Daniel 9:26: Who Are The People of the Prince To Come?

By Joel Richardson

Perhaps the most significant supporting pillar of the European Antichrist theory is a one-line prophecy found in the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel. This small but very important prophecy states simply that:

The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. —Daniel 9:26

While varying interpretations have been offered as to the exact meaning of this passage, the majority position holds that this prophecy is telling us that the specific people (or peoples) who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD are the ancestors of the peoples who in the last days would be the primary followers of the Antichrist (the prince or ruler who is to come). So according to this position, the verse should be understood as follows:

The people (the primary followers) of the prince (the Antichrist) that will come (in the last days), shall destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Jewish temple).

Most believe the destruction of “the city and the sanctuary” to be a reference to the destruction that occurred in 70 AD when the Roman legions under General Titus destroyed both the Jewish capital city of Jerusalem and its Temple. As such, a large majority of prophecy teachers and students have concluded that the Roman peoples of 70 AD can be identified as the ancestors of the coming followers / peoples of the Antichrist. Because the soldiers were Roman citizens, many conclude that the primary followers of the Antichrist in the last days will be Europeans in general or Italians specifically. This notion of course, is rooted in the fact that it was the Roman commanders (whose capital was in Rome, Italy) who commanded the destroying armies but also in the mistaken belief that most of the Roman soldiers were Italians or Europeans. I say “mistaken belief” because both historical testimony and the consensus of modern scholarship tell us that very few of the soldiers that destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD were Europeans. In fact, as we will see, the historical facts reveal a dramatically different picture. However, before we examine the make-up of the Roman armies in 70 AD, we need to first ask if the prophecy here is even pointing us to 70 AD at all. There is a fairly strong case that it may not be pointing us to the events that occurred in 70 AD, but rather the end times.

Of Riddles And Prophetic Enigmas

Little needs to be said about the importance of determining proper context as the basis for the proper interpretation of any passage of Scripture. When trying to determine what this verse is pointing us to, we need to look at it in light of the larger prophetic passage that it is found within; it is the somewhat famous prophecy often referred to as “Daniel’s 70 weeks.” Now, without boring you with gobs of somewhat confusing details, in brief, the passage is speaking about a time period of 490 years. This period is broken up into 70 periods of 7 years. (70 X 7 = 490 years.) Each seven-year period is called in Hebrew a shabuwa. Some call these shabuwa “weeks”; some simply call them “sevens”. Again, they are simply periods of seven-year. What the passage essentially says is that the first 69 shabuwa would come to a close at the time that the Messiah would be “cut off”. The final shabuwa on the other hand, would take place at the end of the age, just prior to the return of Christ. The problem for those who understand the “people of the prince” portion of the prophecy to be applying to 70 AD is that this was nearly 40 years after Jesus the Messiah was “cut off” through His crucifixion, death and burial. So it is possible that the events that took place under Titus in 70 AD are not the focus of the passage. Instead, it may be referring to the final shabuwa—that last seven years of world history before Christ returns. Thus the portion of the passage: “the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary” may very well be a prophecy of the future, not the past. It may be speaking about the Antichrist, and not Titus. The Prince to come is the Antichrist and those who destroy the city and the Temple are his people. If this is the case, then we would expect the Bible to contain clear evidence that the Antichrist and his people will destroy the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. In fact, the Bible does speak of these things in several passages. During the final three and a half years of the Antichrist’s reign, the Bible says he will invade the land of Israel:

He will also invade the Beautiful Land. (Daniel 11:41)

Not only will he invade, he will also utterly conquer the “holy ones” which in the Book of Daniel is a reference to the people of Israel:

The holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. (Daniel 7:25)

He will become very strong…. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. (Daniel 8:24)

He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed… (Daniel 11:36)

He was given power to make war against the holy ones and to conquer them. (Revelation 13:7)

Under the leadership of the Antichrist, the Bible says that Jerusalem will not just be conquered, but actually “crushed” or “trampled underfoot”:

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile… (Zechariah 14:2)

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. (Revelation 11:1-2)

The term here for “trample” (Greek: pateo) is not merely a reference to walking on, but rather a crushing underfoot. It is the same word used for the treading or stomping of the grapes in the “winepress of God’s wrath” (Revelation 14:20)

Speaking of these days of trampling, Jesus said that Jerusalem will be “desolated”:

When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. (Luke 21:20)

Speaking to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Jesus warned all who will listen to flee:

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Matthew 24:15-16)

Certainly all that is described here concerning the Antichrist could be aligned with the prophecy in Daniel 9:26 concerning the “people of the prince to come”.

However, despite the fact that both in Daniel 9:26 and the end times, Jerusalem will be destroyed / desolated / trampled, most prophecy teachers and students continue to believe that Daniel 9:26 must be referring to 70 AD. I myself believe that either position is possible. So for the remainder of this chapter, and for the sake or argument, it will be demonstrated that even if one views Daniel 9:26 as referring to 70 AD, it still does not point us to Europe, but the Middle East. Let us examine the make-up of the Roman armies that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD.

Recruits in The Roman Army

A brief bit of history is in order: Before the Roman Empire became an empire, it was called the Roman Republic. In the early days of the Republic, as it was evolving into the Roman Empire (primarily before the turn of 1st century) the majority of the soldiers (called legionnaires) recruited to serve in the Roman armies (legions) were Italians from Rome and the nearby regions. However, as the Empire expanded quite dramatically, it became next to impossible to man the entire Empire with soldiers only from Italy. There were just not enough Italian men to spread all over the vast Roman Empire, which included all of Europe, Northern Africa and a large swath of the Middle East. Thus at the beginning of the first century, Emperor Augustus made a series of sweeping reforms that led to dramatic changes in the ethnic make-up of the Roman armies. After Augustus’ reforms, the only portion of the Roman army that continued to consist largely of Italians from Rome proper was the Praetorian Guard; an elite military unit whose job was to specifically guard the Emperor and the tents of the Generals. But after Augustus’ reforms, the rest of the army was increasingly composed of anything but Italian soldiers. Instead, they were composed of what were known as “provincials” or citizens who lived in the provinces—the outer fringes of the Empire, away from the capital of Rome. The “provincialization” of the army was true for all of the Roman legions of this time period, but it was most clearly and markedly the case with regard to the Eastern legions that were used to attack Jerusalem. Both ancient historical records as well as modern scholarship clearly confirm this. Let’s examine some of the evidence.

First Witness: Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was both a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire that wrote extensively concerning the specific period that we are now examining. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—have become a vital source of information from this period of the Roman Empire. Speaking of the Roman attack of Jerusalem, Tacitus details the specific legions and the peoples that primarily composed the attacking army:

Titus Caesar… found in Judaea three legions, the 5th, the 10th, and the 15th… To these he added the 12th from Syria, and some men belonging to the 18th and 3rd, whom he had withdrawn from Alexandria. This force was accompanied… by a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews with the usual hatred of neighbors… —Tacitus The History New Ed edition Book 5.1 Editor: Moses Hadas, Translators: Alfred Church, William Brodribb (Modern Library; New York, 2003)

There are several important bits of information that we can gain from this reference. First, we learn that the Roman legions had been stationed in Judea, Syria and Egypt. Secondly, we learn that beyond the Roman legions, there was also “a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews” who accompanied the soldiers. Sadly, little has changed since the first century regarding the general regional hatred of the Jewish people. In fact, it was precisely this ancient hatred that was the driving factor in the unfolding of events that led to the destruction of the Temple, as we will see.

Second Witness: Titus Favius Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus, another irreplaceable historian from this period also confirms the report of Tacitus:

So Vespasian sent his son Titus [who], came by land into Syria, where he gathered together the Roman forces, with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighborhood. Flavius Josephus The Complete Works of Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews Or The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem Book III, Chapter 1, Paragraph 3

Once again, Josephus reveals that the Roman legions used to attack Jerusalem were stationed in Syria. This is where Titus gathered them together as he proceeded toward the Jewish capital. He also details that “a considerable number” of auxiliaries, or volunteers, from Syria and the surrounding regions were also gathered for the attack. Later, Josephus also details the specific number of Arab soldiers who joined forces with the invading armies:

Malchus also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horsemen, besides five thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well horsemen and footmen, when all were united together, amounted to sixty thousand. - Flavius Josephus The Complete Works of Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews Or The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem Book III, Chapter 4, Paragraph 2

While the numbers of men that composed a legion fluctuated, during this time period, a legion contained approximately 5,000 men. Here we see that there were enough Arab auxiliary / volunteer soldiers to compose more than a full legion!

The Eastern Legions

Now lets look at the specific legions that were used to attack the Jewish people as well as the regions where they were stationed during the time period leading up to 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed. Of the six legions, only one was garrisoned just outside of the Middle East; this being Legion V Macedonia. The remaining five legions were all stationed in the Middle East. Below is a list of the legions and where they were stationed prior to 70 A.D.

Legion V Macedonia: Judea or Moesia
Legion X Fretensis: Syria
Legion XV Appolinaris Syria
Legion XII Fulminata Asia Minor / Syria
Legion XVIII Egypt
Legion III Gallica Syria

All of these Legions would have consisted of a majority of Eastern soldiers; Arabs, Syrians, Egyptians etc. Even Legion V Macedonia, although possibly stationed in Moesia—or modern day Serbia and Bulgaria—also would have consisted of a majority of Eastern soldiers. By 70 A.D. not only the Eastern provincial Legions, but literally the entire army had come to be dominated by “provincials”. Lawrence J.F. Keppie, scholar of Roman History and author of Legions And Veterans: Roman Army Papers 1971-2000 (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2000) confirms this reality when he states that after 68 A.D., “the legions… consist[ed] almost exclusively of provincials.” (Keppie page 116) In other words, after 68 A.D. the soldiers in the Roman legions were almost exclusively non-Italian peoples from the provinces on the edges of the Empire.

Third Witness: Modern Scholars of Roman History

Modern Roman scholars across the boards all thoroughly validate the claim that by 70 A.D. the Roman soldiers were almost exclusively non-Italian peoples. Antonio Santosuosso in Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors, and Civilians in the Roman Empire confirms that during the first half of the 1st century, approximately 49% of the soldiers were Italians, but by 70 A.D. that number had fallen to only 22%. By the end of the 1st century, only 1% of the soldiers were Italians. Antonio Santuosso, Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors, and Civilians in the Roman Empire (Westview Press, 2001) (page 97-98).

Sara Elise Phang, Ph.D. author of Roman Military Service, ideologies of discipline in the late Republic and early Principate (Cambridge University Press, 2008) also validates these facts stating that: “Recruitment underwent major shifts from Italy in the early first century A.D. to the frontier provinces in the latter first and second centuries” (Phang page 19). In fact, as Phang reveals, Roman scholars are now in universal agreement that the overwhelming majority of the soldiers that attacked Jerusalem were Eastern provincial recruits:

That Italians were increasingly replaced in the legions during this period by provincials is in itself no longer a novelty among scholars… In the East, that is Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, it seems clear that local recruitment was well under way under Augustus [d.14 A.D.], so that by his death only a very small number of legionaries derived from Italy or indeed any of the western provinces… Under Nero [d. 68A.D.], when the eastern legions required supplementation…it was to Cappadocia and Galatia that [Rome] looked for recruits. This was doubtless standard procedure. [The] legions of the East consisted largely of “orientals” (Middle Easterners) (Phang 57-58)

And again Phang leaves no doubt as to the Eastern ethnic composition of the legions in 70 A.D.:

To the Roman public, the army of 69-70 AD probably seemed little different than its counterpart under Julius Caesar. The legionaries wore familiar equipment, and marched behind the silver aquila, their legions bearing names and titles which reflected their origins and the exploits of earlier days. But in reality much had changed: What had been an army of Italians was increasingly becoming an army of provincials owing no particular allegiance to, or common bond with the Senate or the urbs Roma… Increasingly they began to identify their interests with those of the provinces in which they were stationed…. By AD 69 Gallica III, like other legions long stationed in the East, contained a very high proportion of men born in the eastern provinces.” (Phang page 44)

Gallica III was one of the Legions that was involved in the destruction of Jerusalem.

In his book, Soldiers, Cities, and Civilians in Roman Syria (University of Michigan Press (December 21, 2000) Nigel Pollard, Ph.D., professor of Roman History at Oxford University examines in great detail specifically the ethnicity of the Roman soldiers of the eastern provinces during the first century. After reviewing the most thorough and up-to-date scholarship on the subject, Pollard details two possible positions that reveal the ethnicity of the soldiers to which we are attempting to identify. Both positions confirm that the overwhelming majority of the soldiers that destroyed the Temple were primarily Syrians, Arabs and Eastern peoples. According to Pollard, the first position holds that after the reign of Emperor Nero (A.D. 68), the “legionaries of provincial birth outnumbered the Italians by about four or five to one.” This is with regard to the whole of the Roman Empire, not merely in the East. (page 114) The second position that Pollard examines holds that, “Legions based in Cappadocia, Syria, and Egypt were made up from of recruits from Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt.” (Pollard page 115) Either way, we are left with no doubts that the overriding majority of the soldiers that attacked Jerusalem under Titus were Middle Eastern peoples and not Europeans.

Crunching the Numbers

But lets actually calculate what all of this information means with regard to the ethnic composition of the “Roman” armies that attacked Jerusalem. Josephus tells us that, “the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well horsemen and footmen, when all were united together, amounted to sixty thousand” - Flavius Josephus The Complete Works of Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews Or The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem Book III, Chapter 4, Paragraph 2. Remember that a legion contained roughly 5,000 soldiers. There were four full legions and two partial legions involved in the attack. This would mean that there were approximately 25,000 men who were full time legionaries with the remaining 35,000 men who were either volunteers or auxiliaries. The auxiliaries were non-Roman citizens raised up from the fringe of the provinces. Josephus confirms this when he says that the auxiliaries were, “sent by the kings” from “the neighborhood” of Syria, Asia Minor and Arabia. If Pollard’s estimations are correct as to the five-to-one margin of the Eastern soldiers versus the Western, then this would mean that there could have been no more than 5,000 Western soldiers in the whole of the invading army. The remaining 55-56,000 were all Eastern peoples. And this is allowing for the maximum estimates of Western soldiers. That would mean that there was a maximum of one Western European soldier to every eleven Middle Eastern soldiers. Eleven to one! Yet in all likelihood, the ratio was much higher; perhaps closer to twenty to one.

Further Evidence

Concluding the discussion, Pollard also offers a very interesting piece of information:

Other evidence that Syrian legions of the Flavian period were characteristically “Syrian” in some way comes from Tacitus’ reference to Legion 3 Gallica saluting the rising sun ‘according to the custom of Syria’ [ita in Syria mos est] … in A.D. 69. (page 116)

The implication is clear of course; the soldiers of that legion were worshippers of the sun or some form of sun-deity. This was typical of Middle Easterners who throughout ancient history worshipped various astral deities. Thus, these Eastern “Roman” soldiers were in fact the physical and to a measure, the spiritual ancestors of those who today bow down to Allah, the god who is most often represented by the crescent moon.

All said, the historical evidence is overwhelming. Josephus elsewhere records that under Nero, several years prior to the Jewish War, in Caesarea Maritima, a coastal city in northern Israel, a conflict broke out between the Jews and the Syrians who inhabited that city. As the conflict broke out, the Roman soldiers stood against the Jews and assisted the Syrians. The reason was, as Josephus records because the Roman soldiers were in fact ethnic Syrians, and thus they stood with the Syrians.

The greatest part of the Roman garrison was raised out of Syria; and being thus related to the Syrian part, they were ready to assist it. The Wars of The Jews History of the Destruction of Jerusalem By Flavius Josephus Trans. William Whiston BOOK II: CHAPTERPara7

Closing Arguments

And so after examining a sampling of evidence from both ancient historians as well as the most cutting-edge modern scholarship to date, we may very confidently conclude that the “Roman” soldiers in the Eastern provinces that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple were in fact Eastern peoples—the inhabitants of Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, and Egypt. Again, they were the ancestors of the modern day inhabitants of the Middle East. When we look to the prophecy of Daniel 9:26, we can certainly understand how a hasty or perfunctory reading of this prophecy would lead one to conclude that the “peoples” were in fact Romans, but having now done proper due diligence, completed our homework, and examined the evidence, it is clear that the reality is quite different from what has been commonly and popularly understood.

One Final Objection

But old habits—and paradigms—often die hard. As such, after having brought forth this argument in our book, God’s War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible, my co-author Walid Shoebat and myself have seen our findings strongly challenged. One such critique from Lamplighter Magazine, follows:

A good example of Shoebat’s tortuous logic can be found in his attempt to explain away the meaning of Daniel 9:26. The plain sense meaning of this passage is that the Antichrist will come from the people who will destroy the Temple. Shoebat and Richardson argue that the Roman legions that carried out the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD were composed primarily of Arabs, mainly Syrians and Turks. They therefore conclude that the Antichrist will arise from the Syrians or Turks and will be a Muslim. This is really grasping at straws in the wind! It doesn’t matter whether or not the legions were composed of Australian Aborigines, it was the Roman government that decided to destroy Jerusalem, it was the Roman government that gave the orders, and it was Roman generals who carried out the destruction. Rome was the rod of God’s judgment and it is from the Roman people that the Antichrist will arise. —Dr. David Reagan, Lamplighter Magazine January 2009

Or reworded, this writer is willing to concede that the Roman soldiers may have been Eastern peoples but he argues that this issue is irrelevant because these Eastern peoples were under the authority of Italian commanders who not only desired, but also commanded the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Thus the burden of responsibility is placed on the Roman authorities. There are two fatal problems with this argument. The first problem is that it fails to consider the actual wording used in the passage.

Examining the Wording of the Passage: What Does The Prophecy Actually State?

Let's begin by examining the problem with the original language. Again, briefly, the verse states the following:

The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. —Daniel 9:26

What we need to do is zero in on the word “peoples”. If we look up the meaning of that word in the Hebrew (am), we find that it is an ethnic denotation. It does not refer to the kingdom or empire that the “people” lived under. The Strong’s Lexicon lists the meaning of am as: “nation, people or kindred”. Wilhelm Gesenius, the Hebrew lexiconographer, lists the primary meaning of the word as “single races or tribes… race or family… the kindred, relatives”. And as Hebrew scholar Arnold Fruchtenbaum rightfully states, “We are dealing here with a bloodline, and not a country.” - Radio interview with Bill Salus, author of Israelstine.

Of the nearly 1900 times that the Hebrew word am appears in the King James Version, over 99% of the time, it is translated as “people”. Only seventeen times is the word translated as “nation”. If the purpose of the verse were to highlight the kingdom, the empire or the nation to which the peoples were under, it could have used several other Hebrew words such as mamlakah (kingdom or empire) or goy (nation). This would have led the reader to look to the empire that the peoples were from, which of course would lead us to the Roman Empire. But this is simply not what the verse says. Instead, it points us to the ethnic identity of the majority of the peoples who made up the legions. Simply stated, the original meaning of the verse does not allow us to look to the leaders of the peoples, but rather the peoples themselves who carried out the destruction. If we desire to be submit to the passage, then we must draw out its true meaning (exegesis) and submit. We cannot force the passage to conform to our positions (eisegesis), despite what it actually states. So once again, for emphasis: the original meaning of the verse does not allow us to look to the leaders of the peoples, but rather the peoples themselves who carried out the destruction. Remember, Paul the apostle was a Roman citizen, but this in no way diminishes the fact that he was ethnically a Jew (Acts 21:38-39; 22:1-3).

To put this argument in a clearer light, imagine if I was walking down the city of some well-known American city late one evening and was suddenly mugged by three individuals. After the police arrive, they ask me if I can identify my assailants. “Of course, I got a really good look at all three of them,” I state.

“Good” the officer responds, “What did they look like? What can you tell us about them?”

“Well they were all Americans,” I reply.

Now, knowing that Americans come in all shapes, sizes and most importantly, ethnicities, what exactly have I told the police?

Nothing.

As we all know, the mere designation of “American” tells us virtually nothing about one’s ethnicity. One could be an African-America, an Anglo-American, an Asian-American, an Arab-American or perhaps a hundred other types of hyphenated-Americans. Likewise, the Roman Empire of the late first century was perhaps even more diverse than the United States of today. The Roman Empire contained numerous people groups (am)s. One could be a full-fledged “Roman” citizen yet don from any number of people groups. One could be Germanic, Jewish, Gallic, Syrian, Arab, African or any number of other ethnic groups or tribes and still be fully “Roman”. To be blunt, any claim that the mere designation of “Roman” is sufficient to identify the actual ethnic identity of the peoples as the passage calls for, is shear folly. This would be no different than claiming that the designation of American could only mean British. While such a claim might partially have been true two hundred years ago, to make such a claim today would be an obvious anachronistic error. So also does the claim that Daniel 9:26 points us solely to those from Italian or European ethnicities miss the clear wording and meaning of the passage.

The Historical Reality

Still addressing the critique above, let's examine its second problem: the historical reality. Was it in fact, “the Roman government that decided to destroy Jerusalem”? Was it really “the Roman government that gave the orders, and [the] Roman generals who carried out the destruction”? Once again, just a bit of homework will reveal that just the opposite is true. Josephus’ records makes this all too abundantly clear:

And now a certain person came running to Titus, and told him of this fire… whereupon he rose up in great haste, and, as he was, ran to the holy house, in order to have a stop put to the fire; after him followed all his commanders, and after them followed the several legions, in great astonishment; so there was a great clamor and tumult raised, as was natural upon the disorderly motion of so great an army. Then did Caesar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a loud voice, and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench the fire. - Josephus War of the Jews, Book 6, Chapter 4

Like the classic stereotype of an Italian, Titus is seen to be frantically using both his mouth and his hands to speak. But despite the great alarm of their General, despite his frantic shouting and hand waving, the soldiers did not obey Titus or any of their commanders. They were absolutely hell-bent on fighting the Jews. The following passage from Josephus’ Wars of the Jews reveals exactly why this was the case:

Titus supposing what the fact was, that the house itself might yet he saved, he came in haste and endeavored to persuade the soldiers to quench the fire… yet were their passions too hard for the regards they had for Caesar, and the dread they had of him who forbade them, as was their hatred of the Jews, and a certain vehement inclination to fight them, too hard for them also… And thus was the holy house burnt down, without Caesar’s approbation. - Josephus, Wars of the Jew, Book 6, Chapter 4

The last line, “thus was the holy house burnt down, without Caesar’s approbation.” Could not be more damning to any claim that the Roman leaders desired or commanded the destruction of the Temple.

Isaac and Ishmael: The Ancient Hatred

There is an ancient reality that is emerging here. The specific reason that the soldiers did not obey their commanders was because of the passionate hatred that they possessed for the Jews. It overwhelmed them. Then, as today, the various Middle-Eastern peoples were possessed with a demonic hatred for the Jewish people. Please take note of this: Hatred was the primary motivating factor behind the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., it is the overriding sentiment of the surrounding Islamic nations today and it will no doubt be the primary driving factor when the armies of the Antichrist invade Israel. This hatred is seen perhaps most markedly in the gruesome episode recorded by Josephus. As the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem, many of the citizens were choosing to surrender and desert the city. As they did so, many would swallow whatever gold or silver coins they possessed hoping to be able to retrieve them after they had escaped the city. But as they came out to surrender to the Roman soldiers as non-combatant supplicants, they met a terrible fate. The Syrian and Arab soldiers that made up the Roman armies would have none of it. Instead, Josephus tells us that the soldiers killed those who were desiring to surrender, hoping to find any gold or silver that may have been swallowed:

…the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night’s time about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected. - The Wars of The Jews, History of the Destruction of Jerusalem By Flavius Josephus Trans. William Whiston BOOK V: Chapter 13: Para 4

Conclusion

In conclusion then, the overwhelming evidence, not only from ancient historians but also modern day scholarship points us to ethnic identity of the “Roman” peoples that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. They were the ancestors of the Muslim peoples that dominate the entire region today.

Which Bible

Many thousands of sermons and radio talk show hours have been dedicated to the concept of global conspiracy. Some of the more popular conspirators that have been accused are the Builderbergers, the Rothschilds, the Pope, the Illuminate, the CFR, the Bohemian Society, the World Council of Churches, the Freemasons, the John Birch Society, and many more.

Satan has effectively shifted attention from himself – the Prince of the Power of the Air – to his puppets in the picture of delusion. The real conspiracy has been mounted against the souls of men in a way most have failed to recognize.

Satan has literally convinced the masses that he does not exist or exists in a benign type of way, when he actually sits in Pergamos, Turkey, his capital city, pulling all the strings. Revelation, chapter 2, verses 12-13:

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

There is a conspiracy!

The ultimate goal of this Satanic conspiracy is not power, wealth, or even ONE WORLD under Satan’s direct command.

These are merely tools with which to bring about his sick and demented results. Students of God’s word know that Satan has been cast down to the earth. He knows his time is short. The demons cried out unto Christ, “Do you torment us before our time?” The Bible also teaches that the Devil believes in God and trembles.

The ultimate goal to Satan’s conspiracy is to destroy souls.

God has declared that the most valuable commodity in the universe is a Blood-Bought Soul. John 3:16 states: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Christ’s blood washes clean the souls of men. When the whole Earth is being destroyed with a loud sound and a fervent heat as prophesied in the word of God...when New York is on fire, when Africa is on fire, when Canada is on fire...when it’s over...Death and Hell and all those who love, believe, and make a lie will be cast into Outer Darkness – The Lake of Fire – to be forgotten forever. All that will be left to enjoy God’s eternity will be Blood-Bought Souls – the most valuable commodity in the universe. God knows it!

Satan knows it too. The Bible says that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan does not hunt the souls of sinners. God’s word says that they are already dead, in trespasses and sins. You can’t kill that which is already dead. The Devil hunts the living Blood-Bought Souls. Satan knows what God knows – that the most valuable commodity in the universe is a Blood-Bought Soul.

The conspiracy is: to destroy Blood-Bought Souls and to make certain that the road map of deliverance is altered in such a way that sinners cannot find their direction to that fountain of redemption – Christ’s redeeming blood.

Amos prophesies of a famine that would come one day – not a famine for bread, but a famine of hearing God’s Words. It’s here! It’s here!

Satan knows something that the vast, vast majority of the world doesn’t know:

·  (All of creation) We have been spoken into existence by God’s Words, spoken by Jesus Christ

·  God’s Word is the center of my atomic structure

·  All things were created by him and for him and by him all things exist

·  (Car example)

·  Living outside of the Word is living a lie

SATAN KNOWS ALL THINGS ARE CREATED OUT OF GOD’S WORDS. IN ORDER TO SUCCEED HE MUST CHANGE THEM!

When our great, great, great, etc., grandmother stood in the garden of Eden, Satan established a foundational premise from which he would mount his attack on the souls of God’s creation. Eve was standing by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and it was here that Satan said, “Yea, hath God said,” He continued his conversation with Eve and told her that God had lied to her. Ever since that moment Satan’s driving motivation is to discredit God’s word. He knows all things collapse unless supported by God’s words. You will continually hear his and his emissaries’ shout: “Did God say?” Satan is busy changing the words. Remember, we are constructed out of words.

In the minds of mankind, Satan is successfully...

·  Destroying the absolutes of God’s word

·  Making the concept of Biblical inerrency extinct

·  Using a myriad of translations to question the King James Version

·  Having over 1,700 religious denominations, sects, and cults

·  Suggesting there is something wrong with your old King James Version Bible, by supplying us with an army of original Greekers and Hebrewers

·  Making opinions more popular than, “It is written.”

Let’s talk about Bible translations. What could be more important than your copy of God’s Words? Language never gets any smarter.

·  Add one word and it’s no longer the same

·  Twenty-six letters in the alphabet

·  Over 50 of the world’s best scholars were used for translating

·  First-grader tells teacher

·  Because the gainsayers can’t improve on the scholarship, they have attempted to discredit the source

When they say, “In the original Greek...”

·  Ask if they’re going to read it in Greek.

·  Ask which of the 26-plus Greek texts they are using.

Allow me to give you a brief history of English translations.

Prior to the 1400s there was no printing press.

·  It took 10 months to write one Bible

·  A 1407 English law forbade English translation

·  Then came Gutenberg who invented the printing press

·  Imagine, there were over 5,000 New Testament handwritten manuscripts. The first was Wycliff, with a secondary translation from Latin to English

Tindale, printed in 1525 illegally.

·  Greek New Testament into English (No Old Testament)

·  “I vow to make the boy who drives the plow in England to know more of the scriptures than the Pope does.”

·  He smuggled Bibles into England in sacks of flour

·  God’s enemy, Tunsdale, burned Bibles. He paid a Pakistani man to buy Tindale Bibles so he could burn them. He didn’t know the Pakistani was a friend of Tindale’s. He told Tunsdale that the price was four times the actual cost. So for every one that Tunsdale burned, Tindale produced three.

·  Ten years later in 1535, Tindale was captured and burned at the stake.

·  His dying words...”Lord, open the eyes of the King of England.”

Then came Covertile. His work, known as the “Great Bible,” and it was published in 1539.

The English translations I’ve mentioned were either secondary translations, partial translations or were translated by one individual. In 1604, King James authorized the work to begin to translate the word of God into English. This became known as the Authorized King James Version. On grounds of age and scholarship, this translation has been the authority in non-Catholic congregations for over three generations. It has only been recently that a question has arisen. The King James was translated from Hebrew and Greek.

Approximately at the same time the King James Version was commissioned, the Catholic Pope directed an English translation of the Bible known as the Douay. This was a secondary translation. The Douay was translated from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, which Jerome had translated from the original manuscripts. The problem with a secondary translation is that if the original had an error, you automatically inherited it.

The effort that King James, the head of the English speaking world, embarked upon was colossal.

Between 50 and 60 of the English speaking world’s finest language experts were...

·  Taken from three different educational centers: Oxford, Cambridge, Westminster

·  Then divided into two groups: Greek and Hebrew

·  Further divided into three different segments, making six different committees

·  And then the Bible was divided into six different parts including the Apocryphal books

As a footnote, the Old Testament Apocryphal books are still found in the Catholic Douay. The answer to why they were removed from the King James Version is rather simple. Remember, the Old Testament was given to us by the Jewish priests and rabbis. The Rabbinical order would not endorse the Apocryphal books as Holy Writ. In other words, they did not endorse them as God’s inerrent word. The Puritans rejected them as well. Consequently, these non-sanctioned books had been removed.

After the work of translating was divided up it was...

·  Then distributed equally between Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster

·  Each man translated his section and read it before the entire committee

·  Then the committee would pass the final work to two men who did final editing.

·  Finally, it was reviewed by Bancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury

·  It took over six years (1604-1611)

·  There was very little difference from Tindale

In this colossal question of “What did God say?,” the concept of something known as the Majority Text is pivotal!

·  There are over 5,000 handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament alone, which contain all or part of the New Testament. If the majority of manuscripts said that verse was there, then it was written in the majority text.

·  Majority Text is also known as the Traditional Text, Syrian Text, Byzantine Text, Kappa, or common text.

·  Harvard scholar, Hill, states that during the Byzantine Period, which spanned 312 AD to 1453 AD, and for nearly three centuries of the Protestant Church, the majority text was the authority.

·  Hodge, Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis at Dallas Theological Seminary and co-editor of a Greek New Testament book, writes, “Thus the Majority Text, upon which the King James Version is based, has in reality the strongest claim possible to be regarded as an authentic representation of the original text...based on its dominance in the transmissional history of the New Testament text.

·  Again Hodge writes, “Modern criticism repeatedly and systematically rejects majority readings on a large scale...This is monstrously unscientific...The Textus Receptus was too hastily abandoned.” (The majority text was gleaned from over 5,000 handwritten manuscripts.)

William Pickering, author of the “Identity of the New Testament Text,” recipient of a Th.M. in Greek Exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Toronto wrote...

·  “The new versions ignore the over 5,000 Greek manuscripts now extant.” (“Extant” simply means “now existing.”)

·  The majority text comes from manuscripts from Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Syria, Alexandria, Africa, Gaul, Southern Italy, Sicily, England, and Ireland.

·  Pickering notes: A reading found in only one limited area cannot be original. If a reading died out in the fourth century, we have the verdict of history against it.

·  The King James Version has the majority text and geography.

·  Metzger, author of “The Text of the New Testament,” writes, “Readings which are early and are supported by witnesses from a wide geographical area have a certain initial presumption in their favour.”

Now let us take a look at the Minority Text. In 1881, a “new” Greek text using the Vatican Manuscript (B) was introduced by Westcott and Hort and has been used as the Greek text for all subsequent versions.

·  Philo’s School in Alexandria, Egypt, produced manuscripts of the Old and New Testament, altered to conform to their esoteric teachings. Westcott and Hort used these very manuscripts to alter the traditional Old and New Testaments.

·  Westcott and Hort used Vatican Manuscript (B), which was from only one geographical area – Alexandria, Egypt. Remember, the Majority Text on the other hand, comes from manuscripts from Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Syria, Alexandria, Africa, Gaul, Southern Italy, Sicily, England, and Ireland.

Again, Pickering states, “A reading found in only one limited area cannot be original...if a reading died out in the fourth century, we have the verdict of history against it.”

·  Westcott and Hort totally reject Textus Receptus (Majority Text) to be the original text of the New Testament, which was honored as such for nearly two centuries. They claim three main types of evidence support their judgement:

·  1. The Syrian (Majority) Text contains combined or conflate readings, which are clearly composed of elements current in earlier forms of text.

·  2. No ante-Nicene Father quotes a distinctively Syrian (Majority) reading.

·  3. When the Syrian (Majority) Text readings are compared with the rival readings, their claim to be regarded as original is found gradually to diminish, and at last to disappear.

·  Kenyon’s 1937 text book supports Westcott and Hort. It reads, “The relatively late date...must now be taken as established. The majority text may be dismissed from further consideration.” However, he added, “ If it can be shown, that the readings which Hort called ‘Syrian’ existed before the fourth century, the keystone would be knocked out of the fabric of his theory.”

Researcher G.A. Riplinger weighs in with the following:

Out it comes! Harvard scholar, Hill writes, “This...[theory] has been abandoned by most present day scholars.” The ninety-six papyri (ancient writing materials)(with the exception of P3, 4, 7, and 14) were all discovered after 1890. Pickering observes:

In Hort’s day...the early papyri were not extant (existing) – had they been, the W-H theory could scarcely have appeared...Each of the early papyri (A.D.300 or earlier) vindicates some Byzantine [KJV] reading...Bodmer II shows some Syrian readings to be anterior (preceding in time; prior) to corresponding [Aleph and B] readings...[T]he early papyri vindicate Byzantine readings in 660 places where there is a significant variation.

Remember, the Byzantine text is what you have in the King James Bible.

·  Pickering cites H.A. Sturz, who wrote The Byzantine Text-Type and New Testament Textual Criticism, and summarized his research concerning the superiority of the KJV text-type, based on the discoveries in the papyri.

H.A. Sturz...surveyed all the available papyri...each new MS discovered vindicated added Byzantine readings...The magnitude of this vindication can be more fully appreciated by recalling that only about 30% of the New Testament has early papyri attestation...[I]f we had at least three papyri covering all parts of the New Testament, all of the 5000+ Byzantine readings rejected by the critical (eclectic) texts would be vindicated by early papyrus...Henceforth no one may reasonably or responsibly characterize the Byzantine text-type as being...late (meaning not as old)...[A]lthough modern editors continue to reject these readings, it can no longer be argued that they are late.

·  A.F.J. Klijn, in his book A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels, compared Aleph and B (fourth century) readings with the papyri (second century). Pickering added to his research and compared the Textus Receptus to Aleph and B. He concluded that the KJV readings (TR) dominated the early papyri to a greater percentage than the readings of the Aleph and B, seen in the new versions.

·  Pickering concludes, “[T]he TR has more early attestation than B and twice as much as Aleph – evidently the TR reflects an earlier text than either B or Aleph.”

·  Other scholar’s findings reveal results which vindicate the KJV readings.

·  G. Zuntz in The Texts of the Epistles writes, “[KJV type] readings previously discarded as late are [in] P46...[A]re all Byzantine readings ancient?...G. Pasquali answers in the affirmative...Papyrus 46 and 45 support the Majority text readings...”

·  Metzger says, “Papyrus 75 supports the Majority-text dozens of times. In relation to the [majority] text, P46 (about A.D.200), shows that some readings...go back to a very early period...P66 [has] readings that agree with the [majority]...text type.”

·  Hill notes, “Byzantine readings, which most critics have regarded as late, have now been proved by Papyrus Bodmer II to be early readings.”

·  The Journal of Theological Studies (London: Oxford University Press) says, “Papyrus 66 supports the readings of the Majority text.”

Remember now, that’s the King James Version.

John W. Burgon, Dean of Chichester was a contemporary of Westcott and Hort. He said, “...the two manuscripts honored by Westcott and Hort are the most depraved.”

·  Burgon went on to say, “...without a particle of hesitation, that B and D are two of the most scandalously mutilated texts which are anywhere to be met with: have, become, by whatever process (for their history is wholly unknown), the depositories of the largest amount of fabricated readings, ancient blunders, and intentional perversions of truth, which are discovered in any known copies of the Word of God.

·  Finally Burgon writes concerning dissenting manuscripts Vaticanus (b), Sinaiticus (ALEPH), Bezae (D), and Papyrus 75: All four are discovered on careful scrutiny to differ essentially, not only from the 99 out of 100 of the whole body of extant manuscripts, but even from one another.

Doctor Henry Morris, founder of the world renowned Institute of Creation Research, writes,

Even many King James Bibles have footnotes referring to what are said to be “better manuscripts” which indicate that certain changes should be made in the King James text. But what are these manuscripts, and are they really better? It is significant that almost all of the new versions of the New Testament are based on what is known as the Westcott-Hort Greek text, whereas the King James is based largely on what is known as the Textus Receptus. As far as the Hebrew text is concerned, the King James is based on the Masoretic (meaning, handed down) text, while the modern versions rely heavily on Kittel’s revised Masoretic text.

The Masoretic text was compiled from the ancient manuscripts of the Old Testament by the Hebrew scholars dedicated to guarding and standardizing the traditional Hebrew text “handed down” from the earlier Hebrew scribes, who had in turn meticulously copied the ancient Hebrew manuscripts, scrupulously guarding against error. As far as the Hebrew text developed by Rudolf Kittel is concerned, it is worth noting that Kittel was a German rationalistic higher critic, rejecting Biblical inerrancy and firmly devoted to evolutionism.

The men most responsible for alterations in the New Testament text were B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort, whose Greek New Testament was largely updated by Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. All of these men were evolutionists. Furthermore, Westcott and Hort both denied Biblical inerrancy and promoted spiritism and racism. Nestle and Aland, like Kittel, were German theological skeptics.

Westcott and Hort were also the most influential members of the English revision committee which produced the English Revised Version of the Bible. The corresponding American revision committee which developed the American Standard Version of 1901 was headed by another liberal evolutionist, Philip Schaff. Most new versions since that time have adopted the same presuppositions as those of the 19th century revisers.

Furthermore, the Westcott-Hort text was mainly based on two early Greek manuscripts, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts, which were rediscovered and rescued from long (and well-deserved) obscurity in the 19th century.

Dr. Morris concluded with this thought:

So one of the serious problems with most modern English translations is that they rely heavily on Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible developed by liberals, rationalists, and evolutionists, none of whom believed in the verbal inspiration of the Bible. Is this how God would preserve His word? Would He not more likely have used devout scholars who believed in the absolute inerrancy and authority of the Bible”?

·  Contemporary translations as a group have one thing in common: they tend to agree against the KJV in omitting hundreds of words, phrases, and verses. They differ in some 6000 places from the original. Basically, it’s because they have one thing in common: Westcott and Hort. The two most popular manual editions of the Greek text today, Nestles-Aland and U.B.S. (United Bible Society) really vary little from the Westcott-Hort text.

·  NIV, The New International Version, which has infiltrated the Christian ranks in dominating proportion, had its beginning in 1965 in Chicago. The translation was funded by the New York International Bible Society. Translators were selected from a long list of denominations, largely from the faculties of seminaries and universities. It was published in September of 1973. Of course its foundation is in the apostate abomination of Westcott and Hort.

·  The King James Version is fast becoming a thing of the past. There is a famine!

·  First let’s address the idea that the NIV is easier to read than the King James, therefore justifying its existence. G.A. Riplinger, author of “New Age Bible Versions,” notes an ease-of-readability formula by Flesch-Kincaid:

The Flesch-Kincaid research company’s Grade Level Indicator betrays the strictly black and white nature of the issue showing the new version’s true colors. The KJV ranks easier in 23 out of 26 comparisons.

The first chapter of the first and last books of both the Old and New Testaments were compared. The average grade level required to understand the King James Version was 5th grade 8th month. The average grade level required to understand the NIV was 8th grade 4th month.

The King James proves easier to read!

But the success of contrary translations has an underlying motivation that is far more serious than most imagine. Remember, we are made out of words – God’s words. Satan knows it; therefore, from the beginning of time he has attempted to change the words. There is a Satanic conspiracy to change the words in order to destroy Blood-Bought Souls and the way of escape.

As in defense law Satan’s task is to plant a reasonable doubt and cast a shadow on the absolutes of God’s word. Satan knows that when there is doubt the mountain won’t move. Satan knows as James records, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shell receive any thing from the Lord.” In other words, your Christianity will not work when there is doubt. Satan is effectively creating doubt and confusion so he can become a counterfeit Christ – the ANTI-CHRIST – and ultimately destroy the souls of men.

There is a new religious teaching presently flooding the earth called the New Age Doctrine, which is not in fact new, but simply a type of Hindu theology. Remember, one day soon Satan will step into the temple and confess himself to be God. Satan wants to be like God. He needs a unified religious vehicle to take him there – a one-world religious mind set. New Age theology is attempting to draw the world together under the banner of one God regardless of who he or she is, just as long as it is not the true God of the K.J. Bible and his Christ.

The world is waiting for someone...

Christianity is waiting for Christ and the great taking up of the church.

The Jews await the Messiah.

The New Agers await for one known as the “One.”

Make no mistake about it, he is on the way.

Consider some of the word changes in the NIV. These changes will make it clear that a conspiracy against the souls of men is afoot. Satan must change the words to make himself God. An evolution is taking place.

Westcott and Hort’s New Age translation from which comes the NIV, totally omits entire passages and verses of God’s word.

·  For example, the majority-text King James states in Luke 11:2, “When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” But, in the same passage the NIV says, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name.” Note in the NIV that the Father is no longer in Heaven. New Age teaching instructs that God is in creation (Mother Earth), the trees, the rocks, in you, and in me. The Hindu people place a red dot on their forehead which denotes the diety within them. This NIV change fits perfectly.

·  Again in the same passage the King James says, “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” The NIV omits it entirely. All of Christianity since its inception has prayed to the Father in Jesus’ name because of verses such as John 14:14: The Majority-text King James Version states, If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” The NIV writes, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Do you think making prayer requests incorrectly might have some significance?

Believers have a secret weapon against the Devil that has phenomenal power to break down his strongest strongholds. That weapon is fasting and prayer. Isaiah 58:6: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”

Westcott and Hort have expunged the record of this powerful weapon against the Gates of Hell! When Jesus was asked by his disciples why they couldn’t cast out the evil spirit, he replied to them in Mark 9:29 (KJV) by stating, “...This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” However, the NIV states, “...This kind can come out only by prayer.” Note that the secret weapon, “fasting,” is conveniently omitted by the NIV in Mark 9:29 and also in Matthew 17:21, Acts 10:30, and I Corinthians 7:5. Does it make sense that Satan would want this weapon to be destroyed?

The Christian ranks have long warred against the Devil’s temptations using the example Christ Jesus demonstrates in Luke, chapter 4, verse 8. The majority-text King James Version reads, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” The NIV reads, “Jesus answered, It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” “Get thee behind me, Satan:” is totally omitted.

In the majority-text King James it reads in Acts 17:22, “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.” Westcott and Hort’s NIV reads, “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.’” Do you see any difference between the words “superstitious” and “religious?”

In James 4:5, the majority-text King James records, “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” In the minority-text NIV we become victimized by God’s own design. It reads, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?” The carnal spirit that dwells in man is a product of man’s sin and not God’s design. In the NIV God becomes the reason for man’s sin.

Hell is geographically located in the bowels of the earth. If you find that funny, take your shovel and begin to dig. After a certain depth, for every foot you dig deeper, the temperature rises. Geologists now claim that the center of the earth is hotter than the surface of the sun. Hell is a place of fire and brimstone, a place of eternal punishment which is finally cast into the Lake of Fire. There is no reprieve. Hell is a teaching which is central to deliverance. On one occasion I asked an audience of believers how many gave their hearts to Christ to escape Hell’s fire. Seventy-five percent of the hands went up.

The power to resist temptation is mightily enhanced by the fear of eternal Hell fire. The majority-text reads in Revelation 20:14-15, “And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire.” In a multitude of places the NIV has changed the name of Hell to Hades. For example, the NIV reads in Revelation 20:14, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death.” Now, the definitions of Hades and Hell are dramatically different.

The Assyrian culture introduced the idea of Hades as an intermediate state. They called it the Happy Fields. The Egyptian Hades was called “Amenti,” a place of dreamless sleep. Note, “dreamless sleep.” You know from experience that if you’re having a bad dream, it’s almost like being there? So to make Hades absolutely harmless, the Egyptians define it as a place of dreamless sleep. Does this New Age Hell sound like much of a deterrent to sin to you. Satan changes the words to destroy the souls of men. Satan creates confusion and doubt. Remember, he knows that where there is doubt, the mountain won’t move.

New Age doctrine teaches the Circle of Life. Reincarnation is central to this demonic doctrine – a world that never ends. This won’t fit well with the majority-text King James Version because of droves of scriptures such as Matthew 28:20 where Jesus Christ says, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Satan, in the NIV, has changed the words again. It reads, “And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Note, not the end of the world, but the NIV says the end of the age, and it changes it in verse after verse after verse. An age is simply a period of time such as the Iron Age, the Industrial Age, the Ice Age, etc. Instead of the end of the world, the NIV gives us the circle of life – the New Age doctrine.

Now, according to the NIV, the end of the world is in question. So you should not be surprised that the beginning is also in question.

Buddha says, “No origin can be perceived.” This teaching facilitates the concept of the Circle of Life. Wouldn’t you know it?...Westcott and Hort’s NIV concurs over and over again. For example, the majority-text King James says in Acts 15:18, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” The NIV says, “that have been known for ages.” This example is not a remote occurrence. Buddha fits right in.

Satan is changing the words! I’ve just mentioned a few examples of doubt and deception regarding...

·  God’s position in heaven

·  Proper prayer to the Father in Jesus’ name

·  The believers’ secret weapon against Satan...FASTING

·  Warfare against the Devil

·  “Superstitious” becomes “religious”

·  Man becomes a victim of God

·  Hell fire and eternal damnation become a place of dreamless sleep

·  According to Westcott and Hort’s NIV, the world never ends

·  According to Westcott and Hort’s NIV, the world never had a beginning

One final example is Isaiah 14:12 where, in the NIV, Lucifer experiences a name change – from Lucifer to Morning Star – a name reserved for Jesus Christ himself. The King James writes, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” The minority-text NIV writes, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn.”

G.A. Riplinger’s research points out that not only do the apostate minority-text manuscripts, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, disagree with the vast, vast majority, but they also disagree with each other! The 8,000 changes in B and the 9,000 changes in Aleph are not the same changes. When their changes are added together, they alter the majority-text in about 13,000 places. This equals two changes for every verse. Together they omit 4,000 words, add 2,000, transpose 3,500, and modify 2,000.

The changing of God’s words has literally demolished major foundational Biblical positions. Satan is preparing to confess himself to be God! Westcott and Hort have helped to substantially prepare the way. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Beware of the scribes – the book publishers!

This major Satanic evolution is taking place right under our very noses. Satan must become God. Evil must become good, even as Isaiah the prophet prophesies. The word of God declares of Satan in II Thessalonians 2:4, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

Remember, evil must become good in order for Satan to become the false Christ the world will adore. Evil is evolving into good.

·  God and his Christ have been thrown out of our schools.

·  God has been thrown out of our government.

·  If Jesus Christ came incognito and ran for the office of President of America, he could not get elected.

·  If Jesus Christ came incognito to 990 out of 1,000 of the world’s confessing Christian churches, he would be thrown out of their pulpits!

If that sounds ridiculous, think on this...
Jesus Christ believes in the Biblical record of a 6,000-year-old Earth. That means no evolution of any ilk. He believes in Blood redemption, which many churches refer to as slaughterhouse religion. Jesus Christ believes in speaking in new tongues, in laying hands on the sick, and casting out devils. According to Jesus Christ, homosexuality and abortion are gross wickedness. Jesus Christ believes he is returning a second time to receive a blood-washed church unto himself in the clouds. Jesus Christ would not endorse the work of Westcott and Hort, the NIV, or the rest of their apostate kin. Jesus Christ believes that women should not inhabit the pulpits of his church. I hope you get the idea.

Satan’s demented desire is to destroy blood-bought souls. He has mounted a conspiracy to change God’s words, which in turn will evolve evil into good and destroy the way of escape.

Source - http://www.godsaidmansaid.com/topic3.asp?Cat2=244&ItemID=732

Canker and Rust

By Ray Gano

Well for those who are not linked into my Facebook , everything turned out ok with my dentist appointment. They needed to pull my right wisdom tooth.  BUT, the pain is gone and now I have a hole in the back. I am still nursing it so I do not get "dry socket", which I hear is a fate worse than death itself and the pain horrific. Needless to say, I am following the doctors instructions to a "T."
Lots of things going on in the news this past week. The front runner is of course the oil spill. One of the big things that I have noticed regarding this is the clamp down on the press' ability to truly report what is going on. The current administration has been preventing the press from coming within 65 feet of any operations dealing with the spill.
I have a contact that is coming off duty from the oil slick area. I hope to spend some time speaking to him. From what I understand, he was working as part of the crew who is drilling the relief wells. I am interested to see if he can shine any more light on what is going on down there.

Another thing that has me greatly concerned is the state of our economy. More and more signs of serious trouble are looming before us. The S&P 500, which is probably the number one indicator of the state of the economy is getting ready to cross beneath the 200-day moving average.

"Ok Ray, so what does that mean in everyday English? "

It is a very powerful indicator that we could be moving into a "bearish" period. In other words A stock market where a majority of investors are selling ("bears"), causing overall stock prices to drop.

Now you may say this is good and for some it is. But when the law of supply and demand take hold, what happens is people's savings, 401Ks, IRAs, retirement literally gets wiped out.

The S & P 500 is approaching the "Death Cross" as it is known in the financial world.

When you add this impending "Death Cross" with all of the other signs that we are seeing in the financial world,  recession and in fact depression are certainly reasons for alarm. 

Being a PZ Insider and getting the news I send out daily, you know that financial markets across the globe are full of fear and panic right now.  In fact the number one dominate force is the financial world right now is fear.

When fear rules, the markets become very volatile and could fall very quickly. I personally remember when MCI/Worldcom fell, it was a matter of days seeing stock that once sat in the hundreds, being priced in pennies. In the end Worldcom failed and took with it millions of peoples investment holdings. Those invested in mutual funds lost horribly and many people lost their entire retirement savings, just in a matter of days. 

The MCI/Worldcom situation is an excellent example of a bear market in action. People tried to sell off their stock as fast as they could, but the problem was that there were more sellers than buyers and the stock prices was dropping like a lead balloon at warp speed. There was no time to get out and people literally lost everything.

The average rule is that markets tend to fall much faster than they ever rise.  So are we now approaching one of those times of panic when financial markets across the world fall at breathtaking speed?

Quiet possibly. I know that I am concerned for the state of the environment.

Thing is that people who do not have tangible assets are at the greatest risk of losing.  When one has "paper"(investments)  based and supported by "paper" (fiat currency) one is playing a smoke and mirrors game of "virtual" assets. In other words, one has nothing to show for it. (mammon)

This is why I have tried to stay with what God's Word says, maintain your wealth in gold, silver, land, livestock, and most of all, investing in your family.

Now I am going to say something that might upset some folks.  Those who like to throw out  the "gold rusts" idea, you are making God a liar.

Gold and silver are the ONLY God created and ordained forms of money.  In other words, it is the only medium of wealth that God has created, ordained and will be here till the end of time.

Saying gold will rust is like saying all the water in the world will disappear one day. Water is a God created and ordained element just like gold and silver is. It isn't going away.

 I challenge you to reread that portion of scripture again.

James 5:3  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

When we read this in context we see that James 5 is not speaking of literal rust, otherwise people will "eat your flesh as it were fire." 

What we need to understand here is the James is speaking in and using "Colloquialisms."

What James  5 is addressing here is our testimonies that are against us. 

Like the steward who buried those talents in the earth, instead of improving them according to what the Lord said and to His will; he did nothing. Like the poor steward, the people will suffer torment.

 He says "Ye have laid up treasure in the last days."  When it is too late; you have no time to enjoy them in light of serving the Lord.  They will become like cankers and rust. They will not literally canker and rust,  but because those who had the talents and abilities were poor stewards over them, they will suffer a great loss.

A verse I often point to in my own personal life is…

1 Corinthians 15:34 (KJV)  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

Like the 1 Cor 15:34 verse, James 5 is addressing all of us who have the ability to work for the kingdom and we are all squandering it. We are like the "rich men" who have it all, and yet do nothing with it. Our "riches" will be like cankers and rust because we did nothing with them.

WOW… what a jump from bear markets to living the right life in the last days.

Folks, that is what it is all about.

We can let the world bring us down, fear rule us and scream that the sky is falling.

OR… we can take solace in that our God reigns and knows our today's and tomorrow's.

But that does not leave us to do nothing.

Scripture says…

Proverbs 6:6 (KJV)  Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Proverbs 30:25 (KJV)  The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

The Lord has given us foresight to understand the coming storm. We have history to also draw upon and learn from.

There are things taking place worldwide. God does not want us to sit on some mountain top staring at the sky in the lotus position. He has called us to share the gospel and the blessed hope of His soon return. 

We still have time.

How To Resist Temptation and Live Above Sin

By Ray Gano

I don’t know about you but I hate it when I sin.

Now there are those sins that one does not notice that they are doing, but there are also sins that we commit and that we KNOW we are doing with our eyes wide open.

A lot of times these are our pet sins, the sins that hold us back, bring us down, put us on the path to being backslidden.

Just to let you know, no one is without sin, and no one except our Lord Jesus Christ is perfect.

We all sin, but there are times in our lives when we learn how to live above sin and walk in the power of the Lord.

Every single one of us knows what it is like to be tempted. But being tempted to sin is not a sin in and of itself. In fact we know that Christ himself was tempted in all areas, just as we are, yet He did not sin.

Scripture says…

Hebrews  2:18 (KJV)  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

We learn in scripture that God allows us to be tempted for several reasons.

To try our faith - 1 Peter 1:7 (KJV)  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

To keep us humble and dependent on Him -  1 Peter 1:5 - 6  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

To help us see the victory that is in Christ - Hebrews  2:18 (KJV)  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

 And finally to enable us to win the crown of life - James 1:2-4 (KJV) My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;  3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

James 1:12 (KJV)  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Guidelines To Follow

So how does one stop sinning?

Well, we can't, it who we are, it is part of our sin nature and every single human being is a sinner.

Scripture says…

Romans 3:10(kjv)  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

But scripture also gives us some guidelines to follow that will help us concerning the temptation of sin.

1 - We are to be watchful and pray.

Matthew 26:41 (KJV)  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

By watching, Christ is referring to keeping an eye on ourselves. In other words keeping a check up from the neck up. When we become complacent, we tend to fall back into sin. But if we are watchful and in prayer, we stay "sharp" to the attacks of the enemy.

2 - Stay away from anything or situation that may lead to sin

Romans 16:19 (KJV)  For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

1Thesalonians 5:22 (KJV)  Abstain from all appearance of evil.

In other words, just stay away. When we give temptation  the foothold, we will most likely succumb to the sin.  There is a progression to sin, it is clearly stated when Eve beheld the fruit.

Genesis 3:6 (KJV)  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

We see that Eve SAW, and that it was PLEASANT, and then DESIRED, then she TOOK.

We still fall for the same sequence every time. What we need to learn is to just stay away from the temptation.

Here is an example.

We live in New Braunfels, we have the number one rated waterslide part in all the nation. We also have three rivers where folks come to go "tubing" or float down the river on the hot Texas days.

With that said, very scantily dressed women are everywhere and in some cases barely covering up the parts that need to be better covered.

When we are out and about and I see women like this, I purposely turn my eyes, look down, look to Tracye, look anywhere but where the almost naked women are running around at Wal-Mart, grocery store, shops, etc.

Why? Because I do not want to give temptation a foothold. Second it is my duty to honor my wife.

The first process to temptation is LOOKING.

Guys, honor your wife and don’t even look, avert your eyes and God will bless you.

3 - Be ye transformed from the worldly, to the Godly byt the renewing of your mind.

Romans  12:1-2 (KJV)  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

People today forget WHO we serve. We serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He was whipped, beaten and put on the cross to suffer. His blood was spilt for our sins and He gave His life freely so that we might be with the Father in Heaven. Christ gave his all, it is our reasonable service that we live a holy and acceptable life for Him.

We do this by renewing our minds. How do we renew our minds? By always thinking on the things of the Lord. Reading His Word, singing praises, having Christians hymns playing in the background, always being in a form of prayer, thinking on scriptures, memorizing scripture, fellowshipping with other Christians, going to church, etc, etc, etc.

When we fill our minds with the ways of the Lord, we do not give temptation the foothold.  Living this life is a constant upwards battle, but with the Lord for us, who can be against us.

But the moment that we think we have it covered and are "holy" enough. It is at that time that we start slipping back also known as back sliding.

Folks, if we are not going forward, we are going backwards. There is no standing still and maintaining the status quo.

Now, please know that even if you are doing everything you can, temptation still comes, that is why they call it temptation.

So what can we do on top of following these guidelines?

1 - Look to Christ's example - resist the devil with scripture.

James 4:7-8 (KJV)  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded

2 - Submit / yield yourself to the Lord and reckon ourselves dead to sin.

1 Peter 2:24 (KJV)  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

3 -Earnestly watch for the way of escape God has promised. When temptations creeps in take it immediately once it is discovered .

1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV)  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

What people do not realize is that the way to escape is always through Christ Jesus. Turn to Him, focus on Him, look to Him.

Remember what happened to Peter the moment he took his eyes off of Jesus as he was walking on the water with the Lord? He started to sink. If we take our eyes off the Lord, we sink. But when we keep our eyes and our focus upon Him, He will see us through and provide us the means to escape the temptation. 

The Outcome

When we who are in Christ follow these principals when we are tempted, we will by the power of the Lord working in us, be able to overcome the temptation.  The added benefit is that in doing this we are exercising our "spiritual muscles" and when we are tempted again, we know what we need to do. The experience we gain helps us to battle temptation and through God's power in us, we are stronger and in a better position to serve Him.

BUT… if we who are Christians give in to the temptation, and all of us do, it is because we have neglected some of the guidelines God has given us in His Word as a means of defense.

Ephesians  6:13 (KJV)  Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

This all falls into learning how to wear the armor of God. See we just don’t wake up one day and decide we are going out on the battle field with 70 pounds of extra armor we have never worn and  then think we can fight effectively.

We need to exercise the muscles needed to wear the armor and once we have built them up, then we will be able to fight temptation effectively. 

When we do fall for temptation and we do sin, it isn't the end of the world.

Scripture says…

1 John 1:8-10 (KJV) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

 We serve a loving and caring Father. He has provided a way through Jesus Christ our Lord. For if we confess that we have sinned, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and then cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We live in a world where sin abounds. These are the last days of the last days. More and more we see the works of the enemy everywhere. To be honest there are days I think that man can not sink any lower, then I read of some new event which tells me that man is still sinking in his depravity.

Folks, use these guidelines and you will see God begin to work in your life. This is all part of walking the path to sanctification.

James 4:8a (KJV)  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

Finally, I leave you with one final verse  that wraps all of these guidelines into one statement which is easy to memorize …

Philippians 4:8 (KJV)  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

And when you think on these things of the Lord, you will be able to resist temptation and live above sin.

Choosing To Sin

By Ray Gano

It is interesting when we see people who know the scripture, raised in the church, know the right thing to do and yet still choose to act in rebellion and choose to sin.

God has stated to not have fellowship with the world, and yet so many Christians the world over are allowing the darkness in when they themselves know better. Every sort of lust, deviance, and blasphemy are entering into the personal lives of Christians today.  Because of that, the very same lust, deviance and blasphemy have rooted themselves in the churches today.

I personally believe there are several factors to this.

1 - No respect / fear for God

2 - We have trivialized God’s Word.

Here is what God’s Word says…

John 14:15 (KJV) If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Now that seem pretty black and white to me.

God’s Word is God’s Word.

Old and New Testaments make up God’s Word.

John 1:1-5 (KJV)  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  The same was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

2Timothy 3:16 (KJV) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Deut 6:5-7 (KJV)  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Note that it is ALL scripture that is God Word, not picking and choosing what we want and chuck the rest due to our own personal pet sins. God does not lie, nor does He change His mind through the ages.

The plain fact is that we obey Him, or we don’t. There is no grey area. 

So knowing this, why do so many of us choose to blatantly sin?

Listen,  I am not talking about sin because we are still part of the sin nature, I am talking about out and out "I am going to sin and no one is going to tell me not to."

I guess what I am trying to describe is gross rebellion.

Do you know how much adultery is taking place in today's churches? How about the "casual sex" in Christian singles groups?  Folks, this is out and out rebellion and people are hiding behind the title Christian to justify their sins.

I often get emails calling me every name in the book, un loving, mean ol fundamentalist Christian, intolerant of the worlds filth and sin.

To all those out there, you don’t have a problem with me; you have a problem with God the creator of the universe.

Here is another news flash, one day you will stand before Him and give an account.

Folks, God said it, He meant it, and in the end He will have the last word.

To all those who know what is right, know God's Word and refuse; well you will have it worse.

To the so called “Christians” and religious leaders who have not heeded God’s Word, and tolerate the filth and sin of the world, here is what you have to look forward to…

Matthew 7:21 -23 (KJV)  Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

To all those who do not know the Lord and are in rebellion living in sin, here is what you have to look forward to..

Revelation 20:11-15 (KJV)  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

It all comes down to one thing… 

Who Do You Serve? 

Jesus stated the following…

John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If you do not have Christ in your life, you will spend eternity in hell. This is a fact. It does not matter if you believe this or not, it is the truth spoken by Jesus himself. If your name is not written in the Lambs Book of Life you will go to hell for what you have not done and that is accepting Christ as your personal savior. To be placed in the Lamb Book of Life, you need to turn your life completely over to Him. Having “head” knowledge or “just believing in Christ” is not the same as having “heart” knowledge with Christ living in your heart.  We know that even the devils believe in Him, where are they spending eternity?

James 2:19 (KJV)  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

We work hard at Prophezine to show that Bible Prophecy is coming to pass. Because of this fact, the Bible is true. Since the Bible is the true and inerrant word of God, there is a heaven and there is a hell.

If you claim the title of “Christian” then take account of yourself this day. Many claim the title, but we read in God’s Word that the title does not get you into heaven.

Who you serve will determine where you will spend eternity. If you are not serving Christ and a true child of God, then you are serving Satan and a child of the enemy.

If you are not 110% sure, then take account of yourself, your very life depends upon it.

1John 1:9 (KJV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.