God’s true remnant church gazes in wonder at the world’s multimillion-strong, God-judging, Truth-rejecting religious system that calls itself “the church.” The very existence of such a spiritual contradiction proves the Truth of God’s Words found in Revelation 12:9: “Satan has deceived the whole world.” His most important deception involves professing Christendom whom he has convinced that the Biblical Jesus Christ and His Father cannot be trusted. This heresy has historical roots reaching back to the beginning of recorded history.

In the Garden of Eden Satan the Serpent, having presented Adam and Eve with a “better way,” convinced them that his word was truth and that God’s Word was not. Then came Noah, “… a preacher of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5) whose message from God was nullified by the devil, causing the rest of the world to believe him and die. Then came the prophets–“holy men of old”–whose words were rejected by those who called themselves by the name of the Lord. Likewise, the Words of Jesus and His apostles have, for the most part, been rejected by the church. Ironically, the whole of professing Christendom holds their Words up to the world as the Truth while assuring her that she can reject or change those parts of the Truth that expose her religion as bogus. One such universally rejected Truth spoken by Jesus while in the flesh concerns His death and resurrection. We find Him speaking of that Truth in Matthew 12:38-40.

When pressed by a group of Pharisees for proof of His Messiahship, Jesus replied that He would give them (and the world) ONE SIGN–THAT HE WOULD BE IN THE GRAVE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS, exactly as Jonah had been in the fish’s belly three days and three nights. The Counterfeit Church declares for all the world to hear and see that Jesus lied, that her savior was in the grave only one day and two nights–Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night. For rejecting His ONE SIGN, Jesus calls her what He called the Pharisees of His day: “… a wicked and adulterous generation (group).”

What difference does it make how long Jesus was in the tomb, when He entered it and when did He exited it? people ask. Truth matters in all situations, especially when it involves the audibly spoken Words of the God of the universe. And when it comes to the veracity of the deity whom hundreds of millions claim as their savior, it matters greatly. Unlike the church, I will not stand before the Lord on judgment day and declare to Him that, even though He lied on many occasions, I will, nevertheless, accept Him in spite of His sins. Among His many deceptions, THE CHURCH ACCUSES HIM OF LYING ABOUT THE ONE AND ONLY SIGN HE GAVE MANKIND TO PROVE HIS MESSIAHSHIP. He said 13 TIMES in the four gospels that he would be in the grave THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS. The church shouts to the entire world: “HE LIED; HE WAS IN THE GRAVE ONLY ONE DAY AND TWO NIGHTS.” Incredibly, the church claims that Jesus qualified to be her savior in spite of being an inveterate liar and deceiver. A few of those lies and deceits can be found listed in the introduction to this website.

Some point out that in the Greek language any part of a day counts as a full day–parts of Friday, Satur- day and Sunday=three days. Two things nullify this contention: 1) Jesus repeatedly said He would be in the tomb three days and three NIGHTS, and 2) He referenced Jonah, whom the church agrees was in the fish’s belly three days and three NIGHTS. The Hebrew language does not have the part-of-a-day=a day rule. In the Friday-Sunday scenario there are only two nights involved. Note the Words of Jesus: “AS Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, SO the Son of man WILL BE in the heart of the earth THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS“–He would exactly duplicate Jonah’s experience relative to time. Why does the church insist that Jesus lied about His death and resurrection? As in the case of all church heresy, the doctrine came from the heathen/pagan world.

Beginning in the fourth century, pagans began to flock into the Catholic Church en masse on threat of death at the hands of the Roman Government. Many of them worshiped a sun god (Tammuz–Eze. 8:14) whom his followers claimed had died on Friday and arose from the dead on Sunday. For that reason they chose to honor him on that day– Sun day=”The venerable Day of the Sun.” In order to pacify the growing masses of sun worshipers in her midst, the church hierarchy agreed to observe Sunday as the church’s weekly Sabbath. However, she insisted that the name “Jesus” be substituted for “Tammuz,” which the pagans agreed to do. The church also agreed to accept the heathen time parameters relative to Jesus/Tammuz’ death and resurrection–Friday would replace Wednesday as the day of their deaths and Sunday would replace Saturday as the day of their resurrections. But the changes meant that the WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST WOULD HAVE TO BE REJECTED AND OTHER WORDS SUBSTITUTED. This proved not to be a problem for the apostates at that time, nor is it a problem for their spiritual descendants who choose to believe and obey the dictates of Rome rather than God’s Truth (Jn. 17:17). When confronted with Bible Truth, men not only rejected God’s Word, but persecuted those who spoke it. Many of God’s saints died at the hands of the church during that time. To be continued. L.J.