Monday, July 29, 2013

Beware of the Leaven of the New-Evangelicals

Few movements of Satan in his fueling of apostasy are as destructive to fundamentalist Bible-believing churches as New Evangelicalism. People who are trying to be “with it” or up to date with “where Christianity is going” are confronted with it on every hand-through popular Christian radio and television preachers, at the local ecumenical bookstore, through members of other churches, through ecumenical evangelistic crusades, through political activity, and through interdenominational organizations such as Promise Keepers. The social good they seek to attain such as fighting abortion or same-sex marriage brings them together with Catholics, Mormons and others in their fight for social justice. Politics makes strange bedfellows.  In the Bible we see the Pharisees making league with the Herodians (Two groups diametrically opposed to each other) for the sake of opposing Jesus (Mark 3:6; 12: 13). There is nothing new under the sun.

This is perhaps the most insidious of all the apostasies.  It is characterized by catering to the desires of the people. Instead of being inculcated with God’s Word and having our personal world view and behavior patterned after God’s Word, The New Evangelicalism gives the people what they want.  One NT passage clearly predicts this reversal of worship of God to worshipping man.



Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

The idea with this new wave of apostasy is to soft sell the Bible and salvation. It is not attempting to save anybody from the fires of Hell but from an aimless and meaningless life here on earth. Our experiences and quality of life here are more important than the total service to God and the blessed assurance that He will soon come to lift us out of this sinful decaying world. Salvation is given lip service and evangelism with real confrontation is thought to be too divisive. This apostasy does not want to upset anybody. There is never any mention of Hell, which is the outcome of an unsaved life.  They may say that they believe strongly but their actions differ sharply from what they say. They want to flatter instead of present truth. The New Evangelicalism appeals to the carnal nature of man.


Usually their Bible teaching is characterized by an over emphasis on application. This of course is the middle of the road approach. They avoid doctrine as too divisive.


Paul warned us that the end times would be characterized as a departure from sound doctrine and a departure from the truth. Their over emphasis on application and departure from doctrine is a pathway away from God to the Humanist’s world betterment philosophy.

2Ti 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT DOCTRINE:

We are saved by believing from the heart the right doctrine of the gospel (Rom. 6:17). This shows why we cannot accept someone as a genuine Christian if they are committed to a false gospel, such as Rome’s sacramental gospel.

  1. We are to separate from those who teach false doctrine (Rom. 16:17).
  2. We must be careful of every wind of false doctrine (Eph. 4:14).
  3. No false doctrine is to be allowed (1 Tim. 1:3).
  4. The preacher is to take heed to the doctrine (1 Tim. 4:16).
  5. The Bible is given for doctrine (2 Tim. 3:16) and is to be preached with doctrine (2 Tim. 4:2).
  6. The preacher must be able to use doctrine to edify and protect the church (Tit. 1:9).
  7. We abide in Christ by sound doctrine (1 Jn. 2:24-27).

Fearing divisiveness they believe that they will lose members of their congregation and therefore funds. They are concerned with money and man-made approaches to self-help. A total dependence on God for their resources is abandoned for “sound business” practices or “fundamental marketing techniques.”  Total reliance on God by elders through prayer and patience is exchanged for parliamentary procedure and schemes for man made self-advancement and career goals. The pastor is considered as a CEO, not the teacher of God’s Word. Mission statements and strategic plans are formulated to accommodate personal plans. The Bible is subordinated to man’s desires.


The thought of prophecy is anathema to the New Evangelical for they say it causes division. This division of course is between those non-literal Bible expositors and the literal Biblical expositors.  Some have characterized the New Evangelicalism as being seduced by the world spirit of this present age.
It is evident in the leaders who are popularized. Usually they have a high degree of prominence in the government or sports and their testimonies are sought after for paid speaking engagements and book endorsements.


You will never see a Sunday school teacher or poor inner city pastor held up by them as pillars of the faith. Christ went to the lowest members of society to bring the truth to the world. He did not go to the popular and prominent.


This is a spirit of disobedience and a mood of compromise. It is a rejection of many of the negative but truthful aspects of New Testament Christianity. It is an attitude of positivism. They would rather be diplomats not fighters, positive rather than militant, infiltrators rather than separatists. They would not be restricted by a separationist mentality. The New Evangelical would rather pursue dialog, intellectualism, and appeasement than Biblical Militiantism. Psychology is fast becoming their guide. Some characteristics are in the following list:

  1. A repudiation of separation.
  2. By replacing separation with dialogue.
  3. By a love for positivism, by a repudiation of the more negative aspects (sin, Hell etc) of biblical Christianity, by a judge-not philosophy, by a dislike of doctrinal controversy.
  4. By exalting love and unity above doctrine.
  5. By a pragmatic approach to the ministry.
  6. By a desire for intellectual respectability, by pride of scholarship.
  7. By an attitude of anti-fundamentalism.
  8. By the division of biblical truth into categories of important and not important.
  9. By exalting social-political activity to the same level as the Great Commission.
  10. By a mood of softness, a desire for a less strict Christianity, weariness with fighting, and neutrality toward spiritual warfare.

THE USE OF SECULAR PSYCHOLOGY IS RAPIDLY BECOMING THE NORM IN CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

Our culture has become deeply and extensively psychological. The weakness and carnality of the church in recent decades has allowed this psychological mind-set of the world to flow into the church. This process has brought about a redefining of many foundational matters of the Christian faith. We used to correctly understand that man's problem was sin and God's remedy was His saving and transforming grace (Romans 5:12, 17). Now, the trouble is the disorder of codependency, and the solution is group therapy. Formerly, we understood that man tended to stray from God to follow his own self-willed path (Isaiah 53:6), and that he needed to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). Now, we think that man must esteem himself, affirm himself, and actualize himself. All of this new thinking is coming from psychological theory, which is primarily a philosophy of life. We are strongly warned in the word of the Lord not to be guided by the philosophy of the world.

Colossians 2:8 "Beware lest anyone take you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ" .


Beware of the leaven of the new-evangelicals.
 


Monday, July 15, 2013

Revealed Biblical Demonology

Many in the first four centuries of the Church, such as Lactantius and Augustine, wrote of the demons. This doctrine has fallen silent for nearly 1600 years except for a few obscure writers. With Adolph Hitler’s appearance and his known demonic influence the subject has received some attention by theologians. Paul Tillich, the liberal protestant German theologian, wrote of the demonic forces controlling modern history. It is most important to see what the Bible reveals about the demons and demonic forces.

We have seen that sin was originated in Satan (Ezekiel 28: 15). He is a king with a kingdom (Matthew 12:26) and a portion of that kingdom consists of demons (Matthew 12: 24). Scripture does not give us the exact origin of the demons. The New Testament tells of the angels who defected with Satan and “kept not their first estate” and “are reserved unto judgment of the great day” (II Peter 2: 4; Jude 1:6). Most competent conservative Bible teachers view the demons as the fallen angels. Some refer to them as disembodied spirits. This fall happened during Satan’s second domain, the Jeweled Garden of Eden. The Bible is vastly superior in its exposition of demonology compared to the superstitious exaggeration in the general population.

Demons do exist, because the Bible says they do. In the Old Testament they were the power behind the idols prohibited by God for the Israelites to worship. In Hebrew, the demons are called Shedhim (Deut. 32: 17; Psalm 106: 36-37) as well as Seirim (Lev. 17:7; II Chron. 11: 15; Isaiah 13:21; 34: 14).

The New Testament scripture has much to say about the demons:

• They exist (James 2: 19; Revelation 9:20).

• They know who Jesus is (Luke 4: 41).

• They cannot disobey Jesus’ commands (Matt 12:29).

• They are organized under Satan (Matt 12:26; Ephesians 6:12).

• They know their rulers (Luke 8:31; Rev 9”11).

• They are characterized as foul, unclean spirits (Luke 4:33; 6:18; Rev 18:2).

• They are deceitful and perform miracles through unsaved human beings (1 Tim 4:1; Rev 16:14).

• They can possess humans (Mark 1:32).

• They are cast out of humans by Jesus and his disciples (Matt 15:22, 28; Luke 9:1, 42; 10:17).

• They can be rebuked (Mark 5:8).

• They know their final doom (Matt 25:41).

• They are served by the unsaved (1 Corinthians 10:20).

• They cannot be served by those that are in Christ (1 Corinthians 10:21).

The demons have keen and supernatural knowledge. It is not as powerful as God’s holy knowledge or our saving knowledge. They are confirmed in evil, never seek forgiveness and never plead for purity. They know that Jesus is the Lord of the spirit-world but don’t have a trust in Him or submit to Him. They worship Christ but not in adoration or joy in Holy Communion. They bend to His will in resentment and hate. They, like Satan, have limited knowledge and ceaselessly attempt to thwart God’s plans and purposes. They are depraved and completely morally corrupt. These evil beings have a desire to corrupt and are frequently called unclean in the Bible (Matthew 10:1; Mark 1: 27; 3: 11; Luke 4: 36; Acts 8:7; Revelation 16: 13).

Where are the demons today? It is an impetuous conclusion to say that there are no demons active today; much has been written about demonic possession. Many cases of demonic activity up to and including possession (I Peter 5:8) have been validated. Satan walks about like a lion seeking whom he may devour, Peter tells us to be sober and vigilant.  Paul tells us that Satan is like an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11: 14). These two revealed characteristics of Satan are important for us to consider and both of these apostles want us to “be aware”. Satan and his demons will masquerade as an angel of light to deceive us into sin so he can devour us. Satan and his demons are adeptly deceptive through out the various ages of human history from the beginning of the Church.

In the primitive societies the Devil can move about openly as a roaring lion.

Missionaries within these societies report much open demonic activity and possession. Only unbelievers can be possessed. In nominally Christian polite society, Satan has to deceive people to turn away from God in order to achieve his goals. The general population of regions of the world have standards of living that are based on Biblical standards. This drives the demons into using tools of deception. Some of the deceptions are:

  •     Rejecting supernaturalism altogether.
  •     Rejecting the authority of God’s Word.
  •     Giving rise to rational thought instead of revealed truth.
  •     Causing people to be unaware of the origin of their thoughts.
  •     Causing people to think that no disease has a direct demonic cause.
  •     Causing people to think that some sins are really “not so bad”.
  •     Corrupting doctrinal integrity of the Scriptures so some parts of Scripture are thought of as more important that others.
  •     Causing the belief that magic is harmless (not sleight of hand).
  •     Causing a belief that paganism is harmless in its three root forms; magic, divination (seeking fortune tellers) and necromancy (seeking communication with the dead).
  •     Corrupting the Hebrew Mazzeroth (God’s message in the star constellations of Christ and the Gospel) with astrology.
  •     Causing myth to come into Christianity replacing truth.
  •     Causing a belief that all religions are equal, whatever the doctrine.
  •     Causing schisms in Christian fellowship over doctrine.
  •     Bringing deception in world governments controlled by wicked ruler and dictators to renounce Christianity and provide a channel for the demons to have a great effect on large numbers of people.

By far the greatest field of activity for Satan and his demons is the Church because Satan can influence believers. The body of believers is charged with bringing converts into saving grace knowledge of Christ and His work. The Church is to teach the truth of the Bible. The powers of darkness are increasing in our day and age and dupe the world against the truth of the Bible and historic Christianity. Satan is dedicated to turning people from God. When men do believe the gospel, Satan exerts every effort to turn them away from God’s will (Matthew 13:19). He knows that once they are saved they are beyond his power to destroy so he seeks to corrupt (Numbers 25: 1-3; 31: 16; James 4: 4;  Revelation 2: 14). Therefore, he determines to do them as much damage as he can, seeking to ruin their Christian life and testimony for God.

Satan is unrelenting and pitiless in his hatred for God and the people of God. What makes the devil a fearful foe is the fact of his great power. This is augmented by the assistance of a vast number of fallen angels or demons. Consequently, satanic forces constitute a mighty, evil spiritual reality to be seriously reckoned with by the entire fallen race, both redeemed and unredeemed. We must be aware of the demonic activity and what we are charged with to defeat it.

In its spiritual war, the Church must be knowledgeable about the strategems of our enemy. In physical wars, military strategists are keenly aware of the necessity of knowing the enemy. Accordingly, they employ intricate networks of intelligence and counterintelligence. Missions involving espionage are frequently as crucial to winning a war as actual battles. Without intelligence of the enemy’s strength and position, victory in any military encounter would be doubtful. Yet believers mostly display an obvious disinterest in what the Bible reveals about Satan and demons. The only sound approach is to know the enemy. Only as his wiles are revealed will the believer be able to anticipate and outmaneuver him. Satan’s chief tactics are to hide his identity and his attacks. The Christian must recognize him and anticipate his moves.

Only as the believer knows the powers of darkness will he be able to win against them in his superior position and strength in Christ. The rampant demon activity of these last days (1 Timothy 4:1) means we must “Know our enemy!”

1 Timothy 4: 1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Although we do not always know this enemy, one thing is sure. Satan always knows us! He is thoroughly acquainted with all of God’s children and is quite aware of those who fall for his strategies. He also knows those who recognize and count on their position in Christ and who find and fulfill God’s will for their lives. These saints are what the devil fears most, for they constitute the deadliest threat to his plans and ambitions.It is to us that he attacks in the subtlest manner. He brings us into temptation for the activities, which we know we should not be engaged. We fail to realize or admit his involvement and think that our activities are harmless or out of the purview of anyone else including God.

Ephesians 6: 10-11 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Paul starts this section with two commands to make us aware of the enemy’s plan of attack. The enemy wants to thwart God’s plan for our families and will do whatever he can to draw us away from God. Our protection against this enemy is to avail ourselves of all available God given resources to protect ourselves against the strategy of the enemy… Satan. Christians are not to attack Satan, or advance against him; they are only to “stand” or hold the territory Christ and His body, the church, have conquered. Without God’s armor, believers will be defeated by the “schemes” of the devil, which have been effective for thousands of years.

Understanding the Spiritual Battle Introduction (6:12).


Ephesians 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This struggle implies hand-to-hand combat. It is not a casual annoyance that is being referred to here. Paul is describing a battle that happens in the mind, for control of the mind, and gets manifested in the flesh.  The Devil and his Demons want to destroy us and will take every chance we give them to do that. These are genuine powerful beings not mere fantasies. They live outside of time and space where we will be when we leave these bodies in which we temporarily reside. Once a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ we become their enemies and they begin their attack. The two major mistakes Christians make toward this evil empire are to ignore it or to give it too much attention.

“High Places” is Hebrew phraseology for the connecting medium to the world that Christ spoke of as life (Matthew 18:8-9; 19: 17; Mark 9: 43; 45). The high places of gross idolatry are physical locations where interaction with demons is carried out to connect to the demonic inhabitants that live there and not to God. These interactions with demons are carried out in the sphere of conflict seeking to damage and kill those who would come to God and find eternal salvation. The Old Testament referred to the phallic idols of the Canaanites, which the Hebrews followed and set up on hills as “High Places.” It occurs ninety times in the OT in the exact phrase “High Places.” It always refers to an effort to thwart God’s plans. Darkness refers to the ugly nature of evil that has entered the earth’s domain when Satan caused Eve to ignore the Word of God and follow the temptation offered by Satan.

Idolatry in itself poses a terrible danger and has to be destroyed. The Hebrew’s were commanded to perform a “herem”, which is a total destruction of the “High Places” and all associated with them. These places are demon energized and an affront to God. Their existence violated the first two commandments of the Decalogue as well.

Exodus 20: 1- 6 And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

The principal entities which represent the demons in time and space in the OT are the:

  •     Idolaters who burn incense to Baal, the sun, moon and stars and planets also known as astrologers.
  •     Adorers of Ashera or sexual worship.
  •     Sodomites.
  •     Male and female prostitutes.
  •     Worshippers of Molech who offered their children as sacrifices, which is modern day abortion.



So, images and idols are intimately connected with occult and demon worship because the entity behind the idol is a demon enticing the worshipper to some desirable sensual experience. If there were not some “charge” or excitement the worshipper would not be attracted to an inanimate object.

Standing Your Ground

The Whole Armor of God (Withstanding Evil).

Truth, The Breastplate of Righteousness

Shoes of the Gospel of Truth

Faith as a Shield

Salvation as a Helmut

The Word of God is our Sword

Prayer in the Spirit of God

 The principal danger the Christian faces is whether the demonic world is credible or not.  The problem is not unbelief but credulity. Satan stands ready to take advantage of this in an era when occult religion  and liberalism is threatening to replace pure biblical Christianity. Liberalism produces a fuzzy imprecise rendering of the Bible reducing its credibility. This draws people away from the truth and protection of God’s Word causing a spiritual vacuum. The occultic religions seek to invade the vacuum opened by liberalism. Satan then is let in to deceive in greater measure. One example of this is to reject the activity of the demons altogether and fail to discern a condition of the general nature of the fall vis-à-vis direct involvement of demons. For example, in demon-ridden China of the nineteenth century the natives had no difficulty differentiating between mental disease and demon-possession. Dr. Alfred Lechler, a German psychologist, stressed the need to distinguish between the diseased and the demonic. In this connection he showed the difference between schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression, neurosis, psychopathy, senile dementia, and the demonic. Christians must exercise every precaution to avoid falling prey to Satan’s two popular tricks of either seeing Satan and demons in nothing or else seeing them in everything.

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

The apostle knowing that this front is a battle uses the illustration of Roman soldier’s armament for us to utilize in our war with the enemy. This is so that we may be able to stand against the wiles and stratagems of Satan, against his power and might, to oppose his schemes, and resist his temptations. Because this is a battle it is fitting that the battle gear is used to describe the spiritual equipment given to us to succeed in deflecting the “arrows” of the evil one. We routinely meet him to face to face and give him battle, being fitted with the whole armour of God. Satan and his dominions are very busy bringing about trials, afflictions, and persecution because of the Word of God.  We are then told having put on the whole armour of God in order to stand, we can as conquers withstand the enemy.

Ephesians 6: 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Keep your ground, do not desert the army which is the church of Christ, nor his cause. Continue in the station in which you are placed, keep your post, be upon your watch, stand upon your guard. Have your loins girted about with truth; by which is meant the Gospel as depicted in Ephesians 1:13. It also means that we are not to embrace superstitions but check everything against the Word of God (Acts 17:11). Girding our loins with the truth shows that the Word should be near and close to us, and never departed from it. It is a means of keeping us close to God and Christ, and of strengthening us against the assaults and attacks of Satan; and is great use in the Christian’s spiritual conflict with our demonic enemies. The girdle is the part of armour, that is so important that it sometimes represents the whole armament (Isaiah 5:27). The breastplate of righteousness is a reference to 
Isaiah 59:17, meaning not works of righteousness done by men (though these are a deterrent when correctly used against the reproaches and charges of the enemy as they were by Samuel in 1Samuel 12:3). Therefore it seems best to understand this of the righteousness of Christ, which being imputed by God and received by faith, is a guard against and repels the accusations and charges of Satan, and is a security from all wrath and condemnation.

The Whole Armour (The Gospel fights Wickedness).

 Ephesians 6: 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Our sure footing and stability in battle is due to our having our feet shod with the gospel of peace. We have the blessed assurance that we are God’s children and we receive peace with God at the time we accept His gospel. Among the armour of soldiers to provide balance and keep them upright were shoes, or boots, sometimes made of iron, and other times made of brass. The Gospel is our firm foundation. A firm, solid knowledge of the Gospel, as it emanates peace by Jesus Christ, yields a sure foundation for the Christian soldier to set his foot upon and stand fast. The gospel of peace means we are no longer at war with Him (Romans 5: 1). Our countenance reflects this peace as the war with Him is ended, and we have become a traitor to Satan and his demons and their overwhelming influence over us prior to conversion. Once saved, we receive the peace of God who will bruise Satan under our feet shortly (Romans 16: 20; Philippians 4: 7).

Ephesians 6: 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

The Whole Armor (Word of God is our weapon).

Our faith is based upon truth as given by Christ and revealed in the Bible. When we accept that and believe, our faith becomes as strong as a shield to buffet the many attempts we will experience to erode our faith. Satan is a formidable foe. If we take up our faith seriously he can’t hurt us. He will try and we must resist.

Ephesians 6: 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

The helmet protects the head, which is the control center of our bodies, and our salvation acts in the same way. Salvation by Christ is a defense of the head against false doctrines. Just as the helmet is a piece of armor for the head, our salvation is a protector of the head in times of difficulty, affliction, and distress. Like a helmet, it covers the head in the day of battle when engaged with Satan, the enemy of souls.

The word of God is compared to a “sword” for its two edges: Christ’s New Testament law and Gospel. The one convicts of sin and cuts to the heart, and the other cuts down all the goodliness of man. The Scriptures in general are a sharp sword, in convincing of sin, reproving for it, threatening with wrath and ruin, in refuting error and heresy, and repelling Satan’s temptations. They will be used in the destruction of antichrist. God’s word may be called the sword of the Spirit because it is not carnal, but of a spiritual nature because the Holy Spirit is the author of it. He furnishes us with it, teaches us how to make use of it, and makes it powerful and effectual. The Jews say the words of the law are like to a sword, and speak of “the sword of the law” (Bereshit Rabbah, sect. 21. fol. 19. 1.).

The Whole Armor (Spirit filled prayer and utterances).

Ephesians 6: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

The last weapon is prayer. It says that a man should pray as often as he has an opportunity and particularly in times of darkness, desertion, and temptation. This, when performed correctly, is performed in the Spirit with the heart, soul, and spirit engaged in it. It is offered up with a true heart, and a right spirit of fervent sincere prayer knowing that God hears us and will answer our petition. If we do these things Satan has no chance to dissuade us from God. But he will try and we must resist.

James 4: 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.

Ephesians 6: 19-20 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Paul asked his readers not only to pray in general for all saints but also specifically to pray for him that he might make known the mystery of the gospel. He had to be clear regarding the “mystery of the gospel” when he would be on trial before Caesar in Rome. The Romans looked on the Christians as a sect of the Jews, but the Jews considered them as a heretical group. In his trial, Paul needed to make clear that Christians are neither a Jewish sect nor a heretical group but a new entity. This new entity is called the church, the body of Christ, which is composed of Jewish and Gentile believers. This recalls Paul’s lengthy discussion of this “mystery of the gospel” in 2:11-3:11. For this reason Paul was an ambassador in chains (Acts 28:16, 20; Eph. 3:1; 4:1; Phil. 1:7, 13-14, 16; Col. 4:3, 18; Philippians 1, 9-10, 13).

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Memorial

Dr. Mal Couch passed into the presence of the Lord on February 12, 2013 at 02:00 AM.

Dr. Couch has been a close friend and mentor to me for almost thirteen years. He was always quick to help with any ministry issue and academic effort I was undertaking. I will greatly miss his ever-present vigilance over my spiritual development and sound recommendations for ministry.

The Lord brought him into my life while I was struggling with deep disappointment with a graduate program of a Bible college in Chicago where I was attending. They had lost their way as he had come to explain. He taught there at one time and maintained communication with some of the faculty. He would tell others and me that several of the schools that were once the pillars of dispensational theology from which he graduated also lost their way. This is why he was led to start his own seminary. He even subtitled it;
” Leading the Way Back.”

Knowing that there was something missing in the school I was attending my wife noticed a newspaper type advertising circular for seminaries and Bible colleges. In it there was an ad that he had placed for his school titled, “Earn a Ph.D. in prophecy. It was a large colorful ad that immediately caught our attention. It was interesting to say the least since the seminary where I was had relegated Bible prophecy to one short course and almost eliminated the study of biblical languages. This was the same de-emphasis I saw at the large Bible church we attended. So with my wife’s encouragement I called and talked to him for quite some time about my experiences. He shared that this was an epidemic with many of the older schools and he hears this all the time. They limit or remove prophecy as well as biblical language requirements and go for a theology neutral curriculum designed to cater to denominational teaching or to satisfy secular accreditation directives. In short the fundamental Bible teachings become directed to generic ministry or Bible application. Dr. Couch always taught that the entire Word of the Lord must “Strike Like a Hammer.” It can’t be watered down. The entire Bible must be taught as one unit from beginning to end just as the apostle told the Ephesians. He said that he taught them, “The Whole Council of God”

Acts 20:27
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God (KJV)

Dr. Couch did just that. There was no part of Scripture he de-emphasized. The taught us to look at the Bible as one unit with God’s revelation to us as a single unit. There is a long chronology of this earth and God’ Hopefully, those of us who have been impacted by his life will remember him as we follow in his steps and do as he taught us.

Even so come Lord Jesus.

Daniel E Woodhead

Monday, June 17, 2013

Antichrist Will Govern Like Adolph Hitler

The Antichrist will persecute the Jews on an industrial scale like Adolph Hitler did. 1/3 of the world’s Jewish population died under Hitler. 2/3 will die under Antichrist’s reign (Zachariah 13:8)

Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler review SS troops during Reich Party Day ceremonies. (September 1938)

With the rapid growth of government’s power and size it is only a matter of time when they will seek to control all aspects of our lives and initiate a persecution of the Jews and Christians for worshipping Jehovah God instead of the governments caesars. We might be living in the time of superior testing in this regard. Stay true to the Lord Jesus and affirm Him no matter who the governmental authorities say we should worship.

Many have written about their hatred for the Jews from the time of the Bible. Christ said that they would suffer because they did not recognize Him at the time of His visitation. Corporate Israel refused to recognize Him as their long awaited Messiah.

Luke 19:42 saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.(NASB)

Matthew 23: 37-38 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!(NASB)


Within the militantly intolerant and violent Nazi Third Reich, Jews were considered to be foul, have shameful lives, and were subjected to horrible treatment. The Nazis wanted to first expel them from Germany and then later to subject them to cruel treatment as well as painful death simply because they were Jews. The Nazis used the same despicable kind of language found in Martin Luther’s The Jews and Their Lies when describing them publicly. It also appeared in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Nazi Germany did not invent anything new regarding the treatment of Jews. They simply amplified the anti-Jewish attitude inherent in European Christianity and its history. The constant “question” which rose in Hitler’s party and later in his administration was, what do we do with the Jews? The issue became known as the “Jewish Question.” They attributed the Jews as the source of all economic and social problems. Their answer was found in 1941which became known as the “Final Solution.

Adolf Hitler was the second leader of the Nazi Party after founder Anton Drexler. He held the roles of Reich Chancellor and sole dictator of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. He was the only Head of State to also be in complete and total control of the Armed Forces. He was in complete control of all state affairs in Germany for twelve years.

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on April 20 1889. He committed suicide on May 1, 1945. He was born when his father was fifty-two and employed as an Austrian customs official. His father’s name was Alois Schickelgruber Hitler, and his third wife, Adolf’s mother, was a young peasant girl, named Klara Poelzl. They were both from the Waldviertel of lower Austria. Hitler was a resentful, discontented child. He was moody, lazy, of unstable temperament, deeply hostile towards his strict, authoritarian father and strongly attached to his indulgent, hard-working mother. She succumbed to cancer in December 1908 and Hitler was strongly affected by her death.[1]

He tried to attend art school in Vienna and was turned down more than once. He became very embittered at his rejection by the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, and at that time he adopted a view of life, which changed very little in the ensuing years. It was shaped by a pathological hatred of Jews and Marxists, liberalism and the greater Habsburg monarchy.[2] In Vienna he acquired his first education in politics by studying the demagogic techniques of the popular Christian-social Mayor, Karl Lueger, and picked up the stereotyped, obsessive anti-Judiasm with its brutal, violent connotations and concern with the “purity of blood” that remained with him to the end of his life.

In May 1913 Hitler left Vienna for Munich and, when World War I broke out in August 1914, he joined the Infantry. During the war he was temporarily blinded. As a result of the war wounds, the abortive November 1918 Bolshevik revolution in Germany, as well as the humiliating German military defeat, Hitler was convinced that fate had chosen him. He thought that he would be the one to rescue a humiliated nation from the shackles of the Versailles Treaty, from Bolsheviks and Jews.

Assigned by the German Army in the summer of 1919 to “educational” duties, which consisted largely of spying on political parties in the vastly overheated atmosphere of post-revolutionary Munich, Hitler was sent to investigate a small nationalistic group of idealists, the German Workers’ Party. On September 16, 1919 he entered the Party (which had approximately forty members), soon changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) and had imposed himself as its Chairman by July 1921.

Hitler discovered that he had a powerful talent for oratory. He had a hoarse, grating voice. It contained a bombastic, humorless, histrionic tone, which affected his speeches. His speeches captivated audiences by his impassioned conviction and gift for self-dramatization. Many said he was demonically driven.[3] One of the early founders of the Nazi party was Dietrich Echart. As he lay dying in 1923 he made the following statement about Hitler:

Follow Hitler! He will dance but it is I who has called the tune! I have initiated him into the “Secret Doctrine,” opened his centers in vision and given him the means to communicate with the Powers. Do not mourn for me: I shall have influenced history more than any other German.”[4]

Echart was a dedicated Satanist immersed in black magic and an occultist active in the German occultic organization known as the Thule group. Echart claimed to have a “satanic annunciation” through séances letting him know that he was the forerunner of the “Antichrist”. Hitler was obviously not the “Antichrist” but nonetheless he was an “Antichrist”. Echart saw himself as sort of an occult equilivant of “John the Baptist.”

By November 1921 Hitler was recognized as Führer (leader) of a movement, which had three thousand members, and boosted his personal power by organizing quasi-military squads to keep order at his meetings and break up those of his opponents. He was well on his way to developing a cult like following of the German people as their cult leader, the Führer. Out of these squads grew the storm troopers (SA) organized by Captain Ernst Röhm and Hitler’s black-shirted personal bodyguard, the Schutzstaffel (SS). The Führer status grew into a cult-like aura in Germany whose citizens were hungry for substantial leadership after losing the war and experiencing an attempted revolution.

Hitler focused his propaganda against the Versailles Treaty, the “November criminals,” (Weimar Republic’s government who had negotiated the Versailles Treaty) the Marxists and the visible, internal enemy No. 1, the “Jew,” who he claimed were responsible for all Germany’s domestic problems. In the twenty-five-point program of the National Socialists democratic Workers Party (NSDAP) announced on February 24, 1920, the exclusion of the Jews from the Volk community, the myth of Aryan race supremacy and extreme nationalism were combined with “socialistic” ideas of profit-sharing and nationalization. Hitler’s first written utterance on political questions dating from this period emphasized that what he called “the anti-Semitism of reason” must lead “to the systematic combating and elimination of Jewish privileges. Its ultimate goal must implacably be the total removal of the Jews.” [5]

By November 1923 Hitler was convinced that the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse and sought to overthrow the Bavarian government in Munich. Bursting into a beer-hall in Munich and firing his pistol into the ceiling, he shouted out that he was heading a new provisional government, which would carry through a revolution against “Red Berlin.” Hitler then marched through Munich at the head of two thousand men, only to be met by police fire, which left sixteen dead and brought the attempted putsch to an ignominious end. Hitler was arrested and tried on February 26,1924, succeeding in turning the tables on his accusers with a confident, propagandist speech which ended with the prophecy:

For it is not you, gentlemen, who pass judgment on us. That judgment is spoken by the eternal court of history. What judgment you will hand down I know. But that court will not ask us; “ Did you commit high treason or did you not?” That court will judge us., the Quartermaster General of the old Army (Ludendorff)., his officers and soldiers, as Germans who wanted only the good of their own people and Fatherland, who wanted to fight and die. You may pronounce us guilty a thousand times over, but the goddess of the eternal court of history will smile and tear to tatters the brief of the state prosecutor and the sentence of this court. For she acquits us.[6]

Sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in Landsberg fortress, Hitler was released after only nine months during which he dictated Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to his loyal follower, Rudolf Hess. Subsequently the “bible” of the Nazi Party, this crude, unsophisticated declaration of primitive Social Darwinism, racial myth, anti-Judaism and lebensraum (living space) fantasy had sold over five million copies by 1939 and was translated into eleven languages.

The failure of the Beer-Hall putsch and his period of imprisonment transformed Hitler from an incompetent adventurer into a shrewd political tactician, who henceforth decided that he would never again confront the gun barrels of army and police until they were under his command. He concluded that the road to power lay not through force alone but through legal subversion of the Weimar Constitution, the building of a mass movement and the combination of parliamentary strength with extra-paramilitary street terror and intimidation. Helped by Hermann Goering, Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels, his henchmen leaders, he began to reassemble his followers and rebuild the movement, which had disintegrated in his absence.

In January 1925 the ban on the Nazi Party was removed and Hitler regained permission to speak in public. Hitler re-established himself in 1926 as the ultimate arbiter to whom all factions appealed in an ideologically and socially diverse movement.

Avoiding rigid, definitions of National Socialism, which would have undermined the charismatic nature of his efforts, and his claim to absolute leadership, Hitler succeeded in extending his appeal beyond Bavaria and attracting both Right and Left to his movement. Though the Nazi Party won only twelve seats in the 1928 elections, the onset of the Great Depression with its devastating effects on the middle classes helped Hitler to win over all those strata in German society who felt their economic existence was threatened. In addition to peasants, artisans, craftsmen, traders, small businessmen, ex-officers, students and others the Nazis in 1929 began to win over the big industrialists, nationalist conservatives and army circles. With the backing of the press tycoon, Alfred Hugenberg, Hitler received a tremendous nationwide exposure just as the effects of the world economic crisis hit Germany, producing mass unemployment, social dissolution, fear and indignation. With demagogic virtuosity, Hitler played on national resentments, feelings of revolt and the desire for strong leadership using all the most modern techniques of mass persuasion to present himself as Germany’s redeemer and messianic savoir.

In the 1930 elections the Nazi vote jumped dramatically from 810,000 of the previous election to 6,409,000 (18.3 percent of the total vote) and they received 107 seats in the Reichstag (German national legislature building). Prompted by Hjalmar Schacht and Fritz Thyssen, the great industrial magnates began to contribute liberally to the treasury of the NSDAP, reassured by Hitler’s performance before the Industrial Club in Dusseldorf on January 27, 1932 that they had nothing to fear from the radicals in the Party.

The following month Hitler officially acquired German citizenship and decided to run for the Presidency, receiving 13,418,011 votes in the run-off elections of April 10, 1931 as against 19,359,650 votes for the victorious von Hindenburg, but four times the vote for the communist candidate, Ernst Thaelmann. In the Reichstag elections of July 1932 the Nazis emerged as the largest political party in Germany, obtaining nearly fourteen million votes (37.3 per cent) and 230 seats of the 657 total or 35%. Although the NSDAP fell back in November 1932 to eleven million votes (196 seats), Hitler was helped to power by an influential group of conservative politicians led by Franz von Papen, who persuaded the unwilling President von Hindenburg to nominate Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933.

Once in power, Hitler moved quickly to outmaneuver his rivals by ousting the conservatives from any real participation in government. By July 1933 he had abolished the free trade unions, eliminated the communists, Social Democrats and Jews from any role in political life as well as sweeping opponents into concentration camps. The staged Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933 provided him with the perfect pretext to begin consolidating the beginnings of a totalitarian one-party State, and special “enabling laws.” These were ramrodded through the Reichstag to legalize the regime’s intimidatory tactics under the guise of protecting the nation from terrorist’s attacks such as the Reichstag fire.

With support from the nationalists, Hitler gained a majority at the last “democratic” elections held in Germany on March 5, 1933 and with exceptional skill he used persuasion, propaganda, terror and intimidation to secure power. The seductive notions of “National Awakening” and a “Legal Revolution” helped paralyze potential opposition and disguise the reality of autocratic power behind a facade of traditional institutions.

The destruction of the radical SA (Hitler’s personal army) leadership under Ernst Rohm in the Blood Purge of June 1934 (night of the long knives) confirmed Hitler as undisputed dictator of the Third Reich and by the beginning of August, when he united the positions of Führer and Chancellor on the death of von Hindenburg, he had all the powers of State in his hands. Avoiding any institutionalization of authority and status, which could challenge his own undisputed position as supreme arbiter, Hitler allowed subordinates like Himmler, Goering and Goebbels to mark out their own domains of arbitrary power.

A conference of ministers was held on August 20, 1935, to discuss the economic effects of Party actions against Jews.[7] Adolf Wagner, the Party representative at the conference, argued that such actions would cease, once the Government decided on a firm policy against the Jews. The following month two measures were announced at the annual Party Rally in Nuremberg, becoming known as the Nuremberg Laws. Both measures were hastily improvised (there was even a shortage of drafting paper so that menu cards had to be used) and Jewish experts from the Ministry of the Interior were ordered to Nuremberg by plane.

The first law, The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor, prohibited marriages and extra-marital intercourse between “Jews ” (the name was now officially used in place of “non-Aryans ”) and “Germans ” and also the employment of “German ” females under forty-five in Jewish households.

Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor

(September15, 1935)

Article 1
1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad.
2. Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public Prosecutor.

Section 2
Sexual relations outside marriage between Jews and nationals of German or kindred blood are forbidden.

Section 3
Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or kindred blood as domestic servants.

Section 4
1. Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors. 2. On the other hand they are permitted to display the Jewish colors. The exercise of this right is protected by the State.


Section 5

1. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Section 1 will be punished with hard labour.
2. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Section 2 will be punished with imprisonment or with hard labour.
3. A person who acts contrary to the provisions of Sections 3 or
4 will be punished with imprisonment up to a year and with a fine, or with one of these penalties.

Section 6

The Reich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Deputy Führer and the Reich Minister of Justice will issue the legal and administrative regulations required for the enforcement and supplementing of this law.

Section 7

The law will become effective on the day after its promulgation; Section 3, however, not until 1 January 1936.[8] The second law, The Reich Citizenship Law, stripped Jews of their German citizenship and introduced a new distinction between “Reich citizens ” and “nationals.”

The Reich Citizenship Law
(September, 15, 1933)

Article I
1. A subject of the State is a person who belongs to the protective union of the German Reich, and who therefore has particular obligations towards the Reich.
2. The status of subject is acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Reich and State Law of Citizenship.

Article 2

1. A citizen of the Reich is that subject only who is of German or kindred blood and who, through his conduct, shows that he is both desirous and fit to serve the German people and Reich faithfully.
2. The right to citizenship is acquired by the granting of Reich citizenship papers.
3. Only the citizen of the Reich enjoys full political rights in accordance with the provision of the laws.

Article 3

The Reich Minister of the Interior in conjunction with the Deputy of the Führer will issue the necessary legal and administrative decrees for carrying out and supplementing this law.[9]

The Nuremberg Laws by their general nature formalized the unofficial and particular measures taken against Jews up to 1935. The Nazi leaders made a point of stressing the consistency of this legislation with the Party program, which demanded that Jews should be deprived of their rights as citizens. Although the Jews were being forced out of the country, after the Nuremberg Laws, the German government began forced deportations of Jews. Most of the deportations were to Poland. Since the Russian Tsars had sent many Jews to the Pale, which was in Eastern Poland and the Ukraine the population of Jews there significantly increased.

During the next four years Hitler enjoyed a succession of domestic and international successes, outwitting rival political leaders abroad just as he had defeated his opposition at home. In 1935 he abandoned the Versailles Treaty and began to build up the army by conscripting five times its permitted number. He persuaded Great Britain to allow an increase in Germany’s naval construction program and in March 1936 he occupied the demilitarized Rhineland without opposition.

One of the first visible anti-Jewish veiled official attacks on the Jews occurred on November 8-9, 1938 and has been called the Kristallnacht. This is a German word referring to the nights of “broken glass.” It was a pogrom in Nazi Germany against the Jews. On a single night, ninety-one Jews were murdered, and 25,000 to 30,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps.[10] The Nazis coordinated an attack on Jewish people and their property in Germany and German-controlled lands as a part of Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy. The precipitating event occurred on November 8, 1938,when Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year old German Jew enraged by his family’s expulsion from Germany, walked into the German Embassy in Paris and fired five shots at a junior diplomat, Ernst vom Rath. Two days later, the diplomat died and Germany was in the grip of skillfully orchestrated anti-Jewish violence. In the early hours of November 10, an orgy of coordinated destruction broke out in cities, towns and villages throughout the Third Reich. The consequences of this violence were disastrous for the Jews of the Third Reich. In a single night, Kristallnacht saw the destruction of more than two thousand Synagogues, and the ransacking of tens of thousands of Jewish businesses and homes. It marked the beginning of the systematic eradication of a people in Germany who could trace their ancestry to Abraham in 2350 B.C., and served as a prelude to the Holocaust that was to follow. Hitler did not claim to be responsible for this pogrom although it was fully orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels stated that it was a “spontaneous demonstration of the German people in reaction to the news of the murder in Paris.” [11] Such was the typical Nazi denial of any personal responsibility to Jewish directed atrocities in Germany.

The German rearmament program led to full employment and an unrestrained expansion of production, which was reinforced by his foreign policy successes. The Rome-Berlin pact of 1936, the Anschluss with Austria and the “liberation” of the Sudeten Germans in 1938 brought Hitler to the height of his popularity. In February 1938 he dismissed sixteen senior generals and took personal command of the armed forces, thus ensuring that he had total control of the military for implementing his own agenda. That same year Time magazine named him “Man of the Year.”

As the Nazis marched into Poland on September 1, 1939 the SS and The Gestapo followed after setting up the concentration and extermination camps while rounding the Jews in ghettos. They called the occupied areas the “Generalgouvernement” [12] and the capital was Cracow. It was an autonomous entity separate from the German government led by Hans Frank and run exclusively by Germans or those of German descent.[13] It included Poland and the far eastern areas of Germany. There they immediately began persecuting and killing Jews. The methods first used were machine gunning and firing squads. Soon after the Final Solution was devised in 1941.The first crematorium was operational in Auschwitz in August 1940 but it was not until autumn of 1941 that Zyklon B gas began to be used to expedite the mass murders.



Hydrogen cyanide HCN, prussic acid, is a chemical compound in the form of a powerfully poisonous, volatile colorless liquid with the odor of bitter almonds. Prussic acid is considered a battlefield poison agent. Its action depends on the restraint of cellular respiration as a result of neutralizing the respiratory enzymes. Prussic acid passes through the mucous membranes and the skin, but principally through the lungs, into the blood. It blocks the process by which oxygen is released from red blood corpuscles and the result is a sort of internal asphyxiation. This is accompanied by symptoms of injury to the respiratory system, combined with a feeling of fear, dizziness and vomiting.[14]


Zyklon B was used in Germany before and during the Second World War for disinfection and pest extermination. In the Auschwitz concentration camp as well, it was used exclusively for sanitation and pest control until mid 1941. After the end of August 1941, Zyklon was used in the camp as an agent of mass annihilation.

Extermination camps were killing centers designed to carry out genocide. Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis established six extermination camps in former Polish territory. Those camps were: Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau (part of the Auschwitz complex), and Majdanek. Chelmno and Auschwitz were established in areas annexed to Germany in 1939. The other camps (Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Majdanek) were established in the Generalgouvernement (General Government) of Poland. Both Auschwitz and Majdanek functioned as concentration and forced-labor camps as well as killing centers. The overwhelming majority of the victims of the extermination camps were Jews. An estimated 3.3 million Jews were killed in these six extermination camps as part of the “Final Solution.” Other victims included Roma (Gypsies) and Soviet prisoners of war.






 Figure 6. Estimated Number of Jews Killed in the Final Solution. The war against Russia was to be an anti-Bolshevik crusade, a war of annihilation in which the fate of European Jewry would finally be sealed. Early in 1941 Hitler had prophesied:

The forthcoming campaign is more than just an armed conflict; it will lead also, to a showdown of two different ideologies…. The Jewish-Bolshevik intelligentsia, the “oppressor” of the people up to now must be eliminated. [15]
By the end of 1941 the United States had entered the war against the Axis powers. Hitler identified the totality of Germany’s enemies with “international Jewry,” who supposedly stood behind the British-American-Soviet alliance. The policy of forced emigration had manifestly failed to remove the Jews from Germany’s expanded lebensraum, increasing their numbers under German rule as the Wehrmacht moved east.

Hitler was driven to implement the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” which had been under consideration since 1939. Factors that pushed this decision include the widening of the conflict into a World War by the end of 1941; the refusal of the British to accept Germany’s right to continental European hegemony (which Hitler attributed to “Jewish” influence); failure to agree to his “peace” terms; and the racial-ideological nature of the assault on Soviet Russia. The measures already taken in those regions of Poland annexed to the Reich against Jews (and Poles) indicated the genocidal implications of Nazi-style “Germanization” policies. There were a tremendous number of Jewish people living in Poland at that time. This was due in large part because the Russian Tsars had forced them into the Pale of Settlement in Eastern Russia, Poland, and The Ukraine. The invasion of Soviet Russia was to set the seal on Hitler’s notion of territorial conquest in the East, which was linked with annihilating the “origin of Jewish Bolshevism” and therefore with the liquidation of all Jews under German rule.

As the Red Army approached Berlin and the Anglo-Americans reached the Elbe, on March 19, 1945 Hitler ordered the destruction of what remained of German industry, communications and transport systems. He was resolved that, if he did not survive, Germany too should be destroyed. The same ruthless nihilism and passion for destruction, which had led to the extermination of six million Jews in death camps, to the biological “cleansing” of the sub-human Slavs and other subject peoples in the New Order, was finally turned on his own people.

On May 1, 1945 Hitler committed suicide, shooting himself through the right temple with a Walther 7.65 mm pistol.[16] His body was carried into the garden of the Reich Chancellery by aides, covered with gasoline and burned along with that of Eva Braun his recent wife. This final, macabre act of self-destruction appropriately symbolized the career of a political leader whose main legacy to Europe was the ruin of its civilization and the senseless sacrifice of human life for the sake of power and his own commitment to the bestial nonsense of the National Socialist race mythology. With his death nothing was left of the “Greater Germanic Reich,” which had devastated Europe and killed a minimum of six million Jews during the twelve years of his totalitarian rule.

The Antichrist

The Bible speaks to the future one world leader’s origin, career and destiny. He will be born to a gentile woman and be the last ruler of the Gentile world empires on earth. (Rev 17:15) He will come from the region of Rome (Dan 9:26-27). His birth will be a counterfeit of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ. He will have both a supernatural (through Satan) and a natural conception and birth (Gen 3:15; II Thes 2:9). By the time Anti-Christ comes to office there will be a single government on the earth. (Dan 7:23-24) From this will emerge a division of the world into ten independent states or economic entities. (Dan 7:24) He will kill three of the leaders of the ten while the others submit to him granting him complete control over the earth. The ecclesiastical leader will support him by swaying the masses toward allegiance to him.

Daniel describes him as a willful king (Dan 11:36-39), characterized by self-exultation above all men and self-deification by magnifying himself above even God. By deifying himself he will put himself above all humanity. He won’t desire the love of women and therefore be inhuman toward women. This is in keeping with his similarity to Adolph Hitler:

“His rambling, discursive outpourings were the purest expression of unbounded, megalomaniac power and breathtaking inhumanity.”[1] The enmity of Satan against womanhood continues through Satan’s seed. He will be under the total control of Satan. One of his capabilities will be superb oratory skill while misleading the masses. Consider the following admonitions from the apostle Peter and the Lord’s brother Jude regarding false teachers and how they persuade.
2Pe 2:18 For, uttering great swelling [words] of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error (KJV)
Jude 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling [words]), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage. (KJV)
This will be his chief satanic enablement. He will be able to sway the masses with “great swelling words.” Ian Kershaw in his biography of Adolph Hitler provided the following quote of his appraisal of Hitler’s oratory skills.

Hitler’s frequently demonstrated diffidence and unease in dealings with individuals contrasted diametrically with his self-confident mastery in exploiting the emotions of his listeners in the theatrical setting of a major speech. He needed the orgasmic excitement which only the ecstatic masses could give him.” Hitler himself quipped that “I must have a crowd to speak. In a small intimate circle I never know what to say.”[2]

Hitler is an example of the power the “Antichrist” will have to sway the masses and convince the world that his “Antichrist” message is to be followed. Hitler possessed a manner of speaking to large masses of people that absolutely captured their imaginations and stimulated within them a tremendously powerful emotion. When Hitler was elated, his normal halting awkward style was transformed into a magical flow of words, delivered with spellbinding effect. In the book, Satan and the Swastika, Francis King says:

Hitler’s public appearances, particularly those associated with the Nazi Party’s Nuremburg rallies, were excellent examples of this sort of magical ceremony. The fanfares, military marches, and Wagnerian music, all emphasized the idea of German military glory. The mass swastika banners in black, white and red, filled the consciousness of the participants in the rally with national socialist ideology. The ballet-like precision of the movement of the uniformed party members, all acting in unison, evoked from the unconscious, principles of war and violence. These were used by the ancients and symbolized as Mars (an occultic symbol). And the prime ritual of the rallies – Hitler clasping to other banners, the ‘blood banner’ carried in the Munich Putsch of 1923 – was a quasi-magical ceremony designed to link up with minds of living Nazis with the archetypal images symbolized by the dead national socialist heroes of the past. The religio-magical aspects of the rallies were emphasized by the fact that their high points were reached after dusk and took place in a “Cathedral of Light” – an open space surrounded by pillars of light coming from electric searchlights pointed upwards to the sky. If a modern ritual magician of the utmost expertise had designed a ritual intended to “invoke Mars” he could not have come up with anything more effective than the ceremonies used at Nuremburg.”[3]

The “Antichrist” will be controlled and energized by Satan. He will honor the god of fortresses, which is Satan. His policy will be “might makes right.” Then with the help of Satan he will take over the strongest defenses in the world appearing invulnerable. Those who give over themselves to his authority will be given status and authority in his kingdom. (Rev 13:17-18) He will divide territory he has conquered among those who are loyal to him and confess him to be god.

________________________________________
[1] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler in IV Volumes. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Reprint Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 2005,Vol III , 400.
 [2] Ibid., Vol I, 133.
[3] King, Francis. Satan and the Swastika: The Occult and the Nazi Party. Frogmore Saint Albans, Hertfordshire, UK: Mayflower, 1976, 269-70
 ________________________________________
 [1] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler in IV Volumes. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Reprint Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 2005, Vol I , 17-18.
[2] Gilbert, Martin. The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4,000 Years of Jewish History. New York: Macmillian Publishing Company, 1990, 160-161
[3] Lutzer, Irwin W. Hilter’s Cross-. Chicago: Moody Press, 1998, 65.
 [4] Ravenscroft , Trevor. Spear of Destiny. York Beach, Maine: Weiser, 1982, 61 as cited in Lutzer, Irwin W. Hilter’s Cross. Chicago: Moody Press, 1998, 91.
 [5] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler in IV Volumes. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Reprint Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 2005, Vol I, 144-145.
 [6] Stewart, Herman W. Its Your Soul We Want, n.p. 157-58 cited in Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich :A History of Nazi Germany: II Vols. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1959. Reprint Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1991, Vol I, 78.
 [7] Ibid, Vol. I, 232-233.
[8] Noakes, Jeremy, and Geoffrey Pridham. Documents on Nazism 1919-1945. NY: Viking Press, 1974, 463-467 (accessed 8 July 2008) accessible at The Jewish Virtual Library http://World Warw.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw2.html; Internet, n.p.
[9] Ibid, n.p.
 [10] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler in IV Volumes. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Reprint Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 2005, 139.
 [11] Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:A History of Nazi Germany: II Vols. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1959. Reprint Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1991,Vol I, 430.
 [12] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler in IV Volumes. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Reprint Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 2005. Vol III, 245
 [13] Gilbert, Martin. The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4,000 Years of Jewish History. New York: Macmillian Publishing Company, 1990, 175
 [14] Zyklon B467 (accessed 8 July 2008) accessible at http://Worldwarw.jewishcirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocost/ Zyklon.html; Internet, n.p.
 [15] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler in IV Volumes. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Reprint Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 2005, 339, 343.
 [16] Ibid, 828.