If you are a parent, do your children believe that the most important thing to you is God? If I were to come visit your home today and ask each of your children, “What is the most important thing to Daddy? What’s the most important thing to Momma?” I wonder how they would respond.

I wonder how many children would say, “My dad loves God with all of his heart. The most important thing on earth to my momma is her relationship with God and her worship of Him.” As parents, we must celebrate God in front of our children.

Let me tell you what my children think and what they know. They know that their daddy is imperfect. I mean they really know that. I’ll tell you what else they know. They know that I love God. I wouldn’t be ashamed for you to ask them that. You can ask any one of them, “What’s the most important thing to your dad and mom?” They would tell you, “The most important thing to my parents is their relationship with God.” I really believe they would say that.

Joshua 24:15 says, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

The modern entertainment industry, which drives the Western pop culture, has been on a downhill slide since its inception. Every decade has brought a new level of moral degradation. Consider the following excerpt from “Children Sink into Adult Swim,” CNSNews, Aug. 19, 2011: “[A]fter dark, the Cartoon Network turns — from Jekyll to Hyde — into the Adult Swim Channel. But that’s not at midnight. Since December, it’s been moved into prime time at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central. Even before that, Nielsen reported in 2008 that the top U.S. networks for teenagers were Fox, Nickelodeon, Disney — and Adult Swim.

One show, “Robert Chicken”, features Jesus hitting people and using God’s name in vain.]

In a new survey of the top 20 animated cable shows, the Parents Television Council gave an F grade to the Cartoon Network and its ‘Adult Swim’ bloc for excessive sex, violence, profanity, and drug use. In watching just 123 programs in a four-week study period, the PTC documented one thousand four hundred and eighty-seven examples of offensive material … on cartoons.

On average, young viewers were exposed to this junk once every two minutes and 19 seconds. … There were 680 sexual references or depictions. Some were typically sleazy, and some went way beyond. … These cartoons were loaded with 565 incidents of explicit language — much of it bleeped out of necessity, even by today’s bohemian standards. … There were 242 references to drug use. …

If you think this isn’t aiming ‘adult’ material squarely at children, check out how this network often rates its sleazy programming: TV-PG, or acceptable for children under 14 with parental guidance ‘suggested.’”

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And society wonders  “what is going on with our children.” When God is replaced with TV entertainment there will be repercussions. Ecclesiastes 12:1 and Psalms 119:9  is still in the Bible:

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;”

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.”

and these are The Signs of the Times…..

“Gay history is now a requirement in California public schools because of a new state law that says the contributions of gays and lesbians must be included in social studies instruction. Now teachers are figuring out how to incorporate the new material into their classes. ”I think it’s important to recognize that people from any background can contribute to history, to affirm that they’ve made accomplishments is nice,” Pracht-Smith says. “And I think that helps people who recognize themselves and identify with those groups.”

“”People act as if gays and lesbians popped into the historical world in 1969, and when people find out that gays and lesbians have been a part of all cultures, going past recorded history, then that really shifts the way that people think about things,” Grant says.”

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You know, the last time I checked, God hates Sodomy,(which is the Bible term for “gay”).  Grant is right about one thing. Sodomy/homosexuals is not anything new. It has been in society for thousands of years. I recall the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah being utterly destroyed because of sodomy/homosexual ism.  (Genesis 19).

God hates Homosexuality:

 Leveticus 18:22  ”Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

 1Corinthians 6:9  ”Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,….”

Romans 1:27-28  ” And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Jude 1:7  ”Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Judgement is coming to America, make no mistake. Pslams 9:17 says  ”The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”  California has long since forgotten God. If it were not for the few Believers in the state, it would suffer the same consequence that Sodom did. In fact, once the Believer’s are taken out (the Rapture) America will literally suffer the consequences.

.….and these are The Signs of the Times

At a time when “evangelical conservative” John Piper has joined hands with Rick Warren in ministry and has proclaimed him theologically sound, we would remind our readers that Warren signed “A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us and You’” in November 2007. This document says that Muslims and Christians worship the same God and claims that “the future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.” The statement says, “… we must engage in interfaith dialogue as those who seek each other’s good, for the one God unceasingly seeks our good” (http://www.yale.edu/faith/acw/acw.htm). It was signed by the two major evangelical church growth gurus in America, Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. In this act they joined hands with hundreds of other signatories, including Roman Catholics (e.g., “Father” Joseph Daoust, President of the Jesuit School of Theology Berkeley) and prominent theological modernists and emergents (e.g. Harvey Cox and Elizabeth Fiorenza of Harvard Divinity School, Tony Jones of Emergent Village, and Brian McLaren), and self-esteem guru Robert Schuller.

Other “evangelicals” who signed this unscriptural document were Leith Anderson (President of the National Association of Evangelicals), Robert Cooley (President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), Mike Edens (Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary), Timothy George (Beeson Divinity School at Samford University), Lynn Green (International Chairman of Youth With A Mission), Peter Kuzmic (Gordon-Conwell), David Neff (Editor in Chief Christianity Today), Roy Oksnevad (Institute of Strategic Evangelism at Wheaton College), Richard Mouw (President of Fuller Theological Seminary), Doug Pennoyer (Dean of the School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University), John Stott (Rector Emeritus of All Souls Church London), Michael Treneer (International President of The Navigators), Berten Waggoner (National Director of the Vineyard Churches), David Yonggi Cho (senior pastor Yoido Full Gospel Church Seoul), and Bruce Clemenger (President of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada).

U.N. PASSES “HISTORIC” HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS RESOLUTION

At the instigation of Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution supporting “equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation” (“U.N.,” CNN, June 17, 2011). Secretary of state Hillary Clinton “has made gay rights a key focus of the State Department’s human rights agenda, expressing her view that ‘gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights.’”  She is therefore a fitting handmaiden to President Obama and his vision to acclaim and empower moral perversion. Suzanne Nossell, spokeswoman for the State Department, said that “this is really a critical beginning of a universal recognition of a new set of rights that forms part of the international system.” The United Nations is an antichrist institution that is at the forefront of building a one-world government and one-world religion, and it is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Jesus likened the end-times to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:26-30). John prophesied that the end-times Babylon will be “the hold of every foul spirit” (Rev. 18:2). We are witnessing the fulfillment of Psalm 2 as the world unites “against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (verses 1-3). This refers to the wholesale rejection of God’s holy laws and the spread of moral relativism.

BRITISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION HEAD SAYS “OLD TIME” CHRISTIANS INCOMPATIBLE WITH MODERN SOCIETY

Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, says that “old time” Christians are a greater threat to modern society than Muslims. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Phillips said that “an old time religion” is “in my view incompatible with a modern, multi-ethnic, multicultural society” (“Christians Are More Militant Than Muslims,” The Telegraph, June 19, 2011). He warned about “fundamentalist Christians who are holding increasing sway over the mainstream churches” and who allegedly want to pick a fight with the government and throw their weight around, particularly over the issue of homosexuality. On the other hand Phillips praised Muslims for working hard “to come to terms with their neighbours to try to integrate and they’re doing their best to try to develop an idea of Islam that is compatible with living in a modern liberal democracy.”

This man is living in a never-never land. There are not many “fundamentalist” Christians in all of Britain, and they simply want to be left alone to practice their religious faith without persecution from an increasingly unsympathetic Big Brother.

As for Muslims doing their best to integrate,  the fact is that many of the mosques are producing terrorists who have traveled far and wide to kill and maim and destroy. There are entire neighborhoods that are operated as Muslim enclaves and care far more about Islamic law than British law or humanistic political correctness

and these are The Signs of the times…..

In responding to the question of why judgment day didn’t come on May 21 as he predicted, Harold Camping says that it did come! Speaking live on his Family Radio broadcast on May 23, Camping said, “God brought Judgment Day to the whole world. It will continue to Oct 21, 2011, and at that time the whole world will be destroyed.” He claims that his previous predictions were correct, as well, because they were fulfilled “spiritually.” On May 21, 1988, judgment came upon the churches, and on Sept. 7, 1994, judgment continued on the churches. Camping and the Global Warming prognosticators have the same win-win formula. No matter what happens, they are right!

It reminds us of what the late religious quack “Reverend Ike” used to say, “You can’t lose with the stuff I use.” No doubt, when October 22 rolls around, Camping will say, “The whole world was destroyed yesterday!”

The Camping fiasco is reminiscent of the date-setting fervor of William Miller in the 19th century. When his date of 1843 proved wrong, he changed the date to October 1844. Tens of thousands followed Miller’s predictions, and many diverse, unscriptural “adventist” groups sprang up within this excited religious atmosphere.

After October 1844 passed uneventfully, Ellen Harmon said she had a vision in which she learned that Jesus’ return then was not to earth but to the heavenly holy of holies to begin investigating the records of human works. Ellen married James White and they founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is still with us today with its many heresies (such as Investigative Judgment) taught by a deluded female prophetess.

The normal-literal interpretation of prophecy is the protection from wild-eyed allegorical exegesis, and this method of interpretation teaches us that the Rapture of New Testament saints is imminent, judgment of the world will follow, and all of the mocking of unbelievers will not stop it. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:9-10).   Whew!  Amen!!

and these are The Signs of The Times…..

Mother Teresa was born Agness Gonxha Bojaxhiu in what is now Yugoslavia on August 27, 1910. Raised in a middle-class Roman Catholic family, she felt the call to be a nun at age 12. Five years later, in 1928, Agness said good-bye to her mother (it was the last time she would ever see her) and made her way to Darjeeling, India, a picturesque town nestled 7,000 feet in the Himalayas, for training. In 1931, she took the new name of Sister Teresa, after the French nun St. Therese of Lisieux (the Little Flower). In 1939 she took final vows and was named mother superior at St. Mary’s School at the Loreto Sisters convent in a suburb of Calcutta.

While traveling to Darjeeling for a retreat in 1946, she felt called to work in the slums; and in 1948 she first put on the namesake white sari with a blue border, and moved into the wretched slums of Calcutta. The Vatican approved her new order, the Missionaries of Charity, on October 7, 1950. In 1952 she opened Nirmal Hriday, her now-famous home for dying destitutes in Kalighat, in south Calcutta. During Mother Teresa’s lifetime, an estimated 54,000 people were brought into Nirmal Hriday.

In 1963 the Missionaries of Charity was expanded to include male workers. Today roughly 4,500 nuns and 500 “religious brothers” work with the Missionaries of Charity operating 600 homes in 120 countries.

Having lived more than 87 years, almost 50 of those spent assisting the destitute, Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997.

HER GOOD WORK

That this woman was a kind, self-giving woman, we have no doubt. Having lived in that part of the world for 16 years and having spent several weeks in Calcutta itself, I never doubt that Mother Teresa was an unusually self-sacrificing person. Many of Calcutta’s ten million residents live in the lowest squalor, some reports estimating as many as one million people are born, grow up, live, and die on the filthy streets of that massive city. The place is awfully oppressive to one’s spirit, especially for the newcomer.

Even after twenty or more visits, I never ceased to be depressed by wretched Calcutta. I’m not alone in this feeling, either. It is said that Winston Churchill, after his first visit to Calcutta, stated that he was happy he had made the trip–happy, that is, because having been there once and having experienced it, he would not have to return!

Yes, Calcutta is an awful place in many ways, and the living condition of multitudes of people there is wretched. For a woman to give her life to care for the castoffs of society is commendable.

Acknowledging that Mother Teresa is a good woman from the human perspective, though, has not answered the original question inscribed in the title of this report: “Was Mother Teresa a regenerate Christian in the biblical sense, a woman with which Bible-believing Christians should associate and with whom they should work?”

MAN’S ESTIMATION OF MOTHER TERESA

Mother Teresa certainly had a fair share of commendations! The secular world honored her with the Nobel Peace Prize (1979) and with other accolades on every hand–by heads of state, by scientists, by the press and peoples of practically every nation on earth. In 1980 she was given India’s highest decoration, the Bharat Ratna. In June 1985, she received from President Reagan the highest United States civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom award (Christian News, July 1, 1985, p. 15). In October 1985, she received the “warmest ovation of the United Nation’s 40th anniversary celebration” (Birmingham Post-Herald, October 28, 1985). In June 1997, she addressed the United States Congress and was given the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can confer.

It goes without saying that Mother Teresa was commended by her own Roman Catholic Church. She was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971. When she died, she was hailed as a saint by Pope John Paul II and other high officials in Catholicism. Cardinal John O’Connor of New York said Mother Teresa is already a saint. In March 1999, Pope John Paul II approved a waver to put Mother Teresa on a fast track to official sainthood. Normally a five-year waiting period is required after the death of an individual before the process toward sainthood is even started, but in Mother Teresa’s case the process began only months after her death and she has already been beatified. The only step remaining is for her to be canonized as a “saint.” With the Pope’s permission, Archbishop Henry Sebastian D’Souza of Calcutta has begun the investigation that will doubtless lead to “beatification” and eventually canonization as a “saint.”

Joining in the applause are most Protestant groups. At Mother Teresa’s death, Coretta Scott King, widow of the slain civil rights leader and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, said, “Our world has lost the most celebrated saint of our times.”

Almost without exception the major Protestant bodies, such as the more than 300 member bodies of the World Council of Churches, have risen up and called Mother Teresa blessed. An example is the statement made in the official periodical of the Church of North India, a member of the World Council and representative of 700,000 Christians in over 2,000 congregations in India. The cover of The North India Churchman for November 1979 featured a photo of a smiling Mother Teresa, and inside this issue editor V. Henry Devadas said:

“We are delighted that Mother Teresa has been awarded the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. We offer our hearty congratulations to Mother Teresa and thank God for her ministry of charity to the poorest of the poor in our country. May her example of dedicated service to God and man inspire each one of us.”

Mother Teresa also appeared on the cover of the January-April 1990 issue of the Sowing Circle, a publication of the Bible Society of India. The accompanying article describes Bible Society General Secretary B.K. Premanik’s visit with Mother Teresa:

“Millions of Christians around the world went down on their knees as they learnt about Mother Teresa’s ill-health. … A simple, unassuming, white-clad woman but her life speaks volumes about the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. … Her picture has been printed in some of the Bible Society of India scripture materials. We appreciate her selfless service to the people, the down-trodden in particular. We pray that the Lord would continue to strengthen her to demonstrate the love of Christ and that the Christian community will learn from her example.”

It is not that surprising to see the world, Catholicism, and liberal Protestantism offer unqualified applause to Mother Teresa. More significant and difficult to understand is the applause given to her by those that claim to be Bible-believing Christians.

Consider WORLD VISION, which claims to be an evangelical Christian mission. A report on the Jesus ‘81 rally at Anaheim Stadium appeared in the Los Angeles Times, May 16, 1981, as follows:

“In the June-July 1984 issue of World Vision, an article by Joseph Ryan, director of World Vision’s Northwest Regional Office, tells of his visit to Mother Teresa in India who founded and leads the Roman Catholic Missionaries of Charity. Noted for her efforts to help the poor, this famous woman impressed the World Vision visitors with her humble spirit and simple words in which she said her work was ‘all for Jesus.’”

When Mother Teresa died, Evangelist BILLY GRAHAM gave this statement to the press: “It was my privilege to be with her on several occasions. The first time was at the Home of Dying Destitutes in  Calcutta. I had a wonderful hour of fellowship in the Lord with her just at sunset, and I will never forget the sounds, the smells and the strange beauty of that place. When she walked into the room to greet me, I felt that I was, indeed, meeting a saint’’ (“Mother Teresa Hailed as a Saint,” Associated Press, Sept. 6, 1997).

Mother Teresa was extolled in an editorial in the January 1982 issue of LIGHT OF LIFE magazine, the most popular evangelical periodical in India.

In early May 1997, the popular radio-television preacher D. JAMES KENNEDY featured Mother Teresa on his broadcast. The announcer for Kennedy stated warmly, “who better to speak on love than Mother Teresa.”

The November 1989 issue of JAMES DOBSON’S Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse magazine featured a smiling Mother Teresa on the cover. The lead article was “Teresa of Calcutta: Little Woman with a Big Heart.” The readers of this magazine were made to think that Mother Teresa was a genuine New Testament Christian and that she did a great work for God through her Missionaries of Charities mission.

Speaking at a Promise Keepers conference in Memphis in 1996, CHUCK COLSON said Christians need to reach across all denominational lines and that he was proud that Mother Teresa was his sisters in Christ (Calvary Contender, November 15, 1996). In his 2003 book “Being the Body” Colson said when he was asked by someone to travel to Calcutta to give the plan of salvation to Mother Teresa before she died, he replied that such a scene would give “a new dimension to the word ludicrous” (p. 64).

BILL HYBELS of Willowcreek Community Church invited Priest Med Laz of Holy Family Catholic Church to speak to his people. When Laz boasted that Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic, Hybels indicated that Protestants are jealous of that fact (Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion: The Subtle Seduction of the World and Church, 1998).

Charismatics have also honored Mother Teresa. PAT ROBERTSON hosted a television special in 1984 entitled “Don’t Ask Me, Ask God.” The program, broadcast on 150 television outlets as well as the Christian Broadcasting Network cable system, featured Mother Teresa, together with other well-known Christians (EP News Service, Aug. 25, 1984).

At a Sign and Wonders Conference in Melbourne, Australia, March 3, 1989, JOHN WIMBER praised Mother Teresa (Protestant Review, March 1989).

In 1992 JAN CROUCH, of Trinity Broadcasting Network, fulfilled a lifelong dream to meet with Mother Teresa. She said, “It was a dream come true. I had my questions all prepared, but when this precious tiny lady came by, all I could do was fall to my knees. What will it be like when we see Jesus Himself, face to face? I felt I had a little foretaste that day!” (Plains Baptist Challenger, June 1992).

The October 4 issue of WORLD magazine contained an article entitled “An Ordinary Faith: Mother Teresa’s life should prod us to go and do likewise.” The second paragraph began, “Last month the gates of heaven finally welcomed Mother Teresa home” (David Kuo, “An Ordinary Faith,” World, Oct. 4, 1997, p. 26). To make such a statement one would have to be utterly careless about the definition of the gospel. Though we could wish that Mother Teresa is in heaven, by her own testimony she was trusting in Rome’s sacramental gospel, particularly in Mary and the Mass.

The November-December 1997, issue of THE PLAIN TRUTH magazine, published by the Worldwide Church of God, featured Mother Teresa on its cover and praised her in a feature article entitled “In His Service.”

Many other examples could be given. It is obvious that Mother Teresa was accepted as a true Christian by multitudes from practically every spectrum of Christianity.

Let me repeat, I am not doubting the goodness of Mother Teresa’s work from a temporal, human, earthly perspective. Yet the most important question in regard to any religious work is whether or not it is acceptable to God, whether or not it is grounded and settled in the Truth. The Bible says, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

The Lord Jesus Christ warned that performing wonderful works in His name is not evidence of salvation.

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and IN THY NAME DONE MANY WONDERFUL WORKS? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Thus we see that the Lord Jesus Christ solemnly warned that MANY who will do wonderful things IN HIS NAME will turn out to be unsaved people who did not know Him in truth.

It is not enough that someone loves “Jesus” or serves “the Lord” or preaches “the gospel.” The apostle Paul warned of false christs, false spirits, and false gospels (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). The Devil can and does counterfeit everything God is doing in this age. He has his own gospel, his own doctrine of conversion, even his own brand of holiness.

The only way we can know for sure what is genuine and what is counterfeit is to test it by the infallible Word of God. The people at Berea were commended for doing this: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Those who carefully test everything by the Word of God today are commonly counted as hateful troublemakers by many within mainstream evangelicalism, but the Bible warns that those who are not careful are foolish. “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going” (Proverbs 14:15). The wise man knows there are many spiritual dangers. He is aware that he has a formidable spiritual enemy who transforms himself into an angel of light and whose ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. The wise man takes heed to the Bible’s warnings: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). “… Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Because of these spiritual realities, the wise Christian is extremely cautious. He does not gullibly accept someone as a genuine Christian because of a mere profession or because of “good works.” He investigates what gospel the person holds, what Christ he is trusting, what spirit he is following.

Was Mother Teresa a regenerate Christian? To what eternal destiny did she lead those to whom she ministered? This is the important question, no matter how unpopular it might be even to consider making such a “harsh” and “unloving” judgment.

AN EVANGELICAL CATHOLIC?

There are not a few who would say Mother Teresa was a “liberated” evangelical Catholic of the post-Vatican II period and that she was not only ministering food, medicine, and human kindness, but the true gospel of eternal salvation as well. Is this so? We have not far to go to find the answer. Mother Teresa openly and gladly admitted that she was a thorough-going Roman Catholic, a faithful follower of her church, an obedient sister of Romanism (except that she believed that women should be ordained to the priesthood!).

While the declarations of the Vatican II Council of the 1960s did bring changes to the Catholic Church, it did not change the foundational dogmas of that organization. Vatican II not only upheld the false teachings of Catholicism, it actually strengthened them.

The hundreds of bishops attending Vatican II reaffirmed such Roman heresies as papal supremacy; the Roman priesthood; the mass as a re-sacrifice of Christ; a sacramental faith plus works gospel; Catholic tradition on equal par with Scripture; Mary the Queen of Heaven and co-redemptress with Christ; auricular confession; pilgrimages to “holy shrines”; purgatory; prayers to and for the dead; etc.

All of the these Roman Catholic doctrines are reaffirmed in the book Vatican Council II–The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. This book is published by the Roman Catholic Church and contains the Imprimatur: Walter P. Kellenberg, D,D., Bishop of Rockville Centre, August 12, 1975. “Imprimatur” is the official stamp of approval for Catholic publications and means “let it be printed.”

Consider some quotes from the Vatican II documents:

Catholic traditions on equal par with Scripture–

“Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. … Thus it comes about that the Church does not draw her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Hence, both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal feelings of devotion and reverence” (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Chap. 2, 9, p. 682).

Salvation through sacraments and the church–

“[Christ] also willed that the work of salvation which they preached should be set in train through the sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical [ritualistic] life revolves. Thus by Baptism men are grafted into the paschal mystery of Christ. … They receive the spirit of adoption as sons” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Chap. 1, I, 5,6, pp. 23-24).

Salvation through baptism–

“By the sacrament of Baptism, whenever it is properly conferred in the way the Lord determined and received with the proper dispositions of soul, man becomes truly incorporated into the crucified and glorified Christ and is reborn to a sharing of the divine life” (Decree on Ecumenism, chap. 3, II, 22, p. 427).

Popes distribute salvation–

“God’s only-begotten Son … has won a treasure for the militant Church … he has entrusted it to blessed Peter, the key-bearer of heaven, and to his successors who are Christ’s vicars on earth, so that they may distribute it to the faithful for their salvation … The merits of the Blessed Mother of God and of all the elect … are known to add further to this treasury” (the ellipses are in the original) (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences, Chap. 4, 7, p. 80).

Mary, the sinless mother of God, perpetual virgin, bodily assumed into Heaven as queen over all–

“Joined to Christ the head and in communion with all his saints, the faithful must in the first place reverence the memory of the glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ … Because of the gift of sublime grace she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth. … The Immaculate Virgin preserved free from all stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, I, 52,53; II, 59, pp. 378,381- 382).

Mary, co-redemptress with Christ–

“As St. Irenaeus says, she being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert with him in their preaching … ‘death through Eve, life through Mary’ … This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, II, 56, pp. 380-381).

Mary, Heavenly intercessor–

“Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix [Mediator]” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, II, 62, pp. 382-383).

Further quotes from Vatican II and from the New Catholic Catechism can be found in the author’s book Evangelicals and Rome, available from Way of Life Literature.

It is plain that the Catholic Church continues to uphold doctrines which are contrary to the Word of God and even blasphemous. One can stubbornly say, “I don’t care what the Catholic Church teaches or what Mother Teresa believed; I still believe she was a good Christian.” But having faced the facts, one cannot deny that the Catholic Church preaches a false gospel and is committed to a vast range of heresies.

It is possible for a Roman Catholic to be saved IN SPITE OF Rome’s false gospel, but it is not possible for someone to be saved BY Rome’s gospel.

Further, the Bible says that those who are saved will abide in sound doctrine. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19). A truly saved person who has the indwelling Holy Spirit of Truth will reject error.

WHAT MOTHER TERESA BELIEVED

Mother Teresa was a thorough-going Catholic, a faithful daughter of Vatican II. She was a great worshiper of Mary; she believed the wafer of the mass is literally and actually Jesus Christ.

In June 1986, Mother Teresa spoke at the second annual Rosary for Peace gathering. She said, “Generously give your child to be consecrated to God. The greatest gift God can give to a family is to have a son to be a priest at the altar, at whose absolution a sinner full of sin becomes a sinner without sin. Pray that one or two of your children be consecrated that you may grow in holiness. Make your family one heart full of love, the heart of Jesus through Mary” (The Tidings, Los Angeles, California, June 20, 1986).

Thus Mother Teresa believed that the Catholic priest has the power to absolve sinners of sin and that we come to Jesus through Mary.

At the same meeting Mother Teresa called on the audience to pray the rosary, “which we pray everyday, in the streets, around the world, wherever we are,” and to adore the Eucharist in their parishes. She asked that the rosary be said for peace…” (The Tidings, Los Angeles, Calif., June 20, 1986).

The rosary is largely a prayer to Mary. To “adore the Eucharist” is to worship the wafer of the mass as Jesus Christ.

Mother Teresa Believed All Men Are Children of God

In her speech before the United Nations in October 1985, she said, “We gather to thank God for the 40 years of the beautiful work of the United Nations for the good of people. No color, no religion, no nationality should come between us–we are all children of God. … When we destroy an unborn child, we destroy God” (Christian News, Nov. 11, 1985, p. 17).

Mother Teresa called AIDS sufferers “children of God” and said, “Each one of them is Jesus in a distressing disguise” (Time, Jan. 13, 1986).

The April 7-13, 1990, issue of Radio Times told the story of Mother Teresa sheltering an old Hindu priest. “She nursed him with her own hands and helped him to die reconciled with his own gods.” This is exactly what the Missionaries of Charity do in Kathmandu, Nepal, as we shall see later in this report from the interview with Sister Ann.

In the biography Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work, she is quoted by Desmond Doig as follows: “If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we … become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are … What God is in your mind you must accept.”

Mother Teresa participated in the “Summit for Peace” in Assisi, Italy, in November 1986. This blasphemous prayer meeting was arranged by the pope and was attended by leaders of many different religions, including Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Shinto, Sikh, and North American Indians–all of whom united in prayers for world peace (Time, Nov. 10, 1986, pp. 78-79).

When Mother Teresa died, her longtime friend and biographer Naveen Chawla said that he once asked her bluntly, “Do you convert?” She replied, “Of course I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu or a better Muslim or a better Protestant. Once you’ve found God, it’s up to you to decide how to worship him” (“Mother Teresa Touched other Faiths,” Associated Press, Sept. 7, 1997).

Mother Teresa Speaks to Priests

As further evidence of just how radically unbiblical Mother Teresa’s views were, consider some quotes from her speech at the Worldwide Retreat for Priests, October 1984, in Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City:

“At the word of a priest, that little piece of bread becomes the body of Christ, the Bread of Life. Then you give this living Bread to us, so that we too might live and become holy. … We and our people are hungry for God, hungry for holiness. I have seen this same hunger even among Hindus and Muslims” (Mother Teresa, cited in Be Holy: God’s First Call to Priests Today, edited by Tom Forrest, C.Ss.R., foreword by Msgr. John Magee, South Bend, Indiana: Greenlawn Press, 1987, p. 108).

“I remember the time a few years back, when the president of Yeman asked us to send some of our sisters to his country. I told him that this was difficult because for so many years no chapel was allowed in Yemen for saying a public mass, and no one was allowed to function there publicly as a priest. I explained that I wanted to give them sisters, but the trouble was that, without a priest, without Jesus going with them, our sisters couldn’t go anywhere. It seems that the president of Yemen had some kind of a consultation, and the answer that came back to us was, ‘Yes, you can send a priest with the sisters!’ I was so struck with the thought that ONLY WHEN THE PRIEST IS THERE CAN WE HAVE OUR ALTAR AND OUR TABERNACLE AND OUR JESUS. ONLY THE PRIEST CAN PUT JESUS THERE FOR US. … Jesus wants to go there, but we cannot bring him unless you first give him to us” (Mother Teresa, Be Holy, pp. 109, 111).

“So let us ask the help of our Lady! She is a Mother full of grace, full of God, full of Jesus. Let us ask her to be our Mother, guiding us and protecting us. … It is true that we are already being helped by our tremendous devotion to Mary. She is our patroness and our Mother, and she is always leading us to Jesus” (Mother Teresa, Be Holy, p. 75).

“One day she [a girl working in Calcutta] came, putting her arms around me, and saying, ‘I have found Jesus.’ … ‘And just what were you doing when you found him?’ I asked. She answered that after 15 years she had finally gone to confession, and received Holy Communion from the hands of a priest. Her face was changed, and she was smiling. She was a different person because THAT PRIEST HAD GIVEN HER JESUS” (Mother Teresa, Be Holy, p. 74).

“We must bring Jesus back into these homes by consecrating them to his Sacred Heart, by bringing prayer into the people’s lives, and teaching them to say the Rosary. Priests always used to do this before, and they have to start doing these things again, so that these families can have peace and joy and holiness through their consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. … THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS YOU ARE CALLED ‘ANOTHER CHRIST’” (Mother Teresa, Be Holy, p. 112).

It should be clear that Mother Teresa was anything but an evangelical Christian. She was a self-sacrificing woman who followed a false religion.

MOTHER TERESA CALLED HERSELF “THE SAINT OF DARKNESS”

By her own admission, Mother Teresa found only spiritual darkness. This is documented in the shocking book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, the Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta (2007), which contains statements made by the nun to her Catholic confessors and superiors over a period of more than 65 years.

In March 1953 she wrote to her confessor: “… THERE IS SUCH TERRIBLE DARKNESS WITHIN ME, as if everything was dead. It has been like this more or less from the time I started ‘the work.’”

Over the years she had many confessors, and she continually referred to her spiritual condition as “my darkness” and to Jesus as “the Absent One.”

In 1962 she wrote: “IF I EVER BECOME A SAINT — I WILL SURELY BE ONE OF ‘DARKNESS,’” and again, “How cold — how empty — how painful is my heart. — Holy communion — Holy Mass — all the holy things of spiritual life — of the life of Christ in me — are all so empty — so cold — so un-wanted” (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, p. 232).

In 1979 she wrote: “THE SILENCE AND THE EMPTINESS IS SO GREAT — that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear.”

Her private statements about the spiritual darkness she encountered in contemplative prayer continued in this vein until her death, and they are the loudest possible warning about the danger of the Catholic contemplative mysticism which is sweeping through evangelicalism.

Contemplative practices are vehicles to bring practitioners into contact with demons.

INTERVIEW WITH ANN OF MOTHER TERESA’S MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY

Further evidence of the spiritual bankruptcy of Mother Teresa’s work is seen in the following interview with one of her co-workers, Sister Ann. The previous references to Vatican II and Catholic doctrine form an important background to understand the full weight of some of the statements made in this interview.

From the interview, you will readily see that this work, no matter how plausible from man’s earthly vantage point, is conducted by unregenerate religious people, promotes a false gospel that is cursed of God (Galatians 1:8), and even encourages the unsaved heathen to have hope in their false gods even as they lay upon their death beds. In God’s eyes, therefore, the entire endeavor is a cursed one, and no Christian should support, assist, or praise a work cursed by God!

Admittedly, these are hard words, but the Bible contains many hard words and it is one’s attitude toward the hard sayings of the Scriptures that distinguishes the obedient from the disobedient. Jesus said, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:47)?

The following is transcribed from a taped interview that my wife and I had with a Catholic nun, Sister Ann, who worked in Kathmandu, Nepal, with Mother Teresa’s organization, Missionaries of Charity. The interview was conducted November 23, 1984, at the Pashupati Temple. Ann was overseeing the feeding and medical attention of the elderly and terminally ill people that live there, waiting to die by Nepal’s holiest river, the Bagmati. Their hope as Hindus is that to die in this “holy” place, especially if their feet is placed in the water before they are cremated, helps them to be freed from the cycle of reincarnation as taught in the Hindu religion.

The area in which these people live is located next to the river, very near the area where the crematory pyres are lit. One can smell the acrid odor of burning flesh as the bodies are consumed in the “sacred” flames of this awful heathen ritual. We conducted the interview within 100 feet of the river in a tiny room of a Hindu temple which has been converted into use as a home the aged.

The Bagmati River flows from the Himalayan Mountains through Nepal into the vast Indian plains, where it joins the Hindu’s “holy of holy” river, the Ganges. According to Hindu belief, the Ganges “remains eternally pure and inexhaustible.” “The ashes of 35,000 cremated human corpses are swept into the Ganges every year in the belief that the river purifies the soul and relieves it of its endless cycle of death and reincarnation” (Pulse, Nov. 21, 1984).

This place where the Sisters of Charity work is considered the holiest place in Nepal. It is a large temple area, at the center of which is a temple containing a massive golden bull. This temple is so “holy” that non-Hindus are forbidden to enter it. The temple complex is covered with unspeakably vile idols of Shiva and other Hindu gods and the people who are attended by the Missionaries of Charity are praying to these gods.

INTERVIEWER: Who are the people who live here and that you help care for?

ANN: They come who have no one to look after them. They have sons and daughters, but they don’t look after them, so those are the people that come here and stay. This government of Nepal has provided this house for them.

INTERVIEWER: So you are working with Mother Teresa?

ANN: Yes, we are the same. We are her daughters!

INTERVIEWER: Same order?

ANN: Yes, same order, same branch.

INTERVIEWER: So how long have you been working here [in Kathmandu]?

ANN: Not yet one year; just eleven months.

INTERVIEWER: You are not the leader?

ANN: No, no. Here before me there is one more sister, but I am her assistant.

INTERVIEWER: But how many sisters are here in Kathmandu?

ANN: Seven, with our superior.

INTERVIEWER: So your work is mainly right in this place [Pashupati temple area]?

ANN: No, we have two schools for the poor children, and two of us go morning and evening there. And we have children in our own house, altogether 13 of them. Then we have medical clinic in the villages. I go in the morning there, and in the evening I come here.

INTERVIEWER: Did you ever work in Calcutta?

ANN: Yes, yes. We have to work in Calcutta for three years. That is six months aspirancy; one year [tape not clear here], and two years novitiate. So three and a half years we have to work there.

INTERVIEWER: How did you become a Catholic? Were you born Hindu or something else?

ANN: No, no, my great grandfathers were Brahman, but after that they took conversion. They were converted by the Jesuit fathers.

INTERVIEWER: And then how did you become a Christian?

ANN: My parents were Christian when I was born. So my great grandfathers took conversion, then after that my grandfathers took conversion, then after that we continued as Christians.

INTERVIEWER: Here, along with your work, do you go to the mass?

ANN: Yes, daily we have mass at our house, at the convent.

INTERVIEWER: And who leads?

ANN: A father comes from Jhawalakhel [where the main Catholic school is located and operated by Jesuit priests]. Every week one of the different fathers comes. All are American Jesuits. Every day we have mass. Morning we have one hour of prayer–half hour meditation and half hour of mass–one hour altogether. Then again in the evening we have one hour of adoration of the blessed sacrament [the consecrated wafer of the mass]. Then again afternoon before our lunch we have twenty minutes break and the station of the cross; then we have our lunch; then again we have another half hour for spiritual reading. We read some spiritual books to strengthen us. And then we start our work again.

INTERVIEWER: These people living here are dying and their bodies are being burned over at the river. What do you tell them to prepare them for death?

ANN: We are not allowed to teach anything about our religion, because we are strictly forbidden to talk religion [she is speaking of government restrictions that existed at that time in Nepal]. So we don’t talk directly, but indirectly, according to their way. So they speak Bhagwan, no? [This is the Hindu concept of the gods behind the idols.] So we tell them they are going to face the Bhagwan; prepare yourself. If you have hurt him in different ways or if you have offended him by your sin, try to make up with him. Say sorry to him. So they say, “Yes, we are sorry for what we have done.” And they have their own confession in their own ways, you know.

INTERVIEWER: Their own gods and things?

ANN: Yes, so we also take the name of Bhagwan and tell them in that way.

INTERVIEWER: Do you believe if they die believing in Shiva or in Ram [Hindu gods] they will go to heaven?

ANN: Yes, that is their faith. My own faith will lead me to my God, no? So if they have believed in their god very strongly, if they have faith, surely they will be saved.

INTERVIEWER: Do you believe there are different heavens? Like one for them and one for us?

ANN: No, there is only one heaven…

INTERVIEWER: Why do you do this work?

ANN: Because we serve God in them. We find God in the midst of the suffering. The human society has thrown them out, so they are like in a despair, so we serve God in them.

INTERVIEWER: Today we hear there are many changes in the Catholic Church. Do you believe there are changes?

ANN: What changes?

INTERVIEWER: Do you believe that Mary is the mother of God?

ANN: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: And about the pope, what do you believe about him?

ANN: He is the head of the church, the vicar of Christ.

INTERVIEWER: And about the mass, what is your belief about the mass?

ANN: The sacrifice which was once offered at Calvary is renewed in the every day mass at the altar. It is an unbloody sacrifice. That [the cross] was offered in a bloody manner; this [the mass] is an unbloody manner.

INTERVIEWER: So there is a sacrifice in the mass every day, like offering Christ again?

ANN: Yes, again.

INTERVIEWER: But only the priest can do this?

ANN: Only priest.

INTERVIEWER: But today it does not seem that the Catholic Church is trying to convert anymore. I know that John Paul II is saying now that those of other religions are saved.

ANN: We are not trying to do it forcefully; we have never done it forcefully. We don’t give things to make them come, like out of greed. Because they are poor, and they need help. So when we give them help, then out of gratitude and out of their show of love, they try to change. BUT WE SAY YOUR RELIGION IS YOUR RELIGION FOREVER. So if you are changing to please us, don’t do that. But if you think God is calling you, then that is O.K. But when they have asked us and questioned and questioned, they try to change. Our Mother Superior is very keen about not converting forcefully.

INTERVIEWER: But you do not believe they are lost anyway, right?

ANN: No, THEY ARE NOT LOST. THEY ARE SAVED ACCORDING TO THEIR FAITH, you know. If they believe whatever they believe that is their salvation.

INTERVIEWER: Are any people lost? Are all people saved in the whole world?

ANN: Lost; we cannot judge, you know. What is going on in their soul we cannot know. Maybe a certain man lived a very scandalous life outwardly, but what is happening in his soul we don’t know.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think there is a real hell?

ANN: Hell is there, yes.

INTERVIEWER: Do you believe in purgatory?

ANN: There is a purgatory; also hell is there.

INTERVIEWER: When you die–you yourself–what do you believe will happen to you?

ANN: I will not go to hell. Maybe for a few days I may be in purgatory, for we also have our imperfection. Though we are sisters; we are religious; we don’t have any outward, big sin, but some sin is there.

INTERVIEWER: And that is the purpose of purgatory?

ANN: That is the purpose of purgatory.

INTERVIEWER: Who do you pray to? Do you ever pray to Mary?

ANN: Yes, she is our mother.

INTERVIEWER: Do you ever pray to other saints?

ANN: We have some saints in whom we have confidence. We can pray to them also. Like my own patron saint is Saint Ann, the mother of our lady, Mary. So I pray to her to guide me on the right path when I do my work.

CONCLUSION

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).

These are The Signs Of The Times……

THE SABBATH WAS FIRST GIVEN TO ISRAEL AND IS GOD’S SIGN TO ISRAEL

Seventh-day Adventists teach that men kept the sabbath from the days of Adam, but this is contrary to the Bible’s own record.

While it is true that the sabbath originated at end of the six days of creation (Gen. 2:1-3), that was God’s rest, not man’s. There is no record in Genesis that God gave the sabbath to man. The saints in Genesis built altars, prayed, offered sacrifices, and tithed; but the Scripture is silent in regard to sabbath keeping.

Nehemiah 9:13-14 plainly states that the sabbath was first given to Israel in the wilderness.

“Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant.”

If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had kept the sabbath, their children would have been familiar with the practice; but Nehemiah tells us that this was not the case.

Exodus 31:12-18 plainly states that the sabbath was a special sign between God and Israel. If mankind in general had been given the sabbath following creation, it could not have been a sign for Israel. The fact is that the sabbath belongs to the nation Israel and not to any other people. It is also important to note that the sabbath will be an eternal possession of Israel (Ex 31:16). This sign will never be annulled or transferred to another people. This explains why the prophets foretell that Israel will keep the sabbath even after the kingdom of Christ is established on earth (Isa. 66:23). It also explains why Jesus Christ mentioned the sabbath in His prophecies of the Tribulation (Mt. 24:20). Jews still keep the sabbath today and there are restrictions in the land of Israel. The El Al Airline does not fly on the sabbath, for example.

THE SABBATH AND THE NEW TESTAMENT SAINT

In their writings to the churches, the Apostles only mentioned the sabbath three times:

1. The sabbath is a symbol of salvation rest in Christ (Heb. 4). Just as the Jews did not work on the sabbath, even so the believer is saved by God’s grace without works.

2. The New Testament believer is not bound to keep the sabbath (Col. 2:16). When Paul speaks of “sabbath days,” plural, he is referring to all of the rest days that God gave Israel, including those associated with the feasts. For example, Pentecost always fell on the first day of the week, but it was a special sabbath wherein no work was done (Lev. 23:16-21). Seventh-day Adventists and other sabbath keepers claim that Colossians 2:16 does not refer to the regular weekly sabbath, but there is no evidence that this is the case.

3. The New Testament believer has liberty in the matter of holy days (Rom. 14:4-6).

Those who claim that the sabbath is binding upon the Christian, are teaching contrary to apostolic doctrine.

“The sabbath relates to the old creation and was given expressly to Israel; the Lord’s Day relates to the new creation and belongs especially to the church. The sabbath speaks of law as six days of lab or which are followed by rest, but the Lord’s day speaks of grace, for we begin the week with rest that is followed by works” (Wiersbe’s Old Testament Outlines).

Why, then, did Jesus keep the sabbath? He kept the sabbath for the same reason He kept all the other Mosaic laws. (He also observed the feasts.) Jesus did these things because He was born a Jew, born under the law, that He might fulfill it and redeem His people from its penalty and bondage (Gal. 4:4; Rom. 9:5).

BIBLE EVIDENCE THAT EARLY CHRISTIANS WORSHIPPED ON SUNDAY

1. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day (Mk. 16:9).

2. Jesus first appeared to his disciples on the first day (Mk. 16:9).

3. Jesus repeatedly met with the disciples at different places on the first day after the resurrection (Mk. 16:9-11; Mt 28:8-10; Lk. 24:34; Mk. 16:12-13; Jn. 20:19-23).

4. Jesus blessed the disciples on the first day (Jn. 20:19).

5. Jesus imparted to the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit on the first day (Jn. 20:22).

6. On the first day Jesus commissioned the disciples to preach the gospel to all the world (Jn. 20:21; with Mk. 16:9-15).

7. On the first day Jesus ascended to Heaven, was seated at the right hand of the Father and was made Head of all (Jn. 20:17; Eph. 1:20).

8. On the first day many of the dead saints arose from the grave (Mt. 27:52-53).

9. The first day became the day of joy and rejoicing to the disciples (Jn. 20:20; Lk. 24:41).

10. On the first day the gospel of the risen Christ was first preached (Lk. 24:34).

11. On the first day Jesus explained the Scriptures to the disciples (Lk. 24:27, 45).

12. On the first day the purchase of our redemption was completed (Rom. 4:25).

13. On the first day the Holy Spirit descended (Acts 2:1). Pentecost was on the 50th day after the sabbath following the wave offering (Lev. 23:15-16). Thus Pentecost was always on a Sunday.

14. The Christians met to worship on the first day (Acts 20:6-7; 1 Cor. 16:2) (D.M. Canright, Seventh-day Adventism Renounced).

Since those days, the vast majority of Christians have always met to worship on the Lord’s day. They do this in honor of the resurrection of their Savior. Christ was in the tomb during the sabbath, and rose as the firstborn from the dead on the first day. The sabbath signifies the last day of the old creation (Gen. 2:2). Sunday is the first day of the new creation.

To teach that you must worship on Saturday or even on a Sunday in order to be right with God is heresy.  Romans 14:5 says  ”One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” To teach otherwise is just another

Signs of The Times…….

We (those who are Born Again) have been given the “mind of Christ”, preserved for us (English speaking people) in the King James Bible. (not the New King James Bible). If God has given us His perfect Word (and He has), surely He would have included instructions on how to study it. After all, God tells us to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God…” (2 Tim.2:15), right? So there must be instructions included in the Bible itself on how to study. And friend, I am here to tell you that there is!

Unfortunately, it has been all but forgotten. Left behind. And what has taken it’s place is Bible College. A secular approach to the study of the Word of God. Which produces sermons which have a secular tone to them. The majority way of thinking amongst God’s people is that one must attend Bible College in order to learn “how to study the Bible.”

Our Bible is given by inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16) and it is only going to be fully understood by inspiration (Job 32:8). The study of God’s Word cannot be undertaken by secular study methods in order to understand that which is spiritual. The Bible is like no other book in the world, and therefore must be approached in an all together different way, and that is guidance and teaching by the Holy Ghost (John 14:26).

Bible memorization is the method that is taught in the Bible. It is the “instructions included.”. The Bible method of Bible study takes time and great effort. It is something that cannot be accomplished in a “four year degree” or seven, ten, or any other. It is an ongoing process that takes commitment……everyday.

1 Peter 2:2 tells us “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” When a person is Saved, Born Again there is a hunger there(which will never leave by the way) to read the Word of God, and read one must do. But for one to mature and become skillful in the Word we must leave the “milk” of just reading, to reading and memorizing.
Hebrews 5:13 says “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.” In Isaiah 28:9 we find the Bible says “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.”
Hebrew 5:14 says “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” One of those “senses” is memorization.
Psalm 119:11 says “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
Colossians 3:16 says “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” How much richer can you get that to memorize chapter and verse?!

When we memorize scripture, it enables the Holy Ghost to ” teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26) The Holy Ghost will put the Bible together for you in a way you never thought possible. The Holy Ghost will give you an understanding that is far richer than any Bible College could ever do. There is no doubt that you can learn some things in Bible College. But it will never surpass that of the teaching of the Holy Ghost!

I do not have a photographic memory. In fact, I have a difficult time remembering names. I say this as one that has to work at memorizing God’s Word on a daily basis. God has given me a method over the years (because I have ask Him to order my steps in His Word. Psalm 199:133). This is not a “one size fits all” method, but may be a pattern for you to use and to adjust to your liking. I would be glad to share it with via email or phone if you would like to know. You can contact me at Beenworthitall@aol.com if interested.

Bible College will teach you some things. Mainly history. There are other electives of course on how to deliver a sermon and so on. But nothing will replace what you can learn from the best of the best of teachers, and that is the Holy Ghost Himself. Bible colleges have produced preachers of the Word of God in which many have been Saved and I do rejoice in that. But there is a better way. Instructions on how to study the Word of God, that has always been there……just forgotten. God’s Word is calling out to His people “”Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” –Psalm 34:11. But who is willing to commit.

Bible College has replaced God’s way of teaching, because it is a short cut

and these are The Signs of the Times…….

A USA Today report on a traveling Bible exhibit makes the amazing claim that the Roman Catholic Church had a significant role in the King James Bible. The exhibit, called Passages, is set to open at the Vatican in October. “The announcement was made at the Vatican Embassy to highlight the Catholic contribution to the best-loved English text, the 1611 KJV, which draws about 80% of its majestic language from an earlier translation by a Catholic priest” (“New Museum to Use Science to Tell Bible’s History,” USA Today, April 8, 2011).

What the reporter forgot to mention was Rome’s most significant role in that project, which was burning that “Catholic priest” in a public spectacle in Vilvoorde, Belgium. The “priest” in question was William Tyndale, who published the first printed English Bible and the first English Bible translated directly from Greek and Hebrew. Though he was an ordained Catholic priest, he renounced the Roman Catholic Church and its heresies and called the pope the Antichrist.

In The Practice of Prelates, Tyndale likened the pope to an ivy which climbs up a tree and gradually saps the strength of the host and kills it, emphasizing that this is what the pope had done to England and every other nation under the papal thumb. Tyndale called Roman Catholicism “a nest for unclean birds.” Tyndale also brazenly disobeyed Rome’s law that forbade the translation of the Bible into the common languages of the people without ecclesiastical permission. When the Tyndale New Testament was smuggled into England (because the Roman Catholic authorities there forbade its distribution) large quantities were confiscated and burned, beginning in 1526.

By 1528, the prisons were filled with those who had committed the “crime” of reading the New Testament in English, and in 1529 Thomas Hitton became the first in a long line of believers who were burned at the stake for possessing the Tyndale Bible. (Others had previously been burned for possessing the Wycliffe Bible.) In May 1535, Tyndale was arrested for his “heresies” and for his audacity at thumbing his nose at papal laws. After being imprisoned for nearly a year and a half in a cold, dreary dungeon in the castle at Vilvoorde, William Tyndale was taken out to the public square, strangled, and his body burned.

Roman Catholic authorities also burned John Rogers, the translator of the Matthew’s Bible, another Bible in the lineage of the 1611 King James. Further, the Geneva Bible, which was the most popular English Bible before the KJV, was produced in Geneva, Switzerland, instead of England for the simple reason that the Roman Catholic Queen Mary was pouring out such vicious persecution upon Bible believers that many fled to Geneva for safety.

And going back before Tyndale to the first English Bible, let’s not forget that the Roman Catholic Church condemned John Wycliffe of “heresy” for translating the English Bible and so hated his memory that they dug up his bones and burned them nearly 44 years after his death. Yes, the Roman Catholic Church did have a major role in the English Bibles preceding the King James, and let’s not forget it!

…..and these are The Signs of the Times