cartage Welcome once again to the hour of the time. I'm William Cooper. Tonight's program is going to be very interesting. I'm not going to tell you what to believe. I'm not going to tell you what to think. But I'm certainly hoping that you will think about what you're going to hear tonight. You see, I'm always running into these self-righteous people who are always claiming that they are the only ones who are right. But if they claim to believe or hold to the Christian religion, they cite chapter and verse and bend it to their agenda. Now, I want you all to understand that there are approximately, well, you can't even be approximate about it. There are at least a thousand different versions, splits, schisms, churches, branches of Christianity, all quoting the Scripture, all claiming they are right, all saying that everyone else is wrong, they're going to hell. I just wonder if anybody out there really knows what Christianity really is. I really wonder how many people are mouthing what they've heard from someone else, or if they've really gotten into the Bible, read it, thought about it, attempted to understand it, and where they could not understand it, refused to put their own interpretation into what they did not understand. And I think that's mostly what happens. For I've got to tell you something, folks. When Jesus taught, He would usually stand by the roadside, or the famous, very famous, instance of His teaching, the Sermon on the Mount. He sat upon a hill and talked to the crowd that assembled from the passers-by on the road below. Never once in the New Testament or anywhere else can it be found that He went out and grabbed someone and drug them in and made them sit down and listen. Nor did He chastise them, nor did He put them down or make them feel bad if they chose not to stop but passed by on the road. He taught to those who would listen. If He delivered the message and they walked away, He did not run after them and call them names, try to make them believe what He was saying. the message for those who would listen was for those who understood and believed. Jesus didn't build some fancy church and He never turned anyone away. In fact, if you'll read the New Testament carefully, you'll see that His followers were fishermen, thieves, prostitutes, just about every level of society. He also washed the feet of His disciples. When I look at great edifices like the Crystal Cathedral in California and listen to that pastor, I won't mention his name because it's not my intent to embarrass or hurt anyone, but when I listen to that pastor stand up there and pontificate about the doctrine of possibility thinking, which is really just a plagiarism from the power of positive thinking from an earlier Freemason who was also a preacher, I just listen in amazement, folks, and I turn on the television every Sunday and I go through the dial and I have a satellite dish. I can get every single evangelist in the world and I listen to what they're teaching and it doesn't even come close to what Jesus Christ taught. They interpret Scripture to say nothing that He meant. If I go to a Catholic church and watch what's going on there, I see the reenactment of the old pagan religions and the play acting of the sacrifice during the Mass and the altar. And then they tell me that Jesus is living right there in this little box. So I want you to listen carefully tonight. I'm going to tell you this. I believe in the Constitution. I don't expect anybody to believe what I believe. I would never ask you to do that. But what I want you to do is start to think. I would like it. I would really love it if everybody in this world would begin to think. Folks, I'm not taking any calls. You're wasting your time if you're done. I would like for you all to think. Stop listening to the priests of Babylon. I can find no organized church existing upon the face of this earth that is teaching what Christ taught. Or even what the original teacher that that church was founded upon taught. When you look at Buddhism today, they're not practicing what Buddha taught. And Buddha would be absolutely amazed to know that he was looked at as a god or a prophet. Because that's not what he felt in his life. So I'm not picking on anybody. I'm trying to open you up to some original thought. I'm a constitutionalist. I believe that everyone has the right to worship at the altar of their choice and I will fight to my death to protect that right for all of us. But it doesn't mean I have to approve or that I will approve of what you think or what you believe, nor do I expect you to approve of what I think or what I believe as far as my religion goes. but I expect me and you and all of us to be intelligent about what we believe, to stop buying into the old manipulations and put it quite bluntly the bullshit of the priesthood. the音 Seek ye the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Jesus said that, and nothing else will. William Cooper said that. Probably one of the best examples, folks, that can be given of dividing the word of truth is clearly indicated by how churches regard the Ten Commandments. You see, many churches teach that the Ten Commandments, although written with the finger of God on tablets of stone and given to Moses, constitutes the moral law of God engraved upon the conscience of every man beginning with Adam. Now, this is the reason that practically every church teaches it. Some churches declare that although Christ died for our past sins, thereby enabling us to begin a new life with a clean record, we must now keep the Ten Commandments in order to make our salvation sure. Now, that's just one teaching. Others teach that keeping the Ten Commandments is not essential to salvation, but that it nonetheless should be kept because it tells us how we must live. But all churches, folks, seem to agree that the Ten Commandments is a moral code decreed by God and is binding on every human being. Now, what many people fail to realize, however, is that there is a lot of disagreement among these churches not only in their interpretation of these commandments, but also in what constitutes the Ten Commandments in the first place. For example, Protestants in general believe that the Second Commandment is a prohibition against the making of pictures and statues as well as kneeling in front of them. On the other hand, most Catholics never even heard of such a commandment, since their version of the Ten Commandments deletes this commandment. Doesn't even have it in there. And then it divides the Tenth Commandment into two to make sure that there's still ten, which is very interesting. Now, aside from this change in the Decalogue, the churches are a long way from unanimity in their interpretation of any of the other commandments, and in particular, the Sabbath. The Fourth Commandment is a prohibition against work on the Sabbath for a man, his offspring, his servants, his cattle, and, it's very specific, quote, the stranger that is within thy gates, end quote. Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 through 11. Now, in relating this to the creation, when God rested on the seventh day, it is made quite clear that his day of rest was a 24-hour period from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. There's nothing in this commandment that tells one to go to church and spend all day studying the Bible and praising the Lord as some claim. It's a convenient time to do it, but there is nothing that says that you must. Least of all, is there anything in this commandment that teaches Sunday observance? Sunday observance. So, if a person really wants to keep the Ten Commandments, I would think that it would be very important that he know how to keep the Sabbath. Learning all that was involved in keeping the Sabbath can invariably, folks, lead us into a knowledge of the people to whom the Sabbath was given in the first place. It was given to the nation of Israel while they were God's people and while they were in their own land. Exodus chapter 16, verse 29. Now, since no fire was to burn on the Sabbath in their dwellings, Exodus chapter 35, verse 3, you can readily see that this commandment was relevant to an area having a relatively mild winter, such as the Middle East has. Modern Sabbath observers not only cook on the Sabbath and have central heating, but they also turn on the electricity, which is produced by people who work for electric companies. They also drive cars and take other modes of transportation operated by people who work on the Sabbath. And all of this constitutes a flagrant violation of the commandment and was therefore an intolerable condition for Israel and under the law of Moses was punishable, folks, by death. You see, not only was the Sabbath given to Israel, but hundreds of other commandments comprising the law of God were given to them also, which included the Ten Commandments. The first is, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exodus chapter 20, verses 2 and 3. Now, folks, this stipulates the parties involved in this contract, according to the Bible. God is the party of the first part, and Israel is the party of the second part. There is no third party, and no third party has a right to include itself in this covenant. The Lord, however, can suspend this relationship and thus consider Israel lo ami, or not my people. In effect, they can no longer be governed by God's law. The scriptures reveal that God did just exactly that 19 centuries ago and will resume dealing with Israel in the not-too-distant future. Isaiah chapter 1, verses 9 and 10. Look it up yourself. And I hear all these preachers claiming that they are the children of Israel. That they have a sacred covenant with God. And that they are the white race. Or that they are this particular religion. Or that they are circumcised, and only circumcised can participate in this covenant. See, I'm not picking on any one person or any one church. Almost every one of them are guilty of this. Almost every one. The Bible, folks, says that God suspended this covenant, this relationship, and considers Israel not my people. In other words, they can no longer be governed by God's law. So all these pastors who are telling you that they are Israel, and if you're one of them, you're Israel, and you have this special relationship with God, this covenant, and then tell you that they believe in the Word of God as written in the Bible, are lying about one or the other. Which one is it? Like I told you, I'm not going to tell you what to believe tonight. I'm just going to make you think. I'm going to challenge you to think. And I'm not interested in hearing what your dogma is or what your church believes, and I don't want 5,000 people calling tomorrow quoting their version of the Scriptures and bending it to their agenda. You see, because I have my own version, I think through this stuff, when I try to try to believe what it's supposed to really say, not what I would like it to say, or what you would like it to say, or what's going to make me the superior race, or make me have some special covenant with God so that I can look out and say, the rest of you are inferior to me. That's not what I do. See, the churches seem to be competing with one another for God's favor in place of Israel. The more of God's commandments to Israel that they try to keep, the more they think that God is pleased with them. Isn't that strange? That is why the Ten Commandments presents a challenge to the churches, especially the Sabbath. They suggest that if the Sabbath commandment is not binding on all men, then neither should the prohibition to lie, steal, or commit murder. And this is where their logic falls completely apart. You see, for the latter commandments concern our morality, which the Lord, according to the Bible, engraved on man's conscience from creation, from creation. John, chapter 1, verse 9. The first four commandments concern things which must be directly revealed to man by God. And hundreds of other commandments concern morality. but hundreds of others can be classified as just ceremonial. All commandments, however, had to be kept by the nation of Israel. Now, notwithstanding the clear fact that the law was given by Moses, John, chapter 1, verse 17, some churches desperately attempt to prove that it was given to Adam. Of course, that's pure fiction. As is also the claim that blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, Genesis, chapter 2, verse 3, was an injunction given by God for all men everywhere to observe it. When one considers that to bless something is to speak well of that thing, and to sanctify something is to separate it for one's own use, he will then realize that God spoke well of the Sabbath and set it apart for that day when He would give it to Israel. Anything more than this is purely imaginative and unscriptural. And last but not least is the statement made by God, quote, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, end quote, Mark, chapter 2, verse 27. A lot of you point to this passage as proof that the Sabbath commandment has always been binding on man. But there's a definite article in the Greek that tells us that it was the man, the man, Israel, for which the Sabbath was made to benefit and not vice versa. You see, there's been much mistranslation of the Bible. For instance, many churches will tell you that the Ten Commandments say, Thou shalt not kill. Where in the original Greek and Hebrew, what it really says is, Thou shalt not murder. All of God's commandments made for Israel constituted the law. And none of them was applicable to any other nation. And you can find that in Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 8. Also in Romans, chapter 2, verse 24. It says, God is not in covenant relationship with Israel today. His law is not applicable. And those who wish to apply to their lives commandments, which were never given to them, demonstrate their lack of understanding and thus exemplify more than anyone can how to wrongly divide the word of truth. If you want to adhere to the Ten Commandments because it's the morally right thing to do, that's an entirely different proposition altogether. and I would support that. Thank you. Thank you. One of the many means employed by a lot of churches to relieve their members of their hard-earned cash, the tithe, ladies and gentlemen, and it's the most popular and most effective one, the 10% tax on top of all the other taxes that you pay levied by the priesthood. The reason for this is that tithing is a command by God readily found within the pages of God's Word, the Bible. In the Old Testament, we can read, quote, And behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance for their service, which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thus spake unto the Levites and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up and heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe. Numbers 18, verse 21, 25, and 26. Now, folks, here's a very clear command given to the nation of Israel. Every Jew had to give a tenth of his possessions to the tribe of Levi. The Levites, in turn, had to offer a tenth of what they received to the Lord. It had to be the best of everything and had to be eaten by them and their household that very day. You see, none of it was to remain the next day. This was a reward from God for their services. Numbers 18, verses 27-32, and Levi 22, verses 15-33. Thus, we see that tithing was one commandment among many given by God to the nation of Israel, which it kept and ensured the blessings of peace and prosperity to them. On the other hand, if a Jew violated this injunction by refusing to tithe to the Levites, he would be withholding from God the Levitical portion due to him. Now, since this was robbing God of that which belonged to him, the guilty party could only expect God's curses instead of his blessings. If you want to believe what it says, and that's exactly what it says. Malachi 3, verse 8, Deuteronomy 28, 15-68. Check it yourself. But today, folks, here's the kicker, there are no Levites. There is no temple and there are no sacrifices. There are no Levites. There is no temple and there are no sacrifices. So what are you doing? Israel has become, in fact, Lo-Ami, not my people, which means that God is no longer dealing with them as his covenant people. Isaiah 1, verse 9, chapter 10, verses 2-13. You see, all of God's promises and commandments to them made when he was in covenant relationship with them have been suspended, according to the Bible, for a future time. And since the above offerings can no longer be made to God, no one can tithe to God today, and yet churches, through their ministers, never cease taking verses out of context in order to separate members of their congregation from their money. Billy Graham once said, quote, If you don't tithe, you are robbing God of that which belongs to Him. You are committing the sin of covetousness. And the Bible says, covetousness is idolatry, and idolaters shall end up in the lake of fire. End quote. And this, after making his famous statement, quote, Go to church. Whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish, but go to church. End quote. Now this expresses the general idea that by tithing to any of the 500 conflicting churches, or 1,000 conflicting churches, or 1,500 conflicting churches, one is tithing to God. And this would undoubtedly make God the author of chaos, confusion, which Scripture very clearly declares He is not. 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 33. An objection is raised, however, by those who see tithing as a principle long before God instructed Israel in this regard. they state the case of Abraham tithing to Melchizedek, whose priesthood never changed. And since Christ is, quote, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, end quote, and he is alive, then we must continue to tithe to him. And the fallacy of this reasoning lies in assuming too much. Too much, folks. You see, there are no instructions from God that we should tithe to Melchizedek. Can you find any? I can't. There's not even a command recorded that Abraham should have done so. It's bad enough that men take commandments from Scripture out of context and misapply them. But when men make up doctrines, when said commandments are not even to be found in God's Word, then they show their own extreme desperation. And that's exactly what it is. Desperation. But what if we assume that God does want us to tithe to him? How do we go about doing this? We've already seen how giving to the church of our choice is neither wise nor scriptural. Should we then tithe to the true ministers of the true church of God as the early Christians gave to the apostles? Well, in attempting to answer this, folks, we must first note that there is not one word of tithing to the apostles in the New Testament. Not one word. Christians at Jerusalem gave them everything they had. Acts chapter 4 verses 32 through 37. In other cities, collections were taken, but only the apostles had divine authority to collect money. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 1 through 19 and chapter 16 verses 1 and 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 But you see, folks, today, there are no apostles. None. Zero. There are no apostles. There are no divinely inspired ministers of God, according to the Bible. There are none. Zero. No one but Jesus Christ has any rule or authority over a Christian's spiritual life. Each Christian should then work honestly for his living. for, quote, if any would not work, neither should he eat, end quote. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10 You see, what you do with your money is between you and the Lord and nobody else. You ever listen to Dr. Gene Scott? He starts off preaching every single night. He's on satellite. He's on cable TVs all over the place. He's on radio. And if you listen to him, he'll start off talking about something that might or might not be important and he'll bend it around to his own agenda and he always ends up that Christianity is giving. And then he stops talking, says he's not going to talk anymore and you get to watch his racehorses, which he paid for, with your money, run around a track which he had to rent to have him run around this track at an exorbitant cost while he waits for you to call and pledge your hard-earned cash to his, quote, ministry, end quote. The truth, folks, is, it's a con job. how precious in cross-commercial bought back the bike and we start nice hawk and alegria andγά with yourwend Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Take, for example, the day on which the overwhelming majority of churches conduct their worship services, Sunday. This is the first day of the week called by many the Lord's Day or the Sabbath. It was dedicated by pagans, by pagans, ladies and gentlemen. That's where it got its name Sunday as the day of the sun. The day of the sun. And I covered this very well in our series on Mystery Babylon. If you consider Sunday to be the Sabbath, you are subscribing to the Babylonian religion. Then you are actually following the dictates of the Pope who changed the word of God from the seventh day to the first, from Saturday to Sunday. By papal bull or decree. You see, there's not one verse in the entire Bible that can be cited to show that God commanded, requested or advised anyone at any time to ever observe Sunday as the Sabbath. Yet most of you flocked to your respective places of worship, dressed in your finest clothes, believing that there's something holy about Sunday. Well, there was to those who worshiped the sun in the ancient temples of Babylon. For the sake of many who try to justify the observance of Sunday from the Bible, let's consider their arguments first. See, I'll tell both sides. There are those who tell us that the Ten Commandments declares that we must rest on the Sabbath and remember this as a holy day. Therefore, we should go to church and worship God on this day. Those of us, however, who know that these commandments were given only to the nation of Israel know also that the fourth commandment had reference to the seventh day of the week. Not the first, folks. Moreover, it does not require anyone to go to church or synagogue and worship God all day. It was strictly a day for resting and refraining from work. Anyone who thinks that Sunday is the Sabbath simply shows how ignorant of the Bible a person can really be. You see, most people don't really read the Bible. They listen to their minister or their parents or their bishop or their church or they read some pamphlet that somebody gives them. And it's only after that happens and Sunday is indelibly inscribed in their mind that they begin to read the Bible, that they have to justify Sunday as being the day that they have to rest and the day that they go to church, that they bend Scripture to support that because they don't want to be an outcast in their own church, in their own community, in their own home, in their own family with their own Christian friends. They call themselves Christian anyway. The most popular reason given for the observance of Sunday, folks, is that Christ arose from the dead on this day. They say that Christ arose from the dead on Sunday. Now, assuming that he arose on a Sunday, which he definitely did not, as I shall soon explain, this would still be no indication that this is a day to be observed. After all, Christ died on another day of the week besides Sunday, and the purpose of the Last Supper was to shew the Lord's death till he come. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26. So it would seem that the most logical and consistent thing to do would be to celebrate this event on the day that he died rather than on the day that he arose. Of course, we've already learned that the time for celebrating the Last Supper or Passover meal, if you listen to my Mystery Babylon series, and especially if you listen to my program on Easter, was once a year on Nisan 15. Nisan 15 was the calendar day. Regardless of the day of the week, it happened to fall on. So once again, the churches are shown to be not only unscriptural, but absolutely and totally inconsistent as well. So what about the early church? Did not they observe Sunday? Since they came together on that day to break bread and take up collections? Acts 20, verse 7. 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 and 2. This also is shown to be a futile attempt to justify Sunday observance since the early church broke bread every single day. So when your preacher tells you that you worship on Sunday because the early church got together and met and broke bread on Sunday, he's bending the truth an awful lot because they got together and they broke bread every single day. That can be found, ladies and gentlemen, in Acts 2, verse 46. Furthermore, the expression, quote, the first day of the week, end quote, is a mistranslation of the Greek phrase, mea ton sabbatan, which means one of the sabbaths, plural. One of the sabbaths, plural. You see, the word mea is a cardinal number and not an ordinal number. Therefore, there is no indication that these passages refer to a Sunday, let alone there being any justification in them for Sunday observance. And last but not least is that very famous passage, which tells us that John, quote, was in the spirit on the Lord's day, end quote. Revelations chapter 1, verse 10. Now, how in the world? I listen to this every Sunday. I hear it done. I see the sheep out there in the congregation. Getting the warped meaning of this, yet it's not there. How can anyone ever get an argument for Sunday observance from this passage is beyond the reasoning power of any thinking person? Quote, was in the spirit on the Lord's day, end quote. To say that Sunday is the Lord's day is purely whimsical. One could just as easily conclude that Saturday or Tuesday is the Lord's day. The truth is, every day is the Lord's day, for He created them all. There's no more grounds for accepting the former is true as there is in accepting the latter is true. This is the only occurrence of the expression, quote, the Lord's day, end quote, in the entire Bible. However, the expression, quote, day of the Lord, end quote, occurs many, many times, and this refers to the end time when the enemies of the Lord shall be made His footstool and when the Lord shall return to the earth. It is the belief of people who can read and think that the book of Revelation deals with the events that shall take place immediately prior to Christ's second coming and that it includes all that follows. John was in the spirit, meaning that God inspired him to not only get a glimpse of what should take place in the Lord's day, but also to record those events infallibly. John was in the spirit, John was in the spirit, that he had to do with Christianity, never has, and I explained that also in the series on Mystery Babylon. The sign of Jonah, the prophet, furnishes us with the greatest proof that Christ did not die on a Friday, nor did He rise on a Sunday. The Lord Himself said, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12, verse 40. Now, if Christ died on a Friday and rose on a Sunday, you've made a liar out of Jesus Christ. Do you understand what I'm telling you? If Christ died on a Friday afternoon and rose Sunday morning as church tradition teaches, then how could He have been buried quote, three days and three nights, end quote? Well, now you see, the churches, not being too willing to admit that they've been wrong these past 20 centuries, have had to change the meaning of three days and three nights to a day and a half. They attempt to show that in the Bible, three days means parts of three days are conceivably 25 hours. Well, how come 40 days and 40 nights doesn't equate to 20 days and 20 nights? How come seven days for the creation isn't really three and a half? I mean, what's going on here? You see, we're dealing with three days and three nights, which would have to be closer to 72 hours. The day of Christ death was the preparation day or the day before the Passover feast day when the Passover meal was eaten. This is clear, folks. There is no doubt about this and we can pinpoint it exactly. Exactly. So you pay attention to me. The day of Christ's death was the preparation day. The day before the Passover feast day when the Passover meal was eaten. Luke 23, verse 54. In John 12, verse 1, we're told that Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany. We are also told that He had supper there and that on the next day He made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on what is called Palm Sunday. John 12, verses 2-13. Now, folks, if the death of Christ were on a Friday and the Passover were on a Saturday as the churches would have it, then six days before the Passover would be a Sunday. Absurd in the light of the above-mentioned events which transpired there. Jesus would be arriving at Bethany on the day Scripture reveals He departed. Bethany. Now, what's right? The church or Scripture? Attempts made by some to make His death on Thursday would make His arrival in Bethany on the Sabbath. And this would have violated the Sabbath law, prohibiting all types of work, including travel for more than a mile. Acts 1, verse 12. And we know He didn't do that. The only possible explanation that would satisfy all scriptural clues is that the Passover, which was a yearly Sabbath falling on Nisan 15, occurred on Thursday. And this would make Christ's death fall on Wednesday and would have given the women ample time to purchase and to prepare the ointments on Friday. Luke 23, verse 56. Since they were to rest on both Sabbaths, Thursday and Saturday, Sunday morning was the first occasion that they had to visit the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Now then, since Christ died on Wednesday, approximately 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the ninth hour by Jewish reckoning, look it up yourself, He could not have risen later than Saturday at the same hour because He promised that He would rise on the third day, Matthew, chapter 16, verse 21. Moreover, ladies and gentlemen, since He had to be buried before sunset, then His resurrection had to be before sunset. Three days and three nights later are on Saturday no later than 3 o'clock in the afternoon unless, of course, Jesus lied. Now, if Jesus did not lie and Scripture is correct, then the church is lying. And that is the truth. The Bible nowhere states that Christ arose from the dead on a Sunday, although it does state that the risen Savior appeared to Mary first on that day. Mark 16, verse 9. And as far as Easter Sunday is concerned, the Lord had nothing, nothing to do with it. For you see, Easter Sunday was the day that sun worshippers claimed that Tammuz, the Babylonian sun god, arose from the dead and became the sun. This day was chosen because it was the first Sunday, day of the sun, after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. It was preceded by a 40-day period of mourning and fasting and an Easter sunrise service. Eggs were painted to symbolize the sun with its life-giving rays and the cross existed everywhere as a phallic symbol of sun worship in honor of Tammuz and the term Easter itself is derived directly from the goddess Ishtar, the name of the Babylonian moon goddess, also known as Ashtarte and Queen Semiramis, mother of Tammuz, who incidentally was born on the equivalent of our December 25th. Constantine, Emperor Constantine, a sun worshipper himself, was mainly instrumental in bringing this paganism into the Romish church and consequently corrupted much of Protestantism which came out of Catholicism. And the word Easter does not belong in the Bible and would never have appeared in the King James Version were it not for the lack of scruples on the part of one translator who was determined to put it there. Acts chapter 12, verse 4. Even there, it is a mistranslation of the Greek word Pasha, which occurs 29 times in the New Testament, 29 times. But this is the only time that it's translated as Easter. All other 28 times it is consistently translated Passover. Passover. Passover. Passover. Passover. Passover. See you next time, o. He will flow DJ. He will flow DJ. Now we've seen how effectively churches have been able to control the minds of their adherents. And we've also learned that the confidence which the latter has in the former depends heavily upon their claim that they are Christ's representatives on earth. This claim has enabled these churches to wield unlimited authority and power. For one thing, their teachings are almost never questioned. Secondly, pleas for their support often takes on the form of commandments such as tithing, which frequently become quite burdensome to the reluctant but frightened victims, and in light of all the other taxes that are heaped upon them, can also be devastating. It can be devastating, folks. They are further threatened with and intimidated by the most excruciating agonies and interminable woes of hell and purgatory, which are equally false. You see, folks, I want to know something. How can you die and leave this earth in the spirit and go to heaven or go to purgatory, when very clearly in the Bible it says that everyone dies and they stay in the grave until Christ returns to the earth and raises them from the dead? From the dead. If this instillment of fear doesn't whip the congregation into unconditional submission, then nothing short of an inquisition will. And that also has been tried. It's one of the reasons why people who don't subscribe to the Christian religion hate Christians, because if the inquisition were to return, it would be them burning at the stake, at the dictates of the church, because they're heretics. The truth is, the church is the heretic. All organized religions, I don't care what you call them, are heretical. They're liars, deceivers, and manipulators. But since civilized countries, folks, maintain a separation between the church and the government, or at least that's the way it's been up until now, and it's not really a separation, that's also a deception. See, our forefathers created this country as a secular government to protect the people from a state religion, which would then declare that they must adhere to that religion or burn at the stake. That's why all these people running around saying, this is a Christian nation, are liars. Never was it a Christian nation. Our forefathers made it explicitly a secular nation to prevent the state from forcing religion upon the people. The religion was given as a freedom of choice. Everyone in the United States could practice the religion of his choice without fear of persecution by the state, or by any state church, or by any church. That's changing that. Religion is being persecuted no matter what religion you belong to. But in this country, it doesn't permit torture or any other form of punishment because of religious beliefs, according to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But Waco changed that. You'd better wake up and you'd better be watching. It's had nothing to do with guns, folks. And all the guns they had were legal. If we comb the pages of the Bible, many churches find what they are looking for in the second coming of Jesus Christ and the great tribulation that's associated with it called Armageddon. And they wield this sword above your heads, making you impotent and neutralizing you politically so you do not act to oppose anything that is coming. believing that Armageddon is just around the corner. As in the case of tithing and endless torment in Easter and Sunday worship, as well as in scores of other areas, I will now show that the churches have also misrepresented the Bible in regard to the second coming of Jesus Christ. And in order to demonstrate this fact, we can find it necessary to present you with a few pertinent facts from the scriptures concerning the second coming that will enable you to answer several questions. The most important among them is, quote, just what is meant by the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. End quote. The answer to this question is not as simple, folks, as it may seem, since the phrase second coming is nowhere to be found in the Bible. Nowhere to be found. But all churches seem to be agreed upon the fact that the one who became flesh and dwelt among us, John chapter 1, verse 14, almost 20 centuries ago, promised before his ascension that he would return to this earth one day. He said that, quote, all the tribes of the earth shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. End quote. Matthew chapter 24, verse 30. Now there's those who teach that this was fulfilled in 70 A.D. They claim that Christ's coming was not a visible return to the earth, but was rather a coming in judgment upon the nation of Israel. Others believe that Christ's invisible presence took place in the year 1914. They contend that if his coming were visible, no sign would be required. But since the sign of the Son of Man is mentioned, global wars, earthquakes, famines, etc., Christ's coming, therefore, is visible. The latter belief is held by those who call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. The former contention was held by the Church Fathers and has been adopted by both Catholics and Protestants of the Reformation. Both groups have one thing in common, an anxiety to eliminate physical Israel from God's program and replacing them with the Church, which now constitutes spiritual Israel. But a study will prove that the second coming of Jesus Christ cannot be invisible. It can easily be seen and fully appreciated by the Scriptures only when the Greek word parousia, translated coming, is understood. A parousia is a visible presence, and yet it is more than this. At a roll call, in a Greek class, the students would indicate their presence by the Greek word parimi. However, on a given day, the teacher may have the occasion of bringing his child to school. The child would also be present, parimi, but probably would be bored stiff, not knowing any Greek. The word parousia means being present because of who you are and what you are doing. You see? And in the case of instructor and students, both make their parousia, the one to teach and the others to learn. The parousia of Jesus is not merely a coming, nor is it a mere presence. It's a period of time in which Jesus will be present because of who he is and what he is doing according to the Bible. And this period of time is referred to as the millennium because it will last a thousand years, Revelations 20, verse 4. And this parousia will be marked by a revelation of Jesus in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 8. There's nothing invisible or secret about it. But folks, I revealed exactly what happened and when it happened and how it happened in my broadcast on Easter. And I'm not going to tell you again. Good night. God bless you all. Amen. Good night. Good night. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Emen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.