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NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.



Thus far, we have seen that Satan himself, the father of lies, is behind this subtle conspiracy to pollute the minds and hearts of the Christian family. We have also seen that, being as he is a spiritual being, he is forced to do his dirty work from behind the scenes through his human agents, who attack the Body of Christ from both within, as well as from without, by sowing discord amongst the brethren. We have also been made aware of the fact, that one of the primary weapons being used to create this discord, is false doctrine; a poisonous leaven of which even Jesus Himself and His early followers warned us to beware. Furthermore, we have seen through the Scriptures, that this spiritual battle against the pure Word of God, has been waged since the beginning of time, and that during the Early Church Era, Jesus was a target of it. Finally, we have been exposed to some of the dismal failures and compromises of our modern Christian leadership.

While we are now aware of these various points, one thing which we have not yet discussed, is exactly how this deadly weapon of deception is being delivered to the Christian body. True, it is being delivered through words, but even that is not a full answer. At the beginning of this series, I rhetorically asked why this is happening, and what is the root of the problem. In this second part, I will now provide you with what I believe is part of the answer. In his second Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote:

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."


Paul is plainly stating that, as seasoned Christians, we should not be, and are not, ignorant of Satan's devices; that is, of the various tricks and methods he uses in order to try to sidetrack us from accomplishing God's Will and Purpose for each of our lives. However, when one is young in the faith, this is not always the case. We can indeed be easily fooled by that subtle serpent, until we have become well-rooted in God's Word, and begin to understand how that demon of darkness does his dirty work. Let us turn our discussion now for a moment, from spiritual warfare, to actual physical human warfare.

If there is one thing which many governments of the world know, it is that if one is going to experiment with nuclear devices, chemical weapons, biological weapons, or engage in some other activity which might be frowned upon by the world community, then he must do it in such a way so that, on the surface, it appears to be something entirely different from what it really is. As an example, a country might import certain materials for its nuclear arms program, which might in reality be able to be used for some other more benign, acceptable purpose. Thus, instead of admitting that it is really interested in creating a nuclear bomb, if it is actually caught importing said materials, the leadership of that country might lie and say that the materials being imported are going to be used for something else. In like manner, it might disguise the plants which will produce the final product, as something else. For example, a chemical weapons factory could easily be disguised as a legitimate pharmaceutical supply company. Undoubtedly, what will come to mind are the accusations which have been launched against such countries as Iraq, North Korea, etc.

Following the previous concept, knowing that, in a spiritual sense, Satan wants to totally blow apart Christianity, is it possible that he has managed to introduce something into our midst which, while it may appear to be absolutely harmless, and perhaps even benign on the surface, in reality, it is extremely deadly? In fact, might Satan be so cunning that, like certain modern chemical and biological weapons, his spiritual weapon might have a slow, gradual, but ultimately lethal effect? In other words, might his demonic device be so deceptive, that it will slowly strip away one's faith and beliefs, a little at a time, until said person has fallen into complete apostasy? Is it even possible that, by way of this subtle process of slowly poisoning one's soul, a person could fall into such deep apostasy, and not even realize his wayward condition?

In contemplating these things, I am also reminded of one of the most diabolical weapons of war ever created by mankind; the neutron bomb. You see, under the old form of military engagement, which we still see a lot of today, one country will invade another country, and destroy everything; people; buildings; and infrastructure like railways, bridges, roads, water supply lines, etc. Since the dawn of history, this form of total destruction has been the only sure way of subjugating one's enemy; destroy everything; or else lay siege against him so that he is denied the things which he needs the most for his basic survival. Eventually, supplies run out; even in a well-fortified, and well-stocked walled city. We see a number of examples of this in the Bible; such as in the case of the various sieges against Jerusalem by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Consider this example which describes the first siege:

"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god."


In extreme cases, where the government of the country being attacked would stiffly resist invasion and being taken over, when victory was finally won by the enemy, the royal lineage of the conquered party would often be killed; which would thus eliminate the possibility of that particular line of leadership being resurrected by a surviving member of the royal household. If one cuts off the head, the body is left without direction. In studying the Old Testament, we see that this was a common practice even amongst the warring factions of the ancient house of Israel. Turning again to the invasions of Jerusalem, we discover that after three sieges against the city, proud King Nebuchadnezzar grew so tired of the Jews' rebellion, that when he finally captured it about six hundred years before the birth of Christ, he made certain that Jewish King Zedekiah, whom he had installed as a puppet king, and his sons, were totally incapacitated:

"And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon."


While this is indeed gruesome, in our modern day, new and even more diabolical means of destroying one's foes have been invented. The tragic and unwarranted destruction of the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima is a grim reminder of the evil which lurks in the heart of man. Since that time over fifty years ago, an even more modern concept of war has developed, which states that one wants to destroy his enemy morally, mentally, spiritually, and if need be, physically, in order to get what he has; but one does not want to actually destroy what he owns. That is the prize; that is the booty of war. What pleasure is there in war, if one has to destroy everything, and there is nothing left to claim for his prize? In this regard, the last war against Japan was extremely messy. Not only did it leave deadly radiation everywhere, but it totally destroyed the prize of war.

For the sake of the reader, please allow me to clarify that while I am discussing these things, it does not mean that I personally condone them, as I most certainly do not. This is clearly spelled out in some of my political articles. I am merely explaining to you how the evil human mind and heart think and operate; for as we are told in the Scriptures:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"


"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."


Thus, it should not surprise us that in the newest emerging style of modern warfare and targeted terrorism, we find the most hideous weapons of all: chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the neutron bomb. These demonic devices destroy one's enemy quite effectively, while leaving the prize of war intact. They maim and kill countless scores of human beings, sometimes quite slowly and painfully, while leaving the physical infrastructure alone. Once the human enemy has been utterly liquidated through these gruesome inhumane methods, a puppet government can be set up which will manage the booty of war according to the directives issued by the victor. While the things I am describing for you are indeed sickening, this is the cold reality of current and future warfare; and it is at this very moment moving into the cyber-arena as well.

In the case of the recent aerial bombardments of Belgrade and other Yugoslav cities, President Clinton and his gang relied partially upon the old way of doing things, but also upon the new way as well. They did the same thing in Iraq. In other words, instead of fighting a bloody hand to hand war where countless lives could have been lost, which would have resulted in public support for the war being extremely low, they kept human casualties to a minimum by selectively bombing from the air, while also waging a simultaneous psychological war, as they waited for the patience of the people, in this case Iraqis and Serbs, to run out, so that they would turn on their own leaders. Let's face it; the normal person is only willing to sacrifice so much physical comfort for the sake of patriotism, before he will finally turn on his leader and say "Enough is enough. I can't take this any longer. Give them whatever they want". In the case of the wars against Iraq and Yugoslavia, the Western press would have us to believe that the West has been victorious, and that the Iraqis have turned against Saddam Hussein, and the Serbs have turned against Slobodan Milosevic; but I really wonder if this is the case. For all of the Western rhetoric, both men are still firmly in power; are they not?

While we have delved into the various aspects of physical human warfare, let us return now to our main theme of spiritual warfare, and connect the various pieces together. Is it possible that, similar to some of the hideous weapons described above, Satan might also possess a secret weapon? Is it possible that, in a spiritual sense, like Jewish King Zedekiah of old, he has laid siege against us, and left some of us totally defenseless and spiritually blinded, and that we may not even realize it? While I have asked a number of rhetorical questions, I do intend to provide you with an answer; and the answer to all of the previous questions, in my view, is a resounding "Yes!". However, before, providing you with a fuller answer, allow me to share a few more things with you with which I believe most Christian will agree. We might refer to the following beliefs as our common doctrinal denominators.

First of all, I believe that as Bible-believing Christians, those of you reading this can agree that the Bible teaches us that there is one God the Father. In like manner, we should also be able to agree upon the fact that the Bible teaches us that God the Father has an only-begotten Son; that of course being Jesus Christ. Finally, as Christians who accept the Holy Scriptures as the Word of Truth, we also commonly believe in the existence of the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit if you prefer. Now, whether you personally view the Holy Spirit as being an actual entity, or simply as an extension of God the Father Himself, is not particularly relevant for the point I am trying to make here. In like manner, whether you view what I have just described for you as being a "Holy Trinity", that is, three beings in one, or as two or three separate entities, is also not particularly relevant for the point I wish to make.

What is important for this particular discussion, is that the Godhead thinks, works and acts together as one. It is in unity with each of its parts. There is a common agreement concerning the ultimate objectives of God's overall plan. In short, there is no spiritual schism in the Godhead. It is for this reason, that in his first Epistle, the Apostle John was inspired to write:

"Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one."


As we saw in part one of this series, Jesus likewise prayed that His followers would be as one; that is, He prayed that they too would be in spiritual unity with each other; just as He is in spiritual unity with the Father. As Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews right before they tried to stone Him to death:

"I and my Father are one."


It is because Jesus uttered such bold truthful statements as the above, that we also find verses such as the following in the four Gospels, which clearly demonstrate and expose the Jews' pre-meditated plan to murder their very own Saviour, and ours as well; so please don't accept the modern Jewish lie which tries to switch the blame to their Roman pawns:

"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."


In addition to the fact that we can agree that the Godhead thinks and works as one in order to achieve one common purpose, we can also agree that, as it is written in John chapter one, Jesus Christ is the Word of God who became flesh, and that He is the only-begotten Son of God; meaning that He was the only one who was born of a human woman by the Will of God. I explain this point in more detail in the in-depth series "Is Jesus The Only Begotten Son Of God?". The main point I wish to emphasize is that Jesus is unique. He is one of a kind. To take this a step further, I believe that it is also safe to say that we can agree to the fact that Jesus Christ came to preach a singular Gospel of Truth and Salvation, which He had specifically received, by permission, from His Father. As Jesus Himself said:

". . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise . . . I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me . . . And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."


As a final point, I believe that we can also agree that all of the events and writings of the Old Testament lead up to one common point, one common apex, one common event; and that event was the arrival of the Saviour. So what we see here is a very large degree of spiritual unity up until the First Century. We have one Godhead with one purpose, one Son of God born in the flesh, one Gospel being preached, one Plan of Salvation revealed to the people, and one Saviour to fulfill that Plan of Salvation. But then what happened? I'll tell you what happened; the Jews are what happened; the children of hell, as Jesus called them, is what happened! As we read in John chapters one and three:

"He came unto his own, and his own received him not."


"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."


The Apostle John later expounded more fully on these words when he wrote the following in several of his Epistles regarding those Jewish antichrists who had rejected Christ:

"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time . . . Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."


"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."


"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist."


The minute that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, and then rose from the dead three days later, Satan was utterly defeated. It is for this reason that Jesus prophetically said in advance of His Sacrifice of Love:

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."


Jesus overcame the world! He overcame Satan! He overcame death and the grave! He was totally victorious! It is for this reason, that the Apostle Paul declared in his first Epistle to the Corinthians:

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."


Now, Satan knew very well that he was defeated. Through his own pride, and through his own foolishness of inciting those rebellious Jews to murder Jesus, he in essence defeated himself; however, that didn't mean that he couldn't still try to wreak havoc, cause some damage, and try to hinder God's Plans. So what did he do next? He decided to try to change history, and to change the singular Gospel which Jesus and His followers had been preaching. Exactly how did he do this? By continuing to use the very same ones who had served him so well up until that point; the rebellious Jews! The first part of the plan was to try to discredit the Resurrection; to say that it never happened; to wipe it from the history books; thus we find this episode at the end of the Gospel of Matthew:

"Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."


Of course, God was one step ahead of them; and that is why He made sure that over five hundred different people were witnesses to Christ's Resurrection. Denying the account of one or two witnesses might be easy, but over five hundred of them? Try as they might, those rebellious Jewish Elders were simply not able to prevent the truth from getting out; and we can all thank the Lord for that!:

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."


When that part of their plan failed, as we saw in part one, by the inspiration of Satan, those antichrist Jews took their plan a step further; they decided to infiltrate the First Century Church, in order to wreak havoc and discord by spreading their false doctrines! And what had Jesus said some years before?:

"How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."


Those heretical Jews tried to pollute and corrupt the original teachings! They tried to twist and pervert what had been taught by Jesus, and then what continued to be taught by the pillars of the Church during that First Century. You see, Satan knew that he couldn't really change the past; he knew that he couldn't totally undo what Jesus Christ had already accomplished on the Cross; but maybe he knew that he could at least slow down and inhibit the process of Eternal Salvation, by corrupting the original Gospel, and thus make it more difficult to obtain Salvation; at least according to his new version of the Gospel. Thus, his human emissaries, the antichrist Jews, began to infiltrate the Early Church, and began to spread their evil lies about the continuing necessity of circumcision, and other aspects of the Mosaic Law. In other words, they tried to change God's Plan of Salvation from one of faith alone, to one of faith and works, and other special requirements, which the Apostle Paul clearly opposed, as I point out in some of my other articles.

Now, this brings us back to Satan's secret weapon, which I began to discuss earlier. You see, one strong point of the Jews, is that they are excellent long-term planners. They may not live to see their plans completely fulfilled, but that doesn't matter to them. Like their father the devil, they are very patient strategists. They will work for centuries at a certain plan, in order to achieve a specific objective. Thus, it should come as no surprise to us, that as early as the First Century writings, we find the First Apostles warning us of another gospel, and of another Jesus being preached. Even before all of the Original Twelve had died, another gospel had already begun to be preached! In fact, I would dare say that there was more than one! Isn't it rather interesting that the Gnostics, the Essenes, and other mysterious groups began to appear around that time period; which seem to have adopted parts of the Gospel of Christ, but then added other strange and esoteric teachings?

Please think about this point for a moment. From the little we have learned about them, some of these groups were very secretive; they lived in isolated places; such as around the Dead Sea. Their power does not appear to have been so much in their ability to go about publicly preaching another false gospel; as it was in the written word; and that is the key to this whole riddle. Like all men, the conspiratorial Jews of that time period were ordinary men who lived ordinary life spans; thus, they had to find a way to slow down the cause of Christ in the future. And what was that way? My guess is that it was by leaving behind a false record; a false gospel; in fact, many false gospels, which would contradict each other, and confuse and confound potential Christian believers in some future time period.

If you really doubt that this is what has happened, then consider for a moment the assortment of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works which have been discovered since that time. I have read quite a number of them, and I must tell you that most of them contain some rather strange and confusing stories and doctrines which I personally do not accept as having been Divinely Inspired. The spirit simply is not the same in my view. It is a strange spirit. It is a humanistic spirit. It is a subtle, deceptive spirit. I do not have an inner peace about many of those writings.

Theoretically-speaking, the closer one lived to the source, that is, to the time when Jesus and His First Disciples actually lived, the easier it would be to differentiate the true Gospel of Christ from the false one. Maybe a person never met Christ, or one of His original Apostles, himself, but maybe he knew someone who did; and they could help to confirm what he had heard about this strange new Gospel of the Resurrection from the Dead. By the same token, as one becomes more distanced from the events of the First Century, and thus from the original writings and teachings, the issue begins to become more blurred and confusing, as more false gospels and scrolls began to appear on the historical scene.

In short, what Satan started several thousands of years ago, he has continued to do to our very day, albeit in a slightly different form. Back then, he had his false scribes create many different imitation scrolls, in order to confuse the potential believers. To the untrained eye, to those who had not been trained directly by Christ, or perhaps by one of His Apostles, or maybe by one of their immediate Disciples, it would be difficult to notice the difference between the Divinely Inspired scrolls, and the false ones. Physically speaking, they would all look about the same. Not only that, but a cunning deceiver would gradually introduce changes to the original text, as changing too much of the text at once would certainly be too obvious, and would draw a lot of attention to what was really being committed in the name of truth. But over a period of time, these small, unnoticed changes, a few words omitted or changed here, an extra phrase added there, would result in an entirely new doctrine; a false doctrine, and a false gospel, which was a perversion of the original.

Thus, the corruptors did their dirty work, just as they are doing in our current time as well; and that is why we have so many different versions of the Bible today. As I point out in such articles as "Have You Read The New Scriptures Yet?", as well as in part two of "A Biblical Cafeteria Or The Whole Course?", this deceptive work was not left to the Jews alone. Only a few hundred years after Christ, when true Christianity moved out of the coliseums of Rome, and into the grandstands, and became a popular religion, others, such as those people who would eventually become the founding fathers of the Roman Catholic Church, also got into the act, in order to promote their own agendas; the purpose of which was to consolidate both their power and their wealth; even if it was at the expense of doctrinal purity; which it most certainly was, and has been.

Yes, our modern Bibles may all look the same on the outside, just as a lot of those old scrolls are similar in appearance as well; but hidden within their thin onion skin pages, they contain many subtle changes which have been slowly made over time; a little change here, a little change there; a little deception here, and a little deception there. As noted a moment ago, on its own, one small change may not appear to be very significant, but collectively, when one considers all of the changes which have been made in a particular new version, then the truth becomes rather alarming! Someone has intentionally perverted the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!

For this reason then, in our current day, it requires a lot of spiritual discernment, in order to really know what is of Divine Inspiration. Sadly, this Gift of the Spirit is sorely lacking within modern Christianity, as the myriad of Bibles and confusing doctrines attests. It should now be very clear to you what Satan's secret weapon has been. It may very well be that black or red leather or vinyl bound book which is inscribed with the words "Holy Bible"! Is it the real thing; or is it a modern "designer version", designed to trick and deceive you into believing things which are not Scripturally sound, and to destroy the sure foundation of your faith? In the next installment of this series, I will be offering an interesting parallel, which will emphasize how Satan has stripped us of our most valuable weapon, and replaced it with an inferior product.

In addition, I will also begin to offer my explanations as to why I choose to use the beloved, and time-tested, KJV Bible. This will include the discussion of such topics as God's Sword of division or plastic swords, weak shepherds, ecumenism and the Dalai Lama, the human family or the Lord's family, children by adoption, one true Gospel and one common Bible version, constitutions Bibles and hymnals, spiritual anarchy, hundreds of counterfeits, doctrinal unity through one version, Elizabethan English and foreign languages, perverted American English, America's evil children, the readability of the KJV Bible, my young daughter's example, parental responsibility, "Baby Hueys", spiritual divorce, evilness of television and spiritual mountaineers. I trust that you will join me.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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