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The old WCG published the following article by Clayton Steep in the August 1985 edition of the Good News magazine:

Make Your Prayers Count!

Could you be overlooking some of the most basic principles regarding answered prayer?

A major blunder. That’s exactly what Henry had just made.

“I simply don’t understand why God didn’t give me the wisdom to make the right decision,” Henry sighed, shaking his head.

Actually, Henry had made a double mistake. Double, because if we were to inquire of him, “Did you specifically ask God for the wisdom you needed?” Henry’s reply would be something like: “Er, well, no — not specifically. But,” he would hastily add, “God knew I needed it. He knows all things.”

True, God knows all things. He is fully aware of our needs. As Jesus stated, “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).

But does that, therefore, render prayer unnecessary?

Not at all! The Bible clearly points out that one of the reasons we sometimes do not receive the blessings we could enjoy is simply that we do not ask God for them (James 4:2).

“Ask, and it will be given to you,” Jesus declared (Matthew 7:7). To illustrate, He gave the example of a child asking his father for some food. “If you then, being evil,” Jesus continued, “know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things…”

How? With no conditions? Always automatically? As a matter only of due course? Just because He knows we need them? Whether or not we ask? No! Read it: “… to those who ask Him!” (verse 11).

Henry should have read James 1:5 more closely. This verse doesn’t say that if you need wisdom, God will automatically supply it because you are a Christian and He knows you need it. Rather, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

God is filled with mercy and compassion. He knows what we need. He stands ready to give liberally. But He wants us to ask anyway.

Why? The fact that God tells us to is certainly good enough reason all by itself. But let’s see if we can understand why God tells us to.

A vital factor

Prayer is not an isolated and optional religious exercise. It is a vital factor, significant in determining our eternal destiny!

The supreme purpose that God is working out here on earth is the expansion of His Kingdom – His Family. He wants to make out of human beings immortal members of His ruling Family.

These must be individuals who, by their own free choice, come to fully support God’s way of doing things, who want to think as God thinks, perceive as God perceives, react as God reacts. They must want with all their hearts to be involved in whatever God is doing.

Such an attitude is essential in order to maintain, throughout eternity, harmony and peace in the God Family.

God has made us temporarily human. This existence is a testing ground so our Creator can try us and know what is in our hearts, whether or not He can trust us to live by His rules and laws (Deuteronomy 8:2). He must be sure. He is looking at us, closely examining our actions and reactions.

God takes note of what we say when we are talking to Him. Of course He knows our hearts and intents. And the Holy Spirit helps where we cannot adequately express ourselves (Romans 8:26-27). Still, as Jesus showed, the actual words we use are also important, and they ought to be meaningful, rather than vain repetitions (Matthew 6:7).

One of the obstacles to effective prayer is not often identified: It is the fact that we live in the age of devalued language. Words have never been so cheap, so frequently meaningless. All around us language is misused in advertising, politics, entertainment and casual conversation.

Because we have been disillusioned more than once by broken promises, exaggerations, shading of the truth, even outright lies, we have come to automatically doubt that words mean what their face value would indicate.

This is one reason some have difficulty believing God’s promises. It also could be one of the reasons some prayers are not as effective as they should be.

Remember that God really didn’t have to ask Adam and Eve the series of questions about what they had done (Genesis 3:9-13). He already knew the answer. He didn’t have to ask Cain where Abel was (Genesis 4:9). He didn’t have to come down to earth to verify how evil Sodom was (Genesis 18:20-21). He didn’t have to allow Jacob to contend with him all night (Genesis 32:22-30). But He wanted to — and wants to — hear from humans themselves what they have to say, and see their reactions.

Prayer changes things

The great Creator God is working out His plan. He keeps it on course, intervening when necessary in human affairs to do so. But do you realize that He allows humans with whom He is dealing to determine many of the details of how His plan develops?

Twice, Moses directly influenced, by prayer, the course of history. Because of the rebellion of the children of Israel, God on two separate occasions proposed rejecting them all and bringing forth through Moses a new nation to inherit the promises made to Abraham (Exodus 32:9-14, Numbers 14:11-20). Had Moses not fervently prayed to God to change His mind, the implication is that God would have done exactly what He had proposed.

Either way would not have impeded the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan. But Moses’ prayers did determine the course that fulfillment took.

Prayer does make a difference. It changes things.

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest,” Jesus urged (Luke 10:2). Whether or not or in what numbers laborers are sent out to do God’s work must therefore depend at least partly on prayers or the lack of them.

Make no mistake about it: God will accomplish His work of preaching the message preparing the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ — even if He has to cause the very rocks of the earth to cry the message out loud (Luke 19:40). Let us not take for granted the privilege we have of taking part in what God is doing! He doesn’t need us. But He gives us the opportunity to participate. Are you participating?

Listen to the apostle Paul: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (I Timothy 2:1-2). Whether or not or to what degree God’s work has peaceful conditions in which to function also depends therefore, at least in part, on how diligently we pray.

If we don’t ask, there is no promise we shall receive.

Do you pray every day for the work of God and for the human instruments carrying it out? You should.

Do you pray every day for God’s blessings on others as well as on your own endeavors? You should. Do you pray every day for protection and help as you function and move about in this evil and dangerous world? You should.

“Be anxious for nothing,” Paul wrote, “but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known [even though God is already aware] to God” (Philippians 4:6). This means bringing God into every — yes, every — facet of your daily existence.

Believe and obey

Jesus said, “And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). So in addition to simply asking, we must believe. There is a definite and close relationship between the degree of one’s sincerity and surrender to God and the degree to which one is able to believe and pray in faith.

If you are, for example, lusting for something when you know better, if your mind is entertaining thoughts you know you should not have, you automatically cannot at the same time be asking God in unswerving faith to grant you a request. It just doesn’t work that way.

Here’s how the apostle John expressed it: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (I John 3:21). And our hearts won’t condemn us if we are doing what is right.

“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (verse 22).

What does it mean to be always in an attitude of prayer? It doesn’t mean you are talking to God every second. Even Jesus didn’t do that. But He was always in the right attitude — His conscience was undefiled before God — so He could talk directly to His heavenly Father on the spur of the moment. His thoughts were on those things that are above.

Being able to pray at any moment and total surrender to God go hand in hand. On one occasion when Jesus suddenly began to pray, He said: “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me” (John 11:41-42).

How did Jesus know that? Why did God always hear Him? For the simple reason that Jesus always did those things that pleased His Father (John 8:29).

Wanting to pray or be in an attitude of prayer in “all things” is actually a valuable incentive to be obedient in all things.

Prayers of intercession

Our prayer life not only reveals to God how deeply we want Him to be involved in our lives and how deeply we want to be involved in what He is doing, but prayer also shows how interested we are in other people.

In all members of God’s Family, God wants to see a spontaneous and universal expression of outgoing concern for the welfare of others. That’s the only way to guarantee peace and harmony. It is the way of giving. Love for one’s neighbor is the very essence of God’s law (Leviticus 19:18).

One of the greatest gifts you can give to others, when you are close to God, is to pray for them. God loves it when people pray for each other. Certainly God will hear the prayers of an individual praying for his own needs. But the Bible leaves no doubt that God particularly enjoys hearing and answering the prayers of one person for the needs of another.

The apostle Paul wouldn’t have petitioned the saints to “pray for us” (Hebrews 13:18) if it didn’t make any difference whether they did.

If you want a specific request from God, have you ever thought to pray that the identical request be granted to someone else who needs it? In so doing, you get your mind off yourself and on the welfare of others. This is well pleasing to God.

In Jesus’ sample prayer outline (commonly, though mistakenly, called the “Lord’s Prayer”) the words I, me or my do not appear once (Matthew 6:9-13). All the way through the words used are we, us and our, demonstrating an unselfish concern.

God wants to hear prayers of intercession (Isaiah 59:15-16). It was through the prayers of Abraham that Abimelech was forgiven (Genesis 20:17-18). Job’s friends were forgiven through Job’s prayers (Job 42:7-10). John wrote about praying for one another to be forgiven (I John 5:16). The Bible records numerous instances of people praying for one another.

For whom have you interceded recently?

In Jesus’ early childhood, there was an elderly woman named Anna, “who did not depart from the temple, but served God [the word God is in italics to show it was added by translators] with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:37).

You can be sure that most of that prayer and fasting was not to seek Anna’s own needs and desires.

There were probably many people in the area who, over the years, went to Anna when they had a problem, because God heard and answered her prayers and everyone knew it.

King Solomon recorded a vital principle in life that reflects on this subject: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

You who are sick or afflicted, is someone praying with you for healing? The instruction from James is to “pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). It makes a difference!

Don’t lose heart

One of Jesus’ parables was given to show us we ought to be persistent in prayer, that we “always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1-8).

Have you ever “lost heart” because you, along with others, have been asked to pray for someone, for example, who is terminally ill, and the person dies anyway? Have you immediately assumed something was wrong with your prayers, with your exercise of faith?

Maybe there was. On the other hand, that may not always be so. Maybe your prayers were what they should be. Maybe you did not waver in faith. But maybe enough others did not pray effectively. Did you ever think of that?

In any case, do not lose heart. Keep at it. Try again.

Being able to pray effectively does not come overnight. It has to be worked at. But it is eternally worth the effort, for through prayer you get to know God. And, just as importantly, He gets to know you.

Prayer is not just about asking God to give us things or to think God should be pleased because we address Him.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Prayer: What Does the Bible Teach? People talk a lot about prayer. Many pray in public. Does God listen? What does the Bible teach about prayer? How can your prayers be more effective? Does the Bible give particular positions to pray in? What does God want you to pray for? What if what you want is difficult? What if what you want is humanly impossible? Why doesn’t God seem to answer all prayers? This free booklet answers all those questions and more. This contains 28 biblically-based tips on improving the effectiveness of your prayers. This is a pdf. A related two part sermon is available: What Does the Bible Teach About Prayer? and What does the Bible Teach About Prayer (& Healing)?
What Should I Pray About? An old article by Lynn Torrance on prayer.
Does God Heal Today? This historical article is by Herbert Armstrong and provides his views circa 1952, which he seemed to later modify, at least to some degree.
Ten Simple Rules that Lead to Health Herbert Armstrong gives his opinions on this.
Importance of Fasting An old article by Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject.
Faith for those God has Called and Chosen What is faith? Can faith be increased? Are you saved by faith? What about works? Do Christians need to keep the Ten Commandments? What is the ‘faith chapter’? How do the just live by faith? Is faith one of the weightier matters of the law? How does faith come? Here is a link to a pdf. booklet titled Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen. Marque aquí para ver el pdf folleto: Fe para aquellos que Dios ha llamado y escogido.Here is a link to a related sermon titled: Faith for the Called and Chosen. Here is a link to shorter version of the written article in Mandarin Chinese 一篇关于信仰的小文章
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

(UnSplash photo)

COGwriter

Notice the following item written by Ethan Huff:

The radical Left’s world of make-believe biology: Babies don’t have heartbeats but men can give birth

The corporate-controlled media is once again going to bat for Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who continues to lie about the humanity of unborn babies.

In a recent statement, Abrams falsely declared that “there is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks,” referring to embryonic development at the month-and-a-half stage of gestation. (Related: Remember when the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called for the word “baby” to never be used in reference to pre-born human life?)

“It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body,” Abrams alleges.

A six-week-old embryo does have a heartbeat, by the way. And mainstream media “fact checkers” should know this, except for the fact that they conveniently forgot because they really, really want Abrams to win the election.

“FWIW (for what it’s worth), ‘fetal heartbeat’ is a misnomer,” responded Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post,  …

Abrams is desperate to win, as well as desperate to dehumanize unborn human life to appeal to her baby-hating base.

If she can score a few more points with some LGBT talking points, perhaps by explaining how men are able to pass a child through their genitalia (let alone create a baby inside their stomach?), will it be a winning strategy this November?

“Cardiovascular development in a human embryo occurs between 3 and 6 weeks after ovulation,” explains a study published in The Journal of Prenatal Medicine, defying the false claims of Abrams and Kessler. https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-10-02-radical-left-make-believe-biology-babies-heartbeats.html

Abortion is evil.

The Bible warns:

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!  (Isaiah 5:20-21)

As far as to the reason much of this is happening, notice the following from the Book of Romans:

18 … men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32)

13 “Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:13-18)

Notice the following about the government of the USA:

America’s Ruling Regime Doesn’t Fear Disinformation. It Fears Truth.

Casting critics as terrorists and threatening to sic the most powerful, pervasive and sophisticated security state in the history of the world on them is of course not about defending democracy or protecting the truth — it’s about intimidating democratic opposition into silence and submission to an official narrative.

In Joe Biden’s America, attempting to cancel Joe Rogan is just counter-terror policy.

This is because our ruling class — in the name of “defending democracy” — classifies those who question the regime on any matter of consequence as a threat to the homeland, and pledges to pursue them accordingly.

Our ruling elites have engaged in an overt war on wrongthink masquerading as a domestic counter-terror mission since at least Jan. 6, 2021.

As part of this effort, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued a speech-chilling National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin.

It claims the U.S. is in a “heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information.”

Among the greatest contributors to the current “threat environment,” according to the bulletin, is the “widespread online proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding … COVD-19.” …

The administration has flip-flopped on virtually every aspect of the coronavirus to positions that its social media adjuncts used to ban people over. It did so not because “the science” has changed, but because the politics have changed.

Biden’s White House says its critics are dangerous — not to the public, but to its rule, as if that rule is equivalent to America or democracy itself, as Dr. Anthony Fauci is to science.

As the DHS bulletin notes, the first key driver of the “heightened threat environment” is the “proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions.”

Never mind what those government institutions themselves have done to sow discord or undermine public trust, like, say, calling for Twitter and Facebook to censor people.

It’s the critics, the dissenters — those with no monopoly on force or multi-trillion-dollar budgets — who are the real scourge. …

That strategy calls for confronting long-term contributors to domestic terrorism, including:

“… enhancing faith in government and addressing the extreme polarization, fueled by a crisis of disinformation and misinformation … We will work toward finding ways to counter the influence and impact of dangerous conspiracy theories that can provide a gateway to terrorist violence.”

Linking speech that does not comport with regime orthodoxy to terror, and using that pretext to police thought — with an armed “Ministry of Truth” operating out of our national security and law enforcement apparatus — therefore manifestly is “counter-terror” policy

Casting critics as terrorists and threatening to sic the most powerful, pervasive and sophisticated security state in the history of the world on them is of course not about defending democracy or protecting the truth, but intimidating democratic opposition into silence and submission to an official narrative. 02/17/22 https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/america-ruling-regime-disinformation-truth/

As a scientist who has attempted to publish certain truthful information related to COVID-19, I have been censored by both Facebook and YouTube. Not because any information I provided was not true, but basically because they think it is ‘dangerous’ to go against the current narrative.

Many in the government of the USA, as well as Big Tech and the media, fear truth. Furthermore, they are often deceived themselves and look to be fulfilling the following end time prophecy:

13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13, KJV)

YouTube censored me for quoting the same scriptures I have quoted for years regarding LGBTQ matters, as it claimed this violated its “community standards,” which apparently changed to support a changed narrative as the scriptures never changed. Anyway, here is a link to that YouTube removed video: Disney’s abominable promotions!

The Book of Proverbs has the following prophecy:

12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,
Yet is not washed from its filthiness.
13 There is a generation — oh, how lofty are their eyes!
And their eyelids are lifted up.
14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords,
And whose fangs are like knives,
To devour the poor from off the earth,
And the needy from among men. (Proverbs 30:12-14)

Yes, we are in a time when the generation of leaders does not fear God, but thinks its ideas are right. They, who promote hate and censorship, claim they are promoting love and inclusiveness.

Notice also another end time prophecy:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7)

And now, the government has also found it useful when private companies (like Pinterest, Facebook, Google, the mainstream media, etc.) do censorship for them.

A lot of this brings to mind Orwell’s dystopian 1984 ‘New World Order. Year ago, we made a short video:

Orwell’s 1984 by 2024? In 1949, the late George Orwell wrote a disturbing book about a totalitarian government called “nineteen-eighty four.” Despite laws that are supposed to protect freedom of speech and religion, we are seeing governments taking steps consistent with those that George Orwell warned against. We are also seeing this in the media, academia, and in private companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. With the advent of technology, totalitarianism beyond what Orwell wrote is possible. Does the Bible teach the coming a totalitarian state similar to George Orwell’s? What about the Antichrist and 666? Will things get worse? What is the solution? Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more in this video.

Here is a link to that video: Orwell’s 1984 by 2024?

Sadly, there has long been a trend away from biological truth.

The whole evolutionary theory nonsense is not scientific. Notice a statement from Nobel Prize winner Dr. George Wald, from Harvard University related to the origin of life:

The reasonable view was to believe in spontaneous generation (life from nothing); the only alternative, to believe in a single, primary act of supernatural creation. There is no third position . . . One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. (Scott I. The God Solution: Are You Ready? Xlibris Corporation, 2013, p. 41)

Believing something that is impossible is not scientific–accepting evolution as the origin of life is another false religion.

The Bible warns of “science, falsely so-called’ (1 Timothy 6:20, KJV).

Most with ‘higher education’ go along with the evolutionary nonsensical explanation, because of peer-pressure, anti-biblical bias, as well as to appear to be properly ‘educated.

Yet, those of us who have studied cellular biology should realize that spontaneous generation of life is illogical–and I do have a Ph.D. in a biological field.

Even Charles Darwin made an interesting admission in his book, The Origin of the Species:

Charles Darwin

If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down (Darwin C. The Origin of Species. In Chapter 6, Difficulties on Theory. Cricket House Books LLC, 2010, p. 124).

And although he did not believe that was demonstrated to his satisfaction when he wrote that, the truth is that cellular life was simply much more complex than he at that time realized (DNA was discovered shortly after he wrote the above).

But most of the modern ‘educated’ act contrary to biological reality.

But it is more than that.

For our fourth, consider the following:

If you wonder where “progressivism” is headed, look no further than the self-mutilation movement where LGBT followers physically maim their own bodies to become so-called “nullos” by cutting off their nipples and reproductive organs. The next escalation in this war on biology will, I predict, involve parents maiming their newborn infants by slicing off their penis and scrotum shortly after birth in order to “rid” the child of gender inequality.

This physical maiming of newborn infants will be embraced by the Democrats and Leftists as a “progressive” way to achieve “gender equality.” …

The LGBT community already absurdly claims that children are born “genderless” and then “assigned” a gender by the doctor. This dangerous, delusional thinking will justify parents grabbing scalpels and physically maiming their newborn children in order to achieve a “correction” for their genderless status by violently removing all organs and tissues that are not gender-neutral. Yes, it’s completely insane and criminal, but this is exactly the way the lunatic Left now thinks. …

My question is: Will any institution in society stand up against the increasingly deranged, child-killing and child-mutilating “progressivism” that’s now being pushed everywhere? Are there any doctors in America who will denounce parents maiming their own children in the pursuit of gender equality? Somehow, doctors are more than willing to call the police on parents who refuse to have their children subjected to toxic chemotherapy, but there’s little question those same doctors will stand by and say nothing while parents commit felony assault against their own children with a scalpel and an ice pack… all in the name of “progressivism.”

The Left in America today has become a dangerous obedience cult that’s obsessed with death and self-mutilation. Until they are stopped, their agenda will continue to become more twisted, insane and psychopathic. https://governmentslaves.news/2019/05/25/lgbt-progressivism-horrors-parents-to-start-physically-maiming-their-own-babies-to-slice-off-all-gender-organs-in-the-name-of-progressivism-and-equality/

Males are different than females.

One need only look at male and female bodies to realize that.

But even beyond that, scientists also realize there are many unseen genetic differences.

Beware of those who cannot accept clear biological truths.

Beware of those that contradict scripture.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Is God’s Existence Logical? Is it really logical to believe in God? Yes! Would you like Christian answers to give atheists? This is a free online booklet that deal with improper theories and musings called science related to the origin of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and evolution. Here is a link to a related sermon: Evolution is NOT the Origin of Life. Two animated videos of related interest are also available: Big Bang: Nothing or Creator? and A Lifegiver or Spontaneous Evolution?
Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word What is the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28? Who is preparing for it? Will Philadelphian Christians instruct many in the end times? Here is a link to a related video sermon titled: The Short Work. Here is a link to another: Preparing to Instruct Many.
Internet Censorship and Prophecy Are concerns about internet censorship limited to nations such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. But what about the USA, Canada, and Germany? What about the European Union? What about internet media companies such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, or email services like MailChimp? Has the attempt to control information been made by various ones over the centuries? Was the New Testament affected by it? What about the church throughout the centuries? Has the Bible already been partially censored? Which Bible prophecies point to coming Internet censorship? What about the Book of Amos? What about the coming 666 Beast and final Antichrist? Is there anything that can be done about this? Should Philadelphian Christians be working on anything now? Will preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God vs. a highly media-supported alternative lead to a ‘famine of the word’? More internet censorship is coming as various statements in the Bible support.
The Spanish Inquisition and Early Protestant Persecutions Was the Church of Rome really responsible for this? What happened? Here is a link to a related video sermon: The Past and Future Inquisition.
Persecutions by Church and State This article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur. Will those with the cross be the persecutors or the persecuted–this article has the shocking answer. There is also a YouTube video sermon you can watch: The Coming Persecution of the Church. Here is information in the Spanish language: Persecuciones de la Iglesia y el Estado.
Orwell’s 1984 by 2024? In 1949, the late George Orwell wrote a disturbing book about a totalitarian government called “nineteen-eighty four.” Despite laws that are supposed to protect freedom of speech and religion, we are seeing governments taking steps consistent with those that George Orwell warned against. We are also seeing this in the media, academia, and in private companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. With the advent of technology, totalitarianism beyond what Orwell wrote is possible. Does the Bible teach the coming a totalitarian state similar to George Orwell’s? What about the Antichrist and 666? Will things get worse? What is the solution? Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more in this video.
Canadian censoring of the Bible In 2017, Lauri Skori of the Battle River School board told a religious school in Alberta, Canada that it could not teach/read certain portions of the Bible. In 2002, a court in Canada ruled against one who referred to certain scriptures that some homosexuals objected to. In 2017, there was “An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code” related to those who wish to be considered transgendered. Government officials in Canada and elsewhere have been ruling against the Bible. Is any of this prophesied? Will this get worse? What was the prophet Amos inspired to write? This is a video.
Internet Control, Famine of the Word, and 666 Is the internet going to be used to suppress the teaching of the word of God? This is a video.
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.

People Fasting in New Zealand

COGwriter

From sunset the 4th of October through sunset the 5th is the Day of Atonement for 2022.

On the Day of Atonement, the Bible says to “afflict your souls” (Leviticus 23:32).

In Isaiah 58:5 the Bible teaches that a fasting day is a day to afflict one’s soul. Furthermore, notice something else from Isaiah:

12 And in that day the Lord God of hosts
Called for weeping and for mourning,
For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
13 But instead, joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen and killing sheep,
Eating meat and drinking wine:
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts,
“Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you,
Even to your death,” says the Lord God of hosts. (Isaiah 22:12-14)

Notice that not avoiding food when told to is equated to having no atonement. And while the word translated as atonement in Isaiah 22:14 is not the identical Hebrew word in Leviticus 23, it is similar and apparently has similar connotations.

The Day of Atonement was called “the Fast” in Acts 27:9.

Thus, those in the Church of God who are faithful and able fast on the Day of Atonement. That is, they avoid all food and drink for the entire 24 hours of that day.

Are there any benefits associated with that?

First notice what the Bible teaches:

5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. (Isaiah 58:5-12)

So, the Bible teaches both physical and spiritual benefits and responsibilities from fasting.

Here are some comments from Herbert W. Armstrong about fasting:

FASTING AND PRAYER: There is . . . NOTHING like fasting and prayer for drawing close to God, re-establishing contact, being filled with His Spirit. For this purpose it is better to fast completely — no fruit-juice of any kind. In Bible times they sometimes fasted without even water, but sometimes water was used. Personally I think results will be obtained if one drinks water, but nothing else.

For purely spiritual purposes a fast of from one to three days is usually sufficient. You may expect headaches, and a very thick-headed feeling the first few days. It is not pleasant. It is, in Bible language, AFFLICTING THE SOUL. It takes courage and will-power, and self-denial. I recommend, for this purpose, dividing your time three ways: about one third in studying the subject of fasting in the Bible, and other Bible study. Use a good concordance, and your marginal references if your Bible has them. If not you should get one which has. Look up all you can find under fasting. Then about a third of your time in meditation — turning over in your own mind by yourself WHY you have not been closer to God, thinking out just HOW you have been letting the worldly things creep in, meditating on what you have read in the Bible, applying it to yourself and your spiritual condition. Then, spend one full third of your time in earnest PRAYER.

Did you ever spend one solid HOUR in prayer, alone with God in some private room, on your knees? Very few ever have. If you haven’t, the first time you do it you’ll find it will take as much will-power and self-denial as forcing yourself to stay on a fast and resisting that gnawing hunger feeling. In five or ten minutes, or less, every excuse in the world will come into your mind. You aren’t in the mood now — why not do it later? You just think of something that ought to be done, and you think you must go do it right now. Yes, I know what will come to your mind, for I have done it and I know by experience. But if you will resist every temptation, and STAY on your knees, even though you think your prayer isn’t going as high as the ceiling, in at least 30 or 40 minutes the devil will probably give up and let you alone and you’ll find you are establishing contact with God, and you’ll find you are beginning to really ENJOY talking to Him — just pouring out your soul to Him — telling him all about it. Pause, once awhile, and meditate, and let God talk to you. (Armstrong HW. Importance of Fasting. July 7, 1948)

In addition to humbling ourselves and helping us to realize how much we need to rely on God and drawing closer to him, fasting is considered to have certain physical benefits. Some, though sadly not yet most, in the medical world are realizing that there seem to be health benefits from fasting:

The power of intermittent fasting

Scientists are uncovering evidence that short periods of fasting, if properly controlled, could achieve a number of health benefits, as well as potentially helping the overweight, as Michael Mosley discovered…

Calorie restriction, eating well but not much, is one of the few things that has been shown to extend life expectancy, at least in animals. We’ve known since the 1930s that mice put on a low-calorie, nutrient-rich diet live far longer. There is mounting evidence that the same is true in monkeys…

IGF-1 levels can be lowered by fasting. The reason seems to be that when our bodies no longer have access to food they switch from “growth mode” to “repair mode”.

As levels of the IGF-1 hormone drop, a number of repair genes appear to get switched on according to ongoing research by Professor Valter Longo of the University of Southern California…

Current medical opinion is that the benefits of fasting are unproven and until there are more human studies it’s better to eat at least 2000 calories a day. If you really want to fast then you should do it in a proper clinic or under medical supervision, because there are many people, such as pregnant women or diabetics on medication, for whom it could be dangerous. August 4, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

Fasting Reduces Risk of Heart Disease.

In a study of more than 4,500 Mormons in Utah, researchers examined behaviors that were associated with lower risk of coronary artery disease—heart disease. After accounting for other factors (smoking, alcohol use, coffee and tea ingestion), researchers discovered that those who fasted routinely (without food or drink) were at lower risk for heart disease than those who did not fast. Fasting was also associated with lower diabetes risk (The American Journal of Cardiology, October 1, 2008)-WA Update.

Fasting twice a year rebuilds Immune System

A New Study Has Suggested That Fasting Could Help The Body To Fight Off Disease By Regenerating The Immune System. The Study Added That Fasting For Two Days Can Regenerate The Immune System.

June 8, 2014

For the study, the effects of fasting for two to four day periods for six months on both mice and humans were tested by the researchers. In both cases, it was found that long periods of not eating significantly lowered white blood cell counts.

And in mice, each cycle of fasting then ‘flipped a regenerative switch’ that led to the regeneration of new white blood cells, which in turn renews the defence system of the body.

Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California, said: “It gives the OK for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system. And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting.”

He added that a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or aging, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new immune system.

The study also revealed that levels of the enzyme PKA, reduces as a result of fasting. This increases longevity in simple organisms, as well as levels of the hormone IGF-1, which has been linked to ageing, tumour progression and cancer risk. http://www.delhidailynews.com/news/Fasting-regenerates-immune-system-1402181003/

Fasting is a health booster for many and also seems to increase longevity.

Of course, those who risk death or major health problems should not fast. But for others, it can be a healthy thing to do from a physical, as well as spiritual, perspective.

Some people, especially those who consume caffeine regularly, find fasting difficult. Those who wean down off of caffeine sometimes find fasting easier than they would have otherwise.

Here are some Jewish tips to prepare for fasting:

Tips for Easier Fasting

Tips to prepare for the fast include: drinking at least two liters of water a day (10 cups) on the days before the fast, and eating whole grains and vegetables on the day before, while avoiding sugar,spicy, fried and salty foods that cause thirst.

Those who drink significant amounts of beverages containing caffeine daily (coffee, non-herb teas, colas) are advised to reduce the amount gradually, starting several days before the fast to prevent caffeine addiction symptoms which can include headaches and nausea.

The last meal before the fast, known as the seudah hamafseket, should not include unfamiliar, spicy, or fried foods, and should omit vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli.

After the fast, those who have abstained from drinking and eating are advised to rehydrate slowly, with a sweet drink, and begin eating with a snack, followed approximately one hour later by a light meal. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/148579

In my own case, I tend to drink more water the day before fasting and avoid saltier foods. Also, those who fast more regularly throughout the year tend to have less difficulties fasting than those that do not (people with hypoglycemia, etc. excepted).

The Christian Day of Atonement, comes after the Feast of Trumpets (also known as Rosh Hoshana or Rosh Hashanah) and is considered to be part of God’s plan of salvation as shown in the biblical (though often called ‘Jewish’) holy days.

In its Statement of Beliefs , the Continuing Church of God states:

The Day of Atonement, called “the Fast” in the New Testament (Acts 27:9), helps show our own weaknesses and need to be closer to God (Isaiah 58:5,11). It also helps picture that Satan has a role in the sins of humankind and that he will be bound for one-thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3; cf. Leviticus 16:20-26; Isaiah 14:12-16).

Thus, because of its New Testament references, the Day of Atonement is something that should be highly relevant for Christians.

Those who can in the Continuing Church of God fast annually on the Day of Atonement as well as periodically throughout the year.

God’s Atonement and Fasting Plan

The Day of Atonement is part of God’s plan. It pictures that Jesus paid the penalty for sins and that Satan will bear guilt for his actions. What does it mean to ‘afflict your soul’? Why do many connect this with fasting? If Christians should fast, is drinking water okay as part of a biblical fast? What are some of the lessons of the Day of Atonement and fasting? Are there benefits from fasting? Did Jesus expect His followers to fast? Did the Apostle Paul fast? Is there any particular day Christians should fast? What does the Azazel goat of Leviticus represent? Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more.

Here is a link to the video: God’s Atonement and Fasting Plan.

Here is a link to a related offertory: Atonement Offerings?

Here is the sermon made and recommended for 2021:

1:11:14

Jesus THE Atonement

The Jews call it Yom Kippur and Christians call it the Day of Atonement. In transliterated Hebrew, the Bible calls the day Yom Hakippurim, which is Hebrew for “Day of the Atonements.” What do Old Testament scriptures say about it? Why is fasting associated with it? Did Jesus shed His blood only for Christians in this age? What about the age to come? If Jesus is only to be sacrificed once, why is He symbolically sacrificed as the Passover lamb as well as one of the goats associated with the Atonement ceremony in the Book of Leviticus? Is the Day of Atonement referred to in the Book of Acts? Is there evidence that Christians kept the Day of Atonement throughout the church age? Why should Christians observe it? Dr. Thiel addresses these topics and more in this video sermon.

Here is a link to the sermon: Jesus THE Atonement.

Several items of possibly related interest include:

The Day of Atonement–Its Christian Significance The Jews call it Yom Kippur, Christians “The Day of Atonement.” Does it have any relevance for Christians today? What is the Jubilee? Is fasting healthy? Here is a link to a sermon: Christians, the Day of Atonement, and Fasting; here is another sermon: Day of Atonement: How Jesus fulfilled His part for the Atonement. Here is a link to a related article in the Spanish language: El Día de Expiación –Su significado cristiano.
Importance of Fasting An old article by Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject. Here is a link to it in Mandarin Chinese 禁食的重要性.
The Atonement Plan How does the Day of Atonement tie into God’s plan of salvation? Two sermons of related interest are available God’s Atonement and Fasting Plan and God’s Atonement Plan.
Does God Heal Today? This historical article is by Herbert Armstrong and provides his views on healing circa 1952, which he seemed to later modify, at least to some degree.
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.
How to Keep God’s Festivals Many have heard of God’s Holy Days and wonder how they are kept in the 21st century. This is an overview article. A related sermon is also available titled: How to Keep God’s Feasts.
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
Living as a Christian: How and Why? In what ways do Christians live differently than others. What about praying, fasting, tithing, holy days, and the world? There is also a YouTube video related to that also called: Living as a Christian: How and Why?
Is There “An Annual Worship Calendar” In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles, including one by the Tkach WCG which states that this should be a local decision. What do the Holy Days mean? Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days. (Here is a related link in Spanish/español: Calendario Anual de Adoración –Una crítica basada en la Biblia y en la Historia: ¿Hay un Calendario Anual de Adoración en la Biblia?
Did Early Christians Observe the Fall Holy Days? The ‘Fall’ Holy Days come every year in September and/or October on the Roman calendar. Some call them Jewish holidays, but they were kept by Jesus, the apostles, and their early faithful followers. Should you keep them? What does the Bible teach? What do records of church history teach? What does the Bible teach about the Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day? Here is a link to a related sermon: Should Christians keep the Fall Biblical Holy Days?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2033, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂 In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: OUeåf/y^v„W#eåÿ Ù‘Ìf/NNýy^v„W#eåeåS†NÎ2013^tó2024^t0.
Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful to the word of God and original Christianity.

COGwriter

COGwriter

Many people feel that the Bible should interpret itself and hence can be read literally.

But, the percentage of people doing so has been dropping.

furthermore, I have seen ‘theologians’ try to reason around that.

Should you try to read the Bible literally?

At theological schools they teach that there are various forms of biblical interpretation. Theological schools (and their graduates) tend to emphasize one or more styles of what they call biblical exegesis–some of them, such as an excessive emphasis on allegorization, are vain and overlook what the Bible teaches.

One of the early men who pushed allegorical interpretation was an apostate named Cerinthus.

Irenaeus indicates that the Apostle John was very seriously opposed to him:

There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” (Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 3, Verse 4)

So, the Apostle John was not a fan of an early apostate allegorist.

A while back I ran across a Catholic writer who espoused an odd form of “literal” reading of scripture. The writer is Mark Shea and he wrote:

Periodically, folks ask about whether we are supposed to read the Bible literally.

The Church does require a literal interpretation of biblical texts. But that does not mean what most Americans imagine it means. It does not mean we have to believe, for instance, that the universe was made in six 24 hour days, or profess faith in talking snakes. Rather, by the “literal sense”, the Church means we must read the text looking for what the author intended to say, the *way* he intended to say it, and distinguish from that what is incidental to what he was saying. That’s the literal interpretation…the Church also says we are not at all bound to read it *literalistically* as though it was always a newspaper account. So, for instance, CCC 390 says:

The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents.

Note that: Genesis describes a real primeval event (the fall) but it uses figurative, not newspaper, language to do it. Other times, of course, Scripture does uses something like newspaper language (“David hid from Saul in a cave.”) in order to tell the story. Common sense and the interpretive tradition of the Church help us discern what from what.

Likewise, the Church does not commit us to reading the account of Noah literalistically…

For a quick rundown on on the senses of Scripture, see CCC 115-119:

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.”83

117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84

But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mark-shea/the-senses-of-scripture#ixzz2JqpQGS52

(Note: ‘CCC’ means the Catechism of the Catholic Church.) Mark Shea is not really advocating reading the Bible literally. Actually, when I personally started to read the Gospels, I realized that the Church of Rome was too removed from the Bible to truly represent the true church (they have made many changes that the true Church of God has not, for details, please check out Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Continuing Church of God?).

And let me add that although Mark Shea teaches that his “Church does not commit us to reading the account of Noah literalistically,” Jesus of the Bible did teach the account of Noah as did the apostles. Here are some of the words of Jesus:

37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:37-39)

26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27)

Notice some additional writings from the New Testament about Noah:

7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20)

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:4-5)

Those of us who actually believe the Bible believe the account of Noah–and the New Testament confirmed many of the literal events of the account of Noah in the Book of Genesis. Those parts of the Church of Rome claim they accept the Apostle Peter’s authority, so perhaps they should believe the biblical account of Noah.

The Bible Supports the View that It Tends to Literally Interpret Itself

Notice what the prophet Isaiah taught:

Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message?…For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little”… But the word of the LORD was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little,” (Isaiah 28:9,10, 13 NKJV).

In other words, the Bible was supposed to be understood based upon what it says in many places.

Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV).

In other words, scripture is given by God for doctrine and contains enough information that the man of God may be complete.

Notice what the Apostle Peter taught:

15…also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15-16).

Thus, even back then people who would not learn from the apostles were twisting scriptures–claiming they meant something other than what they said.

Allegorizing May Have First Developed in Alexandria And Was Held By Followers of Simon Magus and Valentinus

Gnostic and pre-gnostic leaders took a different approach to biblical interpretation in the first and second centuries. They tended to accept allegory over what the Bible actually taught.

This practice may have first developed in Alexandria, Egypt. Here is some of what Eusebius said Philo (c. first century) taught about those who made some profession of Christ in Alexandria (any bolding mine) (Cerinthus was an Egyptian):

3. In the work to which he gave the title, On a Contemplative Life or on Suppliants, after affirming in the first place that he will add to those things which he is about to relate nothing contrary to truth or of his own invention, he says that these men were called Therapeutæ and the women that were with them Therapeutrides. He then adds the reasons for such a name, explaining it from the fact that they applied remedies and healed the souls of those who came to them, by relieving them like physicians, of evil passions, or from the fact that they served and worshiped the Deity in purity and sincerity.

4. Whether Philo himself gave them this name, employing an epithet well suited to their mode of life, or whether the first of them really called themselves so in the beginning, since the name of Christians was not yet everywhere known, we need not discuss here…

7. Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account: “Everywhere in the world is this race found. For it was fitting that both Greek and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria…

9. And then a little further on, after describing the kind of houses which they had, he speaks as follows concerning their churches, which were scattered about here and there: “In each house there is a sacred apartment which is called a sanctuary and monastery, where, quite alone, they perform the mysteries of the religious life. They bring nothing into it, neither drink nor food, nor any of the other things which contribute to the necessities of the body, but only the laws, and the inspired oracles of the prophets, and hymns and such other things as augment and make perfect their knowledge and piety.”

10. And after some other matters he says:

“The whole interval, from morning to evening, is for them a time of exercise. For they read the holy Scriptures, and explain the philosophy of their fathers in an allegorical manner, regarding the written words as symbols of hidden truth which is communicated in obscure figures.

11. They have also writings of ancient men, who were the founders of their sect, and who left many monuments of the allegorical method. These they use as models, and imitate their principles”…

15…Philo’s words are as follows:

16. “Having laid down temperance as a sort of foundation in the soul, they build upon it the other virtues. None of them may take food or drink before sunset, since they regard philosophizing as a work worthy of the light, but attention to the wants of the body as proper only in the darkness, and therefore assign the day to the former, but to the latter a small portion of the night.

17. But some, in whom a great desire for knowledge dwells, forget to take food for three days; and some are so delighted and feast so luxuriously upon wisdom, which furnishes doctrines richly and without stint, that they abstain even twice as long as this, and are accustomed, after six days, scarcely to take necessary food.” These statements of Philo we regard as referring clearly and indisputably to those of our communion.

19. For they say that there were women also with those of whom we are speaking, and that the most of them were aged virgins who had preserved their chastity…by their own choice, through zeal and a desire for wisdom…

20. Then after a little he adds still more emphatically: “They expound the Sacred Scriptures figuratively by means of allegories. For the whole law seems to these men to resemble a living organism, of which the spoken words constitute the body, while the hidden sense stored up within the words constitutes the soul. This hidden meaning has first been particularly studied by this sect, which sees, revealed as in a mirror of names, the surpassing beauties of the thoughts”…

23. In addition to this Philo describes the order of dignities which exists among those who carry on the services of the church, mentioning the diaconate, and the office of bishop, which takes the precedence over all the others (Eusebius. Church History, Book II, Chapter XVII. Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. Excerpted from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series Two, Volume 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. American Edition, 1890. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

So Eusebius claims that Philo (c. 1st century) reported that those in Alexandria were ascetic, had mysteries, seem to have been gnostics (ones who claimed to have special knowledge/wisdom which was essential for salvation), had some promotion of celibacy, allegorized scripture, and had a bishop–and Eusebius seems to claim that they are part of the Catholic Church (see vs. 17 above)–even though the Roman Church did not have celibacy rules at that time (please see the article Was Celibacy Required for Early Bishops or Presbyters?). This seems to have been where a major departure from the true faith occurred.

Hippolytus, who also appeared to be a Roman supporter, in the early third century, wrote this about the heretic Simon Magus:

Now Simon, both foolishly and knavishly paraphrasing the law of Moses, makes his statements (Hippolytus. Refutation of All Heresies, Book VI, Chapter IV. Translated by J. H. Machmahon. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1886. Online Edition Copyright © 2005 by K. Knight).

Simon then, after inventing these (tenets), not only by evil devices interpreted the writings of Moses in whatever way he wished, but even the (works) of the poets. For also he fastens an allegorical meaning on (the story of) the wooden horse and Helen with the torch, and on very many other (accounts), which he transfers to what relates to himself and to Intelligence, and (thus) furnishes a fictitious explanation of them. (ibid Chapter XIV).

Simon Magus came on the scene about the same time Philo wrote about the Alexandrians.

Alexandria was also the original home of the heretic Valentinus (who later went to Rome), and it seems like some of the leaders in Alexandria adopted some of his traits. The historian HOJ Brown noted:

Alexandria was the home of the celebrated gnostic Valentinus. Valentinus adopted Philo’s method of allegorical interpretation…For a time, Valentinus and his followers existed with the orthodox Christians of Alexandria. (Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, p. 86).

Valentinus, even though condemned by Polycarp of Smyrna, when Polycarp visited Rome, ca. 155, was also tolerated by, and existed in, the Roman Church until at least the 170s A.D. when he was finally put out after he had greatly influenced the church there.

Speaking of Polycarp, in his famous Letter to the Philippians he uses essentially a literal, not allegorical approach to understanding scripture. The simple truth is that the actual early (prior to the third century) leaders of the church (outside of Alexandria), that the Roman Catholics consider non-heretical, did not try to promote an allegorical method of understanding scripture. But the heretics did.

While there are some passages in the Bible that are intended to be understood allegorically, God’s actual servants believe the word of God over opinions of men who do not truly have sufficient love of the truth.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

What is the Appropriate Form of Biblical Interpretation? Should the Bible be literally understood?
Who Gave the World the Bible? The Canon: Why do we have the books we now do in the Bible? Is the Bible complete? Are there lost gospels? What about the Apocrypha? Is the Septuagint better than the Masoretic text? What about the Textus Receptus vs. Nestle Alland? Was the New Testament written in Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew? Which translations are based upon the best ancient text? Did the true Church of God have the canon from the beginning? Here are links to related sermons: Let’s Talk About the Bible, The Books of the Old Testament, The Septuagint and its Apocrypha, Masoretic Text of the Old Testament, and Lost Books of the Bible, and Let’s Talk About the New Testament, The New Testament Canon From the Beginning, English Versions of the Bible and How Did We Get Them?, What was the Original Language of the New Testament?, Original Order of the Books of the Bible, and Who Gave the World the Bible? Who Had the Chain of Custody?
Read the Bible Christians should read and study the Bible. This article gives some rationale for regular bible reading, certain ancient texts, and discusses translations. Here is a link in Mandarin Chinese: ‹ûW#~Ï Here is a link in the Spanish language: Lea la Biblia..
Bible: Superstition or Authority? Should you rely on the Bible? Is it reliable? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.
Is God’s Existence Logical? Is it really logical to believe in God? Yes! This is a free online booklet that deal with improper theories and musings called science related to the origin of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and evolution. An animated video of related interest is also available: Big Bang: Nothing or Creator?
Proof Jesus is the Messiah This free book has over 200 Hebrew prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Plus, His arrival was consistent with specific prophecies and even Jewish interpretations of prophecy. Here are links to seven related sermons: Proof Jesus is the Messiah, Prophecies of Jesus’ birth, timing, and death, Jesus’ prophesied divinity, 200+ OT prophecies Jesus filled; Plus prophecies He made, Why Don’t Jews Accept Jesus?, Daniel 9, Jews, and Jesus, and Facts and Atheists’ Delusions About Jesus. Plus the links to two sermonettes: Luke’s census: Any historical evidence? and Muslims believe Jesus is the Messiah, but … These videos cover nearly all of the book, plus have some information not in the book.
Simon Magus, What Did He Teach? Sometimes called “the father early heretics” or the “father of heresies”, do you know what early writers claimed that Simon Magus taught? Sadly, most who profess Christ still hold to versions of his teachings. Here is a link to a related sermon: Simon Magus and ‘Christianity’?
Cerinthus: An early heretic What did he teach? What did the Apostle John do about him?
Marcion: The First Protestant? Considered to have been an organized heretic, he taught against the Old Testament, the law, and the Sabbath. Some have considered him to be the first Protestant reformer. But was he? Here is a link to a related sermon: Marcion: The first Protestant reformer?
Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic He apparently was the first Christ-professing heretic to come up with the idea of three hypostases.
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?
What Do Roman Catholic Scholars Actually Teach About Early Church History? Although most believe that the Roman Catholic Church history teaches an unbroken line of succession of bishops beginning with Peter, with stories about most of them, Roman Catholic scholars know the truth of this matter. This eye-opening article is a must-read for any who really wants to know what Roman Catholic history actually admits about the early church.
Nazarene Christianity: Were the Original Christians Nazarenes? Should Christians be Nazarenes today? What were the practices of the Nazarenes.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church. Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God? , Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, and What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, and Early Heresies and Heretics, and Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, and Saturday or Sunday?
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?
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.

Title page of 1555 edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy
(photo by Fivedit)

COGwriter

Dante Alighieri wrote something that became known as the Divine Comedy. It gives a misleading and false understanding about what happens after death as well as obfuscates God’s plan of salvation (more on God’s plan is in the free online 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).

Yet in 2021, Pope Francis praised the poet Dante as a prophet of hope according to the Roman Catholic publication called Crux:

Pope Francis calls Dante a ‘prophet of hope’

March 25, 2021

Pope Francis on Thursday released a document reflecting on the life and work of Italian poet Dante Alighieri, calling him a prophet of hope in a historic moment where inhumanity and lack of prospect loom large.

“At this particular moment in history, overclouded by situations of profound inhumanity and a lack of confidence and prospects for the future, the figure of Dante, prophet of hope and witness to the human desire for happiness, can still provide us with words and examples that encourage us on our journey,” Francis wrote in the closing lines of Candor Lucis Aeternae (“Splendor of Light Eternal”). …

His prophetic mission, the pope writes, entailed denouncing those believers – from popes to ordinary faithful – who betray Christ and turn the Church into an instrument to advance their own interests, idolizing power and riches while ignoring the Beatitudes and the duty of charity towards the defenseless and the poor.

“Yet, even as he denounces corruption in parts of the Church,” Francis writes, Dante also “an advocate for her profound renewal and implores God’s providence to bring this about.”

Francis’s latest apostolic letter is the latest of a long list of papal documents and reflections on the author of The Divine Comedy, who died 700 years ago. https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2021/03/pope-francis-calls-dante-a-prophet-of-hope/

Dante did not teach true hope. Dante also did not hold to the Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church (that link is to a free online book with numerous biblical and historical references).

Furthermore, we in the Church of God do not consider that Dante could have been God’s prophet.

For more on prophets, check out the following:

Church of God Leaders on Prophets Have there been prophets throughout the church age? Are any supposed to be around in the last days? What have COG leaders stated or written about prophets? Here is a link to a related sermon: Church of God Leaders on Prophets

How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God There are many false prophets. How can Christians determine who is a true prophet? There is also a sermon-length video titled How to determine if someone is a true prophet of God. Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Cómo determinar si alguien es un verdadero profeta de Dios?

As far as Dante’s poem goes, we believe it contributed to doctrinal error and the pushing of unbiblical fear.

The late Pastor General of the old Radio then Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote the following related to some of this:

Common Idea of Hell

First, what IS the generally accepted common belief in our Western world about hell? Here’s the terse and brief summation of this popular belief, which I quote from the Encyclopedia Americana: ”

… As generally understood, hell is the abode of evil spirits; the infernal regions … whither lost and condemned souls go after death to suffer indescribable torments and eternal punishment…. Some have thought of it as the place created by the Deity, where He punishes with inconceivable severity, and through all eternity, the souls of those who through unbelief or through the worship of false gods have angered Him. It is the place of divine revenge, untempered, never ending.”

Now where, and how, did this popular belief about hell originate? The Encyclopedia Americana states further: “The main features of hell as conceived by Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Grecian and Christian theologians are essentially the same.” The Western religious leaders from Roman times through the Middle Ages borrowed the doctrine of eternal torture from the pagan philosophers. Certain writers of the Middle Ages had such tremendous influence on the Christian-professing world, that their writings and teachings came to be generally accepted and believed, until it became the doctrine of the Christian-professing world. Among these influential writers were Augustine and Dante Alighieri.

Some years ago, I ran across a book in a large library, titled Dante, and His Inferno. It summed up the history of the Christian-professing doctrine of hell. This factual history is rather amazing! Dante lived A.D. 1265 to 1321. Dante, remember, wrote a tremendously popular book, titled Divine Comedy, in three parts — “Hell,” “Purgatory” and “Paradise.”

From the Pagans

Now I quote from the aforementioned book of history:

“Of all poets of modern times, Dante Alighieri was, perhaps, the greatest educator. He possibly had a greater influence on the course of civilization than any other man since his day…. He wrote, in incomprehensible verse, an imaginative and lurid account of a dismal hell — a long poem containing certain phrases which have caught the attention of the world, such as, all hope abandon … ye, who enter here!’ This had a tremendous impression and influence on the popular Christian thought and teaching. His Inferno was based on Virgil and Plato.”

Dante is reported to have been so fascinated and enraptured by the ideas and philosophies of Plato and Virgil, pagan philosophers, that he believed they were divinely inspired. Here is an article on Virgil, from the Americana:

“VIRGIL, pagan Roman poet, 70-19 B.C. Belonged to the national school of pagan Roman thought, influenced by the Greek writers. Christians of the Middle Ages, including Dante, believed he had received some measure of divine inspiration.”

Plato was a pagan Greek philosopher, born in Athens, 427 B.C., a student of Socrates. He wrote the famous book Phaedo, on the immortality of the soul, and this book is the real origin of the modern belief in the immortality of the soul. I have before me, a copy of the Phaedo, and in the introductory pages, I read this about Plato: “In fact, he acknowledges … three kinds of gods: superior, inferior, and intermediate.”

There is the general statement of the popular belief about hell, and where that belief came from — actually from the imaginations of pagans who knew not God! …

Incorrectly Translated “Hell”

Remember we merely read a translation of the Bible from its original languages. A leading Bible dictionary, called A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by James Hastings, says this:

“In our Authorized Version the word ‘hell’ is unfortunately used as the rendering of three distinct words, with different meanings. It represents, (1) the ‘sheol’ of the Hebrew Old Testament, and the ‘hades’ of … the New Testament…. It is now an entirely misleading rendering, especially in the New Testament passages. The English revisers, therefore, have substituted the original Greek word ‘hades’ for ‘hell’ in the New Testament. In the American revision the word ‘hell’ is entirely discarded in this connection…. The word ‘hell’ is translated (2) as the equivalent of the Greek word tartaros,(II Peter 2:4; compare with Jude 6), and, (3) as the equivalent of the Greek word ‘gehenna.’ ”

The original Hebrew word sheol and the Greek hades mean the same — the GRAVE, and these original words are so translated in many places. Hell is an old English word, and 370 years ago, when the Authorized Version was translated, the people of England commonly talked about putting their potatoes in HELL for the winter — a good way of preserving potatoes — for the word then meant merely a hole in the ground that was covered up — a dark and silent place — a GRAVE. But PAGAN teachings that gained popular acceptance have caused people to apply to the English word the meaning of “hell” which came out of the imaginations of Dante.

The Greek word tartaros occurs only once in the New Testament and does not refer to humans, but the place of fallen angels. Its meaning, translated into English, is “darkness of the material universe,” or “dark abyss” or “prison.”

And now the Greek word gehenna. Here is the official DEFINITION of that very Greek word which was inspired by God, and written originally by Mark. I quote from Hastings:

“Gehenna: the word occurs twelve times in the New Testament. This term ‘gehenna’ represents ‘the Valley of Hinnom’ (Nehemiah 11:30, II Kings 23:10, etc.). The place was … a deep narrow gorge in the vicinity of Jerusalem, understood to be on the south side. It is repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 19:6, etc.). It became an object of horror to the Jews, and is said to have been made the receptacle for bones, the bodies of beasts and criminals, refuse and all unclean things. The terrible associations of the place … the fires said to have been kept burning in it in order to consume the foul and corrupt objects that were thrown into it, made it a natural and unmistakable symbol of dire evil, … ABSOLUTE RUIN. So it came to designate the place of future punishment.”

Hell — a Place of Destruction

Gehenna was a place of DESTRUCTION and DEATH — not a place of living torture! Jesus was talking to Jews who understood all about this Gehenna or Valley of Hinnom. Utter DESTRUCTION by fire was complete. NOTHING was left, but ashes!
Every text in the Bible translated from this Greek word gehenna means complete destruction — not living torture — NOT eternal LIFE in torment! THE Bible says, in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is DEATH” — not ETERNAL LIFE in torture. The PUNISHMENT revealed in the BIBLE is DEATH — the cessation of life. Eternal life is the GIFT OF GOD!

Then WHY have we been believing that PUNISHMENT is ETERNAL LIFE in fire? And WHY have we been believing we already have eternal life and don’t NEED to come to God through Christ to receive it as HIS GIFT?
The PUNISHMENT is DEATH. It is the second death, from which there shall be no resurrection! The PUNISHMENT is for ETERNITY — DEATH for eternity — ETERNAL punishment — but NOwhere does THE BIBLE say anything about the PAGAN teaching of eternal punishING. It’s eternal punishMENT, not eternal punishING!

When Jesus spoke of being cast into “gehenna FIRE,” he was using this expression as an illustration of the LAKE OF FIRE, which THE BIBLE reveals is to be THE PLACE of this final punishment — this second DEATH. He referred to Revelation 20:14: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

THAT fire will be much hotter than Dante’s imaginary HELL!

What Happens to “Hell”?

Do people go at DEATH to the fictitious hell of Dante’s imagination to be TORTURED by flames of fire forever — and then are they to be brought OUT, to go into a JUDGMENT, to see if God had made a mistake in having punished them so long in this “hell”?
Notice Revelation 20:13-15: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” The LAKE OF FIRE which JESUS referred to is a place of DEATH, not of eternal life — the SECOND DEATH — ETERNAL punishment!

Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28: “… fear him which is able to DESTROY both soul and body in [GEHENNA].” Here in plain language JESUS said the SOUL could be destroyed — and that it would be DESTROYED in this GEHENNA that has been falsely translated by the English word hell! Gehenna is a place of DESTRUCTION! (Is there a Hell? Plain Truth, May 1955)

Later the old Worldwide Church of God published the following:

The Inferno

Possibly the best-known “journey” of all is that of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the medieval Italian poet. His travels among the damned are recorded in The Inferno. It is the first part of his three-part Divine Comedy, an account of his imaginary journeys through hell, purgatory and heaven.

Dante is conducted through hell by the spirit of the Roman poet Virgil. The trip begins on Good Friday, A.D. 1300, in a wooded area near Jerusalem. Over the gate of hell the two travelers find a fearful and now famous inscription:

ABANDON EVERY HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE.

Dante then witnesses in his imagination the eternal torments of the wicked. He describes hell as being divided into various levels, descending conically into the earth. Souls suffer punishments appropriate to their sins. Hypocrites, for example, wear gowns brilliant outwardly, but made of heavy lead instead of cloth. They must bear the weight of them forever. Gluttons are doomed to forever lie like pigs in a foul-smelling sty under a cold, eternal rain. Dante’s descriptions are vivid — and frightening.

Though Dante’s primary purpose in writing the poem was to satirize persons and circumstances of his day, the theology of his work is based firmly on the system of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Italian theologian and philosopher. The Divine Comedy is a relatively accurate dramatization of medieval Christian theology. Some simple-minded of Dante’s day actually believed Dante had really visited hell! His work had a tremendous impression and influence on popular Christian thought.

Concentration Camp?

Dante’s medieval picture of hell as a gigantic concentration camp — a nightmarish place of eternal torment, horrible beyond imagination, presided over by Satan and his demons — largely represents the thinking of significant groups of professing Christians to this day. The concept of a “hell” can be found in one form or another among all the world’s principal faiths. (Stump K. To Hell and Back. Plaint Truth, December 1981)

Sadly, most who profess Christianity hold on to at least some of the false notions put forth in Dante’s poem.

This is part of why MOST do not understand God’s plan of salvation.

God does not have a plan to torture people for eternity.

God has a plan to offer salvation to all who ever lived and to annihilate those who will, after the second resurrection, refuse to accept His offer of salvation through Jesus. For details in a book that also mentions Dante, check out the free online 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.

Now, it is NOT just Roman Catholics who have accepted improper aspects of Dante’s poem–so have many Protestants.

The Protestant group behind Chick Publications had the following at their website:

The King James Bible is a true and direct translation from the original languages. … What if you found out it’s the one English Bible that deserves your complete trust? … the King James … should be the only Bible that you need —and can completely trust. … trusting the KJV. Build your faith in God’s Word by learning why you can trust the KJV alone and why it is the most accurate translation in English. https://www.chick.com/products/item?stk=1425 accessed 03/15/20

Is that accurate?

No.

While the KJV is superior in many ways to many translations, it was translated by men.

Men are fallible.

Now, one of the things that Chick Publications likes about the KJV is that it often uses the word ‘hell.’ Chick Publications indicates that using the actual Greek words of the New Testament transliterated into English results in people not understanding about God’s punishment. Notice some of what it says about that:

Question: Gehenna is not hell, is it? It was a valley where outcasts, thieves and infected people where thrown when they died. The Bible refers to “Gehenna” as the place of death and pain. The word “hell”, as you so often use, where eternal pain and fire awaits is actually “Gehenna”. If you have read a bible written before 1400, you will notice a very important thing: “HELL” is missing. Instead it says “Gehenna”. There is no fire breathing eternal pain demon hell!! In fact YOU are committing a sin here. Telling people, or lying to people about hell, when you should know about “Gehenna”. There is no hell. Only the valley of “Gehenna”. A graveyard!!

Answer: The word “Gehenna” is properly translated “hell” in the King James Bible. …

Even though the word “Gehenna” comes from the Valley of Hinnom, simply rendering it as “garbage dump” or “valley of waste disposal” or “burning garbage” could not be an accurate translations, because that’s not what Jesus and the apostles meant when they used the word. It meant “the place where people go when they die.” That’s what we mean when we say “hell”. …

Not until Young’s Literal Translation in the late 1800s, followed by the Catholic New American Bible of 1970 was the untranslated “Gehenna” put in. … And “hell” accurately translates the meaning of the word “Gehenna.” “Gehenna” is not a translation; it is just a transliteration (translating letters, but not meaning). https://www.chick.com/information/article?id=does-gehenna-mean-hell accessed 03/15/20

In other words, Chick Publications is saying that IT KNOWS BETTER WHAT THE WORD IS SUPPOSED TO MEAN THAN THE WORD JESUS HIMSELF USED.

Now, we in the Continuing Church of God rarely use the word “hell.” The word “hell” originally meant to cover or to hide. Another old meaning of the word was “a tailor’s receptacle” according to Merriam-Webster. In time, it tended to mean being underground.

Furthermore, consider that the KJV IMPROPERLY TRANSLATES THREE DIFFERENT WORDS TO MEAN THE SAME THING!

There are three different words in the New Testament–Hades, Gehenna, or Tartaroosas–which the King James Version of the Bible translated as “hell.” And not one of them means what most people think the word hell means.

The fact of the three different Greek words, as well as various understandings and traditions, has resulted in confusion concerning what hell means.

Now, since the term has become highly used in cursing and in various vulgarities it is often not appropriate to use.

Furthermore, because of influence from Dante’s book The Divine Comedy, the area he called the Inferno/Infernus many people got the wrong impression that God has a place of torturing that would last forever. And later the term hell got attached to it, and that is how most Protestants (including Chick Publications as its tract Some Like It Hot shows) and Roman Catholics now view it.

Yet, Chick Publications and others should know better. Even in its post against Gehenna, it had the following:

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). No power on earth can destroy a soul. The soul is a part of a person that exists beyond physical death (Revelation 20:4). “Gehenna” has to be a place to destroy both the body and the soul. https://www.chick.com/information/article?id=does-gehenna-mean-hell accessed 03/15/20

Note Chick Publications admits that the body and soul are destroyed in Gehenna. In Jesus’ time what was tossed into Gehenna burnt up and was no more. In the Gehenna to come, the same thing will happen. But sadly, its teachings are closer to Dante’s than the words of Jesus!

Chick Publications also has the following:

“Hades” has a big pagan meaning that is completely divorced from the Bible. “Sheol” is a Hebrew word without any meaning at all to an ordinary reader. Have you ever heard people say they don’t want to “go to gehenna?” … We need a Bible with a lot of hell in it. We need to know where we are not going. The whole purpose of evangelism is to save people from hell. … That forceful warning word, “hell,” is found in the King James Bible. https://www.chick.com/information/article?id=Who-Needs-Hell accessed 03/15/20

No, the whole purpose of proclaiming the good news of the Bible is not to save people from the type of hell that Chick Publications wants to believe in. One of the main purposes of evangelism, according to Jesus is to have “gospel of the kingdom … preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations” (Matthew 24:14) and to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). This way, those converted will build godly character so that they will be able to give love in a unique way to make eternity better for them and all who ultimately will accept Jesus (see also our free online book: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you?).

What about Gehenna? This Greek word represents “the Valley of HINNOM which lay just outside of Jerusalem and was the place refuse was constantly being burned up.” It is first referred to in scripture in Joshua 15:8. It was also associated with pagan fire practices in 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31-32, 19:2-6, & 32:35.

Trash, filth, and the dead bodies of animals and DESPISED CRIMINALS were thrown into Gehenna. Ordinarily, everything thrown into this valley was DESTROYED by fire. Christ used it to picture the terrible fate of UNREPENTANT SINNERS! Please understand that JESUS USED THE WORD GEHENNA 11 TIMES IN THE TEXTUS RECEPTUS (the text that the KJV was translated from). Jesus knew what it meant! But instead, Chick Publications (and others) want you to not comprehend what Jesus was really teaching!

Now, consider that Chick Publications says that Hades has a pagan meaning, but apparently overlooks the true meaning of the word Easter (the name of one or more pagan goddesses – Ishtar and Eostre). That being said, JESUS USED THE WORD HADES 5 TIMES IN THE TEXTUS RECEPTUS (the text that the KJV was translated from). Jesus was NOT trying to teach a pagan concept. Hades means the ‘grave.’ It does NOT mean an ever burning hell fire of torture.

On the use of the word “hell” in the New and Old Testament, let’s read what an old Bible dictionary, edited by James Hastings, a leading authority on such technical matters, says:

In our Authorized Version the word ‘hell’ is unfortunately used as the rendering of three distinct words, WITH DIFFERENT. It represents, 1. the ‘sheol’ of the Hebrew Old Testament, and the ‘hades’ in the New Testament … It is now an entirely misleading rendering, especially in the New Testament passages. The English revisers, therefore, have substituted ‘Hades’ [going back to the original Greek word] for ‘hell’ in the New Testament …. In the American revision the word ‘hell’ is entirely discarded in this connexion ….

The word ‘hell’ is used 2. as equivalent to [the Greek word] ‘tartaros’ (II Peter 2:4), … and, 3. more properly as the equivalent of [the Greek word] ‘gehenna’ (Hastings J., ed. Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 2. 1900, pp. 343-344)

So, we see that the real MEANINGS of three different Greek words – “hades” (“sheol” in Old Testament), “tartaros,” and “gehenna” – have been confused with each other because translators, like those of the KJV, have attempted to make the ONE English word “hell” cover all THREE meanings! But now let us amplify the foregoing facts.

The original Old Testament HEBREW word “sheol” and the New Testament Greek word “hades” mean basically the same thing. These original words have been translated “grave” in many places in the Bible.

THE WORD “SHEOL,”… It is never used by Moses or the Prophets in the sense of a place of torment after death; and in no way conflicts with the statement already proved, that the Law of Moses deals wholly in temporal rewards and punishments.

This position, also, I wish to fortify by the testimony of Orthodox critics, men of learning and candor. They know, and therefore they speak.

1. CHAPMAN. “Sheol, in itself considered, has no connection with future punishment.” Cited by Balfour, First Inquiry.
2. DR. ALLEN, quoted above, says: “The term sheol does not seem to mean, with certainty, anything more than the state of the dead in their deep abode.”
3. DR. CAMPBELL. “Sheol signifies the state of the dead without regard to their happiness or misery.”
4. DR. WHITBY. “Sheol throughout the Old Testament signifies not the place of punishment, or of the souls of bad men only, but the grave only, or the place of death.” (Thayer TB. THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE Doctrine of Endless Punishment. 1855; Universal Publishing House 1871)

Sheol is a reference to the grave, as is the word hades.

Note that the Greek word TARTAROS, which has also been translated into the English word “hell” in the KJV, occurs only once in the New Testament (2 Peter 2:4) and does not refer to humans, but to the RESTRAINED condition of fallen angels. Its meaning, translated into English, is “darkness of the material universe,” or “dark abyss,” or “prison.”

More on ‘Hell’ can be found in the following: Study the Bible Course Lesson 15: What is “Hell”?

Protestants do NOT understand God’s plan of salvation and have other doctrinal errors. To learn more about them, check out the free online book: Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God differs from Protestantism.

Dante was not a prophet of hope.

To learn more about the hope, check out the free online books Proof Jesus is the Messiah, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you?

One of the reasons that most who profess Christianity have been deceived about God’s plan of salvation is that they, unlike early faithful Christians, do not keep the biblical holy days. Here is a link to a free online booklet on them: Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Study the Bible Course Lesson 15: What is “Hell”? What are the different words translated as “hell” in English? Does Gehenna mean something different than Hades. What happens? What about worms dying not?
Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation Will all get a fair chance at salvation? This free book is packed with scriptures showing that God does intend to offer salvation to all who ever lived–the elect in this age, and the rest in the age to come. Here is a link to a related sermon series: Universal Offer of Salvation 1: Apocatastasis, Universal Offer of Salvation 2: Jesus Desires All to be Saved, Mysteries of the Great White Throne Judgment (Universal Offer of Salvation part 3), Is God Fair, Will God Pardon the Ignorant?, Can God Save Your Relatives?, Babies, Limbo, Purgatory and God’s Plan, and ‘By the Mouth of All His Holy Prophets’.
Who Gave the World the Bible? The Canon: Why do we have the books we now do in the Bible? Is the Bible complete? Are there lost gospels? What about the Apocrypha? Is the Septuagint better than the Masoretic text? What about the Textus Receptus vs. Nestle Alland? Was the New Testament written in Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew? Which translations are based upon the best ancient text? Did the true Church of God have the canon from the beginning? Here are links to related sermons: Let’s Talk About the Bible, The Books of the Old Testament, The Septuagint and its Apocrypha, Masoretic Text of the Old Testament, and Lost Books of the Bible, and Let’s Talk About the New Testament, The New Testament Canon From the Beginning, English Versions of the Bible and How Did We Get Them?, What was the Original Language of the New Testament?, Original Order of the Books of the Bible, and Who Gave the World the Bible? Who Had the Chain of Custody?
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
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. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Proof Jesus is the Messiah This free book has over 200 Hebrew prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Plus, His arrival was consistent with specific prophecies and even Jewish interpretations of prophecy. Here are links to seven related sermons: Proof Jesus is the Messiah, Prophecies of Jesus’ birth, timing, and death, Jesus’ prophesied divinity, 200+ OT prophecies Jesus filled; Plus prophecies He made, Why Don’t Jews Accept Jesus?, Daniel 9, Jews, and Jesus, and Facts and Atheists’ Delusions About Jesus. Plus the links to two sermonettes: Luke’s census: Any historical evidence? and Muslims believe Jesus is the Messiah, but … These videos cover nearly all of the book, plus have some information not in the book. We also have the book translated in the Spanish PRUEBA de que JESÚS es el MESÍAS and French PREUVES QUE JÉSUS EST LE MESSIE languages.
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? Here is a link to a short animation: Which Church would Jesus Choose?
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, and What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, and Early Heresies and Heretics, and Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, and Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, and Holy Mother Church and Heresies.
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.
Should You Keep 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. Two related sermon would be Which Spring Days should Christians observe? and Fall Holy Days for Christians.

Richard Close speaking at the Feast of Tabernacles in New Brunswick

COGwriter

From time to time, I have received questions asking about some of the differences between the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) and the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) from a member of the SDA church.

But before going to them, let me point out some doctrinal similarities:

1. Both claim to believe that the whole Bible, Old and New Testaments, is the Word of God (see also Read the Bible and the Statement of Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God).
2. Both believe that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ (see also Statement of Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God).
3. Both believe that all of the Ten Commandments are standards for God’s people today and that the seventh-day Sabbath is to be observed on Saturday. See also The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast and The Sabbath in the Early Church and Abroad.
4. Both believe there is no consciousness for humans between death and resurrection. Though we have some major differences in understanding the resurrections. See Did Early Christians Believe that Humans Possessed Immortality? and What Did Early Christians Understand About the Resurrections?
5. Both believe that Jesus Christ will soon return physically to the earth. Though, again, there are some major differences (see also The Gospel of the Kingdom of God).
6. Both believe that the wicked will finally be annihilated, not suffer eternal torment. See The Second Death.
7. Both believe that Christians should not eat biblically unclean meats (see The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats), though, because of the teachings of Ellen White, many SDAs take this further and avoid all meat.

There are, however, more differences than similarities.

Here are some of the differences:

1. The SDAs accept Ellen White as God’s prophetess. CCOG does not. We see her as false on many points. Hence, CCOG sees no need to heed her pronouncements from a biblical perspective as some are in conflict with scripture and reality.
2. Ellen White taught that the angel Michael became Jesus. CCOG strongly disagrees (see Did the Archangel Michael become Jesus?).
3. Ellen White falsely taught that the Day of Atonement was October 22 in 1844, whereas it in 1844, the Day of Atonement began at sunset September 22 and ran through sunset September 23rd (see http://www.hebcal.com/hebcal/?year=1844&v=1&month=x&yt=G&nh=on&nx=on&o=on&s=on&vis=on&a=on&D=on&d=on&set=on&heb=on&c=off&zip=&m=72).
4. SDAs believe 1844 has a significance that CCOG says the Bible does not support.
5. The SDAs changed to accept the Greco-Roman trinity. CCOG does not (see Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity?).
6. The SDAs teach a Sunday morning resurrection, whereas the CCOG teaches Jesus was resurrected on a Saturday afternoon (see also What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’?).
7. The SDAs changed to accept pagan holidays like Christmas. CCOG does not (see Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? and What Does the Catholic Church Teach About Christmas and the Holy Days?).
8. The SDAs often consider themselves Protestant and the Protestants as Christians. CCOG does not (see Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God differs from Protestantism).
9. SDAs do not keep God’s holy days. CCOG does (see Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?).
10. CCOG keeps Passover annually in accordance with the scriptures, whereas the SDAs keep some version of it quarterly, which is not biblical. See also Passover and the Early Church.
11. SDAs do not understand God’s plan of salvation. CCOG does as we understand that God will offer salvation to all that ever lived (see Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation).
12. Ellen White and other SDAs put forth the view that the United States of America is the two-horned beast of Revelation 13:11 (see SDA/CCOG Differences: Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666). We in the CCOG teach Revelation 13:11 is a reference to the “false prophet” (Revelation 16:13,19:20) and final “Antichrist” (1 John 4:1-3).
13. SDAs believe swearing oaths is fine (White EG. Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing), the CCOG does not.
14. Contrary to Jesus’ statements in Matthew 5:33-37, SDAs believe in swearing oaths as Ellen White said that was acceptable, whereas the CCOG does not.
15. SDAs do not clearly teach that 666 is the European Beast of the Sea, but CCOG does (see also Who is the King of the North?).
16. SDAs do not believe that saints will be on the Earth during the millennium, CCOG does (cf. Revelation 5:10; 20:4-6; see also Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism?).
17. SDAs use crosses a part of the symbols for their religion, whereas CCOG does not (see also What is the Origin of the Cross as a ‘Christian’ Symbol?).
18. The CCOG teaches an “age to come” (Matthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; Hebrews 6:5), whereas because of a vision from Ellen White, the SDAs do not teach that.
19. SDAs call the truth that Jesus was killed on a Wednesday “unscriptural” (Standish RR, Standish C. The General Conference Confronts Apostasy. Hartland Publications, , 2006, p. 84), whereas the CCOG accepts that Jesus died then.
20. CCOG teaches the good news of the Kingdom of God and we do not believe the SDA church understands the full gospel or that it teaches it (see also The Gospel of the Kingdom of God).
21. CCOG’s priorities are essentially Matthew 24:14, Galatians 2:10, and Matthew 28:19-20, while the SDAs do not consider those the same way as CCOG. (see Behind the Work 2016: All Nations, Tribes, People, and Tongues and also MATTHEW Here are links to twelve sermons covering the 28 chapters of Matthew: Matthew 1-2: Greek or Aramaic, Jesus, and the Star?, Matthew 3-5: John the Baptist, Temptations, and the Beatitudes, Matthew 6-7: Charitable Deeds, the Rosary, Prayer, the Golden Rule, and Faith, Matthew 8-10: Married Clergy, Faith, Coming Persecution, and the Ecumenical Agenda, Matthew 11-12: John the Elijah, Sodom, Unpardonable Sin, & 3 Days and 3 Nights, -14: Parables, Mustard Seeds, Birthdays, and Faith, Matthew 15-16: Tradition, Signs of the Times, and The Rock & Peter, Matthew 17-18: Transfiguration, Elijah to Come, Taxes, and Forgiveness, Matthew 19-20: Transgender? Divorce? Purgatory? The first shall be last?, Matthew 21-23: ‘Palm Sunday,’ Come as You Are?, and the Greatest Commandments, Matthew 24: Temple Destruction, Sorrows, Tribulation, and the Return of Jesus, and Matthew 25-28: Midnight Cry, False Christians, Resurrection, & Teaching what Jesus Taught.
    MARK Here is a link to a sermon covering all of Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark: What did Jesus teach in the Book of Mark? Here is a link to six sermons covering all the verses in the Gospel of Mark: Mark 1-2: Author, Prophecy, & Miracles, Mark 3-5: Healing, Demons, and Parables, Mark 6-9: Tradition, John’s beheading, Elijah, and Restoration, Mark 10-12: Marriage, Divorce, Needle Eye, Greatest Command, & Taxes, Mark 13: Temple, Four Horsemen, Troubles, Great Tribulation, and Gospel Proclamation, and Mark 14-16: Jesus’ Priorities & Betrayal, the Resurrection, Signs, and Reaching the World.
    LUKE Here are links to eight sermons covering the entire ‘Gospel of Luke’: Luke 1-2: John the Baptist, Mary, and the Census, Luke 3-6: John the Baptist, Jesus’ genealogy, Satan’s Influence, and the Sermon on the Mount, Luke 7-9: Miracles, Purpose of Parables, Kingdom of God, and Women Supporting the Ministry, Luke 10-11: The 70, Doing the Work, the Good Samaritan, Prayer, and Signs, Luke 12-13: Priorities, Delayed Fruit Bearing, Little Flock, Prophecy, and the Narrow Way, Luke 14-16: The Lost Sheep, the Prodigal Son, the Rich Man and Lazarus, Luke 17-20: Faith, the Kingdom, Gathering, Prayer, & Rewards, and Luke 21-22: Giving, Sorrows, Persecution, Tribulation, Fig Tree, and Violence. The last sermon also covers Jesus’ words in the Book of Acts.
    JOHN Here are links to a seven-part sermon series covering the entire ‘Gospel of John’: John 1-3: Anti-unitarian, Wine, Being Born Again, & Heaven, John 4-6: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, Miracles and the Bread of Life, John 10-12: Sheep, Hirelings, Lazarus/Soul Sleep and ‘Palm Day’, John 13-15: Footwashing and the Words of Jesus, John 16-18: Truth, Trinity, and Pontius Pilate, and John 19-21: Do not only try, do what God wants.
    REVELATION This is a link to a sermon covering words Jesus spoke as recorded in the Book of Revelation and in first and second Corinthians: Revelation: Jesus’ Final Words.)
22. CCOG traces its history from Acts 2 to present. The SDA church traces itself from the Protestant and Advent movements. See also Continuing History of the Church of God.
23. SDAs improperly teach that the Church of God came out of their church. The CCOG teaches that the early SDAs had some exposure to COG doctrines, but ended up rejecting many to follow Ellen White’s revised positions. The COG preceded the formation of the SDA movement by over 18 centuries (see also the free online book: Continuing History of the Church of God).
24. The SDAs remnant teaching about itself now is mistaken as the ‘remnant’ taught about in Revelation 12:17 are non-Philadelphian Christians who are not protected in a place in the wilderness during the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord (see also There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Near Petra).
25. The CCOG teaches that God is calling the elect now (see God Calling You?), but will call others later (see Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation). The SDAs do not teach that.
26. The CCOG teaches more fully the meaning of life than the SDAs (see also The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you?).
27. CCOG seems to more clearly teach deification than the SDAs (see The Laodicean Church Era and also What is Your Destiny? Deification? Did the Early Church Teach That Christians Would Become God?).
28. The CCOG teaches more fully how to live as a Christian than the SDAs (see also Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian).

Officially, “Seventh-day Adventists . . . stress the conviction that many Roman Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ” (How Seventh-day Adventists View Roman Catholicism. This statement was recorded on April 15, 1997, by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Administrative Committee (ADCOM) and released by the Office of the President, Robert S. Folkenberg).

We in the CCOG have repeatedly warned of the dangers of the ecumenical movement (see, for example, Beware: Protestants Going Towards Ecumenical Destruction!) and the World Council of Churches (watch the video World Council of Churches Peace Plan), the SDAs have taken steps moving closer to looking to be part of it.

My prayer is for all, including the SDAs, to seek the truth, change, and hold to “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Just because both groups do accept the seventh-day Sabbath does not make them very similar.

There are significant and major differences.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is NOT part of the Church of God (though some few of their members possibly could be)–but basically a sect of Protestantism. We in the Continuing Church of God do not trace our history through that church.

Some items of related interest may include:

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.
COGwriter Position on Other Churches and Religions What is the fate of those who do not know Christ? What about those who profess Christ outside the Church of God?
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.
Did the Archangel Michael become Jesus? The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach this, and SDA Ellen White did, but does the Bible allow for this?
SDA/CCOG Differences: Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 The genuine Church of God is NOT part of the Seventh-day Adventists. This article explains two prophetic differences, the trinity, differences in approaching doctrine, including Ellen White. Did Ellen White make prophetic errors? Did Ellen White make false prophecies? Here is a version in the Spanish language: SDA/COG Diferencias: La bestia de dos cuernos de Apocalipsis y 666. Here are two sermons in the English language: Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?and CCOG and SDA differences and similarities. Here is a link to an article in the Spanish language: Diferencias: SDA/CCOG: La bestia de dos cuernos de Apocalipsis y 666.

1878 painting of Jews in synagogue on Yom Kippur

COGwriter

The Day of Atonement, called Yom Kippur by the Jews, runs from sunset October 4th through sunset October 5th in 2021.

A while back, the Temple Institute reported the following:

Erev Yom Kippur,Tishrei 9, 5780/October 8, 2019

When we study the service of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) in the Holy Temple on Yom Kippur, we begin to appreciate the incredible intensity of the day. Having immersed himself for days in preparation for his task, the Kohen Gadol must work with the utmost celerity and precision, from the very moment that Yom Kippur commences to its very final seconds. He has no breaks, no time-outs. He has no do-overs and he can’t call a friend if he forgets what to do next. The Kohen Gadol must be completely and utterly focused. His mind and body and soul must move in unison, as he advances through the day, one vital task after another. He bears on his shoulders the ultimate responsibility for himself, for his family, for his people, and for the world. His task is enormous. …

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, for the both the individual and the community; for Israel and for the whole world. It’s the holiest day of year and we fast …

The Apostle Peter was inspired to write:

17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:17-21)

Although the Jews do not realize it (but they should, see also Proof Jesus is the Messiah), the slain goat in the Atonement ceremony represents Christ who actually dies for our sins.

Notice Leviticus 16:15-19:

15 Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. 16 So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 And he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

Christ’s sacrifice is an atonement sacrifice to reconcile us to God. Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote:

18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).

Notice also something from the Hebrew scriptures:

6 In mercy and truth
Atonement is provided for iniquity;
And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)

2 O You who hear prayer,
To You all flesh will come.
3 Iniquities prevail against me;
As for our transgressions,
You will provide atonement for them. (Psalms 65:2-3)

Jesus died for our iniquities (for more on prophecies about Jesus check out the free online book: Proof Jesus is the Messiah).

Notice that this was clearly prophesied in the Hebrew scriptures:

1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. (Isaiah 53:1-8)

And it came to pass.

Jesus was the atonement:

10 And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10, BSB)

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10, NIV)

Notice also:

6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11)

11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…

17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:11-12, 17, KJV)

Jesus was an atonement for us to reconcile us to God.

The Bible teaches that Jesus kept the Law and did not sin (Hebrews 4:15), hence He kept all the Fall Holy Days including the Day of Atonement.

Around the time of Jesus, the Day of Atonement was simply referred as ‘the Fast’ in Acts 27:9, as that was apparently common knowledge among believers. The fact that this day was referred to that way (or even at all) in the New Testament is an indication that it was observed by Christians after Christ’s resurrection. The Bible also clearly shows that so-called Jewish holy days, such as Pentecost were observed by Christians after Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 2:1).

Observant individuals affiliated with the Churches of God will fast from sunset after the 9th day of the seventh month until sunset the next night (if they are physically able–nursing mothers, small children, pregnant women, and various afflicted others are not expected to fast–this is consistent with Jewish practices in this area as well). In this fast we go without food or drink. Those afflicted in ways that fasting is inappropriate for them may well be why God used the expression “afflict your souls” that day as opposed to mandating that all MUST fast then.

Notice also:

Should children fast? If they are old enough to understand that God requires it on this day, they can be taught to fast for perhaps 12 or 18 hours before allowing them to fast 24 hours.

God’s law permits certain persons to be exempted from fasting. One category would be persons advised by a medical doctor that it would be physically harmful for them to fast. Babies should never be forced to fast. Most mothers produce enough milk to continue breast feeding throughout a fast day, but some do not. A few may find it necessary to drink a little water to resume feeding. People with medical conditions may need to continue their medication. They would be well advised to check with their family doctor. Diabetics may need to adjust their medication or drink some juices. The government God instituted in His Church empowers the Church to make such exception when necessity demands. (Ambassador College Correspondance Course. Lesson 29 – Day Of Atonement – The World at One with God, 1984)

As far as the purpose for fasting goes, notice something from the old Worldwide Church of God:

Humility Through Fasting

Jesus Christ, the future ruler of earth, qualified to rule by being completely submissive to the government of God and perfectly humble. One of His last acts with His disciples included establishing the New Testament Passover ordinance of foot washing to picture humility. His suffering and death to pay the penalty of human sin was an act of extreme humility, of complete submission to His Father’s will, of perfect love for us. True Christians in like manner must become humble to rule with Christ. No ruler in God’s Kingdom can be arrogant or selfish (Mark 10:42-45).

Fasting on the Day of Atonement is a vivid reminder of the state of mind necessary for salvation—of humility, godly sorrow, earnestly seeking God and His way. (Ambassador College Correspondance Course. Lesson 29 – Day Of Atonement – The World at One with God, 1984)

Fasting is not penance — NOT a hunger strike to force your own will on God. Mahatma Gandhi fasted that way. A Christian is to fast in order to humble his or her own fleshly mind with its carnal will and to draw closer to God. To acknowledge his or her own nothingness and ask for GOD’S strength.

Jesus Christ received the strength to resist the Devil’s strongest temptation by fasting 40 days and nights! Spiritually, He was at His strongest at the end of 40 days, because He was completely humble before God. God, of course, doesn’t ask or expect us to fast 40 days. He only commands one day of us each year, though we are also told to fast voluntarily at other times. (Ambassador College Correspondance Course. Lesson 37 – Day of Atonement – AT-ONE-MENT WITH GOD! 1969)

Real humility is not some outwards show, but a realization of the truth. One such truth is that we, of ourselves, cannot save ourselves from our sins. Fasting should help us draw closer to God.

Fasting, or otherwise being afflicted, reminds us that we are to come to God on His terms as only God can save.

The New Testament shows that the the Gentile Gospel writer Luke knew about the Day of Atonement, when he wrote:

9 … sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over (Acts 27:9).

What was Luke referring to according to Protestant commentators? Why the day of Atonement. Notice two such commentaries (note italics/bolding are from the sources cited):

Acts 27:9-11 … Sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was already past, that is, the famous yearly fast of the Jews, the day of atonement, which was on the tenth day of the seventh month, a day to afflict the soul with fasting (from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.).

Acts 27:8-9 … The fast to which Luke refers is the Day of Atonement (from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press).

The fact that Luke (who wrote in Greek) used that term for a Christian audience (Acts 1:1) demonstrates that the Day of Atonement was known, recognized, and observed by early Christians. He presumed that Christians would realize when “the Fast” was as they would have been keeping it. If they had not been keeping it, then Luke probably would have used a different expression. But he did not as he knew his Greek-reading Christian audience would understand what he was referring to.

Furthermore, notice some statements from the Apostle Paul:

17… Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers (Acts 28:17)

4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6)

Since Paul kept the customs of his people, he, too, kept all the Fall Holy Days including the Day of Atonement. If not, he could not have made that statement which is in Acts 28:17 nor the ones about being blameless in the law in Philippians 3:4-6.

On the Day of Atonement, the Bible says to “afflict your souls” (Leviticus 23:32).

In Isaiah 58:5 the Bible teaches that a fasting day is a day to afflict one’s soul. Furthermore, notice something else from Isaiah:

12 And in that day the Lord God of hosts
Called for weeping and for mourning,
For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
13 But instead, joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen and killing sheep,
Eating meat and drinking wine:
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts,
“Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you,
Even to your death,” says the Lord God of hosts. (Isaiah 22:12-14)

Notice that not avoiding food when told to is equated to having no atonement. And while the word translated as atonement in Isaiah 22:14 is not the identical Hebrew word in Leviticus 23, it is similar and apparently has similar connotations.

As mentioned before, the Day of Atonement was called “the Fast” in Acts 27:9.

Therefore, those in the Church of God who are faithful and able fast on the Day of Atonement. That is, they avoid all food and drink for the entire 24 hours of that day.

Are there any benefits associated with that?

First notice what the Bible teaches:

5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. (Isaiah 58:5-12)

So, the Bible teaches both physical and spiritual benefits and responsibilities from fasting.

Notice some comments from the old Radio and Worldwide Church of God:

Guidelines for Effective Fasting
• Fast often. When using any tool, physical or spiritual, practice makes perfect.
The apostle Paul fasted often (II Corinthians 11:27), and we should, too. That doesn’t mean we should become pharisaical and set a rigid schedule for ourselves (Luke 18:9- 14). Our attitude as we fast, and not the number of times or when we fast, is what is important. When we fast often, our bodies get more accustomed to going without food for a period of time.
• Avoid “desperation” fasting. Fasting is certainly important in times of trial and distress, but if we only resort to fasting in times of emergency, we are telling God that we are more interested in getting what we want than in drawing closer to Him.
• Fast a day at a time. One day is an acceptable length for a spiritual fast, although more time, such as two or three days, may be appropriate on occasion.
(Robert J Millman. The Way to Spiritual Growth – Fast. Good News, May 1984)

How Often Should We Fast?
The question often arises, how often should I fast? Nowhere in the Bible do we have an exact statement of how often we should fast. Yet, we have several examples which will help us to understand how often we should practice fasting in our lives. As we have previously seen, the Apostle Paul fasted OFTEN (II Cor. 10:27). The Apostle Paul had no specific command in the Old Testament teaching him how often he should fast. However, Paul was acutely aware of the race he was running and how diligently he needed to strive in order to enter God’s Kingdom. He considered it necessary to fast often — even in the face of the trials and afflictions he constantly endured — in order to maintain the spiritual strength he needed to continue serving God and finally to achieve the crown of righteousness.
The Gentile, CORNELIUS, lived such a life of service and overcoming before God that God considered it important enough to send an apostle — Peter — to preach to him the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and to baptize him and his family. It is significant that Cornelius had been praying and FASTING before God when God finally elected to send the Apostle Peter to him (Acts 10:30).
It was when the prophet Daniel elected to set his heart to understand, and to CHASTEN himself before God with fasting, that God sent the angel Gabriel to reveal to Daniel some of the most vital prophecies of the Bible. See Daniel 10:2, 3, 12. The purpose of fasting is not to punish ourselves in a form of penance, but to draw closer to God by getting away from the world.
The prophet Elijah also sought God in prayer and fasting forty days and forty nights on Mt. Horeb and received the vital answer he sought.
Fasting has certainly played a vital part in the lives of those God has used down through history. From these examples, the principle we should apply in determining how often to fast should be based upon the needs in our lives. Our routine of fasting should certainly be frequent enough and of long enough duration to keep ourselves close to God and in the vital spiritual condition that will enable us to overcome and endure to the end. (Portune A. WHY Should We Fast? Good News, June 1961)

Fast regularly enough for the body to adjust itself to the idea. Some people who think they are about to die when they fast could actually find it easy if they fasted a day every month or two. (Meredith RC. But by Prayer and Fasting. Good News, April 1979)

Here are some comments from Herbert W. Armstrong about fasting:

FASTING AND PRAYER: There is . . . NOTHING like fasting and prayer for drawing close to God, re-establishing contact, being filled with His Spirit. For this purpose it is better to fast completely — no fruit-juice of any kind. In Bible times they sometimes fasted without even water, but sometimes water was used. Personally I think results will be obtained if one drinks water, but nothing else.

For purely spiritual purposes a fast of from one to three days is usually sufficient. You may expect headaches, and a very thick-headed feeling the first few days. It is not pleasant. It is, in Bible language, AFFLICTING THE SOUL. It takes courage and will-power, and self-denial. I recommend, for this purpose, dividing your time three ways: about one third in studying the subject of fasting in the Bible, and other Bible study. Use a good concordance, and your marginal references if your Bible has them. If not you should get one which has. Look up all you can find under fasting. Then about a third of your time in meditation — turning over in your own mind by yourself WHY you have not been closer to God, thinking out just HOW you have been letting the worldly things creep in, meditating on what you have read in the Bible, applying it to yourself and your spiritual condition. Then, spend one full third of your time in earnest PRAYER.

Did you ever spend one solid HOUR in prayer, alone with God in some private room, on your knees? Very few ever have. If you haven’t, the first time you do it you’ll find it will take as much will-power and self-denial as forcing yourself to stay on a fast and resisting that gnawing hunger feeling. In five or ten minutes, or less, every excuse in the world will come into your mind. You aren’t in the mood now — why not do it later? You just think of something that ought to be done, and you think you must go do it right now. Yes, I know what will come to your mind, for I have done it and I know by experience. But if you will resist every temptation, and STAY on your knees, even though you think your prayer isn’t going as high as the ceiling, in at least 30 or 40 minutes the devil will probably give up and let you alone and you’ll find you are establishing contact with God, and you’ll find you are beginning to really ENJOY talking to Him — just pouring out your soul to Him — telling him all about it. Pause, once awhile, and meditate, and let God talk to you. (Armstrong HW. Importance of Fasting. July 7, 1948)

In addition to humbling ourselves and helping us to realize how much we need to rely on God and drawing closer to him, fasting is considered to have certain physical benefits.

Yes, Christians should keep the Day of Atonement.

We in the Continuing Church of God continue to keep the Day of Atonement in the 21st century.

Anne Catherine Emmerich Claimed to See Purgatory

COGwriter

The following article from Aletia (an online Roman Catholic news and information website) claims that ‘Purgatory’ is part of the Gospel!:

The great good news of Purgatory

Far from a “cheap grace,” Purgatory is the sensible and just means of becoming fit for the mercy we receive.

When Jesus walked out of the Tomb, he opened the door to Purgatory. We don’t think about this when belting out “Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia,” at least I don’t, but we should. It’s Gospel, as my Evangelical friends say.

I tried to write a new verse for the hymn. I got as far as “Jesus Christ is risen today, Purgatory is here to stay,” and gave up.

Besides being Gospel, Purgatory attracts people to the Church, too. It supplies a need we all feel, at least when we’re at our best. The Protestant C. S. Lewis saw this at the very end of his life. In his last book, Letters to Malcolm, he says that “Our souls demand Purgatory.”

We want it. We feel the need of it. …

Not cheap grace

Purgatory’s not cheap-grace Christianity. We have our versions of that just as the Evangelicals do, with their get-out-of-jail-free conversions and wipe-the-slate-clean view of grace. The Evangelicals themselves accuse us of using the sacraments mechanically, and that can be fair hit. For that matter, we can think of Purgatory as the place we’ll pay the bill for the indulgences we enjoy now. …

The Purgatorian Gospel

I said that Purgatory was “Gospel” and that it attracts people to the Church. It’s one of the great distinctive Catholic doctrines. You want the Purgatorial cleaning Lewis wrote about, come to the Catholic Church. http://aleteia.org/2017/05/03/the-great-good-news-of-purgatory/

Jesus spoke of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Notice the following from a Roman Catholic translation:

14 Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying, 15 ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’

Purgatory, as the Church of Rome teaches it, was not part of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

One of the reasons that Aletia claims Purgatory is “one of the great distinctive Catholic doctrines” is precisely because what the Church of Rome teaches about Purgatory does not come from the Bible–and many aspects of this ‘doctrine’ have been unique to them.

Furthermore it should be noted, the Church of Rome still does offer indulgences related to Purgatory (see Vatican offering ‘indulgences’ to reduce time in ‘purgatory’ for following Pope Francis on Twitter, etc.). My wife and I were actually offered an indulgence for each of us if we attended Pope Francis’ Wednesday message in Vatican City a couple of years ago.

The ‘Purgatorian Gospel’ essentially seems to be that it is fine to sin and not truly repent as God will have you suffer enough in Purgatory to earn your salvation. Although promoters of it deny this, that is the end result of their doctrine and that is a false gospel. The ‘Purgatorian Gospel’ promotes iniquity as it does not result in proper repentance for sin in this life–which is something Christians must do (cf. Acts 2:38; Hebrews 12:14-17).

The Apostle Paul warned that “the mystery of lawlessness is already at work” in his time (2 Thessalonians 2:7), but that it would worsen (2 Thessalonians 2:6-12). The ‘Purgatorian Gospel’ is part of that ‘mystery of lawlessness’ (see also Mystery of Iniquity).

Before getting to some related history, you may wonder if God has a plan for those who are not called, chosen, and faithful (Revelation 17:14) in this age who are not incorrigibly wicked and have not committed the “unpardonable sin”?

Yes. But it is NOT purgatory.

Notice a passage that many do not understand today:

20 No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. (Isaiah 65:20)

And did early professors of Christ realize this verse had to do with God’s plan of salvation?

Yes.

While I have a free online book with many scriptures on this subject (see Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation), let’s start out with a second century interpretation of Isaiah by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint Irenaeus to show what seemed to be common knowledge in the days not too long after the death of the last of the original apostles:

Now, that the promises were not announced to the prophets and the fathers alone, but to the Churches united to these from the nations, whom also the Spirit terms “the islands” (both because they are established in the midst of turbulence, suffer the storm of blasphemies, exist as a harbour of safety to those in peril, and are the refuge of those who love the height [of heaven], and strive to avoid Bythus, that is, the depth of error), Jeremiah thus declares: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye nations, and declare it to the isles afar off; say ye, that the LORD will scatter Israel, He will gather him, and keep him, as one feeding his flock of sheep…

And yet again does he say the same thing: “Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people [a joy]; for the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Also there shall not be there any immature [one], nor an old man who does not fulfil his time: for the youth shall be of a hundred years; and the sinner shall die a hundred years old, yet shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them themselves; and shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them themselves, and shall drink wine. And they shall not build, and others inhabit; neither shall they prepare the vineyard, and others eat. For as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of the people in thee; for the works of their hands shall endure” (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 34, Verses 2-3,4. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Others, such as Origen of Alexandria, also wrote that God had a plan to offer salvation to all.

Many Catholic and Protestant scholars hold that Origen was one of the greatest of the early theological writers (he lived from around 185-232 A.D.). While active, Pope Benedict XVI publicly praised Origen.

The noted Protestant historian K.S. Latourette wrote that Origen “was, indeed, one of the greatest Christian minds.” And while I cannot agree with that, it is of interest to note that Latourette observed:

Origen taught that ultimately all the spirits who have fallen away from God will be restored to full harmony with Him. This can come about only with their cooperation, for they have freedom to accept or reject the redemption wrought in Christ. Before full restoration they will suffer punishment, but that punishment is intended to be educative, to purge them from the imperfections brought by their sin. After the end of the present age and its world another age will come, so Origen believed, in which have been born again will continue to grow and the unrepentant will be given further opportunity for repentance (Latourette K.S. A History of Christianity, Volume 1, Beginnings to 1500. Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1975, p.151).

Origen was close, in that not all will repent, for there will also be those raised to “everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2, KJV), meaning that those who would not properly repent will not receive salvation–but we in the Continuing Church of God consider them to be a small minority. But Origen was correct that this will only come about by the cooperation of those currently unsaved.

Here are some quotes directly from Origen:

…the good Father has not entirely deserted those who have fallen away from Him (Origen. Commentary on the Gospel of John (Book I). Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9. Edited by Allan Menzies, D.D. American Edition, 1896 and 1897. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

It is to be borne in mind, however, that certain beings who fell away from that one beginning of which we have spoken, have sunk to such a depth of unworthiness and wickedness as to be deemed altogether undeserving of that training and instruction by which the human race, while in the flesh, are trained and instructed with the assistance of the heavenly powers; and continue, on the contrary, in a state of enmity and opposition to those who are receiving this instruction and teaching. And hence it is that the whole of this mortal life is full of struggles and trials, caused by the opposition and enmity of those who fell from a better condition without at all looking back, and who are called the devil and his angels, and the other orders of evil, which the apostle classed among the opposing powers. But whether any of these orders who act under the government of the devil, and obey his wicked commands, will in a future world be converted to righteousness because of their possessing the faculty of freedom of will, or whether persistent and inveterate wickedness may be changed by the power of habit into nature, is a result which you yourself, reader, may approve of, if neither in these present worlds which are seen and temporal, nor in those which are unseen and are eternal, that portion is to differ wholly from the final unity and fitness of things (Origen. De Principiis, Book I, Chapter 6, verse 3).

…and thus, through the numerous and uncounted orders of progressive beings who are being reconciled to God from a state of enmity, the last enemy is finally reached, who is called death, so that he also may be destroyed, and no longer be an enemy. When, therefore, all rational souls shall have been restored to a condition of this kind, then the nature of this body of ours will undergo a change into the glory of a spiritual body. For as we see it not to be the case with rational natures, that some of them have lived in a condition of degradation owing to their sins, while others have been called to a state of happiness on account of their merits; but as we see those same souls who had formerly been sinful, assisted, after their conversion and reconciliation to God, to a state of happiness (Origen. De Principiis, Book III, Chapter 6, verse 6).

While we in the Continuing Church of God would not word it quite that way, these quotes do show that the idea that God has a plan that will give the unrepentant an opportunity for salvation after this present age is not a new concept.

Actually, the doctrine of purgatory developed among Latin Catholics after they began to condemn certain of Origen’s ideas in the sixth century. When that happened, teachings related to the offering of salvation to all (known as apocatastasis) were also somewhat condemned. However, this left a gap in Roman theology and the idea of purgatory then developed.

The Greek Catholics (now known as the Eastern Orthodox), however, never did accept the Latin idea of purgatory and still to this day have many who believe that God has some type of plan to offer salvation to those who did not intentionally reject salvation.

The Catholic Encyclopedia itself admits that early Christians did not teach its current concept of its purgatory doctrine:

Some stress too has been laid upon the objection that the ancient Christians had no clear conception of purgatory, and that they thought that the souls departed remained in uncertainty of salvation to the last day … There are several passages in the New Testament that point to a process of purification after death. Thus, Jesus Christ declares (Matthew 12:32): “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come”… (Hanna, Purgatory. The Catholic Encyclopedia).

No, in the second century, it was believed that God’s plan would allow all to be offered salvation, either in this age or the age to come if they did not commit the “unpardonable sin” (Matthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; Acts 3:17-21; Ephesians 1:21; Hebrews 6:4-6; cf. Matthew 10:15; 11:22-24; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:12-14).). And the New Testament is very clear that:

“all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6).

In the thirteenth century, the famed Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote the following:

Nothing is clearly stated in Scripture about the situation of Purgatory, nor is it possible to offer convincing arguments on this question…

Some say, however, that according to the common law the place of Purgatory is where man sins. This does not seem probable, since a man may be punished at the same time for sins committed in various places. And others say that according to the common law they are punished above us, because they are between us and God, as regards their state. But this is of no account, for they are not punished for being above us, but for that which is lowest in them, namely sin (Aquinas T. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, Appendix II, Article 1. Second and Revised Edition, 1920. Nihil Obstat. F. Innocentius Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor. Theol. Imprimatur. Edus. Canonicus Surmont, Vicarius eneralis. Westmonasterii. APPROBATIO ORDINIS Nihil Obstat. F. Raphael Moss, O.P., S.T.L. and F. Leo Moore, O.P., S.T.L. Imprimatur. F. Beda Jarrett, O.P., S.T.L., A.M., Prior Provincialis Angliæ).

The above shows that even into the Middle Ages, the idea of purgatory was unclear, even among the leaders of the Church of Rome.

Purgatory was essentially adopted after certain teachings associated with Origen were condemned in the 6th century:

From the moment, however, that anti-Origenism prevailed, the doctrine of the apokatastasis was definitely abandoned. St. Augustine protests more strongly than any other writer against an error so contrary to the doctrine of the necessity of grace…(Batiffel, Apocatastassis. The Catholic Encyclopedia).

History suggests that after apocatastasis was condemned in the mid-6th century, something that resembles modern concepts of purgatory were being pronounced by the Roman Bishop Pope Gregory I around 600 A.D.

Perhaps I should mention that although the Catholic saint Anne Emmerich claimed to see purgatory, she also claimed to have seen “limbo”, which pope Benedict XVI has indicated does not exist. Hence, a claim to see one place that does not exist should tell all that the same one claiming to see something else does not mean it exists either. There is no place that fits the modern Roman description of purgatory.

The Church of God originally taught apocatastasis, not purgatory, and still does so today. God is a God of love and does have a merciful plan of salvation–and it includes getting the gospel out in this age (Note: The “short work” that Paul speaks of in Romans 9:28 and the completion of Matthew 24:14 will likely include massive news coverage of what the most faithful flock is teaching. This, of course, does not mean that the most faithful should sit around and wait and not do their part–cf. John 9:4; Matthew 9:37-38–as the priority of proclaiming the gospel remains). Of course, people should respond once they learn the truth–those who reject the truth are risking committing the unpardonable sin.

Yet, God has always had a plan for the unsaved and those who did not truly ever understand His loving plan, it is revealed in scripture, and while there is an “age to come,” it is not the same as the relatively modern idea of purgatory.

One of the Holy Days that we in the CCOG as well as Jesus observed, called the The Last Great Day, that most who profess Christianity do not observe, provides insights into God’s plan–which really is great good news.

Some items for further inquiry may include:

Did the Early Church Teach Purgatory? Is there a place called purgatory? Does God have a plan to help those who did not become saints in this life? Here is a link to a related sermon: Babies, Limbo, Purgatory and God’s Plan.
What is Limbo? Is There Such a Place as Limbo? What Happens to Babies When They Die? When did Limbo start being taught? What is the truth about dead babies? Here is a link to the video: Popes Change on Limbo and Purgatory?
The Last Great Day: Shemini ‘Azeret What is the ‘eighth day’ of the Feast? What does it help picture? A sermon on this topic is also available: Shemini Azaret: The Last Great Day.
What is the Gospel? True religion should be based upon the true gospel. What are some of the different gospels and where did they come from? Do you believe the true or a false gospel? Who is preaching the gospel? Here is a version in Korean ¼õÇLÇt·€ »4ÅÇÇx¬?
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. Here are links to four 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.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, and What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, and Early Heresies and Heretics, and Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, and Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, and Holy Mother Church and Heresies.
Mystery of Iniquity What is the mystery of iniquity? How did it start? How will it end? Two related sermons are also available: The Mystery of Iniquity and The Mystery of Lawlessness.
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation Will all get a fair chance at salvation? This free book is packed with scriptures showing that God does intend to offer salvation to all who ever lived–the elect in this age, and the rest in the age to come. Here is a link to a related sermon series: Universal Offer of Salvation 1: Apocatastasis, Universal Offer of Salvation 2: Jesus Desires All to be Saved, Mysteries of the Great White Throne Judgment (Universal Offer of Salvation part 3), Is God Fair, Will God Pardon the Ignorant?, Can God Save Your Relatives?, Babies, Limbo, Purgatory and God’s Plan, and ‘By the Mouth of All His Holy Prophets’.
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.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
What is the Unpardonable Sin? What is it? Can you repent of it? Do you know what it is and how to avoid it? Here is a link to a related sermon video The Unpardonable Sin and the Prodigal Son. Here is a link to a shorter video The ‘Unpardonable Sin’ and ‘Climate Change’?