What is Sin? pt.1

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23, 24

  
"The greatest problem in the world is, and has been since the inception of sin, that of personal, daily victory over sin."
- Louis Were -

Are we descendants from the monkey tribe, or do we all have a real common human ancestor? The evidence with each scientific discovery each year leans to the latter, but it is only by faith that we understand the origins of why the planet is in the state that it is in.

From the beginning of time up until today, man has always been given free will and has been offered the choices between life and death (Gen. 2:17 ; Deut. 30:19; Mark 16:16). When many look at the disasters, wars and other calamities that engulf the world, that are sadly on an increase, the question is usually asked, 'Why does God allow such a thing to happen?' If Jesus said love thy neighbour as thyself (Matt. 22:36-40), a teaching that can resolve all the world' problems and rid it of economic injustice as well as class, racial and ethnic divisions and man chooses to go contrary to that divine council, the blame is not on God, but on man. Whenever man cannot find a concrete answer, he either pins the blame on someone or something, but never looks at himself. There is nothing wrong with questioning God, the early Patriarchs and Matriarchs did it all the time, but don't complain when the answer you receive from Him does not fit in within your cultural paradigm. In order to answer this question, we need to go back to the beginning of time at a period in earth' history where there was complete tranquility and harmony between the forces of nature and between heaven and earth.

The following are a list of areas that can be studied separately that can help to understand what sin is.

• Bibliogy - the doctrine of the Bible, including its inspiration, supernatural origin and it's canonicity.

• Theology Proper - the study of the Godhead and the nature of God Himself.

• Pneumatology - The teachings about God the Holy Spirit, His character and His role in redemption.

• Hamartiology - the teachings if the origin's of man, the fall and the doctrine of sin.

• Demonlogy (Satanolgy) - is the study of the teachings of Satan and his fallen angels.

• Eschatology - the teachings on prophecy, judgments, the eternal state and so on.

• Soteriology - the study of the doctrines of salvation.

• Christology - The role of the Person and work of Christ

The Holy Scriptures makes an emphasis throughout, that we ought to learn from the past and don't make the same mistakes and fall into the same traps or blunders as our spiritual forefathers (I Cor. 10:1-11). To summarise the first great deception, God gave man an instruction, man disobeyed and one word changed the course of human history. God said ye shall surely die, Satan said ye shall not surely die. The devil tricked Eve into believing what men are still doing today, question the word of God and believe in your own heart. 

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

II Corinthians 11:3

It is pretty clear from studying history that if you were to take a trip around the planet or visit any major museums that houses ancient antiquities from all over the world, you will find that Lucifer ("Lux", light and "Feros" bearer) whose name was later changed to Satan ("Set", serpent" and "On", sun), who has ever craved the worship that belongs solely to the Almighty God (Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; Rev. 12:7-9; Matt. 4:1-11), has been successful in making fallen man worship him, for the serpent, the animal he used as a medium to seduce and deceive Eve, became the most worshipped and revered creature in every culture and nation on earth in the pre-Christian occult world. The premise he introduced to Eve, 'Ye shall not surely die ... ye shall be as gods' (Gen. 3:4, 5), is the pillar of all modern and ancient error. The Holy Scriptures is very clear that just prior to the Second Coming of Christ, the whole world will worship the dragon, Satan (Rev. 13:4), or to put it more clearly, they will believe the error Satan introduced to Eve by downplaying sin, worshipping themselves and any man-made carnal philosophy (Matt. 16:23).

'The primary meaning of the 7-headed dragon is Lucifer. Rev. 12:3-9. This dragon, however, has an earthly shadow or reflection which rises up out of the sea. Rev. 13:1-10. The followers of this second dragon worshipped the first dragon Lucifer. verse 4. (The first "dragon" is from the Greek word drakon," a fabulous kind of serpent." --Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. The second dragon or "beast" is from the Greek word therion, a dangerous animal, venomous or wild beast, and equivalent to "destroyer," the meaning of the original root. I'd.)' (1)

The 7-headed serpent from ancient India in the British Museum

A woodcut of Swedish Protestant king, Gustavus Adolphus II (1594-1632), the founder of the Swedish Empire defeating the Papacy, who is depicted as the seven-headed dragon (serpent), during the Thirty Years War.

The teachings of the now popular exercise in the West (the Occident) that has come from the East (the Orient) is Yoga. Yoga (Sanskrit, Pāli: योग yóga) which means to be at 'yoke' with one' self, is a teaching from Indian philosophy that can be found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and is based upon the lie Satan told to Eve, that salvation can be achieved by self through the power of the serpent, the "kundalini".

'Hatha Yoga is based on a fantastic physiological theory, teaching the existence of a dormant divine potency, called kundalini, "the serpent power " at the base of the spine. A vein, known as sushumma, runs through the backbone, linking the kundalini, by way of six psychic centres (called cakras, or "wheels"), with the supreme centre of psychic power, at the top of the skull, called sahasrara, and described as a lotus with a thousand petals. The aim of the Yogi, according to this system, should be to raise the feminine kundalini through the vein sushumna from one cakra to another until at last it unites with the masculine sahasrara, when full salvation is achieved.' (2)

Seal of a horned-headed yogi deity from Mohenjo-daro, in the Indus Valley Civilisation, Pakistan (3300 BC - 1300 BC)

The Hindu deity, Siva with a serpent round his head in a yoga position

Buddha, in a meditative yogi position

Asian man practicing yoga meditation 

Rafiki, the Witch Doctor in the 'Lion King' (1994), a children's animation that was based upon Hindu's Circle of Life is in a meditative yogi position

Yoga used in advertisement in the West

Indonesian Muslim women practicing yoga

Many individuals will laugh and scoff at the story of Eve being seduced by a talking serpent, but is it a coincidence that the creature that Satan used as a medium was the most revered icon in every culture, continent, country and island in the occult world and is still venerated in many cultures today.

Lightning was often depicted as a serpent in the occult world

Serpent worship in Pompeii, ancient Rome

Egyptian papyri with an individual in reverence to the winged-serpent

The Egyptian Pharaoh' wore the cobra on their crowns

Assyrio-Babylonian monarch with a serpent headed staff that was also used by Pharaohs and later by Cardinals and popes.

Quetzacoatl, was the feathered serpent worshipped throughout Meso-America

Every spring equinox, a shadow of a serpent appears on the Chichen Itza Temple of the Kulkan Serpent, built by the ancient Mayan civilisation of Meso-America, in Mexico, where natives and tourists crowd round the temple to see this phenomenon.

Buddha while in Enlightenment in the protection of the 7-headed serpent

Nag Panchami Nāg Panchamī (Devanagari: नाग पंचमी) is a Hindu festival celebrated every year in India on the fifth day of the month Shravan (July-August) which is a worship of live Nāgas (cobras)

The Serpent Mound in Ohio, USA made by the pre-European natives

Australian Aboriginal rock painting of the "Rainbow Serpent"

Asclepius was the Greek god of healing. His icon was the serpent around the rod 

Asclepius is the symbol of the medical industry

The dragon is depicted on the wall of a temple in ancient Babylon

The dragon was a symbol of China and most cultures throughout the Far East

The dragon was used on the mast of Viking ships

Bioware is an American-owned Canadian video developer. It's icon is the dragon.

Michael Jackson (1958-2009) was the most influential and successful entertainer in the world. In this image in his Neverland Ranch, he is depicted with an Excalibur sword and above him (centre) is the dragon where His repetitive wording 'I", (on the sword) sounds very similar to the language of Lucifer, before he became Satan. Look at the parallels.

I am the thinker, the thinking

the thought

I am the seeker, the seeking,

the sought

I am the dewdrop, the sunshine,

the storm

I am the phenomenon, the field,

the form

I am the desert, the ocean,

the sky

I am the Primeval Self,

In you and I

Michael Jackson

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 

I will ascend above the height of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet though shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Isaiah 14:12-15 

Canaanite deity with worshipper alongside two headed serpent pole

Alan Moore is an English comic book writer, anarchist and occultist magician whose works have been made into motion pictures,  the dystopian thriller, V For Vendetta (2006) and the Cold War superhero flick, Watchmen (2009). He sits under the two headed serpent of the Canaanites.

The Holy Scriptures is very clear that sin is a separation between God and man (Isa. 59:2) and Jesus Christ came to bridge that gap between heaven and earth, to reconcile fallen man back to God the Father, expose the works of the Devil (John 8:44) and prepare souls for His Second Coming. His death is compared to a will (a testament) for those who accept the invitation to eternity, where they will receive the inheritance.

And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

Hebrews 9:15-17

Many Christians believe that Christ' atonement for sins was completed at Calvary, but that is a contradiction of the very wording and prophecy of the Holy Scriptures. Jesus was definitely the Lamb 'without blemish' (Ex. 12:5; I Pet. 1:19) as prophecied (Isa. 53; Acts 8:30-35) and verified by John the Baptist (John 1:29, 36), when He caused 'the sacrifice and oblation to cease' (Dan. 9:27), after 'the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom' (Matt. 27:51), but if the atonement was completed on the cross, then the prophecy of the Psalmist king David was in vain and should not have been canonised alongside other Psalms (Ps. 110; Matt. 22:41-45; Heb. 5:5, 6), when He prophesied of the LORD' role as our High Priest and His 'unchangeable priesthood' (Heb. 7:25).

It is only when we are sincerely 'in Christ' (Rom. 16:7; II Cor. 5:17; Gal. 1:22), that is, convicted and converted to Jesus, that we can confess and repent of our sins to Him as He intercedes for us and petitions our case in heaven as our High Priest and lawyer to God the Father (I John :9; 2:1).

William Tyndale (c.1492 - 1536), English reformer, Bible translator

'God's worship is to love him for his mercy.

All sin is breaking of God's law; and only the transgression of God's law is sin.

For we have an advocate and intercessor, a true attorney with the Father, Jesus Christ, righteous towards God and man, and [he] is the reconciling and satisfaction for our sins.

He took our nature upon him, and felt our infirmities and sicknesses, and in feeling learned to have compassion on us, and for compassion cried mightily in prayers to God the Father for us, and was heard.'

"The word," or that thing, "was made flesh," that is, became man. And thus we have in plain and open words a manifest article of our faith, that our Saviour Christ is very God and very man.

Christ is called Jesus, a Saviour; he is called Christus, king anointed over all men, of whom they must hold, and whose benefit must all they have. He is called Emmanuel, God is with us: for he only maketh God our God, our strength, power, sword and shield, and shortly our Father.' (3)

The death of Christ was definitely the start of the atonement and our reconciliation back to God the Father (Rom. 5:10, 11; Eph. 2:16), but as the 'new covenant' was the antitype of the old one that is 'established upon better promises' (Heb. 8:6), it was only when the ordained Levite priests took the blood from the innocent animal, 'the just for the unjust' and sprinkled it on the veil in the sanctuary/temple was when an individual was fully atoned and forgiven of their sins, as in the old, the same in the new.

And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord: it is a sin offering. And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the Lord; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.

Leviticus 4:24, 31

And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them: and the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

II Chronicles 29:23, 24

Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Hebrews 2:17

(Note: the word 'reconciliation' comes from the Greek word hilaskomee which means 'atonement'.)

Very few people were and still are unaware of Jesus' three-fold role as a prophet, a priest and the soon Coming King. While many secular historians have attempted to demean the LORD' divinity and His central role in redemption and have ridiculously put the LORD on an equal par with other historical figures like Buddha, Mohammed, or Confucius, Jesus, the God-man made it very clear to distinguish Himself from others, that He came to restore fallen man (Matt. 18:11), gave His faithful advanced warnings of the things that will take place on this earth, through prophecy, to guide them throughout history (John 13:19) and when the work will be accomplished and there is nothing more He can do to save mankind, He is Coming back and this time with a huge army (Rev. 19:11-19), where He is going to totally eradicate and utterly destroy sin. Our knowledge of Christ' role as our High Priest is connected to the Second Coming of Christ.

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.

Hebrews 10:12, 13

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Hebrews 9:11, 28

William Whitaker (1547-1595), D. D., Cambridge professor, Queen's Professor of Divinity and Master of St John's College at Cambridge

"The name of Christ denotes three offices, as you know, of Prophet, King and Priest. That of Jesus sets before us the benefits of redemption and salvation; and these latter benefits result from the former offices. For he was anointed to be our Prophet, King and Priest, in order that he might discharge the function of our Saviour." (4)

John Nevis Andrews (1829-1883), Seventh-day Adventist missionary

"Our Lord has three grand offices assigned him in the Scriptures in the work of human redemption. When he was upon our earth at his first advent he was that prophet of whom Moses spake, in Deut. 18:15-19. See also Acts 3:22-27. When he ascended up to heaven, he became a great High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek. Psalms 110; Heb. 8:1-6. But when he comes again, he is in possession of his kingly authority, as promised in the second psalm." (5)

Q. Is it actually possible to overcome sin?

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

I John 3:9

Near the end of the book of Revelation the overall message of the book is laid bare. At the start of this book Jesus said He will reveal Himself through prophecy (Rev. 1:1-3) and He has given a panoramic picture of the whole of the history of Christendom, but for what reason.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Revelation 21:7

Does an individual actually know what they are overcoming? Jesus tells us that 'the flesh' which in the New Testament comes from the Greek word "sarx" which means our human fallen nature 'is weak' (Matt. 26:41), but what are these daily, hourly and minute by minute weaknesses we have to overcome? As the Bible is it's own interpreter, let us look at the weaknesses of 'the flesh' we are told we have to overcome.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkeness, drunkeness, revellings, and such like of the which I told you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

As Jesus made it very clear that the route to eternity is through the 'narrow' way (Matt. 7:14), there are a lot of things in our characters that need to be dropped off so we can be a part of the 'divine nature' (II Peter 1:4-10). The name Jesus (Yehoshua) has power to heal, restore, build and to re-mould us (Acts 3:6, 7, 16; 4:10, 12; 10:43) and only by surrendering your will to Him by faith, will each soul be able to overcome and enter into eternity.

Each prophetic letter to the seven churches in Revelation (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Philadelphia and Laodicea) divinely instructs the individual to overcome (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). To overcome is to let go of anyone or anything that puts a separation between you and God, but how can this be accomplished? 

When Gabriel spoke to Joseph in a dream and told Him what to name the new born God-man, Immanuel, he told Him to name Him Jesus, which is an Anglicized form of Yeshua (that means saviour), a name Moses gave to Oshea (Num. 13:16), the man who led Israel into the promised land. The name is comprised of 'YHW' (JAH - Ps. 68:4), which means the Almighty, self-existing and eternal God and 'Oshea' or Shua that means to help, to avenge, to be free, to defend, to be safe, to deliver, for 'He shall save His people from their sins' (Matt. 1:21). The word 'from' is a Northern European word that means to leave behind. There are only two ways to overcome sin. They are by the name of Jesus through the Word of God and prayer (I Tim. 4:5).

  

The Word:

It was by the word of God that the world came into existence (Ps. 33:6) and that same word that can create can also recreate. The word of God not only reconciles us back to God, but it cleanses, strengthens and the more it is read and makes a home in the heart, the harder it is to go contrary to the divine pattern for its power will convict the conscience.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

John 15:3

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according to thy word. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Psalm 119:9, 11, 28, 105, 133

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

II Corinthians 5:19

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

John 17:17

Prayer:

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

James 5:13-16

Prayer is the strongest connection and only link between heaven and earth. You can spend hours studying the word of God and memorising it, but without a prayer life your spiritual journey will stifle. As we are in a daily battle against self and a supernatural war is also constantly being waged on our lives every day, prayer is absolutely potent and a must (Acts 12:5; I Thess. 5:17; Eph. 6:18). It is absolutely essential that the man and woman of God spend serious, quality time in prayer for strength, healing renewal and supernatural protection. Jesus laid down the foundation for what prayer is for when His disciples asked Him to teach them.

(1) Our prayers should be in secret and when we pray in a public setting, we should not use boastful language like the Pharisees (Matt. 6:5, 6).

(2) Our prayers should not be repetitive (Matt. 6:7), for the Holy Spirit will assist us when we reconnect our prayers to heaven (Rom. 8:26, 27).

(3) When we start our prayer, our pleas have to be first presented to God the Father, (the Ancient of Days, the most High) in heaven and give Him the utmost reverence that is due to His Holy name (Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:2).

(4) Ask for divine assistance to be delivered from evil and the daily 24/7/365 snares (deceptions) and attacks of the devil (Matt. 6:13; 26:41; Luke 11:4).

(5) Though we ask God for forgiveness for our sins to release us from the weight and guilt of sin, if we are unwilling to forgive those who have offended us, then God whose mercies towards us are renewed every morning (Lam. 3:20, 21), cannot and will not, forgive us (Matt. 6:14, 15; 18:23-35; Mark 11:25, 26; Ps. 66:18, 19).

(6) Ask God the Father for the daily provisions that we need for each day (Matt. 6:11, 28-34; Luke 11:3), but it must all be done through our intercessor and High Priest in heaven, Jesus Christ, for without Jesus there is no access to God the Father (John 16:23; I Timothy 2:5; Heb. 2:17, 18; I John 2:1, 2).

Our human nature is naturally opposed to the will of God, where the Holy Scriptures describes it as an 'enmity', which is translated from the Greek word 'ekthrah' which means hostility, that's why many people think it's an impossibility to have victory of our fallen nature, 'the flesh'. To have victory is a definite war, for every time we aspire to draw closer to God, we come into conflict with our biggest obstacle, the self.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Romans 8:7

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

I Peter 2:11

As the repetitive message of Revelation is to 'overcome' our fallen nature, it is a must that we surrender our will to God to be victorious, for the Christian life is one of victory.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Revelation 12:11

The first three chapters teaches the creation of the world, the fall of man and the coming redeemer. As the world rejects the word of God, they will repeat the same mistakes as our first parents by hiding from God at the end of time.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:8  

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

Revelation 6:15, 16

What happened in the beginning of time will happen in the end of time, but why? What made the first inhabitants of the earth 'hid' from God and what will make the last unsaved inhabitants 'hid' from God?

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Isaiah 59:2

It is our sins and our iniquities that separates us from God and because the inhabitants know that they are full of sin, like Adam and Eve, they will hide from God. What is sad is that hey are being trained and deceived for that time through the postmodernist school of higher criticism.  

Higher Criticism:

There is a subtle plot being waged against heaven by the forces of hell to try to undermine sin and overcoming it' alluring deceptions, where human beings are being used, some knowingly, others naively, as agents of evil spirits to totally degrade the character of God. The war is preparing minds for that final intense battle between good and evil where one set of the deceived inhabitants of the earth will accept the mark of the beast and the other set that will be small in number will accept the seal of God.  The Holy Scriptures has prepared God' people for the final intense conflict, which will be a repeat of the drama between Cain and Abel. Cain wanted to do worship how he pleased, even when God pleaded with him to do otherwise (Gen. 4:7) and Abel chose to be obedient to God which cost him his life (Gen. 4:8). One set of people will 'worship' God (Rev. 14:7) and the other set will 'worship' the beast (Rev. 14:9). One will have the 'Father's name written in their foreheads' (Rev. 14:) and the other will have the rebellious 'mark of his name' (Rev. 14:11), that is the name of the beast.  


The word of God is being attacked not only by heathens, but also within the churches, for they have given into to the subtle inroads of secularism and its religious sister, ecumenism. This didn't happen over night, it was a slow process and if we are to understand the origins of modern day atheism/agnosticism, and its hostility towards "sin', its roots lies in the medieval and post-Reformation schools of Papal Europe, the home of neo-Platonism and its restoration of Greek philosophy.
The school of thought or the rationalistic crusade against the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures which John Gottfried Eichorn titled "the Higher Criticism", did not originate among 18th century German apostate Protestant rationalists, but among French Catholics as the first edition of the Catholic Encyclopaedia  clearly points out and documents.

'A French priest, Richard Simon (1638-1712) ... is the forerunner of Biblical criticism.

In 1753 Jean Astruc, a French Catholic physician of considerable note ... conjectured ... from the alternating use of two names of God in the Hebrew Genesis, that Moses had incorporated therein two pre-existing documents, one of which employed Elohim and the other Jehovah. The idea attracted little attention till it was taken up by a German scholar, who, however, claims to have made the discovery independently. This was Johan Gottfried Eichorn, the author Introduction to the O.T., issued 1780-83, and distinguished by vigour and scientific acumen. Eichorn greatly developed Astruc's hypothesis ...

Eichorn is the first typical representative of modern Biblical criticism, the especially home which has been Germany. Outside of Germany the views of Eichorn and his school found little currency. Yet it was a Catholic Priest of Scottish origin, Alexander Geddes (1737-1802), who broached a theory of the origin of the Five Books (to which he attached Josue) exceeding in boldness either Simon's or Eichorn's. This was the well known "Fragment" Hypothesis, which reduced the Pentateuch to a collection of fragmentary sections partly of Mosaic origin, but put together in the reign of Solomon.' (6)

Jean Astruc (1684-1766), French Catholic Biblical critic. 

John Gottfried Eichorn (1753-1827), German Protestant theologian

So we see the strongest attack against the Holy Scriptures and its authenticity has come, unbeknownst to most people, from the church of Rome, but their intellects get a lot more bolder in the 19th and 20th century.

Cardinal James Gibbons (1834-1921), Archbishop of Baltimore

"Now the scriptures alone do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe, nor do they explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to practice. We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith because they cannot, at any time, be within the reach of every inquirer; because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance, and because they do not contain all the truths necessary for salvation." (7)

Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

"Surely the sacred volume was never intended, and is not adapted, to teach us our creed." (8)

Rev. Bertrand Louis Conway (1872-1959)

"The Bible itself is but a dead letter calling for a divine interpreter; it is not arranged in systematic form like a creed or a catechism; it is often obscure and hard to be understood, as St. Peter says of the Epistles of St. Paul 2 Peter iii, 16; Cf. Acts viii, 30, 31); it is open to many a false interpretation." (9)

Rev. John A. O'Brien (1893-1980)

"She is not the child of the Bible, as many non-Catholics imagine, but it's mother. She derives neither her existence nor her authority from the New Testament." (10)

'The supremacy of the Bible as source of faith is unhistorical, illogical, fatal to the virtue of faith, and destructive of unity. It is unhistorical.' (11)

Many are unaware of the close alliance of modern humanism and Roman Catholicism. An Austrian historian, René Fülöp-Miller (1891-1963) documented in his book 'The Power and Secret of the Jesuits' (1930), how post-Reformation Jesuit philosophy more or less dominates the thinking and criteria of the modern secular Western education system.

'The ideas preached by Ignatius, the one-time Spanish courtier, brought about almost a revolution in the Catholic world, and, further, they determined to a considerable extent the whole course of the development of European culture, religion as well as philosophy, education and art, either by direct influence, or indirectly by provoking violent opposition.

Prominent thinkers of modern times, such as Voltaire, Descartes and Diderot, in their youth were educated in the spirit of the Spanish cavalier; distinguished poets, such as Molière and Corneille, received their first theatrical impulses from Jesuit school dramas.

It should not be overlooked that the advantages as well as the disadvantages of our humanist classical education are for the most part attributable to that pedagogic activity, which, at one time, was spread by the Society of Jesus over all the countries of the world.' (12)

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), Italian Marxist

Antonio Gramsci who founded the Italian Marxist party was a student of the teachings of Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx. He was the most influential Marxist in the 20th century. His approach for de-Christianising society which was very similar to the English Fabian socialists, has been adopted by the system he opposed, the Papacy, in their agenda to overtake the world.

'Antonio Gramsci's contributions have outlived the man by half a century. Use Lenin's geopolitical structure not to conquer streets and cities, argued Gramsci. Use it to conquer the mind of civil society. Use it to acquire a Marxist hegemony over the minds of the populations that must be won. By the mid-1960s, then - with Brezhnev at the helm of the Leninist geopolitical structure, and with Paul VI at the helm of the Roman Catholic georeligious structure - it appeared that the ghost of Antonio Gramsci had all but won the day. In Moscow, his doctrine through disguised and clandestine penetration of capitalist populations had come out on top of the Leninist-Marxist leadership. And in Rome, the Second Vatican Council had handed over the keys to the millennial faith of the Catholic Church, and to the culture that had for a thousand years been the living expression of that faith. (13) Then came the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Overnight the Catholic Church which had been a Western institution exporting its wares to the East became a world community. Asian and African bishops and theologians assembled in Rome and, with their European and American confreres, acknowledged that the Spirit of God is at work in all peoples and in all religions. Since then, most theologians recognize non-Christian religions as "valid ways."'(14)

The work of God is going to continue and despite the subtle inroads of the Papacy and the more open and bold approach by secularists to undermine sin, God' work, though under more intense and harder conditions will march forward and the gospel will be preached to every single corner of the world and no one will have any excuse when the Lord returns (Matt. 24:14; Rev. 14:6).

Richard Baxter (1615 -1691), vicar of Kidderminster, Puritan church leader, Royalist, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, opponent of the trafficking of African slaves

'Men would sooner believe that the gospel is from heaven, if they saw more such effects of it upon the hearts and lives of those who profess it.

God will have his honour, when His church is manifestly distinguished from the world.'  (15)

Source: (1) The Trail of the Serpent by Murl Vance p.13;  (2) Encyclopaedia Britannica,Volume 23, p.895; (3) Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures: Together with the Practice of Prelates by William Tyndale pp. 145, 153, 156, 158, 188; (4) Disputations of the Holy Scriptures by William Whitaker p.21; (5) The Judgement, Its Events and Their Order by John Nevis Andrews p.34; (6) Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. IV, pp. 492, 493; (7) The Faith of our Fathers by Cardinal James Gibbons pp. 72, 73; (8) The Arians of the Fourth century by John Henry Newman p.50; (9) The Question Box by Bertrand L. Conway p.76; (10) The Faith of Millions by Rev. John A. O'Brien p.146; (11) Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. xii p.496; (12) The Power and Secret of the Jesuits by René Fülöp-Miller p.28; (13) The Keys of this Blood by Malachi Martin pp. 243; 249; 259; (14) The Mirror Mind by William Johnston p. ; (15) The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter pp. 98, 170