Francis the Argentine

Pope Francis

"At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people."--Matthew 24:10-11

And so, another false prophecy has come and gone.

The latest prophetic sensation that recently made the rounds throughout much of Christendom centered around a 12th century prophecy alleged to have been revealed by an archbishop from Ireland named St. Malachy.

According to St. Malachy's prophecy, after the reign of Pope Celestine II (1143-1144), 112 more popes would sit on Peter's throne and then the end of the world would come. According to this prophecy, the 111th pope would resign and make way for the final pope who would be known as Petrus Romanus or Peter the Roman.

Who was the 111th pope? He was Benedict XVI. After Benedict recently announced his resignation, the Christian world--specifically Pentecostals and Charismatics--became apoplectic with the anticipation that St. Malachy's prophecy was about to be fulfilled. Many Christians truly believed that the end of the world was at hand and the return of Jesus Christ was imminent.

What added to the drama was the fact that one of the candidates for the papal throne was Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, who was appointed by Benedict as the Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church in 2007. Cardinal Bertone was also known by the name of Peter of Romano or Peter the Roman. 

Surely, St. Malachy's prophecy was true! The prophecy that God revealed to the Irish archbishop of Armagh 900 years ago was going to be fulfilled right before our eyes! And the Christian world had called it! Hallelujah and glory to God!!

And then the College of Cardinals went and foiled St. Malachy by choosing Argentine Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio to be Benedict's successor. Bergoglio, who took the name Pope Francis, is a Jesuit scholar who quite literally flew under the radar concerning the candidates who were being considered for the Roman Papacy. He wasn't even on a list compiled by Tom Horn and Cris Putnam who co-authored a dubious book (Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope is Here) that supported St. Malachy's prophecy.

Needless to say, after Archbishop Bergoglio was chosen as Benedict's successor, many people were disappointed. Included among those disappointed folks were some popular Christian prophecy experts who embraced St. Malachy's false prophecy and ran with it. And suffice to say, they're not looking so credible right now.

Pope Francis isn't Peter the Roman. He isn't the final pope. That pope is still to come. When he does appear, true Christians will recognize him as the Antichrist. Then the end will truly be at hand. But that is still ahead in the future. http://www.prophecyreviewonline.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=81352

In the mean time, true Christians had better wake up and realize that they are indeed living in prophetic times. Jesus Christ himself warned us that in the last days, many false prophets would appear throughout the world and deceive multitudes. (Matthew 24:10-11, Matthew 24:24-25) 

We've seen that prophecy fulfilled in just the last three years with the failed Harold Camping prophecy that falsely predicted a 2011 rapture; the Mayan Apocalypse that didn't occur in December, 2012 and now with St. Malachy's bogus prophecy.

It's time for Christians to start paying attention to their true prophets and to stop listening to false prophets such as Harold Camping and St. Malachy. But, is anyone listening?

Killing the Truth

Bill O'Reilly

Without a doubt, Bill O'Reilly is a very powerful and influential man. He's the host of The Factor on the Fox News Channel that's been one of cable TV's highest rated programs for many years.

And he's a very successful author who's written several bestsellers including Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy, two books that deal with the lives, politics and tragic assassinations of two popular American presidents.

O'Reilly plans to release his next book in September and it promises to be another blockbuster. It's titled; Killing Jesus and it's supposed to be about the life, ministry and subsequent crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

It may be a very good book. Bill O'Reilly writes very good books. But I suspect that his upcoming book may contain some serious flaws. Why? Because Bill O'Reilly is a staunch Roman Catholic.

Why would Bill O'Reilly's Roman Catholicism be a problem? Because the Roman Catholic Church doesn't believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible. For many centuries, the Catholic Church has taught that the Bible is an allegorical book that can't be taken literally.

For example, the Catholic Church teaches that the Book of Genesis--the Bible's first book--is a book of symbolism. Therefore, according to Rome's teaching, the biblical account of God's creation of the physical universe and all life forms in seven literal days didn't happen that way.

Then how does the Catholic Church explain the existence of life? The Roman Catholic Church teaches that life evolved over millions of years. If that's true--and it isn't--then death didn't enter the human race because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, but existed long before they appeared.

That teaching renders the biblical account of man's fall from grace a myth and turns Christ's crucifixion on Calvary's cross for the sin of mankind into a murder. Under Roman Catholic teaching, the Bible cannot be taken literally and can only be "interpreted" by an elite hierarchy of Roman Catholic scholars.

It's not a coincidence that for centuries, the Catholic Church erroneously taught that the Jews murdered Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church also claims that because the Jews "murdered" Christ, they were cursed by God and the nation of Israel was eternally cut off from His blessings. Therefore, for many centuries the Catholic Church has arrogantly claimed that she replaced Israel as God's chosen people.

That's why I'm concerned about Bill O'Reilly's upcoming book. He's already stated that he fully supports Roman Catholic teaching concerning the Bible. He's already stated that he believes not in the biblical account of creation, but rather in evolution.

If Bill O'Reilly is indeed a devout Roman Catholic, then expect his upcoming book to reflect historic Catholic teachings concerning the Jews, Jesus Christ's death on the cross and the nation of Israel.

If that's true then you can expect the worst. I hope I'm wrong. I hope that Killing Jesus turns out to be a fair and balanced account of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But for that to happen, Bill O'Reilly would have to base his book on the true biblical account of Jesus Christ rather than on the Roman Catholic Church's account. Because that account kills the truth.

Darwin and Depravity

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days."--2 Timothy 3:1

In his second epistle to fellow apostle Timothy, the apostle Paul prophesied that the last days on earth directly preceding the return of Jesus Christ would be filled with wickedness and evil. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Unless Paul was extremely lucky, his prophecy is being fulfilled in the time we live in. As you can see from the chart above, crime in the United States began to increase in the late 1960s and accelerated until it finally began to level off at the beginning of our current century.

Certainly, there's a cause and effect relationship that explains the explosion of crime that began in the late 60s. That cause was America's abandonment of God and His transcendent moral laws, and the effect was chaos and anarchy.

However, the cause of America's decline as a moral, God-fearing nation didn't begin in the 1960s; it began in the 19th century when many Christian seminaries and theology schools began to question the existence of God and the validity of His revealed word in the Bible. Many liberal theologians began to embrace Charles Darwin's dubious theory of evolution that claimed without any scientific evidence that all physical life allegedly originated in a primordial mud pond several hundred million years ago.

Darwin's theory was so bad that many of his peers debunked it as sheer nonsense. For example, John Herschel, a researcher and scientist said this: "Complex adaptions cannot arise from chance variations."
http://mechanism.ucsd.edu/teaching/philbio/Darwin%20III.pdf

And British physicist William Thompson offered this rebuttal to Darwin's claim that life evolved to its present form over several hundred million years: "The longest time for the earth to have been habitable is 200,000 years." Thompson based that figure upon heat radiation from the earth's surface and subsequent cooling.

Nevertheless, Darwin's bogus theory was music to the ears of atheists who were looking for some scientific credibility to dismiss God as a myth. When Darwin published his theory in a book titled, On the Origin of Species, (1859) atheists had finally found their messiah. Darwin had freed them from moral accountability to a Holy God. No longer were they responsible for their thoughts, actions and words. They were now free to live life any way they wanted and woe to those who objected.

Of course, Darwin's theory became the liturgy of the new humanistic religion that dismissed God and replaced Him with man. That religion found its way into elementary schools, colleges and universities all over the world. And God and His 10 Commandments were subsequently thrown out because they were considered outdated myths concocted in the minds of primitive men.

You can see the devastating effects of a world sans a Holy God. As public schools began enforcing a government manufactured wall between church and state, the Bible, 10 Commandments and prayer were banned from schools and replaced by moral relativism. If God didn't exist, then ethics and morals were strictly a matter of personal choice. Everyone was free to live their lives however they desired, just as long as they didn't "hurt" others.

Without God, the world quickly turns to depravity. Godless humanism in the 1960s gave rise to the Sexual Revolution which in turn gave rise to the holocaust of abortion as well as the explosion of STD's such as Herpes, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Syphilis and HIV-AIDS. Without God, crime exploded and divorce, out-of-wedlock births, drug and alcohol additions skyrocketed. And without God, suicides increased as many people became depressed and lost their hope in a godless universe devoid of design, purpose and reason.

And so, Paul's prophecy recorded nearly 2,000 years ago is indeed being fulfilled. Much of the modern Christian church is to blame for this. Instead of contending for the faith as the apostle Jude exhorted the early Church to do, (Jude 1:3) much of modern Christendom has settled for bread and circuses.

If the faith is no longer relevant to millions of young people who believe that they're merely the end products of random evolutionary forces, then you can blame the Christian church. Just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned, Darwin fibbed and the modern church now burns to ashes.

Forgotten and Unwanted

Forgotten and unwanted in death

Death is not only ugly, it's often a cruel tragedy, especially when it involves someone who nobody seems to know or even care about. For nearly two years, the body of the unidentified man pictured above has laid unclaimed in Chicago's Cook County Morgue.

As you can see, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office decided to post his picture online, hoping that a relative, friend or acquaintance will recognize him and come in to claim his body so that he can finally be laid to rest. 

Predictably, the Medical Examiner's office has taken some major heat for publishing this man's picture along with the photos of two other deceased persons whose identities are unknown. And most likely, I'll take some heat as well for publishing the photo of a dead man's face.

But I didn't publish his picture to attract attention or to get cheap thrills. I published his picture because no one should be forgotten and unwanted in death. No one should be left abandoned in a morgue for nearly two years in the midst of the rotting corpses of gang-bangers, drug addicts, homicide victims etc.

Whoever this man was, he was created in the image of a Holy God. (Genesis 1:26) He, like countless others who lay forgotten and unwanted in morgues throughout the world, was a real person who had a life and an identity before he met his end.

We don't know what he was like in life, although there are people out there who surely knew him. Maybe he was bad. Maybe he was a loser who dropped out of school at an early age; never had a decent job, got into trouble with the law and drifted in and out of prison.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe he was a successful man who had a family that still doesn't know what ever happened to him. When he was found on Chicago's Northwest Side on September 15, 2011, he had no identification on him. Perhaps his life and his memories were just a short distance away in a home, condo or apartment building.

Those who cringe at the sight of a dead man and will criticize me for posting this man's picture don't like to see death because it reminds them of their own mortality. They don't want to deal with that because in reality, they're terrified of what comes after death. If they've never confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and received God's free gift of salvation by faith in Christ's death for their sins on Calvary's cross, (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-11) then they should be concerned about their eternal fate.

But for those of you who have truly been born again by faith and know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you shouldn't be afraid of death. And when you see a man such as the one pictured above, you should be concerned that he was a human being who seems to have been long forgotten and is unwanted by anyone while he lays in death.

And that's a tragedy. If you recognize this man, then contact the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office at cookcountygov.com. Because despite whatever he may have been in life, he was still a human being who was created in God's image. And he deserves better than being forgotten, unwanted and left all alone in death.

The Road to Paganism

If logic prevailed, then Christianity should prevail throughout the world based upon the irrefutable, historic and prophetic evidence of the Bible. Instead, it wanes; in danger of becoming extinct in the eastern world and in full retreat in the western world.

And so, logic doesn't prevail. Ironically, a modern world that congratulates itself for technological wonders such as iPhones, iPads, satellite communications and space travel continues to embrace pagan myths such as astrology and science fiction such as evolution.

More people throughout the western world consult horoscopes than they do the Bible. More people continue to embrace false prophets such as Nostradamus and St. Malachy, and false prophecies such as Mayan apocalypses than they do the Bible's proven prophets such as Isaiah, Micah and Zechariah.

For example, the ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah, who lived during the 8th century B.C., prophesied the virgin birth of the Jewish Messiah Jesus Christ (Isaiah 7:14) as well as His life, ministry, sacrifice for the sin of mankind, death by crucifixion and resurrection. (Isaiah 53)

Micah, who lived during the 6th century B.C., prophesied Christ's birthplace of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) while Zechariah, who also lived during the 6th century B.C. prophesied that the Jews would finally recognize Jesus Christ as their messiah immediately upon His return by the nail marks that would be visible on his hands from his crucifixion. (Zechariah 13:6)

And yet Nostradamus is considered a genuine prophet by multitudes while Isaiah, Micah and Zechariah are virtually unknown throughout the world except by those who study and read the Bible.

The Bible isn't merely a book of prophecies. It also contains God's 10 Commandments along with His transcendent moral laws that Moses recorded to guide human beings toward righteousness and away from sin. And despite the fact that the Bible has a flawless prophetic track record that validates God's commandments and laws, many people now see the Bible as nothing more than an ancient relic written by ignorant men.

Without the fear of God and knowledge of His laws in their hearts, billions of people no longer believe that they're morally accountable to Him for their thoughts, actions and words. And the rise in violent crime and moral depravity throughout the world underscores that.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul revealed this grim prophecy concerning the last days on earth preceding Christ's return: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Paul described a pagan world. That's our modern world. In a pagan world, evil, debauchery, narcissism, nihilism and hedonism prevail while the fear of God and knowledge of His laws are scarce. And it surely shows, doesn't it?

The Counterfeit Prosperity Gospel

Inside a prosperity preacher's personal jet

"For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil."--1 Timothy 6:10

How well does the prosperity gospel work? If you're a working stiff who's being crushed by inflation, rising taxes, high gas prices and a shrinking paycheck as many of America's 140 million workers currently are, then it doesn't work so well.

But if you're a big time prosperity preacher such as Kenneth Copeland, then it works just fine, thank you. The picture above shows the inside of Copeland's private jet that the popular prosperity guru uses to travel to his destinations. Presumably, some of those destinations include those grandiose revival conventions where faith healers and prosperity preachers clad in Gucci and Pierre Cardin speak at to enlighten you in how to get on the golden path to the good life.

Suffice to say, there is no golden path to the good life, unless you're a con artist who has the ability convince people that by sending them money, you'll reap lavish returns. Let Copeland's wife Gloria explain how that supposedly works: "You give $1 for the gospel's sake and $100 belongs to you; give $10 and receive $1000; give $1000 and receive $100,000. I know that you can multiply, but I want you to see it in black and white and see how tremendous the hundredfold return is. Give one house and get one hundred houses back or one house worth one hundred times as much....In short, Mark 10:30 is a very good deal."

http://www.gospelhour.net/2104.html

If Gloria Copeland's financial theories are true, then who needs wealth consultants and financial counselors? Unfortunately, Gloria's theories aren't true and those that send money to Copeland Ministries usually don't receive anything other than a thank you note. 

Also, you might want to consider this: If Kenneth and Gloria really believe that their financial theories work, then they shouldn't be asking anyone to send them money. But their theories don't work. And that's why they need your money. And they're willing to tell you anything to get it.

Unlike modern prosperity preachers such as the Copelands, Christ and his disciples often had to travel by foot to reach their destinations. Often, those travels took several hours in cold rain or searing heat over rough terrain and rocky roads. They certainly didn't travel in air-conditioned limousines or posh Lear jets paid for by gullible followers. But they endured and advanced the gospel because they were backed by God's power and His Holy Spirit.

And many people who heard the gospel embraced it because it showed them the true path to repentance, salvation and eternal life in Christ as opposed to pie-in-the-sky financial schemes that promised them vast wealth for cash donations.

During his famous Sermon on the Mount, Christ said this concerning money: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24)

How do you determine what god a church leader or a ministry is serving? By their message. The true Gospel is all about God's free gift of eternal life to everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary's cross for their sins.

The false gospel is all about serving money instead of Christ. If you follow that gospel, you're sure to come up financially short in this life and eternally short in the life to come.

Ignorance, Idolatry and Wickedness

Adolf Hitler and his admirers

When we speak of wicked, despotic men, Adolf Hitler invariably becomes the ultimate measure of evil rulers and murderous dictators.

Even though worse men have existed throughout human history such as Genghis Khan, Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong, Hitler's name is always synonymous with evil. Stalin, for example, murdered at least 20 million people throughout the Soviet Union during his reign of terror as the Soviet Premier from 1922 until his death in 1953. Some historians claim that figure could be as high as 60 million.

Mao Zedong, the infamous Chairman of China's Communist Party from 1943 until 1969, is estimated to have murdered 70 million of his own people. And Khan, the founder of the Mongolian Empire in the 12th century, is estimated to have killed as many as 70 million. By comparison, Hitler murdered approximately 10 million people during the time of the Holocaust, including six million Jews.

Why is Hitler considered to be the ultimate wicked ruler, despite the fact that other evil rulers have existed who killed millions more than the fuhrer? Because Hitler's crimes were exposed to the world whereas the crimes of others weren't. Stalin and Mao committed mass murder behind the formidable Iron Curtain of Communism while Khan committed genocide in the 12th century, long before the age of electronic information, cameras, satellites, television and the world media.

But even though Hitler may have been a proverbial piker in comparison to other historic mass murderers, he was certainly typical of them. In what way? He was a classic con artist who had the gift of hypnotic speech. He had the ability to sell flood insurance to desert nomads and he knew how to captivate his audiences. 

After Germany suffered a humiliating defeat in World War I, her economy tanked and went into a deep depression. Though much of that economic morass was due to huge reparations Germany was forced to pay France and Great Britain after the war, according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler blamed the Jews for causing Germany's defeat and ruining that nation's economy. Though no evidence existed to back up his claim, Hitler realized that anti-Semitism was a valuable tool in building the foundation for his political empire.

Many elderly Germans who are still living that survived Hitler's reign of terror claim that if they had known beforehand what Hitler was really all about before he was elected as Germany's Chancellor in 1933, they would've done everything in their power to stop him. While that sounds reasonable, that's hogwash. Hitler's bizarre ideas and plans to commit genocide against the Jews and other ethnic groups were well known long before he was elected in 1933. He revealed them in his infamous book titled, Mein Kampf (My Struggle) that was published eight years before he became Germany's Chancellor. 

Hitler was no mystery man to the German people. His evil plans were well known for a long time prior to his ascendancy to political power. And yet the German people ignored his evil because he was a gifted speaker and an extremely likable person.

Does that sound familiar? It should. Despite the fact that he is a Marxist and a pathological liar with few--if any--political accomplishments, Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. presidency in 2008 and reelected in 2012. Why? Because many people who voted for him admitted that they found him extremely likable. They didn't care about his dearth of accomplishments; his murky past, his socialism and his disdain for the U.S. Constitution--they voted for him because they found him extremely charming and attractive.

When historians write America's epitaph, they will inevitably realize that America's demise began with every republic's demise--ignorance and apathy. Ignorance and apathy lead to stupidity. Stupidity leads to idolatry. And idolatry leads to the election of horrible political leaders who destroy their nations and plunge them into ruin, despair and poverty.

After that comes God's divine judgment. It's never too late to repent. But for America, time is quickly running out. As the Lord spoke to Israel through the ancient prophet Ezekiel, he speaks to modern America: "Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit." (Ezekiel 18:30-31)