Dear Saints,

Another storm struck us last week on Tuesday 6th December, straight after the two in the previous week. While the house is holding up well to this endless barrage of winds, a few outside polytunnels and structures are not. Repairs have needed to be done to save what can be saved. Storms are normal here next to the Atlantic but never in this number and severity, and never from the late summer onwards. The weather in Ireland is now so unusual and challenging to the growing of food that it is hard not to see it as a deliberate attack upon the country’s food supply – especially when the spraying continues overhead daily, and you can see the manmade artificiality of the weather with your own eyes.

I mention this because – as an organic grower – it is a topic I am personally keen to share at some later point in relation to these Last Days, in the hope of gaining some feedback from fellow saints about their own situation wherever they are. In the north of Ireland here we rarely see the clear skies any longer for the amount of artificial cloud cover. In a very real way, the skies have been darkened. I can testify myself as a grower and life-long lover of the skies, that we are now experiencing 30-50% less light than normal. Those with experience of solar power are reporting the same noticeable reduction. And yet I literally know of no-one else who has even noticed that there is less light in our everyday lives. This is why I would bring the matter out into the open.

But as I said that is another issue for now, and I must resist from going off on a tangent.

What was most interesting about Tuesday’s storm was that Tuesday the sixth of December is a traditional Catholic holy day here in parts of Europe, in which people commemorate the historical figure of ‘Saint Nicholas’, who was the Catholic Saint known for giving out gifts to children during the holiday period. This is the saint most used by the modern, Babylonian, candy-striped ‘cult of Christmas’ to legitimise itself with a wrapping of tradition. However, many European Catholics still commemorate the giving of gifts to their children on December sixth because of this day, while largely ignoring the flood of Americanised pop-culture which gave us both our modernised ‘Christmas Day’ along with the yearly children’s worship of The Day Of The Dead, or Halloween.

On Tuesday 6th December, when many Catholics here were giving gifts to their children in honour of a Catholic Saint, the gales which hit Ireland were predicted to reach speeds of up to 66 mph, with temperatures expected to plummet to as low as 6 degrees.

I found these details most ironic, considering how I had just recently posted about the intentional deployment of this number in Ireland everywhere that you now look.

The Meanings of Names

What was also interesting, for myself at least, was that Nicholas, the Saint who is remembered on that day, is also MY NAME.

My full name being Colin Nicholas Buchanan.

When I was first born again, I was lead by the Spirit into looking into what my names actually mean. It was a surprise to find that my middle name, Nicholas, was derived from the same Saint I have already mentioned above, and that my first name, Colin, is also partly derived from Nicholas, and partly derived from Columba, the Irish saint and missionary. This was even more surprising because I had just moved across country, without knowing it, to the very place where Columba had been born, here in Donegal. I also discovered that even my surname, Buchanan, means an isle with an old abbey or church upon it.

My family are not Catholic, so why they named me Nicholas twice, in a roundabout fashion, I am not certain.

But yes, it was of some interest to me that this diabolically-numbered storm was hitting on that day of all days, and wreaked such destruction around the house while we were forced to harbour safely inside, relying upon our Father’s protection for the trees not to come down on our heads.

And when your own name is connected to that particular day, twice, it is hard not to take such things a little personally.

The Bug

My wife has noticed that sickness often follows these storms in our local community. We do not know why this is, if not merely some strange coincidence.

This time it was our own family who was struck with an illness after the storm had passed, a stomach bug which caused much sleeplessness and rushing about with basins.

So last week was largely wiped out in terms of doing any real desk work. Though I did accomplish a little before the worst of it hit us.

The Updated Parables Website

On Tuesday night, during the height of the gusts and just before we lost power, I was able to update the Parables.blog website with some new thumbnail graphics, which I think restore the older more graphical look of the website’s post listings. The graphics also add a little more detail concerning the topic of each posting, which I hope will make them even more accessible to newer readers. Check out the updated Parables site if you have a moment.

https://parables.blog

The Joseph Herrin Archives

Joseph’s entire archive of works has now been fully secured and backed-up here in Donegal. It was quite a remarkable thing to watch a folder on my hard-drive filling up with the entire body of Joseph’s vital works as they were transferred across the Atlantic via the Internet, including all his PDFs and audio files.

I already have most of Joseph’s books and articles on my Kindle. Yet I was astounded at how many hundreds and hundreds of files were filling up the incoming folder during the transfer, each file representing days and weeks and months of labour and prayerful study. it took over an hour to transfer the entire collection of files over. I sipped tea while an earlier gale howled outside and watched the files coming in one after the other. It was utterly astounding to see all in one location the sheer volume of work that Joseph has published over these 25 years! It made me think of the following picture:

What a massive resource of teaching he has created for the saints in this time.

Over the next few days I will make sure to backup this archive of Joseph’s work off-site as well!

From this archive, I would like to offer an Archive Search Feature in the near future, being a more personal form of the online search box available on the Parables.blog website. It any reader wishes to find a particular theme of Joseph’s teachings across his many books and articles, my dear wife has volunteered to undertake searches throughout Joseph’s archives for this purpose. Hopefully, we may also be able to use this as a way of compiling an INDEX of Joseph’s writings with a focus upon his major teaching themes.

Posting Joseph’s Writings

Since I am now a week behind my intended schedule, I have had to re-evaluate my postings over the holiday period. I am planning on taking a break from the internet over the last few weeks of December in order to spend some much-needed catchup time with my family. I had intended on auto-posting my introductory post, really a Testimony, in two parts over this period, but I will not be doing that now. Instead I will introduce myself properly in the New Year.

Yes, I know, this must be about the fourth time I have said I am going to introduce myself properly in my next posting!

I cannot explain the delay, other than this is how I have been lead to do things by the Holy Spirit. Ever since assuming Joseph’s ministry, the Spirit has been testifying to me that there is a ‘proper‘ way of doing things in terms of honouring Joseph’s retirement and carrying his ministry forwards from here, and has instructed me on how each of these things should be handled and when. Often this has involved me laying aside my own personal ideas. So it would seem the Father would have me offer a proper hello and testimony to my fellow saints at the beginning of the New Year, which will mark year eight of my walk.

In place of these intended, semi-mythical Introductory posts I planned to publish over the holidays, I will instead do something else instead.

It came to me in prayer last night that the best thing to do now is to post some of Joseph’s writings over the holiday period. This would of course be much better than anything I could write myself anyway, and much more familiar for long-time readers too. And there are three very old articles that Joseph has not posted on Parables for over a decade, which each had a strong effect on my own walk, and must have had a similar effect for many others, and which would be of much profit for new and older readers alike to read again at this time.

I believe this is the wish of the Father for the holiday period.

Future Writings?

At this point, I am reminded that I would like to ask for your input in this matter. When I first assumed Joseph’s writing ministry, I had not intended on doing much blog writing myself for Parables, partly due to time constraints, yet I appear to have been lead into doing just that. However the aim is still to largely publish Joseph’s teachings via this blog, though I plan to do so weekly rather than three times a week as it has been in the past. And in between each series of Joseph’s writings, I will publish a blog post written by myself, so there is also new content freely available for readers.

I have realised that it is Joseph’s much-older works which now need to be published. Writings which perhaps many readers have not encountered for years, if at all. So if you happen to have any personal favourites of Joseph’s writings – something that has not been posted on Parables for a long time, if at all – then please do let me know, and I will add it to the list of works to be published in the blog next year.

Which leads us nicely to the meat of this posting. Following is the first of those older articles written by Joseph that I just mentioned. This is the first of the three articles that will be posted leading up to the New Year. All three articles are of course relevant to the times, but they are also relevant to the series of posts I have just published called A Tale Of Two Nations, which can be read at https://parables.blog.

This first teaching of Joseph’s is called ‘Circe – Church – Harlot’.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these last days.

Colin Buchanan

thiswisefool@protonmail.com

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws  

Parables Blog: https://parables.blog

Circe – Church – Harlot

Written by Joseph Herrin (12-02-2010)

A brother in Christ (Lorin Smith) recently shared some thoughts with me regarding the origin of the word church. The online Catholic Encyclopedia begins their entry on “The Church” with the following:

The term church (Anglo-Saxon, cirice, circe; Modern German, Kirche; Swedish, Kyrka) is the name employed in the Teutonic languages to render the Greek ekklesia  (ecclesia), the term by which the New Testament writers denote the society  founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
[Source: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm]

I have written previously of the more accurate and revelatory meaning of the Greek word Ekklesia, and will not repeat that information here. For those who wish to read about it, you can find the post titled “The Called Out” here:

https://parables.blog/called-out/

If you are unfamiliar with the word Circe, which is the Anglo Saxon form of our English word Church, it was also the name attributed to a goddess skilled in sorcery whose story can be found in Homer’s The Odyssey. The Odyssey tells the story of the hero named Odysseus (Ulysses) who sailed his ship on a remarkable ten year voyage as he returned from the Trojan War. Along the way he and his crewmen encountered many perils and adventures, tha majority perishing while a remnant obtained great glory.

Homer recounts an experience where Odysseus and his men land on the island of Aiaia. They draw lots to see who will explore the island, and who will remain with the ship. Odysseus remains with the ship while others go exploring. The men come to a clearing in the midst of a forest in which is a castle, the home of the sorceress Circe. As they approach they are met with lions, wolves and other wild creatures that are unusually docile, fawning on the men as if they wish to be friends. These are men who have been turned into animals by the sorcery of Circe.

Circe, invites the famished men into her home for a feast. The men do not suspect her treachery. She has poisoned the food, and they fall asleep as they eat. She then turns Odyssesus’ men into a herd of swine. Only one man had the caution to remain hidden in the woods, and observing the fate of his mates, he returns to the ship in great grief and recounts the matter to Odysseus who then sets out to rescue his men, aided by the counsel of Hermes.

When Circe finds that she cannot transform Odysseus into a swine, she invites him to her bed, plying the wiles of a harlot upon him, but he has been forewarned of this as well, and escapes her treachery there.

This story taken from Greek Mythology contains profound parallels to the story of the church (Anglo Saxon Circe). In the book of Revelation, the church is depicted as a Harlot and a Sorceress with a cup of abominations in her hand.

Revelation 17:3-6
So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting… The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Yahshua. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

This woman is no friend of the saints of God, though she will gladly invite them to drink of her intoxicating potions and revel in the bed of her sensuality and fornication. She delights in turning those who are called to be sons of God into bestial men. She casts many into a slumber from which only a remnant escape.

On another website I found the following description of Circe.

KIRKE (or Circe) was a goddess pharmakeia (witch or sorceress) who lived with her nymph attendants on the mythical island of Aiaia. She was skilled in the magic of metamorphosis, the power of illusion, and the dark art of necromancy. When Odysseus landed on her island she transformed his men into animals, but with the help of the god Hermes, he overcame the goddess and forced her to release his men from her spell.
[Source: http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Kirke.html]

Perhaps you are already aware that the English word sorcery is used to translate the Greek word pharmakeia in this same book of Revelation. It is employed in a passage describing the Great Harlot who is also called Babylon.

Revelation 18:23-24
“Because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery (pharmakeia). And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

There are such tremendous parallels between the Harlot of Revelation and Circe of Greek Mythology, that comparison comes naturally. In the presentation titled Parables I have written of the symbolism of swine. Yahweh employs many natural things in His creation as types and shadows to present spiritual truth to those who have eyes to see. I will include a portion here from aforementioned presentation that speaks of the symbolism of swine. This will bring understanding to the story of Circe turning Odysseus’ men into swine.

The Parable of the Pig

Comparing men to swine is a type of parable. In the old Testament Yahweh gave criteria for clean and unclean animals. For an animal to be considered clean it had to meet two criteria. It had to have a split hoof, and it had to chew the cud.

Both of these things stand for something spiritually. The split hoof is a picture of being able to divide between truth and error, between right and wrong. Chewing the cud is a picture of meditating on truth.

Another term for chewing the cud is ruminate, and we often use this word to speak of a person chewing on a thought or idea. Chewing the cud spiritually stands for someone who loves the truth and who will therefore chew on what they have learned, seeking to derive all the benefit from it.

The pig meets one criteria for a clean animal, but fails in the other. The pig has a split hoof, but he does not chew the cud. This is a picture of the worst type of person, for it speaks of a person who has the ability to discern truth from error, but they do not love the truth, so they do not derive the benefit from the truth they have received.

For this reason Yahshua told His disciples to not cast their pearls of truth before people who fell into this category.
[End Excerpt]

Further insight into this symbolism is found in the same article as it describes Christ’s miracle of casting the unclean spirits out of the Gadarene demoniac.

The demons entreated Yahshua to send them out into a nearby herd of swine, and Yahshua permitted them. The entire herd then ran down the hill into the sea and perished…

The swine are a picture of the kingdom of God during the church age. Remember that swine are a picture of men who are given truth, having a split hoof, but they do not love the truth, they do not chew the cud.

God is telling us that the church age will be a period when many whom He has given truth to will not love the truth. The church age has been a period when doctrines of demons have entered the church, and it has been a period marked by sin. Yahshua gave several other overt parables to reveal that this would be the nature of the church age. He gave the parable of the mustard seed where He said the kingdom of God was like this smallest of seeds, but it would grow up to be the largest tree in the garden until the birds of the air would nest in its branches. Today Christianity is the largest religion in the world, and it is also filled with much error and false doctrine. The birds of the air are a picture of Satanic influences resting among the various branches of the church.

Mark 4:4, 15
As he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up… These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

Yahshua gave another parable where He compared the kingdom of God in the church age to leavened dough.

Luke 13:20-21
And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”

Leaven is a symbol of sin, and Christ is saying that the church age would be a time when sin was rampant among those whom He had called to be His children. For this reason we read that “Many are the called, but few are chosen.”

The majority of people who comprise the masses of Christianity do not love the truth. They do not submit to God’s purifying work in their lives, and they are pictured in the swine that rush down the hill and drown in the sea. This is a picture of the judgment that awaits those who fall into this category. It is the remnant who will be saved.

I have taken time to explain the condition of the church in this present age for I know some will be offended at the depiction of the church as a herd of swine, but you must remember that even in the book of Revelation which was recorded less than a hundred years after the resurrection of Christ, seven different churches were written to, and only two of them were not warned about judgment to come to them if they did not repent of the evil that was already present within them. Some of their evil was so reprehensible to God that He warned them that their candlestick might be removed.
[End Excerpt]

I want to bring understanding to the types and shadows relating to the Harlot in Revelation. It is evident that Christ was revealing to John important matters that had great bearing upon the people of God. We should not suppose that these spiritual types that are portrayed through such clear natural examples will be evident to the majority in the church today. Christ spoke in parables to seal the judgment of those who do not love truth, “that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand…” (Mark 4:12). The book of Revelation remains a sealed book to the majority of Christians today.

The Great Harlot, like Circe (Church), is depicted with a cup of intoxicating drink in her hand. Food and drink in the Bible are types and shadows for doctrines. We see this plainly in the following passage:

Hebrews 13:9
Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were thus occupied were not benefitted.

The soul of man feeds upon ideas as the flesh of man feeds upon foods. Not all teachings in the church today bring spiritual benefit. Indeed, a vast amount of that which is served up by the church (Circe) today will keep men perpetually carnal and condemn them to slumber and a beastly nature. Those who were called to walk as men created in the image and likeness of God will instead become swine. Having the ability to divide between truth and error, they loved not the truth and will reap the consequences of their actions.

There are many areas in which the people of God today have imbibed intoxicating drinks and eaten foods that have not benefitted them spiritually. I would mention just one area, as it is timely, and I wrote of it in the previous blog.

At this season you will find in the Church (Circe) a great amount of teaching on the birth and nativity of Christ. Most of this teaching is filled with error, for Christ was not born on December 25th. There were no wise men present at his birth. And there is a very good reason to believe he was not born in a stable, nor laid in a manger used by cattle.

I studied a teaching some years back that espoused the view that Christ was born at the Feast of Tabernacles, a view that has much support Scripturally, and in type and shadow. The life of Christ was very much in synch with the Feast Days of Yahweh. Yahshua was slain on Passover. He sent forth the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. It fits very reasonably that He was born on Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles occurs in the fall, in our months of September or October. During the Feast the Israelites were commanded to build booths (sukkahs) outside their homes, and to dwell in them during that time. It was to remind them of their fathers who wandered in the wilderness for forty years and dwelt in booths or tents.

On another level it is a symbol of Yahweh tabernacling with men in fulness. One of the names ascribed to the Son of God is Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” In the person of Messiah mankind observed the fulfillment of Tabernacles. God was dwelling in the tent of flesh, which we see as man’s body. Christ said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” The apostles spoke of the human body as being a sukkah, a tent, or temporary dwelling.

II Corinthians 5:1-4
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

During the Feast of Tabernacles the Jews would build these booths all throughout the cities in which they lived. In these booths they would live and eat. Consequently they had certain pieces of furniture in them. One of these pieces of furniture was to hold the food they ate while in the Sukkah. The word we have translated in our English Bibles as manger is derived from the following Greek word.

phatne (fat’-nay); from pateomai (to eat)
(Strongs’ Concordance)

Christ testified that He was the Bread of Heaven, that His blood is true drink, and His body is true meat. He stated that those who drank His blood and ate His flesh would have true life in them. How appropriate that He should be born in a sukkah at the Feast of Tabernacles and laid in a piece of furniture used to hold the food to feed those dwelling there!

Is it not a great indictment that the church today presents Christ as laying in a manger surrounded by animals? The Christ that the church (Circe) has fashioned is fit only for food to sustain the beast nature of man. Indeed, Christmas does not induce men and women to bear the cross by which they might be transformed into Yahweh’s image. It leads them to excesses of commercial greed and fills their hearts with dreams of material possessions. Christmas fills the mind with thoughts of a God who wants to bless men materially, setting their minds on earthly things. This is not the work of Christ whom Yahweh sent to earth.

Yes, Circe (the Church) is still casting men and women into slumber today and transforming those called to bear the image of God into beasts.

Below are images of Circe and the Great Harlot of Revelation. Can you not see the resemblance?

Is not the Spirit of Christ declaring that the Great Harlot has a name, and it is Church?

Addendum: Lorin Smith sent me the following quotation:

Quote from Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief by Jonathan Barry, Marianne Hester, and Gareth Roberts.

A metaphoric extension of the idea that witchcraft is seductive, pleasurable and unmanning is the use of the nexus of ideas for purposes of Protestant propaganda in sixteenth and seventeenth century England. Like Spenser’s Duessa, the Roman Catholic Church was often seen as explicitly Circean. The English translation of Bullinger’s sermons on the apocalypse call her “that great witch Circes” and William Fulke saw the Roman Church as “a Babylonicall Circe.” The Roman Church was seductive, glamorous, magical, bestially transforming, poisonous, enfeebling, effeminating. Here, as Spenser’s Duessa, Bullinger and Fulke show, part of the Circean configuration included an analogue from the Apocalypse, the Great Whore of Babylon of Revelation XXVII, with her magical and enfeebling cup.
[Pages 201-202]

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.

Joseph Herrin

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Dear Saints,

It has grown very cold very quickly here in Donegal, Ireland, with another two storms hitting us this week again. Now that December has arrived, it is a good time of the year to focus on family and cosiness, cheery fires and walks through the forest behind our homestead. Though hopefully, some work will be achieved too.

In next week’s posting I intend to finally introduce myself and my family to you properly, so you can put a face to the name. For now, I still have the matter of offering some words concerning the recent US election results, and what this may mean for the saints worldwide. Though in particular, I will be focusing on the trap I believe that American Christian Conservatives now find themselves within due to their following a false leader.

THE TRAP #1 – OPERATION I LOVE YOU

In the last blog article, I highlighted some matters in relation to the fake Co-Vid pandemic, and how they were enabled in the US by the then-President and now-returning President hailed as the saviour of America.

Yet did this billionaire, this graduate of a Jesuit University in New York, save America in that hour in which we saw the takeover of the world in the guise of a fake pandemic?

When all of that horror rolled over us without warning, how did the supposedly sovereign, supposedly Christian President of the US respond to the fear-mongering and factual lies of the billionaire-funded WHO, or what I simply referred to at the time as the WOO-WHO? Did he question anything fundamental about the panic? Did he stand for the truth in Christ in that desperate hour? Did he even call for a moment of calm in which to establish the facts?

No, he did not. Instead he suggested some alternative treatments for the ‘illness’ so the corporate media had some minor controversy to distract the public with, whilst pretending his own hands were tied in the matter.

Surely though, when it came to the ultimate high tide in all of that nightmare, when it was being proposed to jab adults and children and babies alike with ‘experimental’ devil serums which somehow modified their God-given genetics for life – serums which later were widely advertised in the press, and by the makers themselves, as being rushed and untested, with one Pharmakeia company declaring how it had created its own anti-Co-Vid serum ‘over a single weekend’ – surely then was when this super-rebel-President-against-the-Swamp was to step in and make a stand, before his people toppled into an abyss? Well, no, not exactly.

What he did do, because of his great love for mankind, and in particular for his fellow American patriots, was to rush through his State-sanctioned scheme to jab the entire nation with these devil serums even faster than had already been announced by the CDC – the medical arm of the US Pentagon. So impossibly fast were these ‘emergency jabs’ to be deployed that the scheme was even given a name from the most famous science fiction show of all time, because the nation was now entering into the wildest of science fictions.

And so Americans experienced Operation Star Trek, I mean Operation Warp Speed, in which this rebel President, supposedly in open insurrection against the Establishment, paved the way for the smooth deployment of the Establishment’s plans for the crowning of their New World Order.

And the majority of the Christian Right went along with it, because either they lacked a real love of truth, or they fell in their pursuit of truth into the enemy’s deceptions during the flood of Co-Vid propaganda.

The point at issue is this. If a different President had been in power during the Co-Vid Panic, say a Democrat President like creepy-feely-Biden or the Clinton Witch, and they had tried to push those Co-Vid measures upon the American Right – masking of adults and children, social-distancing, quarantine of the heathy, restrictions to Churches and religious observances, restrictions to small businesses and the self-employed, restrictions to travel, lethal experimental jabs, lethal experimental forced jabs for the military and other government jobs, and many other breaches of the American Constitution …

The Christian Conservative Right would have revolted, as many did in Canada, or would have simply refused to comply, had it been Hilary or Biden telling them to do these things in their lives and Churches.

But because it was the Christian Right-wing hero of the hour telling them to do these things, one of their own, the whole diabolical scheme was allowed to pass. And as a result, many of the Christian Right took in the devil’s serum, along with their poor children.

Here in Ireland, while the media was depicting the medical establishment as white-clad dancing superheroes, certain doctors and nurses were being paid to persuade pregnant women to get the experimental gene-modifying Co-Vid jabs for the safety of their unborn children, even though the medical advice at the time was that unborn children had no risk from the supposed virus.

These medical professionals, who have sworn to do no harm to their patients, hounded thousands of frightened expectant mothers with emails and letters and text messages right when the fear propaganda was at its highest. Using their positions as ‘experts’, they put terror and lies into these mothers’ hearts, quite literally using their unborn children as emotional ransom to persuade them to take a highly experimental and untested new medical technology which, we now know, results in life-long damage and even death.

These ‘doctors’ and ‘nurses’ should have been reported to the police and arrested for the crimes they were committing. Instead, they were hailed as heroes and rewarded financially by the very governments who should have been prosecuting them for their harmful and medically unethical actions. For every person they persuaded to take one of those toxic jabs, one of those snake bites, these doctors and nurses were paid a specific amount of money straight into their bank accounts.

And so school children, still forced to wear masks in the classrooms, were jabbed against their wishes so their genetics were irreversibly altered. Elders in nursing homes, those who had not yet been euthanised by the deployment of lethal new sedatives – it was the early, real deaths from these new sedatives in nursing homes which were used to first ignite the Co-Vid Panic – were jabbed without ever really knowing what was going on. And of course, the majority of those in between were likewise jabbed through fear and intimidation. Though I suspect the numbers of the unjabbed are much higher than reported.

And now, following all these experimental and untested jabs, one of which was ‘created over the weekend’, the deaths in our local area are far outstripping the birth rate, with funerals happening all the time. Turbo cancers and strokes are becoming the new normal here, even in younger people. You also hear constantly of younger people suddenly experiencing strokes and heart attacks – young men having heart attacks; teenagers even! Though it isn’t only the young. It is people of all ages and from all walks of life. Countless videos online show people on live TV and sporting events simply dropping dead without warning. One minute they are upright and fine, the next instant they go down like a felled tree.

Isn’t it interesting, in line with what we have read in the Scriptures concerning the Last Days, how men have rushed to get this jab largely out of fear, and now their hearts are failing them?

Now it is too late to turn back. With the crowning victory of the Corona Virus Operation, from which most of the world’s population are now juiced on the devil’s serum – a mysterious concoction that not only harms and kills but also appears to be sending out Bluetooth wifi signals from people’s bodies – we have already arrived at the intended destination, the New Order.

And one of the chief players of the Corona Virus Operation was the rebel President of the day.

THE TRAP #2 – OPERATION FAKE INSURRECTION

With the latest US election results, the American Christian Right find themselves perfectly set up for the next trap prepared for them by the enemies of God. I use the word trap intentionally, because that is what I see from afar, looking inwards.

The first arm of the trap closed during Operation Warp Speed, and was, as already mentioned, lead by the then-President.

The second arm of the trap was lead by that very same man. Though he was no longer the President of the day. Instead he was the rebel ex-President now without a White House.

‘January 6^th’ was not an insurrection at all, but really a media hoax perpetrated against an unsuspecting Christian Right who had been worked up into making a peaceful stand against obvious election shenanigans. It was yet another arm of the trap closing upon the conservative right, since it appears to have been a set-up from the very beginning, including paid political ‘antifa’ activists pretending to be part of the crowd as they enacted the destruction of property for all to see. Worse, it appears that the ex-President was himself responsible for leading his people into the trap, while feigning his innocence. Again.

Now conservative Christians are seen by the rest of the population as dangerous revolutionaries out to overthrow the government. This mis-characterisation of Christians has been broadcast around the world, to the extent that even my step-mother, a Church of England devotee who will not normally broach any conversations concerning politics or anything else really about the world, could not contain herself at the dining table during a recent visit, and declared out-of-the-blue her hostility to those Christian Patriots in the US who had tried to violently overthrow their government.

Meanwhile, poor patriotic Grandmothers and Grandfathers are locked away in solitary confinement for wandering around the Capital buildings at the wrong time with a little US flag in their hands, not knowing they were fodder in a Psychological Operation and corporate media ambush. May the Good Lord aid them in the trials they are now going through.

THE TRAP #3 – OPERATION JUDAS?

When the sound of gunfire rang out around the podium upon which the now-President elect was delivering a pre-election speech, how many people knew that within moments one of the most iconic images of our time would be taken by one of the most experienced photo-journalists in his field, a photo which would depict the super-rebel ex-President raising his fist in brave defiance to his people after he ‘survived the assassin’s bullet’, and which in that instant propelled his candidacy into certain victory?

His victory was so obvious at that point that even the Democrat Party knew it, and started to throw each other under the election bus like there were no longer enough seats to go around.

Perhaps I am imagining it, but it seems that a very subtle sea-shift has been occurring since his election victory, which is not yet all that visible to the eye. The corporate media’s incessant howling and loathing of their strawman President seems to be softening a little in some quarters. A mood of inevitability almost appears to be forming in the air. Though again perhaps I am only imagining it.

Regardless, with the recent election result, the final arms of the Trap appear to be in place.

Because of their faith and hope in their false leader, many conservatives have been tricked into taking the serum of the devil, while others have been framed into looking like violent fanatics. At recent Presidential election rallies, jokes which were in fact pseudo-racist – at least to any liberal who would later see them in video clips – were allowed to be told by comedian speakers, under the guise of freedom of humour. These pseudo-racist jokes at a Christian Conservative Presidential rally, which of course included many people who were not white, became the media frenzy of that day. Once again, the Christian Right was mischaracterised by the actions of its own leaders and influencers to the rest of the nation, and world.

Two important factors can be noted about the present situation. 1) The Christian Conservatives have been corralled together publicly and visibly under the flag of their charismatic leader. 2) They have been used to mischaracterise all Bible-faithful Christians as intolerant, racist misogynists who are willing to violently overthrow government.

In fact, to a certain segment of the population, to the particularly liberal woke segment who oppose the Right, these conservative Bible-believing Christians represent everything they hate and despise most of all.

These woke liberals have been worked up into a frenzy of hysteria against this false representation of who Conservative Christians actually are. The more hardcore members of the woke population are now talking openly of burning everything to the ground. Or killing people who voted for the wrong Presidential Candidate. Or of getting serially pregnant simply so they can murder-abort the resulting children of men …

Getting even is the spirit of their hearts.

These people, driven mentally and morally deranged by the Image of the Beast they so devoutly worship, are supported in their perversions of God’s reality by the liberal ‘Christian Church’, which is already an arm of the One World Religion multifaith. They truly do believe that Bible-following Christian Conservatives are the epitome of all that is evil in their worlds. Indeed, with their ‘intolerance and hatred and racism’ they are holding the world back from its destiny with a rainbow-coloured utopia of make-believe, in which all will be bubbles and joy.

This, by the way, is the traditional position held by Witches and occultists for centuries, and can be found in the writings of modern occultists like Alice Bailey: true Christians are holding the world back from progressing, from evolving, into the Golden Age, and need to be removed from society like a cancer for the good of everyone else.

When you see the murderous rage in some of these woke fanatics, when you watch videos of them violently attacking street preachers and anti-abortionists, you realise that without any law or consequences, they would be murdering their victims right there in the streets. Some of these people would be rejoicing in righteous glee as they ate out a Christian’s heart.

So where is all this heading? Why have these dynamics been so carefully and subtly laid into place? Why brainwash a segment of the population into becoming violent extremists bent on revenge, if they are not to be deployed as the weapons they already are?

Perhaps it is enough that they are already agents of chaos within our communities, fracturing families with their intolerance of contrary opinions, their anti-white racism, and their hatred of real men and women. The final fracturing of society is certainly fast underway.

But whenever I consider how these things are all reflections of the spiritual war, and so try to discern them spiritually, the impression arises that there is still much more to unfold from these dark seeds.

JEZEBEL

Let us first state the obvious here. The most deranged of these people are women. Or men who think they are women. Or men who are so emasculated they may as well be women. Women and feminised men who have usurped the God-given roles of authority and now stand proudly upon their own understanding.

It is no coincidence that the influencers of this crowd all appear to be Witches and Satanists. And that an undercurrent of witchcraft appears to run beneath the entire woke and global warming movements.

Witchy Woke Women are now the goddesses of the media and much of the world. Almost overnight they have been vaulted into positions of leadership throughout our societies and institutions and businesses, without any experience or qualifications beyond the ability to address an audience and spin the facts as a woke influencer. Often they are shown visibly leading men and men in uniform. It is difficult not to view these women, each time I see one and discern her spirit, as simply another Witch in the gang being awarded for her faithfulness to the devil.

Yes, woke women are now goddesses, supposedly, yet the champions of this rise of the woke woman cannot even tell you what a woman is.

And the only Women’s Rights they are ever interested in seems to be the ‘right’ to murder their own unborn children in the womb, and for the right of their daughters to murder their unborn grandchildren in the womb, alongside the ‘right’ to ‘sleep’ with whatever gender they wish to. They are never interested in any other women’s rights, like the right for a mother to stay at home to care for her children and husband, or the right of a mother not to have her child taken away from her because she disagrees with transgender ideology.

Only those rights which correspond with witchcraft are being promoted.

This is why LGBT is promoted like a religious requirement of the woke faith. In case you are happily unaware of the fact, real female witches are lesbians as a rule, though not exclusively, while male witches are homosexuals, though also not exclusively. Generally they will have intercourse with anything, but they lean towards their own gender. And they lean towards the young.

This is why those frightening hardcore trannies you see grooming children at ‘Story Playtimes’, and leading the way into women’s and girl’s bathrooms, are the most dedicated and frontline of Satanists. In fact they are operatives set upon a mission.

In the same manner, the issue of abortion is another pillar of the woke faith. And abortion, historically – though you will not find this spoken of almost anywhere now – was a practice traditionally carried out by witches, by the ‘women of the crossroads’, by the women of ‘the roadside dyke’. And this was largely because witches were often the prostitutes and ‘madames’ and suppliers of children of the day. And so they became adept at homemade measures for birth control, including physical abortions and poisons to kill the unwanted unborn.

Even deeper than those necessities, infant sacrifice was and still is very much a core ritual of their satanic beliefs. This is why you find Hilary the Witch sending emails about ‘worshipping Molech’. This is why so many Satanists are found in the frontlines of the abortion battle.

Returning to the general woke crowd of the hysterical left, their unhinged behaviour cannot be explained purely as the result of a media frenzy.

I suspect, unfortunately, that these intentionally freakish-looking people have all been broken in some way at an early age. Just as all real witches have likewise been broken from an early age, before they even had a say in the matter.

Forgive me again for having to raise another unpleasant subject here. Some things in this world are shameful even to talk about. Yet I believe this is something that needs to be stated:

It has certainly been my own experience that every person that has ever spoken with me about their homosexuality, male or female, has confessed to some form of early sexual abuse, often at the hands of a relative, even a father. Sometimes it was simply a friend of the family, or a teacher, or a stranger. In others words the predators can be anything.

The lesbians who I have spoken with over the years, all had horrifying experiences at the hands of men. Though the homosexual men are more reluctant to admit to such experiences. There is more shame involved for men. Yet time and again they would eventually disclose some terrible story. For those homosexuals who do not recall any such experiences, I believe many likely do not remember the abuse, since many more victims of abuse forget these traumas rather than hold onto them in their frontal memory.

Though again, this is only from personal observation. Whatever the true reason, somehow the demonic spirit of homosexuality has been placed into these unfortunate people at an early age.

For I believe that such behaviour as homosexuality does not simply arise from God, even if the media would have us think otherwise. In the fallen human being, this behaviour is generated by the forces of evil by acts of evil. That is why there is a massive wave of young people now flying the LGBT flag. It is not only that the culture is brainwashing them every way it can to be this way. Before this current offensive even began, massive levels of child abuse were already producing generations of children bent into the perverse androgyne of the devil.

It is for the specific purpose of creating a wave of open homosexuality, that increasingly massive levels of child sexual abuse have been a deliberate policy all along; a deliberate technique for modifying and creating patterns of human behaviour which pervert the image of God.

This is one of many reasons why I find the Pride Parades to be so distressing, knowing that these men and women are celebrating the very abuse which they suffered as children, at the hands of monsters who robbed them of their lives for the sake of the perverts’ own immediate gratification. These broken men and women are celebrating their own destruction as children at the hands of the devil, and encouraging the further corruption of children.

Perhaps, like many open Satanists, much of this angry woke crowd are simply getting their own back against a world that destroyed them before their lives had really even begun. Hence why they hate Yahweh and His children so much, even to the point of denying Him. Because they have been tricked into blaming their Creator for what they had to endure.

Such people deserve our compassion and ministry, not the laughter and mockery of much of the right-wing alt-media. This is not a circus freakshow to be enjoyed at leisure. To watch the breakdowns of woke people on internet videos is to watch people who are clearly mentally ill. I do not mean that to be offensive in any way. These people are obviously ill, and need tending to as all sick people do. They are the most damaged and lost of us all. They need the Good News, not our laughter.

I find this fact to be a useful one to remember whenever I struggle, as I sometimes do, to pray fully and whole-heartedly for the redemption of these poor corrupted souls.

It is wise, too, to pray for their deliverance, for they are clearly under the influence of the demonic. For it is the perverted feminine nature of Jezebel, in both women and men, that which presumes the authority of real man and our Creator, which most openly tears and screams at the traditional order of things today.

The spirit of Jezebel demands and expects to be given everything she desires, and stops at nothing in ensuring her will is met with submission. For years there has been a stream of this spirit running through many of America’s households. From afar, from a different country looking inwards, this has been dubbed by some commentators – or at least by myself when I still watched telly back in the day – as American Housewife Syndrome. Portrayed so positively across the media, this self-empowered American housewife always expects to have her way and her say in all matters, always expects to be treated to the very finest of possessions, and has a heart hovering always over the divorce button lest her desires and standards not be met for an instant. Lord help the husband who is insensitive enough to her needs to lose his job!

It is a spirit which has been imbued into real lives entirely through the examples presented by the media. And now this Jezebel spirit has spread and found its fullest expression within that movement known as Pride, or LGBT. These ‘self-empowered’ people also expect to get everything their own way, or they scream and fling themselves about demonically until they get it.

How dare we not submit to their innermost fictions of gender identity? How dare we stand in their way of killing their unborn babies so they may continue living as whores?

They are like a horde of gaggling, maddened blue-haired witches rising out of the sea to castrate and murder and spew forth the lies of their Father. And they have betrayed a spirit of violence right out in public time and time again, which now, with the recent election result, appears to be reaching some kind of high-pitched crescendo. As already noted, if it were not for the law, it seems obvious that some of them would be outright killing strangers in the streets by now.

CIVIL WAR

I grew up in a civil war here in the north of Ireland, where people really were beating and shooting other people dead over their cultural differences.

More than 3000 died during the 30 years of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, which, amongst other things never spoken of about ‘the Troubles’, was in reality a Masonic/Jesuit dialectic laboratory for the study of the use of domestic terrorism against a captive population. For all that time, with the bombings and shootings and kidnappings and daily terror on the news, two camps of people hated and despised each other as much as any group ever could.

Yet never once in all those years did I witness people getting on like these woke neurotics now – with such deranged and murderous frothing-at-the-mouth hatred as to appear entirely unhinged. This is something far beyond the normal. Even the normal of a low-scale 30-year civil war where people really were killing each other over their differences.

It is impossible for me to convey, at least in a short amount of words, how much the hatred flowed in this small province of Ulster during those years, and how weird the ordinary daily lives of people became because of it. Instead I will simply offer a small collection of photos for you to look at. These things may be just around the corner for America too.

TRANNY TERRORISTS VS CHRISTIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS?

Now that the Christian Right have been corralled so effectively by the media away from the rest of the population, dividing the country into two opposing camps, will we now see a wave of ‘domestic terrorism’ aimed at Christian Conservatives and their families? All of it blamed on lunatic lone wokesters with blue hair and overly-large glasses or solo tranny fanatics?

Or could it become even larger than that? ‘Christian Conservative freedom fighters’ fighting back against these aggressions, whilst in reality being actors of the State?

Will domestic terrorism be used, as it was in Northern Ireland and other places, to physically get rid of the real undesirables in society? In this case, the truly born-again saints?

And in response, much like post-9/11, will the residing Administration then enact new laws which further curtail liberties and the Constitution? Do they then become the ‘Christian Right Dictatorship’ which the liberals have been bleating about for years now? A Dictatorship which will actually be part of the New World Order?

It is impossible to say without some form of revelation.

Meanwhile, the Image of the Beast continues to tell us how politicians and politics will save us, even after all these decades of non-ending let-downs and betrayals by the politicians we elect. Yet has a single one of them in modern times ever truly stopped the progression of the New Order? When the latest round of politicos and hopey-changey artists assume power in the White House, will they really reverse the invasion of millions of illegal immigrants, for instance? Or will it only appear to be done so, while in reality the vast majority of illegals remain within US borders as a horde of locusts with the faces of men, there to torment and plunder in the land of the free-for-all?

Will anything fundamental truly change?

Or will it all ultimately lead to failure and the revenge of the enraged and desperate woke population, so that many of the Christian Right find themselves rounded up and ‘separated’ from the rest of society for the sake of people’s safety?

FLYING THE FLAG OF THE CROSS

These possibilities suggest a path of caution for the saints right now, a path of separation from the fallen church.

Yet as important as these considerations are, they still remain secondary to the next point I wish to make. Which is that this billionaire political leader, and his movement, are visibly bearing the banner of Christ.

Everything this man and his people do are a reflection of true Christians around the world and the Gospel they preach.

Is that not a sobering realisation? Is it not more sobering even than the fact that he will have his hands on the Nuclear Button, that he already holds, in his hands, the Image of Christ?

So far, this possession of the Image of Christ has enabled the media to paint Christians around the world as bigots and worse. And this has simply been the lead up to the main event.

What will the main event be?

How far will they drag Christ Yashua’s and His Father’s name and character through the mud? Until Yahweh is openly cast into the role of the devil, and the anti-Christ into the role of the world’s saviour?

THE NAME I CANNOT HAVE IN MY MOUTH

(The rebel-President when he was much younger, on the right of the picture)

As readers will no doubt have noted by now, with perhaps a little scratching of the head, I have not mentioned the President Elect’s name even once in all of this article. It is not because I cannot spell it.

It is a difficult thing to explain.

I must confess that I have no personal animosity towards this man, beyond his unsavoury character. I understand why so many people follow him, and I do not recoil in programmed horror as so many others do whenever they see him.

I say this, because ever since I first laid eyes on that iconic photo taken after the supposed assassination attempt on his life, in which he rises up in fist-pumping defiance against the backdrop of an American flag, something in my spirit very severely recoiled from what I was seeing.

For a moment I saw something of the beloved John’s Revelation in that image.

I saw something dark and foretold by prophecy unfolding into the world.

And ever since witnessing that image, I cannot seem to say his name.

I cannot any longer abide having his name in my mouth!

CONCLUSION

The Book of Revelation by the Beloved Apostle John tells us very clearly what is happening and what is still to happen. It does not say anywhere that a politician will save us from tribulation in the last days. It does not say our nations will be restored before the end. Revelation tells us how things will continue to worsen – worse than the whole history of man – until the victorious return of our King, Christ Yashua.

And the Revelation of John tells us to beware of false leaders and prophets and Christs and even anti-Christs, for deception will be everywhere in the last days, and all will be blinded but those who have a love of God and truth.

Things are not getting better, not even in America, despite what the Image of the Beast would have us believe with its dark light occluding the truths of this world. The world falls faster than ever before into the arms of the Adversary, and no politician is going to stop that fall, or even slow it down. No politician can save us nor our nations.

Only a whole-hearted return to Yahweh’s will through His Beloved Son Jesus Christ can save us.

COLIN WHO?

Who am to say any of this to you, Joseph’s fellow readers and supporters? Well of course I’m no-one. I’m a name on your web browser and little more. And I have no right nor wish to impart anything to you unless it be inspired of the Holy Spirit.

So next week I intend to finally introduce myself properly with something of a personal Testimony, written in the most spirited way that I can, along with some thoughts for carrying Joseph’s ministry forwards from here. I hope you will join me then.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these last days.

Colin Buchanan

thiswisefool@protonmail.com

Dear Saints,

In the last Parables posting, Joseph and I shared some words with you concerning the New Order that the world has entered upon, particularly as it relates to the recent US Elections. In this second part, my intent is to expand on this reasoning with some impressions I have been given concerning the new President Elect, including his role in the world takeover known as the ‘Co-Vid Pandemic’, before I end with some words of caution for those saints who are in the US with their families.

Though no doubt, these dangers are already much apparent to those with eyes to see.

But forgive me for starting with such a dark introduction! I hope you are well and of good spirit. And I must confess that I feel less drawn to offer the meat of this analysis today, and more drawn to first lead into these matters by sharing some words and experiences concerning events which effected us all, the whole world, deeply, and which cannot be ignored if we are to understand where we stand today. That matter is of course the fake Co-Vid pandemic. I do not wish to write a revel down the rabbit holes of world conspiracy right now, but more an effort to witness something of those recent times with my fellow saints, and to share my heart with you on these things.

By the way there is a reason for any humour you may find in my words or tone of writing. It is not that I take any of this lightly. The very opposite is true. Humour is simply my way of maintaining morale while I walk through the shadow of the valley of death in service to our Lord. Some of Christ Yashua’s followers liked to sing joyously whenever they were in dire straights.

I simply like to smile.

The Man With The Upside Down Smile

You can always tell a great deal about a person by the company they keep and the allies who support them. Consider for instance the US President Elect’s most famous of super-wealthy supporters, Elon Musk:

Let us ask in the spirit of truth, what is the real spiritual fruit of Elon Musk’s actions in ‘buying Twitter’, rebranding it with an occult name, X, the mark of Osiris Rising, and feigning a love of truth while he pursues the transhumanism goals of the Powers and openly signals to Satanists that he is one of them?

(Elon Musk with his mother)

Another way you can tell something about a person is by how they act with their supposed enemies, at their wedding.

Or by who they invite to their political rallies to offer prayers and spiritual support to the nation in its hour of need.

(Kenneth Copeland at ‘Save America’ rally)

Or who they listen to during an orchestrated World take-over masquerading as a global medical emergency.

These last few pictures paint a thousand words in reminding us of the response to the global Co-Vid scamdemic by the controversial American President of the day. Despite being branded as a super-rebel against the Establishment, this President enabled the global Establishment’s medical tyranny of lies to unfold across America.

The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

The New Order of today – in which Satanists high and low cavort across the screens of the Image of the Beast in open gloating over their captured populations and planet – all of this was inaugurated by the crowning victory of the ‘Corona Virus’ faked pandemic. Hence why its very name Corona means ‘crown’. At the beginning of this decade, the Powers released a white horse bearing the white-clad rider of the medical apocalypse, armed with its bow of poisonous jabs.

It was the Image of the Beast, the modern screen media, which whipped the whole world into a frenzy of captive terror in a process commonly known as Trauma-Based Mind Control, putting the world under a spell from which many, many people are still in the grips of to this hour. It was the Image of the Beast which propelled a genius diabolical fantasy into the minds of man and made them think it was all real and about to kill them, so that they even turned on their own loved ones who tried to warn them of the deceptions, and likewise turned on poor strangers in the street just trying to go about their lives during a desperate time, lone survivors refusing to be masked because they would not go along with the Dragon Flood of lies.

In the front porch of our house, we have a handmade sign on display which can be read by anyone who comes to the door. It reads: This Is A House Of Truth. Leave Any Lies At The Door.

I will not tell a lie even once, no matter if the whole world should burn.

When the Co-Vid flood of propaganda rolled up upon our doorstep, it felt like an open declaration of war.

Right from the onset of this global deception, the saints were warned by the Holy Spirit that these things were all diabolical stirrings and that we were not to become embroiled in them, indeed we were to resist the collective madness by simply not taking part in it.

Though there were others too who were not saints, yet who also saw the wicked scheming of men in these unfolding events. What these resistors largely shared, I noted, was a dedication to knowing the truth.

What I also noted about many of these people who were not saints yet were resisting the deceptions of the devil, was that they generally were not against God or the name of Jesus. They did not tend to flinch when you mentioned God to them. They had not yet fully bought into the modern anti-Christ creed where they reject all things holy. And because of their adherence to truth, and because the scamdemic shocked them partially awake, many remain even now open to the Promises and Peace of the Good News. They can still be reached.

It was for the reasons stated above that a great separation could be seen occurring at this time between those who worship the Image of the Beast and those few who follow truth instead. A great gulf emerged between these two peoples which had been invisible until then.

Amazingly, most Christians in the Churches sided with the lies of the Beast and scorned those who did not. Even their fellow believers. Time and again my words to Church-goers about our need to have a love of truth rather than a spirit of fear were met with anger and derision. Even as the Holy Spirit witnessed how evil all of these devices of the devil really were in believer’s hearts, witless Church elders bearing devil masks were gently cajoling the congregations to mask up too, and to stay 6 fix apart from each other lest they catch a cold. Here in Ireland they even consented to locking up the Churches for a while under a pre-arranged order from the State. When they were finally reopened, or partially reopened, they refrained their congregations from singing hymns.

It was the first time in my early walk that I fully grasped how far from truth the Christian Church had fallen. And how the true ecclesia of God was in no way to be found within the manmade hierarchies of Organised Religion, nor should be found there. These places had become synagogues of the devil, leading people astray from the ultimate truth of Christ and the Gospel.

Saint or not, it took courage to make a visible stand in those days against the flood. And because of this, those who did make a visible stand were like shining suns walking amongst us down here in the fearful gloom. To see a fellow resistor in the street or the shop who was likewise not wearing a mask – a satanic slave device after all – was to see with great relief another thinking human being still here in the world!

There are others still out there like me!

Ageing grandmothers and quietly dignified gentlemen overnight became my heroes.

My wife too become one of those heroes in my eyes.

The Chalice

It was my darling wife, Joanna, who was to suffer greatly at this time. Though it is a difficult story to relate I feel called to share some of the details with you, as they draw attention to one of the arms of the New Order’s victory over the earth, the medical profession. It was the medical profession which, perversely, wrought the most physical harm and death during the faked pandemic. Rather than dispelling the propaganda myths being used to terrorise the public, which many of them knew to be false, if not outright dangerous, the majority of doctors largely went along with these lies for the sake of their careers. Some even profited from the deceptions. Very few made a visible stand, though many nurses were to leave the medical industry during this period because of their conscience.

Early on during Joanna’s second pregnancy, after a nightmare experience with her first, it was found that our developing unborn child had a rare heart defect, which meant the muscle mass of her heart was growing too fast and that she was not ‘viable for life’. Our unborn child was dying from too much heart.

Because of this awful development, we were required to visit the nearest hospital a great deal during the very height of the Co-Vid madness. Of all the terrible timing.

We were still under some illusions about the medical industry and its motives, because we were still not yet leaning fully upon our Father’s understanding of this world. Though the experience of Co-Vid and hospitals at that time was to change all of that.

Here in those days, travel was being limited in every subtle way, so that even getting to the hospital was something of a challenge. Public bus services were cut to almost nothing. Even just getting onto the rare bus without wearing a mask became a revolutionary act. Sometimes the bus driver would be convinced enough by your confidence, and would say nothing as you stepped on board without a mask on your face, in contrast to the sea of masks that would then confront you. Sometimes he would have something of an attitude, and you would have to state that you were ‘exempt’ without any doubt in your voice, with perhaps a few more words of explanation concerning the legalities of the matter, and that would be enough to get you past too.

Other times though, the bus driver would be a raving lunatic, obviously hopped up on the latest frightening cycle of news, and you would be schooled by the Spirit in how to deal with such things as poor demonised bus drivers standing in the way of your pregnant wife’s hospital appointment because they are deathly afraid of catching a cold, while the rows of passengers watches on in bleak and passive silence, and the whole bus seems to groan beneath the weight of the lies.

Once onboard, if you did get onboard, you would meet the eyes of your fellow silent passengers just to show that you were not cowed by the fear propaganda, and neither should they be. The most common expression I saw in return, other than hostility, was one of simple frightened bewilderment.

It is an expression I still see in people’s faces daily.

When we would finally reach the hospital, where dying people were being refused visits from their families right unto their mortal end (for fear that they might catch a cold and die), and where a full-on pretence of quarantine procedures was very visibly in place throughout the buildings, we also were not willing to go along with the deceptions.

By that time, we also knew the medical evidence that masks were not remotely effective in this supposed crises. Worse, long-term mask wearing can cause health problems such as hypoxia, especially for pregnant women, and even brain damage. Mask wearing was a dangerous fraud, yet demented people were driving around alone in their cars wearing three of them just to be safe, because Fauci had told them so with a straight face.

This knowing the truth of the matter liberated and emboldened us yet further. Whenever I walked through the corridors of the hospital without a mask on, no-one ever bothered me at all. Perhaps sometimes I was mistaken for a doctor. Or perhaps the fixed, agonised exhaustion on my face was also a factor at play. But by that point, I was so neck-deep in warfare that nothing and no-one was going to turn me aside from doing what I felt commanded by my Father to do, which was to resist the flood of lies – and I believe this faithfulness could be seen in my manner, even to unbelievers.

Things changed when we had to start travelling to Dublin on gruelling five-hour drives to the Children’s hospital there, in order to undergo crucial scans.

Our unborn child, little Eve, had the rarest of heart defects, which meant she would not survive the pregnancy for long. Her life was not viable. For some reason, the medical experts seemed fascinated by the rarity of her condition.

In Dublin, in the maternity ward of the specialist hospital, we entered a scene like a contemporary Luciferian horror movie on Netflix.

I still vividly recall the gloomy waiting room crammed full with expectant women, not a man in sight for we were largely banned from entering hospitals by then. Every expectant mother was sitting there shoulder to shoulder in rows with all the others expectant mothers, each one of them gagged behind a mask, and each staring down upon a phone that spilled a sickly light across the obvious bulges of their bellies. Not a single one of them was speaking to their neighbour or even acknowledging their neighbour’s presence. It was not the bubbly excited feminine atmosphere of maternity waiting rooms of the past. No sense of life existed in that room at all. It felt lifeless. The fact that many of the room’s lights were off – for some unstated reason – only added to the effect. Each of these women were alone in a darkened machine that had no use for them nor their unborn children as humans.

When a few of the women looked up to see us standing there in the doorway unmasked and human, they blinked and stared, startled by the sight of us, like people gazing from a different world. And then they returned to their phones and their silence.

It was this foul place from where I was to eventually be thrown out for politely refusing to put on a mask. At first when we refused in the corridor, they escorted us to a private room where we thought we were going to be seen by a clinician attending to our scan. Instead we were ambushed by a Doctor Fauci lookalike in a medical mask, who again asked us to put on ‘our’ masks. My wife explained her circumstances. She did not wish to restrict oxygen to her unborn child by wearing a mask. It was not medically safe for her to do so, since the child was already struggling to live and … As she spoke, Joanna started to cry. She had much more on her heart just then than this nonsense with masks. The doctor listened, then he gently tried to persuade her once more to put on the mask.

At this point I lost my peace.

It was in a rather loud and shaking voice – which I wish had been much calmer – that I explained how we knew the truth of the matter, how medical studies showed that masks were ineffective and that they were a sham. I can be a persuasive fellow at times, as Joseph has testified, and when I told the doctor that since he was a professional medical clinician, he must also clearly know the truth of this too, he flat out admitted it, rather than lose face.

This fellow, this Fauci-lookalike, then explained to us how the real reason for wearing masks was to make people feel safer. My wife and I were causing people to feel unsafe by not masking up in the hospital. So would we just go along with the lie so that people might feel safer? What is the big issue anyway? Just do it this one time. Just put on the mask, and you and your wife can go for the scan you have travelled five hours for her to undergo at the hands of the country’s leading expert, so that you might see your living child in the womb for the first and possibly only time.

Just do it.

This was when they threw me out because I would not budge, and because I demanded rather loudly that this doctor get away from my wife.

After five minutes out in the street in prayer with the Good Lord I calmed down some, and went back inside anyway, because my wife and child were still in there alone. I was calm and determined enough that no one stopped me or protested. But still I politely declined to put on a mask when offered one. While my wife was finally allowed to proceed to the scanning room without a mask, I was not. So I did not get to see my little girl while she was alive.

After this, we refused any longer to travel all that way to the hospital in Dublin. We hadn’t quite reached the point of giving everything over to Yahweh, and He alone. But we knew we did not need any more scans ‘for the safety of the child and mother’. We knew our child was dying from a heart defect and no scan was going to change that fact.

And the mother’s safety? We engaged the local midwife, a kind and considerate woman, who came out for regular health checks to make sure that Joanna was doing fine.

Upon advising the doctors we would not be travelling to the Dublin hospital again for another repeat performance of the Phantom of the Opera, the local hospital changed their tune and told us we did not need to go all that for those sophisticated scans after all, we could do everything locally instead. Why this was suddenly the case now, and not before, was not explained to us.

But we politely told them we wished for no more scans. And that we wished to be left in peace and privacy while we underwent this ordeal of losing our child.

Little Eve survived and grew for many more months than the experts expected after we made this decision. They were visibly surprised that she held on for so long. Joanna cherished what time she had with her. But then one day, Joanna knew that the living child within her was gone.

The Delivery

When it came to the long drawn-out hellish experience of delivering our deceased child, we were already spent. We did not wish to return to the hospital but we did not see that we had any choice. The only safe way it seemed was to deliver the child in the local hospital. We had asked midwife after midwife in the region if they would help us do it at home, but none would even consider ‘taking the risk’. Since Joanna had already almost died delivering our first child, we were both cautious too.

The process of induced delivery involved some four days of waiting in a hospital room under partial ‘quarantine’, because we refused to be tested ‘for Co-Vid’. Under these conditions, the doctors would only appear before us, at a distance, in fully helmeted costumes right out of the movie Quarantine – as though we had the plague. We had the sense they viewed us as the crazed members of some cult. The worst nurses and doctors alike showed their displeasure at our refusal to be tested for their fantasy virus or to wear a mask, for our unwillingness to co-operate with the lies.

It was December, and little glass-boxed nativity scenes were dotted about the building, beneath all the Yoga and New Age and Flue Jab posters adorning the walls (Get Your Flu Jab Or You Might Die). Yet the baby Jesus always seemed to be missing from the manger in all of these nativity scenes. I began asking playfully where the baby Jesus had gone to? I was told it was a Catholic tradition not to include the baby Jesus in the nativity scene until Christmas day. But by that logic, I wondered, why include anyone who was there at all before Christmas day? It seemed to me another strange aspect of the spiritual war, another subtle trick to hide away the Truth of the World.

Seldom during the entire experience did many doctors really actually look at me, let alone address me, the man and father in the equation. Indeed few men were allowed into the building as visitors. I would have been excluded myself from most of the procedures and appointments had our plight not been so unusual. It was as though the medical industry was purposely excluding the man from the process, in an attempt to remove his authority over his wife and child.

After these four days leading up to the delivery, my wife was taken to the delivery room to deliver our child. Joanna describes the most agonising delivery she ever had, made even more painful than normal due to the artificial contractions caused by the drug that she had slowly been administered over the previous few days. During the agony and torment and distress of this induced delivery, the midwives tried to persuade my wife to wear a mask, even though it would have constricted her breathing.

My wife refused rather hotly! And in the midst of all this, Joanna experienced a blessing of the Father’s Presence and Love which she talks about to this day.

But the delivery did almost kill her, again.

The Homecoming

(Painting by Peter Muzyka)

When we finally returned home, fully shattered and still needing to go back for our child’s remains, we found a letter from child services informing us we had been reported to them by the hospital, for no longer attending those useless scans. The child services informed us that they had thrown out their complaint. But still, the timing of the letter shook us.

These days we no longer take part in the medical industry at all. We believe after the Co-Vid madness that it can no longer be trusted. And unless someone breaks a leg in the family, we have no plans to engage with it further. Now we lay ourselves upon the promises of Yahweh.

For many others, the Co-Vid Panic was also something of an awakening. Though the vast majority sank to the new low, and are still falling.

I should mention here that I do not mean to disparage anyone who did comply with the lies. I am not writing this in a spirit of judgement towards each other, only in an effort to share with you the experience of a few fellow saints. I fully understand why many people believed they had no choice in the matter, if they wished to remain in their job so they could provide for their family. Many others were in such a state of frightened mental confusion that they did not seem to know what they were doing. They simply went along with the flock, at a time when they were equipped to do little else. The reality of what was really occurring in those days was so tremendous that the truth was simply too impossible for them to believe, even when loved ones tried to warn them.

If you were not already armed with a love of truth by the time the flood hit, you were likely carried away by it.

In Memory Of Life

I have ended up writing much more about this personal experience of ours during Co-Vid than I had intended. So much so that I have already used up most of the space of this posting. Before I continue to the main point I wish to make, in relation to America and the President Elect, I would like to take a break with this post, and to end it here for now.

I am quite wearied by this particular writing!

My wife and I do not have a remembrance every year for our child’s passing. In a way we do not consider her to be gone. Eve is life and our little girl will somehow be with us again when all our tears will be wiped away, and all things in the New Heaven and New Earth will be of joy, righteousness and open wonder, and this previous life will be only a shadow from which we awakened into light.

After I sat here doubting whether I should post this writing as it is, and asked of the Good Lord for a sign, my wife had the opportunity to read what I had written. It was of some surprise to me, in all my present busyness, when she then gently reminded me how this weekend is the fourth anniversary of little Eve’s passing.

Therefore I would like to dedicate this short writing to the memory of our precious daughter.

For all of you who have shared a similar loss in your lives, I pray you may find some peace and comfort from these words I offer from my heart.

With love,

Colin Buchanan

thiswisefool@protonmail.com

Dear Saints,

I am a little late with this post, and it is not the Introductory posting I had intended to publish either. Recent events in the US Elections have instead spurred me to write some words of support and caution for those readers living in the US. But I will return to that in a while.

The reason for the delay in posting has been partly due to much work needing to be done behind the scenes, in terms of website migration and finding service solutions. I have just finished migrating the Parables wordpress site to a different webserver, and it appears to be working fine. So I am almost there!

With this extra time to consider and reflect, a clearer plan for continuing and also promoting Joseph’s writing ministry has emerged these last few weeks, based on the two most obvious aims:

1) Preserve Joseph’s priceless teachings as a free and open resource for all, despite the storms of censorship coming our way (think of the anti-Biblical ‘hate laws’ being passed across Europe).

2) Propel his writings into an even larger readership while it is still possible to do so.

Before I go into the details, or at least the interesting details, of how I hope to achieve these aims, I would first like to address this issue of coming censorship here in Ireland, for it is a critical one. It leads us into the wider issue of where we are now in these last days, and also, therefore, into the matter of the recent election results in the US, which will occupy much of the second half of this post.

First, let me tell you a story about the small nation I am from.

Ireland, Where The Snakes Are Back

Before the Gospel arrived on these shores, Ireland was once an island wreathed in spiritual darkness. Raiding and tribal warfare were never-ending. Slavery was the norm. The gnostic-pagan religion of the Druids, which worshipped the forces of nature and sacrificed adults and children alive to those forces, was widely practised. Even today, some of the altars where these bloody offerings took place can still be found. The very city of Belfast, where I am nearly from, and which is the capital city of the north, means Bel Fast: fast meaning stronghold, and Bel being another name, of course, for baal.

Belfast was, and is again, a stronghold of Baal.

Of course it was not all bad back then. Far from it. Life is life and Yahweh has provided us many graces in this fallen world. I am only highlighting the darker aspects of our past in relation to the ongoing spiritual war we are still fighting.

The interesting point that I am trying to make, is that all of this changed with the introduction of the Gospel to these shores. The legend goes that ‘Saint Patrick’ of the early Christian Church drove out all the snakes from the land in the 4^th century. Hence why there are no snakes to be found in Ireland. This is understood to be a metaphor for how Patrick, an ex-slave, who as a boy had escaped these pagan lands only to return years later on a mission to set the captives free, effectively drove out the serpent-worshipping Druid religion from the Isle.

And it is true that for many centuries a particular form of Christianity did flourish here, much removed from the politics of Rome and in some ways more akin to the practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church, flavoured with Celtic motifs. And it grew so abundantly that the church they established in Ireland even sent out their own missionaries to neighbouring lands, spreading the gospel throughout Scotland and Northern England. So hot was the zeal of some these believers that they would even cast themselves adrift into the Atlantic in tiny coracles, to carry the seed of the gospel wherever they may or die in the trying.

For centuries the Christianised island of Ireland became something of a beacon of light and preserver of the gospel in times of worsening darkness across the European continent. Beautiful Bibles were handmade and broadcast and preserved while across vast swathes of the continent no Bibles existed or had been lost. It even reached the point where the last place in the West where the ancient Greek of the New Testament could be understood was Ireland. Imagine that!

To read of this history is to read something that sounds like the plot of a movie, or an act of God. The tide of the ‘Dark Ages’ flowed right up to the shores of Eire, last piece of land before the Atlantic, very edge of the known world – and then stopped, and finally retreated, as Irish and English clerics went to Europe to restore the knowledge that had been lost.

A more romanticised-sounding account of history I cannot imagine. Yet it does appear to be what occurred.

And because of all this, because of the spreading of the gospel here in this green isle, baal worship was banished and the last witches and druids in Ireland had to remain in the shadows for sixteen-hundred years.

Now though, the snakes are back.

SOG – SATANIC OCCUPATIONAL GOVERNMENT

In the 20^th Century, after long centuries of Occupation, genocide and modernised white slavery, Ireland was to become a young Republic. Though unlike many of the older Republics of the world which were mostly Masonic efforts, Ireland’s Republic, being founded in a largely Catholic nation, appears to have had a more complex foundation of competing factions. Some few influencers may even have really been on the side of God. I do not know. All I do know is that somehow, our Constitution ended up holding that rare distinction of being the only Constitution in the world (that I know of) which begins, on the very front page, with a dedication to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not a dedication to ‘God’, whoever that may be in the minds of the men who crafted other Constitutions, but to Jesus Christ in name.

Perhaps, maybe, this is one plain reason why the Powers That Be so powerfully hate this country. Because they so powerfully hate Christ most of all. And perhaps this is why they appear to have focused much of their efforts on this tiny island of three million natives in order to destroy us.

For it can be said without any exaggeration or attempt at being dramatic, that in recent years Ireland has become wholly captured by a Satanic Occupational Government. Satanists are now clearly in control of the nation, and they wish other Satanists to know of this startling achievement. Hence why Satanism and its symbols are flaunted everywhere today as mocking victory symbols to a population largely blind to their meaning, and mentally enslaved by the spell-casting media.

An example would be the number of babies murdered after the first year that abortion was recently made legal here in Ireland. The number of babies murdered in the first year was widely reported in the mainstream press – like a celebration – as being6666.

What a curious number to have simply just happened by chance.

Since any intelligent mind will recognise that the odds of the number of murdered babies being 6666 by chance are astronomical – Coincidence Theory gone mad – we then have to ask ourselves, why did those in Power choose to deploy the number 6 so publicly in this fashion?

If you take a glance at the media on any given day in Ireland – which I do not, not even on any given year, thanks to the Good Lord – you will likely be exposed to some article or ‘news’ item contrived to flaunt their Satanic victory symbols in your face, while also initiating you a little deeper into their kingdom of unwitting mind-slaves and devotees.

For instance, you might spot a fitness article called the 666 Method, where you do a certain exercise for six minutes every six days for six weeks. Why 6? Why not 4? Why not 5?

Or a travel article where some intrepid modern-thinking hipster skateboards 66 miles through mountains for a children’s charity, and gets to look cool while he’s doing it. Why 6?

Or how about keeping 6 feet apart during a scamdemic, and only allowing 6 people into your isolation ‘bubble’, and 6 months or older to get a jab? Why 6?

Indeed, wasn’t the Resolution that was passed in the United States, which enacted all the scamdemic measures of social distancing and masks and so on upon the unwitting population, also numbered #666?

Again, why 6?

Since in Ireland we haven’t quite gotten the picture yet, the Powers have even given us an openly Satanic Eurovision Song Contestant to represent our country and its values in that long-running international song contest watched by millions. The contestant is a fine, upstanding, fierce-hearted Witch who looks like she wants to eat our children, and who wraps herself in our nation’s flag as though she now owns it, which of course is the point.

They do.

No doubt, it will not take much time before they decide to ‘update’ our Constitution, so it no longer begins with its statement of faith in Christ. They will say it is divisive (some will say hateful), and no longer representative of this nation. And since they have been flooding us with the Third World to the point where we no longer have anywhere to live in our own country, this is not far from the truth.

HATING HATE

Along with a host of other diabolical measures designed to silence all dissent in Ireland, Anti-Biblical ‘hate-laws’ have just been passed which may have rendered some of Joseph Herrin’s teachings illegal here. Yes, perhaps that is worth reading again.

Despite a supposed watering-down of this new Anti-Hate law, it still contains powers of censorship and imprisonment should someone – anyone – decide that their feelings have been hurt by what another person has written. Most of all if the complainant is LGBT and the writer a Christian. And the same or worse laws are being passed or have been passed by governments throughout Europe.

This is not including what anti-Biblical powers already exist here in Ireland. Only last month, the young saint and school teacher Enoch Burke has been sent to prison for a third time, having already served 400 days in Mountjoy Prison for refusing to call a boy pupil ‘they’ rather than ‘he’.

Last year at his first court appearance, Enoch explained to the Judge how he had been commanded by his school – supposedly a Christian school – to use transgender pronouns with his pupils, and how the same school had then suspended him for refusing to do so, even though he repeatedly stated that it went against his Christian faith, and theirs!

A more gentle saint you will not encounter. He firmly believes that the transgender ideology is one of evil and that our children must be protected from it, most of all in the schools. Yet when he tried to return to the school after his illegal suspension, the school principle called the police and had him arrested as though he was some dangerous criminal. Upon hearing this account in court, the Judge sent young Enoch to prison.

(To put that in some perspective – we have illegal immigrants charged with trying to kidnap and rape Irish children who have been released on bail back onto the streets).

Clearly, the Powers expected this saint to buckle in Mountjoy prison and to bargain some compromise of his beliefs for his release. But he did not do so. When he was finally released, Enoch Burke was not cowed by fear. Instead he came out fighting for God.

And so they continue to imprison him.

Such are the lights now shining here. May Enoch earn a wealth of treasure in Heaven for his sacrifice.

And such is the darkness here too.

WORSHIPPING THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST

If you try to look into the case of Enoch Burke via the internet, you will be met with endless articles from the mainstream media and nothing else. Even if you try a ‘Christian news’ search on the subject, you will be met with ‘pink news’ (a militant LGBT site) first before you encounter anything Christian. When you do finally encounter an article from a ‘Christian’ news site, you quickly notice how the supposed Christian news site is actually another Satanic news site in disguise, and still tilting the facts at you.

They will have you believe it is all young Enoch’s fault, since he chose to make a stand against transgender ideology being forced into his Church of Ireland school. It is his fault for trying to hold the line against evil, alone. I have read even supposed Christians say this about his actions. The Church of Ireland does not stand with him, nor the vast majority of its parishioners, nor the ‘Christian’ media. His own ‘Christian’ school works actively against him. Those few who do stand with him, his gentle Christian father and family and supporters, are targeted with slander, threats and fake news making them out out to be ‘fanatics’, angry and intolerant people, trouble-makers.

It is a useful case study in how the modern media – which I am convinced is The Image Of The Beast of Revelation – smothers all zeal and certainty in those who believe in it.

This is the reason why the vast majority of Christians are now tolerating the New Order, for all that they offer objections over ‘pronouns’ or ‘gay marriage’. They offer a token resistance, at least publicly, yet by continuing to believe and follow The Image Of The Beast like everyone else – while perhaps watching some ‘Christian’ media for good measure – they continue to believe and think like everyone else. And so, like everyone else, they end up worshipping The Image Of The Beast. For we worship who we follow and believe in, God or the Devil or the flesh.

The minds of these fallen-away Babylonian Christians have been ‘modernised’, ‘Masonised’, so thoroughly that they are no longer Christian at all, if they ever were. They want all the benefits of faith without any of the costs. They wish to remain in the comfortable fairytale of the world’s dark light, where the modern State is ultimately good, or where saviours come in the form of suited mega-wealthy politicians, and to do so, they must allow themselves to be seduced by the world. Without even being aware of it, they follow the adversary in their spirits, not Yahweh. Even to the extent that here in Europe, they are now helping the New Order to eradicate the very last vestiges of true Christian resistance to the Satanic regime, by providing cover, and by sniping at those few real saints still doing anything in real service to the Kingship of Christ.

And by all appearances, this is now the condition of the vast majority of Christendom worldwide. They have fallen away from all truth, for they never had a love for truth to begin with. And so they never truly had a heart for God.

We live in a time when there are very few real saint left alive.

USA, LAND OF THE FREE-FOR-ALL

The US is no better off than Europe, for all that recent events in the election might suggest otherwise.

Though I hesitate in saying this, knowing how the spirit of Hopey-Changey is once more in the air after the result of the latest US election cycle.

At times like now it can be difficult to speak in any contrary way to the emotionally desperate, especially when their memories have become so impaired by long-term media exposure. However, I like to think that the general readership of Joseph’s writings are an enlightened bunch of saints, and that none of this will be in any way news to you. Joseph has already written much about these matters in the past. No doubt, many of you would have much to teach me on this issue.

Really, I am only speaking in an attempt to offer some support to my brothers and sisters living over there in the States right now, while you no doubt are surrounded by Christians getting high once again on the hopey-changey spirit-gas pervading the air.

I am not making light of the matter. The matter is already a sick and twisted joke to those in Power. How incredible that we fall for the same old trick, the same old caper, time and time again? We fall in this way because we wish to believe in it, we are desperate to believe in it, and so we allow ourselves to be seduced by lies. And who is the Father of those lies?

Of course it is all fairytales, La-La-Land, the deluded fantasies of those allowing themselves to be further lead by the Image Of The Beast, to believe that some anointed politician is going to step in at this point to stop the tide.

Our Father has already declared what is to happen in these Last Days, and it is not that.

These Christians fail to understand how the enemy controls both sides. How most of the seeming-opponents to the New World Order, and the so-called ‘Alt media’, are still working for the enemy, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Neither the world, nor the USA, has became a more Christian place because another new US President has been elected who is saying all the right things at the right time. The Kingdom of Christ has not been advanced in any way. Rather, the United States continues to step deeper into the Kingdom of Darkness, following the false light.

I recall in my first year after being reborn of the Spirit. My zeal was aflame and I was given many ‘visions’ at this time, understandings of truth in a visual form.

One of these visions involved being shown the whole race of man through God’s eyes. It was centred upon Palestine, the heart of the world, but it also encompassed the entire planet. I was shown how the Father views the human race. I saw millions of people, but I did not see them as I would normally see them, upright and in order and busily getting on with their lives, their true selves barely glimpsed through facial expressions. Instead I saw them crouched down naked and raw, millions trembling in fear of the darkness around them, with all the inner sins of their hearts made visible, their petty jealousies and disputes, their provocations and lies … so that what I saw was how broken and wretched we really are as a fallen race.

I was shown – and this was a most startling thing to finally grasp – how we are not ‘good’ at all. Whatever ‘good’ we may seem to do, is merely a reflection of how we are cast in God’s Image, a foreshadowing of the good that we become when we are born again and start walking after Christ into the Kingdom.

There are no good people on this fallen planet. Yes there are ‘better’ people, and ‘worse’ people – certainly people you would rather spend the weekend with than others. But we are all fallen, we are all sinful and lost, unless we restore ourselves wholly over to the will of Yahweh in a humble spirit of repentance.

Likewise, there are no good nations in this world. Some are better, some are worse. All are fallen and corrupt. There is no such thing as a truly Christian nation on this earth – only communities. Even Israel was allowed by Yahweh to be scattered to the winds for her whoredom, her continual turning away towards false gods and idols.

Likewise, the Babylonian Christian Church of today is marked by God for her whoredom.

JOSEPH’S COMMENTS

When I told Joseph that my next blog posting was going to cover the US Election results, he offered the following words. They are taken from one of my favourite of Joseph’s books, Dragon Flood (which of course if free to download from the Heart 4 God website):

Joseph begins by quoting scripture:

Romans 3:9-18

“Both Jews and Greeks… are all under sin. As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not

one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all

turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no,

not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;

“The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way

of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

f you accept the words above as divinely inspired, accurate, and a true statement of man’s condition, then does it follow that the men who formed the government of America, being a large part Freemasons, and most of the remnant Deists who embraced the empty philosophy of The Enlightenment, could establish a political system that was based upon truth and righteousness? Is it possible that men who “have together become unprofitable,” who “with their tongues practice deceit,” and “the poison of asps is under their tongues,” men “whose feet are swift to shed blood,” with “destruction and misery” being in their ways, could establish a governmental system that is so amenable, harmonious, and compatible with the Kingdom of God that churches throughout the land would display the American flag alongside a flag representing the rule of Christ? Is it not more probable that Satan, the great deceiver who deceives the whole world, has hoodwinked Christians in America into believing that theirs is a “Christian nation” whose founding fathers were guided by the hand of the God of the Bible?”

…

Following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia website that provides historical information on this event.

The Boston Tea Party (referred to in its time simply as “the destruction of the tea” or by other informal names and not celebrated until half a century later,) was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, a city in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party]

 I would have you note two things in particular in the above paragraph. The dumping of British tea into Boston Harbor is ascribed to a group known as the Sons of Liberty, and no mention is made of Freemasons. The entire article is silent regarding the involvement of Freemasons. Doing a search on the same Wikipedia site to discover who the Sons of Liberty were, we are provided the following information.

The Sons of Liberty were made up of American patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies. The group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists from the usurpations by the British government after 1766. They are best known for undertaking the Boston Tea Party in 1773, which led to the Intolerable Acts (an intense crackdown by the British government), and a counter-mobilization by the Patriots that led directly to the American Revolutionary War in 1775.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Liberty]

Once more there is no mention of the involvement of Freemasons in this group. This is in keeping with the history books used in the public schools in which I was educated. As a child I was led to believe that the Boston Tea Party was a spontaneous event by a group of American colonists who were incensed at oppressive taxation imposed by the King of England. The history books led one to believe this was a grass roots movement, and that there was no central group involved in its planning and execution.

The truth is the men who participated in the Boston Tea Party were largely, if not entirely, members of St. Andrews (Masonic) Lodge of Boston. The event was planned and organized at the Green Dragon Tavern which was purchased by St. Andrews Masonic Lodge in 1764. The lower floor of the two story building was used as a public tavern. The upper floor was the Lodge’s meeting hall.



Green Dragon Tavern

 Note the inscription at the bottom of this drawing. It states, “Where we met to plan the consignment of a few shiploads of tea. Dec 16 1773.” It is signed by the artist who was evidently a Freemason and member of St. Andrews Lodge. Note specifically the square and compass of Freemasonry in the upper left corner. This drawing is signed and dated with the same year.

To be fair, there are other articles on Wikipedia that make mention of the role of Freemasons in the Boston Tea Party, though these articles are somewhat obscure. For example, Thomas White was an American patriot who took part in this event, and later served with George Washington (also a Freemason) in the American Revolution. The following statement is found in the short article located on Wikipedia under the listing Thomas White.

On December 16, 1773, members of the St. Andrew’s Lodge and others boarded British vessels disguised as Indians, and threw shipments of tea into the harbor to protest the Tea Act. Thomas White was among the participants.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_White_(patriot)#Boston_Tea_Party]

The Green Dragon Tavern took its name from the emblem of a dragon that was mounted over the entrance. The dragon was formed from copper, and due to weathering it had turned green.

The Green Dragon Tavern was also referred to in its day as the “Freemason Arms.” Although American history books frequently make mention of the role of the Green Dragon Tavern in the formation of the nation, its Masonic ownership, and the lodge that met upstairs, is largely ignored. Daniel Webster, a leading American statesmen who lived from 1782-1852, and served as a senator for the state of Massachusetts, referred to the Green Dragon Tavern as “the headquarters of the American Revolution,” a statement that has been echoed by numerous historians.

The association with Freemasonry and the Green Dragon is not merely circumstantial. The men who met there to plan the revolution were not a random group of colonialists who found the tavern to be a convenient meeting place. These men were to a great degree Freemasons, and many of them members of St. Andrews Lodge. Among the members were John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Joseph Warren (Master of the Lodge, killed in 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill).

Is it not of great importance to know that the headquarters of the American Revolution was a building owned by Freemasons and in which a Masonic lodge held their meetings? Why is such an important detail not deemed pertinent to the discussion of America’s foundation? Is it not significant that Freemasonry is Luciferian in its doctrines and the symbol for Satan is a dragon?

Revelation 20:2
And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan…”

—

The above quote is taken from the book “Dragon Flood”. The book further goes into the history of propaganda. It lists several quotes by Edward Bernays, who is cited today to be the father of “Public Relations.” He is cited as saying:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which democratic society is organized…

Whatever attitude one chooses toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons – a trifling fraction… who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.

This was written in 1928. There were hundreds of independent newspapers in that day. Today there are five main broadcasting networks in America.

In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called “alarmist” for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly. In his 4th edition, published in 1992, he wrote “in the U.S., fewer than two dozen of these extraordinary creatures own and operate 90% of the mass media” — controlling almost all of America’s newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. He predicted then that eventually this number would fall to about half a dozen companies. This was greeted with skepticism at the time. When the 6th edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market.

In 2004, Bagdikian’s revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations — Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) — now control most of the media industry in the U.S..
[Source: http://www.corporations.org/media/]

CONSIDERATIONS

Joseph’s writings will always say much more, and much better, about these things than I will ever be able to. But I still do have some things to add to these words in relation to the US election results. Most particularly about the trap I now believe the American Christian Right now finds itself in. If it is a true warning of the Spirit, then I would be in error not to share it with you.

But I have taken up much space here already, so I will post the rest as Part II next week.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these last days.

Colin Buchanan

thiswisefool@protonmail.com

Dear Saints,

Thank you for the many kind emails and donations that Joseph has received so far. Joseph likes to take care in thanking every person personally, but we also wish to share our gratitude here on Parables for all your blessings.

I am going to hold off from changing the donation buttons for a while longer yet, say until next week. So all donations will continue going to Joseph until then. Due to this, I am also going to hold off from posting my introductory blog until next week. This way readers will have a chance to catch up with the previous blog posting, and my request to send Joseph your testimonies regarding his teachings and whatever else you would like to send him now that he is retiring.

For non-US readers like myself, you can always send Joseph a retirement donation of thanks through Paypal:

Heart4God/Parables
Joseph.B.Herrin@gmail.com

And Joseph also has a postal box where he can receive letters and gifts:

Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, Georgia 31069 USA

Just don’t go sending him your old socks or a jar of wrinkly dry worms. 🙂

Many thanks again for your kind words and blessings.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these last days.

Colin Buchanan
thiswisefool@protonmail.com

P.S. I am considering setting up a subscription newsletter for the Heart4God website, to accompany the long-running Parables blog. This newsletter will be for readers who do not wish to receive the normal three emails a week from Parables, but still wish to keep up with the occasional news and commentaries concerning Joseph’s ministry. Perhaps only one email a month.

Let me know your thoughts by comment or email.

Dear Saints,

By now I hope you will have read Joseph’s final blog posting on Parables, in which Joseph announced his retirement from ministry due to health reasons after many years of labouring for the Kingship of Christ. Joseph also announced how he is handing over his ministry to myself, Colin Buchanan.

https://parables.blog/major-announcement/

I have happily agreed to carry on Joseph’s ministry, though must admit to my surprise at this turn of events. Just like all Heavenly gifts it really was unexpected, and I’m still very much catching up with it all myself.

Truth is, along with being an author and organic farmer here in Donegal Ireland, I am also probably one of the world’s biggest fans of Joseph Herrin’s writings. And I’m only slightly joking when I say that. Joseph has many readers, but he is also blessed with a family of followers who have been dedicated to his writing ministry and who have helped sustain him in his work. Such is the dedication his ministry has attracted from fellow saints, and I believe this is due to our shared recognition of Yahweh’s anointing in Joseph’s teachings.

This Wise Fool

I am just finishing off an introductory blog entitled ‘This Wise Fool’‘, which refers to myself and my own particular heart for God. It will serve as an introduction of who I am to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, along with my testimony in regards to how valuable Joseph’s teachings have been over these years of walking, and sometimes stumbling, in my faith. I will also be explaining how I hope to carry on the ministry from here.

Unless I somehow manage to cut down the length of the introductory blog, I will likely need to split it into a few parts, which I will post next Tuesday and Friday. After that, I will return to Joseph’s established format of three postings per week.

Despite the length of the introductory blog, writing it has proved to be a serious challenge. This has surprised me, as I am a long-time professional author with a few million words under my belt by now, who has faced many a busted deadline in his time with publishers and global supply chains lined up and waiting. My writing usually thrives in the thrill and glory of a real challenge. But now, as I find myself assuming Joseph’s long-standing ministry, the challenges are much different than those of industrial book publishing and personal mission. Partly, they have resulted from my wish to write the most fitting tribute to Joseph and his work that I can, now that he is retiring. And there is also too the pressing sense in my spirit that I must show great care when writing in any way for the Remnant of Christ. It is a sobering responsibility, especially when you recognise how you are not yet perfect. I do not wish to lead my fellow believers awry in any way.

A STORM OF RESISTANCE

But even more than these challenging inner dynamics, there has also been a great storm of distraction occurring as I have tried to write while also taking over the running of Joseph’s ministry.

At times this has involved literal storms hitting our homestead one after the other, causing damages that have needed my attention. It seemed that barely had I picked up the pieces when the next storm came rolling in off the Atlantic. At one point in a particularly violent gust, I looked out the window only to see our cat flying past with his little legs still pumping the air. (When I told Joseph this he was quite concerned, being a cat lover. The cat was okay though. I promise no animals will be harmed in the production of this blog).

I will not bore you with all the other distractions that have been thrown at me during this time. I will simply say that in my walk in Christ so far, I have experienced a good deal of spiritual warfare, yet even armed with that previous experience, I have never known such a fierce gale of resistance to any previous steps in my walk. This step of faith now, accepting Joseph’s ministry in line with the wishes of Yahweh, has quite clearly drawn the attention of the enemy.

Which is quite exciting.

GUMSHOE FOR CHRIST

In our modern culture, the private detective makes for an interesting analogy of a few aspects of our Christian walk – the detective being a man who treads alone through the dark nights in search of the truth, ultimately confronting the lies of the lawless.

Probably my most favourite depiction of a private detective is found in the old 70s movie, The Long Goodbye, featuring Elliot Gould as the gently wise-cracking Phillip Marlow. Gould plays a man-with-cat alone against a conspiracy of lies. Nothing ever phases him. He does not seem to care enough about his own life to be disturbed by events. A more laid-back gumshoe you will not find.

The more the gales blow against this character, the more he simply reclines in his wrinkly old suit while raising a sardonic eyebrow, waiting for the howling to pass.

PEACE & WAR

Our Lord instructed us to be much the same in the face of struggles and adversary. To remain in our Peace even in the midst of a raging storm. It can also be noted that in the occasion of this particular teaching, in which Jesus was resting in a boat crewed by some of his disciples, they were not only confronted by a frightening storm when they panicked, but their small vessel was also pitching violently back and forth in the wind and waves.

For the men on the boat, it was not only a storm. Their whole world was rocking and threatening to drown them. And even then, they were expected to remain sober and calm and faithful.

God’s Peace is one of his gifts to His faithful children. Joseph writes about this in one of his most important works: Sabbath – Entering God’s Rest, which is a book of teachings that all maturing believers would profit from reading.

As his teachings in the book explain, peace comes when you finally stop your own soulful striving and await on the Lord’s guidance for your actions. I have been learning these things through the Spirit too. Even now I am still learning them. During this recent period in which I have been experiencing my own storms while assuming the ministry, the Father has graced me with a deep and comforting Peace that goes beyond even the normal peace of my faith. Nothing seems to phase me. No pressures stir my soul. I have been assured that His will shall be done in His own good time, and that I am not to concern myself with these distractions and contrivances, only to continue in faith at the pace He desires.

It is helpful, also, in having Joseph’s own walk of faith as an example to follow. This fascinating journey is partly described in his biographical work, Evidence of Things Unseen. I highly recommend you read Joseph’s testimony if you have not yet had a chance to (and of course it’s free to download from the Heart4God website).

When you read his account of how stepping out in obedience to the Father’s commands provoked a storm of hostility from fellow believers, and how he continued onwards in the face of these angry reactions and criticisms, you realise that for all of Joseph’s humble denials of personal bravery, his ministry has been a tremendous example of courage and composure under fire.

It is very easy to underestimate what a saint is stepping into when they begin to boldly declare the true gospel of Christ Yahshuah to this fallen world.

In doing so, in helping to dispel the dark light shrouding the eyes of the blinded, the saint is doing nothing less than taking head-on the spewer of that flood of dark light, the Adversary known as the ruler of this age. By confronting the blinding false light of this world the saint finds himself or herself stepping into the very frontline of the battle, where of course it is the hottest. Indeed it is like stepping into a gale.

To do what Joseph has been doing for all these years, telling those truths of this world which many will not even listen to without being provoked in their flesh, castigated by fellow believers still captured by the fallen Church, working ‘alone’ without the official backing of any organisation or denomination … To follow this particular path is to take on the whole world with only the Father to provide for and protect you. It is to follow the example of Christ Himself.

And indeed, for all of his knocks and bruises along the way, and perhaps some deeper scars too, Joseph has clearly remained under Yahweh’s protection for all this time. How could he have made it through his ministry so successfully and in one piece if he had not been?

JOSEPH’S RETIREMENT

I would like to say more on Joseph’s teachings in relation to my own path, as I believe this will relate to many of his readers too. But I will reserve those thoughts for the blog next week.

There is one thing I should add about Joseph’s retirement which I do not believe he has yet mentioned.

Whilst he is retiring from the field of his writing ministry due to health reasons, Joseph may also soon be retiring from the internet altogether. Fairly soon, it may not be possible to contact Joseph at all.

So if you have a personal testimony to share with Joseph about the importance of his teachings to your own walk, or if you have a gift or donation or some other blessing you wish to send him, then please do so now, while you still can.

And of course, let us pray for Joseph’s good health that he may be well and of good cheer in this season he is now entering upon.

HOUSEKEEPING

Joseph has asked that I change the donate buttons on the websites to my own donation buttons. I have not yet done this. I would like all donations during this time to go to Joseph, as it is his retirement after all. Let him receive the fruits of his labours as a final gift of gratitude from those saints who have profited over the years from his teachings. At least, that is how we do things here in Ireland, and everyone knows the Irish are the most civilised people in the world.

I hope you will join me for Tuesday’s posting, when I will introduce myself properly and explain how I hope to best further the legacy of Joseph’s ministry in the immediate future.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these last days.

Colin Buchanan

thiswisefool@protonmail.com

Dear Saints,

It is with a saddened heart that I make the following announcement. After this post I will no longer be posting chapters or articles from my past writings. I had a stroke about seven years ago and since that time I have written nothing new. My eyes are making it difficult to see, and my mind is not as clear as it once was. I have a difficult time finding the proper word when I want to express something. This becomes especially true in the afternoons and evenings when I am tired. The Lord has shown me that I am to lay aside this teaching ministry, but He has gracefully shown me who is to take over the ministry. This man is Colin Buchanan.

I would like to tell you about how I met Colin and my choosing him for the ministry. Colin first contacted me a number of months back. He expressed to me the idea of publishing (in paperback) my books. At first I told him I wasn’t interested, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He told me how much the books meant to him, and with persuasion from him I told him I would allow him to print them as long as they were kept to read for free from the Internet. This he agreed to.

Then some months later I began having problems with my eyes, and I took the matter to the Lord in prayer. I told Him I would like to turn the Parables Blog over to someone, and I asked who I could turn it over to. As I lay waiting for an answer there was just one name that came to my mind. Colin Buchanan. A few days later I wrote to Colin, asking him to pray about it and to get back with me. About a month later I heard from Colin and he said that when he heard about it he was immediately excited about it and was in prayer about it and the Lord confirmed he was to take over the Parables/Heart4God Ministry.

It is very unusual to contact one person and have them agree too take over a ministry, but when Yahweh is in it He will see it done. I told Colin that I wanted to post the book I have been posting, and then he could take it over when I was finished. The next blog will be from Colin, introducing himself, and then he will begin posting a book. I told Colin that I would place no boundaries upon how he conducted the ministry.

I would like to say this, I have asked Colin to take down my donation links and to replace them with hjs own. It does take a considerable amount of time and money to conduct this ministry free of charge. Site names must be registered and websites rented and adjusted to the number of blogs sent out. I have over a thousand people who have asked to receive the blog which is sent out three times a week. To enable this I have also had to pay for the cost of a mailing website.

Please consider donating to Colin from this date forward. I personally am asking for no more from you. Those who have given have done a tremendous service over the past 24 years in keeping my hands and mind in the ministry. Thank you all very much. Yahweh will reward you all. It is with extreme appreciation that I thank you for letting me serve you in the past days.

In this last blog posting from me I would like to tell you that my daughter Kristin is doing very well. She is in Poland where she is very active with the ministry. She is teaching the Polish people how to speak English and also sharing with them the love of Jesus Christ.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days,

Joseph Herrin

A Final Note

It is my hope that the revision of this book will prove effectual in leading those who seek truth to the discovery of Yahweh’s magnificent plan of the ages. It is not possible in any writing to answer every question that could be raised. To write an exhaustive teaching of these truths is beyond the ability of this author, and would certainly prove tiresome to many.

It has been my aim to lay a foundation for understanding that which is taught in the Scriptures concerning the reconciliation of the creation to the Father. It is the responsibility of every saint to pursue truth. All of Christ’s disciples must acquit themselves as workmen, laboring to become skilled and knowledgeable in the truths of Yahweh’s kingdom. Those who are most faithful will surely reap the rewards of their labors.

In this teaching it has been established that all who died in Adam will be made alive in Christ, but “each in his own order.” Yahweh has appointed some as barley, some as wheat, and others as grapes. Each will be harvested at the appointed time. Each must come to maturity according to the election of God.

That salvation is a gift of God, granted to those whom He chooses, at the time He appoints, should be patiently considered. We were all at some point children of wrath.

Ephesians 2:3
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

That any should repent and be reconciled to God is not due to man, but rather is a gift from God.

Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…

It should not offend any Christian to learn that God will in the end demonstrate His mercy to all whom He has created. If you are a Christian, a disciple of Christ, it is not due to your own piety that you were shown mercy. Your eyes were not opened to perceive the salvation of God because you were better than other men. Yahweh simply chose to have mercy on you, while He has chosen to harden others.

Consider for a moment the plight of the Jewish people today. At this time Yahweh has given grace to Gentiles, while hardening the majority of the natural descendants of Abraham.

Romans 11:25-27
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

II Corinthians 3:14
But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted…

Why does God find fault with the Jews, seeing that it is by His will that a hardening has occurred? Would you condemn to an eternal hell those whom God has prevented from perceiving the truth? Yahweh has appointed a time when all Israel will be saved, but the time is not yet. Seeing that Yahweh hardens some, and has mercy on others, how can those who have received mercy hold any greater desire in their heart than to look for the day when Yahweh will demonstrate the same mercy to others?

Romans 9:14-18
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

None can come to Christ unless the Spirit draws them (John 6:44). Is it right for those who have been granted mercy to revile those who have not, saying that they are getting what they deserve? To receive mercy is to obtain that which is undeserved. All men have sinned and are deserving of death. At this time we see Yahweh demonstrating mercy to some, while hardening others. This is the situation of all men. We are all born as children of wrath. Yahweh has shown mercy to some at this time, while hardening others.

A remnant from among men have seen their peril. They have become aware of the judgment and wrath that awaits the sons of disobedience. Yahweh has opened their eyes to perceive the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It is appointed to them to be among the first to see and believe. Will such ones not desire that the mercy shown them be made manifest to all men?

Christ has come to deliver men from sin and the penalty of death, but each in his own order. Some are appointed to be firstborn sons, and others latter born sons. Yahweh does all things according to His own counsel. He reveals Christ to some, while blinding the eyes of others.

Romans 11:5-8
Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”

Romans 10:20
But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”

An hour will come when those whom Yahweh has hardened will be shown mercy.Those rejected will be accepted. Those dead in their sins will receive life in Christ. Yahweh sent His Son into the world that all men might be saved.

Isaiah 45:22-23
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

Titus 2:11
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men…

We see at this time a firstfruits company who have received mercy. This is a token and pledge of that full redemption which is to come.

I John 2:2
And He Himself is the propitiation (merciful covering) for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

Let not those who have now obtained mercy despise those who have not. It was by no merit of your own that you have obtained grace. When God’s plan of the ages has reached its final conclusion there will be left nothing in creation that has not been reconciled to the Father. Christ’s will wield the power given to Him to subject all things to Himself.

Hebrews 2:8
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

The church has failed to perceive the meaning of the words “not yet.” What we see today is “not yet” the end of Christ’s rule. Christ must reign until He has subjected all things to the Father. Then will come the end. This is the testimony of Scripture.

Revelation 5:13
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the ages of the ages.”

What is excluded from the phrase “every created thing”? Every creature “in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea” will worship God in spirit and in truth.

Philippians 2:10-11
At the name of Yahshua every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Yahshua Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Hallelujah! Jesus Christ, Yahshua the Messiah, is the Savior of the world!

Some Who Held This View

Due to the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things rarely being taught in the churches today, many Christians have mistakenly assumed that it must be a new teaching. Some have even asked me if I am the only one who believes and teaches these things. I am very happy to respond by pointing the saints to the great antiquity of this doctrine, and the many who have embraced it as truth.

Augustine (often referred to as Saint Augustine) lived from 354-430 A.D.. He is widely hailed as the father of Roman Catholic doctrine. Augustine was a believer in eternal torment, but acknowledged that this was not the universal view of the day in which he lived. Augustine made mention of Christians who embraced the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things to God, and of a limited duration to God’s punishments of sinners in hell, or the lake of fire.

I must now, I see, enter the lists of amicable (friendly) controversy with those tender-hearted Christians who decline to believe that any, or that all of those whom the infallibly just Judge may pronounce worthy of the punishment of hell, shall suffer eternally, and who suppose that they shall be delivered after a fixed term of punishment, longer or shorter according to the amount of each man’s sin. In respect of this matter, Origen was even more indulgent; for he believed that even the devil himself and his angels, after suffering those more severe and prolonged pains which their sins deserved, should be delivered from their torments… Very different, however, is the error we speak of, which is dictated by the tenderness of these Christians who suppose that the sufferings of those who are condemned in the judgment will be temporary…
[Augustine, The City of God, Book 21, Ch 17 ]

Augustine referenced Origen, one of the early church fathers, who dwelt in Alexandria, Egypt. Origen had a wide influence upon the doctrine of the early church. Origen lived nearly two centuries before Augustine, his life spanning the years of 184-253 A.D.. Origen was less than two centuries distant from the time of Christ’s bodily ministry, and he wrote and taught in support of the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things to God through Christ.

Origen was a pupil of an even earlier church father, Clement of Alexandria (Clemens Alexandrinus), who lived from 150-215 A.D.. Clement also taught the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things in the catechetical school in Alexandria, which was a type of early seminary, or Bible college. These men in turn pointed to the teachings of the apostles of Christ in setting forth their beliefs, even as I have done in this writing. The great antiquity of this doctrine is well documented. It is not a new teaching as some suppose.

In more recent times there have been a number of notable saints that have believed in the universal reconciliation of all. Among them are Jane Leade, author of A Revelation of the Everlasting Gospel Message; William Law, in A Humble Earnest and Affectionate Address to the Clergy (John and Charles Wesley made William Law required reading for the Methodists); Hannah Hurnard who wrote Hinds’ Feet on High Places (In her book Unveiled Glory, Hannah Hurnard discusses her belief in this doctrine); Hannah Whitall Smith, author of The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life (It was in her autobiography titled The Unselfishness of God that she discusses her belief in the reconciliation of all. Several chapters were devoted to this topic, but have been removed by others from later re-prints of her book.); and Sadhu Sundar Singh.

I have previously cited Andrew Jukes, a minister in England who wrote The Restitution of All Things in the year 1876, and J. Preston Eby who penned the worthy teaching series titled The Savior of the World. These represent some of the saints who have held to this teaching in these latter days, demonstrating that this doctrine has never been extinguished. It has always been held by a remnant of God’s people.

In 1895 a Biblical encyclopedia was published that included an entry on the origin and history of the doctrine of universal reconciliation. The authors of the encyclopedia were Reverend John McClintock, and James Strong. This is the same James Strong who compiled Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Neither of these men were adherents of a belief in the restitution of all things, but they provided an unbiased account of the history of this doctrine, and of some who taught this view. The Biblical encyclopedia is now out of copyright, and is in the public domain, so I am including the majority of the text from the article in this addendum.

McClintock and Strong did not provide an exhaustive history of this doctrine, nor name all of those who have taught this truth, but what they did provide is well researched and serves to provide an understanding that this is not some new teaching that has recently appeared. As you read this article, I would draw your attention to the persecutions suffered by many who taught this view, and note the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the suppression of this doctrine. The Roman Church is not known to be a champion of truth, but has frequently been the persecutor, and executioner, of men and women of conscience who have sought to walk in the light of truth.

The following is taken from the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 10, 1895, pp. 109-133, Rev. John McClintock and James Strong.

I. Origin and History. –

(I.) Informal. -1. In Former Centuries…. 

In 195 Clemens Alexandrinus, who was president of the Catechetical School at Alexandria, advocated Universalism on the ground of the remedial character of all punishment. His pupil and successor in the school, Origen Adamantius, famous alike for his learning, piety, and zeal, taught Universalism on the ground of the ever-continuing freedom of the will, the deep mental and spiritual anguish occasioned by the light and knowledge of the truth until it leads to repentance, and then the harmony of the soul with God. Origen’s position, abilities, and untiring efforts for the spread of the Gospel gave him great influence with his pupils, and with the Church at large, in whose behalf he became a voluminous writer. In addition to his position and work in the school of Alexandria, he also had care for several years, in connection with Pamphilius, of the theological school at Caesarea, one of whose distinguished pupils was the celebrated Gregory Thaumaturgus, a great admirer of his master’s theories, and finally, about A.D. 235, his strong defender and ardent eulogist. Pamphilius, and Eusebius, the first Church historian, also defended Origen’s doctrines from charges brought against them by the Western Church, and in answering the complaint that he denied all future punishment they quote from his writings in contradiction thereof, not only his positive assurances of future and severe punishment, but his equally positive assertion that such correction is purifying and salutary. In A.D. 364, Titus, bishop of Bostra, wrote in advocacy of Universalism, contending that, although there are torments in the abyss of hell, they are not eternal, but that their great severity will lead the wicked to repentance and so to salvation. Gregory of Nyssa, A.D. 380, also advocated Universalism on the same grounds. Contemporary with him was the justly celebrated defender of orthodoxy, Didymus the Blind, a successor of Origen in the school at Alexandria, and a zealous Universalist. Prominent among his scholars was Jerome, eminent alike for his abilities, his inconsistencies, and instability. Universalism as taught by Origen is clearly and ably set forth by Jerome in his commentaries on the epistles, and in his letters. John, bishop of Jerusalem at this period, was also an advocate of Universalism on Origen’s theory. Another contemporary, Diodorus, a teacher of great repute in the school at Antioch, and afterwards bishop of Jerusalem, was also a Universalist, who, in opposition to the then general prevalence of allegorical interpretation, strictly adhered to the natural import of the text in his many commentaries on the Scriptures. He defended Universalism on the ground that the divine mercy far exceeds all the effects and all the desserts of sin. His pupil and successor in the school, Theodore of Mopsuestia, A.D. 420, called “the crown and climax of the school of Antioch,” and by the Nestorians, whose sect he founded, “the interpreter of the Word of God,” and whose writings were text-books in the schools of Eastern Syria, was a prominent and influential Universalist. His theory was that sin is an incidental part of the development and education of the human race; that, while sore are more involved in it than others, God will overrule it to the final establishment of all in good. He is the reputed author of the liturgy used by the Nestorians, a Church which at one time equaled, in its membership the combined adherents of both the Greek and Latin communions, and which has had no rival in military zeal. In the addresses and prayers of this liturgy Universalism is distinctly avowed. Theodoret, A.D. 430, bishop of Cyprus in Syria, a pupil of Theodore of Mopsuestia, was also a Universalist, holding the doctrine on the theory advocated by the Antiochian school. For some time prior to this, certain opinions of Origen on pre-existence and on the salvation of the devil had been in dispute and pronounced heretical by a synod; but his doctrine of the universal salvation of the human race had not been involved in this condemnation. At a local council called by the emperor Justinian at Constantinople, A.D. 544, Origen’s doctrine of universal salvation was declared heretical. Nine years later another council was held by the same authority at the same place, when condemnation was pronounced on the Nestorians, although their belief in Universalism was not mentioned. It has been common to call this an ecumenical council, but without warrant (see the action of the Latin Church in refusing to recognize it or to send a legate to it). Doderlein, in his Institutes of Christian Theology, after quoting the decree of Justinian against Origen, says, “That was not the belief of all, and in proportion as any one was eminent in learning in Christian antiquity, the more did he cherish and defend the hope of the termination of future “torments.” Drexelius, in his defense of eternal punishment, gives this testimony, “That God should doom the apostate angels and men at the day of retribution to eternal torments seemed so hard and incredible a doctrine to some persons that even Origen himself who was mighty in the Scriptures, and no less famous for his admirable wit and excellent learning, presumed to maintain in his book of principles that both the devils and the damned, after a certain period of years, the fire having purged or cleansed them from their pollutions, should be restored to grace. Augustine and others set forth his error and condemned him for it. But, notwithstanding their condemnation, this error has found a great many in the world who have given it a kind of civil reception. The Anti heretics so called, dispersed this error throughout all Spain under various interpretations.” Gieseler, the ecclesiastical historian, says, “The belief in the inalienable capacity of improvement in all rational beings and the limited duration of future punishment,was so general, even in the West, and among the opponents of Origen, that, even if it may not be said to have arisen without the influence of Origen’s school, it had become entirely independent of his system.” And Augustine bears this testimony: “Some – nay, very many – from human sympathy commiserate the eternal punishment of the damned and their perpetual torture without intermission, and thus do not believe in it; not, indeed, by opposing the Holy Scriptures, but by softening all the severe things according to their own feelings, and giving a milder meaning to those things which they think are said in them more terribly than truly. “Universalism almost wholly disappeared during the period known as the Dark Ages, although there are occasional glimpses of it even in the mutilated records which the papal Church has permitted to descend to us. In the 7th century, Maximus, the Greek monk and confessor taught Universalism; in the 8th, Clement of Ireland was deposed from the priesthood for teaching that when Christ descended into hell he restored all the damned; while in the 9th, John Scotus Erigena, a famous philosopher who stood at the head of the learned of the court of France, was a bold defender of Universalism. In the 11th century, the Albigenses were, according to papal authorities, Universalists; In the 12th, Raynold, abbot of St. Martin’s, in France, was charged before a council with holding “that all men will eventually be saved;”.  In the 13th, Solomon, bishop of Bassorah, discussed the question ofuniversal salvation, answering it in the affirmative. The Lollards in the 14th century taught Universalism in Bohemia and Austria; and at the same period a council convened by Langman, archbishop of Canterbury, gave judgment against Universalism as one of the heresies then taught in that province. In the early part ofthe 15th century, a sect called “Men of Understanding” taught Universalism in Flanders, advocating it on the ground of the German Mystics, as did Tauler of Strasburg, and John Wessel, who, with others, have been called “the Reformers before the Reformation,” whose writings Luther industriously studied and greatly admired.

2. In Modern Times. – 
With the Reformation, Universalism made a fresh appearance early in the 16th century, chiefly among some of the Anabaptist sects. The seventeenth article of the Augustine Confession, 1530, was expressly framed to “condemn the Anabaptists, who maintain that there shall be an end: to the punishments of the damned and of the devils.” Denk, Hetzer, and Stanislaus Pannonius were the most eminent defenders of Universalism at this period. Later in the century, Samuel Huber, divinity professor at Wittenberg, taught Universalism, it is alleged by Spanheim; and because, says Musheim, he would not go back to the old methods of teaching, “he was compelled to relinquish his office and go into exile.” Early in the 17th century, Ernest Sonner, professor of philosophy at Altorf, published “a theological and philosophical demonstration that the endless punishment of the wicked would argue, not the justice, but the injustice, of God.” John William Petersen, at one time court preacher at Lutin, and subsequently superintendent at Lunenberg, adopted and defended Universalism with such zeal that he was cited before the consistory, and, as he could not conscientiously renounce his convictions, was deprived of his office and forced into private life. In his retirement he wrote and published three folio volumes on Universalism, entitled Musterion Apokatastaseos Paltan, in which he mentions many who had defended that doctrine. The volumes appeared between the years 1700 and 1710. They opened a century of spirited controversy, of which Mosheim says, “The points of theology which had been controverted in the 17th century were destined to excite keener disputes in the 18th, such ‘as the eternity of hell torments, and the final restoration of all intelligent beings to order, perfection, and happiness.” Dietelmair, an opponent of Universalism, wrote on its history about the middle of this century. In the preface to his work he speaks of the contests which raged vehemently enough within the very bounds of the orthodox Church in the end of the last century ‘the’ beginning of the present.” Among the defenses of Universalism contained in the first volume of Petersen’s work was the Everlasting Gospel, attributed to Paul Siegvolk, which was but an assumed name of George Klein-Nicolai, deposed for his Universalism as preacher of Friessdorf. He published other works in defense of Universalism, but the most rapid and lasting popularity belonged to the Everlasting Gospel, which in forty-five years passed through five editions in Germany. In 1726 John Henry Haug, professor at Strasburg, having procured the assistance of Dr. Ernest Christoph Hochman, Christian Dippel, Count De Marcey, and others, commenced the publication of the Berleburger Bibel, an entirely new translation and commentary of the Holy Scriptures. They made themselves familiar with all the writings of the Mystics, and in their great work taught and defended Universalism from the Mystical standpoint. Their work fills eight large folio volumes, the last of which was published in 1742. Strong persecution assailing them, and no printer being willing to risk his office in doing their work, they were compelled to purchase their own type and a small press. When the Church they had established was at last broken up by their enemies, the members fled to America, taking their press with them, and it was set up by Christopher Sower in Germantown, Pa. One of De Marcey’s intimate friends was George De Benneville, born of French parents in London in 1703. Before he was twenty years of age he commenced preaching in France, where he was arrested and condemned to die, but was reprieved on the scaffold by Louis XV. Making his way into Germany, he ‘there preached Universalism several years, and then came to America. In 1727 appeared Ludvig Gerhard’s Complete System of the Everlasting Gospel of the Restoration of All Things, together with the Baseless Opposite Doctrine of Eternal Damnation. The author was at one time professor of theology in the University of Rostock, and his publication called forth, according to Walch, no less than fourteen volumes in reply. Jung, Stilling in the latter part of the 18th century, an able defender of Christianity against German rationalism, was an ardent and eminent Universalist. Prof. Tholuck wrote, in 1835, that this doctrine “came particularly into notice through Jung-Stilling, that eminent man who was a particular instrument in the hand of God for keeping up evangelical truth in the latter part of the former century, and at the same time a strong patron to that doctrine. “During the present century, Universalism has made rapid progress in Germany. Olshausen says of it that it ‘has, no doubt, a deep root in noble minds, and is the expression of a heart-felt desire for a perfect harmony of the creation.'” Dr. Dwight wrote in 1829, “The doctrine of the eternity of future punishment is almost universally rejected…” In England the Protestants, in drawing up their Forty-two Articles of Religion, in 1552, condemned Universalism. Ten years later, when the convocation revised the doctrines of the Church, the number of articles was reduced to thirty-nine, omitting, among others, the one condemning Universalism. Since that time Universalism has not been a forbidden doctrine in the Church of England, but has been advocated and defended by some of the most eminent members of its communion-such men as Dr. Henry More, Sir George Stonehouse, Bp. Thomas Newton, Dr. David Hartley, William Whiston, Dr. Thomas Burnet, Revs. Frederick W. Robertson, Charles Kingsley, Stopford Brooke, and canon Farrar, and indirectly by archbishop Tillotson. The Presbyterian Parliament of 1648, which temporarily overthrew Episcopacy, passed a law against all heresies, punishing the persistent holders of some with death, and of others with imprisonment. “That all men shall be saved” was among the heresies punishable in the latter manner. This law was not long operative, for the Independents, headed by Cromwell, soon overthrew the law-makers. Gerard Willstanley published a work in advocacy of Universalism only a few days after the passage of the law, which was soon followed by similar works from his pen. William Earbury fearlessly preached Universalism. Richard Coppin was active in its advocacy, publishing largely in its exposition and defense, and was several times tried for his offence. Samuel Richardson, an eminent Baptist, also wrote strongly in its behalf. Sir Henry Vane (the younger), member of the Parliament dissolved by Cromwell, and in 1636 governor of Massachusetts, was a Universalist. Jeremy White, one of Cromwell’s chaplains, preached Universalism, and published a work which has passed through several editions. Jane Lead, a Mystic, was the author of several Universalist books. Henry Brooke, a literary writer, avowed his belief in Universalism in his Fool of Quality, and in a poem on the Messiah. William Law, author of the Serious Call, declared in his Letters, “As for the purification of all human nature, I fully believe it, either in this world or some after ages.” The English literary reviews of the last century contain many notices of works in defense of Universalism. In 1750 James Relly, who had been a preacher in Whitefield’s connection, shocked at the doctrine of reprobation, was by meditation and study led into another scheme of redemption, some of the peculiarities of which may be said to have had their origin with him. Accepting as true the common theory that all men, having sinned in Adam, justly incurred eternal damnation, and that Christ had borne this infinite guilt and punishment in behalf of all who should be saved, Relly was moved to find, if possible, some ground of justice in such a scheme. The divine law explicitly declares that “the soul which sinneth, it shall die,” and that the innocent shall not suffer for the guilty. How could a transfer of human sin and penalty to Christ be consistent with that law? How could it be reconciled with equity? The divine sovereignty, without regard to inherent justice in the plan, could not account for it for the absoluteness that could set justice aside might just as easily, and more mercifully, have gone straight to its aim by remitting instead of transferring sin and its deserts. To say that the sufferings of Christ were merely accepted as satisfaction for human deserts, only reckoned as such, by God’s sovereign pleasure, was no adequate explanation, since they were thus only a fictitious, not a real, satisfaction; and, further, any sufferings whatsoever, even those of a man, would have answered just as well as an arbitrary acceptance of the coequal of God. The perfect consistency of God’s procedure, its absolute harmony with justice and equity, Relly found, as he claimed, in such a real and thorough union of Christ with the human race as made their acts his, and his theirs. All men, he held, were really in Adam and sinned in him, not by a fictitious imputation, but by-actual participation; equally so are all men in the second Adam, “the head of every man,” and he is as justly accountable for what they do as is the head in the natural body, accountable for the deeds of all the members united to that head. Accordingly Christ, in his corporate capacity, was truly guilty of the offence of the ‘human race, and could be, as he actually was, justly punished for it; and the race, because of this’ union, really suffered in him all the penalty which he endured, and thus fully satisfied justice. There is no more punishment, therefore, due for sin, nor any further occasion for declaring the demands of the law, except to make men feel their inability to obey, and thus compel them to an exclusive reliance on Christ the head. He has effected a complete and finished justification of the whole world. When man believes this he is freed from the sense of guilt, freed also from all doubt and fear. Until he believes it he is, whether in this world or in another, under the condemnation of unbelief and darkness, the only condemnation now possible to the human race. In illustration and defense of this theory, Relly wrote and published several books, preached zealously in London and vicinity, and gathered a congregation in the metropolis. After his death in 1778, two societies were formed from his congregation; but both have now ceased to exist, as has the society gathered by Winchester about 1789, and the Church founded by David Thom, D.D., in Liverpool in 1825. The Unitarians in England are all believers in Universalism, as are also many of the Congregationalists.

3. In America
Universalism is the result of the proclamation of a variety of theories, some of them at a very early date, all resulting in one conclusion – the final holiness of the human race. Sir Henry Vane as was said above, was a Universalist. It is not known that while in America he made any public avowal of that belief; but the presumption is that he did not stand alone. In July, 1684, Joseph Gatchell, of Marblehead, Mass., was brought before the Suffolk County Court for discoursing “that all men should be saved,” and, being convicted, was sentenced “to the pillory and to have his tongue drawn forth and pierced with a hot iron.” Dr. George DeBenneville, also mentioned above, came to America in 1741, expressly called of God, as he believed, to preach the Gospel in the New World. For more than fifty years he preached in various parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. He was not an organizer, but simply a preacher, and quite a voluminous writer, though only a few of his productions were published. For several years he was welcomed to the pulpits of the “Brethren” (Dunkers). It was no doubt at his suggestion that Siegvolk’s Everlasting Gospel was translated into English, and published by Christopher Sower, printed, probably, on the identical press on which the Berleburger Bibel had been struck off. This edition was reviewed by Rev. N. Pomp, a German minister in Philadelphia. Alexander Mack, an eminent preacher among the Dunkers, replied to Pomp, defending Siegvolk’s views. This work was never published, but the MS. is still preserved. There was found among Dr. De Bonneville’spapers, after his death, in 1793, a Commentary on the Apocalypse, which was printed in German, at Lebanon, Pa., in 1808. There was also Universalism in the Episcopal Church. Rev. Richard Clarke, rector of St. Philip’s in Charleston, S. C., from 1754 to 1759, was a pronounced advocate of it; as was Rev. John Tyler, rector of the Church in Norwich, Conn., who wrote a work in its defense, which was published by someone to whom he had loaned his MS., about 1787. Some of the Congregationalists of New England were believers in Universalism; among them Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, minister of the West Church in Boston from 1747 to 1766, who distinctly avowed his belief in it in a published Thanksgiving Sermon, Dec. 9, 1762. Dr. Charles Chauncy, minister of the First Church in Boston from 1727 to 1787, issued a pamphlet on the subject in 1782, which was reviewed by Dr. Samuel Mather. In 1784 his larger work The Salvation-of All Men was published, a second edition following in 1787. Dr. Joseph Huntington, minister in Coventry, Conn., from 1762 to 1794, left a work in favor of Universalism, entitled Calvinism Improved, which was published in 1796.
[End Article]

Should any desire to read further, I recommend the following as some of the most thorough writings documenting the history of this teaching.

Ancient history of Universalism: from the time of the apostles to the fifth general council, with an appendix tracing the doctrine to the Reformation by Hosea Ballou. This book consists of 313 pages.
Following closely on this writing was one by a different author. The Modern History of Universalism: from the era of the Reformation to the Present Time. This book is 458 pages in length and was written by Thomas Whittemore. It should be pointed out that “the Present Time” is a reference to the year 1830 in which this book was published.

These two books together provide perhaps the most comprehensive history of the doctrine of universal reconciliation as can be found today. Both of these books can be read online, or freely downloaded from Google Books.

Final Note:
Today, the term Universalism is used to denote a wide array of very diverse, and often incompatible, views. Some have asked me if I consider myself to be an Universalist. Following is a reply I recently gave to one who asked this question.

It is necessary to define what you mean by the term “Universalism” as the word means very different things to different people. Some who consider themselves “Universalists” are clearly heretical in their beliefs. The Unitarian Universalist Church is an example of this. They believe that all religions provide various paths that lead to God.What I proclaim is that there is only ONE Mediator between God and man, and that is Yahshua, the Son of God. He is THE gate through which ALL MEN must enter. There is no other name given under heaven by which men must be saved.

There are many who are called Universalists who deny the uniqueness of Christ. Like thieves and robbers they seek to enter by another way. I would not want to in any way be associated with these false doctrines and beliefs. For this reason, I find it expedient to avoid labels. I do not call myself an Universalist. I am a son of God who believes that Christ has been given the singular role to reconcile the creation back to the Father. I believe His power is sufficient to subject all things unto Himself, and by extension, unto the Father. I believe Christ’s reconciling work will not be complete until every enemy has been brought to repentance, and every knee bows before the Father. I believe that what God has sworn is true. Every tongue will confess “Surely in Yahweh I HAVE righteousness and strength,” and all who were incensed with Him will be ashamed.

This is what I teach, for it is what has been delivered to the saints by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days,

Joseph Herrin

The Ages of the Earth

Yahweh established a plan for the creation that encompasses a determined number of ages. This truth is taught in the Bible, but given little attention by Christians today. The church has very little understanding of the ages of the earth. Our world has known many different ages, and there are yet more ages to come. The Scriptures reveal that their will be three creations of the earth, and the earth will abide in seven distinct states.

The numbers three and seven are very significant in Scriptures. The tertiary (three-fold) and septenary (seven-fold) design of Yahweh is seen profusely both in the creation and in the Scriptures. We have previously observed that Yahweh established three great feasts to be observed annually by the Jews. These three feasts break down into seven individual moedim, or appointed times.

Passover:
Feast of Unleavened Bread
Firstfruits
Passover

Pentecost:
Pentecost

Tabernacles:
Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets)
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
Sukkot (Tabernacles, Booths)

This pattern is a reflection of the godhead. God is revealed to be a tripartite being in Scriptures, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…”

We have previously looked at the three-fold relationship of God through the parable of speech. There is Yahweh (the Father), His breath (the Holy Spirit), and His word (the Son). The Scriptures proclaim the tri-part nature of God, but they also reveal a seven-fold character.

Revelation 4:5
And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God…

Revelation 5:6
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

Some have correlated these seven Spirits of Yahweh to the following passage from Isaiah.

Isaiah 11:2
The Spirit of Yawheh will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.

Spirit of Yahweh
Spirit of Wisdom
Spirit of Understanding
Spirit of Counsel
Spirit of Strength
Spirit of Knowledge
Spirit of the Fear of Yahweh

Because Yahweh formed mankind in His image, man conforms to this same pattern. The new man in Christ is a tripartite being. He consists of body, soul and spirit.

I Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Yahshua Christ.

The apostle Paul lists the three parts of man in the order of their intended ascendancy. The spirit is to rule over the soul and the soul over the body. These three parts of man can be further subdivided into seven parts forming a perfect parallel to the Feasts of Yahweh.

Soul:
Cognition (Mind)
Volition (Will)
Emotion

Body:
Body (Sensory life)

Spirit:
Conscience
Intuition
Communion

I have laid this framework in order to establish the concept of the earth also having a tertiary and septenary design. The earth is closely related to man, for Adam was formed of the dust of the earth. From dust man came, and to dust man shall return. In Yahweh’s plan of the ages, the earth will exist in three distinct forms.

The First Earth

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

After the creation of the first earth, but prior to the creation of Adam, Satan rebelled and was cast out of heaven with one third of the angels. At this event the first earth was destroyed. It was made formless, void, and covered in darkness until the time Yahweh moved to create the earth anew. We find the re-creation of the earth described in Genesis chapter one verses 3-31. This present earth is the second creation of the earth. It must pass away and be replaced by a third earth.

The Second Earth

II Peter 3:7, 10
But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men… But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

There will then come a third and final creation of the earth.

The Third Earth

Revelation 21:1
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

Kenneth F. McKinley, in his book Scanning the Plan, breaks down the three creations of the earth into seven subsidiary states.

Original Earth
Before Satan’s fall. In the beginning… This is the earth of the dinosaurs. We are not told how long this earth existed before Satan rebelled and it was destroyed.

Chaotic Earth
This is the earth after the fall of Satan. It is now formless and void and covered in darkness. The length in which the earth lay under this judgment is not known. Being sealed in darkness, this was likely a period in which the earth was covered in ice, corresponding with evidence of an ancient ice age.

Adamic Earth
This is the re-created earth as described in Genesis chapters one and two, before the fall of man. The earth is a paradise. There is no rain, but a mist arose from the ground to water the earth (Genesis 2:6). There is no sin or death.

Pre-Flood Earth
This is the earth after Adam sinned. Sin and death has now entered the creation. The earth no longer gives forth abundantly. Man must cultivate it by the sweat of his brow.

Present Earth
This is the earth after the flood of Noah. It is an earth under human government. After the flood Yahweh shortened man’s life span from a thousand years to one hundred-twenty years (Genesis 6:3). This present state of the earth will continue until the millennial reign of Christ.

Millennial Earth
During this period Satan will be bound for a thousand years. Christ will reign upon the earth with His overcoming saints. Sin and death will still be present, but greatly mitigated.

Isaiah 65:20
There shall no more be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who dies prematurely; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies when only a hundred years old shall be [thought only a child, cut off because he is] accursed.
(Amplified Bible)

Christ’s reign will transform the earth.

Isaiah 11:4-8
With righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.  Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.

After a thousand years Satan will be loosed and war and judgment will fall once more. The present earth will be consumed with fire. Then will come the third and final creation of the earth, which will also be the seventh state of the earth.

New Earth
There will be no sea on the new earth. Seas represent death, and death will be no more.

These seven states of the earth conform to that septenary structure God has imprinted upon the creation. When one correctly discerns the Biblical teaching of the earth and its ages, they will find that many of the conflicts the church has with science are removed. Yahweh is the author of both the Bible and the creation. There is no conflict between them when they are correctly understood.

There is much evidence that points to the earth being quite ancient. The Bible does not deny this. Those who have misapprehended the words of Genesis have supposed that the earth can be no older than six thousand years. They have not discerned that there exists a gap of ages between verses one and two of the first chapter of Genesis. This understanding is obscured by erroneous English translations of the ancient Hebrew Scriptures. Men translate according to their understanding and beliefs, which are quite often faulty.

Genesis 1:1-21
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
(KJV)

The most popular modern English translations render this passage similarly to the KJV Bible. The translation makes it sound like God created the earth formless and void, yet other Scriptures reveal that this is not true. The phrase “And the earth was without form and void” should be properly rendered,”but the earth became formless and void.” The words in question are rendered correctly in other places in the first few chapters of Genesis.

The translators knew they could be rendered this way, but it did not fit with their understanding, or the orthodoxy of the day. The word rendered in the KJV as “was” is the Hebrew word “hayah.” It is the same word used in Genesis 2:7, “Adam became a living soul.”

Strong’s Concordance defines the meaning of this word as “to become” or, “come to pass.” Similarly the word rendered “and” is the Hebrew “wa.” This word is a conjunction. The KJV translators rendered this word as “but” in the very next chapter, for in Genesis 2:6 we read, “but a mist used to…” The translators could have rendered the first two verses of Genesis in the following manner:

Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But the earth became formless, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

By examining the testimony of other portions of Scripture we can discern that this is the correct interpretation of these verses. The following passage from Jeremiah provides a key to understanding. As you read it, note clearly the context of a judgment occurring due to the presence of sin and rebellion.

Jeremiah 4:16-28
Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith Yahweh. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath Yahweh said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
(KJV)

This passage is speaking of a judgment of Yahweh falling upon the earth due to rebellion and disobedience. As part of this judgment the land is made formless, void, and covered in darkness. These are the three same descriptive elements we find in Genesis 1:2. These words only occur in this combination in these two passages, and one other. The third instance is in Isaiah 34 where the destruction of Babylon is prophesied.

Seeing that both Jeremiah and Isaiah used these words to describe the appearance of the earth, or a portion of it, brought about by a judgmentof God, we can reasonably conclude that a judgment of God precipitated the condition of the earth found in Genesis 1:2. The Bible provides more evidence in support of this understanding. Isaiah tells us the following:

Isaiah 45:18
For thus says Yahweh, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited)…

Yahweh did not create the earth as a waste place, yet in Genesis 1:2 we find that it has become one. Let us look once more at the correct rendering of the first 2 verses of Genesis.

Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But the earth became formless, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

At the very beginning of the creation God made the heavens and the earth. He did not create them a waste. He created them perfect. Yet something occurred to mar their perfection. By looking at the language of verse two, and comparing it to the rest of scripture, we understand that it was due to a judgment of God that the earth was made formless, void and covered in darkness. The remainder of Genesis chapter one speaks of the re-creation of the earth, not its original creation.

What occurred on this original earth that caused Yahweh to judge it so completely? We are only given one event that could have caused such a judgment to be rendered. This event occurred prior to the creation of Adam. It was the rebellion of Satan.

Ezekiel 28:12-18
Thus says Yahweh God, “You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. “You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; it has consumed you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you.”

Where did the judgment of Satan take place? We are told that God cast Satan “to the ground.” Yahweh turned Satan to ashes “on the earth.” The judgment of Satan took place on the earth, and the earth suffered judgment in his fall.

Isaiah 14:12-15
How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.

The Scriptures reveal that the angels existed prior to man, and among the angels was a most magnificent cherub called Lucifer. He was created perfect in beauty and in wisdom, and his role among the angels was very exalted. Yet this being took his eyes off of his Creator and began to look at his own magnificence. This led to pride and the corrupting of his wisdom. Paul refers to Satan’s transgression in the following verse where he is speaking to Timothy about the qualifications for an elder:

I Timothy 3:6
And not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

Satan’s fall began with the formation of conceit within his heart. Conceit led to rebellion, and ended in judgment. After an undisclosed period of time God began to re-create the earth. At this time Satan was released from his first imprisonment, even as he will be released at the end of Christ’s millennial reign.

There is much more Biblical evidence to support the understanding that Yahweh was re-creating the earth in Genesis chapter one.

Genesis 1:27-28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:
(KJV)

The phrase “replenish the earth” means to fill it again. You can only replenish something that has been made empty. We speak of replenishing the supply of food in our cupboards when the cupboards have been emptied. Some of the translators of our common English Bibles have perceived that the word replenish infers that the earth was being re-filled. This thought is not in accord with the teaching of a large portion of the church. Therefore the translators in some instances chose to use the word “fill” instead of “replenish.”

The original language supports the usage of the word replenish. The root word in the Hebrew is ‘male’ (mal – ay), which means to fill. However, the form of the word found in this passage, and in only a few other occurrences, expresses the idea of a replenishing, or refilling. We find this same word form used in Genesis 9:1 where God is speaking to Noah after the flood.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
(KJV)

We know that ‘replenish’ is the appropriate word to be used in this passage, for all but a remnant of living creatures perished in the flood of Noah’s day. Only eight descendants of Adam survived. They were instructed by Yahweh to fill again the earth which had formerly been populated. Noah’s sons and daughters were not filling the earth a first time. They were re-filling it. This same Hebrew word form is found in the following verse.

Genesis 1:21-22
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the waters in the seas…”

When we perceive that Yahweh was re-creating the earth in Genesis chapter one, we also discover that the earth’s creations and states conform to a tertiary and septenary pattern. When we “rightly divide the word of God” we see that all fits according to the pattern Yahweh has established. When we fail to rightly divide the word of God, the pattern is broken.

This septenary structure is further observed in the opening chapters of Genesis in that Yahweh appointed six days for the creation of the earth, and on the seventh day He rested. The number seven is equated with rest. When the seventh state of the earth appears, it will be an earth at rest. The seventh and final state of the earth will have no seas. There will be no sin or death. Yahweh will no longer dwell in the heavens and man on earth. Yahweh will dwell among man.

Revelation 21:1-5
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea… And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

What is Aionian Life?

Note: In this chapter I am using the word “aionian” as a transliteration of the Greek word that is often interpreted as “eternal” in the most popular English Bibles. Rather than translating the word as “age-abiding,” “age-lasting,” or “age-during” as some literal translations have done, I am presenting it in a form that serves as an English equivalent to the actual Greek word form.

As I have taught the doctrines relating to God’s plan of the ages I have encountered some common objections to what is being set forth. One of the more frequently raised protestations is that the same word is used in Scriptures to describe “aionian” fire and “aionian” life. The saints have heard it proclaimed with such repetitiveness that Christ has come to bring men “eternal” life, that any suggestion to the contrary is anathema to them. I am convinced that God never meant to place man’s focus upon the length of the life which He provides. Aionian life is not an unending life, it is a life in union with the Father and the Son.

The two Scriptures below include the word aionios. Certain things can be discerned by looking at them.

Jude 6-7
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal (aidios) bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal (aionian) fire.
(NAS)

Mark 10:29-30
Yahshua said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age (kairos), houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age (aion) to come, eternal (aionian) life.”
(NAS)

I have specifically chosen these two passages from the Scriptures as they show forth the problem of interpreting the Greek word “aionian” as eternal. In the first passage we read that God has been keeping disobedient angels in bonds until they can be delivered up for judgment at “the great day.” Seeing that these bonds are intended to hold these angels for a limited period of time, they cannot be eternal bonds. What is spoken of are temporal bonds.

In the second passage we read that Christ’s disciples will receive aionian life in the aion to come. We have observed previously that the Greek word aion means an age. How then can one receive eternal life inside the bounds of an age to come? This would be akin to trying to contain that which is infinite inside something that is finite.

In the passage from Jude we find that the first occurrence of the English word “eternal” is translated from the Greek “aidios.” This word only occurs twice in Scripture. Numerous Bible translations have rendered this word as “hidden” or “unknown” rather than “eternal.” If we examine the other Scripture in which this word occurs, we see that it is appropriate to render it this way.

Romans 1:20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal (aidios – hidden) power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse…
(KJV)

The context of this sentence reveals that it is speaking about things that are invisible to the creation. If we translate the word “aidios” as hidden, or unknown, we find that there is a consistency of meaning to this passage. God is Spirit, and the Scriptures declare that no man has seen Him at any time.

John 6:46
“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

Colossians 1:15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Although Yahweh is Spirit and no man has seen Him, He has made known His invisible attributes, including His power and godhead. This is the sense of Paul’s words in Romans 1:20. The invisible God has revealed Himself in creation. When man observes the cosmos he is faced with the evidence of a divine Creator, for Yahweh’s power and wisdom are evident through the things that are made.

Jeremiah 51:15
It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.

Although Yahweh’s power is eternal, this is not what Paul is declaring in Romans 1:20. Paul is speaking of God’s hidden power and sovereignty. No man has actually seen God, or observed Him seated on the throne of heaven. Yet, we can discern Yahweh’s power and sovereign rule through that which He has created.

The Greek word “aidios” is followed by the related word “aidos” in Strong’s Concordance. James Strong defined “aidos” in the following manner.

aidos; perhaps from NT:1 (as a negative particle) and NT:1492 (through the idea of downcast eyes); bashfulness, i.e. (towards men), modesty or (towards God) awe:

Observing the similarity between these two words, and perceiving that “aidos” is expressing the idea of “downcast eyes,” it is not unreasonable to conclude that “aidios” would convey a similar concept. When one’s eyes are looking down, as when one is bashful, then they are not looking directly at something in front of them. In the same way, man cannot look directly at God’s presence, His power and godhead. Yet, we can look at the things Yahweh has made and discern much about His power and godhead.

Following is a rendering of this passage from Jude that I believe more accurately communicates the thought of the author.

Jude 6-7
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in hidden bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of age-abiding fire.

Another point in support of this rendering is the reference to Sodom. We read previously that Sodom will be restored to her habitation one day. Sodom’s inhabitants are at this time kept hidden away in bonds, but they are not eternal bonds.

Ezekiel 16:55
Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state.

The question remains to be answered, “If eternal life is not the correct understanding of aionian life, then what is this expression intended to convey?” If I do not err, aionian life must refer to that life that God provides for man within the bounds of the ages. This present creation is not eternal. It must one day pass away. Yahweh has devised a plan for the creation encompassing many ages. All will culminate in one great age of ages when all is reconciled to the Father and sin and death are no more. Then comes the end when Christ delivers up the kingdom, all rule and authority, to the Father. All things, including the Son, are then summed up in Yahweh so that He becomes “all in all.”

Aionian life must therefore constitute that divine life that is free of sin and death which Christ provides for men during the ages (aions) of creation. Aionian life is that exceptional life entered into by men who have been reconciled to the Father. These ones partake of fellowship with God, knowing Him, and being known by Him.

I Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

There are many Scripture verses that speak of aionian life as something promised, something set before the Christian as a hope. Although we are partakers of the life of Christ now, we have not yet arrived at the fulness that Paul speaks of in the verse above. One day we will know (Yahweh and His Son) fully even as we are known. This is the end toward which all things are heading. Knowing God is the predominant characteristic of aionian life.

John 17:1-3
Yahshua spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give aionian life. This is aionian life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yahshua Christ whom You have sent.”

In these words of Christ we see that the true characteristic of aionian life is not eternal length, rather it is unfettered fellowship with the Father and the Son. Christ came to set the captives free. Those whom the Son sets free are free indeed. No longer will sin and death keep men from knowing the Father. The Son has brought life that all may know the Father and the Son.

I John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Yahshua Christ. This is the true God and aionian life.

Many Christians are taught that Christ came to give them eternal life. This places the emphasis upon the length of life. Such a translation obscures the true meaning of that life Christ provides. Yahshua made a way for mankind to KNOW GOD. I do not mean that Christians may simply know things about Yahweh. Rather, an entrance into fellowship and union with the Father is provided. Those who are “in Christ” are able to experience union with the Father, a true, deep, abiding intimacy with the One who created them.

I John 1:1-3
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life – and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the aionian life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us – what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Yahshua Christ.

In this passage we once again see aionian life related to fellowship with God and His Son. This is the true characteristic of aionian life; not that it is eternal, but that it is an entering into union with Christ and the Father. If a man were to live forever he might have eternal life. Yet only in Christ are men able to experience aionian life in union with the Father. This is why Christ came.

John 17:20-23
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

Savor these words of Christ. He yearns that men might experience a union with the Father and Himself that was not possible before His crucifixion and resurrection. Adam’s sin had brought a separation between man and God. Christ came to repair the breach. To be restored to fellowship with the Father and the Son is to become a partaker of aionian life.

I John 5:11-12
And the testimony is this, that God has given us aionian life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

Notice a key thought conveyed by John in these words. Aionian life is not like a gift one man would give to another. Aionian life is not something separate from Christ that can be handed to another person.  Aionian life is found only “IN” God’s Son. This is what Christ symbolized at the last supper when He invited His disciples to drink the wine as a symbol of His blood.

Mark 14:23-24
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

The Bible teaches that life (the soul) is in the blood. We must sup up the life of Christ; His divine nature must be found in us; we must be directed and empowered by His Spirit if we are to truly experience aionian life.

John 6:53-56
So Yahshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has aionian life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

Here is the crux of the matter. Abiding in Christ is the essence of aionian life. Consider for a moment the attitude of many Christians today. Many testify happily that in Christ they have received eternal life, but their actions reveal that they have little desire for intimacy or fellowship with the Son. It is a rare event for many Christians to spend intimate time in communion with Christ through seasons of prayer, meditation upon His word, or walking daily with a consciousness of His presence. Such ones are not abiding in Christ. They are not partaking of aionian life. Nor are they much concerned at this deficiency in their Christian walk. They are content to have ministers and other Christians assure them that they will live forever because they have said a sinner’s prayer and confessed belief in the Son of God.

Are not a great many Christians committing the same grave error as the Jews to whom Christ first appeared? To them He declared:

John 5:39-40
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have aionian life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”

Many Christians study doctrine and quote Bible passages while neglecting to daily abide in Christ. Knowledge about Christ, and a hope of living forever, is not a substitute for eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood. The very life of Christ must be in us. Consider the implications of the following words of Yahshua.

John 12:49-50
“For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is aionian life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

Yahshua did not do anything of His own initiative. Any action or word that is independent of the Father is contrary to life. We are only partaking of aionian life when we are being led of the Spirit in those things we say and do. When the life of God is animating us and directing us, then we are truly experiencing life. This was Christ’s meaning. He testified that to do the Father’s will, fulfilling Yahweh’s commandments to Him, is the essence of life.

Such life by necessity is one of fellowship and union. We must know the mind of the Father, and we must look to the strength He provides to accomplish His will. To walk in the light of truth we need to conform our thoughts to God’s thoughts.

When we hear or read about aionian life, we need to think about union, intimacy, and fellowship with the Father and the Son. There should come to our minds a vision of abiding in the Son and the Father.

I John 2:24-25
As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

This is the promise which He Himself made to us: aionian life. Mankind entering into an abiding relationship with the Father and the Son is the promise which God has given to us. This is aionian life.

Unquenchable Fire

There is a curious expression used by Christ that has led many Christians to conclude that Yahshua taught that hell will be forever. In the Gospel of Mark we find Yahshua repeating the words, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Mark 9:43-48
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
(KJV)

Examining the footnotes of a number of translations, you will find it mentioned that verses 44, 46, and 48 of this passage, which all repeat the expression “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,” are not found in the best ancient manuscripts. The KJV Bible translators had only 8 Greek manuscripts to work with, and most of their labors were performed using the Textus Receptus which is for very good reason considered one of the most flawed and unreliable translations available today.

The Textus Receptus was hurriedly thrown together by the Dutch Catholic scholar Desiderius Erasmus in 1516 A.D.. Erasmus was rushing to get his translation printed as he was aware of other scholars working on what would be competing translations. His work was so poorly done that it was not even proofread for spelling errors, and was an abysmal piece of work.

Erasmus did not have available to him any Greek manuscripts that were older than the 10th century, and was even missing six complete chapters from the book of Revelation. He therefore took Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible (the Latin Vulgate) which was produced toward the end of the 4th century, using it to translate the portions of the New Testament he was lacking back into Greek. Erasmus’ Textus Receptus was a Latin translation in which he included the Greek alongside the Latin for comparative purposes.

There are now more than 70o manuscripts available to translators, many of which are more ancient and reliable than that which Erasmus or the KJV translators had to work with. Two of the most highly regarded manuscripts are Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, both of which are in the original Greek and date back to the 4th century. These ancient manuscripts do not contain the phrase “Where there worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

It does seem strange that Christ would repeat such a litany, for His speech to those gathered to hear Him was normally quite common. Yahshua did not speak as if reciting poetry, but conversed in the common tongue using ordinary expression. Seeing that some of the best and most reliable ancient manuscripts of the New Testament omit these words, it is very possible that they were added to the text at a later time. Nevertheless, it is beneficial to understand what meaning these expressions were intended to convey. They in no way contradict the Biblical testimony we have observed elsewhere of the limited duration of hell and the lake of fire. Even if we remove these doubtful phrases from the text, we are left with the following:

Mark 9:43-47
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Seeing these expressions in the text has confused many modern English speaking Christians. These phrases are commonly cited when people are expressing opposition, or doubts, regarding the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things. Simply put, a fire that shall never be quenched is not eternal fire. It is fire that will not be extinguished until it has consumed everything that is combustible. When the fire has consumed all that can be consumed, it will quite naturally cease to burn.

In comparing this expression to the rest of Scripture, we find that this has ever been what was intended when God speaks of a fire that will not be quenched. The prophet Jeremiah records the following words.

Jeremiah 17:27
“But if you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.”

These words of God were fulfilled a few years later when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52:12-13
Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of Yahweh, the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire.

Once this fire consumed that which it was set to, the fire went out. The fire which Nebuchadnezzar set does not continue to burn today. The unquenchable fire was not an eternal fire. It was simply a fire that was not interrupted. There were no Jewish fire brigades that were able to douse this fire. The Temple and houses of Jerusalem were fully consumed.

A remarkable truth appears when we compare God’s words relating to fire with similar words speaking of His wrath. We find the parallel truth that Yahweh’s wrath, which is also said to be unquenchable, is temporal. After Judah had transgressed for many generations against Yahweh, incurring His wrath which would not be turned aside, there arose a godly king named Josiah. Josiah humbled himself before Yahweh, and inquired of Yahweh concerning the fate of the nation. Yahweh responded in the following manner.

II Kings 22:17
“Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath burns against this place, and it shall not be quenched.”

Yahweh’s wrath was poured out after the days of King Josiah. In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, Judah and Jerusalem were captured and destroyed. Many of the people were slaughtered. The remnant were taken captive to Babylon. Those who know the history of God’s people know that His wrath that “shall not be quenched” was satisfied seventy years later. Yahweh had compassion on His people and restored them to the land of their inheritance. He strengthened them to rebuild the city walls and the Temple.

Isaiah 54:7-8
“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says Yahweh your Redeemer.

Yahweh compares His wrath to fire. He speaks of His wrath burning. The wrath of God must accomplish its work, even as the fires He set in the Temple and the houses of Jerusalem had to burn until they were spent. Neither Yahweh’s wrath, nor the fires of hell, are eternal. The unquenchable fire will go out when it has accomplished its purpose. In the end compassion will be renewed. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Yahweh did judge Judah and Jerusalem. His wrath and anger burned against them. Yahweh’s righteous indignation had to be satisfied.

Jeremiah 7:20
Therefore thus says Yahweh God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

Nevertheless, after the anger and wrath of Yahweh had burned for a season, it came to an end. Wrath was replaced with compassion. Judgment gave way to mercy.

Psalms 30:5
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Isaiah 60:10
Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, and in My favor I have had compassion on you.

These words of Yahweh recorded by Isaiah were fulfilled in a very literal sense. Not only was a foreign king the instrument of Yahweh’s judgment upon Jerusalem, but another foreign king was God’s instrument of restoration. This foreign king was Cyrus of Persia.

Ezra 1:1-4
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.'”

Is it not remarkable that the wrath of God that was unquenchable, and the fires He set in Jerusalem that would not be quenched, not only ended, but Yahweh restored that which had been cleansed by fire? Will not Yahweh do the same for those men and angels that are cast into the unquenchable fires of hell? Indeed, He will! How else will He fulfill that which He has sworn by His own name?

Isaiah 45:22-24
“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. They shall say, ‘Surely in Yahweh I have righteousness and strength.’ To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him.”

There are numerous places where the Bible speaks of unquenchable fire. Following is a further example from the gospels.

Luke 3:16-17
John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

It should now be understood that John the Baptist was not speaking of an eternal fire. The fire that Christ casts upon the earth must consume everything that is marred by sin until only that which is holy, righteous and true remains. Christ will reign UNTIL He has put all His enemies under His feet. His reign will continue UNTIL He has reconciled all things whether in heaven or on earth to the Father. Fire is emblematic of that purifying work that has been entrusted to Christ. Yahshua said:

Luke 12:49
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!”

We must understand these words of Christ in conjunction with all that He has testified. In another place Christ spoke the following:

Luke 9:54-56
When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”]

In fairness, it should be pointed out that the words enclosed in brackets in the Scripture above are not found in the most ancient and reliable manuscripts of the New Testament. Nevertheless, the Scriptures do consistently testify of this truth. Christ did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved.

I John 2:1-2
And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Yahshua Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation (merciful covering) for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

There are many Christians today who are like James and John. Although they may be zealous for Christ, they do not recognize the character of the Spirit of Christ. James and John had been raised under the Law. The Law is a manslayer. It is understandable that having been raised under the Law they might view God’s wrath as predominant.

Today Christians have received the gospel (good news) of Christ. We have in full view before us the mercy of God. Yahweh did not spare His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all. We see Christ as the merciful covering who has laid down His life that all men might be saved. We transgress greatly if we commit the same error of judgment as James and John, enlarging upon the wrath of God, desiring to strike the people with blows that God does not intend. Yahweh will cast no man or angel into eternal fire. Those who teach such things do not know the Spirit to whom they belong.

There must be balance in all things. We are called to rightly divide the word of truth. The wrath of God is very real. Many Christians will experience the wrath of Yahweh right along with His adversaries.

Hebrews 10:26-27
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

At the same time we must acknowledge that the wrath of God is not eternal. Yahweh’s greatest attribute is not wrath, it is love.

I John 4:8
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Throughout Scripture fire is employed as a symbol of God’s judgment. Fire is a purifying agent. In the Greek language, the words for fire and pure both derive from the same root. Fire is the greatest cleansing agent upon the earth. If you want something cleansed of impurity, then subject it to the fire.

It is easy to see the similarity between our English words pure and pyre. The word pyre is defined as “a heap of combustible material, especially one for the ritual cremation of a corpse.” How does one get rid of a dead body? The quickest and most complete way is to cremate it, subjecting the corpse to the flames. This is what Yahweh must accomplish for all mankind. All men born of Adam are dead men walking. Paul testified that “In my flesh dwells no good thing.” Sin dwells in the flesh. The flesh must therefore be consumed.

Whether one readily acknowledges Christ as Savior, or has not yet done so, their flesh must be consumed. We can present ourselves as a free will offering by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God, or we will be cast into the lake of fire as the mandatory offering. In either case, the fire cannot burn forever. Once the fires of God have purified everything, the fires must go out.

Having observed from the Scriptures that unquenchable fire is not eternal fire, can we not rightly conclude that the phrase “where their worm dieth not” is also speaking of a temporal work? Worms consume flesh even as fire consumes that which is combustible. What will happen when there is no more flesh to consume? The answer is obvious. There must be an end to this work as well.
Everyone who is impure and vile in the eyes of Yahweh must experience the fire.

Revelation 21:8
“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

When the unquenchable fire has purged every adversary of God, and rebellion and sin are no more, then the fire of the second death, even the lake of fire, will burn no more.

I Corinthians 15:26
The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

Yahshua, the Lord of the Ages

It has already been shown that Christ’s reign over the creation is temporal, for the creation itself will encompass ages, but not eternity. The apostle Paul in his letter to the saints in Corinth states:

I Corinthians 15:25
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

In the sentence preceding the verse above, the apostle tells us:

I Corinthians 15:24
Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when He
has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

There will come a time at the end of the ages when Christ gives all things back to the Father. The Greek word translated as “hands over” in the verse above is ‘paradidomi.’ Strong’s Concordance defines the word in the following manner.

To surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:

When the kingdom is handed over to God the Father, the reign of Christ will be at an end. When all things have been reconciled to the Father, and the entire creation is rightly related to God, there will be no more need of any rule, authority, or power.

Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible reveals the sense of this verse more accurately.

I Corinthians 15:24
Then — the end, when he may deliver up the reign to God, even the Father, when he may have made useless all rule, and all authority and power.

What will be the need of a ruler when all things are submitted fully and completely to the Father? There will be no more need for correction, for punishment, for reward, or judgment. Perfect love, and obedience to Yahweh, will permeate the creation. What a marvelous accomplishment the Son will have achieved! Yahshua will  present to the Father the creation in a state of perfect righteousness and peace. There will be nothing left that is out of harmony with the will and character of Yahweh. An enemy will not be found anywhere in creation, whether in heaven or on earth. Sin will have been thoroughly purged, and death will be no more. All will be life, and peace, and righteousness at the conclusion of the Son’s rule and the end of the ages.

This work of reconciling the creation to the Father goes on apace. Right now Yahshua is leading a firstfruits company to enter into a condition of complete Sabbath rest. There are ages in which this work will continue. Looking at the rebellion, sin and chaos of this present world system, the fullness of Christ’s work at the end of the ages is difficult to envision.

Centuries before the birth of Christ, Yahweh restored a remnant of His people to the Holy Land. Yahweh indicated to the captives of Judah and Jerusalem who had been carried into Babylon (confusion) that the appointed time had arrived for them to return to Zion. Only a remnant of the people heeded Yahweh’s invitation. In this remnant we see a pattern for God’s work today.

Yahweh tasked those obedient sons with rebuilding the Temple. The work was truly great, and the laborers were few. It was a monumental task just to get the foundation of the Temple laid. The prophet Zechariah writes of this event.

Zechariah 4:8-10
Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent Me to you. For who has despised the day of small things?”

As we look at the work of God at this present time on the earth, we are seeing only a remnant who are yielding their lives (souls) to the rule of Yahweh. Even among those who call themselves Christians, the actual number of disciples of Christ is very small. In the Gospel of Luke we read of Christ being asked about the number of those being saved.

Luke 13:23
And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?”

It was surely apparent to the person asking the question that only a small percentage of the Jews were turning to Yahshua and heeding His words. Among the religious leaders, the numbers were small, and of the entire nation we read that a partial hardening had occurred. Yahshua did not deny that at that time only a few were being saved. He urged those listening to Him to strive to enter through the narrow door.

At this time, in this age, there are only a few being saved. The vast majority of men continue to experience separation from the life of Christ. They have not yielded their lives to the Father. They have not entered into the Sabbath rest which Paul defines in the following manner:

Hebrews 4:10
For the one who has entered His rest has himself ceased from his own works, as God did from His.

Sabbath rest is a cessation of all independent action; it is the end of all human initiative. Sabbath rest is knowing the Father’s will and doing it. There are just a few entering into this rest at this time. We live in a day of small things, but such a day is not to be despised. That which has begun as a very small work will grow until it encompasses the entire creation.

In the book of Daniel, we read of the prophet interpreting a dream for the King of Babylon. The dream portrayed all the great kingdoms of the earth. At the end of the procession of earthly kingdoms there came a new, divine kingdom. It was represented by a stone that was formed without hands. This was a divine work. The stone is Christ. He is the stone that the builder’s rejected, but has now become the chief cornerstone. Daniel speaks of this stone to the King of Babylon.

Daniel 2:34-35
You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Christ’s work, of shattering the nations and establishing the rule of God throughout the creation, has just begun. It is in its infancy. Yahshua is establishing the kingdom of God inside the lives of a firstfruits group of men and women at this hour. These will be the first to be resurrected. They in turn will share in the work of reconciling the remainder of the creation back to the Father, both things in the heavens and on the earth.

Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

I Corinthians 6:3
Do you not know that we will judge angels?

When Christ’s reign has accomplished its full purpose, all things will be reconciled to the Father. Then Christ will hand the kingdom over to the Father. There will be no more need of rule, or of a ruler. Christ will reign to the end of the ages, then time itself will be no more as all things are summed back up into the Father.

When God’s plan of the ages is understood, the error of proclaiming Christ to be an eternal king, and his kingdom to be forever, becomes apparent. The men tasked with translating the King James Bible did not understand the ages of God, or the end of all things. Even if they did perceive these things, the king’s edict to not interpret the Scriptures in such a way as to upset the orthodox view of the church would have constrained them.

When King James of England authorized a group of scholars tocreate a new English translation of the Bible, he gave them fifteen rules to guide them. These rules were printed in the front of the early King James Bibles. Among these rules are the following guidelines.

1. The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bishops Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the Truth of the original will permit.
2. The names of the Prophets, and the Holy Writers, with the other Names of the Text, to be retained, as nigh as may be, accordingly as they were vulgarly used.
3. The Old Ecclesiastical Words to be kept, viz. the Word Church not to be translated Congregation &c.
4. When a Word hath divers Significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most of the Ancient Fathers, being agreeable to the Propriety of the Place, and the Analogy of the Faith.
14. These translations to be used when they agree better with the Text than the Bishops Bible: Tyndale’s, Matthew’s, Coverdale’s, Whitchurch’s, Geneva.

It was points number 3 and 4 which have caused the greatest harm to this translation. The king was in effect ordering that the orthodox views of the Church of England should be supported by the translation. Not only could the Greek word translated as church not be changed to the word congregation, but the Greek word baptizo could not be translated at all. The meaning of the Greek word is “immerse,” but the practice of the church was to sprinkle. To get around this obvious contradiction, the translators did not translate the word at all. They transliterated it, which is to simply keep it in its original Greek form with only a slight alteration for English reading. Thus baptizo was rendered as baptize, and the church could interpret this word any way they desired.

Obviously, the teaching of the church in 1611 supported eternal torment. The concept of the reconciliation of the entire creation was rejected by the Church of England, and the understanding of the ages and the temporal reign of Christ was not embraced. Therefore, to not upset the orthodox views of the church, the scholars working in this translation were not permitted to translate the Greek word aion as age. Instead, they erroneously interpreted it to mean for ever, or eternal.

To this day we have many erroneous renderings of the Scriptures that have led multitudes of Christians to false conclusions. Consider the difference in understanding the church might have today if they were taught out of an accurate translation of the Bible. Observe the difference in understanding that arises from the following two translations of the same verse.

Revelation 11:15
And the seventh messenger did sound, and there came great voices in the heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of the world did become [those] of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign to the ages of the ages!’
(YLT)

Contrast this literal rendering with the words of the men who produced the King James Bible.

Revelation 11:15
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
(KJV)

In the Greek original it is recorded that Christ must reign to the “aions” of the “aions.” This cannot be for ever and ever, for the day will come when Christ shall hand over the kingdom to the Father, and all rule will be abolished. It is a great tragedy that the church has not understood the Scriptures, nor the power of God. They see this present age in which a fraction of all mankind profess belief in God and in His Christ, and they believe this is the consummation and end of Christ’s work of reconciliation. They are convinced that all who die separated from Christ and God must forever remain that way. What great error this is. It leaves the majority ofthe creation forever separated from the Father, eternally tormented in hell.

In this fallacious view of the church, Christ does not reconcile all things to the Father. Yahshua does not fill all in all, and there is no end to Christ’s rule where He hands over a perfected creation to the Father.

Rulers are established for the purpose of punishing evildoers and rewarding the righteous. This is what the apostle declared in the letter to the Romans.

Romans 13:3-5
For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.

These words accurately describe the function of Christ’s rule. Christ is a minister of God to you (and all creation) for good. He will both punish the wicked and reward the righteous.

Revelation 22:12
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

The rule of Christ is declared by the Scriptures to be temporal. He will rule UNTIL all enemies have been brought under subjection. Christ will administer wrath, but not eternal wrath, for His rule is only until the end of the ages. Being instructed out of faulty translations, and not studying carefully to discern where error has entered in, the church has been led to adopt many false doctrines about the punishment of the wicked. Following is the King James rendering of a verse out of Matthew’s gospel.

Matthew 25:41
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
(KJV)

It is easy to perceive how saints can be led astray through faulty translation work. If we accept the rendering of the translators who worked on this version of the English Bible we would certainly conclude that the devil and his angels will be subjected to “everlasting fire.” Contrast this with the following translations of the same verse.

Matthew 25:41
Then will He say to those at His left, “Begone from me, with the curse resting upon you, into the Fire of the Ages, which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels.”
(Weymouth Translation)

Matthew 25:41
Then he will say to those on his left “Go from my presence, accursed, into the aeonian fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels.”
(Twentieth Century New Testament – 1904)

Matthew 25:41
He will then also say to those at his Left hand, “Depart from me you cursed ones into that aionian fire which is prepared for the adversary and his messengers.”
(Emphatic Diaglott)

Matthew 25:41
Then will he say unto those also on His left hand: Depart from me, accursed ones! Into the age-abiding fire which hath been prepared for the adversary and his messengers.
(Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible)

Matthew 25:41
Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers;
(Young’s Literal Translation)

If we accept the testimony of the Scriptures that declare Christ’s rule to be temporal, to be concluded at the end of the ages, then we can judge no translation as accurate or faithful to the original thought of the authors that speaks of eternal punishment. The thought in the minds of the original writers was that the fires of hell and the lake of fire are limited to the ages of the creation.

Andrew Jukes, an English minister, authored an excellent book on this subject in 1867. It is titled The Restitution of All Things. Mr. Jukes considered the various instances and combinations of the Greek word aion in the Bible. His comments are worthy of consideration.

(NOTE: Every scholar knows that the expressions, “ages,” “to the ages,” “age of the ages,” and “ages of the ages,” are unlike anything which occurs in the heathen Greek writers. The reason is, that the inspired writers, and they alone, understood the mystery and purpose of the “ages.” They, or at least the Spirit which spake by them, saw that there would be a succession of “ages,” a certain number of which constituted another greater “age.” It seems to me that when they simply intended a duration of many “ages,” they wrote “to the ages.” When they had in view a greater and more comprehensive “age,” including in it many other subordinate “ages,” they wrote “to the age of ages.” When they intended the longer “age” alone, without regard to its constituent parts, they wrote “to an aeonial age”; this form of expression being a Hebraism, exactly equivalent to “age of the ages:” like “liberty of glory,” for “glorious liberty,” (Rom. viii. 21,) and “body of our vileness,” for “our vile body.” (Phil. iii. 21.) When they intended the several comprehensive “ages” collectively, they wrote “to the ages of ages.” Each varying form is used with a distinct purpose and meaning.)

At any rate, and whatever the future “ages” may be, those past (and St. Paul speaks of “the ends” of some,) are clearly not endless; and the language of Scripture as to those to come seems to teach that they are limited, since Christ’s mediatorial kingdom, which is “for the ages of ages,” must yet be “delivered up to the Father, that God may be all in all.” (Compare Rev. XI. 15, and 1 Cor. XV. 24.) And the fact that in John’s vision, which describes the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gives Him, our Lord is called “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,”(Rev. xxi. 6.) seems to imply an end to the peculiar manifestation of Him as Kingand Priest, under which special offices the Revelation shews Him, offices which, as they involve lost ones to be saved and rebels ruled over, may not be needed when the lost are saved and reconciled.

Would it not have been better therefore, and more respectful to the Word of God, had our Translators been content in every place to give the exact meaning of the words, which they render “for ever,” or “for ever and ever,” but which are simply “for the age,” or “for the ages of ages;” and ought they not in other passages, where the form of expression in reference to these “ages” is marked and peculiar, to have adhered to the precise words of Holy Scripture? I have already referred to thepassage of St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, which in our Version is rendered “throughout all ages, world without end,” but which is literally, “to all generations of the age of ages.” (Eph. iii. 21.)… It is, therefore, a matter of regret that our Translators should not have rendered them exactly and literally; for surely the words which Divine Wisdom has chosen must have a reason, even where readers and translators lack the light to apprehend it.

The “ages,” therefore, are periods in which God works, because there is evil and His rest is broken by it, but which have an end and pass away, when the work appointed to be done in them has been accomplished. The “ages,” like the “days” of creation, speak of a prior fall: they are the “times” in which God works, because He cannot rest in sin and misery. His perfect rest is not in the “ages,” but beyond them, when the mediatorial kingdom, which is “for the ages of ages,” (Rev. XI. 15.) is “delivered up,” (1 Cor. xv. 24.)…

The words “Jesus Christ, (that is, Anointed Saviour,) the same yesterday, to-day,and for the ages,” (Heb. xiii. 8.) imply that through these “ages” a Saviour is needed, and will be found… It will I think too be found, that the adjective (aionios) founded on this word, whether applied to “life,” “punishment,” “redemption,” “covenant,” “times,” or even “God” Himself, is always connected with remedial labour, and with the idea of “ages” as periods in which God is working to meet and correct some awful fall. Thus the “aeonial covenant,” (Heb. xiii. 20.)… is that which comprehends “the ages,” during which “Jesus Christ is the same,” that is, a Saviour; an office only needed for the fallen, for “they that are whole need not a physician.”
[End Excerpt]

At this time, only a remnant discern God’s plan of the ages, and the preeminent role that Christ has been appointed in it. Yahshua must reign until He has wrought a full reconciliation of the creation to the Father. This labor will occur within the period of time bounded by the ages that Yahweh has established by His own counsel. Christ is therefore the Lord of the ages.

When the final age of the ages has come to a conclusion, then Yahshua will deliver the Kingdom up to the Father. All rule will be abolished, and the ages of Sonship will be at an end. The Father will be all in all.

Marvelous are the plans of God! His work among the creation will in the end be found to be perfect, complete, and all-encompassing.

Revelation 11:15
The seventh angel blew his trumpet; and there followed loud voices in Heaven which said, “The sovereignty of the world now belongs to our Lord and His Christ; and He will be King until the Ages of the Ages.”
(Weymouth Translation)