To: The deducted Few, the disaffected Many,
and our spiritual Leaders
info at straitgateministry.net
info at straitgateministry.net
Fri May 5 08:32:03 GMT 2006
Reply-To: Karl
To: THE DISAFFECTED MANY, SPIRITUAL LEADERS, AND THE DEDUCTED FEW
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HOW A BIBLE PUBLISHER CORRUPTED CHRIST'S WORDS: Why Celebrity Christian accept a form of Judaism and bow to un-Christian apostasy
By Charles E. Carlson
This study is not written to convince anyone of what Jesus said, it only deals with what the Christian New Testament states Jesus said. This analysis is important to persons of all beliefs, faiths, and races who are trying to understand why wars seem to be happening to our world, and why many of those who call themselves by Jesus Christ's name seems to be consistently in support of wars against other races, currently a war for the most part directed at Islamic populations.
This is a re-written and abbreviated version of our more far reaching 2006 series, "The Sheep and the Goats" Parts 1 & 2, which are drawn from a study of book of Matthew, chapter 25. Your author is responding to requests that we more clearly prove and document the essence of popular biblical distortion about Heaven and Hell in the book of Matthew. Chapters 24-25, which evangelical believe to contain Jesus' words, are intentionally distorted by these same persons, both in the text and footnotes to the text in most popular bible study versions.
Christian Zionists at the pulpit of mega-churches are left with an untenable problem. It is impossible for them to tell the truth about what certain New Testament Bible passages say, or even to read them, without contradicting their own support for wars and for the constantly warring state of Israel.
Church economics may also be a factor in scriptural compromise. Evangelical teaching and preaching often directly contradict that which Jesus taught about love and peace, and more surprisingly, celebrity Christian statements often directly conflict with Jesus' statements about Heaven and Hell.
Celebrity Christian leaders may feel financial pressure to warp the New Testament into a wide and easy path interpretation, which they say points, not to Heaven and Hell, but to a "second coming." Simply stated, pastors have learned they can't fill 10,000 seat arenas by leaning too heavily on sin, repentance and judgment as Jesus portrayed it in this carefully worded chapter.
Many pastors no doubt justify compromise to save their own empires. This contrast them with what Christ called the narrow path or "Strait" gate. Our government's public policy of wars has become many churches' policy, and evangelicals are well know to be active politically. Every politician knows it pays to be "born again." Thus an unspoken, unholy alliance has been created between financially successful false biblical teachers on one hand, and politically successful politicians and businessmen who thrive on serial wars, on the other. This bloodthirsty and anti-Christian heresy has cost untold lives in half a dozen holy wars in the 20 years or so since it metastasized into a judao-Christian political alliance.
"Oh that my enemy would write a book" (unknown)
The famous Scofield Reference Bible, perhaps the most powerfully promoted Bible ever written, is the godfather of modern bible distortion, which is now emulating and even exceeding in radicalism by other popular study bibles including the NIV Study Bible and the MacArthur Study Bible.
Matthew 25 contains one of the most directly written and clearly self-explained passages on Heaven and Hell, which was once taken at face value, but which is now rejected in almost every evangelical (Christian Zionist) church, not to mention a growing number of mainline churches who are influence through dispensational bible studies, and celebrity-Christian media.
Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, contains the most outrageous example of added words that directly contradicts Jesus words. A quote from the Scofield Reference Bible footnotes directly contradicts what Jesus Christ is quoted to have said, His simple words, taken from the King James Edition, describing the basis upon which Jesus told his followers He himself will someday judge every man from every tribe ("nation"). We start by reading Jesus' words in Matthew 25:31-35:
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: (skip to40)---Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
The next five versus describe Jesus' rejection of the "goats," those who have been less than kind to the least of "his brethren," judging them unfit for heaven by the same measure. There can hardly be a more simple set of rules for acceptance in Jesus eternal kingdom than this simple measurement of faith, love and service, which He tells us in this passage is His measure for fitness for the Kingdom on Heaven.
Now, we must beg your patience to wade through a long paragraph which is a footnote to this same passage in Matthew above, and which footnote directly conflicts with what Jesus taught. Be patient if at first reading you should be confused. From the Scofield (Oxford) Reference bible,
Matthew 25:32: p-1036-37:
"This judgment of individual Gentiles is to be distinguished from other judgments in Scripture, such as the judgment of Israel, and the judgment of the wicked after the millennium. The time of this judgment is "when the Son of man shall come in his glory," i.e. at the second coming of Christ after the tribulation. The subjects of this judgment are ...all Gentiles then living on earth. Three classes of individuals are mentioned: (1) sheep, saved Gentiles; (2) goats, unsaved Gentiles; and (3) brethren, the people of Israel. The scene is on earth;...The test of this judgment is the treatment by individual Gentiles of those whom Christ calls "my brethren," living in the preceding tribulation period when Israel is fearfully persecuted...The sheep are Gentiles saved on earth during the period between the rapture and Christ's second coming to the earth..."
What is that all about? Maybe you need to pinch yourself and read it again. The brethren are "the people of Israel?" but Israel can only mean the state by that name in 1967 when this was written, and the State of Israel did not exist when Jesus lived!
Oxford Press introduces radical racism into its interpolation of Jesus' words by limiting heaven to "Jews" and those non-Jews who are excessively kind to Jews. And the footnotes also claim it is not even Heaven Jesus it talking about. Instead it is an early kingdom that is yet to come...and it has (according to Oxford) nothing to do with the world the Disciples and Jesus lived in!
Who, to Jesus, were "the least of these my brethren?" Oxford has them to be "Jews" living in the state of Israel at some future age. In fact, Oxford ignores Heaven entirely and changes the place to an "earthy kingdom" at a future time after an Armageddon event to take place after a "rapture" event followed by an "millennium" event. This complex and base interruption of Jesus' simple words is an insult to any reader's intelligence and a false witness to God himself, as we will further explain.
WHO ARE JESUS BRETHREN?
When Jesus spoke of "his brethren" He was in no way talking about the 1948 created State of Israel. Surely He was referring to his followers who he often pointedly called brothers. And based upon Jesus many consistant statements about loving ones' neighbor, associates, and even our enemies, it is more likely Jesus was thinking of any and all of suffering mankind when he used the term "the least of these my brethren." But we do not try to decide that for you, let the words speak your own discernment. Suffice to say, the New Testament does not read as Oxford Press portrays it. That makes it a giant intentional forgery.
"Goats," in Jesus simple pastoral analogy, are those who look a lot like sheep but who act differently and have ignored the needs of their fellow men.
But to Oxford University Press, the goats are symbols of pro-Israel racism, they are "gentiles" who fail to shelter Israelis at some future time in imagined history. In other words, Oxford Press wants us to believe Jesus was not even talking to his disciples or needy mankind at all, but that he was tossing cute futurist riddles over his followers' innocent heads. Why would Jesus lecture his disciples about some future generation that his "brethren" would not even comprehend or live to see? Jesus words were (this writer thinks) relevant to those who followed him and to the questions they asked. If Jesus did not shoot strait with his own, how can Jesus words be believable to those who try to follow him now?
Jesus left no doubt about his subject. To make sure everyone knows He was talking about, Heaven and Hell, and nothing else, he provides two parables in first half of the same 25th Chapter that he labeled as explaining the kingdom of Heaven ("the kingdom of Heaven is like"). And nowhere in the chapter did Jesus say he was suddenly inclined to change the subject to a "second coming" scene. Had Jesus intended to give a future history lesson it is logical to think he would have said so. After all, He is the son of God and knew how to dictate a literate paragraph! But this did not deter Oxford from changing the subject!
Written Lies Between the Lines
Another Forgery is found in Matthew 24 in the Oxford 1967 edition, page 1035, and is part of the sheep and goats forgery. It is worth a minute or two to see what Jesus was talking about that Oxford Press considered important enough to forge right in front of the world of Bible readers. Here they did not change the words but refuted that they mean what Jesus said. In other words Oxford Press says Jesus is wrong.
Jesus was first asked a natural and simple question by an unnamed disciple in the 3rd verse;
3)"Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
To Which Jesus Replied:
34)"Verily (truly) I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Jesus was answering his youthful and curious followers, telling them certain events would occur before their "generation" is gone, leaving no doubt that he means some of them might live to see much persecution and the temple destroyed, among less easily understood events.
One of them specifically asked about the Herod's Temple, where today the Al Aqsa Mosque stands. It turns out the "in this generation" was absolutely right for the Roman as well as Jewish records show the Temple was completely destroyed about 35 years later in 70 AD under the Roman General Titus.
Now read the Oxford footnote that actually refutes Jesus words:
1(24:34, page 1035) states:
"The word 'generation' though commonly used in Scriptures of those living at one time, could not here mean those alive at the time of Christ..."
Obviously, Oxford Press has a problem with Jesus words so it vetoed what Jesus said. To do this they invented a new definition of "generation" that fit Oxford's idea of an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem in which the present day state of Israelis, chosen of God, and owning the entire Middle East. Oxford fixed the Bible by making a generation as long as they wish it to be, say 3000 years or more. This of course would make Jesus a liar to his own followers, but Oxford Press, satisfying the interest of World Zionism, does not flinch at doing this.
WHAT IS OXFORD'S UNIVERSITY PRESS' MOTIVE?
Oxford Press treats Jesus Christ like a public school drop out who cannot express himself or compose a paragraph without Oxford's help. We are supposed to believe that the Scofield bible (written and rewritten by Oxford University Press from 1921 on) is needed to interpret Jesus lack of expression. It would have us think God is incapable of explaining his purpose on earth. How insulting to God. Oxford Press and Pharisaic Christian leaders should tremble in fear before a Holy God.
Jesus was clearly addressing his Disciples in the whole of Chapter 25, and he was telling them about Heaven and Hell and He explained the earthly path to each place. Traditional Christians (as well as Muslims as we understand them) believe Jesus was describing the "narrow path" to heaven. Jesus does not tell us so but we tend to assume this path is also meant for us to follow.
Most dispensational pastors avoid discussing Matthew 25 as thought they wish it would disappear. To deal with it they have adopted what we call "Scofieldism" to convert this problem into an asset. Scofieldism make no sense as interpreted in the Oxford footnotes except to "dispensationalists" who have built cults around it. Scofieldism is gushed from the pulpits of the celebrity Christian churches and go out on Christian airwaves to untold millions. As a result, followers of Christ as well as moral but confused Christian drop outs are confused by the simple words Jesus left for us .
Jesus words are easy to understand, but difficult to follow toward the strait gate. Oxford Press's words are impossible to understand and as hard to remember, but the interpretations are duck soup to follow...they require almost nothing of those who profess to be "born again."
Those who promoted the Oxford University Press bible (Scofield Reference Bibles) invents a wide and easy path to heaven, where hell is only a factor for others, where sacrificial kindness must be shown only to "Jews," and not even now...but later, during a millennial kingdom. Mr. Scofield called it "Dispensation"(-alism). It is quite ok to slaughter Arab children and wage the cruelest wars on their parents. After all, it is Arabs and Muslims who are Israel's enemies, isn't it?
The amazing paradox about Scofield-dispensationalism is that it is practiced by those celebrity "Christians" who claim they believe that 100% of the Bible is literally true. Ted Haggard is one.
Barbara Walters interviewed Evangelical mega-church leader on ABC's 20/20, on December 19th, 2005. The subject was Heaven and Hell. Haggard defined "evangelicalism" as three principles that he said evangelicals believe: that Jesus Christ is the son of God; that the Bible is literally true throughout; and that to go to Heaven one must be "born again." But Haggard teaches Scofieldism.
It should be no surprise if the Zionist leaning, non-Christian Oxford Press would lie to attain a political agenda to control American Christianity. This was its logical purpose in making, selling and promoting tens of millions of Scofield bibles into American Seminaries and church leaders.
CONCLUSION
Dispensationalism is Christian-Zionism, which is racism. It requires each follower to acknowledge the lordship of the State of Israel along side of Christ. Their view of salvation is a glittery wide and easy way that that requires loving "Jews" next to loving God, and more than we love others. We have shown this in Part 2, The Sheep and the Goats.
The immense, indescribable distortion of Jesus Christ's words of which such clear examples are found in Matthew 25, defies imagination in its brazenness and the cruel intent of its Zionist framers. It is used every day in the USA to enable and instigate the brutality falsely called "war" in the Middle East. -
Evangelical celebrities, and all who knowingly go along with the forgery, have the blood of a several racist wars on their hands. Jesus' true words require that We Hold These Truths confronts pastors and leaders in tens of thousands of churches, as Jesus confronted the chief priests and Pharisees of his day. Project Strait Gate is our plan to do this. Our website is there to help you make your own decision, we hope it will be a life changing and lifesaving decision for you.
Other works by this author:
http://www.straitgateministry.net (Click: Pharisee Watch/Listen Live)
The Cause of Our Conflicts
Interactive audio-video presentation (no charge)
The Sheep and the Goats, Part 1 (Click: Pharisee Watch/search for title)
Charles E. Carlson, Jan 02, 2006
The Sheep and the Goats, Part 2
Dallas Theological Seminary, outpost for Christian Zionism
Strait Gate Ministry
Pharisee Watch
PO Box 14491
Scottsdale, AZ 85267
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