That Satan controls the vast majority of church people is proven by the Lord in His Holy Word. Further proof of that Biblical fact is proclaimed by both church and secular history, as well as by current events as, day after day, the world, specifically the so-called “Christian world,” decays before our eyes. How can Satan accomplish such self-destruction in nations that are filled with Bibles, churches and ministers? He does it the same way he brought Adam and Eve down–HE OFFERS MAN WHAT MAN DEMANDS–SELF-DETERMINATION. Whether he realizes it or not, men seek God, but not the God who would rule him. Man wants a god who will give him what he (man) wants. Satan makes himself available to meet that need. Jesus addressed this reality in Matthew 16:23 where He says to Satan: “Get behind me, Satan, for you are not interested in the things of God, but rather in “THE THINGS OF MAN.” The Biblical God rules openly; the god of this world rules secretly.

Satan lures man into his religious system by giving him what he craves and insists on having–POWER OVER HIS OWN LIFE. Satan offers him this power and calls it “light,” which is false light disguised as God’s true Light. God’s Light is His Word, which is Himself in written form. We become that of which we partake of regularly. In the material world “We are what we eat and drink.” In the spiritual world “We are what we read and hear.” The Lord’s Very Elect saints are so filled with His Light that they become that light. This is what Jesus was referring to when He told the disciples: “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world” and because His disciples were bearing that Light and would continue to do so following His departure, He said to them: “You are the light of the world.” Because man refuses to study ALL OF GOD’S WORD, Satan is able to do what Jesus said he (Satan) has done–“… deceived the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). Read about God’s “headlines” and “fine print” using the key word “Fine.”

An example of how Satan has blinded the eyes of church people to the Lord’s “fine print,” the editor of the local newspaper refuses to print my teachings even though I would pay to have them printed. This paper has printed many of my full teachings in the past, a couple of which covered half a page. But no longer. Why? Because I quote God’s “fine print” which enrages church people. Since the editor stopped printing my articles the paper has gone from publishing seven times each week to publishing three times each week. Not only that, but the product contains fewer pages than before. I am not claiming credit for the decrease. But it seems strange that after decades of being a popular, award-winning organization, they have dropped to less than half of their original production. The decline coincides with the organization’s refusal to print my articles. One has to wonder why?

As quoted in many past series, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to destruction” (Prov. 14:12). The following are more of those “ways” that seem religiously right but are in truth totally heathen.

“When a person dies he/she goes directly to heaven or hell.” “The dead know nothing, have no reward, no knowledge, no wisdom, do not praise the Lord, have no God and do not remember God (Eccl. 9:5,6,9,10/ Psalm 6:5; 115:17). This includes King David, the “man after God’s own heart,” who, as Scripture tells us, is still in his grave (Acts 2:29). Jesus Christ is the only human who has ever resided in heaven (Jn. 3:31; 1 Tim. 2:5). If death ushers those in “THE church” into God’s presence, why is death the saint’s “enemy?” (1 Cor. 15:26). If dead saints are in heaven, who are “the dead in Christ” who will rise to meet Him in the air upon His Second Advent? (1 Thes. 4:16,17). Would they not be coming down from heaven with Him? And if Elijah went to live in heaven, how, shortly after his chariot ride, did he write a letter to the Jewish king Jehoram concerning his sins (2 Ki. 2:11/ 2Chron. 21:12)? Welcome to Scriptural “fine print.”

“God commands the church to celebrate Christ’s birth.” Nowhere is this church “truth” found in the Holy Scriptures. Not even a hint. Birthdays were not celebrated by God’s people anciently. However, death days were. We are commanded to commemorate Christ’s death by observing Passover. We are to celebrate His resurrection by observing Pentecost fifty days later. At the Council of Nicene in 325 A.D. Roman Emperor Constantine, in conjunction with the Catholic Church, did away with Passover and replaced it with Easter in honor of the “Queen of heaven”–Semiramis, the supposed wife of the sun god. This “queen” was also known as Ashtoreth, Diana, Isis and Ishtar (Eng.–Easter), depending on the society under consideration. Her son, Tammuz, who was killed early on in life, supposedly rose from the dead after one day and two nights in the grave. Sound familiar? From that time on he returned on His birthday (December 25) each year and left presents under trees that his devotees who, in anticipation of his arrival, would go into the forest, cut down trees which they brought into their houses, propped them up with hammers and nails then decorate with gold and silver (Jer. 10:2-4). Sound familiar? Until 1681 Christmas was outlawed in the colonies because the people knew of its heathen origins. Then liberals gained control of the church and the rest is Satan-dominated history.

After his untimely death, Tammuz supposedly rose to the sun and became the sun god. In Jeremiah 10:2-4 God commands His people: “Do not learn the ways of the heathen, for they go into the forest, cut down trees, ….” This is the holiday the church calls “Christmas.” The first Christmas trees were palms. God warns us in Ezekiel 8:14-16 not to follow in the footsteps of the idolatrous Israelites who worshiped the heathen sun god–Tammuz. Note in that passage that men would, on the day the church calls Easter, worship the sun as it rose in the east, thereby honoring the mother of Tammuz who was known by various names, including the “Goddess of Fertility” and the “Queen of Heaven.” One will notice that Christmas and Easter are united in the persons of Tammuz and Easter. Satan knows no bounds in his power to deceive people into worshiping him while believing that they are worshiping the Biblical God and His Son.

As a result of the nation’s rebellion against God, Easter and Christmas have remained “must celebrate” occasions in the life of the Institutional Church. This in spite of God’s warning against such worship in First Kings 11:5,6,33. The “Goddess of fertility” is honored by the church on her special day when the symbols of her holiday are used to highlight her reproductive abilities–eggs, rabbits and baby chickens. Early on the eggs were dyed red with the blood of the children the Israelites sacrificed to their heathen gods in the valley of Hinnom just outside of Jerusalem where they had alters upon which to lay the sacrificial babies. I can recall from my childhood seeing colored baby rabbits and chicks for sale sold on the streets of Campbell, Missouri during the “Easter season.” They were used in her honor on “Easter Sunday.” Because of the “Easter egg hunt” and “dinner on the grounds,” etc. which lasted late into the afternoon, Christ’s resurrection had to take a back seat to the “Queen” and her celebration on that most anticipated day.

In Deuteronomy 12:30,31 God tells His people to not do for Him what the heathen do for their gods. Jesus reminds us that he who rejects Him by rejecting His Word has one that will judge him: “The Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (Jn. 12:48). In Luke 10:16 He warns that he who does not believe His Words DISPESES BOTH HIMSELF AND HIS FATHER. We must rid ourselves of all heathen customs and beliefs, for they are forms of darkness. We must remember that, “GOD IS LIGHT AND IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS AT ALL” (1 Jn. 1:5). Only those “in Him” will rise to meet His Son upon His return to gather His saints and take them to Jerusalem where they will establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Read The Three Resurrections. Key word–Three. L.J.