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Eu Te louvarei de todo o coração - Salmo 138
Dennis Edwards
O Salmo 138 é um salmo curto cheio de pensamentos poderosos para refletir desde o primeiro versículo.
1a Eu Te
louvarei de todo o coração:
Há algo em fazer
as coisas de todo o coração que Deus deseja. Jesus disse que o primeiro e
grande mandamento é: “Amarás o Senhor teu Deus de todo o teu coração, e de toda
a tua alma, e de todo o teu entendimento”, Mateus 22:37. Por outras palavras,
amar a Deus de todo o coração é o mandamento mais importante. O Apóstolo Paulo
diz: “E tudo o que fizerdes, fazei-o de todo o coração, como para o Senhor, e
não para os homens”, Colossenses 3:23. O Antigo Testamento tem o mesmo
sentimento. “Tudo o que a tua mão achar para fazer, faze-o com todas as tuas
forças”, Eclesiastes 9:10. “E agora, Israel, o que o Senhor teu Deus exige de
ti, senão que temas o Senhor teu Deus, andes nos seus caminhos, e o ames, e
sirvas ao Senhor teu Deus de todo o teu coração e de todo o teu alma ”,
Deuteronómio 10:12.
As últimas
palavras de David a Salomão, seu filho, foram: “E tu, Salomão, meu filho,
conhece o Deus de teu pai, e serve-O com um coração perfeito e uma mente
voluntária; compreende todas as imaginações do pensamentos: se O procurar, Ele
será encontrado por si; mas se o abandonares, ele rejeitar-te-á para sempre”, 1
Crónicas 28:9. Anteriormente, em Crónicas, lemos que os homens de guerra da
tribo de Zebulon “não eram de coração duplo”, 1 Crónicas 12:33b.
Deus quer que
tenhamos todo o coração, e não corações duplos ou mentes duplas. O Apóstolo
Tiago adverte sobre a duplicidade de coração: “Mas peçam com fé, sem vacilar
(ou duvidar). Pois aquele que vacila (ou duvida) é como uma onda do mar levada
e agitada pelo vento. Não deixe que este homem pense que receberá alguma coisa
do Senhor. O homem de coração dobre é instável em todos os seus caminhos”,
Tiago 1:6-8.
Jesus fez uma
advertência à igreja de Laodiceia. Os laodicenses eram ricos e abastados em
bens, e não precisavam de nada – fisicamente; mas na realidade, eram
miseráveis, miseráveis, pobres, cegos e nus – espiritualmente, Apocalipse 3:17.
Jesus disse: “Conheço as tuas obras, que não és frio nem quente: quem me dera
que fosses frio ou quente. Portanto, porque és morno, e não és frio nem quente,
vomitar-te-ei da minha boca”, Apocalipse 3:15-16.
Ser um cristão
morno é um mau exemplo para o mundo. Um cristão morno desviará os outros e
contagiará os outros com a sua indiferença. Se vai acreditar, acredite de todo
o coração e siga em frente. Não hesite entre duas opiniões. Se Deus é Deus,
sirva-O. Se o mundo é o seu deus, então sirva-o. Não tente servir Mamon e Deus
ao mesmo tempo. Não pode fazer isso. Jesus disse: “Ninguém pode servir a dois
senhores; pois odiará um e amará o outro; ou então apegar-se-á a um e
desprezará o outro. Não podeis servir a Deus e a Mamon”, Mateus 6:24.
1b Diante dos
deuses cantarei louvores a Ti.
A palavra
hebraica para “deuses” refere-se aos outros seres espirituais do reino
celestial. Aos bons “deuses” que se rendem a Deus, chamamos anjos. Os “deuses”
desobedientes, chamamos-lhes demónios ou diabos. David inicia o seu salmo, como
sempre faz, em louvor do verdadeiro Deus.
2 Adorarei o Teu
templo santo e louvarei o Teu nome pela Tua benignidade e pela Tua verdade; pois
engrandeceste a Tua Palavra acima de todo o Teu nome.
Há muito neste
versículo para refletir. Deus está a dizer que Ele engrandeceu a Sua Palavra
acima do Seu nome. Por outras palavras, Deus está mais interessado em que
obedeça aos Seus mandamentos, do que em que O chame pelo Seu nome próprio. É
por isso que quem segue a palavra de Jesus: “amar os outros como a si mesmo”,
terá uma medida de bênção nas suas vidas. Apesar de não acreditarem em Deus,
nem O chamarem por outro nome, nem terem outro conceito de Deus; se obedecerem
aos mandamentos de Deus, que se encontram nas palavras de Jesus, terão uma
medida da bênção de Deus sobre as suas vidas.
Jesus condena
aqueles que dizem acreditar n’Ele, e até sabem chamar-Lhe pelo seu próprio
nome; se não fizerem o que Ele pediu. “Nem todo aquele que me diz: Senhor,
Senhor, entrará no reino dos Céus; mas aquele que faz a vontade de meu Pai que
está nos céus”, Mateus 7:21. Alguns usam o nome de Jesus para o seu próprio
bem-estar, poder, dinheiro e fama. A estes Ele diz: “Apartai-vos de mim, vós
que praticais a iniquidade; nunca vos conheci”, Mateus 7:23.
Jesus diz: “Se
permanecerdes na minha palavra, verdadeiramente sereis meus discípulos”, João
8:31b. Mais tarde, disse: “Aquele que tem os meus mandamentos e os guarda, esse
é o que Me ama; e aquele que Me ama será amado de meu Pai, e Eu o amarei e
manifestar-Me-ei a ele”, João 14: 21. Se tentarmos seguir as palavras de Jesus,
Ele acabará por se manifestar a nós. Aquele que procura e segue sinceramente as
palavras de Jesus, encontrará Deus. “Se alguém Me ama, guardará a minha
palavra; e meu Pai o amará, e viremos para ele e faremos nele morada”, João
14;23. Ao guardarmos as palavras de Jesus, mostramos que O amamos. Mesmo
aqueles que não conhecem o Seu nome, que guardam as Suas palavras, serão
abençoados.
No entanto, seremos também julgados pelo nosso conhecimento de Deus, da Sua palavra e da Sua vontade. A Bíblia diz: “Aquele que sabe fazer o bem e não o faz, comete pecado”, Tiago 4:17. Jesus disse: “E aquele servo que conheceu a vontade do seu senhor, e não se preparou, nem fez conforme a sua vontade, será açoitado com muitos açoites”, Lucas 12:47. “Quem me rejeita e não recebe as minhas palavras já tem quem o julgue; a própria palavra que tenho proferido, essa há de julga-lo no último dia,” João 12:48. Se conhecermos a palavra e a vontade de Deus e não a seguirmos, seremos mais responsáveis.
Por outro lado,
Deus deu uma certa medida de luz a toda a humanidade. Ele colocou um código
moral em todos os nossos corações, “a luz que ilumina todo o homem que vem ao
mundo”, João 1:9b. O apóstolo Paulo fala também daquela luz moral que cada
homem tem. “Porque quando os gentios, que não têm a lei (não tendo conhecido a
revelação da lei de Deus a Moisés), fazem por natureza as coisas contidas na
lei, estes, não tendo a lei, são uma lei para si mesmos: o que mostra a obra da
lei escrita nos seus corações, a sua consciência também a dar testemunho, e os
seus pensamentos mesquinhos enquanto acusam ou desculpam uns aos outros”,
Romanos 2:14-15. Deus colocou uma bússola moral dentro de todos os homens, a
pequena voz da consciência. Estamos mesmo sem desculpa.
3 No dia em
que chorei Tu me respondeste, e fortaleceste-me com força na minha alma.
Deus promete
responder quando O invocamos. “Buscar-Me-eis e Me achareis, quando Me buscardes
de todo o coração”, Jeremias 29:13. “Invoca-me e eu te responderei”, Jeremias
33:3a. Quando o fazemos, os resultados são: “Ele dá poder aos fracos; e aos que
não têm poder Ele aumenta a força”, Isaías 40:29. Mas temos de ir a Ele, temos
de nos aproximar de Deus. Quando procuramos e atraímos, Ele promete que se
aproximará de nós. Jesus disse: “Vinde a Mim todos os que estais cansados e
oprimidos, e Eu aliviar-vos-ei. Tomai sobre vós o meu jugo e aprendei de Mim;
porque sou manso e humilde de coração; e encontrareis descanso para as vossas
almas. Porque o meu jugo é suave e o meu fardo é leve”, Mateus 11:28-30. Temos
de vir, buscar, aproximar-nos, bater, pedir. Ele fará o resto.
4 Todos os
reis da terra te louvarão, Senhor, quando ouvirem as palavras da tua boca.
Eventualmente e
em última instância, toda a criação se submeterá ao governo do Rei dos reis.
“Os reinos deste mundo tornaram-se os reinos do nosso Senhor e do Seu Cristo; e
Ele reinará pelos séculos dos séculos”, Apocalipse 11:15b. “Aquietai-vos e
sabei que Eu sou Deus: serei exaltado entre os gentios (nações), serei exaltado
na terra”, Salmos 46:10
5 Sim,
cantarão nos caminhos do Senhor: porque grande é a glória do Senhor.
Será no início do
Milénio que o mundo inteiro começará a cantar a vinda do Senhor e o Seu reinado
de paz na terra durante mil anos. “Tudo está em repouso e quieto: começam a
cantar”, Isaías 14:7. “Não farão mal nem destruirão em todo o Meu santo monte:
porque a terra se encherá do conhecimento do Senhor, como as águas cobrem o
mar”, Isaías 11:9.
6 Embora o
Senhor seja elevado, Ele tem respeito pelos humildes; mas aos soberbos Ele
conhece de longe.
Diz-nos o
Apóstolo Tiago: “Deus resiste aos soberbos, mas dá a sua graça aos humildes.
Humilhai-vos diante do Senhor, e Ele vos exaltará”, Tiago 4:6b e 4:10. David
diz: “Perto está o Senhor dos que têm o coração quebrantado; e salva os
contritos de espírito”, Salmos 34:18.
7 Embora eu
ande no meio da angústia, Tu me reviverás: Estenderás a Tua mão contra a ira
dos meus inimigos, e a Tua mão direita me salvará.
Jesus está
sentado à direita do Pai. Ele é a mão direita de Deus. É Jesus quem salva e
intercede por nós, Romanos 8:34. No Antigo Testamento lê-se: “Mas os que
esperam no Senhor renovarão as suas forças; subirão com asas como águias;
correrão e não se cansarão; caminharão e não desfalecerão”, Isaías 40:31. O
Senhor disse ao apóstolo Paulo: “A minha graça te basta, porque o meu poder se
aperfeiçoa na (tua) fraqueza”, 2 Coríntios 12:9a. O apóstolo Paulo respondeu:
“De bom grado, portanto, me gloriarei nas minhas enfermidades (ou fraquezas),
para que o poder de Cristo repouse sobre mim”, 2 Coríntios 12:9b. Deus
reavivar-nos-á e dar-nos-á forças. “Como os seus dias, assim será a sua força”,
Deuteronómio 33:25.
8 O Senhor
aperfeiçoará o que me diz respeito: a vossa misericórdia, ó Senhor, dura para
sempre: não abandones as obras das Tuas próprias mãos.
O apóstolo Paulo
escreveu: “Tendo certeza disto mesmo, que aquele que em vós começou a boa obra
a realizará até ao dia de Jesus Cristo”, Filipenses 1:6. “Porque eu sei em quem
tenho crido e estou certo de que ele é poderoso para guardar o que lhe confiei
até àquele dia”, 2 Timóteo 1:12b. Jesus disse: “Ninguém pode arrebatá-los da
mão de Meu Pai”, João 10:29. Não temas, pois, tu és mais valioso do que muitos
pardais e nenhum cai por terra sem que o Meu Pai o saiba, Mateus 10:29 e 31.
“Todo aquele que Me confessar diante dos homens, também Eu o confessarei diante
de Meu Pai. que está no céu”, Mateus 10:32.
Deus não nos
abandonará, se não O abandonarmos. Moisés disse ao povo: “E o Senhor é quem vai
convosco; Ele estará contigo, não te deixará, nem te desamparará; Em Isaías
43:10, lê-se: “Não temas, porque Eu estou contigo; porque Eu sou o teu Deus: Eu
te fortalecerei; sim, vou ajudá-lo; sim, Eu te sustentarei com a destra da
Minha justiça”.
Jesus é a mão
direita de Deus que nos sustenta. “Não temas: porque Eu te remi, chamei-te pelo
meu nome; tu és meu. Quando passares pelas águas, estarei contigo; e pelos
rios, não te submergirão; nem a chama se acenderá sobre ti”, Isaías 43:1b-2.
“Quem nos pode
separar do amor de Cristo? Será tribulação, ou angústia, ou perseguição, ou
fome, ou nudez, ou perigo, ou espada? Como está escrito: Por amor de ti somos
mortos todo o dia; somos contados como ovelhas para o matadouro. Não, em todas
estas coisas somos mais que vencedores por meio d’Aquele que nos amou. Pois
estou persuadido de que nem a morte, nem a vida, nem os anjos, nem os
principados, nem as potestades, nem as coisas do presente, nem do porvir, nem a
altura, nem a profundidade, nem qualquer outra criatura será capaz de
separar-nos do amor de Deus, que está em Cristo Jesus, nosso Senhor”, Romanos
8:35-39.
Em Nome de
Jesus!
Embora uma pessoa
possa ser abençoada por seguir as Palavras de Jesus, a promessa de vida eterna
é para aqueles que crêem no nome do Filho de Deus, 1 João 5:13. Há um nome
debaixo do céu dado entre os homens, pelo qual devemos ser salvos, Atos 4:12.
Esse nome é JESUS. Toda a criação um dia reconhecerá Jesus como Senhor ou
senhores e Rei dos reis. “Para que ao nome de Jesus se dobre todo o joelho das
coisas que estão nos céus, e das coisas que estão na terra, e das coisas
debaixo da terra. Pai”, Filipenses 2:10-11.
Se está a tentar
seguir as palavras de Jesus, porque não convidá-lo a entrar na sua vida? Ele
diz: “Eis que estou à porta (do teu coração) e bato. Se alguém ouvir a minha
voz e abrir a porta, entrarei em sua casa, e com ele cearei, e ele comigo.”
Apocalipse 3:20. Jesus anseia por um relacionamento pessoal consigo. Tudo o que
tem de fazer é abrir a porta e recebê-Lo no seu coração.
Oração: Querido Jesus, entra na minha vida.
Dai-me a força que preciso para a batalha. Perdoai-me pelos meus pecados, pelas
minhas ofensas e pelas minhas falhas. Acredito que tem as palavras de vida
eterna. Ajude a incredulidade a ser-me tirada. Leve-me a um relacionamento
pessoal mais profundo consigo. Em nome de Jesus, eu rezo. Amém.
Te Alabaré Con Todo Mi Corazón! - Salmos 138
Dennis Edwards
El Salmo 138 es
un salmo breve lleno de pensamientos poderosos para reflexionar desde el primer
versículo.
1a Te alabaré
con todo mi corazón:
Hay algo en hacer
las cosas de todo corazón que Dios desea. Jesús dijo que el primer y gran
mandamiento es: “Amarás al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón, y con toda tu
alma, y con toda tu mente”, Mateo 22:37. En otras palabras, amar a Dios de
todo corazón es el mandamiento más importante. El apóstol Pablo dice: “Y todo
lo que hagáis, hacedlo de corazón, como para el Señor y no para los hombres”,
Colosenses 3:23. El Antiguo Testamento tiene el mismo sentimiento: “Todo lo que
te viniere a la mano para hacer, hazlo con todas tus fuerzas”, Eclesiastés
9:10. “Y ahora, Israel, ¿qué pide Jehová tu Dios de ti, sino que temas a Jehová
tu Dios, que andes en sus caminos, que lo ames, y que sirvas a Jehová tu Dios
con todo tu corazón y con toda tu alma?” Deuteronomio 10:12.
Las últimas
palabras de David a su hijo Salomón fueron: “Y tú, Salomón, hijo mío, reconoce
al Dios de tu padre, y sírvele con corazón perfecto y con ánimo voluntario;
porque Jehová escudriña los corazones de todos, y entiende todo intento de los
pensamientos. Si le buscares, se dejará hallar; mas si le dejares, él te
desechará para siempre”, 1 Crónicas 28:9. Anteriormente en Crónicas leemos que
los hombres de guerra de la tribu de Zabulón “no eran de doble corazón”, 1
Crónicas 12:33b.
Dios quiere que
seamos de todo corazón, no de doble corazón ni de doble ánimo. El apóstol
Santiago advierte acerca de la doblez de corazón: “Pero pida con fe, no dudando
nada. Porque el que duda es semejante a la onda del mar, que es arrastrada por
el viento y echada de una parte a otra. No piense el tal que recibirá cosa
alguna del Señor. El hombre de doble ánimo es inconstante en todos sus
caminos”, Santiago 1:6-8.
Jesús dio una
advertencia a la iglesia de Laodicea. Los laodicenses eran ricos y se habían
enriquecido, y no tenían necesidad de nada, físicamente; pero en realidad, eran
desventurados, miserables, pobres, ciegos y desnudos, espiritualmente,
Apocalipsis 3:17. Jesús dijo: “Yo conozco tus obras, que ni eres frío ni
caliente. ¡Ojalá fueses frío o caliente! Pero porque eres tibio, y no frío ni
caliente, te vomitaré de mi boca”, Apocalipsis 3:15-16.
Ser un cristiano
tibio es un mal ejemplo para el mundo. Un cristiano tibio llevará a otros por
mal camino y los contagiará con su tibieza. Si vas a creer, cree con todo tu
corazón y sigue adelante. No vaciles entre dos opiniones. Si Dios es Dios,
sírvele. Si el mundo es tu dios, sírvelo. No trates de servir a Mammón y a Dios
al mismo tiempo. No puedes hacerlo. Jesús lo dijo así: “Ninguno puede servir a
dos señores; porque aborrecerá a uno y amará al otro, o se estimará a uno y
menospreciará al otro. No podéis servir a Dios y a Mammón” (Mateo 6:24).
1b Delante de
los dioses Te alabaré.
La palabra hebrea
para “dioses” se refiere a los demás seres espirituales en el reino celestial.
A los “dioses” buenos que se someten a Dios, los llamamos ángeles. A los
“dioses” desobedientes, los llamamos demonios o diablos. David comienza su
salmo, como lo hace a menudo, en alabanza al Dios verdadero.
2 Adoraré
hacia Tu santo templo, y alabaré Tu nombre por Tu misericordia y Tu verdad;
porque has engrandecido Tu palabra sobre todo Tu nombre.
Hay mucho en este
versículo para reflexionar. Dios está diciendo que ha engrandecido su Palabra
sobre su nombre. En otras palabras, Dios está más interesado en que obedezcas
sus mandamientos, que en que lo llames por su nombre propio. Es por eso que,
quien siga el dicho de Jesús: “amar al prójimo como a sí mismo”, tendrá una
medida de bendición en sus vidas. A pesar del hecho de que no crean en Dios, o
lo llamen por otro nombre, o tengan otro concepto de Dios; Si obedecen los
mandamientos de Dios, que se encuentran en las palabras de Jesús, tendrán una
medida de la bendición de Dios en sus vidas.
Jesús condena a
quienes dicen creer en Él, e incluso saben cómo llamarlo por su nombre propio;
si no hacen lo que Él ha pedido. “No todo el que me dice: Señor, Señor, entrará
en el reino de los cielos, sino el que hace la voluntad de mi Padre que está en
los cielos”, Mateo 7:21. Algunos usan el nombre de Jesús para su propio
bienestar, poder, dinero y fama. A estos les dice: “Apartaos de mí, hacedores
de maldad; nunca os conocí”, Mateo 7:23.
Jesús dice: “Si
vosotros permanecéis en mi palabra, seréis verdaderamente mis discípulos”, Juan
8:31b. Más adelante dijo: “El que tiene mis mandamientos, y los guarda, ése es
el que me ama; y el que me ama, será amado por mi Padre, y yo lo amaré, y me manifestaré
a él”, Juan 14:21. Si tratamos de seguir las palabras de Jesús, Él finalmente
se nos manifestará. El buscador y seguidor sincero de las palabras de Jesús
encontrará a Dios. “El que me ama, mi palabra guardará; y mi Padre le amará, y
vendremos a él, y haremos morada con él”, Juan 14:23. Al guardar las palabras
de Jesús demostramos que lo amamos. Incluso aquellos que no conocen Su nombre,
pero que guardan Sus palabras, serán bendecidos.
Sin embargo,
también seremos juzgados por nuestro conocimiento de Dios, Su palabra y Su
voluntad. La Biblia dice: “Al que sabe hacer lo bueno y no lo hace, le es
pecado”, Santiago 4:17. Jesús dijo: “Y aquel siervo que conociendo la voluntad
de su señor, y no se preparó, ni hizo conforme a su voluntad, recibirá muchos
azotes”, Lucas 12:47. “El que me rechaza, y no recibe mis palabras, tiene quien
le juzgue; la palabra que he hablado, ella le juzgará en el día postrero”, Juan
12:48. Si conocemos la palabra y la voluntad de Dios, y no la seguimos, seremos
más responsables.
Por otra parte,
Dios ha dado una medida de luz a toda la humanidad. Ha colocado un código moral
en todos nuestros corazones, “la luz que alumbra a todo hombre que viene a este
mundo”, Juan 1:9b. El apóstol Pablo también habla de esa luz moral que cada hombre
tiene. “Porque cuando los gentiles que no tienen ley (no habiendo conocido la
revelación de la ley de Dios a Moisés), hacen por naturaleza lo que es de la
ley, éstos, aunque no tengan ley, son ley para sí mismos, mostrando la obra de
la ley escrita en sus corazones, dando testimonio su conciencia, y acusándose o
defendiéndose sus razonamientos unos a otros”, Romanos 2:14-15. Dios ha puesto
una brújula moral en el interior de todos los hombres, la pequeña voz de la
conciencia. En realidad, no tenemos excusa.
3 El día que
clamé, me respondiste, y me fortaleciste con fortaleza en mi alma.
Dios promete
responder cuando lo invocamos. “Me buscaréis y me hallaréis, porque me
buscaréis de todo vuestro corazón”, Jeremías 29:13. “Invocadme, y yo os
responderé”, Jeremías 33:3a. Cuando lo hacemos, los resultados son: “Él da
esfuerzo al cansado, y multiplica las fuerzas al que no tiene ningunas”, Isaías
40:29. Pero tenemos que venir a Él, tenemos que acercarnos a Dios. Cuando
buscamos y atraemos, Él promete que se acercará a nosotros. Jesús dijo: “Venid
a mí todos los que estáis trabajados y cargados, y yo os haré descansar. Llevad
mi yugo sobre vosotros, y aprended de mí, que soy manso y humilde de corazón; y
hallaréis descanso para vuestras almas. Porque mi yugo es suave y ligera mi
carga”, Mateo 11:28-30. Nosotros tenemos que venir, buscar, acercarnos, tocar y
pedir. Él hará el resto.
4 Todos los
reyes de la tierra te alabarán, oh Señor, cuando oigan las palabras de tu boca.
Finalmente, toda
la creación se someterá al gobierno del Rey de reyes. “Los reinos del mundo han
venido a ser de nuestro Señor y de su Cristo; y él reinará por los siglos de
los siglos”, Apocalipsis 11:15b. “Estad quietos, y conoced que yo soy Dios;
seré exaltado entre las naciones, seré exaltado en la tierra”, Salmo 46:10
5 Cantarán en
los caminos del Señor, porque grande es la gloria del Señor.
Es al comienzo
del Milenio que todo el mundo comenzará a cantar por la venida del Señor y su
reinado de paz en la tierra por mil años. “Todo está en reposo y en calma;
prorrumpen en gritos de júbilo”, Isaías 14:7. “No harán mal ni destruirán en
todo mi santo monte; porque la tierra será llena del conocimiento de Jehová,
como las aguas cubren el mar”, Isaías 11:9.
6 Aunque el
Señor es excelso, mira a los humildes, pero conoce de lejos a los soberbios.
El apóstol
Santiago nos dice: “Dios resiste a los soberbios, pero da gracia a los
humildes. Humillaos delante del Señor, y él os exaltará”, Santiago 4:6b y 4:10.
David dice: “Cercano está el Señor a los quebrantados de corazón, y salva a los
contritos de espíritu”, Salmo 34:18.
7 Aunque ande
yo en medio de la angustia, Tú me vivificarás; extenderás Tu mano contra la ira
de mis enemigos, y me salvará Tu diestra.
Jesús está
sentado a la diestra del Padre. Él es la diestra de Dios. Es Jesús quien salva
e intercede por nosotros, Romanos 8:34. En el Antiguo Testamento leemos: “Pero
los que esperan en el Señor tendrán nuevas fuerzas; levantarán alas como las
águilas; correrán, y no se cansarán; caminarán, y no se fatigarán”, Isaías
40:31. El Señor le dijo al apóstol Pablo: “Bástate mi gracia; porque mi poder
se perfecciona en (tu) debilidad”, 2 Corintios 12:9a. El apóstol Pablo
respondió: “Por tanto, de buena gana me gloriaré más bien en mis debilidades,
para que repose sobre mí el poder de Cristo”, 2 Corintios 12:9b. Dios nos
revivirá y nos dará fuerza. “Como tus días serán tus fuerzas”, Deuteronomio
33:25.
8 El Señor
cumplirá lo que se refiere a mí: Tu misericordia, oh Señor, es para siempre; no
abandones la obra de Tus manos.
El apóstol Pablo
escribió: “Estando persuadido de esto, que el que comenzó en vosotros la buena
obra, la perfeccionará hasta el día de Jesucristo” (Filipenses 1:6). “Porque yo
sé a quién he creído, y estoy seguro que es poderoso para guardar mi depósito para
aquel día” (2 Timoteo 1:12b). Jesús dijo: “Nadie las puede arrebatar de la mano
de mi Padre” (Juan 10:29). Por tanto, no temáis, vosotros valéis más que muchos
gorriones y ni uno cae a tierra sin que lo sepa mi Padre (Mateo 10:29 y 31). “A
cualquiera, pues, que me confiese delante de los hombres, yo también le
confesaré delante de mi Padre que está en los cielos” (Mateo 10:32). Dios no
nos abandonará si nosotros no lo abandonamos a Él. Moisés le dijo al pueblo: “Y
el Señor es el que va con vosotros; Él estará contigo, no te dejará, ni te
desamparará; no temas ni desmayes”, Deuteronomio 31:8. En Isaías 43:10 leemos:
“No temas, porque yo estoy contigo; no desmayes, porque yo soy tu Dios que te
esfuerzo; siempre te ayudaré, siempre te sustentaré con la diestra de mi
justicia”.
Jesús es la mano
derecha de Dios que nos sostiene. “No temas, porque yo te redimí; te puse
nombre; mío eres tú. Cuando pases por las aguas, yo estaré contigo; y por los
ríos, no te anegarán; cuando pases por el fuego, no te quemarás, ni la llama
arderá en ti”, Isaías 43:1b-2.
“¿Quién nos
separará del amor de Cristo? ¿Tribulación, o angustia, o persecución, o hambre,
o desnudez, o peligro, o espada? Como está escrito: Por causa de ti somos
muertos todo el tiempo; Somos contados como ovejas de matadero. Antes, en todas
estas cosas somos más que vencedores por medio de aquel que nos amó. Por lo
cual estoy seguro de que ni la muerte, ni la vida, ni ángeles, ni principados,
ni potestades, ni lo presente, ni lo por venir, ni lo alto, ni lo profundo, ni
ninguna otra cosa creada nos podrá separar del amor de Dios, que es en Cristo
Jesús Señor nuestro”, Romanos 8:35-39.
¡En el nombre
de Jesús!
Aunque una
persona puede ser bendecida por seguir las palabras de Jesús, la promesa de
vida eterna es para aquellos que creen en el nombre del Hijo de Dios, 1 Juan
5:13. Hay un nombre bajo el cielo dado a los hombres, en el cual podemos ser
salvos, Hechos 4:12. Ese nombre es JESÚS. Un día, toda la creación reconocerá a
Jesús como Señor o señores, y Rey de reyes. “Para que en el nombre de Jesús se
doble toda rodilla de los que están en los cielos, y en la tierra, y debajo de
la tierra; y toda lengua confiese que Jesucristo es el Señor, para gloria de
Dios Padre”, Filipenses 2:10-11.
Si estás tratando
de seguir las palabras de Jesús, ¿por qué no le pides que entre en tu vida? Él
dice: “He aquí, yo estoy a la puerta (de tu corazón) y llamo. Si alguno oye mi
voz y abre la puerta, entraré a él, y cenaré con él y él conmigo”, Apocalipsis
3:20. Jesús anhela tener una relación personal contigo. Todo lo que tienes que
hacer es abrir la puerta y recibirlo en tu corazón.
Oración: Querido Jesús, entra en mi vida. Dame la
fuerza que necesito para la batalla. Perdóname por mis pecados, mis ofensas y
mis defectos. Creo que tienes palabras de vida eterna. Ayúdame a librarme de la
incredulidad. Guíame hacia una relación personal más profunda contigo. En el
nombre de Jesús, te lo pido. Amén.
John Campbell Censored by You Tube for Truth Telling!
https://www.youtube.com/live/d6fugjc6IvY?si=nnk2B82l_iAQlMBn
Dennis Edwards: Thomas Jefferson in 1814 said, "If a book be false in its facts, disprove them: if false in its reasoning, refute it. But for God's sake, let us freely hear both sides if we choose."
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
I Will Praise You With My Whole Heart! - Psalm 138
Dennis Edwards
Psalm 138, a psalm of David, is a short psalm full of powerful thoughts to
reflect on right from the first verse.
1a I will praise You with my whole heart:
There is something about doing things whole-heartedly that
God desires. Jesus said the first and great commandment is, “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind,” Matthew 22:37. In other words, loving God wholeheartedly is the most
important commandment. Apostle Paul says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it
heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men,” Colossians 3:23. The Old Testament
has the same sentiment. “Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy
might,” Ecclesiastes 9:10. “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God
require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to love
Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
Deuteronomy 10:12.
David’s last words to Solomon his son were, “And you,
Solomon, my son, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a perfect
heart and a willing mind: for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands all
imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek Him, He will be found of you; but if
you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever,” 1 Chronicles 28:9. Earlier in
Chronicles we read that the men of war from the tribe of Zebulon, “were not of
a double heart,” 1 Chronicles 12:33b.
God wants us to be whole hearted, not doubled hearted or
doubled minded. Apostle James warns about double-heartedness: “But let him ask
in faith, nothing wavering (or doubting). For he that wavers (or doubts) is
like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think
that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in
all his ways,” James 1:6-8.
Jesus gave a warning to the Laodicean church. The Laodicean’s
were rich and increased in goods, and had need of nothing - physically; but in
reality, they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked - spiritually,
Revelation 3:17. Jesus said, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor
hot: I would that you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue (vomit) you out of My mouth,” Revelation
3:15-16.
Being a lukewarm Christian is such a bad example to the
world. A lukewarm Christian will lead others astray and will infect others with
his half-heartedness. If you are going to believe, believe with all your heart
and get on with it. Don’t halt between two opinions. If God be God, serve Him.
If the world be your god, then serve it. Don’t try to serve both mammon and God
at the same time. You can’t do it. Jesus said so, “No man can serve two
masters; for he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” Matthew 6:24.
1b Before the gods will I sing praise unto You.
The Hebrew word for “gods” is referring to the other
spiritual beings in the heavenly realm. The good “gods” who yield to God, we
call angels. The disobedient “gods,” we call demons or devils. David starts his
psalm as He often does in praise to the true God.
2 I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your
name for Your lovingkindness and for Your truth: for You have magnified Your
Word above all Your name.
There is so much to chew on here. God is saying that He has
magnified His Word above His name. In other words, God is more interested in
you obeying His commandments, than He is in you calling Him by His proper name.
That’s why, whoever follows Jesus’ saying: “to love others as themselves,” will
have a measure of blessing on their lives. Despite the fact that they don’t
believe in God, or call Him by another name, or have another concept of God; if
they obey God’s commandments, found in the words of Jesus, they will have a
measure of God’s blessing on their lives.
Jesus condemns those who say they believe in Him, and even
know how to call Him by His proper name; because they don’t do what He has
asked. “Not everyone that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven,”
Matthew 7:21. Some use the name of Jesus for their own welfare, power, money,
and fame. To these He says, “Depart from Me, you that work iniquity, I never
knew you,” Matthew 7:23.
Jesus says, “If you continue in My word, then are you My
disciples indeed,” John 8:31b. Later he said, “He that has my commandments, and
keep them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him,” John 14:21. If
we try to follow Jesus’ words, He will eventually manifest Himself to us. The
sincere seeker and follower of Jesus’ words will find God. “If a man loves Me,
he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him,” John 14;23. By keeping Jesus’ words we show that
we love Him. Even those who don’t know His name, who keep His words, will be
blessed.
However, we will also be judged by our knowledge of God and
His word and His will. The Bible says, “To him that knows to do good and does
it not, to him it is sin,” James 4:17. Jesus said, “And that servant, which
knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his
will, shall be beaten with many stripes,” Luke 12:47. “He that rejects Me, and
receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day,” John 12:48. If we know God’s word
and will, and don’t follow it, we will be more accountable.
On the other hand, God has given a measure of light to all
mankind. He has placed a moral code in all of our hearts, “the light that
lightens every man that comes into the world,” John 1:9b. Apostle Paul also
speaks of that moral light that each man has. “For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, (having not known the revelation of God’s law to Moses), do
by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law
unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or
else excusing one another,” Romans 2:14-15. God has put a moral compass within
all men, the little voice of conscience. We are really without excuse.
3 In the day when I cried You answered me, and
strengthened me with strength in my soul.
God promises to answer when we call upon Him. “Ye shall seek
Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart,” Jeremiah
29:13. “Call upon Me and I will answer you,” Jeremiah 33:3a. When we do, the
results are, “He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He
increases strength,” Isaiah 40:29. But we have to come unto Him, we have to
draw nigh to God. When we do the seeking and drawing, He promises that He will
draw nigh to us. Jesus said, “Come unto Me all you that are weary and heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I
am meek and lowly of heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My
yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30. We have to do the
coming, the searching, the drawing near, the knocking, the asking. He will do
the rest.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord,
when they hear the words of Your mouth.
Eventually and ultimately, the whole creation will submit to
the rule by the King of kings. “The kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever,”
Revelation 11:15b. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among
the heathen (nations), I will be exalted in the earth,” Psalm 46:10
5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great
is the glory of the Lord.
It’s at the beginning of the Millennium that the whole world
will break into singing at the coming of the Lord and His reign of peace on
earth for a thousand years. “The whole is at rest, and is quiet: they break
forth into singing,” Isaiah 14:7. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My
holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the
waters cover the sea,” Isaiah 11:9.
6 Though the Lord be high, yet has He respect unto the
lowly: but the proud He knows afar off.
Apostle James tells us, “God resists the proud, but gives
grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will
lift you up,” James 4:6b & 4:10. David says, “The Lord is nigh unto them
that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit,” Psalm
34:18.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive
me: You shall stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your
right hand shall save me.
Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. He is the
right hand of God. It is Jesus that saves and that makes intercession for us,
Romans 8:34. In the Old Testament we read, “But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint,” Isaiah 40:31. The
Lord said to Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is
made perfect in (your) weakness,” 2 Corinthians 12:9a. Apostle Paul responded,
“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities (or weaknesses),
that the power of Christ may rest upon me,” 2 Corinthians 12:9b. God will
revive us and give us strength. “As your days, so shall your strength be,”
Deuteronomy 33:25.
8 The Lord will perfect that which concerns me: Your
mercy, O Lord, endures for ever: forsake not the works of Your own hands.
Apostle Paul wrote, “Being confident of this very thing,
that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of
Jesus Christ,” Philippians 1:6. “For I know Whom have believed, and I am
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against
that day,” 2 Timothy 1:12b. Jesus said, “No man is able to pluck them out of My
Father’s hand,” John 10:29. Do not fear, therefore, you are more valuable than
many sparrows and not one falls to the ground without My Father knowing it,
Matthew 10:29 & 31. “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him
will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven,” Matthew 10:32.
God will not forsake us, if we don’t forsake Him. Moses said
to the people, “And the Lord, He it is that does go with you; He will be with
you, He will not fail you, neither forsake you: fear not, neither be dismayed,”
Deuteronomy 31:8. In Isaiah 43:10 we read, “Fear not, for I am with you: be not
dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you; yea,
I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.”
Jesus is the right hand of God that is holding us up. “Fear
not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by My name; you are mine. When
you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be
burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you,” Isaiah 43:1b-2.
The Name of Jesus!
I need to add the following footnote. Though a person can be blessed for following the Words of Jesus, the promise of eternal life is to those that believe on the name of the Son of God, 1 John 5:13. There is one name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved, Acts 4:12. That name is JESUS. All creation will one day acknowledge Jesus as Lord or lords, and King of kings. "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Philippians 2:10-11.
If you are trying to follow Jesus' words, why not ask Him into your life. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door (of your heart) and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me," Revelation 3:20. Jesus is yearning for personal relationship with you. All you have to do is open the door and receive Him into your heart.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, come into my life. Give me the strength I need for the battle. Forgive me for my sins, my offenses, and my shortcoming. I believe you have have the words of eternal life. Help unbelief to be lifted from me. Lead me into a deeper personal relationship with You. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
You can write me at dennismedwards@gmail.com
Let Me Live One More Day For Jesus!
Dennis Edwards: Our beloved "Faithy," one of the leaders of the world-wide Jesus Revolution, has gone to her reward (1951-2024). Here she is singing in France in 1974.
Monday, November 18, 2024
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Trump's Team Thank God for Victory
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCDooNRy8fV/?igsh=MWxoa2N2aG5rdGc4bQ==
Dennis Edwards: Trump's team is full of evangelicals who believe it's their mission to help the Jewish people. The Defence Secretary has said that if Trump wins it's time to build the third temple on the Temple Mount. The covenant and last 7 years could be right around the corner.
Saturday, November 16, 2024
Friday, November 15, 2024
The History of Christian Zionism by James Perloff
https://jamesperloff.com/tag/scofield-reference-bible/
Scofield Reference Bible
The War on Christianity, Part II: The Abomination and Blasphemy of Christian Zionism
(Picture credit unknown)
(Note: For those who would prefer to read this post in hard copy, it is Chapter Ten of my book Thirteen Pieces of the Jigsaw.)
Foreword: This post is long. It is long because Christian Zionism is based on a multitude of lies. The bigger the onion, the more the layers we are forced to peel off. I should also note that my paternal ancestors were Russian Jews (see photo below, taken about 1900). My great-grandfather’s name was Abraham Perlovsky. People who criticize Zionism are frequently accused of being motivated by anti-Semitism. As I’m half-Jewish myself, let me be clear that no such feelings impel me. I am unequivocally opposed to racism in any form.
Part 1 of this series explored how the Rockefellers were instrumental in orchestrating the Modernist movement, assaulting every fundamental doctrine of Christianity, for the long-range ecumenical purpose of absorbing it into a one-world religion. The Fundamentalist movement rejected Modernism, intending to stand by the faith’s original tenets.
Unfortunately, as we will now see, Fundamentalism was itself infiltrated and hijacked, consistent with the Rothschild strategy of funding both sides of wars. Fundamentalist churches were targeted to enlist their support for the Zionist agenda. The two principal agents in this scheme were John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) and Cyrus Scofield (1843-1921). What Darby planted, Scofield watered and disseminated. The theology they developed served the agenda by making several claims:
• God wanted the Jews to return to, and take over, Palestine.
• God has two plans of salvation—one through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the other a guarantee reserved for Jews, his “Chosen People.”
• Christians should not involve themselves in politics, education,
business or the arts, as these are “worldly” matters that should be left
in the hands of “worldly” people. (The consequences of this doctrine
are very visible in American culture today.)
• God deals with mankind differently during different historical time
frames or “dispensations,” of which there are seven. The current one,
“Grace” under Jesus Christ, is merely the sixth of the seven
dispensations.
• The Christian Church is doomed to inevitable failure, which will bring the Dispensation of Grace to a close.
• The end of this dispensational age will be marked by the
Tribulation—worldwide persecution under the Antichrist for a period of
seven years; however, Christians need not concern themselves with this,
since Jesus will “Rapture” believers off the Earth and they won’t be
around to experience it.
• Earth will then experience a Jewish era; Jewish ritualistic animal
sacrifices will be reinstituted; Jesus will reign for a thousand years
from Solomon’s rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
These doctrines, whose main outcome was “Christian Zionism,” might seem boring to atheists and agnostics, but they are nonetheless exceedingly relevant to the state of the world. They are espoused by celebrity-status theologians like Hal Lindsey, Pat Robertson and John Hagee, in the best-selling Left Behind book series, and are prevailing views in many conservative evangelical churches. Without these ideas being sweepingly disseminated, there might have been no Israeli state created in 1948, no 9/11, and no Middle East wars.
The Context
Before proceeding, I’m aware that some readers may be visiting this website for the first time, so I’ll take a moment to “begin at the beginning.” The United States, and much of the world itself, is run by an incalculably wealthy oligarchy known as, among other names, the Illuminati. The trappings of “democracy” are an illusion; the oligarchy operates behind the scenes, choosing presidents and prime ministers long before the public goes to the polls. It owns and controls the central banks, most of the ”Fortune 500” corporations, and the mainstream media (CNN, Fox, BBC, etc.), the latter being crucial to keeping the agenda, and the oligarchy itself, concealed from public awareness. It coordinates its global policies through international organizations such as the Bilderbergers, Trilateral Commission, and an upper, exclusive level of Freemasonry. The cabal’s highest identifiable human center is the Rothschild banking dynasty. But the oligarchy is not only about materialistic matters such as money and power; like the universe itself, it possesses a spiritual dimension: its outlook is satanic, which largely accounts for Western culture’s rapid moral descent.
I cannot document and prove these claims in one paragraph, but I can in a book, which is why I wrote Truth Is a Lonely Warrior.
The ultimate goal of the Illuminati is a world government. Regional
blocs like the European Union and NAFTA (intended to become a North
American Union) are stepping stones toward this end. The world
government will be ruled by a dark figure whom the Bible calls the
“beast” or “Antichrist.” The book of Revelation says he will have
“authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.” The capital of this evil world government will be Jerusalem, a city revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews alike, to be centered in Greater Israel. It was for this purpose that:
• the Rothschilds committed their fortune to the Zionist movement, beginning no later than 1829;
• Theodor Herzl began hosting the World Zionist congresses in Basle, Switzerland in 1897;
• the British government was persuaded to issue the Balfour Declaration
to Lord Walter Rothschild in 1917, promising the Zionists “establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” in exchange for
the Zionists bringing America into World War I on Britain’s side.
However, Zionist seizure of Palestine could not have occurred without the consent and cooperation of the world’s Christian community. Given the centuries-old conflict between Jews and Christians, it was necessary to remold Christian theology to accommodate the Rothschild plan. Cyrus Scofield and his reference Bible came on the scene for this express purpose.
Darby Plants the Seeds
Before examining Scofield’s life, we should note a little about John Nelson Darby, the principle figure from whom Scofield borrowed his Biblical analysis. Darby was a Satanist, Freemason and agent of the Rothschild-owned British East India Company,1 the latter being the most powerful multinational corporation of its day and the supplier that turned millions of Chinese into opium addicts. Darby’s family owned Leap Castle, renowned as the most sinister and occult castle in Ireland’s history.
Darby became a leader of a Christian sect called the Plymouth Brethren (named for Plymouth, England, where its most popular gatherings were held). He is generally credited with originating the “Secret Rapture” doctrine and made several trips to America to spread his ideas.
Darby used many terms in common with occult Theosophists—he referred to Jesus as “the coming one” (same term New Agers use for the Antichrist); referred to God as the “architect” (same phrase employed by Freemasons, meaning “God” for the uninitiated, “Lucifer” to true adepts); and many other occult phrases, as summarized in this article.
Darby even penned his own satanic version of the Bible. The Illuminati have always known they could not perform a wholesale transformation of the Bible, because it would be recognized as such and rejected. Therefore the approach through the centuries has been to whittle it away: a word here, a phrase there—the universal strategy of boiling the frog.
Darby slyly introduced satanic wording into the Biblical text. For example, in the King James rendering of John 6:69, Peter told Jesus: “And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” Darby rendered this: “And we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God.” “Holy one of God” is a title used for Jesus only by demons in the King James. For a comprehensive review of Darby’s satanic mistranslations, see the article John Nelson Darby Version: Doctrinal Changes to the Holy Bible.
Scofield Spreads Darby Like a Virus
In 1897, Theodore Herzl began hosting the Rothschild-backed Zionist congresses in Switzerland, developing the plan for Zionist takeover of Palestine. Knowing this scheme would require Christian approval, in 1904 Herzl approached Pope Pius X, who very politely told him what he could do with his plan. After Catholic rejection, the Rothschilds knew Protestant support would be essential. But this could only be achieved by tampering with the Bible to make it appear God himself had ordained that Jews retake Palestine. Such a Bible would have to come from a non-Jew, someone with credentials as a theologian. Thus emerged Cyrus Scofield and his reference Bible.
Scofield started out as a crooked Kansas lawyer and politician, working under the auspices of John J. Ingalls, a major figure in corrupt Kansas politics. In 1881, the Atchison Globe reported:
C. I. Schofield [sic], who was appointed United States District Attorney for Kansas in 1873, and who turned out worse than any other Kansas official, is now a Campbellite preacher in Missouri. His wife and two children live in Atchison. He contributes nothing to their support except good advice.2
That same year, the Topeka Daily Capital picked up the story:
Cyrus I. Schofield, formerly of Kansas, late lawyer, politician and shyster generally, has come to the surface again, and promises once more to gather around himself that halo of notoriety that has made him so prominent in the past. The last personal knowledge that Kansans have had of this peer among scalawags, was when about four years ago, after a series of forgeries and confidence games he left the state and a destitute family and took refuge in Canada. For a time he kept undercover, nothing being heard of him until within the past two years when he turned up in St. Louis, where he had a wealthy widowed sister living who has generally come to the front and squared up Cyrus’ little follies and foibles by paying good round sums of money. Within the past year, however, Cyrus committed a series of St. Louis forgeries that could not be settled so easily, and the erratic young gentleman was compelled to linger in the St. Louis jail for a period of six months.3
However, court cases against Scofield were inexplicably dropped. As Joseph M. Canfield, who is probably Scofield’s most thorough biographer, notes: “The very sudden dropping of the criminal charges without proper adjudication suggests that Scofield’s career was in the hands of someone who had clout . . .”4
According to Scofield, his conversion to Christ occurred in 1879 in his “St. Louis law office.” However, he was not a member of Missouri’s bar, and no record exists of his practicing law in that state5—in fact, he was habitually on the run from the law.
Scofield began immersing himself in Darby’s teachings. He was mentored by Rev. James H. Brookes, whose very pulpit Darby had preached from.6 He made rapid ecclesiastical progress: by 1881 he was already a pastor in St. Louis, despite having no seminary training or other formal religious education.
In 1882, Scofield moved to Dallas and began an extended term as pastor of the First Congregational Church. Possibly this move was necessitated because his criminal past and familial irresponsibility were too well-known in the Kansas-Missouri region. As Rev. John S. Torell writes:
There were a number of wealthy and political power brokers in the membership of the First Congregational Church in Dallas. . . I do know that most churches in the United States are heavily infested with Freemasons. George Bannerman Dealey was a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the later part of his life. But he was also heavily involved in the occult, majoring in the Scottish Rite of Masonry with a 33rd degree and active as a Shriner, and was also a member of the Red Cross of Constantine. Most likely he had a hand in getting Cyrus into Masonic circles and particularly the Lotos Club in New York.7
Post-Conversion Issues
I am well aware that a person redeemed by Christ receives forgiveness of sins. I am also aware that those born again remain flawed individuals. Nevertheless, a high standard is held for pastors and elders of churches. In 1883, back in Kansas, Reverend Scofield’s wife Leontine was granted a divorce on the grounds that he had long since abandoned her and their two daughters, Abigail and Helene. The court ruled that Scofield “was not a fit person to have custody of the children.”8 Within six months of the divorce, Scofield married a new wife, Hettie.
Here is what the Bible says (1 Timothy 5:8): “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Scofield’s fans give him a free pass on this teaching, and not surprisingly, the Scofield Reference Bible makes no commentary on this verse.
Scofield’s defenders have argued that he had to divorce his wife because she was Catholic, but there is no Biblical grounds for that, and Scofield had deserted his family long before his professed conversion to Christ. However, if handlers were prepping him to fulfill the role of Zionist messenger to Protestant churches, it may well be that having a Catholic wife was deemed unsuitable.
Although Scofield became quite wealthy from his reference Bible, there is no evidence that he ever shared his riches with his abandoned family, or ever made restitution to people whom he had defrauded in Kansas and Missouri.
Truthfulness is another characteristic of genuine conversion. Here is how Scofield later described his military service in his Who’s Who in America entry:
Pvt. Co. H. 7th Tenn. Inf. May 1861 to close of Civil War; served in Army of Northern Va. under Gen. Lee, and awarded Cross of Honor for valor at battle of Antietam.9
Although Scofield was in the 7th Tennessee, this little entry is full of falsehoods. Scofield did not serve until “the close of the war.” He successfully begged out of the service in 1862 on grounds that he was a Northerner (he was Michigan-born). Also, Scofield was not decorated for valor at the battle of Antietam. Decorations were a frill the Confederate army could not afford. The Cross of Honor was a postwar decoration bestowed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, beginning in 1900, to any veteran who had provided “loyal, honorable service to the South.” As to having served “under Gen. Lee“—as Canfield notes, this was only in the same sense that “GIs in WW2 were under Eisenhower.”10
Perhaps more egregiously, by 1892 Cyrus began using the title “Dr. Scofield.” In the Scofield Reference Bible, he is “Rev. C. I. Scofield, D. D.” (Doctor of Divinity). Conveying this landmark book as a scholar’s work was, of course, vital. However, there is no evidence Scofield ever received a doctorate. He never attended a college or seminary. Some suggest he could have received an honorary doctorate, but even this seems improbable: no institution has ever claimed credit for awarding it, Scofield made no allusion to the degree’s source in his Who’s Who biography, and since Dispensationalism was still viewed as highly unorthodox in 1892, no Christian institution would have likely bestowed such an honorary degree on Scofield.
Scofield Acquires Connections and Backers
Scofield met the distinguished theologian D. L. Moody during one of the latter’s evangelical campaigns. In 1886, Moody spoke in Dallas at Scofield’s invitation. A loose association continued between them, and in 1896 Scofield moved to New England, becoming pastor of Trinitarian Congregational, Moody’s home church. It is unclear if this occurred at Moody’s request, but association with Moody gave Scofield another credential that advanced his theologian resumé. In December 1899, Moody died at 62 from an undiagnosed illness.
In 1901, Scofield became a member of New York’s exclusive, invitation-only Lotos Club, a hangout for the financial and literary elite. Members have included Mark Twain, New York Times owner Arthur Hays Sulzberger, the atheist industrialist Andrew Carnegie, and sexual revolution advocate Margaret Mead. The Lotos Club was the sort of place where a Fundamentalist preacher would ordinarily be ridiculed, yet somehow Scofield joined its rolls, even though the membership fee alone equaled one-fifth of his salary as a pastor.11 He remained a member until his death in 1921.
Scofield’s Lotos Club admission was approved by the ultra-Zionist attorney on the club’s Literary Committee, Samuel Untermyer. During his lifetime, Untermyer served as President of Keren Hayesod (Zionism’s chief financial angel), played a major role in drafting the Federal Reserve Act, was notorious for blackmailing Woodrow Wilson into appointing Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court, and spearheaded the Jewish “declaration of war” boycott against Germany in 1933. Is it surprising that someone who might be called America’s leading Zionist would sponsor, at the Lotos Club, the theologian who produced the book which birthed “Christian Zionism”?
Samuel Untermyer
According to some sources (e.g., this article), Untermyer introduced Scofield to other leading Zionist financiers, such as Jacob Schiff and Bernard Baruch. This is credible, since Untermyer was close to these individuals, and Scofield’s finances took a turn for the better—he was suddenly able to afford extended trips to Europe in pursuit of producing his reference Bible.
Scofield and his wife Hettie traveled to England in 1904. According to Charles Trumbull’s official, laudatory biography of Scofield, he told a London acquaintance, Robert Scott, that he planned writing a reference Bible, but had no idea who might publish it. As luck would have it, Scott was able to introduce him to Henry Frowde, head of Oxford University Press. Quoting Trumbull:
Mr. Frowde was interested. He said he would consult Mr. Armstrong, then head of the American branch of the Oxford University Press. Mr. Armstrong was immediately enthusiastic at the suggestion that this new Reference Bible be brought out by the Oxford Press, and a preliminary understanding was quickly reached. Mr. Frowde assured Dr. Scofield that, if he finally decided to place the Bible with them, they could readily arrange a proper contract for the publication, in the interests of each party. And so the publishing question was settled . . . . 12
This story is as preposterous as Scofield’s Lotos Club admission. Major publishing houses don’t assure publication of manuscripts they haven’t even seen yet, unless the author has a proven track record of bestsellers (e.g., a Stephen King). Scofield had never written a book before, with the exception of Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth (which was actually self-described as a “pamphlet”). He had no academic background qualifying him to edit a reference Bible.
Furthermore, Oxford University Press was owned by Zionist Jews and run by Fabian Socialists. It was primarily devoted to publishing literary and scholarly books, not Bibles, and like the Lotos Club, was a venue normally hostile to evangelical Fundamentalists.
It is rather apparent that Scofield’s Zionist connections, who got him into the Lotos Club and provided travel funding, also arranged for Oxford’s up-front publication agreement. Is it only coincidence that Scofield’s trip to England came on the heels of the Pope’s rejection (January 26, 1904) of Herzl’s plea to support a Zionist state in Palestine? With the Catholics out, rallying Protestants had become imperative. Oxford University Press, with offices on both sides of the Atlantic, could ensure Scofield’s work would receive the publicity and distribution the Zionists desired.
When the Scofields left England, they moved to Switzerland, where, according to Trumbull, Scofield did nine months of “solid work” on his reference Bible. But why Switzerland? Although John Calvin’s library was there, it was not a very logical place to research and write a reference Bible. It was, however, a center of Freemasonic and covert banking activities, and, perhaps most importantly, where Theodor Herzl hosted the early Zionist congresses.
Scofield came back to America in 1905. In 1906 he returned to England (and according to some sources, Switzerland again). In 1907, Scofield signed his publishing contract at the New York City office of Oxford University Press, and his reference Bible was first published in January 1909.
One immediately notices the volume was produced with astonishing swiftness. For most men, a reference Bible would have required a lifetime’s work. All the more remarkable: Scofield had no seminary or university training, and was not formally schooled in the languages that ancient Biblical texts are written in—Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.
The Scofield Bible’s Strategy
Were, then, some of Scofield’s notes dictated to him by other parties? Even if not, reviewing the Bible makes it evident that Scofield borrowed heavily from John Nelson Darby, James Brookes, and other early proponents of Plymouth Brethren-Dispensational theology. Scofield would undoubtedly have preferred to use Darby’s satanic Bible version, or a Hort-Westcott modernized translation. But since the Zionists wanted to reach the largest cross-section of Fundamentalists, the King James was employed. As James Whisler notes:
Cyrus wanted to use the bible of his heroes, Westcott and Hort, for this project. However, he knew that due to the prominence of the KJV and the meager results of the Revised Version sales, that his dispensationalist teachings would never get anywhere if coupled with the R.V. So he used the KJV, but he subtly showed his contempt for it and his reverence for the Revised Version. This is how he did it. Everywhere that the King James disagreed with the Revised Version in an area of doctrinal importance, Cyrus inserted a footnote stating the KJV was incorrect and he always offered a “more correct” rendering which was almost always identical to the RV.13
Although his reference Bible was first published in 1909, that edition is virtually impossible to find today. It was the revised 1917 edition that was hyper-marketed, with limitless advertising, by Oxford University Press, selling millions of copies. Is it only coincidence that 1917 was also the year of the Balfour Declaration, by which Britain’s government pledged to Lord Walter Rothschild and the Zionist Federation to establish a “national home” for the Jews in Palestine? The simultaneous mass-marketing of Scofield’s Bible would make it appear that God himself had cosigned the Declaration, and “prophecy was being fulfilled” before believers’ eyes.
Why was Scofield’s work so effectual at changing people’s understanding of the Bible? Before this, most commentaries were published separately from the Scriptures themselves. Earlier expositors had regarded the Bible as the sacred Word of God, and that its text should not be adulterated by their unworthy human words. Scofield scorned this tradition, placing his comments right on the Bible’s pages. While this was done under the pretext of reader convenience, its subliminal impact was to give Scofield’s views status competing with the Scriptures. When a reader recalled a specific Bible verse, he was apt to remember Scofield’s words along with it, or even in its place.
Some were not fooled. As Philip Mauro commented in 1927:
It is a matter of grief to me that a book should exist wherein the corrupt words of mortal man are printed on the same page with the holy Words of the living God; this mixture of the precious and the vile being made an article of sale, entitled a “Bible,” and distinguished by a man’s name. . . . For the fact is that dispensationalism is modernism. It is modernism, moreover, of a very pernicious sort, such that it must have a “Bible” of its own for the propagation of its peculiar doctrines, since they are not in the Word of God.14
With Oxford’s intense marketing, people who simply wanted a Bible often found themselves holding a Scofield Bible, and thus became unwitting recipients of “Scofieldism.” To help ensure the Bible sold well, Oxford produced it in beautifully printed cloth and leather editions. To the unsuspecting, this appeared “God-honoring.”
How Scofield Twisted the Bible to Accommodate Zionism
I know some will argue that Scofield’s notes include many theologically sound remarks. Of course they do, because lies are far more effective when mingled with truths. The Bible warns us that “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough” (Galatians 5:9) and to “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” (Matthew 16:6). Scofield’s foremost mission was to harmonize his Bible with Zionism. Central to this was distorting the promises God had made to Abraham (the ancestor of both the ancient Hebrews and Arabs) in Genesis 12:1-3:
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Although the word “thee” is singular in the Hebrew,15 Scofield pulled a fast one, made it plural, and applied the blessing to modern Jews. He wrote in his notes:
“And curse him that curseth thee.” Wonderfully fulfilled in the history of the dispersion. It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted the Jew—well with those who have protected him. The future will still more remarkably prove this principle.16
The Scofield Reference Bible was copyrighted by Oxford University Press, not Scofield. This gave the publishing house license to change his words in subsequent printings. Oxford issued a revised edition in 1967 (coinciding with the Six Day War and Israel’s seizure of Jerusalem). That version put Scofield’s Zionism on steroids, adding, for example, this phrase to the above words: “For a nation to commit the sin of anti-Semitism brings inevitable judgement.” The Bible, of course, never refers to “the sin of anti-Semitism.”
In Genesis 15:18, God described the land He was giving Abraham and his seed:
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
At Herzl’s Zionist congresses, plans were made to claim all land from the Nile to the Euphrates.
This demarks “Greater Israel”; the Euphrates and Nile rivers are the
two blue stripes displayed on the Israeli flag. They enclose a star
traditionally used in Satanism, with six points, six triangles, and a
hexagon (six-sided) in the middle—666.
To convince Christians that Zionists remained entitled to this land, Scofield made God’s promise “unconditional.” He wrote:
For Abraham and his descendants it is evident that the Abrahamic Covenant made a great change. They became distinctively the heirs of promise. That covenant is wholly gracious and unconditional. The descendants of Abraham had but to abide in their own land to inherit every blessing.17
But as any Bible student knows—or should know—God’s promises to the Hebrews were always conditional upon their faith. When Moses brought the Hebrews out of Egypt, God did not even permit them to enter the land due to lack of faith. Instead, they were compelled to first wander in the wilderness for forty years. Do you think today’s “Israelites” are more faithful to God than those of Moses’ days?
Tel Aviv’s 2016 Gay Pride Parade. Tel Aviv has been voted the world’s number one gay city. Look like Biblical holiness?
Anyone who believes God’s promises to Israel were “unconditional” should read Deuteronomy 28, which clearly enumerates blessings for obedience, counterbalanced by curses for disobedience. What did John the Baptist think about claims of “unconditional” heritage? He told the Pharisees: “And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9). Jesus said: “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matthew 21:43)
Scofield also made it appear that the Bible prophesied a future return of the Jews to Palestine, in order to give the Balfour Declaration, and Israel’s eventual statehood, the illusion of “fulfilled prophecies.” His notes proclaimed:
The gift of the land is modified by prophecies of three dispossessions and restorations . . . . Two dispossessions and restorations have been accomplished. Israel is now in the third dispersion, from which she will be restored at the return of the Lord as King under the Davidic Covenant.18
Scofield’s claim of three restorations is unscriptural. The Bible prophesies only two restorations: the Hebrews’ original journey from Egypt to the Promised Land under Moses; and the return from the exile in Babylon described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. To support his claim, Scofield used verses referring to the Ezra-Nehemiah return, or to the coming of Christ, but nowhere does the Bible forecast a third return of the Jews to Palestine, unless ones uses (as Scofield did) imaginative leaps of logic.
A cardinal rule of Scofield Dispensationalism: claim that if any Biblical prophecy was not fulfilled in the past, it still awaits future fulfillment. Of God’s promise to give Abraham’s seed the land from the Nile to the Euphrates, Scofield wrote: “It is important to see that the nation has never as yet taken the land under the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant, nor has it ever possessed the whole land.”19
“Important,” Scofield? Important to whom? Only to your Zionist masters. Although it is claimed that the conquests described in the book of Joshua did not give the Hebrews the whole land, and thus left God’s promise to Abraham “unfulfilled” until the future, a careful reading of the Bible disproves this. Joshua 21:43-45 declares:
And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
1 Kings 4:21 testifies that the Israelites ruled the entire area Herzl envisioned as “Greater Israel”:
And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.
Thus the Bible itself refutes Scofield’s claim that the promise was never fulfilled, allegedly justifying the modern Zionist takeover of Palestine.
Scofield’s Legacy: The Damage that Has Been Done
Scofield’s Bible birthed “Christian Zionism,” and with it, untold sorrows over the past century:
• Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. In the 1948 Nakba, the Zionists murderously drove 750,000 Palestinians from their homes at gunpoint. Quoting If Americans Knew:
Zionist forces committed 33 massacres and destroyed 531 Palestinian towns. Author Norman Finkelstein [himself Jewish] states: “According to the former director of the Israeli army archives, ‘in almost every village occupied by us during the War… acts were committed which are defined as war crimes, such as murders, massacres, and rapes’…Uri Milstein, the authoritative Israeli military historian of the 1948 war, goes one step further, maintaining that ‘every skirmish ended in a massacre of Arabs.’”20
Victims of 1948 Deir Yassin Massacre
The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has continued to this day.
Israeli settlers abuse a Palestinian
For those Christians who think the book of Joshua somehow still justifies this, I wish to point out that the Canaanites whom Joshua and the Hebrews fought against were giants; satanically transhumanized beings and worshippers of Satan. (See my article “Making Sense of the Supernatural.”) Today’s Palestinians do not equate to the ancient Canaanites, and contrary to what “Christian Zionists” typically believe, many Palestinians are Christians.
Israel destroys a Gaza town, 2014:
Israelis celebrate their bombs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJxH6mhnAoc&rel=o
Christian Zionists have bought into the myth that Israel is only “defending its right to exist” and that Palestinians are “terrorists.” The Israelis have over 4,000 tanks and over 400 combat aircraft, thanks to a steady flow of about $3 billion annually from American taxpayers. The unarmed Palestinians have not one tank or plane; they fight their illegal occupiers primarily with stones.
George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003 on the pretext that it was avoiding UN inspections of weapons of mass destruction (which, it turned out, didn’t even exist). Israel, on the other hand, has hundreds of nuclear weapons which it refuses to let the UN inspect; the United States grants it a free pass, and has even given Israel the hydrogen bomb.
• False-flag Terrorism and War for the Rest of the World. Contrary to the Zionist media’s spin, Israel has been the world’s number-one sponsor of terrorism, implemented “by way of deception”—the motto of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. This has included, for example, the 1946 King David Hotel bombing, the 1954 Lavon Affair, the vicious 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, the 1986 “Trojan” deception that led Reagan to bomb Libya (scroll down a little if clicking link), and of course, the mother of them all, 9/11, covered with Zionist-Israeli fingerprints. 9/11 led to the countless and unnecessary Middle East wars which were already foreknown in 2001. Those wars in turn produced the refugee crisis ravaging Europe today.
• Provoking Hostility of Muslims toward Christianity. Christian Aid is a leading Christian charity and missionary organization, founded in 1945. Here is an informative 2003 quote from Bob Finley, Christian Aid’s founder and CEO:
Christian support for the Zionist movement began in England a century ago when a few Bible teachers began to interpret certain Old Testament prophecies regarding the ancient Hebrews as being applicable to the present day Jewish people. Apparently those teachers did not know that (according to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia) the Ashkenazi, or Yiddish, majority of Jewish people originally came from the empire of Khazaria in Southern Russia and are not biologically related to Abraham. So when a few Ashkenazi Zionists began trying to take over parts of Palestine through acts of terrorism about 70 years ago, some Christians started saying it signified the fulfillment of some obscure Old Testament prophecies.
Christians today fail to realize how such statements have had a destructive effect on our fellow believers in many parts of the world, so Christian Aid has begun to call attention to these facts. Since 1940 the Zionists have killed, driven out or displaced over two million of the original residents of Palestine. Their lands, houses and businesses have all been stolen, and most of their personal property as well. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled to refugee camps in surrounding countries over a 20-year period. Yet all the while, unbelievably, some Christians in America were cheering for the Zionists, and proclaiming their atrocities as being blessed of God. . . . Our thoughtless expressions of approval have been destructive in three ways.
- What we have done to our fellow Christians in Islamic Lands.
When Americans speak favorably about Zionist aggression in Palestine, we bring needless persecution on multiplied thousands of our fellow believers now living in Islamic countries. Christian citizens of those countries are suspected of being in agreement with what the Americans are saying, though not one in a thousand of them are. When Muslims hear of Baptists in America praising Zionist atrocities, what are they to think of the Baptist churches in their countries? Or the Pentecostals? Or Presbyterians? How can we expect them not to retaliate against those who favor killing their fellow Muslims?
- What we have done to missionary work among the Muslims.
Fifty years ago millions of Muslims were open to the gospel. There was a great missionary opportunity for reaching them for Christ. Muslims make up the largest segment of unreached peoples on earth, and they were very open until American Christians began to praise Zionist conquests in Palestine. Since most of the violence has been against Muslims, it is to be expected that Muslims in other countries would be sympathetic toward the victims and resentful toward the Christians who support Zionist expansion. This political development has served to cut off millions of Muslims from their previous receptivity to the gospel. . . . Our missionary opportunity among them has been ruined.
- What Zionism has done to our churches.
Until 50 years ago most Christians accepted events recorded in the book of Joshua as something special for that particular time. We believed that the coming of the Saviour brought a New Covenant under which we no longer resort to violence to advance the kingdom of God. But when the Zionist movement began in Palestine around 1920, some Christians started to disregard New Testament principles. We would say it’s wrong for us to kill our neighbor and steal his property, but if Jewish people did it in Palestine, then it was O.K. First it was thousands, then tens of thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were driven from their homes. All of their property was stolen by the Zionists. Forty percent of the victims were professing Christians, many of whom were born again believers. Yet, to our everlasting shame, many Christians in America have stood on the sidelines and cheered for the murderers. It’s all O.K., we say, because Zionism is a fulfillment of prophecy. It is hard to imagine how any Bible believer with reasonable intelligence could endorse such things, particularly when so many thousands of conscientious Jews the world over have objected strenuously to Zionist aggression in Palestine.
Some of our faithful friends in Christ have told us that if we dare to say anything about the tragedies that have resulted from Christians endorsing Zionist atrocities we may lose some financial support as a result. That doesn’t bother me. My Bible says, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
Faithfully yours in Him,
Bob Finley
Chairman and CEO21
I do wish to point out: the great majority of Christian Zionists have endorsed Zionism without conscious knowledge of the atrocities in Palestine, which the U.S. media has suppressed. Most American evangelicals and dispensationalists are good-hearted people, who have unfortunately been led astray about Israel.
Why So Many Christians Buy the Nonsense
Besides Scofield’s distortion of the Abrahamic covenant to mean an “unconditional” real-estate promise to the Jews, and his invention of a third prophesied homecoming, the following reasons stand out:
• The “chosen people” myth. In keeping with Zionist preferences, Scofield ignored the New Testament’s clear explanation: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29). Scofield instead reverted the promise to an Old Testament context, a misinterpreted one at that.
Moreover, we now know that most people identifying as Jews are probably (as Finley noted above) not descendants of Abraham, but of the Khazars, a Turkic people who made Judaism their state religion in the eighth century AD. Jewish author Arthur Koestler pioneered historical evidence for this in his 1976 book The Thirteenth Tribe, research since affirmed by DNA evidence. The significance? If most “Jewish” occupiers of Palestine aren’t Abraham’s descendants, then they are not his seed, and thus not entitled to the land, even under the terms of Scofield’s twisted theology.
• The “Judeo-Christian” myth. Most evangelical Christians harbor the illusion that religious Jews today are adherents of the Old Testament. They believe they as Christians live in “Judeo-Christian” harmony with Jews who share the same essential values.
Of course, one cannot stereotype Jews, many of whom (like my late father) are non-religious, have no interest in Zionism, and assimilate into other cultures. However, when referring to organized Judaism, it is important to understand that religious Jews follow the Talmud, which rabbis consider senior to the Tanakh (Old Testament of the Christian Bible). Jesus consistently directed his most severe censures against the Pharisees, the teachers of the oral law, which they used to nullify the laws of God. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, dispersed Jews continued teaching the oral law, eventually written down as the Talmud. Over the centuries it evolved, becoming many times more evil than in Jesus’s day.
The Talmud decrees that:
—Jesus is in hell, being boiled in feces; Gittin 57a.22
—Jesus’s mother Mary was a whore; Babylonian Talmud (BT), Sanhedrin 106a.23
—Gentiles are donkeys; BT Berakoth 58a.24
—All gentile children are animals; Yebamoth 98a.25
—If a gentile hits a Jew, the gentile must be killed; BT Sanhedrin 58b.26
—Gentiles who study the Law deserve death; BT Sanhedrin 59a.27
—A Jew may lie to a gentile; Tractate Baba Kamma 113a.28
—A Jew need not pay a gentile wages owed for work; BT Sanhedrin 57A.29
—It is permissible to cheat a gentile in court; BT Baba Kamma.30
—If a Jew finds an object lost by a gentile, it does not have to be returned; BT Baba Kamma 113b.31
—When the Messiah comes, he will destroy the Christians; BT Sanhedrin 99a.32
It is not just ancient texts that disdain non-Jews, but modern rabbis as well.
—Rabbi Kook the Elder, first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British
Mandatory Palestine, said: “The difference between a Jewish soul and the
souls of non-Jews—all of them in all different levels—is greater and
deeper than the difference between a human soul and the souls of
cattle.”33
—Israeli Rabbi Yaacov Perrin said in 1994: “One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail.”34
—In his 2003 book Jewish Superiority and the Question of Exile, Rabbi Saadya Grama of Beth Medrash Govoha wrote: “The Jew by his source and his very essence is entirely good. The goy, by his source and in his very essence, is completely evil. This is not simply a matter of religious distinction, but rather of two completely different species.”35
—Israeli Sephardic leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said in a 2010 sermon:
Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world; only to serve the People of Israel. Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. . . . With gentiles, it will be like any person: They need to die, but God will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money. This is his servant. That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew.36
Talmudic Judaism is inherently racist, not rooted in Biblical values. The behavior of Jews, not some sort of universal “anti-Semitism,” caused them to be expelled from more than 100 countries over the past two millennia. Martin Luther, well aware of their views and activities, denounced them.
Judaism regards non-Jews as animals. This is why Israel’s heavily-armed IDF soldiers regularly abuse Palestinians as though they were not humans. A booklet, written by the IDF’s chief rabbi and published by its Central Regional Command, indoctrinated soldiers with Talmudic outlook in proclaiming:
When our forces come across civilians during a war or in hot pursuit or in a raid, so long as there is no certainty that those civilians are incapable of harming our forces, then according to the Halakhah [Jewish law] they may and even should be killed.37
The IDF’s new chief rabbi, Eyal Karim, has even said IDF soldiers may rape Arab women to boost their morale.
Judaism regards Christians with contempt, and only tolerates them for the time being because they represent a powerful pro-Israel voting bloc. The Jerusalem Post observed in 1983:
The real Zionists in the U.S. are not the American Jews but the Christian evangelicals since these Christians feel that we are coming closer to a critical period in history and they want the Jews to fulfill prophecies and thus hasten the Second Coming of the Messiah. The evangelicals affect 20 million people a day in America. They are a great asset and must be used as such.38 [emphasis added]
Many Christians are duped into the illusion of “Judeo-Christianity” because Israel permits American church groups to visit ancient holy sites in Israel. But as Jack Bernstein, an American Jew who lived in Israel, wrote:
Tourism is one of Israel’s main sources of income. The largest group of visitors are American Jews. But, there are also many American Christians who want to visit the holy shrines and to see the land of “God’s Chosen People.” These Christians come away very impressed and filled with religious fervor.
While in Israel, Jews and Gentiles alike are carefully watched so that they do not stray and happen to see the sordid side of Israel—the true Israel. Like in Soviet Russia and other communist countries, visitors to Israel are taken on carefully planned guided tours. They are shown the religious sites, the universities, the lush orchards, the technical accomplishments, the arts, and to stir sympathy, they are taken to visit the Holocaust Museum.
But, kept from the eyes of the tourists are the ghettos, the prisons where political prisoners, mostly Arabs and Sephardic Jews, are subjected to the most inhumane forms of torture. The tourists do not see the widespread crime activities and the corruption and cooperation between organized crime bosses and government and police officials. The tourists do not learn of the true inner workings of Israel’s Marxist/Fascist government; nor do they see Israel’s racism.
I met one American tourist who couldn’t help telling me about the wonderful religious feeling she had from being in Israel—the Holy Land. I remarked to her, “Just try giving a Bible to a local Jew and you will see how much religion and religious freedom there is in Israel. If seen by the police, you will be arrested.”39
Check out Israeli television mocking Christianity:
Christian Zionism Degenerates into Complete Idiocy
Today’s Christian Zionists do not just fail to discern the Luciferian nature of Judaism; they treat Jews and Israel with veneration bordering on idolatry. Texe Marrs highlights an example caught on film:
[F]ive or six young Christians, some eighteen to twenty years of age, attending a national evangelical youth conference were asked, “How many of you love Israel?” All of their hands shot straight up. “How many of you would fight and die for the nation of Israel?,” they were asked. Again, every hand quickly went up. “And if Israel got into a war with the United States, how many would choose to go and fight with Israel against your home country, the United States?” Once again, all (except one) raised their hand, though not with quite so much enthusiasm.40
A church I once attended invited a “Messianic Jew” to deliver a Sunday sermon. He told us it was very important for our church to show solidarity with the Jewish community. He announced that, to express this solidarity, we would pretend we were a synagogue today, and celebrate Purim (the holiday on which Jews celebrate being saved from their enemies—and slaughtering them). He distributed noisemakers to the congregation. As the rest of the church played along, noisily acting out Purim, I stood in silence. I looked across the aisle at another parishioner who felt as I did, and we shook our heads.
At the time, I was not yet schooled in Christian Zionism’s deplorable history. But I knew from the Bible’s clear instructions (book of Hebrews) that we, as Christians, are not to engage in Jewish ceremonies. Furthermore, the alleged purpose of the “pretend we’re a synagogue” service—to show solidarity to the Jewish community—made no sense, as no synagogue Jews were present to witness the event. In retrospect, I believe the “Messianic Jew” was simply trying to Judaize Christians, and for I all know, was snickering under his breath at the sight of us observing Purim; for given the Talmud’s remarks about Christians, the church was ghoulishly celebrating what was tantamount to its own funeral.
Brother Nathanael Kapner, who was Jewish-born-and-raised, and is now an Orthodox Christian, says this about Christian Zionists:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJt2MWYKXqY&rel=o
While some of Brother Nathanael’s remarks may bore agnostics, and anger Christians with differing theological views, his comments on the Rapture and “Messianic age” bring us to Zionism’s ultimate deception:
The Final Insult: Persuading Christians to Worship the Antichrist
There is nothing the Rothschilds would savor more than seeing the Christian church bow down and worship the beast, or Antichrist, whom they wish to rule their coming world government. This necessitates that when the Antichrist appears, he initially presents himself as the Second Coming of Christ.
When I was a young Christian, I was struck by a particular distinction in Bible translations. Older versions, such as the King James and Geneva Bibles, always said Jesus would return at the end of the “world” (e.g., Matthew 24:3). But modern versions (NIV, West-Horcott, Darby, etc.) said He would return at the end of the “age.” In the Scofield Reference Bible, Scofield begrudgingly used the King James Version, but always added notes clarifying that “world” was properly translated “age.”
This may seem only a nuance, but is vital to the Zionists. Dispensationalism says history divides into seven “ages,” and that we are currently only in the sixth. (These ages are artificial constructs; for a refutation, see this post by a former dispensational minister.)
By claiming Jesus shall return at the end of the current age, instead of the end of the world, Scofield and his cohorts created a scenario by which the Antichrist could proclaim himself Christ, then rule the Earth during the next “age,” through the very world government the Illuminati have been building.
Scofield wrote in his reference Bible: “Upon His return the King will restore the Davidic monarchy in His own person, re-gather dispersed Israel, establish His power over all the earth, and reign one thousand years.”41
But could Lucifer really arrive in a way that would persuade Christians he was Jesus? Certainly. The apostle Paul, when describing false apostles, wrote: “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Can he appear to do miracles? The Bible says, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). This would be especially easy with the high tech now available, such as the capacity to project holograms, which can be fashioned in the image of angels as easily as anything else.
As Emma Moore Weston notes:
This Scofield teaching is concerned with a literal Jewish kingdom to last for a millennium. . . . The Bible does not teach it . . . We must ask ourselves if Jesus ever offered or announced himself as an earthly King or claimed David’s throne? Had he ever in any way suggested he was going to set up an earthly kingdom? He said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence.”42
The Israelites of Jesus’s day wanted a political Messiah, a king who would liberate them from Rome. Jesus rejected it:
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. (John 6:15)
Scofield and “Christian Zionists” reject both the character of Jesus and the Bible’s clear teaching by anticipating Him as an earthly king. They repeat the exact same error people in Israel made two thousand years ago.
Most Christians today believe that when they die, they will dwell in heaven with Jesus forever. But if Jesus is to rule on Earth for a thousand years, while they were in heaven they would be separated from their Savior all that time. Yes, Scofieldism=confusion.
Many churches today affirm, in their “what we believe” statements, that Jesus will return to rule Earth for a millennium. Yet only one passage in the entire Bible refers to Jesus reigning a thousand years: Revelation 20:1-6. I think it dangerous for any church to base a core doctrine on a single scripture passage, especially given the general consensus that the book of Revelation contains considerable symbolic language. As this post is already very long, I won’t elaborate here on Revelation 20, but I refer the reader to Appendix IV, “The Millennium,” of my book Truth Is a Lonely Warrior.
The Temple Trick
For a number of years, I attended a fundamentalist church. One day, the associate pastor was teaching from the Old-Testament book of Ezekiel (in which God gave the prophet Ezekiel instructions on the building of a temple). The teacher told us that, since Ezekiel’s temple was never built, it must be constructed in the future, and that Jewish animal sacrifices would be restored. He said that after Jesus returned, he would reign from this temple for 1,000 years.
I was amazed at this teaching, because the New Testament unequivocally declares that the Cross of Christ did away with the temple and sacrifices. Much of the book of Hebrews is devoted to this point, telling us that “Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant,” and that “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:22, 27)
The Book of Ezekiel, however, prescribed animal sacrifices:
Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the people, declares the sovereign Lord. (Ezekiel 45:15)
Jesus will not require us to make such offerings; the Cross eliminated them. The Book of Ezekiel further proclaims:
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites. (Ezekiel 44:9)
Would Jesus exclude foreigners? The Bible says the Gospel is for all peoples. Would he reinstitute the Jewish custom of physical circumcision? The Apostle Paul said:
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:2-4)
How had my church’s teacher become so blind to the Bible’s clear message? I later found the answer when he proudly displayed his Scofield Reference Bible.
Although Christian Zionists say the Jewish temple must be rebuilt, Jesus prophesied only its destruction:
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Mark 13:2)
Never did Jesus ordain the Temple’s rebuilding, or state that He would rule from it. Here is what Jesus said about His return:
So if anyone tells you, “There he is, out in the desert,” do not go out; or, “Here he is, in the inner rooms,” do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from east is visible in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:26-27)
Who will rule from a temple in Jerusalem? The Antichrist. Jesus warned the End Times would occur “when you see the standing in the holy temple the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel.” (Matt 24:15). Paul, speaking of the End Times, wrote:
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thess 2:3-4)
Thus, Christian Zionists teach the opposite of Scripture and prepare their congregations to worship the Antichrist himself. And make no mistake, Israel is preparing to rebuild the Temple, and to pay the costs gullible Christian congregations are being milked for donations, by some estimates up to $100 million annually.43
Why the Rapture Had to Be Taught
I now broach a subject guaranteed to incite fury, because it is so widely believed among evangelical churches. Darby and Scofield expounded that Christians would not face the Antichrist’s persecution because the Rapture would remove them from the planet. They thus asserted that Jesus would return twice: once for the Rapture, and later again for His Second Coming. Here is the verse dispensationalists most heavily rely on for Rapture doctrine:
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
I will let Carl E. Olson elucidate:
There are three problems with claiming this passage refers to the Rapture. First, neither it nor the entire book of 1 Thessalonians mentions Christ returning two more times, or makes any reference to such a distinction. Second, dispensationalists believe the Rapture will be a secret and silent event, yet this passage describes a very loud and public event. This is all the more problematic because dispensationalists insist that they interpret Scripture “plainly” and “literally,” allowing for symbolism only when such is the obvious intent of the author. Finally, dispensationalists teach that all other New Testament references to Christ coming in the clouds (Matthew 24:30 and 26:64; Mark 14:62; Revelation 1:7) refer to His Second Coming but inexplicably deny that that is the case here.44
Furthermore, Scripture plainly teaches that believers will not be “gathered unto the Lord” until after the Antichrist has been revealed (excuse the following redundant quotation):
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him . . . . Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thess 2:1-4)
By believing they will be spared persecution, Christians are preparing themselves for disappointment and even shattered faith. Fritz Springmeier relates:
Chinese believers in China prior to the Mao’s Red Chinese takeover were told that they would be raptured before they suffered any tribulation. The communists took over and tortured and martyred millions of Chinese Christians who mistakenly thought the Bible taught that they would be raptured before any suffering. The Bible was widely discredited, because it had been mistaught.45
Why did the Illuminati want the Rapture doctrine introduced? It emasculated the church as an opponent of the New World Order. Why fight something you won’t be around to experience?
Conclusion
Today, many Christians are perplexed as to why their congregations are shrinking. The reasons, of course, are multidimensional, and include numerous factors outside the church itself, such as inculcation of Darwinism in public schools, and Hollywood’s stereotyping of Christians as repugnant.
But much of the problem lies within the churches. Today, many truths about world events are freely available through alternative media. When informed newcomers come to a Sunday service, and see that a pastor, whose brain is hardwired to mainstream media, knows less about geopolitical truths than they do, will they trust that pastor to edify them about eternal truths? When they hear a pastor praising Israel despite decades of atrocities, and that the pastor thus excuses murder and theft, unable to distinguish fundamental right from wrong, will they trust this pastor to lead them toward righteousness? And when they see that a pastor cannot understand clear Bible lessons, but instead teaches their opposite, based on regurgitation of Scofield’s Orwellian Scripture-twisting, will they want to return for another sermon?
I think not.
Picture credit: David Dees, http://ddees.com/.
For Further Reading and Viewing
Videos:
The Roots of Christian Zionism: How Scofield Sowed Seeds of Apostasy
Blog Posts:
“Seven Biblical Answers to Christian Zionism,” by Rev. Stephen Sizer
“Why I Left Scofieldism,” by Rev. William E. Cox
“The Folly of Dispensationalism,” by Dr. Allen M. Barber (former Dispensational minister)
Books available on Amazon:
The Incredible Scofield and His Book by Joseph M. Canfield
Judaism’s Strange Gods by Michael Hoffman (excellent resource for Christians on the Talmud)
Christian Zionism and the Scofield Reference Bible: A Critical Evaluation of Dispensational Theology by David Lance Dean
Holy Serpent of the Jews by Texe Marrs
Zion’s Christian Soldiers? by Rev. Stephen Sizer
Notes
1. John Coleman, How Conspirators Misuse Christian Fundamentalists (white paper) (Carson City, Nev.: World in Review, 2003), 4.
2. As quoted, “C. I. Scofield: Scoundrel, Shyster, and Scalawag,” Heresy in the Heartland, January 13, 2014, http://heresyintheheartland.blogspot.com/2014/01/c-i-scofield-scoundrel-shyster-and.html.
3. “Cyrus I. Schofield in the Role of a Congregational Minister,” Topeka Daily Capital, August 27, 1881, as quoted, Joseph M. Canfield, The Incredible Scofield and His Book (Vallecito, Calif.: Ross House Books, 2004), 99-100.
4. Canfield, 80.
5. Ibid., 83.
6. Ibid., 94.
7. John S. Torell, “Dancing around the Golden Calf, Part 5,” European-American Evangelistic Crusades, January-March 2007, http://www.eaec.org/newsletters/2007/Jan-Mar/NL2007Jan-Mar2.htm.
8. Canfield, 114.
9. Who’s Who in America (1912-1913), 1856, as quoted in Canfield, 290.
10. Canfield, 290.
11. Ibid., 218.
12. Charles Trumbull, The Life Story of C. I. Scofield (New York: Oxford University Press, 1920), 89-90.
13. James Whisler, “Dispensationalism Timeline,” http://poweredbychrist.homestead.com/files/history/Timeline.htm.
14. Philip Mauro, The Gospel of the Kingdom (1927), http://www.preteristarchive.com/Books/1927_mauro_gospel-kingdom.html.
15. Thomas Williamson, “Zionism Verses the Bible,” http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Doctrines/Zionism/zionism.htm.
16. C. I. Scofield, ed., The Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1917), 25.
17. Ibid., 20.
18. Ibid., 25.
19. Ibid., 250.
20. “The Catastrophe, Al Nakba: How Palestine Became Israel,“ If Americans Knew (April 2013), http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/ref-nakba.html.
21. Bob Finley, “Why Christian Aid Is Speaking Out about Zionism and Islam,” Christian News, May 5, 2003, 13.
22. Michael Hoffman, “Jesus and the Talmud,” The Hoffman Wire (2003), http://www.revisionisthistory.org/wire1.html.
23. Michael Hoffman, Judaism’s Strange Gods (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho: Independent History and Research, 2011), 240.
24. Ibid., 184.
25. Ibid., 196.
26. Ibid., 182.
27. Ibid., 185.
28. Hoffman, “Jesus and the Talmud.”
29. Hoffman, Judaism’s Strange Gods, 182.
30. Ibid., 185.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid., 239.
33. Ibid., 189-90.
34. Clyde Haberman, “West Bank Massacre,” New York Times, Feb. 28, 1994, http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/28/world/west-bank-massacre-israel-orders-tough-measures-against-militant-settlers.html?pagewanted=all.
35. Hoffman, Judaism’s Strange Gods, 188.
36. Marcy Oster, “Sephardi Leader Yosef: Non-Jews Exist to Serve Jews,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 18, 2010, http://www.jta.org/2010/10/18/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/sephardi-leader-yosef-non-jews-exist-to-serve-jews.
37. Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (London: Pluto Press, 1994), 76.
38. Jerusalem Post, March 6, 1983, as quoted in Coleman, How Conspirators Misuse Christian Fundamentalists, 7.
39. Jack Bernstein, The Life of an American Jew in Racist Marxist Israel (1985) (online edition), http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/israel.htm.
40. Texe Marrs, DNA Science and the Jewish Bloodline (Austin, Texas: RiverCrest Publishing, 2015), 165-66.
41. Scofield, 1227.
42. Emma Moore Weston, “Origin of Scofield Heresies,” Analyzing Scofield, http://www.gospeltruth.net/scofield.htm.
43. Stephen Sizer, “Will the Jewish Temple Be Rebuilt?” (February 27, 2014), http://stephensizer.com/2014/02/will-the-jewish-temple-be-rebuilt/#more-4966.
44. Carl E. Olson, “Five Myths about the Rapture,” November 2003, http://web.archive.org/web/20041217140003/http:/www.originaldissent.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-11538.html.
45. Fritz Springmeier,” The Armageddon Plot,” http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/armageddon_plot.htm.
