Lies rule our sinful world.  The deceptions welcomed and promoted in every field of labor, impulsive speculations based on personal pride and prejudice, society’s allowance for the many lies of exaggeration in politics, business and war, even the withholding of information in which others are harmed in its wake, all of these are transgressions of the 9^th Commandment of Jesus Christ.  Christ gave to the world those tables of stone—the Decalogue of Jehovah (Jn.8:58).  They are GOD’S Criterion of Virtue.  And yet, even men in the Christian church lack the basic humility to see that every hint of falsehood promoted by the church is condemned of heaven (Ps.101:7).  As a whole the human race gives more reverence to fiction than to truth—vain imagination more than wisdom.

       Even the Bible’s prophetic history of the Christian era has been replaced with a fictional fairytale devised of the Vatican for the purpose of maintaining her reputation of religious supremacy.  And when it is discovered that the true history of GOD’S Church has been surgically removed from the knowledge of men, it will be seen that these religious leaders’ assurances of what the future holds are likewise corrupt and will not stand.  Understanding Bible prophecy is the key to differentiate the obedient from the disobedient.  And as we study the dissimilarity between Scripture and the Vatican’s view of prophetic history, it will be clear to any reasonable person so as to make one laden with regret over how the obvious chronology of history could be so arrogantly overruled but still be accepted by the mass of today’s church congregations.  "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Matt.15:14.

       The choice given to every man by the Creator of heaven and earth is simple: everlasting life for the obedient: eternal death for the disobedient.  Obedient to what?  Truth!  The once ruler of Judea, Pontius Pilate, asked the question of Jesus Christ, "What is truth?" Jn.18:38.  Jesus gave the answer to this question—to those who believe—in His Grand Prayer to GOD the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Jn.17:17.  The Holy Bible will judge every man who has ever lived (Jn.12:48), whether they were aware of it or not (Zech.13:6), and the Bible gives allowances for every case (Eze.18:30).  On this simple fact, the Savior has warned, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Matt.7:21.  The will of GOD is found in the Word of GOD.  The greatest testament to this fact is found in the life of Christ.  Jesus had to know Who He Was—by faith; believe the written testimony concerning what He was to accomplish on the behalf of man—by faith; and overcome the sinful nature He adopted when He became a man—by faith (Rev.3:21).  What was His standard against ignorance?  "It is written."  Every aspect of the human condition, the flaws of human character, the destructive relationships between men and GOD, and with one another, are pinpointed to exact measurement.  The Bible has omitted nothing that deals with the history and character of GOD’S people.  Said the King of the redeemed, "But take ye heed, Behold, I have foretold you all things." Mk.13:23.  When the whole of mankind stands before Jesus Christ in the end of time it will be seen who loves GOD’S “truth” and who does not: "Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." Mal.3:18.

       Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  Ye shall know them by their fruits." Matt.7:15,16.  Jesus then describes in the Day of Judgment how multitudes of unrepentant sinners come to Him claiming to have served Him.  And His response: "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Ver.23.  Jesus can have no association with those who chose sin over Him.

       To distinguish GOD’S obedient church from the disobedient—the sincere servant of GOD from the one merely using GOD to satisfy a sinful ambition, one must allow Scripture to define sin and repentance, for this lies at the heart of the plan of salvation.  And when we lay the foundation of Bible literacy to understand the plan of salvation we are blessed to discern the boundaries of GOD’S jurisdiction in the lives of men: where He has the right to bless and protect, and where He is legally helpless to intervene to protect His children from the jurisdiction of Satan’s mechanisms of destruction.  GOD’S legal framework to rescue humanity must be understood, for the many traps of Satan used to deceive men to keep them united with their sins (Eze.28:15,16; Rev.12:17), thus causing their ruin (Is.59:2) are not known in the world, and little understood within Christianity (Hos.4:6).  Therefore, it is the primary goal of Satan to keep men ignorant to Scripture (Matt.22:29) and disobedient to GOD (I Sam.15:22).  To accomplish this, Satan works to discredit Scripture, malign its lessons, and corrupt every trace of GOD’S intentions in how He deals with the sin problem.  This is evident from Satan’s very first words recorded in the Bible: "Hath GOD said…? Gen.3:1.

       Sin is so much more than men give recognition: "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." Ps.119:96.  The Bible’s prophecies for the Christian era declare that the Vatican has overruled GOD’S Law just as did the Jews of ancient times (Dan.7:25; Jn.7:19; II Th.2:1-12).  The parallels between the generations are so obvious, and yet man’s blindness to his transgression continues.  Because of this, each of the prophetic views held today come from men who live in open sin; and their true work is to overshadow the churches guilt of proselytizing sin as part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But faith and sin are not partners in salvation.  GOD’S call to repent (Prov.28:13) means to separate from the sins that disqualify the soul from the companionship of the Holy Spirit, for without the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit none can receive the everlasting inheritance (Is.59:2; Rom.8:11; Jn.3:3).

       The Apostles of Christ warned the church to turn away from every transgression of GOD’S Ten Commandment Law: "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." II Pet.2:21.  But their love affair with tradition overrules reform: their complacency has surrendered the will to accept a life of sin.  They demand to be saved in sin instead of from sin.  This works against the first fruit of believing the Gospel, which is repentance.  If a man who abuses his wife apologizes, then moments later abuses her again, of what value was his apology?  This illustrates what is so common among church members: a shallow repentance, where a general lack of remorse prevents the needed reform.  They refuse to understand the detestable nature of sin and separate from its moldering influence.

       Without meeting the Bible’s conditions of salvation this opens the floodgates for fraudulent doctrine to bear sway over the church.  It is wise to study the historical cause and effect of how the amalgamation of truth and error came to rule the Christian church.

       In Christ’s day the Sacred Law of Jehovah was circumvented and overruled by traditions of manmade philosophy (Matt.15:3-9); so the Jews wound up transgressing the very Law they boasted their obedience to; and they crucified the Giver of the Law, who was none other than Christ Himself (Jn.8:58).  As we will see, men’s traditions today imitate the same self-righteous spirit and likewise transgress the Holy Law of Jehovah while telling the world of their obedience to it.  The assurance that the church extends to the world is just a rope of sand.  The leaders of Christianity are leading the flocks into the condemnation of sin, not GOD’S deliverance from sin.  They desire to be saved in sin instead of from sin.  Their own power and freedom to sin is more important to them than the deliverance of Jesus Christ from all sin.  A simple command of the brain is all that is needed to forever vanquish the practice of sin from the life; and daily discipline strengthens the muscle of command; but this determination is rarely seen.  Said Jesus, "If ye love Me keep My commandments." Jn.14:15.  In the end, most, even among Christians, will be shown to have no love for the GOD Who Lives to Serve—the GOD Who Died on Calvary’s Tree.  Instead, they will be displayed as partners with the congregation who cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him." Jn.19:15.  Sin murdered Jesus Christ; and all who continue in sin are associated as accomplices to His execution.

 Bible Illiteracy Among Bible Scholars

       In the days when Christ walked among men a group of religious scholars called Sadducees approached Jesus attempting to make a mockery of His doctrine.  At the end of their discussion Jesus said, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." Matt.22:29.  These were men who boasted their vast knowledge of the Scriptures.  By this reputation of academic excellence they received the honor of men.  They could recite from memory entire passages from "the law and the prophets."  But Jesus said they were Biblically illiterate.  How profound are the Savior’s words—then and now.  A minister can know the Bible backwards and forwards, but to not know the intended lessons of GOD’S Word makes him Biblically illiterate and therefore vulnerable to his own eternal ruin along with those who are led by him.  "One sinner destroyeth much good.” Eccl.9:18.

       The Bible exposes the glaring illiteracy of the world’s ruling church the Roman Catholic Church to the Bible’s conditions of salvation, for the basics of salvation were abandoned over 1700 years ago by the Church of Rome.  When the pope was exalted as supreme Ruler of the Church, adopting the titles, "Vicar of the Son of God," "the Holy Father," "the Holy See," and "His Holiness;" his sins became the sins of every man under his rule.  And through the deceiving of one, Satan is able to deceive the multitudes.  This has always been the danger of people entrusting their lives into the hands of one sinful man.  “Give us a king to judge us" (I Sam.8:6) is the cry of the whole Christian world when they look to the pope to rule in the affairs of men.  Three reasons men cry for a king:

1. They don’t want to take responsibility for their own lives.

2. When they fail they have someone else to blame.  But the primary reason stated by GOD:

3. "They have rejected Me that I should not reign over them" (I Sam.8:7). 

       When you understand the contrast between GOD’S way and that of sinful men professing His service you will know why we have an atheistic dominance today ruling in the affairs of society.  Our secular society has seen so much hypocrisy displayed in the church that they rightly declare, "If this is Christianity I don’t want it!"  And they fight tooth-and-nail to not relinquish any control to the leaders of the church.  But this is about to change, and the change will bring catastrophic consequences to the civilization of earth (Lu.21:11; Rev.13:8).  In essence, our society is safer with an agnostic man in government than some power-hungry Christian.

                           The Bible’s Infallible Prophecy of Roman Catholicism

       Let us now review the one ancient Bible prophecy of the 6^th century B.C. showing conclusively the predator kingdom ruling in the days of Christ and His Apostles, and how this same kingdom extends to our day in the timeline of prophetic history.  In the 6^th century B.C. "A great image" was shown to King Nebudchadnezzar in a dream.  "This great image" portrayed the world's kingdoms to the close of time.  The image had four sections representing the four kingdoms that would bear rule over the earth until the 2^nd Advent of Jesus Christ.  The four kingdoms are as follows: 1) Babylon; 2) Medo-Persia; 3) Greece; 4) Rome.  We live today in the fourth and last kingdom of earth before the coming of Christ.  (In Daniel, chapter 7, GOD reviews these same four kingdoms, assigning their traits of behavior to those of animals.)  Here is Nebuchadnezzar's dream—the infallible prophecy given by the GOD of heaven: "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay"...."Thou [Nebudchadnezzar] art this head of gold [Babylon]. After thee another kingdom inferior to thee [Medo-Persia], and another third kingdom of brass [Greece], which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom [Rome] shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise [pagan era]. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron [the Vatican era], forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay....And in the days of these kings shall the GOD of heaven set up a kingdom [Mk.1:15], which shall never be destroyed [Rev.1:8]: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms [including the Vatican], and it shall stand for ever." Dan.2:32,33,38-41,44.

       The "iron," representing both phases of the Roman dominion, pagan and papal, is easily verified by the study of history.  We live today in the age of the final kingdom of earth’s sinful history.  This kingdom is the Vatican of Rome.  Remember the Bible’s prophetic destiny of Rome: the prophecy states that Christ will smash to smithereens the papal authority: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them." Dan.2:34,35.  This is the fate of the papal system of Christianity.  This disqualifies the Vatican’s claim to be the sole administrator of salvation, and removes any perception of Rome’s approval from the GOD of heaven.  It also shows the great danger of men submitting to her doctrines, which lie at the heart of Christ’s retribution against her when He comes.  But never forget, the righteousness of Christ covers all ignorant sins (Nu.15:27,28; Acts17:30).  Catholics by the millions are sinning ignorantly against the 2^nd and 4^th Commandments, and GOD does not hold them accountable for the sins willfully carried out by their leaders except as they knowingly turn from GOD and participate in those sins (Eccl.8:11; Prov.1:11-31).

       Logically, we must now ask the question, "What is the great sin of Rome that leads Christ to obliterate her when He comes?"  In the following words of Pope Nicolaus both sin and blasphemy have been exalted to rule the church.  His beliefs represent what lies at the heart of the Vatican’s version of Christianity to this day.  It is the pope's teaching, verses the Bible's teaching that warns every man of the Vatican’s dramatic extinction when Christ returns.  Herein lies the true purpose of Romanism as defined by Pope Nicolaus (as contrasted with the Holy Word of GOD):

Said Pope Nicolaus: "The Roman Pontiff judges all men but is judged by no one."

Said Christ, the LORD: "For the Father judgeth no man." John 5:22; "I judge no man." John 8:15; "He that rejecteth Me, and receive not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12:48.

 The pope continues: "I am all in all and above all."

Said Christ, "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased." Matt. 23:12. The great Antichrist of Scripture is defined thus: "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things." Daniel 11:37,38.

 "Wherefore if those things that I do be said not to be done of man but of GOD what can you make me but GOD?"

Said Christ, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Matt.24:4,5. Various popes of the last 100+ years concurred with Nicolaus: "We hold the place of Almighty GOD on earth."—Pope Leo XIII, Apostolic Letter, June 20, 1894. "The Pope...is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." –Pope Pius X. "You know that I am the Holy Father, the representative of GOD on earth, the Vicar of Christ, which means that I am GOD on the earth." –Pope Pius XI, April 30, 1922.  The blasphemy of claiming attributes of Deity is defined in Scripture thus: "The Jews answered Him [Christ], For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." John 10:33.

 "Wherefore no marvel if it be in my power to change time and times, to alter and abrogate laws."

The great Antichrist of the Bible is defined thus: "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and think to change times and laws." Dan.7:25.  Catholicism has officially removed the 2^nd Commandment, and changed the Sabbath of the 4^th Commandment from Saturday to Sunday, claiming for themselves the authority that belongs to Christ alone as He Himself said, "The Son of man is LORD also of the Sabbath." Mk2:28.

 "To dispense with all things, yea, with the precepts of Christ."

The selfish pick-and-choose theology, deciding which precepts given by Jesus Christ are worthy of honor and which of them are not is to be partial in obedience to His government.  To be only partly saved is to be wholly lost: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." Ja.2:10.  In essence, to do away with “one jot or one tittle” of the Law of Christ is to call Him a liar: "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away." Mark 13:31.

   "I conclude, commanding, declaring, and pronouncing, to stand upon necessity of salvation, for every creature to be subject to me."

On the night of The Last Supper Christ forbid any dictatorship: "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But Ye shall not be so." Luke 22:25,26.  Whenever Christians lord authority over men, this is a sin in the eyes of heaven.  The Apostles complimented the Savior’s words by saying that the use of tyranny violates the 6^th Commandment, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."  "For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." I Jn.3:15; Ja.1:20. 

       The steps that led to this self-exalting religion calling itself “Christian” will never be retraced.  The prophecy of Rome is clear.

       When the Apostle Paul foretold the coming of the great apostasy of Christianity in his sermon and later in his epistle to the Thessalonians, he declared that there would "come a falling away" (II Thess.2:3); and then he added that the "mystery of iniquity doth already work" (II Thess.2:7).  Paul discerned that the roots of apostasy were already taking hold, and that an amalgamation was forming between truth and error: godliness and ungodliness.  Later, on his journey to Jerusalem, when he had gathered together the bishops who were over the church of Ephesus, he said, "Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." Acts 20:30, 31.

       The Holy Spirit deemed it of great importance to record this prophecy, to warn us that even from among the elders and bishops there would arise perverse leadership.  This prophecy has been fulfilled.  Until we sense the importance of this prophetic warning of the Holy Ghost, and come to recognize its colossal fulfillment in the religion of today’s Christianity, the truths of both Bible prophecy and even salvation itself will forever remain hidden to our understanding.

       The Apostle Paul wrote practically all of his epistles to the Gentile churches—to Corinth, to Rome, to Philippi, etc.  He wrote almost no letters to the Jewish Christians.  Therefore, the great burden of his closing days was to anchor the Gentile churches of Europe to the Christian churches of Judea.  In fact, it was to secure this end that he lost his life.  Said one author, "St. Paul did his best to maintain his friendship and alliance with the Jerusalem Church.  To put himself right with them, he traveled up to Jerusalem, when fresh fields and splendid prospects were opening up for him in the West.  For this purpose he submitted to several days restraint and attendance in the Temple, and the results vindicated his determination."—Stokes, The Acts of the Apostles, Vol.2, p.439.

       This is how Paul used the churches of Judea as a base: "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." I Thess.2:14.  There is not a word here of the church of Rome being the model after which the other churches were to be formed; it had no such preeminence—this honor belonged to the churches of Judea.  It was according to them, not the church at Rome, that the Asiatic churches were modeled.  The purest of all the apostolic churches was that of the Thessalonians, and this was formed after the Christian churches in Judea.  Had any preeminence or authority belonged to the church of Rome, the Apostle would have proposed this as a model to all churches, which he formed, either in Judea, Asia Minor, Greece, or Italy.  Even Peter, (claimed by Catholic teaching to have handed the scepter of church authority to the pope), gave no indication of Rome’s exalted status.  As a matter of fact, Peter was crucified for testifying against the very sins that the Vatican to this day united to the Christian faith.  Rome declares that these sins are acceptable to GOD; but the very words of Peter condemn the religion of Rome to this very day. 

       Peter, who has ever been considered the Chief of the Apostles of Jesus Christ took a stance for the Gospel and the Word of GOD that none who are honest in heart can misunderstand: "I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets."  II Pet.3:1,2.  Peter's guide to GOD’S truth was the Old Testament.  Even the teachings of the Savior: His beatitudes, His counsels, His warnings, all were extracted from those timeless lessons from the "law and the prophets."  In the New Testament this principle is affirmed, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of GOD, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." II Tim.3:16,17.  Through obedience to the Word of GOD is a man fit for godly perfection.

       By contrast, the history of the papal church has shown a gross dishonesty in claiming allegiance to Christ while overruling GOD'S commands and counsels.  Peter's warning to the whole world is clear,  "These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest: to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantoness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." II Pet.2:17-21.

      Peter's words convey a most fearful fact of today that is clearly taught in the Bible:  To sin against GOD'S Holy Law is to sin against one's own soul.  And Roman Catholicism to this day has evangelized the world into sinning against two of the Ten Commandments.  And the Protestant world is blind to the threat, not only against themselves but an equal threat exists for those who give their allegiance to the Roman church. 

“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.  Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”  Proverbs 30:5,6. The Holy Bible explains every principle of man’s relationship with life and with GOD.  These principles teach lessons that are given to help people avoid the many traps that bring harm to the life of earth.  But the harm never stops.  Why?  Sin rules the earth.  Why?  Freewill beings choose its exercise. Why?  They do not resist the temptations leading to the betrayal of life: a betrayal, which is thematic throughout this brutally selfish world.  All betrayal is a product of sin.  And all sin is repulsive to GOD and therefore condemned. 

       Today, a colossal betrayal is taking place under the auspices of Christianity.  This betrayal is easily proven by one verse of Sacred Scripture, I Peter 4:18, “And if the righteous [referring to church members] scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”  These words teach that extremely few from the tens of thousands of church congregations across America and around the world will stand with Jesus Christ in the end of time.  We must understand why and how the people in the Christian church are being betrayed to believe what will never come to pass including the salvation of their souls, as Peter so clearly warned every man to take heed to this fact.

       In the days when the earth was destroyed by water, our father, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen.6:8).  Only his family, out of an entire civilization, “found grace” from a loving, longsuffering GOD.  In the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, only Lot and his two girls were delivered from the entire population of those cities.  In the Hebrew exodus from Egyptian slavery, of the great multitude that were miraculously delivered by GOD, only two of that generation, Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land.  Even Moses was not allowed because of his one sin provoked by an amazingly and relentlessly disobedient people (Ex.16:2).  [But GOD would not leave His beloved Moses in the grave (Jude 9)].  And then there is the zenith of man’s disgrace, the day man crucified his Creator.  On that day there was only one who called Jesus “Lord”—the thief crucified at His side.