Racist Pig Mugabe Breaks Pledge to White Farmers

White Farmers Receive Eviction Notices Despite Mugabe Pledge, Telegraph (UK)

Zimbabwe moves to push out the remaining whites—and last productive farmers.
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May God bless Rhodesia and South Africa to be restored to their proper British-Israelite owners.

I'm glad to have been blessed to visit both countries.

South Africa in Prophecy

Warning the World about the German-Jesuit EU

The North American Union, modeled after the European Union (created by Nazis) is all part of the GRAND DESIGN:

Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads It Wings Over the World

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Israeli Sheeple & Nazi-Muslims
By David Ben-Ariel

An exchange between an Israeli who voted for the defeatist Kadima party of fools, and a staunch American Christian-Zionist.

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The Economist Assaults Jerusalem
By David Ben-Ariel

Doesn't the Economist know that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel? Doesn't the Economist know that Israel is the Jewish homeland? Doesn't it stand to reason, then, that the capital of the Jewish homeland should be a large Jewish city?

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Kadima Wins, Israel loses!
By David Ben-Ariel

Kadima is a bought and paid for political party serving foreign interests, alien powers out to dismantle the Jewish homeland and destroy Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

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Europe Misses the Mark - Will It Return as the Sign of the Cross?
By David Ben-Ariel

Europe needs a figurehead and symbols to rally around. Will the pope soon present them with both?

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Europe to take out Iran for Jerusalem
By David Ben-Ariel

Jerusalem is in danger of becoming the capital of Europe's Crusader Kingdom. The German-Jesuit EU will defeat Iran for Jerusalem. "Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the City where David dwelt!"

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Ariel Sharon: From Zionist to Traitor
By David Ben-Ariel

Ariel Sharon sold out to foreign interests and brutally betrayed those who brought him to power.

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Israel's Chief Rabbi Invites Foreign Occupation
By David Ben-Ariel

Israel's Chief Rabbi petitions representatives of the world's religions to establish a United Nations in Jerusalem, representing religions instead of nations, like the UN currently based in New York.

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Europe Swings Both Ways
By David Ben-Ariel

Europe swings. Hard core proof: the EU overwhelmingly passed a resolution last month against "Homophobia in Europe."

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Robert Novak: Useful Idiot for Catholic Schemes?
By David Ben-Ariel

This is just another opportunity for the bloody Roman Catholic Church to get involved and exploit feigned interest for traditional "Christians" to further demand UN/EU occupation of the Jewish homeland.

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Will the Atlantic Times Address the German threat?
By David Ben-Ariel

Germany is destined to lead the European Union against the American, British and Jewish peoples.

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EU to Conquer Anglo-Saxons and Jews
By David Ben-Ariel

Israeli leaders have often sold out their land and people to foreign interests, bloating their personal bank accounts at Israel's expense, encouraged by America, and both will fall before the European Union.

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Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow?
By David Ben-Ariel

"So long as we wear the mask, we remain hidden and continue to conceal the situation from ourselves.”

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Vatican Linked to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
By David Ben-Ariel

Will Israel expose the connection between the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Vatican's drive to possess Jerusalem?

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Mt. Zion Under Siege: Who Will Be King of the Mountain?
By David Ben-Ariel

The German-built Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion (next to the yeshiva) is an exact replica of the German Church that crowned emperors: Charlemagne's Aachen Cathedral.

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The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
By David Ben-Ariel

While the international intelligence community focuses on Islamofascist threats, the hard core EU Catholics prepare to take the whole world by surprise.

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The Secret Nazis Covet the Temple Mount
By David Ben-Ariel

The Nazis merely went underground and put on suits and ties. Why are most Americans ignorant of a declassified US document that exposes German plans to try again?

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Paint Israel Black: Jews to Lose Jerusalem!
By David Ben-Ariel

With Israel's rejection of their 1967 miracle, how can God continue to bless them with freedom? Have Israeli leaders sold out to EU interests? Will Jerusalem be forcibly divided?

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UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?
By David Ben-Ariel

Could the groundwork have been laid decades ago for the dreadful appearance of the biblical BEAST? Isn't the "Anti-Christ" going to wield both political and spiritual powers? Could a gentle but firm person deceive the nations into imposing his peace plan upon the Middle East to save the whole world from nuclear catastrophe?

To Hell and Back

To Hell and Back
By Herbert W. Armstrong
19** edition

Is God an angry judge who tortures helpless sinners ages without end? If hell does exist, where is it - and can those who are there ever get out? Read here about the true biblical hell - from one who has been there!

Read here about the true biblical hell-from one who has been there!

by Keith W. Stump

ON SUNDAY, July 12, I went to hell. On that day Jerusalem's sun stood directly overhead as I paused to recheck my map. If my bearings were correct, hell's very threshold lay before me! I had just left the Old City of Jerusalem through the Dung Gate, one or the eight gates in the old Turkish wall. I had headed west on the road paralleling the wall, then around the area known today as Mount Zion. From there I began my descent into the Lower Regions.

The "House of Hades"

The notion that a mortal might actually visit hell and return-has been a source or fascination to people of almost every age. Since ancient times, the abode of the dead has been viewed as lying deep underground, with various en-trances on the earth's surface-through caverns, volcanoes, underground rivers and the like. Ancient peoples-Greeks and Romans especially reveled in fanciful accounts of heroes who dared pass through these fearful portals and into the Dark Realm.

One of the earliest accounts of such a journey is found in The Odyssey. It is an ancient epic poem by the Greek poet Homer (8th century B.C.). Homer writes of the Greek hero Odysseus (Ulysses), the lost king of Ithaca, who wandered the seas in search of his home for 10 years following the fall of Troy. In desperation, Odysseus reputedly found his way into the "abode of departed spirits" to learn from the ghost of a famous seer how he might find his home.

The underworld described by Homer was a shadowy place of dreary darkness lying beneath the secret places of the earth. Though a place of gloom, it was not pictured as one of punishment and torture as is the traditional Christian or Oriental hell.

Homer called the place of the dead the "House of Hades." Hades (the Romans called him Pluto) was the Greek king of the underworld, god of death. Eventually, Hades became the common name for the underworld itself.

The ancient classicists believed that five rivers flowed through the underworld. The principal one was the Styx, across which the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead. (The Styx was an actual stream that disappeared underground in Arcadia in Greece.)

In the Aeneid, an epic by the Roman poet Virgil, the Trojan hero Aeneas, fleeing the burning ruins of Troy after the Greek victory, successfully besought the ferryman Claron for passage into the infernal region to consult his dead father. (Virgil preferred the name Tartarus to Hades for the fabled infernal region.) Aeneas entered the underworld through a cavern at a foul-smelling lake near Naples in Italy. Descending on a road wrapped in shadows, he encountered numerous horrors and frightful terrors.

Tartarus (or Tartaros) was a name used by the later classical writers such as Virgil as another name for Hades. Homer, on the other hand, described Tartarus as a different place, lying as far beneath Hades as Hades is beneath the earth. It was in this bottomless pit of Tartarus, according to classical mythology, that the Greek god Zeus confined those who had resisted him.

Another hero of ancient Greece, the legendary Hercules, also reputedly traveled to the lower world. One of his famous Twelve Labors was to fetch up from Hades the triple-headed, dragon-tailed dog Cerberus, the feared guardian of Hades' gates.

Many other ancients are said to have made the fearsome journey into Hades, including Theseus of Athens, Orpheus the musician, the princess Psyche and the twin Pollux, in search of his dead brother Castor.

The Inferno

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

Dante is conducted through hell by the spirit of the Roman poet Virgil. The trip begins on Good Friday, A.D. 1300, in a wooded area near Jerusalem. Over the gate of hell the two travelers find a fearful and now famous inscription, in today's words: ABANDON EVERY HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE.

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

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

Concentration Camp?

Dante's medieval picture of hell as a gigantic concentration camp-a nightmarish place of eternal torment, horrible beyond imagination, presided over by Satan and his demons-largely represents the thinking of significant groups of professing Christians to this day.

The concept of a "hell" can be found in one form or another among all the world's principal faiths. Multiple billions around the world have lived and died over the millennia believing in - and in fear of - a place of eternal torment and punishment. Many today continue to wonder,

"Is there really a hell?" and "Will I end up there?" Many are curious about just what hell might be like. It was with questions such as these in mind that I set out to investigate the subject - and to make an attempt to actually visit hell!

Three hells!

The starting point for such an investigation can be none other than the very book from which Christians profess to derive their doctrine of hell - the Bible! By scrutinizing its pages, one can strip away the theological trappings of ancient and medieval myth and fabrication and discover the true teaching on the subject.

One's first surprise is that the Bible speaks of not one but of three different "hells"! In the widely used King James Version, three totally different Greek words - words with totally different meanings-are translated by the one English word hell. The three words are hades, tartaros and gehenna.

In biblical usage, the Greek word hades - used only 11 times in the New Testament - is roughly equivalent to the Old Testament Hebrew word sheol, meaning grave or pit (compare Acts 2:27 with Psalm 16:10). Hades may be likened to a hole in the ground. In the Bible it has nothing to do with fire.

Most modern biblical translators admit that the use of the English word hell to translate hades and sheol is an unfortunate and misleading practice.

Why?

Because in seeing the word hell, many readers impute to it the traditional connotation of an ever-burning inferno - when this was never remotely intended in the Greek language or in Old English!

In its true biblical usage, hades does indeed refer to the state or abode of the dead - but not in the sense of spirits walking around in some sort of "shadowy realm." Hades is simply the abode we call the grave. All the dead go to this hell.

The Second Hell

The second hell of the Bible, tartaros, is mentioned only once in scripture - in II Peter 2:4: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartaroo], and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.

Following their rebellion to unseat God from His throne (Isa. 14:12-14; Rev. 12:4), the archangel Lucifer (now Satan) and a third of the created angels (demons) were ejected from heaven (Luke 10:18). They were cast down to tartaros, a place or condition of restraint that God has imposed on the mutinous angels as they await ultimate judgment (Jude 6; I Cor. 6:3).

Tartaros, then, is a "hell" that applies only to evil, rebellious angels or demons. It is interesting that the ancient Greeks used this word to describe the place in which Zeus confined the rebellious Titans. Nowhere in the Bible is there any mention of men being put into this particular "hell."

The Third Hell

So far, we have seen that the first hell of the Bible - hades - is simply the grave. The second hell - tartaros - a place or condition of restraint for demons. What, then, is the third hell of the Bible?

Surely, it must be the old fashioned Bible "hell"- the literal ever-burning inferno, the place of eternal torment of the damned!

Or is it?

Did you ever notice that the Greek word used by the writers of the New Testament for this third hell is gehenna? It comes from the Hebrew Gai Hinnom, meaning "valley of Hinnom." Hinnom is a deep, narrow ravine located to the south and southwest of Jerusalem. It is to this hell that I recently traveled. But what does this valley have to do with the traditional Christian concept of "hell"? The answer may surprise you!

Lunch in Hell

Gehenna - the valley of Hinnom - is today a relatively pleasant place. In recent years, grass and even some flowers have taken over portions of the valley floor, and there are plenty of trees to provide shade from the scorching sun (see photos on these pages - {Editor's note: Sorry, pictures not included.}).

I descended into the valley by means of a rocky dirt path. A small dog - no three-headed Cerberus! - barked briefly, then returned to scavenging in a small cave near the path. Further on down the valley two boys were kicking a soccer ball between them.

I sought refuge from the heat of the noon sun under a large tree, and took out my lunch. A few birds came by for a handout. The surroundings were not unlike those of a typical city park.

After enjoying a leisurely lunch, I headed up out of the valley and proceeded unimpeded toward the Jaffa Gate. My memory of the valley is one of a pleasant and relaxing haven in the midst of a hot and tiring walking tour of Jerusalem.

Gehenna, in short, is a far cry from the hell of Dante or from what this valley was like in Jesus day!

The valley was not always such a pleasant place. In the Old Testament it was a place of abominable pagan rites, including infant sacrifice. It was there that the apostate kings Ahaz and Manasseh made their children "pass through the fire" to the god Molech. The rites were specifically celebrated in Tophet, the "place of abhorrence," one of the chief groves in the valley

King Josiah of ancient Judah finally put an end to these abominations. He defiled the valley, rendering it ceremonially unclean (2 Kings 23:10). Later the valley became the cesspool and city dump of Jerusalem - a repository for sewage, refuse and animal carcasses. The bodies of despised criminals were also burned there along with the rubbish. Fires burned continuously, feeding on a constant supply of garbage and refuse.

Aceldama, the "field of blood", purchased with the money Judas received for the betrayal of Christ (Matt. 27:8) was also in part of the valley of Hinnom.

Gehenna-and the Lake of Fire

What, then, does this valley called gehenna have to do with hell?

Notice. At the end of this age, at the crisis at the end of this world's civilization, the prophesied Beast of the book of Revelation - a Satan-inspired political dictator and a miracle-working religious figure, the False Prophet, working with him will resist the re-establishment of the government of God by fighting against Jesus Christ at His Second Coming. Their fate is revealed by the apostle John: "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet.... These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Rev. 19:20).

Where will this temporary lake of fire - this "hell" - be?

The prophet Isaiah wrote of this lake of fire prepared for the Beast: "For Tophet [in the valley of Hinnom] is ordained of old, yea, for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire and wood, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it" (Isa. 30:33).

One thousand years later, Satan himself will be cast into this rekindled fiery lake where the Beast and False Prophet were cast! (See Revelation 20:10.)

But what of the wicked who have died over the many millennia? Does the Bible say that they are now suffering fiery punishment for their sins in a lake of fire?

Absolutely not!

In the sequence of Revelation 20 - read it for yourself - the incorrigibly wicked are resurrected to be thrown into the lake of fire after Satan is cast there! Read it, in Revelation 20:15.

What, then, will become of these wicked? Will they writhe in flames for eternity?

No!

The wicked will be burned up in the intense heat of the coming gehenna fire on earth. They will be consumed, annihilated, destroyed!

This punishment will be everlasting - permanent and final. The Bible calls it the "second death" (Rev. 20:14; 21:8) - from which there is no possibility of a further resurrection.

The Bible does teach eternal punishment, but not eternal punishing.

The prophet Malachi provides a graphic description. "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up…(4:1). To the righteous, God says that the wicked shall be "ashes under the soles of your feet . (Mal. 4:3).



IS THERE A HELL?

If hell does exist, where is it-and can those who are there ever get out?
by Herbert W Armstrong

WILL THOSE in hell leave hell at the time of the resurrection-or are they confined eternally to hell, so that they shall be UNABLE to take part in the resurrection?

What did Jesus mean when he said in John 5:28-29:

"... the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth ... those who have done evil, to the RESURRECTION OF JUDGMENT" (RSV)

If "those who have done EVIL" - the Unsaved - shall come forth in the RESURRECTION OF JUDGMENT, what is the connection between that resurrection of the UNsaved, and their being in an eternal hellfire?

It's about time we took this question out of hiding, and took a good look at it! What is the TRUTH?

Common Idea of Hell

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

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

Now where, and how, did this popular belief about hell originate?

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

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

From the Pagans

Now I quote from the aforementioned book of history: "Of all poets of modern times, Dante Alighieri was, perhaps, the greatest educator. He possibly had a greater influence on the course of civilization than any other one man since his day. [He] wrote, in incomprehensible verse, an imaginative and lurid account of a dismal journey through a lurid hell - a long poem containing certain phrases which have caught the attention of the world, such as,

'All hope abandon, Ye, who enter here.' " This had a tremendous impression and influence on the popular Christian thought and teaching. His Inferno was based on Virgil and Plato.

Dante is reported to have been so fascinated and enraptured by the ideas and philosophies of Plato and Virgil, pagan philosophers, that he believed they were divinely inspired. Here is a comment on Virgil, from the Americana: "VIRGIL, pagan Roman poet, 70-19 B.C. Belonged to the national school of pagan Roman thought, influenced by the Greek writers. Christians of the Middle Ages, including Dante, believed he had received some measure of divine inspiration."

Plato was a pagan Greek philosopher, born in Athens, 427 B.C., a student of Socrates. He wrote the famous book Phaedo, on the immortality of the soul, and this book is the real origin of the modern belief in the immortality of the soul.

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

What About the Millions of Heathen?

In spite of missionaries from the West, actually more than half of all the people on this earth have never so much asHEARD the ONLY name by which men may be SAVED - the name of Jesus CHRIST! Now is there some other way by which men may be saved? The Bible says there is NOT!

That means that thousands of millions of people on this earth have lived, and DIED, without ever having known anything about Christian salvation - without SAVING KNOWLEDGE - never having heard the ONLY name by which men may be saved! Now think what that means! IF all unsaved go immediately to hell at death - the hell commonly believed in - then more than HALF of the people who have lived on this earth have been consigned there - and they are there, now, without ever having been given so much as a CHANCE to escape it!

Ask yourself candidly, do you believe THAT is the plan by which an all - wise, all - merciful, loving God is working out his purpose here below?

Now what is the TRUTH?

We face this alternative: Either the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God, BY WHICH THE CREATOR reveals the TRUTH on the subject, or else we must fling up our hands and confess WE JUST DON'T KNOW - we are ignorant on the question - because no one has ever COME BACK from such an ever-burning hell to tell us about it, and SCIENCE knows nothing about it. We must believe what the BIBLE says, or we can believe nothing, if we are rational and honest!

Hell Fire in the Bible

Jesus said in a passage very often quoted: "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt" (Mark 9:47-49).

Now exactly what is this hell fire? This word hell is an English word. Mark wrote, originally, in the Greek language. The word originally inspired, which Mark actually wrote, was the Greek word gehenna, which certainly does refer to FIRE.

But in most passages in the New Testament where the English word hell is found in our English translations, the original Greek word was a different word, hades-which does NOT refer to FIRE at all, but has an altogether different meaning.

Incorrectly Translated "Hell"

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

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

Hell is an old English word, and 370 years ago, when the Authorized Version was translated, the people of England commonly talked about putting their potatoes in HELL for the winter - a good way of preserving potatoes - for the word then meant merely a hole in the ground that was covered up - a dark and silent place - a GRAVE.

And now the Greek word gehenna. I quote from Hastings:

"Gehenna: the word occurs twelve times in the New Testament. This term 'gehenna' represents 'the Valley of Hinnom' (Nehemiah 11:30, II Kings 23:10, etc.). The place was . . . a deep narrow gorge in the vicinity of Jerusalem, understood to be on the south side.

It is repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 19:6, etc.). It became an object of horror to the Jews, and is said to have been made the receptacle for bones, the bodies of beasts and criminals, refuse and all unclean things. The terrible associations of the place . . . the fires said to have been kept burning in it in order to consume the foul and corrupt objects that were thrown into it, made it a natural and unmistakable symbol of dire evil, . . . ABSOLUTE RUIN. So it came to designate the place of future punishment."

Hell-a Place of Destruction

Gehenna was a place of DESTRUCTION and DEATH - not a place of living torture! Jesus was talking to Jews who understood all about this Gehenna or Valley of Hinnom. Utter DESTRUCTION by fire was complete. NOTHING was left, but ashes!

Every text in the Bible translated from this Greek word gehenna means complete destruction - not living torture - NOT eternal LIFE in torment! THE BIBLE says, in Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is DEATH" - not ETERNAL LIFE in torture. The PUNISHMENT revealed in the BIBLE is DEATH - the cessation of life. Eternal life is the GIFT or GOD!

Then WHY have we been believing that PUNISHMENT is ETERNAL LIFE in fire? And WHY have we been believing we already have eternal life and don't NEED to come to God through Christ to receive it as HIS GIFT?

The PUNISHMENT is DEATH. It is the second death, from which there shall be no resurrection! The PUNISHMENT is for ETERNITY - DEATH for eternity - ETERNAL punishment - but NO where does THE BIBLE say anything about the PAGAN teaching of eternal punishING. It's eternal punishMENT, not eternal punishING!

When Jesus spoke of being cast into "gehenna FIRE," he was using this expression as an illustration of the LAKE OF FIRE, which THE BIBLE reveals is to be THE PLACE of this final punishment - this second DEATH. He referred to Revelation 20:14: "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." THAT fire will be much hotter than Dante's imaginary HELL!

What happens to "Hell"?

Do people go at DEATH to the fictitious hell of Dante's imagination to be TORTURED by flames of fire forever - and then are they to be brought OUT, to go into a JUDGMENT, to see if God had made a mistake in having punished them so long in this "hell"?

Notice Revelation 20:13-15: "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book or life was cast into the lake of fire." The LAKE OF FIRE which JESUS referred to is a place of DEATH, not of eternal life - the SECOND DEATH - ETERNAL punishment!

Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28: ". . . fear him which is able to DESTROY both soul and body in [GEHENNA]." Here in plain language JESUS said the SOUL could be destroyed - and that it would be DESTROYED in the GEHENNA that has been falsely translated by the English word hell! Gehenna is a place of DESTRUCTION!

Again Jesus used this word gehenna as quoted in Matthew 23:33: "Ye serpents," he said to the Pharisees, " . . . how can ye escape the damnation of [GEHENNA] ?'' - the second DEATH - eternal PUNISHMENT!

The ancient rebellious cities Sodom and Gomorrah suffered, as we read in Jude 7, the vengeance of ETERNAL FIRE. But they are not still burning. They were burned up FOREVER - eternal DESTRUCTION!

Now what happens in this "hell" - derived from the Greek word gehenna? Let the Holy Word of God answer: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 4:1-3).

God Is Love - and Justice!

God is a God of LOVE - or MERCY, as well as a God of ABSOLUTE JUSTICE! If he were the vain, angry, unjust god pictured by the pagans who invented this popular conception of heaven and hell, then, according to the common belief of the illustration of Lazarus and the Rich Man, saved mothers up in heaven are hearing the shrieks, seeing the indescribable AGONY, writhing, of their own lost children down in hell - actually able to carry on a conversation with them - yet UNABLE to help them. Would THAT be the heavenly BLISS it is generally represented? Psalm 37 OUGHT to make plain to us this matter of heaven and hell. Notice! "For evildoers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off! The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever" (Ps. 37:9-12, 20, 22, 29). And notice Psalm 104:35: "Let the sinners he consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. And now, Isaiah 66:24: "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

Never to Be Quenched?

"Neither shall their fire be QUENCHED." Does that mean burning forever and never burning up? Try this test: Put a piece of paper in a pan. Light it with a match. Now, don't QUENCH that fire! Don't put it out - for that's what "quench" means. Very soon the paper will burn up. Then put it down on the floor and step on it! Now it's merely ashes under the sole of your feet - precisely as THE BIBLE plainly says the wicked shall be! In Jeremiah 17:27, God warned the Jews that Jerusalem would be burned, and the fire would not be quenched - unless they repented. In Jeremiah 52:13, you read the account of the burning of Jerusalem. That fire was NOT QUENCHED! It is NOT still burning! Do you know that THE BIBLE teaches the resurrection of all who die? The apostle Paul said his HOPE was the hope of the RESURRECTION! As the resurrection is true doctrine, then the pagan myth of an eternal TORTURE, beginning at death, is as deceptive as Satan himself! If all Unsaved - even all who never heard the ONLY name Jesus Christ - are roasting, screaming, in such a hell, and can never get out, HOW can there be a RESURRECTION? Thank God! - there is to be a resurrection to JUDGMENT, as well as a resurrection to eternal life of the dead IN Christ! Yes, thank GOD, he so LOVED the world - we NEED not perish, but through Christ we may have EVERLASTING LIFE!


HELL - MAN IDEA VS. THE BIBLE

Is God an "angry Judge" - who tortures helpless sinners ages without end?
by Roderick C. Meredith

YOU HAVE probably never heard where your ideas about "hell" came from. So open your mind to some startling truth you may not have understood before!

You probably have heard of the idea of a horrifying, nightmarish place of never-ending torture for lost sinners. Atheists say religious people use this concept of "hell" as a means of playing upon the emotions of people who are sincerely trying to find God's will.

But where did they - and where did you - learn these ideas?

God's Purpose

The primary reason so many men and organizations of men have a false conception of hell is that they view it just as an isolated doctrine. God created man in his own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26). In the garden of Eden, he told man the way that would lead to eternal life. Then he told man that going the wrong way - the way of selfishness and greed - would lead to DEATH (Gen. 2:17). But Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44), told the woman, Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4). "You have an immortal soul." Man has been believing that lie about the immortal soul ever since!

God's purpose is to develop holy, righteous character in man. God gave ancient Israel his Ten Commandments, "that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever" (Deut. 5:29).

God's decrees are always for man's good. They are not designed as arbitrary decrees that God uses as an excuse for plunging men into flames of fire! Notice that God offered Adam and Eve life on the one hand, and death on the other. Adam and Eve would not have been offered LIFE if they already were immortal souls. Man was created mortal and in need of eternal life from God through his Spirit.

If man rebelled against God and made himself miserable through sin, then the kindest thing that God could do would be to let man die. Then, stubborn, sinning man would be unable to bring any further misery on himself or others by his wrong ways. He would just cease to exist, and would thus not interfere with the happiness of others who sought eternal life. That is why we read that the SOUL that sins shall die (Ezek. 18:4).

But men have disagreed with God and his Word, and have come to believe in an entirely different reward for the wicked. So, where do men get their ideas of "hell"?

What Is "Hell"?

You will be surprised to learn that Jesus Christ himself went to "hell" when he died! In Peter's inspired sermon on the day of Pentecost, he said, "He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption" (Acts 2:31).

So - according to your Bible - Jesus went to hell!

The "hell" where Jesus was for three days and three nights (Matt. 12:40) after his crucifixion is translated from the Greek word hades. Hades simply means "pit" or "grave." When the Authorized Version of the Bible was made, Englishmen commonly understood that "hell" could mean a grave, pit or hole in the ground. They often spoke of burying their potatoes in hell for the winter. The "hell" where Jesus went was simply the grave - the rock hewn sepulcher where he was buried. Unless you live until Christ comes and are changed from mortal to immortal (I Cor. 15:53), you will go to this same "hell."

The second Greek word translated "hell" is tartaros. It is used only once in the Bible (II Pet. 2:4) and refers to the condition of restraint of the fallen angels. It never refers to men.

Gehenna is the third Greek word translated "hell." Gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom, was located out-side of Jerusalem. It was a place where trash, filth and the dead bodies of animals and despised criminals were thrown. It was like some of our city dumps today. Ordinarily, everything thrown in this valley was destroyed by fire - completely burned up.

In Jewish thought, this burning, smoking Valley of Hinnom was associated with the future punishment of the wicked. So it was natural for Jesus and the apostles to use the word gehenna - derived from the Valley of Hinnom - when referring to the lake of fire, which will be the fate of the wicked. This lake of fire is described in Revelation 20:14-15.

These, then, are the three Greek words that are translated into the word "hell" in our Bibles. In the Hebrew there is only one word that is translated "hell." That word is sheol. It corresponds to the Greek word hades, meaning the grave, or pit.

Worms In Hell?

A familiar passage is found in Mark 9:43-48. Jesus was showing that it was better to rid ourselves of anything - even a job, an association or a habit that we loved as much as our right arm - than to let it cause us to disobey God and thus be cast into hell (gehenna), "into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

The "hell" to which Jesus referred was gehenna - deriving its name from the Valley of Hinnom. There were ledges along the edge of this valley.

Smith's Bible Dictionary gives a description of this valley. If anything, especially a dead body, landed on a ledge above the fires, it would be devoured by many worms or maggots that were kept alive by the animal and vegetable substances deposited there.

It was to these worms that Christ was referring when he said, "Their worm dieth not." But Christ didn't mean that each individual worm continued to live forever! He wasn't teaching the immortality of worms!

Actually, these worms, or maggots, are the larvae that develop from eggs deposited by flies. They continue for only a few days in this larva form, then pupate and finally emerge as flies, later dying.

The Greek word that was inspired and translated into the English word "worm" in this passage simply means a grub or maggot. It is a collective expression for all the worms that devour dead matter. These worms do not die, but pupate and become flies. Later, these flies like all other animals will return to the dust from which they come. "All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Eccl. 3:20).

The "fire that never shall be quenched" is a description showing that God will permit nothing to put out or quench this fire. It will simply burn up the bodies of the wicked. Naturally, those who preach "hell fire" use this passage to frighten unthinking people into believing that sinners will suffer eternal torment in hell fire - evidently with worms chewing on them at the same time!

Whom Do You Fear?

Instead of fearing what some misguided preacher may tell us about hell, let us see what Jesus said to fear. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him [God] which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]" (Matt. 10:28). Here we find the clear statement that God can destroy both our body and soul in Gehenna, or the lake of fire. There is no mention made of burning forever and ever, and yet never quite burning up. But it does speak of destruction.

Recall that God told Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed him, they would surely DIE. Their lives would be cut off - destroyed. Jesus told his disciples: ". . . wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction [not eternal life in "hell fire"], and many there be which go in thereat" (Matt. 7:13). Then he said, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (verse 19). What happens to a tree when it is cast into the fire? Why, it is burned up - destroyed.

Speaking of the harvest of the righteous and wicked, Jesus said he would tell the reapers, "Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matt. 13:30). The tares, of course, refer to the wicked, and the wheat to the righteous. When literal tares are burned, they are BURNED UP. What about these types of sinners that are burned up? Was Jesus using wrong examples, or did he mean what he said?

The obvious answer is Jesus meant exactly what he said. The fate of the wicked will be Gehenna, or the lake of fire that the Bible mentions. But this fire is a lot hotter than most people think!

The wicked are human, mortal beings. Flesh and blood is subject to burning up. When the wicked are cast into the lake of fire, they will be burned up - destroyed!

From Genesis to Revelation, life and death are set as the two opposites - the fate of the righteous and the wicked respectively. God told Adam, ". . . dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19). No mention here of being plunged immediately into "hell fire." The reward for disobedience was death.

Later, David wrote of the wicked, ". . . into smoke shall they consume away" (Ps. 37:20).

Still later, Malachi speaks of the fire that will burn the wicked: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall BURN THEM UP, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch . . . . And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this . . ." (Mal. 4:1, 3).

Can anything be plainer than that the wicked are to be burned up - completely destroyed? That is why Jesus said, ". . . fear him which is able to DESTROY both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).

Wages of Sin

The apostle Paul summed up the whole matter of man's reward for sin when he wrote, "For the wages of sin is DEATH; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). If you believe this scripture means what it says, then you know the truth. But, unfortunately, theologians often fail to understand what Paul said.

Could anything be more clear than this scripture? The wages, or reward, of sin is shown to be death, and eternal life is stated to be a gift from God - not something we already have.

Death means just that - the cessation of life and consciousness - total oblivion! In spite of the vain attempt of many preachers to make death mean separation from God, you cannot reconcile this with Scripture. Neither does death mean eternal life in nightmarish torments of an imagined "hell."

This "hell-fire" doctrine that is used to frighten so many ignorant human beings is a LIE. Its author is the father of lies - Satan the devil! If you are one who has gullibly swallowed that doctrine and suffered mental agonies from the fear of a man-made "hell-fire," God help you to study all the scriptures on this subject and find his truth.

But remember that the penalty of death will be caused by fire. Paul warns in Hebrews 10:26-27:

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall DEVOUR the adversaries."

This is a FEARFUL WARNING to those who know God's truth and still refuse to obey it! This is not an unreasoned fear of a harsh, stern God who delights in punishing sinners. Rather, it is the sober realization that unless we surrender to God's will and his way of love, and refuse to let anything turn us aside, God will take away the life he has given us.

Yet this same passage shows God's infinite LOVE. He will not take away people's lives because of ignorance or weakness, but because they willfully and knowingly refuse to obey their Creator. This rebellious attitude in itself would bring them, and those about them, nothing but eternal trouble and misery if they were allowed to live forever. So God in his mercy and supreme wisdom has decreed the penalty of DEATH for such people.

The Lake of Fire

When the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death," it is not referring to the death we see around us every day. This death is referred to in I Corinthians 15:22, which says, "In Adam all die," and in Hebrews 9:27, which says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." These passages describe the first death - a death caused by a person wearing out physically and from which he can be resurrected.

Revelation 20 shows the time of later resurrections, and when the wicked are cast into the lake of fire. Study it carefully. The first three verses describe Satan being bound for a thousand years, and the resurrected saints, who are in the first resurrection, ruling the world under Christ.

So according to your Bible - Jesus went to hell! . . . where Jesus
went was simply the grave - the rock hewn sepulcher where he was buried.

The first part of verse 5 is an inserted thought that tells us, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." So the heathen, the atheists and all who were not called to a full knowledge of God's truth, are not resurrected until after the thousand-year reign of Christ. This is the second resurrection. For them the book of life is opened for the first time (Rev. 20:11-12).

But just before then, at the end of the thousand years of peace in the world tomorrow, the devil will go forth to deceive the nations who were not imbued with God's Holy Spirit. He will be overcome and "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (verse 10). Notice that the word are is in italics in the Authorized Version. It is an inserted word to complete the meaning, and should be rendered "were cast" - because the beast and the false prophet are human beings who will be burned up when they are cast into the lake of fire just before the thousand years begin (Rev. 19:20).

At this point, you may be thinking about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man - and wondering if the rich man wasn't pictured as being forever in eternal torment. He definitely was not! But he was in mental torment as the fire of Gehenna was about to end his life. For the full and interesting proof of this, write immediately for our free booklet titled Lazarus and the Rich Man.

Now continuing in Revelation 20, notice in verse 13 that the remaining dead are raised in a third resurrection and are judged "according to their works." These are the wicked who were called in this life and who rebelled. Verse 14 continues, "And death and hell [hades, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Here is a plain statement revealing that Gehenna, or the lake of fire, IS the SECOND DEATH.

Truth Makes Free

The Bible reveals a very different God from the one so often preached today.

It seems that men either try to do away with God's power altogether by preaching as though God had gone "way off' and left man to work things out according to human reason, or they go to the opposite extreme and look upon God as an "angry Judge" who is just waiting for an opportunity to punish helpless sinners throughout all eternity.

The Creator of heaven and earth is now permitting man to sin and suffer in order to learn certain lessons. If man will accept God's truth as it is revealed, learn these lessons God intended, he will be given eternal life in God's kingdom. But if he stubbornly persists in going the way that leads to wretchedness and misery for himself and others, God in his mercy will cut off his life by casting him into the lake of fire - which is the second death.

Untold suffering and mental anguish have been caused by the false doctrine of an angry God plunging everyone who did not follow certain denominational teachings into a terrifying "hell fire" of everlasting torments.

Most people have been bound by denominational teachings, and too few have been willing to study all the scriptures on the subject to see what the Bible really says. But Jesus said of those who were willing to continue in his word, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

Fascist EU Pimps Peace Now

Foreign Governments Are Key Backers of Peace Now
16:42 Jun 20, '06 / 24 Sivan 5766
by Scott Shiloh


Peace Now, a far-left Israeli-based organization promoting Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and removal of all Jewish communities in Judea/Samaria, is largely funded by foreign governments.
******************************************

Shimon Peres has sold out Israel to Euro-Nazis for a long time, following other kapos of compromise like Ariel Sharon. Remember the bloody vulture Shimon Peres came to power over the dead body of Yitzhak Rabin and now circles over Israeli sovereignty with the Vatican in view.

Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads its Wings

Those who strongly disagree with the "European Union" forging ahead, the Euro-skeptics, state sovereignty is under attack and that the EU is going backwards, descending into the darkness of fascism, not advancing democratic ideals but sacrificing them with impunity.

Rodney Atkinson, author of three books on the subject of Fascist Europe Rising (his most recent), led the charge, sounded the alarm, from a strictly secular point of view that interestingly matched what theologian Herbert W. Armstrong was warning about from a purely biblical perspective: the revival of the unholy Roman Empire is well underway and most remain oblivious to its inherent dangers.

Both the Bible and history serve as two witnesses that testify against the German-Jesuit dominated drive to control the European continent and then the world, enforcing a Pax Romana of sordid sorts.

Do you really think such a grand design would limit itself to Europa or restrain itself to remain a regional power? Truth is stranger than fiction.

Calls are increasing for the destruction of the European monster in the making, to abort the beast while it is still possible, due to legitimate concerns ranging from the fascist tendencies of the EU, its Nazi role model starkly laid out and exposed, and fears it will ultimately implode and impede Europe for years and drag the whole world down with it.

In Abolish The European Union, Robert Locke considers "The EU is a mortal threat to the civil liberties of those who live under it.... The EU is quite plausibly the nucleus of an aspiring soft-totalitarian world state; it is in fact far more likely to fulfill this role than the justly-despised UN. I apologize if this sounds alarmist, but history clearly teaches us to think ahead to the logical implications of things that are just beginning... there are signs that Europe is awakening to the monster in its midst."

Even Former Soviet Dissident Warns For EU Dictatorship" -

"In a speech he delivered in Brussels Mr Vladimir Bukovsky called the EU a "monster" that must be destroyed, the sooner the better, before it develops into a fullfledged totalitarian state."

Notice the reoccurring use of the word "monster" in reference to the rising beast in Europe. Germany is the head of the monster even though The Atlantic Times, among others, looks the other way and refuses to question: Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow? Even though Johannes Gross revealed his countrymen wear a mask. 'But the day may come when someone lifts the mask," he wrote. "... So long as we wear the mask, we remain hidden and continue to conceal the situation from ourselves.'"

Others fear the colossal failure of the European Union and its tragic consequences.

Why the EU Needs to be Destroyed, and Soon laments "The EU wants to recreate the Roman Empire and ends up creating the second fall of Rome."

Christopher Booker and Richard North, co-authors of The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive? believe the EU is destined to fail and would "leave a terrible devastation behind it, a wasteland from which it would take many years for the peoples of Europe to emerge" and conclude: "... the project Monnet had set on its way was a vast, ramshackle, self-deluding monster: partly suffocating in its own bureaucracy; partly a corrupt racket, providing endless opportunities for individuals and collectives to outwit and exploit their fellow men; partly a mighty engine for promoting the national interests of those countries who knew how to 'work the system'... The one thing above all the project could never be, because by definition it had never been intended to be, was in the remotest sense democratic."

However, biblical prophecy shows that the European Union will be highly successful, rich and powerful enough to enforce their economic, political and religious views upon the rest of the world, insisting all receive their mark of approval or else (Revelation 13:16-18; 17; 18).

"Corporatism is of course the basic building brick of all fascist systems," Rodney Atkinson notes in CORPORATISM - THE EUROPEAN DISEASE IS CATCHING.

Apparently, Mr. Atkinson is right again as Jerome Corsi has been exposing how our Southern border blurs for global trade, in accordance to treacherous plans well underway to create the "North American Union" that merges Mexico, the United States and Canada, complete with the "Amero," all under "...the Strategic and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP. The SPP agreement was reached between President Bush, President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin during their March 2005 summit meeting in Waco, Texas. The Bush administration plan is to create a North American Union along the model of the European Union...." (emphasis mine).

Corresponding with Mr. Corsi about these developments by design at home and abroad, he responded:

"Common markets and free trade zones are forming across the globe. The North American Union is further along than we think. This is a fight we have to take on, otherwise the USA is gone."

That's the whole purpose of the globalists! No wonder President Bush doesn't give a hoot (remember the Bohemian grove?) about borders with Mexico. Many leaders have sold their souls, betrayed their people and backstabbed their countries.

Reuters Arthur Spiegelman, wrote on May 10, 1996: "Realizing they were losing the war in 1944, Nazi leaders met top German industrialists to plan a secret post-war international network to restore them to power, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence document. The document...says an SS general and a representative of the German armaments ministry told such companies as Krupp and Rohling that they must be prepared to finance the Nazi Party...when it went underground."

We are now witnessing the beast beginning to rear its ugly head again and come out from its exile, having taken firm root throughout the world. Germany's Fourth Reich is forming with partnerships around the globe, its Assyrian eagle looking both East and West as its talons are determined to clutch countries as prey and enslave all to their system.

The secret Nazis are getting more brazen and will soon shed their corporate, political, educational and religious cloaks to openly promote their new emperor to oversee this international enterprise of elitists called BABYLON.

David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.

The Plain Truth about Herbert W. Armstrong & the Worldwide Church of God

I think I said earlier that you sounded as if you may be of the WWCG.

A Higher Calling: Quest for the Kingdom of God mentions how God called me into His Church during the days when Herbert W. Armstrong was courageously teaching the plain truth around the world, announcing the good news of the Wonderful World Tomorrow, the Kingdom of God that will soon be established with the return and reign of Christ.

The present WWCG doesn't claim them as their own doctrine any more.

Rather, God doesn't claim the WCG as His Church any more, as that apostate organization has returned to the traditional vomit of Babylon that many had escaped. It is now part of the Synagogue of Satan. God isn't associated with it in any manner, shape or form.

He did not teach the plain truth of the Bible.

Then you've never read the Bible without your traditional blinders. Try it, so help you God.

He taught that God is a family...

The Bible teaches that God is a family. Why don't you believe the Bible? Herbert W. Armstrong taught the plain truth of the Bible.

Ephes. 3:14-15
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole FAMILY in heaven and earth is named...

Don't you know what a Kingdom is but a Royal Family that rules over a specific territory, administering specific laws? Yeshua came preaching the Kingdom-Family of God that will soon administer the Law of God, the government of God, over the Earth and throughout the universe. Won't you repent and believe the good news that we can be born again into the Kingdom-Family of God at the resurrection at Christ's return?

"...that Jesus did not exist before His birth in Bethlehem"

That's a lie. Why do you repeat such nonsense?

Here is one of many examples of how Herbert W. Armstrong clearly taught that Yeshua was the Word with God in Heaven before he was divested of divine glory to become human so we could become divine:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4)...

So here we find revealed originally two Personages. One is God. And with God in that prehistoric time was another Personage who also was God—one who later was begotten and born as Jesus Christ. But these two Personages were spirit, which is invisible to human eyes unless supernaturally manifested. Yet at the time described in verse one Jesus was not the Son of God and God was not his Father.

Who and What Is God?


"...that water baptism is essential for salvation"

The Scripture says repent and be baptized. Why don't you believe the Bible?

"...that we must work to earn Heaven"

Herbert W. Armstrong believed the Bible and taught "the meek shall inherit the Earth" - just like Jesus. Why don't you believe the Bible? Why fall for the traditional lie about "going to Heaven?" Herbert W. Armstrong knows we are saved by grace alone, that we are pardoned and empowered, that Christ is to live in us as we exercise faith and works:

Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.


May you repent of spreading lies about God's faithful servant, Herbert W. Armstrong; repent of misrepresenting God, Jesus Christ and Christianity with your traditional Babylonian Mystery religious error; repent and believe the Gospel and be saved, so help you God.

Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent

The Da Vinci Code, Christianity and the Bible

The Da Vinci Code, Christianity and the Bible


The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 40 million copies and has been made into a major movie. But how much of the story is fact and how much is fabrication? And how important is it for you to know?
by Don Hooser


The Da Vinci Code is a fictional thriller that is supposed to be set against a backdrop of real history. But how much of its "history" is actually true?

The timeless and perfect standard of historicity and truth is the Bible. It contains true history—God's flawless account of the past, present and future.

The Da Vinci Code attempts to reconstruct Jesus Christ, reinvent Christianity and radically revise the Bible. One of the book's major characters presents its major premise on page 235: ". . . Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false."

Which should we believe, The Da Vinci Code or the Bible? Popular Christianity isn't much help. Ironically, the Bible discredits much of today's Christianity as well, as we shall see.../


Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent

Sorcerer-Pope to Bewitch Europe and Mislead the Masses!

Shimon Peres works for the Vatican

The same dark powers that murdered Yitzhak Rabin, the vulture Shimon Peres and criminal company, continue to sell out Israel and betray Jerusalem to the Germans and Jesuits. The fascist EU prepares to occupy Israel!

Vatican Linked to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

David Pack & the Restored Church of God

I'm aware of David Pack, Pastor General of the Restored Church of God. I also remember clearly how he didn't even know me when he was with the Global Church of God (that I visited once) but said most people who change their names are off-the-wall (something to that effect) and felt I should take my former name of David Hoover back and should seriously consider it as he contacted his superiors (they must have told him to back off as he never brought it up again).

After I thought and prayed about it - rejecting David Ben-Ariel for David Hoover as David Pack sternly suggested - I rejected the notion and questioned how anybody inspired by the Holy Spirit would make such a demand, as I honestly consider David Ben-Ariel my God-given Name, as I've written.

I also remember clearly how David Pack said to me, when I was being honest about my past, troublesome times when I was backslidden in some areas, that he thought I was never converted! Unlike Jesus who offers constructive criticism, who encourages you with the good and calls upon you to change for the better, all David Pack did was tear down and seek to destroy! That was not the Holy Spirit of God working through him.

Before this experience, David Pack had come at my request and visited with me and several other friends who had gathered to hear what he had to say in Toledo, Ohio. We were invited to the one service of his we attended in Ohio. He brought a box of materials the Worldwide Church of God no longer printed to make a statement. We all felt Gerald Flurry had already made that statement and was the first to do so, even though we hadn't yet attended with the Philadelphia Church of God.

When four of us visited with the Global Church of God, my friend Carl gave him a copy of his booklet against abortion and I gave him one of my booklets (either God and the Gays - the first of its kind in the Church of God, or "Religion in America - the REAL Danger") he acted very interested, but later told me he never met a more proud person than Carl! Carl didn't appear proud at all and was merely happy to do whatever he could to help expose and end the evil of abortion.

When David Pack said something to the effect that the Global Church of God was not for me, I asked him why he invited me then and he then acknowledged he only invited me along with the others because he felt they were good candidates for membership. In other words, he was being deceitful. Since then I've heard horrible stories about his pack of lies and hope it's not true but suspect that it is, due to my own eye-opening experience with him.

I trust there are true Church of God members among the Restored Church of God flock, as with the other groups of scattered brethren, and I hope God spares them from such wolves and that they maintain, first and foremost, a personal relationship with the Shepherd of our souls, and not trust in any man for salvation.

I've seen some of the attractive literature the Restored Church of God offers, but doubt that I will link to it. I hope David Pack has repented of his sins that God may restore him and help him heal those whom he's sickened and be reconciled with both God and man.


David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.

Jesus would never marry a traditional Christian!

Yeshua will not be unequally yoked with those who refuse to submit to Him as the Head of the Body, who stubbornly refuse to keep the same biblical Sabbath and festivals as Him, following His lead, who instead prefer the idolatrous traditions of Roman wolves in sheep's clothing, eating abominations, and engaged in every unclean pagan practice whitewashed as "Christian."

The true Bride of Christ, not some cheap whore or prostitute (Rev. 17:5), is washed in the blood of the Passover Lamb (not Easter bunny) and loves God with all her heart, pioneering the biblical ways and days that will be taught throughout all the earth when Yeshua returns and reigns supreme from Jerusalem with us at His side forevermore!

Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent

The Plain Truth about Easter

Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas

HWA "in the power and spirit of Elijah"?

HW Armstrong "in the power and spirit of Elijah"?

That means Herbert W Armstrong was in the same holy mindset, mission and purpose as Elijah, authorized from Heaven to help restore the "Lost Ten Tribes" to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, away from the Gentilized Israelite practices of the Babylonian Mystery religion masquerading as traditional Christianity, and back to the faith once delivered to the early Church in Jerusalem - not bloody Rome.

Herbert W Armstrong is now dead and buried, just like the original Elijah, awaiting the first resurrection and transformation from human to divine at the return and reign of Jesus Christ.

The Plain Truth - now The Philadelphia Trumpet - read in Israel

From: Trudy Gefen
To: davidbenariel
Sent: 5/1/06
Subject: Herbert W. Armstrong mentioned in Israeli newspaper

Just received the May 2006 issue of The Philadelphia Trumpet. Very interesting articles: The Deadly Holy Roman Empire, a frightening article "Israel's Final Chapter" (G-d forbid) and From HERO to OUTCAST. The other articles I have left to read another day, as I got a bit too depressed by the aforementioned. Of course, I've been reading this magazine (formerly The Plain Truth) almost continuously since the first one fell into my hands in 1965 here in Israel (at the Weizmann Institute) and have been either elated by what I have read, or upset. Usually, the latter. Luckily I have the Bible to which I turn to whenever the blues descend upon me, and invariably after reading some pertinent prophecies which present more pleasant and optimistic promises than the invariably grim warnings in The Philadelphia Trumpet/Plain Truth, my spirits are uplifted and my determination to remain in Israel strengthened more than ever, in spite of my fears for the welfare of my loved ones - and indeed everyone living here.

Still, I am not looking particularly forward to the Final Days even though a very good Christian Zionist preacher friend living here in Israel (we've been friends now for about 20 years) told me that the safest place to be in those days will be Israel. Yes, it will be hard, he said, but what will rage outside Israel will make our experiences look like a picnic in a hurricane/tornado. After all, he said, the safest place to be is in the eye of a storm. You get battered, but not as badly as those on the outside as the hurricane/tornado sweeps all before them. I hope he's right, though at the same time I pray for the safety of all the good people out there too.

Warmest,
Trudy


DAVID BEN ARIEL wrote:

Herbert W Armstrong and Worldwide Church of God Mentioned in Israeli Newspaper
By David Ben-Ariel

An Israeli newspaper ran a favorable article about a Worldwide Church of God member serving as a volunteer at Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan near Haifa.

[READ FULL ARTICLE]

Herbert W. Armstrong: Mystery of the Ages

Mystery of the Ages
By Herbert W. Armstrong





Did you ever ask yourself: "Who am I? What am I? Why am I?" You are a mystery. The world about you is a mystery. Now, you can understand! This is the final and most important book Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, and is the culmination of the basic biblical truth he came to understand in his interest-packed life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Author's Statement
Preface
Introduction: How the Seven Mysteries Were Revealed
Chapter 1 Who and What Is God?
Chapter 2 Mystery of Angels and Evil Spirits
Chapter 3 Mystery of Man
Chapter 4 Mystery of Civilization
Chapter 5 Mystery of Israel
Chapter 6 Mystery of the Church
Chapter 7 Mystery of the Kingdom of God

Articles of interest re: Worldwide Church of God & HWA

Herbert W. Armstrong Was Ahead of His Time!

Raymond McNair Rejects God's government

The Work of God Must Go Forward!

Worldwide Church of God All Over Again?

PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"

Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Part 1)

Philadephia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)

Israel Work History (Worldwide Church of God)

Was Herbert Armstrong Elijah?

The Church of God Must Warn the World!

Herbert W Armstrong and Worldwide Church of God Mentioned in Israeli Newspaper

The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11

Herbert W. Armstrong booklets

Herbert W. Armstrong Booklets

Just What Do You Mean...KINGDOM OF GOD? by Herbert W. Armstrong

Just What Do You Mean... KINGDOM OF GOD? By: Herbert W. Armstrong

The CURSE of ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

We must expose the ugly racism of the militant Mexicans, the subversives who hate Anglo-Saxons and seek to pervert our biblical inheritance of Manasseh into something illegitimate and cursed, just another third world country:

Who is Mecha



May 1: Illegal Immigration Day Defused

"How come you quote the Bible in this instance as only being written as affecting the US?"

Since we're experiencing the curse today, I'm bringing attention to these appropriate Scriptures as they apply to the USA today. Of course, they actually do apply to all our British-Israelite countries, our biblical family of nations, as is evident in Israel's problems with Arab terrorists, Rhodesia being perverted into Zimbabwe, South Africa raped by the Communists, etc.

The Time of Jacob's Trouble is rumbling, the gathering Storm accelerates; will we wake up and seek shelter in the God of Israel, the God of the Hebrews, the God of the Bible or suffer defeat and deportation by the fascist EU?

Ten Tribes

May 1: Illegal Immigration Day Defused!

I am forwarding this and have marked my calendar on May 1st as shopping day!!!

WASHINGTON (AFP) Immigrants' rights advocates, elated by the
resounding success of Monday's "National Day of Action," which drew
the backing of hundreds of thousands of protesters across the United
States, now are planning a national boycott which they hope will have
an even greater resonance.

Organizers are planning the May 1 "Great American Boycott," urging
illegal immigrants -- who cannot vote and who have only limited
political power -- to flex their economic muscle.
Protesters are being urged to refrain from shopping, and to stay away
from school and work.

You should take a moment to let that sink in.

This is a movement orchestrated by people who entered the US
illegally, and then want to scream about their "rights." WHAT RIGHTS?
YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!

Let's take a look at some of the many benefits that illegal aliens
have blessed our great country with: Street gangs, graffitti, drugs,
skyrocketing healthcare, depreciation of property value, illiteracy.
The list could go on. What they actually have to offer (cheap labor)
pales to what they have given our country to deal with. I'll take
expensive vegetables over expensive healthcare any day!

And now, like terrorists, they are going to attack our economy -- the
one entity that makes our nation stand out from all the others. The
backbone of our nation. The country they came to like locusts so they
could reap the benefits is now the focus of their boycott. You've seen
it on TV: Marching on our American streets waving their Mexican flags,
boldly showing that they can be more racist than who they accuse of,
and yet the obvious is totally oblivious to them......

IF YOU'VE GOT IT SO BAD HERE, THEN LEAVE!!!

To all the real Americans, you can do one small thing on May 1st,
2006. It won't be racist, nor will it be violent. It will not be
boastful, arrogant, selfish, nor distasteful. It will not be any of
those things that our "guests" have already displayed. What it will do
is nullify a movement.

All you have to do is buy something on May 1st. Make up for what they
will try to take away. It doesn't have to be a new car or house
(unless you were already planning on getting one). It simply needs to
be a day of trading.

Hold off grocery buying until May 1st.
Take your wife out to eat that night.
Get the kids pizza, hamburgers, whatever!
Make several trips to the convenience store.
Buy your meals at work.
Fill up your tank.
Shop for clothes, furniture, outdoor equipment.
If it needs to be bought, BUY IT MAY 1st!

Those are just a few suggestions. We're not asking you to spend your
inheritance that day, but just to spend more than you normally would.
Even if it's only a few dollars, this will help soften the blow that
the Mexicans will try to inflict on our economy that day. It sounds
trivial at first, but if this idea gets around, what the Mexicans set
out to do will fail.

NOW COMES THE HARD PART:
This email will not self-destruct if you don't send it to someone.
It will not cause bad luck, nor will it make you impotent.
It will not do some trick or show a cute little animation if you send
it to "X" amount of people.
You will not get paid for doing it.
******************************


GOD BLESS AMERICA

May we not only be a part of the backlash against the economic assault against us by illegal aliens by shopping on May 1st, but by dropping to our knees and counting our blessings and confessing and forsaking our sins, so help us God.

2 Chronicles 7:14

14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

May we turn from our NATIONAL SINS of idolatry and immorality that the CURSE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION comes to its swift end (Daniel 9:11).

May we repent of transgressing the biblical boundaries our Great Creator God has set for us, that biblical law and order may be restored in our lives and in our land, this Promised Land of Manasseh, the son of Joseph.

The Plain Truth About the "Lost Ten Tribes" and Why You Need to Know!

The United States and Britain in Prophecy by Herbert W. Armstrong.



Deuteronomy 28:15, 43-47

Curses on Disobedience

15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you...
43 “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower... he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

45 “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
47 “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.

Related articles about the curse of militant minorities as part of divine punishment for our NATIONAL SINS:

Race Matters

Martin Luther King Day?

Chocolate Continent Awaits the Great Black Return!

David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.

Herbert W. Armstrong & Worldwide Church of God mentioned in Israeli newspaper

You could say I have a God-given love for the Jews and the nation of Israel (Isaiah 62:6-7). That sacred bond has been strengthened over the years by the fact that I've been blessed to have lived all over Israel, getting to know its land and people quite well.

Apart from 5 months as a kibbutz volunteer at Ramat Yohanan near Haifa, I've also served as a kibbutz volunteer at Sdot Yam on the Mediterranean, next to Caesarea, the site of my first ulpan (intensive Hebrew course), and where Israel's heroine, Hannah Senesh, was from; Regavim, near Zichron Yaakov, where I continued my Hebrew lessons amid its rolling green hills; Reshafim, near Bet She'an, with Mt. Gilboa practically in our backyard, and Jordan's mountains in lovely view out front; Adamit, on Lebanon's border, high up on a mountain, from where on clear days you can see all the way to Haifa's Mt. Carmel; Shoval, a rose in the Negev desert, just north of Be'er Sheva; Dan, way up in the northernmost part of Israel, in between Syria and Lebanon, next to the majestic snow-covered Mt. Hermon, where I was living when "Operation Desert Storm" blew in; and Ha'On, with its campground and ostrich farm on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee, across from Tiberias; and last but not least, my beloved Jerusalem, next to my favorite spot on earth: the Temple Mount.

It was during my sojourn at Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, while looking for the home of the widow Simcha Gombo, a Worldwide Church of God member and mother of Michal (who was deaf) - both of whom I had briefly met during the 1980 Church of God celebration of the biblical Festival of Tabernacles in Jerusalem - that I met Ilan Itzhayek on the street and asked directions, as related in Israel Work History (Worldwide Church of God).

Ilan Itzhayek wrote the following full page article in Hebrew that appeared in Hed HaKiryot, a newspaper in Northern Israel, just West of the Sea of Galilee, November 19, 1982. Please note that David Hoover is the name I was born with before I legally changed it to David Ben-Ariel, and forgive the imperfect translation of the Hebrew into English in this attempt to preserve a part of the Church of God history in the Promised Land (and honor Ilan Itzhayek for helping to make it).

The Drug Addict Who Discovered God and the Kibbutz
by Ilan Itzhayek

His name is David Allen Hoover - he's 22 years old and was born in Toledo, Ohio, USA.

David, and other members of the Church he belongs to arrived in Israel last month as visitors in Jerusalem, but David stayed behind as a volunteer at Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan. He doesn't mind any of the work they give him to do - whether it's in the fields, in the factory or in the chicken incubators - he has ideals.

David belongs to a very special Church called the Worldwide Church of God - they call themselves the true Christians and consider the conventional Christians pagan. They believe in the Torah of Moses and observe Sabbath, as well as all the annual holy days mentioned in the Torah. They believe Jesus Christ is the Messenger of God. The Church has 100,000 brethren all over the world. A common belief they have is that they have been chosen by God to join the community of believers. Their leader is Herbert Armstrong, 91, whom they admire and consider that he's come in the spirit of Elijah.

David talks quite excitedly about his Church. He's very patient and ready to explain his convictions to you again if you haven't understood them. His answers are filled with verses from the Bible and the New Testament - verses that he knows by heart. He calls himself "chosen" because in his Church there isn't those "religious and not religious" - there's only the chosen. If you don't agree the Church doesn't want you - which means that God hasn't called you.

Scar in the Heart

David hasn't always been in the Church. He was raised on a farm in Ohio that belongs to his father's family. His parents were divorced when he was 11 years old. A year later his alcoholic father died at the early age of 36. "All I remember about my father," David says with a sort of bitter smile, "is that he was drunk and always messing up the house and arguing with my mom. He was always arguing with her. I was really young then so I really didn't even get to know him. I almost can't remember how he looks."

It was a drastic change - his parents divorced, the move from the farm to the city, a new school and then his father's death that deeply affected him.

Soon, with all of his being, David began to search for a way to help him with his hurt. That's when someone mentioned to him how you feel "high" when you do drugs. So he began to really look for drugs. He tried to find out who used them and where they hung out. Shortly after trying pills, pot and hash, he began to buy them regularly.

"When I was 15 years old I stopped taking them by the mouth and started snorting them" - quickly adding ' "it's far more potent that way and it affects you more quickly...money to buy drugs with wasn't a problem for me. It wasn't hard to get. The man my mom had remarried wasn't rich, but he definitely wasn't poor. The allowances I got I used to buy drugs with instead of clothes or other things. My sister and I kept it secret that we were getting high and so our parents kept giving us good allowances."

It seems like David will never forget a Jethro Tull rock concert that he attended. "I had snorted some drugs, smoked a lot of pot and hash and was drinking beer until I was really high." He remembers, "I felt really strange. All I remember is being sat down by some friends and the chair began to fall backwards...3 days later I woke up in the intensive care unit of the hospital with a heart monitor attached to me. I was in serious condition and it had been getting worse but the doctors worked hard to save me." "Later there was a special agreement between me and my parents," David grins. "I was promised that if I quit taking drugs they'd allow me to let my hair grow long. I promised and I didn't keep it. My hair grew down to my waist."

Wanderings and its Moral

A different stage began in David's life: wandering through different churches. He was in and out of many churches during his search for the true morals and values. He considered the members of traditional Christianity as hypocrites. Those churches had failed to fulfill him.

After failing to find what he was searching for, David came in contact with Hinduism - the Hare Krishnas. He was attracted by its exotic appeal, the incense and vegetarian members of that cult. During a special Krishna festival in Philadelphia, he met a famous leader in their movement who wanted him to become his personal aide and travel all over. David decided not to join because he didn't want to be separated from his family. "I believed in Hare Krishna," David says assured, "I loved the religion because it was physically and spiritually attractive and I was devoted to it. I engaged in their ceremonies, singing and dancing, chanting their mantras and going into a group trance. But even though I knew their religion didn't accept drugs, I still used them, though they were unaware of it. I was around 17 when I began to shoot up drugs."

After awhile David began to seriously question his involvement with the Krishnas. He feared he had been wrong, had been misled in going to the guru. His amount and use of drugs began to dramatically increase, going to the bars every night of the week, getting high and drunk, began to take its toll on his body. By then it seems he had lost any spiritual strength he had.

"God Help Me"

"I really began to think about God," he says. "Suddenly I began to think about him seriously and wondered if I had been deceived or enlightened in Krishna. I begged God to lead me into all the truth. I had prayed about it many times and then one of the greatest miracles in my life happened" - he explains while getting down on his knees to show how he had been praying. "All I remember is that I was purposely praying to the God of the Bible and really hoped that somehow He would answer my prayer. Then it was like a hot brand was put upon my forehead. Two words were forcibly impressed upon my mind: "FORSAKE HINDUISM!" Then I actually wondered whether it was my subconscious that gave me those words. I turned to my Bible that was beside me and, unintentionally, opened it up to Psalms 115:4-8 - David's holding his Bible and reading it out loud: "Their idols are silver and gold; the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like them; so is every one that trusts in them." "After that I didn't need any further proof to know that it had truly been from God. That same day I burned all my Hindu books, beads, posters...".

"Dirty needles"

The drugs caused David's condition to continually deteriorate. Everyone told him that he was destroying himself. He knew himself that he was going to die, but he wasn't able to help himself.

"All that horrible time" - David says with a shaky voice - "I really wanted to be free. I didn't want to be addicted to drugs. But I also felt that there wasn't anything in this world worth living for. I didn't have any power but I still tried to get off drugs. I ended up throwing away my needles, hoping to stop, but later I'd turn around and go back and take them out and use them." Even though his needles had been in the garbage, dirty and broken, he said he still used them up to a dozen times, even though you're only supposed to use them once! "I was taking the needles in my frustration and would bash them against the wall so that I couldn't use them, but later I'd attempt to until it hurt me and I was bleeding. That's when I realized that I was addicted." David says, thinking out loud: "All I knew was that only GOD could help me, not man!"

David experienced "almost sure death" another time, besides the rock concert, when he was 18, and was in his bedroom mainlining some drugs. His mother was home at the time but was unaware of what was happening to her son. "Suddenly everything seemed strange to me" - David says trying to remember - "the music started sounding really weird...Later I woke up in the hospital and a doctor informed me that I had damaged my liver and that it was a miracle that I still had a brain and could think clearly."

Goodbye and Good Riddance

"Those were my times of wandering in the wilderness. God delivered me and took me out of Egypt into His light" - David says reflecting on his past. "The inner struggle between good and evil wearied me after awhile. I had been asking God what I was supposed to do. I asked for power because I didn't have any strength and none of the churches I encountered had the power necessary to deliver me from drugs. At the time I opened up my Bible unintentionally to Isaiah 45. The first verse that caught my eye was verse 2: "I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron...". That verse succeeded to do for David what he, of himself, had been unable to do for years.

"No more drugs!" David said and that is how he finally managed to be free from drugs. "Now I felt ready to begin to listen to God. Sometimes you have to first live in darkness before you can appreciate the light. I knew I wanted to live God's ways of life so I said good-riddance to drugs and to my old friends and bad influences - to all of that I said goodbye and good riddance!"

"Drugs are a Lie"

Shortly afterwards, David discovered the Worldwide Church of God through their Plain Truth magazine. The ideas in it seemed so logical to him and not like all the others he had known.

Soon David was one of its excited believers. After a whole year of observing Sabbath and all the holy days of Israel, he was baptized as a brother into the Church.

One of the Worldwide Church of God beliefs is that there will be a politico-military mess that will take place by next year. In their opinion, Germany, and maybe even Italy, will attempt to conquer the world. That attempt will ignite a world war that will take two thirds of the world's population, but that afterwards there will begin a true peace for planet Earth. The members of the Worldwide Church of God will be among those that survive and they believe that eventually their beliefs will be accepted by all the Earth.

The doctrines of the Church are all biblically based. Besides the above-mentioned prophecy there is another one that states the world leaders will sit in Jerusalem and that Israel will become a "Light to all nations." The whole world will have one government.

David is writing a book, from his biblical research, about the two prophets who will prepare the way for the days to come. David is also contemplating about writing an autobiography. He already knows what he would call it - Wanderings! He's convinced that he has a lot of experience to give to others, and he's very interested in warning those who might consider abusing drugs. "Drugs are a lie" - he says - "and it would be a lot better if people would learn form the experience of others. Today I'm alive, very alive - and I feel I have a lot to live for!"


David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.