years old to 35 years old. …

He showed Fox News the marks on his body, the “mark of the beast,” as he reached the “highest rank of devil worshippers” and a “name chosen by the devil himself,” after kissing a human skull and being cut open and burned in demonic ceremonies. …

Ramirez said he threw away thousands of dollars worth of witchcraft materials in the closet — including human bones, cemetery dirt, etc. …

He said all the witches claiming to do witchcraft against President Trump, “That was a hoax, just to make money.”

The author of “Destroying Fear,” said, “The devil’s greatest weapon is fear,” 10/30/19 https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/halloween-celebrate-christian-satanist-evangelist

Should Christians celebrate Halloween or let their children celebrate it? No!

Furthermore, Halloween/All Saints’ Day is NOT listed in the early observances of even the Roman or Eastern Orthodox Catholic churches as the early writings by Tertullian and Origen show (see article What Does the Catholic Church Teach About Christmas and the Holy Days?).

Back in 2014, actor Kirk Cameron, who is also a Protestant, put out a film called Saving Christmas. As it turns out, it was reported to be a flop (see Kirk Cameron’s Christmas movie flops).

The reason to bring that up is that while promoting his movie, he made several comments intended to encourage people to celebrate Halloween.

In light of his new film “Saving Christmas,” Kirk Cameron is also speaking out on Halloween celebrations, urging Christians to get into the spooky spirit this year.

“Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas” hits select theaters on Nov. 14,… Cameron addressed the same theories as they are applied to Halloween, clarifying why Christians “should have the biggest Halloween party on your block.”

“The real origins have a lot to do with All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve,” the actor told The Christian Post. “If you go back to old church calendars, especially Catholic calendars, they recognize the holiday All Saints Day, with All Hallows Eve the day before, when they would remember the dead. That’s all tied in to Halloween.”

Moreover, the “Unstoppable” star went on to cite the meaning behind dressing up in frightening costumes on Halloween, clarifying the meaning of Oct. 31.

“When you go out on Halloween and see all people dressed in costumes and see someone in a great big bobble head Obama costume with great big ears and an Obama face, are they honoring him or poking fun?” Cameron asked.

“They are poking fun at him,” the actor said, answering his own question before comparing the concept of costumes to early Christianity.

“Early on, Christians would dress up in costumes as the devil, ghosts, goblins and witches precisely to make the point that those things were defeated and overthrown by the resurrected Jesus Christ,” Cameron continued. “The costumes poke fun at the fact that the devil and other evils were publicly humiliated by Christ at His resurrection. That’s what the Scriptures say, that He publicly humiliated the devil when He triumphed over power and principality and put them under his feet. Over time you get some pagans who want to go this is our day, high holy day of Satanic church, that this is all about death, but Christians have always known since the first century that death was defeated, that the grave was overwhelmed, that ghosts, goblins, devils are foolish has-beens who used to be in power but not anymore. That’s the perspective Christians should have. http://www.christianpost.com/news/kirk-cameron-on-halloween-christians-should-have-the-biggest-party-on-the-block-128345/

Isn’t the perspective, that real Christians should have, is what does the Bible teach and what did early Christians do?

Let it be clear: EARLY CHRISTIANS DID NOT CELEBRATE ALL SAINTS OR ALL SOULS DAY. Ancient Catholic calendars did not have October 31 as a date of celebration.

Notice the following from The Catholic Encyclopedia:

All Saints’ Day

In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (397) to the bishops of the province of Pontus. Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407). (Mershman, Francis. “All Saints’ Day.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 11 Aug. 2013 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01315a.htm>)

A careful reading of John Chrysostom’s 74th homily (which supposedly is where he declared this observation according to The Catholic Encyclopedia) shows that he discussed the deaths of prophets, but it is not clear to me that John Chrysostom declared the “Christian” observation of something that resembles “All Saints’ Day.”

But even if he were to endorse it, John Chrysostom was not a true Christian, plus it obviously was not an original Christian practice, as we are talking about the late 4th century. Furthermore, notice the following also from that article in The Catholic Encyclopedia:

Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November. A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on 1 May. Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration on 1 November to the entire Church. (Mershman, Francis. “All Saints’ Day.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907.)

So, November 1st did not become the widespread practice until the 9th century–this is after the Church of Rome began dealing with many of the Druid faith which did observe the night of October 31st.

“Long ago, the Celts of the British Isles used cross-quarter days to mark the beginnings of seasons. Winter began with Halloween, or as they called it, Samhain,” says John Mosley of the Griffith Observatory.

“Halloween marked the transition between summer and winter, light and dark — and life and death. On that one night, according to folklore, those who had died during the previous year returned for a final visit to their former homes. People set out food and lit fires to aid them on their journey — but remained on guard for mischief the spirits might do.” (Spooky Astronomy. http://spaceweather.com/ present 10/31/07).

October 12, 2020

The modern-day rituals of donning masks, wearing costumes, and bobbing for apples can be traced back centuries to pre-Christian-era Celtic celebrations, says Fred Supp, a history professor at Ball State University.

He points out that a majority of Halloween traditions originated with the ancient Celts and their priests, the Druids. Other civilizations adopted and modified the Celtic rituals, such as bobbing for apples or donning disguises.

“The Celts can be traced back to 800 B.C., to what is now southern Germany and include the ancestors of the Scottish, Irish, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons,” said Suppe, an expert in Celtic folklore. “Particular motifs of modern-day Halloween — such as the date and time it is celebrated, children trick-or-treating, the jack-o’-lantern and bobbing for apples — are related to Celtic traditions.”

When Christianity was introduced to the Celts, church leaders tried to persuade them to abandon their pagan celebrations and adopt the Christian calendar. Because these traditions were culturally ingrained, the church provided alternative holy days such as All Saints’ Day on November 1. https://www.bsu.edu/news/press-center/archives/2020/10/halloween-traditions-date-back-centuries

No, the true and faithful Christian church did not try to do that. But a compromised one did.

Notice that:

The Druids, and order of priests in ancient Gaul and Britain, believed that on Halloween, ghosts, spirits, fairies, witches, and elves came out to harm people. They thought the cat was sacred and believed that cats had once been human beings but were changed for punishment for their evil deeds. From these Druid beliefs come the present-day use of witches, ghosts, and cats in Halloween festivities…The custom of using leaves, pumpkins, and corn stalks as Halloween decorations comes from the Druids. The early peoples of Europe also had a festival similar to the Druid holiday…In the 700s, the Roman Catholic Church named November 1 as All Saints’ Day. The old pagan customs and the Christian feast day were combined into the Halloween festival [Halloween. World Book Encyclopedia, vol 9. Chicago, 1966: 25-26].

The origins of Halloween specifically can be traced back to the ancient Celts (who lived in what is now known as Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern France) and their Druid priests. The end of October commemerated their festival of the waning year … Druids believed that during this season spirits walked, and evil held power over the souls of men. On October 31, their New Year’s Eve, great bonfires were kindled, which were thought to simulate the sun to procure blessings for the entire succeeding year. The fires remained burning as a means to frighten away evil spirits. The Druids held these early Halloween celebrations in honor of Samhain, also known as Lord of the Dead, whose festival fell on November 1. There bonfires, or “bone fires”, were also used in animal and human sacrifice–thus the name. The tradition of lighting a bonfire has continued to modern times (Coulter F.R. Occult Holiday–or–God’s Holy Days–Which? York Publishing Company, Hollister (CA) 2006).

Lord of the Dead? Three immediate issues come to mind.

The first is something Jesus said:

27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken. (Mark 12:27)

The second is that the dead know nothing:

5 For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, (Ecclesiastes 9:5, DRB)

Third, notice:

43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. (John 8:43-47)

Halloween is a lie. The dead do not become more accessible then. Saints do not answer prayers.

October 18, 2021

Part of the origin for the Holiday is that the Celts believed this day was one of the days in the year when the barrier between the world of the living and dead lowered so that travel was possible.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2021/10/18/why-halloween-will-change/?sh=7f07a3b5e779

That is a pagan, not a biblical, teaching.  There is not travel between the world of the living and the dead.

5 For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6),

Until they are resurrected, and this resurrection has not happened yet, the dead are dead. They do not travel, they do not hear prayers, they do not do anything. Yet, most Protestants do not understand that–and the observance Halloween does not help correct their errors.

Consider also the following related to Kirk Cameron:

Cameron continues in the interview:

“Over time you get some pagans who want to go this is our day, high holy day of Satanic church, that this is all about death, but Christians have always known since the first century that death was defeated, that the grave was overwhelmed, that ghosts, goblins, devils are foolish has-beens who used to be in power but not anymore. That’s the perspective Christians should have.”

Everything in this quote shows extreme diarrhea of the mouth. Christians right up until the modern day have been afraid of devils, goblins, and ghosts, and that fear often manifested on Halloween. To the Christian of the Middle Ages the night was full of terrors, and things didn’t really change until the 20th Century. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2014/10/kirk-cameron-doesnt-get-halloween-like-most-people/#udp0U90wBMfduxrG.99

As far as high holy days go, Kirk Cameron should instead endorse those of the God of the Bible which are listed in the 23rd chapter of the Book of Leviticus.

Furthermore, despite Kirk Cameron’s claims, the Bible condemns pagan celebrations and early Christians did NOT dress up as witches and devils. Related to that, someone properly commented, “If there is anything Kirk Cameron is fond of, other than bananas, it is making up his own facts about things. … this week, he brings us his version of the history of Halloween” (https://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/229911/kirk-cameron-explains-how-jesus-invented-halloween-to-mock-obama-or-something/).

The Bible teaches:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; (Ephesians 6:10-17)

The Bible does not teach to put on costumes of witches or other things associated with darkness. Early Christians did NOT dress up as witches. True Christians rely on the word of God.

The perspective real Christians should have is what does the Bible teach and what did early Christians do?

The Bible condemns pagan celebrations and early Christians did NOT dress up as witches and devils. Jesus was not even born on December 25th (see also How did December 25th become Christmas?).

Christmas is a lie. True worshipers will NOT be celebrating it. To learn more about who the true Christians are, check out the following: Where is the True Christian Church Today?

Kirk Cameron not only overlooks this, he seems to be pushing a more ‘ecumenical’ and anti-biblical view of what he calls Christianity. This is wrong, and will NOT end well (cf. Revelation 18).

Now, let’s see something related to Justin Bieber’s wife Hailey:

October 18, 2019

Hailey Bieber caused some confusion when she posted an Instagram story explaining that she is “claiming” Halloween for Christians

“I’m a Christian. Do you have any idea what that means historically?” she wrote. “It means I redefine everything in culture. Pagan Feast of Winter Solstice? Oh that’s now JESUS BIRTHDAY. Pagan Feast of Spring Planting? Oh that’s now EASTER WEEKEND. Pagan Celtic Festival involving dressing up and warding off evil spirits? Oh now it’s ALL SAINTS DAY and we celebrate the VICTORIOUS CHURCH THAT HAS BEEN OVERCOME BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB!!! CANDY PLEASE!!!” https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/10/8594141/halloween-christian-holiday-hailey-bieber

Yes, I do understand historically what it means to be a Christian (see also Continuing History of the Church of God)–but apparently Hailey Bieber does not.

Furthermore, multiple wrongs do not make a right. No, none of the pagan holidays have been embraced by true Christians–but compromisers claiming Christ continue to do so (see also Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism). The Church/Churches that promote Halloween are not following the ways of Jesus.

Halloween gives a false impression about death. Furthermore, real Christians understood that Jesus taught:

23 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)

Halloween is NOT based on truth and real Christians understand that. Real Christians accept the words of Jesus above their opinions or temporal feelings.

Notice also the following “justifications” by Protestant Pastor Alan Rudnik:

Here are 7 ways Christians can take back Halloween:

1.  Understand that All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and the ancient pagan festival of Samhain are not the same. … Gregory III (731–741) and Gregory IV (827–844) moved the Christian holiday All Saints’ Day  from May 13 to November 1 to replace the pagan rituals on October 31 and November 1.  Gregory III instructed people to dress up as saints.  Let the occult have Samhain, we are taking All Hallows Eve back.

2. The establishment of Christmas and Easter in Europe had pagan connections but we do not  abandon these holidays.  Neither should we abandon All Hallows Eve. …

3. Understanding that early Christians contextualized early pagan holidays into Christian holidays helps us to see that we do not have to compromise our beliefs with pagan ones. Anthony McRoy, a Fellow of the British Society for Middle East Studies at Wales Evangelical School of Theology reminds us:

Of course, even if Christians did engage in contextualization—expressing their message and worship in the language or forms of the local people—that in no way implies doctrinal compromise.

4. “Evil” themes in our current secular Halloween observances were not always present. Thus, we can recapture the spiritual with the innocent. Halloween does not have to be a holiday filled with Draculas, bloody masks, or witches. …

5. If you still think Halloween is an evil day, then maybe you should see All Hallows Eve as a time when Christians can laugh and even mock evil. Anderson M. Rearick, assistant professor of English at Mount Vernon Nazarene College in Ohio, challenges us to rethink Halloween:

Should the forces of evil be mocked? Should Satan be laughed at? He most certainly should be. At the beginning of The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis includes two telling quotations, the first from Martin Luther: “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.”

6. Christians should focus and teach the concept of celebrating All Saint’s Day, November 1st in churches.
The term “saint” is used over 60 times in the New Testament.  We protestants use the word saints to describe the Christians living and dead.  We can also honor our loved ones who have given us Christ, such as our parents, grandparents, etc…  We thank God for them and pray that the living “saints” may live in community.  Churches can use All Saints Day to light candles as an act of prayer for thanking God for the special people (“saints”) in our lives.

We can also learn from the saints of the church for the last 2,000 years.  We protestants have often been fearful of honoring and learning from the Church saints for fear that we are venerating them as Catholics do.

7. Christ holds the “keys to death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18).  We can take comfort in the fact that Christ defeated death. Even the mere name of “Jesus Christ” can make evil shutter and even follow the commands of God. (Pastor Alan Rudnik. 7 Reasons why a Christian can celebrate Halloween. October 28, 2010. http://www.alanrudnick.org/2010/10/28/7-reasons-why-christians-should-celebrate-halloween/ accessed 10/18/15)

Christians cannot “take back” what is anti-biblical–Halloween was never a Christian observance.

But apparently according to that Protestant pastor, if you feel that the Bishop of Rome has authority over your spiritual life (1), that you are to venerate dead saints and/or consider them mediators in conflict with 1 Timothy 2:5 (1,6), that modified paganism pleases God (1,2), that multiple wrongs make something right (1,2), that adopting pagan customs is not doctrinal compromise (3), that although vulgar and bad costumes are often used that because not all costumes are that way this is holiday is okay (4), that people spend Halloween mocking evil and the devil when they celebrate a pagan holiday (5), that you should venerate dead saints and light candles like the Church of Rome (6), that Halloween is a type of memorial to Christ’s death (7), and that keeeping Halloween is following the commands of God (7), then you clearly do not believe the Bible, so, if this is how you ‘take back’ Halloween, then clearly you worship a different God than we in the Continuing Church of God do. Jude wrote:

3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 3-4)

Halloween, Christmas, and Easter were NOT part of the original faith. All three have aspects that promote lewdness, eg.: lewd costumes for Halloween, Christmas mistletoe for physical contact, and sex goddess promotion for Easter (the name of a sex goddess).

But, as UCG asked years ago, Can Halloween Be Christianized?:

The fundamental argument in favor of mixing ancient pagan customs and practices with the worship of God is that some believe it is an effective way to gradually win people over to Christian understanding. (Of course, in the present world we should ask ourselves why people who already see themselves as Christian would find any need to continue associations with pagan religious customs.)

This is sometimes a hotly disputed subject, and sincere people have concluded it indeed is useful to integrate the practices of ancient religious customs with the worship of God.

But perhaps we should address a fundamental question: What does God advise?

There is a scriptural precedent that offers guidance and direction for those who accept the Bible’s instruction. The Israelites were confronted with these issues as they settled and built a new nation in the Promised Land. They encountered many worshipers of pagan deities as they entered the land and for centuries faced the problem as they dealt with neighboring peoples.

Even before they entered the land, God revealed His thinking and told them how to handle this challenge. His directions were explicit: “When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed that you are not ensnared to follow them … Do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods … Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).

God’s instructions are crystal clear. He refuses to accept worship that is compromised and tainted by customs used in the worship of fraudulent religion. He expects His worshipers to revere Him in accordance with His commands, not their own imaginings.

Many centuries later the apostle Paul expressed a similar thought when correcting some in the church in Corinth for their poor judgment. “What partnership can righteousness have with wickedness?” he asked. “Can light associate with darkness? Can Christ agree with [the devil] …? Can there be a compact between the temple of God and idols? And the temple of the living God is what we are” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

The modern debate over Christianizing pagan worship customs could be resolved simply by reading and heeding God’s plainly expressed will.

No real Christian should be debating as to whether or not to keep Halloween. Real Christians know that they should not. Perhaps it should be added that even the Church of Rome now discourages Halloween (for details see Is Halloween Holy Time for Christians?).

Notice something from the Protestant publication improperly named publication called Christianity Today:

October 28, 2016

Here are four reasons you might want to go trick-or-treating tonight:

1. There is no other night in the year when people you have not met will be coming to your door. You want to be there, meet them, and visit with them. If you are at a Halloween alternative, you miss your neighbors.

2. There is no other night when you get to go to your neighbor’s door and introduce yourself without any awkwardness (only if you have kids—otherwise it’s creepy and you should stay home and pass out candy). Tonight, you will meet people at your door and at their door—what an amazing opportunity.

Halloween trick-or-treating might be the best opportunity you have to connect with the unchurched all year.

3. You don’t have to worship the devil to go up and ask your neighbor for candy. Choose your costume and your words carefully, and many Christians find this an opportunity, not an occult experience. I know the history of Halloween, but your neighbors don’t, so don’t assume they are participating in some dark ritual if it has lost all that meaning. (Now, if you are opposed to Easter eggs, Christmas trees, and the like, I would definitely not go out on Halloween or else you are being inconsistent to your convictions.)

4. You can meet more neighbors in one night than any other day of the year. Don’t miss the best opportunity you have each year to meet your neighbors. And, while you do, get their names and numbers and have them over for dinner. Get to know them, and start tonight. http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/october/new-lifeway-research-pastors-and-halloween.html

Well, you certainly are not setting a truly ‘Christian’ example for your neighbors by endorsing a pagan holiday. A holiday intended to honor the spirits, increase consumption of sweets, and one where many wear lewd costumes.

Neighbors pretty much do NOT want you to trick-or-treat and then try to convert them. But the author is right for implying that many holidays Greco-Roman Catholics and Protestants observe are also filled with paganism (see also Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?)–but certainly multiple wrongs do not make a right.

The Bible repeatedly teaches:

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12)

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 16:25)

8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today — every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8)

Furthermore, consider:

8 “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. (Jeremiah 21:8)

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; (Deuteronomy 30:19)

The demonically death-themed Halloween is not the way of life that the Bible advocates.

Years ago, several anti-Church of God websites posted comments from former WCG-writer Keith Stump who abandoned the original faith:

First, there’s no need to point out that Halloween is not found in Leviticus 23. (Duh.) Leviticus 23 is obsolete and irrelevant anyway…Yet some of Halloween’s customs do have roots in pre-Christian (“pagan”) practices…Some of Halloween’s customs can be traced to practices of the Celtic New Year, particularly among the Druids of ancient Britain.

Of course, since the Bible says that the holy days in Leviticus 23 are “‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts” (vs. 2), obviously those that do not believe that they need to do what the Bible teaches would consider that Halloween was acceptable. It is nice that he admits that current customs often have pagan roots–and followers of the true God are not to adopt pagan-worship practices (Deuteronomy 4:15-16).

Plus, the writings of the Apostle Paul show that Christians are not to adopt pagan worship practices. Paul also wrote:

11 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

Paul and Jesus kept the biblical holy days and not demonic ones (see also the free online booklet Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?).

Early Christians did NOT consider the Holy Days of Leviticus 23 obsolete as they did observe them–that is a historical fact.

Keith Stump also wrote:

Others who are reading this have heartwarming memories of Halloween. It’s a slice of genuine Americana … Halloween reaffirmed social bonds with friends and neighbors. These are hardly the “unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11), unless one is a fanatic who interprets that phrase like, well, a fanatic.

Now that is an attempt to try to insult and label people who do not wish to disobey God as “fanatics.” The reality is that pagans had fond memories of their holiday practices as well or they would not have continued to have their holidays. God did not say that exceptions should be made for pagan-practices that families liked (cf. Deuteronomy 4:15-16).

Christians were considered to be part of a sect that was everywhere spoken against (Acts 28:22). The Apostle Paul was considered to be part of a cult (Acts 24:14. NLB). Jesus warned that a person’s enemies would be those of their own household (Matthew 10:36). Presumably enemies of true Christianity considered those who were faithful as fanatics.

Keith Stump also wrote:

I have seen no evidence of children being psychologically warped or seduced into a life of witchcraft and perversion as a result of innocent Halloween activities.

I was unaware that Keith Stump is able to look at the heart (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7), though he probably feels that accepting non-biblical Protestant or similar faiths is not a problem. Pagan cultures have many “experts” like Keith Stump who come to similar conclusions about how many practices that are opposed to scripture affect their people. Consider also that there is not evidence that those who embrace Halloween actively promote the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The observance of Halloween absolutely pushes people away for obeying the God of the Bible–so yes, in that sense they become spiritually warped.

Keith Stump also wrote:

Halloween is also a good time to reconsider our own views about death and the afterlife. The unbiblical doctrine of “soul sleep” would be a good place to start. The Bible clearly teaches (and centuries of experience demonstrate) that death does not interrupt self-awareness; personal identity survives death!

Jesus and others in the Bible come to a different conclusion than Keith Stump here (see What Happens After Death? and Did Early Christians Believe that Humans Possessed Immortality?).”Soul sleep” is actually what the Bible teaches and early Christians also taught it.

Furthermore, most people do not use Halloween as time to consider views of their death, but instead view it as a time for a holiday of indulgence. The high prevalence of diabetes in the Western world is the direct result of consuming excessive amounts of sugars and other refined carbohydrates, which is something that modern Halloween practices do encourage.

Keith Stump also wrote:

To all COG members out there: Is your children’s Christianity so feeble as to be endangered by a plastic mask and a few candy bars? Are your children so inadequately grounded in their religion as to be tempted into a life of witchcraft by attending a costume party? Are you yourself so poorly rooted in your faith that you fear your children will ask questions to which you have no satisfactory answers?

Now, the Bible says that no unclean person will enter the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:5). I am fairly sure that the Corinthians thought that they had less feeble Christianity when they tolerated a type of fornicator in their midst. But God inspired the Apostle Paul to write:

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles — that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. (1 Corinthians 5:1-3)

Christians should not be “puffed up” they think that they have spiritual strength because they have compromised with pagan-practices.

The Apostle Paul also warned:

33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)

It is not good to participate in corrupt and pagan activities.

Here are some excerpts from an article in Christianity Today that Halloween endorses Halloween:

On the calendar of events for the Christian college where I teach, October 31 sits in a dark square with no acknowledgment that there is anything special about the date.

“It’s Satan’s Holiday, Dr. Rearick,” affirmed one of my students. “Didn’t you know?”

Well, no, I didn’t know … I have always considered Halloween a day to celebrate the imagination, to become for a short time something wonderful and strange, smelling of grease paint, to taste sweets that are permissible only once a year … “But look at the roots of Halloween,” some may say. “Don’t you see how evil it once was?” I do, but the operative word in that sentence is was. Samhain was once a time of fear and dread, but at one time so was Yule or Midvinterblot, as it was called in Sweden …

Christians should instead celebrate Halloween with gusto. (Rearick III, AM. Trick-or-Treat? Christianity Today, October 31, 2008. http://blog.kyria.com/giftedforleadership/2008/10/trick_or_treat.html viewed 10/17/2011)

Hallowing Halloween

Why Christians should embrace the devilish holiday with gusto—and laughter. …

I have always considered Halloween a day to celebrate the imagination, to become for a short time something wonderful and strange, smelling of grease paint, to taste sweets that are permissible only once a year. How wonderful to be with other children dressed up as what they might grow up to be, what they wished they could be, or even what they secretly feared. (Rearick III, AM. Hallowing Halloween. Christianity Today, October 2, 2000.

The above argument suggests that it does not matter if Halloween was a pagan holiday, it is not one now, so it is okay.

But based on what scripture? The Bible is clear that the God of the Bible did not want His people to adopt pagan customs (Jeremiah 10:2-3). Plus, remember that the Apostle Paul wrote, “ let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Furthermore, notice something about the type of costumes that many women like to dress up as in the 21st century:

As everyone knows, the perennial favorite among Halloween costumes for women is “ho,” followed by “sexy witch,” “sexy nurse” and “Lady Gaga.” http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-allen-halloween-sluts-20111030,0,6455906.story

No one can consider how “Lady Gaga” provocatively has dressed to be Christian, and no true believer would ever try to follow her risqué example, or to try to directly resemble some type of harlot as many women apparently like to do now.

The Apostle Paul taught:

9 in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. (1 Timothy 2:9-10)

Hence, although I have heard some claim that Halloween is no longer a pagan holiday, certainly with many dressing immodestly, no one can seriously feel that Christians are to observe it.

Holidays that encourage women to dress like harlots are not holidays that Christians should want to endorse.

Many claim Christians should celebrate Halloween.

But the Bible does not endorse it–instead it warns about following pagan ways–in both the Old and New Testaments.

Jesus said:

4 “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” (Matthew 4:4)

Those who really intend to live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” do not celebrate Halloween.

While many Protestants tend to rely on feelings above scripture, we in the Continuing Church of God  are not Protestant, but as this article demonstrates, do rely on scripture as well as historical facts.

Halloween was NOT something early Christians observed. It was adopted by the Church of Rome from the pagan Druids. Many of its modern practices are bad, and its fruits are not good.

Furthermore, it obscures God’s plan of salvation as it is an alternative that many Protestants (and others) have chosen to observe instead of those days God commands in scripture.

Update: 10/21/23: The Continuing Church of God is pleased to announce this sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:15:14

Halloween, Protestants, and Scripture

Should Christians celebrate Halloween? It became an official holiday in the 9th century after a pronouncement by the Roman Catholic Pope Gregory IV. Protestants such Joy Wendling, Kirk Cameron, Hailey Bieber, and Alan Rudnick think Christians should keep it. But other Protestants have issues with that. What about the Church of God, which is not Protestant nor Roman Catholic? What about Martin Luther, the Apostle Jude, the original faith, and licentiousness? Does Halloween have its origins in a pagan Druid holiday which has many of the same features as modern Halloween celebrations? What do Satanists and those who practice Wicca (witchcraft) think of Halloween? Is Halloween the right time to be a Christian witness? What about lewd Halloween costumes? Did a Roman Catholic write, “Catholic feasts are in continuity and fulfill the meaning of the pagan ones”? Did the Apostle Paul about combining biblical and demonic practices? Did early Christians endorse anything like Halloween or ‘All Saints Day’? What is the state of the dead? Should real Christians rely on the word of God or feelings some ascribe to the Holy Spirit? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to the sermon: Halloween, Protestants, and Scripture.

In 2024, in response to another Protestant advocating Halloween, the Continuing Church of God put out the following sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:21:36

5 Ways Christians Can Biblically Celebrate Halloween?

The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Greek scriptures (New Testament) enjoin the Ten Commandments. Did early Christians keep them? Did the Pharisees keep or actually violate all of the Ten Commandments? Do many rely on traditions of men and mistranslations of scripture as “proof” that they do not need to keep the commandments? Do the two beasts of Revelation 13, the Beast from the sea (King of the North) and Beast from the earth (Antichrist) keep or violate each of the 10 Commandments? What about Simon Magus, Marcion of Pontus, and the “mystery of iniquity” otherwise known as the “mystery of lawlessness”? Did early Christians believe that they needed to do the Ten Commandments? Were crosses considered a symbol of their faith by early Christians? Does the Book of Revelation make it clear that God’s people, the saints, are to keep the Ten Commandments? Are the Ten Commandments truth? Is the purpose of the commandments love? What are some of the anti-10 Commandment arguments? Will the two end time beasts persecute those who strive to keep the Ten Commandments? Is an increase in lawlessness a sign of the end times? Is it only those who do His Commandments that have the right to the ‘tree of life’? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to the sermon: 5 Ways Christians Can Biblically Celebrate Halloween?

Some items of related interest may include:

Is Halloween Holy Time for Christians? Here are some historical and biblical insight on this question. There are many cultures that have celebrations and observances that are similar to some associated with Halloween. What did the Druids do? Is Halloween one of the most important holidays for Satanists? Do the Japanese, Indians, and Chinese have any practices that are similar to some associated with Halloween? Does the Bible endorse or condemn practices that are associated with Halloween? Here are links to three related sermonette length videos: Debunking 17 reasons to celebrate Halloween, Halloween: Are there 7 reasons for Christians to celebrate it?, and International ‘Halloween’ Should Christians observe Halloween?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
All Saints’ Day, the Day of the Dead, and All Souls’ Day When did “All Saints Day” and the “Day of the Dead” begin? “What about All Soul’s Day”? Here is a link to a related sermon: All Hallowed Saints’ Day of the Dead.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.

Israel is looking at pushing Gazans to Egyptian territory. Notice the following:

An Israeli ministry, in a ‘concept paper,’ proposes transferring Gaza civilians to Egypt’s Sinai

October 30, 2024

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli government ministry has drafted a wartime proposal to transfer the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, drawing condemnation from the Palestinians and worsening tensions with Cairo.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office played down the report compiled by the Intelligence Ministry as a hypothetical exercise — a “concept paper.” But its conclusions deepened long-standing Egyptian fears that Israel wants to make Gaza into Egypt’s problem, and revived for Palestinians memories of their greatest trauma — the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of people who fled or were forced from their homes during the fighting surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.

“We are against transfer to any place, in any form, and we consider it a red line that we will not allow to be crossed,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said of the report. …

In its report, the Intelligence Ministry — a junior ministry that conducts research but does not set policy — offered three alternatives “to effect a significant change in the civilian reality in the Gaza Strip in light of the Hamas crimes that led to the Sword of Iron war.”

The document’s authors deem this alternative to be the most desirable for Israel’s security.

The document proposes moving Gaza’s civilian population to tent cities in northern Sinai, then building permanent cities and an undefined humanitarian corridor. A security zone would be established inside Israel to block the displaced Palestinians from entering. The report did not say what would become of Gaza once its population is cleared out. https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-population-transfer-hamas-egypt-palestinians-refugees-5f99378c0af6aca183a90c631fa4da5a

The Forced Exodus of All Palestinians in Gaza into Egypt – Leaked Document by the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence reveals

As was recently reported on by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, an official secret memorandum authored by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence is recommending the forcible and permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. …

The 10-page leaked document’s authenticity was confirmed by the Ministry of Intelligence. …

Highlights of document (Google translated) reveal recommendations for:

• the forced transfer of the population of the Gaza Strip to Sinai permanently, and calls for the international community to be harnessed for the move;
• that the security system carry out a full transfer of all residents of the Gaza Strip to North Sinai, as the preferred option among the three alternatives it offers regarding the future of the Palestinians in the Strip at the end of the war;
• that Israel act “to evacuate the Gazan population to Sinai” during the war: to establish tent cities and new cities in northern Sinai, which will accommodate the deported population, and then “to create a sterile zone of several kilometers inside Egypt and not allow the population to return to activity or residence near the Israeli border.”; …

While three different options are presented in the document, the third (“Option C”) is the one that the ministry says would yield the most “positive, long-term strategic outcomes for Israel,” and is an “executable option.”

But at the same time, it would require “determination from the political echelon in the face of international pressure,” and would require “harnessing the support of the United States and additional pro-Israeli countries,” the document adds. 10/28/24 https://fournier.substack.com/p/the-forced-exodus-of-all-palestinians

Well, that may be the hope of some in Israel, to both eliminate Hamas and eliminate it from Gaza, and while Israel may have some success that way, it will only be temporary and will not last.

No matter what Israel does, there will remain Gazans opposed to it who will one day end up with territory currently dominated by Israel.

This is not a new position, but is based on scriptures.

Consider that in its 10/20/23 newsletter, the Temple Institute had the following:

Israel was awakened that morning by the sound of sirens, something that we have grown all too accustomed to, signaling that the Hamas terror organization and its Islamic Jihad offshoot have launched a massive missile attack on Israel. But within moments it became clear that the missiles were a cover for acts of evil of a far greater magnitude. As many as 3,000 Hamas terrorists and a mixed multitude of Gazan civilians who simply couldn’t resist the temptation, broke through Israel’s security fence and launched a rampage of unprecedented violence and cruelty.  …

Has G-d forgotten us? Or have we forgotten G-d?

That is an important question–and it is because of turning its back on God that the descendants of Israel will lose land per Deuteronomy 28:58-63.

In the October-December 2019 edition of Bible News Prophecy magazine, we had the following article–which also included information from the old Radio Church of God related to who the Gazan biblically are and some of what is prophesied to happen related to them:

Gaza and the Palestinians in Bible Prophecy

By Bob Thiel

The Palestinian-dominated areas of the West Bank and Gaza have been in the news a lot. A violent-prone group known as Hamas essentially runs the region called Gaza.

What will happen to Gaza? Does the Bible teach anything about the Palestinians?

Does the Bible have anything to say about Gaza and/or the Palestinians?

Gaza, itself, is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. And some of those mentions involve statements that are prophetic.

Gaza, `Azzah (az-zaw’), is the feminine form the Hebrew word ‘az that means strong, vehement, or harsh (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.).

Where is Gaza? What about Palestine?

Here is some information about Gaza:

The Gaza Strip (/ˈɡɑːzəˈstrɪp/; Arabic: قطاع غزة‎ Qiṭāʿ Ġazzah [qɪˈtˤɑːʕ ˈɣazza]), or simply Gaza, is a Palestinian region on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km (32 mi) border.

In 1994, Israel granted the right of self-governance to Gaza through the Palestinian Authority. Prior to this, Gaza had been subject to military occupation, most recently by Israel (1967–94) and by Egypt (1958–67), and earlier by Syria when Gaza had been part of the Ottoman Empire. Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been de-facto governed by Hamas, a Palestinian group claiming to be the representatives of the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian people. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly “accorded Palestine non-Member Observer State status in the United Nations”. Gaza forms a part of the Palestinian territory defined in the Oslo Agreements and UNSC Resolution 1860. (Gaza, Wikipedia, viewed 07/26/14)

Basically, the nation calling itself Israel took Gaza in the 1967 war. Later, Israel turned Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority to govern, though Israel, technically considers it part of its territory. Most in Gaza are Palestinian Muslims who do not wish to be part of Israel. Around two million Palestinians live in neighboring Jordan.

According to the commentary at Nelson’s Study Bible Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron were the major cities of the Philistines and that the term Cherethites is simply another name for Philistines. Those cities/regions are currently primarily occupied by the Palestinians.

Notice what the Bible says about the origin of the Philistines:

6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. (Genesis 10:6)

13 Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim). (Genesis 10:13-14)

Basically the Palestinians seem to have come from descendants of Casluhim (Genesis 10:14) who likely mixed with descendants of Ishmael (cf. Genesis 16:10-12).

Notice also the following from the old Radio Church of God:

Where Are the Canaanites Today?

Originally the sons of Canaan settled in Palestine. Canaan, remember, was the first born of Ham. Canaan’s descendants — and this includes the other sons of Ham — were to be “servant of servants” (Gen.9:25). Their children are to serve both Shem and Japheth (verses 26,27). There is nothing wrong with serving — we all have to learn to serve. Shem and Japheth must become God’s servants, too. That is why Canaan is called a “servant of servants.”

Many have quoted this in direct reference to the Negro. As brothers of Canaan, the Negroes have shared the same position in life, but Negroes are not Canaanites.

The Canaanites were great traffickers of old. The word Canaanite in Zech.14:21 is, in fact, translated as “trafficker” in the Jewish translation. The Sidonians, descendants of Canaan, were famous seamen in the days of Solomon. The Greeks called them “Phoenicians”. But the Phoenicians called themselves “Kna” or “Knana”, meaning Canaanite. (See SMITH’S BIBLE DICTIONARY ).

When Israel entered the land of Palestine under Joshua, whole tribes of the Canaanites were destroyed or driven out of central Palestine (Judges 3:1-4) because some of the Canaanites were extremely degenerate in their morals.

Now turn to Gen. 10:18, “Afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad”. Where did they journey?

The Canaanites settled the island of Malta and parts of Sicily, Southern Italy, Sardinia, North Africa and even Southern Spain and Portugal, where the sons of Javan were already living. (See ENCY. BRIT., articles, “Malta”, “Sicily”, Carthage”, etc. Most people are familiar with the Phoenicians from grade and high school days. In North Africa the Canaanites are called Moors — -a name probably derived from Amors, the Hebrew form of “Amorites”.

From these lands they have spread into North and South America since the days of Columbus. The Portuguese — of mixed Canaanite and Tarshish stock — have settled much of Brazil. And the Sicilians are thick in big cities in America. The underworld “Mafia” organization which springs from Canaanitish Sicily, is but a modern version of their ancient tendency to traffic among the nations of the world.

Canaanites have also intermarried into Esau — Turkey today (Gen.26:34), and Judah (Gen.38:2), and Israel (Judges 3:5-7).

Only a few Canaanites remain in North Palestine and Lebanon. The Canaanites are seldom included in the prophecies which pertain to this twentieth century. They exert no great position or influence in the world.

The main body of non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine today are not Canaanites, but Philistines! 

Who Are the Philistines?

The Philistines are first mentioned in Genesis 10:14. They are a branch of the Mizraim, from Ham.

Mizraim is commonly applied to Egypt. In fact, “Mizr” is the name which the natives still apply to Egypt today. The Greeks called the land Aegyptus — hence our Egypt. Josephus said that not all the people from Mizraim inhabited Africa.

But not all of Mizraim live in Egypt today!

Where did the children of Mizraim settle?

First, notice that the Mizraim first settled on the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea.

From there they spread through the Eastern Mediterranean isles and into Africa (ENCYCLOPAEDIA BIBLICA, “Mizraim”).

The Philistines, who came from Mizraim, inhabited Southern Palestine even in the days of Abraham (Gen.21:34). They are still there today — in the Gaza strip in Palestine — causing no end of trouble (Zech.9:6-7). The Philistines (a branch of the family of Casluhim) settled originally on the Island of Crete in the Mediterranean. Crete is called, in the Bible, Caphtor (Jer.47:4 and Amos 9:7). The Island of Caphtor was originally settled by the Caphtorim, a tribe of Mizraim (Gen.10:14). Both the Philistines and the Caphtorim destroyed the Canaanites in South Palestine and lived in their place (Deut.2:23). No wonder there are so few Canaanites left! (Hoeh H. The TRUTH about the RACE QUESTION! Plain Truth, July 1957)

As far as the word Palestine goes, notice also the following:

Though the definite origins of the word “Palestine” have been debated for years and are still not known for sure, the name is believed to be derived from the Egyptian and Hebrew word peleshet. Roughly translated to mean “rolling” or “migratory,” the term was used to describe the inhabitants of the land to the northeast of Egypt – the Philistines. The Philistines were an Aegean people – more closely related to the Greeks and with no connection ethnically, linguisticly or historically with Arabia – who conquered in the 12th Century BCE the Mediterranean coastal plain that is now Israel and Gaza.

A derivitave of the name “Palestine” first appears in Greek literature in the 5th Century BCE when the historian Herodotus called the area “Palaistinē” (Greek – Παλαιστίνη). In the 2nd century CE, the Romans crushed the revolt of Shimon Bar Kokhba (132 CE), during which Jerusalem and Judea were regained and the area of Judea was renamed Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. (Origins of the Name “Palestine”. viewed 07/26/14)

The term Philistines in the Bible refers to people who tended to occupy regions including Gaza. The NKJV uses the term Philistines 252 times and the term Philistine 34 times.

The Bible Tells of Gaza

The NKJV has the term “Gaza” 21 times and “Gazites” twice.

Here is the first time Gaza is mentioned in the Bible:

15 Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; 16 the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; 17 the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; 18 the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations. (Genesis 10:15-20)

The first biblically mentioned inhabitants of Gaza were Canaanites that descended from Noah’s son Ham. But as it was a border region, over time, the ethnic character apparently became mixed. And there were changes:

20 (That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21 a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, 22 just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day. 23 And the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza — the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.) (Deuteronomy 2:20-23)

The Bible shows that Joshua later conquered areas in that region:

41 And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. (Joshua 10:41)

22 None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel; they remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. (Joshua 11:22)

21 The cities at the limits of the tribe of the children of Judah…33 In the lowland:… 47 Ashdod with its towns and villages, Gaza with its towns and villages — as far as the Brook of Egypt and the Great Sea with its coastline. (Joshua 15:21, 33, 47)

1 Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. 2 This is the land that yet remains: all the territory of the Philistines and all that of the Geshurites, 3 from Sihor, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron northward (which is counted as Canaanite); the five lords of the Philistines — the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites (Joshua 13:1-3).

The time also came when Gaza was conquered to become part of the Israeli territory of Judah:

18 Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19 So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron. (Judges 1:18-19)

But the situation changed:

1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. (Judges 6:1-4)

Samson had interest in a Gentile in Gaza and once had to escape from the city of Gaza:

1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” 3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. (Judges 16:1-3)

Later, after he was betrayed by Delilah, Samson was brought to Gaza where his eyes were removed:

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. (Judges 16:18-22)

Samson was brought out of that prison to the temple of Dagon during a sacrifice to Dagon. There he asked to be put between the two pillars that held up that temple, pushed them down, and died with the Philistines (Judges 16:25-30). It was apparently close to the prison, and hence Samson seemingly died in Gaza.

After they attained, then returned the Ark of the Covenant to the children of Israel, the Philistines offered something for each of their five main cities/regions, one of which was Gaza:

17 These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron; 18 and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages (1 Samuel 6:17-18)

Solomon, who was of the tribe if Judah, extended the reign of Israel to Gaza:

22 Now Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.

24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him. (1 Kings 4:22-24)

After some territory was lost, Hezekiah, the king of Judah extended his reign to Gaza:

1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign… 7 The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. (2 Kings 18:1,7-8)

Thus, history indicates that the Philistines would gain and lose territory near Gaza, as did the Israelites, although the seems to show that it was mainly dominated by the Philistines.

The New Testament mentions Gaza:

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. (Acts 8:26)

On this road Philip met the ‘Ethiopian eunuch’ and after speaking with him, baptize him.

Bible Prophecy Tells About Gaza and Palestine

Zechariah had a prophecy of change coming to Gaza:

5 Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; And Ekron, for He dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 6 “A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7 I will take away the blood from his mouth, And the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, And shall be like a leader in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite. 8 I will camp around My house Because of the army, Because of him who passes by and him who returns. No more shall an oppressor pass through them, For now I have seen with My eyes. (Zechariah 9:5-8)

Some (see Matthew Henry’s Commentary, etc.) believe that this was fulfilled in the past. However, as future prophecies tell of a time Gaza and the Philistines having problems (see below), the above could still have future fulfillment. If so, it shows that some in Gaza/Palestine will be converted.

Bible prophecy tells of calamity coming to Gaza and other lands:

17 Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; 20 all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.”‘ 28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink! 29 For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’ (Jeremiah 25:17-29)

Many of the lands above are listed as supporters of the final King of the South (Daniel 11:40-43) and/or part of a confederation that will be destroyed that will involve Egypt (Ezekiel 30:3-8).

Some of those lands, Ashkelon (located 50 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, and 13 kilometres north of the border with the Gaza Strip), Ekron (modern Tel Miqne, which is 35 kilometers west of Jerusalem), and Ashdod (located 32 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, 20 km north of Ashkelon, and 53 km west of Jerusalem), are currently dominated by the nation of Israel.

Ashkelon, Tel Migne, and Ashdod are claimed to be part of Israel. They are not in the Gaza Strip (they are all north of it) nor part of the other Palestinian controlled region known as the West Bank. Therefore, it looks like the Palestinians will either control those cities again or be so numerous in it that they are the ones affected in Jeremiah 25. It is my current view that the Palestinians will gain land that the nation of Israel thinks it will continue to control. Since these are not lands currently considered to be ceded in a peace deal, this looks like losses from the State of Israel after the deal of Daniel 9:27 is broken (cf. Daniel 11:31).

The entire 47th chapter of Jeremiah is a prophecy about the Philistines, including Gaza:

1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

2 Thus says the Lord: “Behold, waters rise out of the north, And shall be an overflowing flood; They shall overflow the land and all that is in it, The city and those who dwell within; Then the men shall cry, And all the inhabitants of the land shall wail. 3 At the noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses, At the rushing of his chariots, At the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers will not look back for their children, Lacking courage, 4 Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines,To cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; For the Lord shall plunder the Philistines, The remnant of the country of Caphtor. 5 Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon is cut off With the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself? 6 “O you sword of the Lord, How long until you are quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard, Rest and be still! 7 How can it be quiet, Seeing the Lord has given it a charge Against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There He has appointed it.” (Jeremiah 47:2-7)

Problems were thus prophesied for Gaza–since there is a duality to some prophecies (e.g. Malachi 4:5 & Matthew 17:10-13), this prophecy Jeremiah recorded may also have future application. This prophecy also suggests that Israel will no longer control Ashkelon.

Amos specifically recorded a prophecy about Gaza:

6 Thus says the Lord:

“For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they took captive the whole captivity
To deliver them up to Edom.
7 But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
Which shall devour its palaces.
8 I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod,
And the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn My hand against Ekron,
And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
Says the Lord God. (Amos 1:6-8)

Ezekiel had a prophecy against Edom (mentioned also above) and then the following about the Philistines:

15 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because the Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with a spiteful heart, to destroy because of the old hatred,” 16 therefore thus says the Lord God: “I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant of the seacoast. 17 I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them.” (Ezekiel 25:15-17)

The Bible is clear that vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:9; Hebrews 10:30). Apparently (along with the Edomites, Ezekiel 25:15-17, Joel 3:19, Obadiah 8-11, and Psalms 137:7-9), the Palestinians are subject to judgment in the future for their vengeance. Zechariah 9:6 tells of punishment for their pride.

Isaiah seems to speak of this as well:

14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
15 The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over dryshod. (Isaiah 11:14-15)

This seems to include not only those in Gaza, but possibly those in the West Bank (“the people of the East”) and beyond.

Also notice what Zephaniah prophesied:

4 For Gaza shall be forsaken,
And Ashkelon desolate;
They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday,
And Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
The nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines:
“I will destroy you;
So there shall be no inhabitant. (Zephaniah 2:4-5)

Though there was a partial fulfillment near the time this was written, the time has not yet been when there was no inhabitant in Canaan, hence this prophecy is for the future. Gaza will change and be forsaken! (Years ago, because of what Zephaniah 2:4-5 teaches, I concluded that the place of protection Jesus promised the Philadelphians in Revelation 3:10 would NOT be in the direction of Gaza or the land of the Palestinians.

Is Terrorism Prophesied?

The Palestinians, apparently along with some Syrians, are prophesied to be involved in war, apparently a terroristic one:

8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, And it has fallen on Israel. 9 All the people will know — Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria — Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: 10 ‘The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.” 11 Therefore the Lord shall set up The adversaries of Rezin against him, And spur his enemies on, 12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind; And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. (Isaiah 9:8-12)

Since the above prophecy involves Ephraim and Samaria, this is indicative that the UK (and possibly Canada) and USA (and not just the tiny nation called Israel), respectively, will be attacked. Apparently including terroristic tactics (hitting them before and behind)–though not all Syrians or Palestinians would be part of this.

The Bible shows that terrorism is prophesied:

14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. (Leviticus 26:14-17)

25 The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within (Deuteronomy 32:25)

12 “Cry and wail, son of man; For it will be against My people, Against all the princes of Israel. Terrors including the sword will be against My people; Therefore strike your thigh. (Ezekiel 21:12)

12 Behold, these are the ungodly,Who are always at ease; They increase in riches…19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. (Psalms 73:12,19)

25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. (Proverbs 1:25-27)

5 Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way (Ecclesiastes 12:5).

Jihadist gains in various parts of the world are a prelude to more terrorism and change.

As far as some Palestinian support of terrorism, notice the following:

A new generation of angry, disillusioned Palestinians is driving the current wave of clashes with Israeli forces . . . some say they want to emulate those killed or wounded in confrontations or attacks on Israelis – like Mohannad Halabi, the 19-year-old law student from the West Bank who stabbed to death two Israelis in Jerusalem’s Old City on the weekend before being shot by police.

“We are all impressed by what he has done,” said Malik Hussein, the 19-year-old friend and fellow law student at Quds University near Jerusalem. “The day after the attack, university took to the streets and clashed with Israeli soldiers. Mohannad’s way is the only way to liberate Palestine.” (Daraghmeh M, Laub K. Disillusioned Palestinian youth drive unrest. National Post, October 7, 2015, A1)

Of course, the solution to Palestine and Jerusalem is not war and terrorism, but the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Malik Hussein and others should, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6).

A confederation against the USA, its Anglo-Saxon allies, and Israel involving Arab and European forces is coming (Psalm 83).  And I have long believed that terrorism will have to be part of this.

Goals of Hamas Do Not Include Peace With Israel, But Peace Will–Temporarily–Happen

Gaza is primarily ran by a group known as Hamas.

Here is some information about Hamas’ official goals:

THE COVENANT OF THE HAMAS – MAIN POINTS . . .Goals of the HAMAS:    ——————    ‘The Islamic Resistance  Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah  over  every  inch  of Palestine.’ (Article 6)      On the Destruction of Israel:    —————————–    ‘Israel will exist and  will  continue  to  exist  until  Islam  will    obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.’ (Preamble)      The Exclusive Moslem Nature of the Area:    —————————————-     ‘The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf  [Holy Possession] consecrated for future Moslem  generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part, or abandon it or any part  of  it.’ (Article 11)     ‘Palestine is an Islamic land…  Since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be.’ (Article 13)      The Call to Jihad:    ——————    ‘The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem  land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews’ usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.’ (Article 15)     ‘Ranks will close, fighters joining other fighters, and masses everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty, loudly proclaiming: ‘Hail to  Jihad!’. This cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah’s victory comes about.’ (Article 33)      Rejection of a Negotiated Peace Settlement:    ——————————————-    ‘[Peace]  initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement… Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam…  There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.’ (Article 13)      Condemnation of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty:    ———————————————-    ‘Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of struggle [against Zionism] through the treacherous Camp David  Agreement.  The Zionists are  trying to draw other Arab countries  into  Similar agreements in order to bring them outside the circle of struggle.    … Leaving the circle of struggle against Zionism is high treason, and cursed be he who perpetrates such an act.’ (Article 32) . . . ‘The HAMAS regards itself the spearhead and the vanguard of the    circle of struggle against World Zionism… Islamic groups all over the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best equipped for their future role in the fight against the warmongering Jews.’ (Article 32)

Hamas has more goals, but the above ones give an idea of what it has intended to be about. Hamas is an Islamic organization and has no interest with peace with Israel.

Also, the Palestinian National Authority has stated that it is not interested in US President Donald Trump’s peace “deal of the century.”

Despite Palestinian claims, a type of temporary ‘peace deal’ will come according to Bible prophecy (Daniel 9:27).

Furthermore, the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas have agreed to temporary cease-fires in the past and, thus, various Palestinians would be expected to do so in the future.

Koran Does Not Teach What Many Muslims Seem to Think?

It may be of interest to note that the area of Palestine is not mentioned in the Koran. Thus, not all Muslims believe that they are to acquire Jerusalem. Notice the following:

Sheikh Ahmad Adwan, who introduces himself as a Muslim scholar who lives in Jordan, said on his personal Facebook page that there is no such thing as “Palestine” in the Koran. Allah has assigned the Holy Land to the Children of Israel until the Day of Judgment (Koran, Sura 5 – “The Sura of the Table”, Verse 21), and “We made the Children of Israel the inheritors (of the land)” (Koran, Sura 26 – “The Sura of the Poets”, Verse 59).

“I say to those who distort their Lord’s book, the Koran: From where did you bring the name Palestine, you liars, you accursed, when Allah has already named it “The Holy Land” and bequeathed it to the Children of Israel until the Day of Judgment. There is no such thing as ‘Palestine’ in the Koran. Your demand for the Land of Israel is a falsehood and it constitutes an attack on the Koran, on the Jews and their land. Therefore you won’t succeed, and Allah will fail you and humiliate you, because Allah is the one who will protect them (i.e. the Jews).”

The sheikh added: “The Palestinians are the killers of children, the elderly and women. They attack the Jews and then they use those (children, the elderly and women) as human shields and hide behind them, without mercy for their children as if they weren’t their own children, in order to tell the public opinion that the Jews intended to kill them. This is exactly what I saw with my own two eyes in the 70’s, when they attacked the Jordanian army, which sheltered and protected them. Instead of thanking it (the Jordanian army), they brought their children forward to (face) the Jordanian army, in order to make the world believe that the army kills their children. This is their habit and custom, their viciousness, their having hearts of stones towards their children, and their lying to public opinion, in order to get its support.”

It is worth mentioning, that the above mentioned sheikh visited Israel and met Jewish religious scholars. The “Israel in Arabic” site conducted an interview with him, in which he said that the reason for his openness towards the Jewish people “comes from my acknowledgment of their sovereignty on their land and my belief in the Koran, which told us and emphasized this in many places, like His (Allah’s) saying ”Oh People (i.e the Children of Israel), enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned unto you” (Koran, Sura 5 – “The Sura of the Table”, Verse 21), and His saying “We made the Children of Israel the inheritors (of the land)” (Koran, Sura 26 – “The Sura of the Poets”, Verse 59) and many other verses.

He (Adwan) added: “(The Jews) are peaceful people who love peace, who are not hostile and are not aggressors, but if they are attacked, they defend themselves while causing as little damage to the attackers as possible. It is an honor for them that Allah has chosen them over the worlds – meaning over the people and the Jinns until the Day of Judgment. I made the reasons for Allah’s choice clear in my books and pamphlets. When Allah chose them, He didn’t do so out of politeness, and He wasn’t unjust other peoples, it is just that they (the Jews) deserved this.” (Cohen E. Jordanian Sheikh: ‘There is no “Palestine” in the Koran. Allah gave Israel to the Jews.’ Jews News, August 15, 2014)

Of course, just as many people who claim to be Christian believe as doctrines positions contrary to the Bible, Islam has similar issues.

Overall, the Palestinians expect to attain at least part of Jerusalem–and that is consistent with biblical prophecies.

Jebusites?

The Bible tells that King David had the city of the Jebusites, now called Jerusalem taken over:

6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.” 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David).

8 Now David said on that day, “Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites (the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul), he shall be chief and captain.” Therefore they say, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”

9 Then David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward. 10 So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him. (2 Samuel 5:6-10)

Now after Zedekiah later rebelled, King Nebuchadnezzar’s forces took it over and destroyed it in the sixth century B.C.:

1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. 5 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. 10 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13 And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. (Jeremiah 52:1-13, ESV)

What may this have to do with the Palestinians?

Notice also the following:

The politicians Yasser Arafat and Faisal Husseini among others have claimed that Palestinian Arabs are descended from the Jebusites, in an attempt to argue that Palestinians have a historic claim to Jerusalem that precedes the Jewish one, similar to the more common Palestinian Arab claim that they are descended from the Canaanites. Thus, the 1978 Al-Mawsu’at Al-Filastinniya (Palestinian encyclopedia) asserted, “The Palestinians [are] the descendants of the Jebusites, who are of Arab origin”, and described Jerusalem as “an Arab city because its first builders were the Canaanite Jebusites, whose descendants are the Palestinians. (Jebusite. Wikipedia, accessed 12/12/17)

Some dispute the Jebusite connection. Whether or not it is correct, the Jews were certainly not the first peoples in Jerusalem.

Psalm 83, Daniel 11, Ezekiel 30

There are some agreements/confederations that the Palestinians seemingly will be involved in. The one in Psalm 83 specifically includes the Philistines, the modern Palestinians:

3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

5 For they have consulted together with one consent;
They form a confederacy against You:
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot. (Psalms 83:3-8)

Notice the following from the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God:

Vast Confederacy…

Notice especially prophetic Psalm 83. Here we find described a coming coalition of nations of the Middle East whose purpose will be to eradicate the name of Israel! They will say, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (verse 4).

This prophecy could never have been fulfilled {before} this 20th century. Why?

Since ancient times (the 8th century B.C.) there has not been — until this century — a nation in the Middle East recognized officially by the name Israel. But there is an Israel today. This is clearly a prophecy for these latter days!

Among the participants in this wide-ranging confederacy revealed in Psalm 83 will be Gebal (ancient Byblos, modern Jubayl) and “the Philistines [Palestinians centered in the Gaza Strip] with the inhabitants of Tyre” (verse 7).

Here we see that it was anciently — and accurately — prophesied that Palestinian Arabs would in these tumultuous last days become associated in some way with the cities of Lebanon. The prophet Jeremiah (47:4) also speaks of the Philistines and their allies from Tyre and Sidon.

But this prophesied alliance in Psalm 83 will not endure long. The Bible reveals that meanwhile, in our time, a great European military dictator — known in the book of Revelation as the “beast” and in the prophecy of Daniel as the “king of the north” — will arise and ultimately descend upon the Middle East. (Request our free booklet Who Is the Beast? for details.)

The beast’s intervention will have dire consequences for Israeli and Arab alike. Both Israel (“the glorious land”) and Egypt will be occupied by the beast’s troops (Dan. 11:40-42). (Stump K. LEBANON’S FUTURE Foretold in the Bible! Plain Truth, September-October 1982)

Notice an amazing prophecy about the Middle East in Psalm 83:1-8. It is a time of war. … Here is what is yet going to take shape in the Middle East!

“Edom (Turkey), and the Ishmaelites (Saudi Arabia); Moab (part of Jordan), and the Hagarenes (part of Arabia); Gebal (this is the ancient name for Byblos in Lebanon), and Ammon (Jordan) and Amalek (part of the Turks); the Philistines (the displaced Moslems from Palestine) with the inhabitants of Tyre; ASSUR IS JOINED WITH THEM: they have helped the children of Lot.” (Hoeh H. GERMANY in Prophecy! – Part 2. Plain Truth, January 1963)

Egypt…will provoke the prophesied United Europe (Dan. 11:40). This European power — called the “king of the north” in Daniel 11 — shall invade and occupy the “glorious land” of Palestine (verse 41). “And the land of Egypt shall not escape”(Boraker R. SYRIA RAIDS ISRAEL – Where Is It Leading? Plain Truth. November 1966)

Notice also from {Roman} Catholic and Protestant translations of Ezekiel:

5 Cush, Put and Lud, all Arabia, Cub and the children of the country of the covenant will fall by the sword with them. (Ezekiel 30:5, NJB)

5 “Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all the mingled people, Chub, and the men of the lands who are allied, shall fall with them by the sword.” (Ezekiel 30:5)

What is the “country of the covenant”? Why, that must be the promised to Abraham, but specifically would also include the land dominated by the nation of Israel. The above then would seem to have to include the Palestinians, including those of Gaza.

Also, since the Gazites/Palestinians seem to be related to the other Arabic peoples, prophecies related to the Arabic peoples will also apply, such as Ezekiel 30:2-8.

There have been rockets, retaliations, and other fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Gazites. Although there have been temporary cease-fires, it has been stated that, “Neither side appeared ready to accept the other’s conditions for a permanent cease-fire” (http://www.voanews.com/content/israel-hamas-resume-fighting-as-cairo-talks-break-down/2419518.html). A multi-year temporary peace deal will come about per Daniel 9:27, and that seems consistent with what those in Gaza and Israel may (after more pressure) be willing to accept.

Biblical prophecy teaches that the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank will support confederations which will not end well in this age. They will, for a time, believe that they will be protected by a temporary ‘peace deal’ (Daniel 9:27) and other international arrangements (Daniel 11:27; Psalm 83:3-8) that will not end well (Daniel 11:31,40-43; Ezekiel 30:2-9) according to biblical, and even Islamic prophecy.

That being said, Jesus will come and straighten this world out (see also our free booklet The Gospel of the Kingdom of God).

The also Bible tells of an age to come and that all that ever lived, Palestian, Gazite, or not, will be offered salvation (see also our free book Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation).

Until then, we can expect problems to come to Gaza and other parts of Palestine.

Here is a link to the October-December 2019 edition of Bible News Prophecy magazine.

That said, the Gaza-based group Hamas is based on:

the Arabic word ḥamās (حماس) which itself means “zeal”, “strength”, or “bravery” (Wikipedia, accessed 10/19/23).

However, the word ‘hamas’ in Hebrew means violence or cruel (KJV translators), and is found in the Bible 60 times. And, we have seen violence and cruelty from Hamas.

Yet, violence often goes both ways.

The BBC reported (bolding in source):

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said every Hamas member was “a dead man” 10/12/23 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67082351

That certainly also sounds like a violent threat.

Now, based on various scriptures, I can confidently state that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that every Hamas member will be a “dead man” does not align with scripture. Gazans who are either in Hamas or at least sympathetic to it will survive. And all will not stay in Egypt, even if there were some type of a forced exodus to the Sinai.

The reality is that Gaza will end up controlling lands that Israel now controls.

We also have the following video:

14:33

Gaza and Bible Prophecy

Israeli officials such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have claimed that all those in Hamas will be killed or eliminated. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen added that the plan is to make Gaza shrink. Where do those of Gaza and other Palestinians come from? Does the Bible show historical animosities between the descendants of Israel and those of the Gazans and the Palestinians? What does the Bible show that Gaza and Hamas mean? Do biblical prophecies in Amos and Jeremiah point to Gaza ending up with territories that Israel now controls? Can Israel lose territory? Will Hamas achieve some of its objectives? What does the 83rd Psalm prophesy? Might terrorism be involved? Steve Dupuie and Dr. Thiel address these issues.

Here is a link to our video: Gaza and Bible Prophecy.

Despite how things may look now, Israel will lose territory to the Palestinians, including the Gazans.

Some items of related interest may include the following:

Gaza and the Palestinians in Bible Prophecy What does the Bible teach about Gaza and the fate of the Palestinians? Here is a link to a related video: Gaza and Palestine in Prophecy.
Damascus and Syria in Prophecy Will Bashar Assad hold power as he has it? Does the Bible show that Damascus, the capital of Syria, will be destroyed? What will happen to Syria? Will the Syrians support the final King of the South that the Bible tells will rise up? Which scriptures discuss the rise and fall of an Arabic confederation? Does Islamic prophecy predict the destruction of Syria. This is a YouTube video.
The Arab and Islamic World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam? What about the Imam Mahdi? What lies ahead for Turkey, Iran, and the other non-Arabic Muslims? An item of possibly related interest in the Spanish language would be: Líderes iraníes condenan la hipocresía de Occidente y declaran que ahora es tiempo para prepararse para el Armagedón, la guerra, y el Imán Mahdi.
Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future What does the Bible say about Jerusalem and its future? Is Jerusalem going to be divided and eliminated? Is Jesus returning to the area of Jerusalem? There are also two related YouTube videos you can watch: Jerusalem To be divided and eliminated and God’s and Satan’s Plan for Jerusalem.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
Islamic and Biblical Prophecies for the 21st Century This is a free online book which helps show where biblical and Islamic prophecies converge and diverge. Here are links to related sermons: Seeing Christianity Through Islamic Eyes, Imam Mahdi, women, and prophecy, and Terrorism, Iran, and Fatima, Dajjal, Antichrist, Gold, & Mark of the Beast?, and Jesus and God’s Plan for Muslims. Here is a link to a sermon in the Spanish language: El Imám Mahdi las mujeres y la profecía bíblica

 
(From Free-Images.com)

COGwriter

Al Jazerra reported the following:

Iran plans to increase military budget by 200 percent

Defence spending boost needs parliament nod, comes as Iran and Israel exchanged tit-for-tat missile strikes in October.

Iran plans to triple its military budget, a government spokeswoman has said, as tensions with rival Israel rise amid the Israeli military’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon.

The planned defence budget increase is part of a proposal submitted by the government to parliament for approval, Fatemeh Mohajerani, the government spokeswoman, said on Tuesday. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/29/iran-plans-to-increase-military-budget-by-200-percent

Now, not everyone in Iran supports the increased militarization or its current government.

Deutsche Welle reported the following:

Why many in Iran want Donald Trump to win the US election

In the shadow of the conflict between Iran and Israel, many Iranians are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the US presidential election.

In both confidential and recorded conversations, as seen most recently in a CNN report from Tehran two weeks ago, many Iranians have said they would prefer to see Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump return to the White House.

Those asked said they see him as a strong leader who would be able to tackle problems. A victory for Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, would mean a continuation of the status quo in US politics, in their view.

“Under the enormous pressure of a worsening economic crisis, many Iranians want fundamental change,” Iranian political journalist Fariba Pajooh told DW. “Quite a few of them see Donald Trump as someone who could end the political system of the Islamic Republic in Iran.”

“Trump’s statements are perceived selectively not only in the US but also in Iran,” Pajooh said. “Many Iranians believe he could topple the regime in Iran. Yet Trump repeatedly emphasizes that preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb is his top priority.” …

In September, Trump told reporters that the United States must reach an agreement with Iran to stop its nuclear program. In the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, however, Trump has spoken out in favor of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Biden’s answer should have been: Target the nuclear facilities first and worry about the rest later,” he said at an election event in early October — directly contradicting the official line of his successor. …

“For a successful attack on all Iranian nuclear facilities, Israel would need the support of the US,” Sina Azodi, lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, told DW. …

Middle East peace?

What will happen after the US presidential election remains to be seen. “If Kamala Harris wins the election, her government will probably try to reach temporary agreements with Iran,” Azodi said.

In the past, Harris defended the nuclear agreement with Iran and considered it a significant achievement of the Obama presidency.

In her role as vice president, she has supported efforts to revive the agreement over the past four years. However, these attempts have been unsuccessful.

“If Donald Trump wins the election, he can achieve fundamental changes in US-Iranian relations,” Azodi said.

“He has the potential to unite all Iran critics in the Republican Party behind him to bring about a different agreement with Iran,” he added.

In an interview last week with Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, Trump said that if elected, he would include Iran in the Abraham Accords, along with at least a dozen other countries. 10/29/24 https://www.dw.com/en/iran-donald-trump-us-presidential-election-2024-nuclear-deal-israel-conflict-v2/a-70619129

Yes, many in Iran want a regime change.

They do not see that as likely from a Kamala Harris Administration, but consider it possible under a Donald Trump Administration for several reasons, including his perception as erratic and unpredictable.

Here are some things on that from my January 2017 book Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse:

The Washington Post reported in late 2016 that Donald Trump admired Richard Nixon. It also reported:

Donald Trump appears to have embraced, with gusto, Richard Nixon’s “Madman Theory” of foreign policy. He thinks he can use his reputation for unpredictability and lack of respect for long-standing international norms to unnerve and then intimidate America’s adversaries into making concessions that they would not otherwise make.[i]

Donald Trump’s foreign policy statements have unsettled many—in the U.S.A. as well as foreign nations. He seems like he will more unpredictable than Richard Nixon.

There is also something referred to as the “law of unintended consequences.” There are consequences for the U.S.A., Europe, and elsewhere that have and will occur because of Donald Trump’s statements and actions. …

Iran and Prophecy

Donald Trump has stated that he wants to eliminate or at least change the “nuclear deal” with Iran. [ii]

He also might be more willing than the Obama Administration to trigger enforcement provisions if he feels Iran has violated portions of the agreement.

[i] Wilkinson T. Trump’s plans to scuttle or amend the Iran nuclear deal remain a work in progress. Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2016

[ii] Hohmann J, Deppisch B. The Daily 202: Donald Trump embraces the risky ‘Madman Theory’ on foreign policy. Washington Post, December 20, 2016

Donald Trump did pull the US out of the nuclear deal with Iran and has been considered somewhat unpredictable in various ways.

Regarding Iran and the Biden-Harris Administration, here are some things from my January 2021 book Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction:

Iran and Prophecy

Joe Biden wants to have the U.S.A. rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran that Donald Trump pulled the U.S.A. out of. [i] …

It is of prophetic interest to note that the small nation of Israel is prophesied to one day be attacked by some that seem to have connection to Iran and its ally Syria (Isaiah 22:1-14).

In January 2021, it was reported, “Iranian lawmakers have submitted a bill seeking the government by law to commit to Israel’s destruction by the year 2040, Iranian state media ISNA reported.” [ii]

Iran may decide to strike out against Israel, and likely Jerusalem (cf. Isaiah 22:7-8) if it determines that it should. If it is frustrated with the Biden-Harris Administration policies or delays, that may very well be a factor in it taking prophesied military action.

[i] Iran Parliament to debate bill calling for Israel’s destruction by 2040. i24news, January 6, 2021

[ii] Erlanger S. Biden Wants to Rejoin Iran Nuclear Deal, but It Won’t Be Easy … New York Times, November 18, 2020

And basically, the Biden-Harris Administration took steps to rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran as it released billions of frozen funds to Iran. And Iran has launched attacks against Israel during the Biden-Harris Administration, but NOT the attack prophesied in Isaiah 22:6-8.

That attack will occur whether Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, or someone else is declared the winner of next week’s US presidential election.

Back in 2022, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put together the following Bible News Prophecy video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

15:03

Iran and Israel Conflict

European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrel, has been brokering the nuclear negotiations involving Iran and said that he thinks the deal is “in danger.” Iran blames the United States, whereas the USA says they are not delaying it. Israeli sources stated that Israel will stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Joe Biden says the USA would use its own military power to prevent Iran from getting such a bomb if need be. In 2021, Iranian lawmakers have submitted a bill seeking the government by law to commit to Israel’s destruction by the year 2040. Does the 22nd chapter of Isaiah point to damage coming to Israel from Iran and possibly Syria? Might Iran be concerned enough about limited progress with the USA to launch some type of attack? Is Iran the prophesied ‘King of the South’? Is it reasonable to think that the prophesied peace deal of Daniel 9:27 will not happen until after a military conflict. like a regional war? Should Christians watch the Middle East? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie discuss these matters.

Here is a link to our video: Iran and Israel Conflict.

Regarding Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the Continuing Church of God put together the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

14:24

Trump vs Harris vs Scripture

Are Donald Trump and Kamala Harris qualified to be President of the United States according to its Constitution? Does the adulterer Donald Trump’s record as a businessman who declared bankruptcy multiple times and who was once President of the USA make him the best choice? Does Kamala Harris’ political positions, one or more were related to adultery, and then later being Vice-President make her the best choice? What about their positions on adultery and LGBTQ matters? Do either of them meet the biblical requirements to be leaders? Could they both be evil? Should Christians put their faith in leaders or in Jesus and His Kingdom? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie go over these points.

Here is a link to our video: Trump vs Harris vs Scripture.

Put your faith in Jesus and the coming Kingdom of God, not in US elections.

Biblical prophecies will be fulfilled, irrespective of who is the next president of the US.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Iran in Prophecy Is Iran in Bible prophecy? If so, what does the Bible teach? What names, other than Persia, may be used to describe Iran? There are also two related videos: Iran In Prophecy and Iran and Israel Conflict.
Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details.  A Kindle version is also available and you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle),  you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse This 188 page book is for people truly interested in prophecies related to Donald Trump and the United States, including learning about several that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon for $12.99 from the following link: Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about the peoples of Africa, Asia, South America, and the islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Statue purported to be Peter Waldo
(photo by Alexander Hoernigk)

COGwriter

Because post-Reformation Waldensians are trinitiarian, go to church of Sunday, eat unclean meats, and do not keep the biblical Holy Days, various ones have tried to suggest that they were always that way–and thus the Church of God cannot possibly consider any of the pre-Reformation Waldenses to be part of our history.

Yet that is not true.

One “proof’ that has deceived many is what is called the Waldensian 1120 Confession of Faith. Having read it, it is most certainly not a Church of God document. That Confession of Faith is trinitarian, considers the Roman Catholic Jerome to be a saint, and says it that the Apocryphal OT books were read “for the instruction of the People.” None of that agrees with Church of God doctrine.

However, the truth is that the 1120 Confession of Faith is fraudulent–it was not written in 1120. It came about around 400 years later.

The Waldensian Confession of Faith purported to have been written in 1120 was written in the 1500’s, not the 1100’s. … Listing the book of Samuel as 1st and 2nd Samuel, instead of 1st and 2nd Kings – as the confession does in article 3 – belies the 1120 date of the document. This confession was not written in the 12th century. This confession was written no earlier that the late 15th century, almost 400 years after the date of the document. (CA. The 1120 Waldensian Confession, wasn’t… October 13, 2007. https://www.baptistboard.com/threads/the-1120-waldensian-confession-wasnt.40081/)

Therefore, the so-called Confession of Faith was not an 1120 document of beliefs–but a later compromised one.

Notice the following about the Waldensians via the late Dean Blackwell:

When you die, you are in the intermediate state between life and the next state. When you die, you just don’t exist; your very thoughts perish and you know not anything. Wind goes to wind, dust goes to dust, water goes to water, and there is nothing there of you except your character that God is controlling to put into another body. Some of the Waldenses held the doctrine of the intermediate state. They knew one word for hell {hades} was the grave, the intermediate place of the dead before their resurrection to their final fate. (Blackwell D. A HANDBOOK OF CHURCH HISTORY. A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Ambassador College Graduate School of Theology, April 1973, p. 112)

Numerous Church Festivals

They were compelled to refrain from all work on the numerous festivals of the church. What numerous church festivals, seeing they rejected the traditional and pagan days of the Catholic church — Palm Sunday, Easter, Christmas, Halloween? They were keeping God’s Holy Days! (Blackwell, p. 113)

The Waldenses, by Strong, in speaking of the Waldensian Valley says:

Though agriculturally of but little importance, historically it is not the least important among the valleys. To this retired region have the people often withdrawn as an asylum that could not be invaded when most sorely pressed by their foes. [Within this region was the sacred spot called the Shilo of the Valleys, where in former ages the Waldensian synod met.] They met where they called the Shilo of the Valleys. And here also was located the ‘school of the prophets.’

So they had a school for the training of teachers and ministers even there. (Blackwell, pp. 155; see p. 29 on May 1974 version)

Prophet Inspired by God

From the Catholic Encyclopedia, article Arnold of Brescia:

They looked on him as a prophet inspired by God.

Why would they do that if he were a politician, trying certainly to establish democratic government in pagan Rome? That disagrees with what else they were trying to get across. They [these people in this country who followed him] looked on him as a prophet inspired of God. …

Henry of Lausanne, a monk of Cluny¦ when he came into contact with Peter De Bruy, he quit using a cross. … They said he was endowed with a spirit of prophecy. …
The church of the Waldenses has inscribed the name of Arnold as in her spiritual genealogy. (Blackwell D. A HANDBOOK OF CHURCH HISTORY. A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Ambassador College Graduate School of Theology, April 1973, pp. 87,103)

So, the Waldenses believed in a version of ‘soul sleep’ (see also What Happens After Death?), kept the Holy Days (see also Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?), had a school for prophets (for more on prophets, check out the article How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God), considered some of their leaders had a prophetic role (see also Church of God Leaders on Prophets), and did not use crosses (see also What is the Origin of the Cross as a Claimed ‘Christian’ Symbol?).

Notice also the following:

The Waldenses recognized that they were the true successors of the apostolic church. They kept the SABBATH, also the yearly PASSOVER. And each September or October (in God’s seventh month — see Lev. 23), they held at the headquarters church a great “conference.” As many as 700 persons attended from afar. New students were chosen, ministerial assignments were made, AND CROWDS GATHERED DAILY TO LISTEN TO SERMONS. What could this gathering have been but the Feast of Tabernacles! Under the name of Passagini, we have the clearest sort of statement that these people, about 1200, observed the whole Old Testament law, including the Sabbath and FESTIVALS! People called Cathars at Cologne, Germany, kept a fall festival, called “Malilosa”, even before Waldo began to preach. Compare this unexplained name with Hebrew “melilah” (a harvested ear of grain — Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance) and the Biblical title “Feast of Ingathering” (Ex. 23:16). How much more we might have known about these Middle Ages’ Feasts of Tabernacles had not the Inquisitors so zealously burned the records! The three-part division of tithes paid the Waldensian Church is significant. Even in the 1500’s the same division continued. “The money given us by the people is carried to the aforesaid general council, and is delivered in the presence of all, and there it is received by the most ancients (the elders), and part thereof is given to those that are wayfaring men, according to their necessities, and part unto the poor” (George Morel, Waldensian elder, quoted by Lennard, “History of the Waldenses”). 1. Compare this practice with Num. 18:21 and Deut. 14:22-25, 28-29. Isn’t it exactly what the Bible commands? … Most authors have ASSUMED the “wayfaring men” were the traveling “barbel.” But THEIR expenses would have been paid from the money given the elders, at EVERY time of year, for the direct conduct of the Work — “first” tithe and offerings. Notice that in Numbers 18:21. What Morel then mentions is a “second” tithe, for those traveling to and from the festivals — wayfaring men; and following it, the “third” to the poor. See the explanation in Deut. 14. Feast goers who had more “second tithe” than they needed shared their excess with those who had need, even as they do today! (LESSON 51 (1968) AMBASSADOR COLLEGE BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place …” Rev. 12:6).

Notice that there was a three-fold division of tithes. In modern times, we tend to refer to those as first tithe, second tithe (or festival tithe), and third tithe (or tithe for the poor). (A related article of interest may be Is Third Tithe Valid Today?).

Here is an old report from old English (where the letter ‘f’ was often used instead of the letter ‘s,’ so it is changed below) from a Baptist historian in the 18th century:

Some of the inhabitants of the Pyrenees, and of the adjacent states, and not those of the vallies of Piedmont, were the true original Waldenses, for to them and to them only do the descriptions in the books of the inquisitors agree. True it is, at the reformation a people appeared in the vallies of Piedmont, who gave good proof of their antiquity, and produced some writings, which indicated their connection with the Catalonians; as will be observed in its due place: but there is one demonstrative proof mentioned by Leger, that they were not the ancient Waldenses of ecclesiastical history. The Piedmontese were trinitarians, uniform in religious: But the old Waldenses had no notion of uniformity, and many of them were Manicheans and Arians. The Piedmontese did not understand liberty: the Pyreneans did. The Piedmontese were a handful: the Pyreneans were thousands and tens of thousands. The Piedmontese were a tame dejected people: the Pyreneans high spirited and ardent for universal freedom, as their ancestors had been. Here lay the snare; the reformers, as fond of the doctrine of succession as the catholicks, laboured with all their might to find out a succession of christians of the same faith and order as themselves. Such a people they found in the vallies of Savoy, and by dextrously applying to them whatever had been said of the inhabitants of other vallies they surmounted all obstacles except one. The catholicks objected that the old Waldenses held all forts of errours, and were as different from the reformers as from the church of Rome. The resformers extricated themselves from this difficulty by replying: that inquisitors, monks and historians were flanderers; and that all the Waldenses believed as they and the Piedmontese believed. The worst of this reply is, it is not true. (Robinson R. Ecclesiastical Researches. Francis Hodson, publisher. 1792. Original from University of Chicago, Digitized Nov 19, 2015, pp. 299-300)

Some of these christians were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, and Insabbatati, and more frequently Inzabbatati. Led astray by found without attending to facts, one says, they were so named from the hebrew word sabbath, because they kept the saturday for the Lord’s day. Another says, they were so called because they rejected all the festivals, or sabbaths, in the low latin sense of the word, which the catholick church religiously observed. (Ibid, pp. 303-304)

So, there were multiple types of Waldenses, those with apostolic succession were not like the Protestants, most were not trinitarian, and many kept the seventh-day Sabbath.

What about Peter Waldo, himself, and the seventh-day Sabbath?

Some have asserted that those who have called themselves some version of the term Waldensian always kept Sunday.

Seventh-day Adventist scholar Gerard Damsteegt has stated:

Although there is no record that Waldo and his followers observed the seventh-day Sabbath, we know that several movements related to the Waldenses were reported to observe this custom. (Damsteegt PG. DECODING ANCIENT WALDENSIAN NAMES: NEW DISCOVERIES. Andrews University Seminary Studies, Vol. 54, 2016, No. 2, Autumn 2016, p. 254)

Yet, the above scholar actually provided evidence that Peter Waldo and his followers kept the Sabbath in the same article, more of which will be cited later.

First, let it be made clear that scholars who have looked into the Waldensians have concluded that at least some of them kept the seventh-day Sabbath.

Here is an old report from old English (again where the letter ‘f’ was often used instead of the letter ‘s,’ so it is changed below) from a Baptist historian in the 18th century:

Some of the inhabitants of the Pyrenees, and of the adjacent states, and not those of the vallies of Piedmont, were the true original Waldenses, … Some of these christians were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, and Insabbatati, and more frequently Inzabbatati. Led astray by found without attending to facts, one says, they were so named from the hebrew word sabbath, because they kept the saturday for the Lord’s day. Another says, they were so called because they rejected all the festivals, or sabbaths, in the low latin sense of the word, which the catholick church religiously observed. (Robinson R. Ecclesiastical Researches. Francis Hodson, publisher. 1792, pp. 299-304)

So, there were multiple types of Waldensians, and many kept the seventh-day Sabbath.

Notice the following:

One of the primary sources of evidence of Waldensian Sabbathkeeping during the first half of the thirteenth century comes from a collection of five books written against the Cathars and Waldensians about 1241-1244 by Dominican inquisitor Father Moneta of Cremona in northern Italy.

Moneta passionately defended himself against criticism from Waldensians and Cathars that Catholics were transgressors of the Sabbath commandment. In the chapter De Sabbato, et De Die Dominico he discussed the significance of the seventh-day Sabbath of Exodus 20:8, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” and contrasted it with the value of the Lord’s day, his term for the first day of the week. …

Sabbathkeeping among Waldensians was most widespread in Bohemia and Moravia, places to which they fled during papal persecution.

A fifteenth-century manuscript, published by church historian Johann Döllinger in History of the Sects {Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters (Munich: Beck, 1890), Vol. II, p. 662} reports that Waldensians in Bohemia “do not celebrate the feasts of the blessed virgin Mary and the Apostles, except the Lord’s day. Not a few celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews.” (Damsteegt PG. Were Waldensians Sabbath-keepers? Adventist World, September 6, 2017).

Here is a report from the Lutheran historian Johann Mosheim concerning a group in the 12th century and two of their tenets:

the denomination of the Pasaginians … The first was a notion, that the observance of the law of Moses, in everything except the offering of sacrifices, was obligatory upon Christians; in consequence of which they circumcised their followers, abstained from those meats, the use of which was prohibited under the Mosaic economy, and celebrated the Jewish sabbath. The second tenet that distinguished this sect was advanced in opposition to the doctrine of three persons in the divine nature. (Mosheim JL, Coote C, Gleig G. An Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern: In which the Rise, Progress, and Variations of Church Power, are Considered in Their Connexion with the State of Learning and Philosophy, and the Political History of Europe During that Period, Volume 1. Translated by Archibald Maclaine. Plaskitt & Cugle, 1840. Original from Ohio State University, Digitized Aug 8, 2013, p. 333)

So, they kept the Sabbath, abstained from unclean meats, and were opposed to the trinitarian view. While not all the views that Mosheim had about the Pasaginians were Church of God views, apparently some called by that name were Church of God Christians. It should also be noted that Mosheim believed that there were two types of Waldnesians. One considered that the Church of Rome was a real Christian church, whereas the other considered the Church of Rome to be the harlot of Revelation 17 (Moshiem, p. 333). Others have written that one type of Waldensian was fairly close to the Greco-Romans, whereas the other type was much more independent of them (Froom LE. The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Volume 1. Review and Herald, 1950, p. 831).

In the seventeenth century, Peter Allix reported about beliefs of the early Waldensians from a critic and then made his own comments:

That the Law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of the Sabbath, Circumcision, and other legal observances, ought to take place. They hold also, that Christ the Son of God is not equal with the Father, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, these three Persons, are not one God and one substance; and, as a surplus to these their errors, -they judge and condemn all the doctors of the Church, and universally the whole Roman Church. Now, since they endeavour to defend this their error by testimonies drawn from the New Testament and Prophets, I shall, with assistance of the grace of Christ, stop their mouths, as David did Goliah’s, with their own sword. (Allix P. Some Remarks upon the Eccelisastical History of the Ancient churches of Piedmont. originally published 1690, Oxford reprint 1831, p. 169)

But here, first of all, we are to take notice, that the Waldenses and Albigenses had both of them the same belief… the difference between the Waldenses and the Church of Rome was not so small, that they could be looked upon only as schismatics, as the Bishop of Meaux has been pleased to imagine … the Waldenses, or disciples of Waldo, having been particularly famous for their refusing to swear, … Peter Waldo’s translating of the Bible, which must have been done before the year 1180, shews, that in France there was already a language different from the Latin tongue, (Ibid, pp. 173, 183, 184)

The above suggests that they held several Church of God doctrines, including binitarianism, non-swearing of oaths, and Sabbath-keeping.

The Petrobrusians (considered related to the Waldenses) kept the Sabbath and were condemned for it by the Roman Catholic saint Bernard in the 12th century (Andrews J. History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week. Reprint by Teach Services, 1998, p. 421). Notice the following from a Sunday-keeping writer (where I have typed it as originally written–knowing that now, the “f” charcaters below would have been an “s” in modern writing):

the feventh day Sabbath … In S. Bernard’s dayes it was condemned in the Petrobufiani. (In: White F, Bifhop of Ely. A Treatise on the Sabbath Day …. Richard Badger, 1635, p. 8)

So, yes, some of the immediate predecessors of Peter Waldo and the Waldensians kept the seventh-day Sabbath and were condemned for it. Peter Waldo likely was in contact with some considered Petrobrusians.

The Patarenes (considered related to the Waldenses) kept the Sabbath and were condemned for it by Cardinal Damian around the same time (Wilkinson B. Reprint by Teach Services, 1994, pp. 234-235).

Now what about Peter Waldo himself? Here is more from SDA scholar Gerard Damsteegt:

With few exceptions, Waldensians today deny that the ancient Waldenses kept the seventh-day Sabbath. However, historical evidence indicates that many did observe Sabbath during the Middle Ages. During the early part of the seventeenth century, the Swiss histo-rian Melchior Goldastus (1576–1635) commented on Emperor Frederic II’s Constitution of 1220 against heretics. He reasoned that the label insabbatati was used to describe heretics during the thirteenth century “because they judaize on the Sabbath,” that is, they kept the Sabbath like the Jews. He mentioned that the “Valdenses” were often called “Insabbatati,”14 indicating that during that time there were Waldenses who kept the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) as a day of rest. …

Primary sources show that, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, there were two groups of Waldenses–one group that observed Sunday as the Lord’s day, the other that kept the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible. Our research reveals that the title insabbatati could apply to (1) Waldenses who rejected Catholic festivals and holy days, or sabbaths, and observed only Sunday as the Lord’s day and (2) Waldenses who, in addition, rejected Sunday as a Catholic institution and kept the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible. The title sabbatati, as applied to heretics, was used to characterize Waldenses who stood out because of their observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. (Damsteegt PG. The ancient Waldenses: Did the Reformation predate Luther? Ministry, October 2017, pp. 23,24)

The Waldensian historian, Emilio Comba, admits that northern Italy was a stronghold of various dissident groups associated with the Waldenses, some of which kept the Sabbath and often influenced and merged with the various groups of the Poor of Lyon and Poor Lombards.Sabbath keeping among the Waldenses was most widespread in Bohemia and Moravia. An inquisitor’s manuscript from the fifteenth century reports that Waldenses in Bohemia “do not celebrate the feasts of the blessed virgin Mary and the Apostles, except the Lord’s day. Not a few celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews.” … Most historians identify Tourlupins with the Picardian branch of Waldenses. A company of them was arrested in 1420. Well-preserved manuscripts mention that they “upheld that the Saturday must be celebrated instead of Sunday.”

From the end of the twelfth century, opponents of the Waldenses called them insabbatati, insabbatatis, xabatati, xabatenses, sabbatati, sabatatos, inzabattati, insabbatatorum, and insabbatatos. These words can be traced back to the basic The first time the word insabbatati appeared in the existing Latin literature is in an edict issued in 1192 against heretics by Alfonso II, King of Aragon, (1152–1196), Count of Barcelona, and Count of Provence. This edict warned against the Valdenses (Waldenses) and identified them as Insabbatatos and Pauperes de Lugduno (Poor of Lyon). The edict, however, did not explain why Waldenses were called Insabbatatos. The next use of this term was in an 1197 edict issued by the son of Alfonso II, Peter II, King of Aragon, (1174–1213) and Count of Provence. This document called them Sabatati and Pauperes de Lugduno. …

From the various accounts of Waldenses rejecting holy days, festivals or sabbaths, it is not surprising that, as late as the time of archbishop James Usher (1581–1656), there were many who believed that insabbatati referred to those Waldenses who worshiped by judaizing on the Sabbath. Concerning the word insabbatati, Jesuit Inquisitor Pegne also admitted that “many used to think it came from Sabbath, and that they [Waldenses] observed the Sabbath according to the custom of the Jews.” …

Since the Middle Ages, historians have characterized the Waldenses by the uncomplimentary names insabbatati and sabbatati to indicate their unique attire by the type of shoes they wore, or their unique belief in rejecting Catholic holy days or festivals and practices. The research underlying this article has tried to decode the confusion surrounding these names. This has led to the following insights for historiography, previously unnoticed. From the analysis of the shoe theory, the research brought out that the wearing of perforated shoes was not introduced by or was not the custom of the Waldenses or the Poor of Lyon, but it was a custom introduced by the Poor Catholics and the Reconciled Poor. …

The term sabbatati also could have been used to describe some groups of Waldenses who followed the Jewish practice of resting on the Sabbath. This fits the meaning of both Insabbatati as depicting the rejection of Catholic holy days, Sabbaths, and teachings, and sabbatati describing the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. Primary sources show that one inquisitor in the thirteenth century wrote a book against the Waldenses and Cathars in which he refuted their criticism that Roman Catholics observed Sunday instead of the seventh-day Sabbath. This is evidence that there were Waldenses and Cathars who kept the seventh-day Sabbath during the high Middle Ages. Additional evidence shows that several groups closely associated and considered part of the Waldensian movement did indeed keep the seventh-day Sabbath as early as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. (Damsteegt PG. DECODING ANCIENT WALDENSIAN NAMES: NEW DISCOVERIES. Andrews University Seminary Studies, Vol. 54, 2016, No. 2, 237–258)

While there may be debate regarding the precise year of Alphonso’s decree, notice the following:

Again to the South-West, about AD. 1190, we read of a public discussion between certain Valdenses and Catholics near Narbonne: and in 1194 of a Decree of Alphonzo II of Arragon against them …

[596] “Waldenses sive Insabbatatos, qui alio nomine se vocant Pauperes de Lugduno,…ab omni regno nostro, tanquam inimicos crucis Christi,…et regni publicos hostes, exire ac fugere praecipinius.” (Elliot EB, ed. The Horae Apocalypticae. Originally finished in 1860. Cross The Border Publishing, reprint 2018, Chapter VII and reference 596)

I have translated the above as follows:

“The Waldenses, or the Insabbatatos, who call themselves the Poor of Lyons by another name, … from all our kingdom, as enemies of the cross of Christ, … and the public enemies of the kingdom, to go forth and flee from the headlands.”

The fact that the followers of Peter Waldo may not have been publicly accused of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath until the late 12^th century could possibly suggest that some who were earlier categorized as Waldensians did not then do so.

Yet, since Peter Waldo lived until 1205 in the 13^th century, the fact that his people were called insabbatati by the end of the 12^th century looks to be evidence that Peter Waldo and his followers were keeping the seventh-day Sabbath by then.

As far as Peter Waldo goes, it is my view that he initially (c. 1160-1179) may or may not have been a Sabbath-keeper, but became one, probably no later than 1180, after exposure to some in his region who held Church of God-type doctrines.

He is also in a succession list article that I wrote and that the January-February 2022 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel put out by the Bible Sabbath Association, which is not a Church of God group (though it has members that are in the COGs, as well as members who are not), published on pages 16-19:

Sabbatarian/Waldensian Apostolic Succession List?

By Dr. Bob Thiel

Could there be a list of successive Sabbath-keepers from the time of the original apostles to present?

Yes.

After seeing several published claims in the 19^th and 20^th centuries of apostolic succession related to a group known as the Waldensians [1-6], I contacted historians and librarians associated with the American Waldensian Society to see if they had a list to back up such claims—I also contacted leaders in several Sabbatarian churches.

Those I was in communication with were unaware of any such list, even though several documents claimed that early Waldensians (also known as Vaudois) had true succession and/or some type of list prior to the time of the 16^th century Protestant Reformation [1-7].

However, to assist, the Waldensians referred me to Moravian scholar Dr. Craig Atwood as well as the Archivo Della Tavola Valdese–the historical archives of the Waldensian Church in Italy—for more information.

Dr. Atwood provided information that the succession of Moravian prelates was accepted by the British Parliament in 1749 (Acta Fratrum Unitatis in Anglia), because they claimed succession via the Waldensians [2, 7].

The Waldensians, or at least a Moravian portion, claimed to have originally descended from ‘‘a branch of the Greek church’’ from the 9^th century [3]. Moravia is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. In the 18^th century, the Episcopal Church seemed to accept the Moravians as having valid Greek church succession [3].

Some indicate that the Waldensians came from a branch of the 4^th century Greek church [7], which would point to Asia Minor and Antioch. Another source seems to point to the Waldensians being a branch of the 3^rd or 4^th century Antioch church [8]. Even Roman Catholic sources acknowledge that there were Sabbath-keeping leaders in Antioch in the 3^rd or 4^th centuries [9]

While there were different groups called Waldensians by the Roman Catholics, some did keep the Sabbath as well as hold to other doctrines not held by the Roman Catholics or the bulk of the Protestants [10].

Although modern Waldenesians observe Sunday, notice the following:

Sabbathkeeping among Waldensians was most widespread in Bohemia and Moravia, places to which they fled during papal persecution. A fifteenth-century manuscript, published by church historian Johann Döllinger in History of the Sects, reports that Waldensians in Bohemia “do not celebrate the feasts of the blessed virgin Mary and the Apostles, except the Lord’s day. Not a few celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews.” [11]

Here is what Johann Döllinger published in Latin in the above source, with my translation below it:

festa divae virginis Mariae et Apostolorum non celebrant, solam diem Dominicam aliqui. Nonnulli vero cum Judaeis sabbatum celebrant, [12]

the festival of the blessed virgin Mary and the Apostles not celebrated, only some the Lord’s day. Not a few of the people celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews,

There were differences among the Waldenesians. Some kept the Sabbath. The succession list in this article only includes leaders, starting with the apostles, who seemingly kept the seventh-day Sabbath.

In the 14^th century, the assertion of Waldensian apostolic succession was reported by a Dominican monk:

Waldenses … push back their beginnings to the age of primitive Christianity. Thus they deny that they first appeared as a set of heretics breaking off from the historical Church, and claim to have preserved the purity of the faith through the ages, while all the rest of the Church was degenerating and accumulating the corruptions against which they protested from the first.

Claim to apostolic origin. — This claim is first met with in a Dominican monk at Passau in the year 1316, who states that the Waldenses are the most ancient of all the sects, some even saying that this sect ‘duravit a tempore patrum.’ It was but a step to add that the Waldensian church was founded by St. Paul when on his way to Spain. [4]

The Latin duravit a tempore patrum translated to English means they ‘‘lasted from the time of the fathers.’’ While there could be groups with ties to Spain, since the Waldenses elsewhere indicated that they came from part of the Greek church originally (apparently Asia Minor/Antioch) [3,8], that would seemingly rule out Spain (though there were different groups called Waldensians).

The Catholic Encyclopedia says that earlier succession claims were made by other groups, such as those known as Paulicians and Cathari [13-14]. The 12^th century abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, a declared doctor of the Roman Church, called, ‘‘The Cathari, a sect of the Waldenses’’ [15].

Reportedly, Waldensians ‘‘Being scattered abroad in various countries, … they supported amongst them the true apostolic succession of ministers and bishops, after the aforesaid manner of appointment, without break, down to the year 1450, about which time the separation of the Bohemian Brethren from the then prevailing religion of Bohemia took place for sufficient causes’’ [6].

A branch of the Greek Orthodox Church essentially approved Waldensian succession in 1451 through the acceptance of the ordinations of some Waldensian presbyters who accepted their church [5].

Interestingly in the early 1700s, John Potter, Anglican Bishop of Oxford/Canterbury, said the Moravian bishops (who claimed descent from the Waldenses) had ‘‘true succession’’ and made a point that ‘‘only those ignorant of church history could cast any doubt about it’’ [2].

But in this century, no Waldensian list dating back to the apostles has been found in modern Waldensian sources.

Marco Fratini, who works at the Waldensian Library in Italy, said that the archives there did not have such a list [16]. He also stated that such a list would be difficult to compile as there are a variety of doctrinal inconsistencies related to modern Waldensians. He is correct about that, but also there is the historical problem that people of various beliefs were termed Waldensians, not because they were all part of the same group, but because they were not in communion with, or were considered to be in opposition to, the Roman Catholic Church.

Notice also the following:

Roman Church they refused to give it the name of Catholic, and showed in what it had departed from true catholicity. The Vaudois, therefore, are not schismatics, but the continued inheritors of the church founded by the apostles. This church then bore the name of Catholic, [17].

That being said, Marco Fratini of Archivo Della Tavola Valdese also emailed me on September 3, 2020 to encourage me to send him such a list if I came up with one. In June 2021, I sent him a list with through 1525 that follows:

31 – c. 64-68 Apostles Peter and Paul c. 67
c. 98 – 102 Apostle John
c. 100 – c. 157 Polycarp of Smyrna
c. 157 – c. 160 Thraseas of Smyrna
c.160 – c. 167 Sagaris of Laodicea
c. 167 – c.170 Papirius of Smyrna
c. 170 – c. 180 Melito of Sardis
c. 180 – c. 200 Polycrates of Ephesus
c. 200 – c. 220 Camerius of Smyrna
c. 220 – c.254 Nepos of Arsinoe
c. 254 – c. 275 Unnamed Antiochian(s) or possibly Dorotheus
c. 275 – 312 Lucian of Antioch
c. 313 – 380 Unnamed Antiochian(s)
c. 380 – c. 470 Unnamed Antiochians or Unnamed Nazarenes
c. 470 – c. 500 Constantine of Antioch and Aushin
c. 500 – c. 645 Unnamed ‘Paulicians’
c. 645 – c. 650 Unnamed leader with New Testament from Syria
c. 650 – c. 684 Constantine of Mananali (Silvanus)
c. 684 – c. 696 Simeon
c. 697 – c.702 Sergius
c. 702 – c. 717 Paul the Armenian
c. 717 – c. 746 Gegnesius
c. 746 – c. 782 Joseph (Epaphroditus)
c. 783 – c. 800 Unnamed Paulician(s)
c. 801 – c. 835 Sergius (Tychicus)
c.836 – c. 919 Unnamed Paulicians
c. 920 – c. 950 Basil
c. 951 – c. 980 Jeremiah
1000s Sergius (27 years)
c. 1110 – 1140 Peter DeBruy (Pierre De Bruy)
1140 – 1155 Arnold of Brescia
1156 – 1181 Nicetas
1181 – 1205 Peter Waldo
1205 – 1224 Arnold Hot
1224- 1300 Unnamed Waldensians
c. 1310 – 1322 Walter the Lollard
1322 – c. 1335 Raymond the Lollard
c. 1335 – c. 1460 Unnamed Waldensians
c. 1460 -1492 Anthony Ferrar
1492 – 1525 Stefano Carlino or Unnamed Waldenesians

He responded to that list by stating:

Dear Dr. Thiel,

thank you for the exhaustive list.

I don’t know all of them, but it’s interesting. So I’m not able to suggest modification.

Best regards

Marco Fratini [18]

However, since we know that Anabaptists in Moravia were known for keeping the seventh-day Sabbath [19], and the Moravians claimed ties through the Waldensians, the following Moravian Sabbath-keepers could be added next of the list:

1526 – 1528 Moravian Sabbatarian Anabaptist ‘traveling minister’
1529 – 1540 Andreas Fischer

So, yes, there now is a list going back to the original apostles through the Waldensians and Moravian Anabaptist Sabbath-keepers. But, it is not as complete as preferred.

There are, of course, other possible lists and I expect to make modifications for other purposes, but for now this list looks plausible–even considering that several of the leaders on it were denounced by other churches based on real and fabricated teachings [cf. 20].

I invite others who have insight and could possibly help improve the list (and fill in gaps, if possible) to contact me.

My email address is COGwriter@aol.com

Bob Thiel

References

[1] Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association:…Annual Meeting with Constitution and By-laws and List of Members, Volume 17; Volume 19. The Association, 1919, pp. 190-191
[2] Podmore C. The Moravian Church in England, 1728-1760. Clarendon Press, 1998, pp. 210-239
[3] Martin JH. Historical Sketch of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania With Some Account of the Moravian Church. Philadelphia,1873, pp. 8, 51
[4] Adeney W. Waldenses, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics Volume 12. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922, p. 664; the cited earlier source for this was from ‘‘Contra Valenses, in Maxima Bibliotheca…, Lyons, 1677-1707, xxv, 262 ff’’
[5] On the Episcopacy of the Herrnhuters, Commonly Known as the Moravians. The British Magazine, volume 7. 1835, pp. 645-647
[6] Benham D. Notes on the Origin and Episcopate of the Bohemian Brethren. Dalton & Lucy, 1867, p. 104
[7] Atwood CD. Community of the Cross Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem. Penn State Press, 2004, p. 23
[8] Edwardson C. FACTS of FAITH. Christian Edwardson, 1943, pp. 18, 153
[9] Cardinal Newman, John Henry. The Arians of the Fourth Century. Longmans, Green, & Co., New York, 1908, pp. 7, 9
[10] Robinson R. Ecclesiastical Researches. Francis Hodson, publisher. 1792. Original from University of Chicago, Digitized Nov 19, 2015, pp. 299-304
[11] DamsteegT GF. Were the Waldensians Sabbathkeepers? Adventist World – November 11, 2017, p. 15
[12] Döllinger J. Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters (Munich: Beck, 1890), Vol. II, p. 662.
[13] Fortescue, Adrian. ‘‘Paulicians.’’ The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911
[14] Weber, Nicholas. ‘‘Cathari.’’ The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908
[15] Taylor A. The history of the English General Baptists of the Seventeenth Century. 1818, pp. 22, 24
[16] Re: I: Prima successione dell’elenco dei leader. Email from Marco Frateri to Dr. Thiel, September 2, 2020
[17] Muston A. THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES AND THEIR COLONIES. Translated by J.Montgomery. LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, 1875, pp. 11-13
[18] Re: Waldenian Prima successione dell’elenco dei leader. Email from Marco Frateri to Dr. Thiel, June 17, 2021
[19] Clasen CP. Anabaptist Sects in the Sixteenth Century: A Research Report. Mennonite Quarterly Review, VOl. XLVI, July 1972, pp. 256-279
[20] Hoeh, A True History of the True Church. Radio Church of God, 1959, pp. 18-19

Dr. Thiel is the overseeing pastor of the international Continuing Church of God, www.ccog.org. He also posts daily reports on Church of God and prophetic news at www.cogwriter.com

We put together a sermonette related to the above:

Waldensian Apostolic Succession

Jesus said that the true church would continue to the end of the age. Did any in the groups called Waldensians (or Waldenses), Vaudois, or Moravians have apostolic succession? Were there such claims over 500 years ago?  Did any group claim to have an actual apostolic succession list of bishops? Was such a list at least partially accepted by the British Parliament in the 18th century or the Greek Orthodox Church in the 15th century or others centuries ago? Could the Waldenses have came from the true church in Antioch or Asia Minor in the 3rd or 4th centuries? Do modern American Waldensians claim to have such a list? What about the ones associated with that church or its Archivo Della Tavola Valdese in Italy? Did Dr. Thiel put together such a list and share it with them? Can such a list be seen today? Dr. Thiel goes over that and some of his research into this topic, while also asking for others to help fill in the gaps or assist in improving the list in this video. Dr. Thiel also discusses its symbol with a candle on a lampstand pointing to the fourth star and Jesus words in Revelation.

Here is a link to our video: Waldensian Apostolic Succession.

The true Christian Church of God, and all of its true ministers, have laying on of hands succession from the original apostles to present.

So, yes, we believe that some of the early Waldenses were Church of God Christians because of doctrines they held that we in the Continuing Church of God still hold today.

And yes, we believe all who held succession from the apostles did keep the seventh-day Sabbath, including Peter Waldo.

Some items of possibly related interest may include the following:

 The Thyatira Church Era was predominant circa 1050 A.D. to circa 1600 A.D. The Church during the Inquisition. It claimed succession from the apostles. Here is a link toa related sermon: Thyatira, Succession, and Jezebel.
Another Look at the Didache, Ignatius, and the Sabbath Did Ignatius write against the Sabbath and for Sunday? What about the Didache? What does the actual Greek reveal?
The Sabbath in the Early Church and Abroad Was the seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath observed by the apostolic and post-apostolic Church? Here is a related sermon video The Christian Sabbath and How and Why to Keep It.
The Christian Sabbath. This is a series of articles from the Catholic Mirror essentially proving that the biblical Sabbath was Saturday, that the Lord’s day in Revelation 1 is not a reference to Sunday, that the Church of Rome implemented Sunday, and that nearly all Protestants followed Rome.
Early Sabbath Keeping in North America When did Europeans first keep the Sabbath in North America? Did the pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower keep Saturday or Sunday?
How to Observe the Sabbath How should you keep the Sabbath? This is an old article by Raymond Cole, with updated information for the 21st century.
The Dramatic Story of Chinese Sabbathkeepers This reformatted Good News article from 1955 discusses Sabbath-keeping in China in the 1800s.
Is God Unreasonable? Some have suggested that if God requires Sabbath-keeping He is unreasonable. Is that true? Here is a link to a related article in Mandarin Chinese 一个不合理的神？
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history shows about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?
Is Revelation 1:10 talking about Sunday or the Day of the Lord? Most Protestant scholars say Sunday is the Lord’s Day, but is that what the Bible teaches?
Sunday and Christianity Was Sunday observed by the apostolic and true post-apostolic Christians? Who clearly endorsed Sunday? What relevance is the first or the “eighth” day? A related sermon is also available: Sunday: First and Eighth Day?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
Tradition and Scripture: From the Bible and Church Writings Are traditions on equal par with scripture? Many believe that is what Peter, John, and Paul taught. But did they?
Polycarp of Smyrna: The Heretic Fighter Polycarp was the successor of the Apostle John and a major leader in Asia Minor. Do you know much about what he taught? A YouTube video or related interesy may be: Polycarp of Smyrna: Why Christians should know more about him.
Theophilus of Antioch This is one of the second century leaders of some Christians in Antioch and is considered a Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free draft/unedited pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.

Logo of Georgian Dream party

COGwriter

There have been complaints regarding the results of the election held in the nation of Georgia:

Georgian president calls for protests after ruling party wins disputed election; U.S., allies call for probe

October 28, 2024

Georgia’s president called for protests on Monday following a disputed parliamentary election, and the United States and the European Union urged a full investigation into reports of violations in the voting.

The results, with almost all precincts counted, were a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast Saturday’s election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/georgian-president-calls-protests-ruling-party-wins-disputed-election-rcna177559

Notice, though, the following:

28 October 2024

The European Union has urged the Georgian authorities to “swiftly, transparently and independently” investigate reported irregularities in the parliamentary elections on Saturday. The closely watched poll saw the ruling party, Georgian Dream, win a majority of seats with 54% of all votes, followed at a distance by several opposition parties.

A joint observation mission led by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said the elections were “well organised and orderly” but found a “tense environment” and “widespread reports of pressure on voters”, including cases of intimidation, coercion and vote-buying that “compromised” the secrecy of the vote.

“Those irregularities must be clarified and addressed. That is a necessary step to re-building trust in the electoral process,” the European Commission and High Representative Josep Borrell said in a joint statement, stressing the need for “constructive and inclusive dialogue across the political spectrum.”

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze sought to minimise the accusations, telling the BBC the elections were “in line with legal principles” and that “irregularities happen everywhere, in every country.” https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/10/28/eu-calls-for-swift-probe-of-alleged-georgian-election-irregularities

Long time readers of this COGwriter Church of God News page are aware, I am not a proponent of voting (see Should a Christian Vote?).

Yet, it seems that when the results of elections are not in line with what the USA or EU wants, there are often claims that the election results are false.

When there was a referendum in Crimea whether or not to join Russia, the results were overwhelmingly in favor of becoming part of Russia. The West claimed those results were wrong.

Now to test that, I once ran into a Crimean woman who was working in either the Munich or Frankfurt airport, and I asked her if she wanted Crimea to be in Russia. She enthusiastically said yes and that others she knew supported that as well. Although that was not a scientific poll, it suggested to me that the majority of Crimeans did not act like they were forced to be part of Russia.

The same is true from various eastern parts of Ukraine, which voted to be part of Russia, that Russian then accepted.

As far as pushing for or against democracy goes, notice the following:

Estonian PM wants Russians banned from voting

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal has asked that Russian people living in the country be prevented from voting in municipal elections, regardless of their stance on the Ukraine war. According to the Estonian government, Russian speakers account for 20% of the country’s population of a little under 1.4 million. …

Michal asserted that “Russia is a security threat, and Russian citizens should not have a say in Estonian affairs, just like Belarusian citizens,” explaining to an EER media source Friday that “their right to vote must be suspended or taken away.”

He is the head of the Reform Party, which has the most lawmakers in the Riigikogu. 10/27/24 https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/estonian-pm-wants-russians-banned-from-voting

If the European Union truly believed in democracy, it would want to encourage all of its legal residents to vote.

But many do not want that.

Now, of course, this is not just a European matter.

Not only has the federal government of the USA not accepted the Crimea or Eastern Ukrainian pro-Russian votes, it issued sanctions against Russia for them.

Furthermore, Hillary Clinton said that she won the 2016 presidential election and Donald Trump claimed he won the 2020 election (note: I do realize that there were numerous election irregularities in 2020).

And it is likely that whoever loses next week’s presidential election in the USA will object as well.

That said, the time will come in Europe when a small group will put a dictator in place per the Bible:

12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. (Revelation 17:12-13)

It is possible that the following may apply as this seemingly explains partially how this reorganization happens:

23 And after the league is made with him he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. 24 He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time. (Daniel 11:23-24)

Daniel 11:23 could happen before Revelation 17:12-13 or be directly related to it. The small number of people could be related to the ten kings, but it obviously is NOT the result of democracy.

So, do not let those who feign concerns about elections and democracy dissuade you–a dictator, which the Bible calls the Beast will arise in Europe.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Should a Christian Vote? This article gives some of the Biblical rationale on this subject. Would Jesus vote for president/prime minister? Is voting in the Bible? This is a subject Christians need to understand. A video of related interest is available titled: Should Christians Vote?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is are links to related videos: European history and the Bible, Europe In Prophecy, The End of European Babylon, and Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European? Here is a link to a related sermon in the Spanish language: El Fin de la Babilonia Europea.
The European Union and the Seven Kings of Revelation 17 Could the European Union be the sixth king that now is, but is not? Here is a link to the related sermon video: European Union & 7 Kings of Revelation 17:10.
Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations? Some claim that these passages refer to a gathering of 10 currently existing nations together, while one group teaches that this is referring to 11 nations getting together. Is that what Revelation 17:12-13 refers to? The ramifications of misunderstanding this are enormous. Here is a link to a related sermon in the Spanish language: ¿Deben los Diez Reyes gobernar sobre diez naciones? A related sermon in the English language is titled: Ten Kings of Revelation and the Great Tribulation.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Is one being formed right now? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? If some type of Eurasian union is formed, who might it benefit and who will it destroy? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end? There is also a video sermon available: Russia in the Bible and in Prophecy as are two video sermonettes Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy and Ukraine in Prophecy?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Ezekiel 38: For Russia & Iran in Our Day? Is Ezekiel 38 about to be fulfilled? Are we close to the battle with Gog and Magog? Four related videos are available: Ezekiel 38 Gog and Magog War: Is it Soon?, Ezekiel 38: For Russia, Ukraine, & Iran Now?, Russia, Iran, Syria, & the Bible (Code), and Gog, Magog, Vladimir Putin, and Ezekiel 38?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is are links to related videos: European history and the Bible, Europe In Prophecy, The End of European Babylon, and Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European? Here is a link to a related sermon in the Spanish language: El Fin de la Babilonia Europea.