The bible promises that near the time of the end there will be a great falling away from the faith. It promises that a great apostasy will arise in the church, and that society as a whole will turn their eyes from God, to man. We noted over the past years, three controversial issues that hit the mainstream media. One was the "Da'Vinci Code" by fictional author Dan Brown. Another was a so-called lost gospel of Judas. Most recently was the 'Lost Tomb of Jesus'.

As we Christian earnestly contended for the faith (Jude 1:3) in these last days, we need to be made aware about these heresies, as well as be able to defend Christianity against these false teachings, and gospel fakes. Join me as we now do that very thing with the so-called 'Gospel of Judas'.

Introduction

Unveiled April 5, 2006 by the National Geographic Society the 'Gospel of Judas' launched a worldwide discussion on the subject of the biblical record and origins of Christianity. According to the National Geographic society, the Gospel of Judas was originally found in the 1970s, however much of its origins remain unclear. It would appear to have come from a tomb on the east bank of the Nile River near the Egyptian village of El Minya.

For the next three and a half decades, the document remained hidden in the cloudy world of the antiquities market before being purchased in 2000 by Greek dealer Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos. She in turn sold it in 2001 to the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art, which sought to restore, preserve and publish the ancient document. The Maecenas Foundation worked with the National Geographic Society to this end.

The document was in poor condition by the time experts gained possession of it, and the last five years have been spent restoring and translating it. Scholars have dated the Coptic version of the document from the third to fourth century A.D. and some question the exact relationship between it and an earlier Greek version mentioned by Irenaeus in the second century.

Irenaeus (ca. 130-202 CE) was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France. His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology, and he is recognized as a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church; the latter considers him a Father of the Church. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who himself was a disciple of John the Evangelist. Irenaeus noted in his writings this 'Gospel of Judas' and condemned it has heretical. And with good reason - as we will see. We will shed some more light on Irenaeus a bit further on.

Specific items of information utilized in the preparation of this article were obtained through a National Geographic special called the 'Gospel of Judas' that first aired on television on Sunday April the 2nd, 2006 and through the plethora of information found at the National Geographic website.

The Document Restored

The remainder of this paper is a review of the document titled the 'Gospel of Judas' by the National Geographic Society. The original Judas document is copyright the National Geographic society so I won't provide it here, however you can read the original source and background at the National Geographic website:

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/document.html  

What you are about to read will seem strange as its teachings are those completely foreign to those as documented by the writings of the New Testament Canon.

I have provided commentary that can be followed as you go through the Gospel of Judas sequentially. We will discus the apparent problems with this 'Gospel' and how it and it's discovery fails to provide credible truth on any matters relating to fundamental Christianity and the 'true' gospel of Christ.

You will find that there is nothing within this so-called gospel that adequately demonstrates that it should be utilized as a reliable source for historical events in the life of Christ. As its contents read contrary to several documented eyewitness accounts of Christ (ie: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), one is led to conclude, by mere standards in modern court proceedings, that the so-called 'Gospel of Judas' would be thrown out of testimony for mere lack of evidence. Simply because a document can be dated back to the appropriate time does not prove it as truth. It is very important for readers to realize that people have been telling lies to undermine Christianity since the day after Christ rose from the grave.

Mat 28:11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
Mat 28:12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
Mat 28:13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
Mat 28:14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
Mat 28:15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

The Document Examined

As a general overall scope, the document called 'Gospel of Judas' reeks of an ancient heresy called Gnosticism which has origins older that than the time of Christ. The early church condemned this heresy and modern versions of Gnosticism are still condemned to this day by those who hold true to the 'true' Word of God.

I will comment on this again further on, but for now let's have a look at this 'nothing short of heretical' gospel.

The Judas gospel opens with the words…

"When Jesus appeared on earth, he performed miracles and great wonders for the salvation of humanity."

Interesting way to start, but even in this first line we can get a clear glimpse that the writer of this gospel did not truly understand what the ministry of Christ was on earth.

Christ did not perform miracles and great wonders for the salvation of humanity. Christ did come to minister and die for those very reasons, but miracles and great wonders were not done to save the world. Contrary to this claim, Christ himself many times told the disciple not to tell anyone that he had performed miracles (see Matthew 8:4, Matthew 9:30, Matthew 12:16, Mark 1:44, Mark 5:43, Mark 7:36, Luke 5:14, Luke 8:56, etc). The reason? The miracles were for the benefit of the disciples. Yes it is true that Christ himself had compassion and love for the people and that wanted to heal and make the broken whole. But it becomes apparent that the underlying reason for miracles was for the benefit of the witnessing eyes of the disciples. They were done so that the disciples would see that Christ was God. (see Matt 8:27, Mark 4:41 as a for instance)

When He went to raise Jarius's daughter from the dead in Mark 5:37 (Luke 8:51), the bible says He specifically only took Peter, James and John, His three most faithful apostles, to go with him.

There are also the instances where Christ's apostles received a certain revelation, and were told by Him to not tell anyone about it (see Matthew 16:20, Matthew 17:9, Mark 8:30, Mark 9:9, and Luke 9:21)

All his miracles had a dual purpose. Firstly to show mercy and love to mankind (A task that the disciples carried on in their own ministries after Christ's ascension into heaven) and secondly, to show to His disciples that He was God. To show them that He was who he said he was… or rather… He was who the disciples said He was.

Luk 9:18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? Luk 9:19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. Luk 9:20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.
Luk 9:21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;

Christ wanted the disciples to surely believe in who He was and is. They needed to be certain of that revelation because it would be they not Christ that preached the gospel message throughout the world.

Another area of interest in the Judas document is how the book indicated that Christ could manifest himself as children and could come and go as he pleased (in and out of physical reality). This was indicated in at least two places.

This concept is completely unscriptural. The synoptic gospels alone - three separate eyewitness accounts written by different individuals (Matt, Mark, Luke and John) - make this supposed eye witness account of Judah inadmissible as evidence of truth.

These in and out of reality appearances and disappearances are in stark contrast with Christ's human form abilities. The bible says that the twelve lived with Christ and followed him just about everywhere. Not that he disappeared and came as he pleased - taking on the form of children and such. Christ was still MAN at this point. He did not have his glorified body and as such He moved about as we do. Scripture records Christ's comings and goings from places just as you or I would: by boat, by walking, by donkey. The only special case was when he was whisked away in the spirit when he was tempted in the desert and the time when walked on water - but even then another 'man' walked out to him and prophets in the past had also been whisked away in the spirit from time to time.

Christ could not move about appearing in and out of reality until after his death and resurrection. When He came to earth, He was born as a man, he grew as a man, he lived as a man and therefore walked as man. Christ gave up his Godhood power to live as a man.

Phi 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: Phi 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: Phi 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He was tempted as we are. He felt pain, and suffering. His miracles were not because of his Godhood, but as a living example to us, the miracles were accomplished through him as a testament to his pure FAITH in God and sinless life.

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Christ experienced 'manhood' in all senses including temptation. The only difference was that he lived a sinless life. He had to in order to remain the innocent lamb, to be slaughtered for the payment of our sin.

Now allow me to clarify the aforementioned. Christ was both man and God, but He chose to live like man to provide for us the way of salvation, and to live as a witness of how we are to live in order to glorify and honour God with our lives.

In other portions of the Judas gospel we note the repeated so-called words of Christ calling the disciples' god something other than GOD the Father, which is in complete contrast to the other eyewitness accounts as to how Christ referred to God the father. The text seemed to infer that the God that the disciples worshipped was not the true God. This is important to note because of Gnosticism's belief in that there are in fact two Gods. I'll speak more on this in a moment. The important thing to note now is that Christ speaking of God as 'your god', and separating himself in such manner does not align well with eyewitness, first century accounts of Christ's 'true' words.

The Judas gospel also quotes Christ as saying that there will be no generation of the people among the disciples that will know him.

Really?

Luk 9:20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. Luk 9:21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;

It sounds like Peter had a pretty good idea.

John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

Ah.. and now everyone will know, or have the ability to know, after the Crucifixion.

So far our analysis is not fairing well for integrity of the truths in the Judas text, but let us continue nonetheless.

At one point in the Judas text Christ asks who is able to bring out the 'spirit' man and only Judas steps forward as one with 'special' understanding of what Christ meant.

We have Judas being portrayed as someone who was 'worthy' to know more. Why is this important? Gnosticism held to the belief that salvation comes through "gnosis," the Greek word for "knowledge," and in many ways it is about having or obtaining 'privileged' information on the secrets of the Universe.

As you read along you will note that there seems to be a shift from the physical realm to that of a spiritual realm. This fantastic symbolic imagery of another realm continues on in the gospel, and it grows more and more confusing and mythical, and less and less - it would seem - grounded in reality. Even the imagery of the book of Revelation contains some thread of cohesiveness and common sense language that this Judas text apparently lacks.

It is curious as you read on, that like the Islamic Quran, this book seems to misquote scripture and apply it's own twist to it. It was no doubt done to change and undermine the true gospel. Intentional or not anyone could have read the writings of the apostles and applied their a different twist to it. This practice has continued for centuries, what would make anyone assume therefore, that it wasn't happening in the days, months and years following the resurrection of Christ?

As we continue reading the gospel, we again see Judas receiving 'special', divine knowledge. Unlike the Revelation of Jesus Christ written by John around 90AD (obviously some time after the original Judas document was supposed to have been written), this book does not seem to address all the Christians of the day… but rather… just Judas and his 'special' status. The messages of the Bible are for whole church and they promise all Christians with understanding. This is in stark contrast with Gnosticism which holds to the fact that only 'a few' are blessed enough to hear and understand the 'real truth' and mysteries of the universe.

As I said previously, Gnosticism is the belief that salvation comes through knowledge. By becoming a holder of some secret knowledge of the universe we ourselves become a type of God and truly grasp our spiritualism and destiny.

Now getting back to my point about the Judas gospel mentioning the disciples God being different than the God that sent Christ.

Gnosticism suggests two Gods in the universe; a (the) true God against an evil God, who in some forms of Gnostic teaching seems to be associated with Jehovah of the Old Testament. One of the bad things this evil God did was to create the world. This creates of course a problem in reference to scripture. Gnosticism teaches that we live in an evil world. That our bodies are evil and that anything associated with our bodies is evil. This goes so far as suggesting then that marriage and having children is bad. HOWEVER. We know most certainly that God created the world and pronounced that his creation WAS GOOD. (see Genesis 1:31)

In accordance with this idea, and thinking of what I referred to earlier in terms of being mythical and what seems to be excessive spiritualism, gnostics believed and taught that only certain 'spiritual' people have a spark of divinity. Born without special knowledge however, these people would come to 'revelation' through various avenues of special knowledge.

Through these revelations the Gnostics learn that they are really celestial beings. They belong to a spiritual realm and not this realm. Gnosticism in essence becomes a secret society of spiritual beings.

Now enter Christianity. The melding of Christianity and Gnosticism provided a new avenue for this revelation. Gnostics of the time believed that Jesus was a heavenly being who whispered secrets to 'chosen' people.

With that in mind, go back and read the last half of this 'Gospel of Judas'. You can clearly see this 'secret' spiritualism and the promise for Judas that he is a very 'special' being.

This document, brought to light compliments of the National Geographic Society, is nothing more than an ancient document of a cult movement. The Gnostic's purpose (whether they knew it or not) was to undermine the TRUE Gospels of Jesus Christ. It was Satan's early attempts at undermining the TRUE Word of God. In essence, we have an ancient trick. Ancient propaganda produced to cast doubt and undermine the quickly spreading Christian faith of the time.

It is no wonder the Church of that age condemned it, destroyed the copies and continued to condemn the teaching throughout history. Reporters in the papers today say that this 'gospel' was suppressed and 'hidden away' by the church as if it was some sinister cover-up hiding truth. Their lack of logical discernment concerns me greatly and yet surprises me none. In all reality, and with a little bit of honest study, someone can easily see that this document is nothing more than then a really old fictional book of controversy much like the 'Da Vinci Code' is today. (Incidentally and ironically - I watched sometime ago a documentary prepared by the National Geographic Society which debunked the claims of the 'Da Vinci Code' through honest reporting and investigation. I was quite surprised that this same organization tried to authenticate something like this Judas gospel and presented it without this same objective process that I was so impressed with in regards to the Da Vinci code.)

The Experts?

From the interviews I watched on the television special and the National Geographic website of the 'Gospel of Judas team', it would seem apparent that they cannot actually validate the truth of the book. However, the way it was presented, and the way that many of them continued dialog on the subject relays a false sense to the audience that what they are interjecting as possibilities are actually truth. Instead of speaking as though they are reading a fictional story, they cast an aura of truth on it. One is then lead under a false sense of security to the acceptance of their statements simply because of the impressive credentials of the team's post-secondary education, job descriptions and university degrees. This all is done very smoothly in presentation all the while 'back benching' the obvious contradictions with the other 'first hand' and more credible accounts of Christ's life - namely in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The research team also make some profound claims, which would easily assign a misconception of truth to the document, unless one was actually to analyze their claims further.

For instance:

Elaine Pagels, a Princeton University religion professor, who was a paid consultant for the 'Gospel of Judas' National Geographic, pointed out that the people who circulated these gospels "did not think they were heretics."

That defense of their position is more of a distraction than it is truly relevant to the question at hand. You see many people who are caught up in cults and heresy do not realize it. Her comment says nothing about the authenticity of the work as being a gospel, but rather than people were just as easily mislead back then, as they are today. Not to mention the amount of people that continue to try and prove the Christian faith as false to this very day.

She also mentions reasons that there were many Gospels that were not included in the traditional Canon; this included the Gospel of Peter and the Gospel of Thomas for an example. At one time there were many of these gospels floating around and the Church decided to remove those gospels that were deemed false or questionable. Ms Pagels explained this process as merely being that the church recognized that many of these gospels seemed to conflict with one another, and therefore they (the church) wanted a single unanimous story that would unite Christians all over the world. She admits the truth that it was Irenaeus who divided out the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and called them the 'true' gospel. She also correctly tells us that it was in fact Irenaeus who dubbed this book of Judas, the 'Gospel of Judas' along with some, if not all, of the other non-canonical books. Although all this is historically true, she unfortunately goes on to comment that now we are finding more and more of these long hidden gospels that provide us with another view of the gospel message.

Excuse me? They do? On what basis does she stake that claim?

Although fine for Ms. Pagels to provide her own opinion, I'd like to point out here that if those other views were in fact heretical (as I certainly believe them to be), we would have no way of truly knowing based upon the evidence she, and the National Geographic team has presented (failed to present). One also finds when researching Irenaeus for themselves, that it was an arduous and complex process to weed out the false gospels.

As Christians we most assuredly need to remember this:

Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Psa 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

And

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

God promised to preserve his word, and be it through this man Irenaeus, God's will be done. The scriptures that we see today are retained as scripture, because God willed it be done. A circular argument some might say, but I see it merely as a promise well kept.

To Ms. Pagel's credit I will say that she does admit that the Judas gospel reads differently than others, and that it would seem to not be a true account. But she qualifies that statement by saying that because of her frame of reference of growing up and knowing the other gospels, and that they are in our tradition, that anything outside or contrary to them, will 'feel' wrong… and that feeling has not real ramification on truth. Her statement is valid in reasoning as we are indeed a product of our environment. However, there are far more evidences of this gospels falseness than just our 'gut' feelings… but she failed to reiterate those. The end result of her statement leaves a sense of doubt toward her decision to label the Judas gospel as false. And her presentation of Irenaes' process of elimination for the false gospels was anything but true to the actual process. It wasn't that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the only one's that presented a 'unified' story, it was that they were the oldest (first century) and 'first hand' accounts. They weren't selected for their unity, but rather the unity came about simply because the selection resulted in four 'truthful' accounts. If they are true accounts, then logic clearly tells us they will be synonymous in content. She did of course also present the 'age old' argument that that Mathew and Luke were merely copies of Mark due to the exact wording of quotations of dialog, to which of course we can also logically attribute to 'Divine' authorship and not some ancient copyright violation by Matthew and Luke.

Marvin Meyer, a Coptologist and Professor of Early Christian Studies and Hellenistic Religions (also retained by National Geographic for the project) seemed to be the most enthused about the possibility of the gospel being truth. Despite this fact he does give a good description of the Gnostic view. In fact he explains it well enough for most of us to recognize the 'inner God', 'spirit guide' aspects from many 'new age' ideologies we see today.

It was clear from the interviews that this man was not a Christian. His view was skewed and it was clear that although he was a Coptic expert and supposed to know Christianity, he had in fact no real knowledge of what Christianity actually is. Very disappointing from someone who is a professor of Early Christian studies. It would seem irresponsible to me for the National Geographic to utilize this man's opinion beyond the actual translation and study of the Coptic text if he doesn't even understand Christianity in its true form. Mr. Meyer relayed to the audience that the Judas gospel was indeed a Gnostic text. Which was true to the fact. However, where he missed the mark was when he explained why Gnosticism was so popular. Mr. Meyer goes on to let us all know that the Gnostic way of thinking was very popular because it taught that the common man could talk and commune with God without the need of a priest. Well I hate to break the bad news to the 'Christian studies professor' but that is the TRUE teaching of Christianity. The bible tells us that all Christians have access to a relationship with God through the salvation of Jesus Christ. It also tells us that all this is possible without the mumbo-jumbo, spiritualism that Gnostic teaching espouses. It became very clear that Mr. Meyer viewed Christianity through the looking glass of the Roman Catholic Church and throughout all of his post-secondary Christian studies he never actually studied the protestant position. Seems rather careless and amateurish for someone who is a professor.

Craig Evans, also on the team and an evangelical biblical scholar (Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia), does defend the original gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as being from the 1st century church, and that the other gospels, such as Judas arose in the 2nd century, or 2nd generation of Christians. At that time more and more of these 'different' teachings were propagated in the churches, and more and more these things corrupted the true teachings. Mr. Evans defended Christianity as known today, and out of all the 'experts' I appreciated Mr. Evans comments the most.

It was apparent that careful editing was done during the television program to provide the audience with a skewed view of the Judas gospel. Mr. Evans comments were kept to a minimum on the television program and those that he did have weren't as potentially damaging to the 'authenticity' argument of the Judas document. It was the online video from the National Geographic website that gives us a better view of Mr. Evans position and how he truly feels about the Judas document. Strangely, and for seemingly sinister reasons, Mr. Evans true feelings were missing from the Television program; where of course the majority of the general public heard about this gospel, and used it as the basis to form their opinions.

Mr. Evan's comments can be substantiated biblically. We can see evidences of these false doctrines and gospels quite clearly in the early church, as Christ himself addresses several of these similar concerns in the opening letters to the churches in the book of Revelation.

Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Rev 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. Rev 2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

We can see from only these few passages that the early church, even during the times of the apostles, was struggling with existing, pre-Christian religions and that were seeping into the folds of the body of Christ.

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Much like these things that Christ was addressing, false gospels continued, and continue to this day to seep into the ever broadening realms of the ecumenical church. The TRUE church, those who are bound by the idea of 'sola scriptura' and not the teachings of men, are losing the battle in the wake of this liberal theology of old. Apostasy has seeped body of Christ in ways that were foretold by Christ himself.

Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Authentic?

Many news agencies out there, and even the National Geographic, were advertising the gospel as 'Authentic!' and 'Controversial'. When we read the claims that the 'Gospel of Judas' is authentic, we have to be careful. When the media uses the words authentic, they are referring to the age of the document. It does not mean that it's a true gospel. A Gospel is a document that preaches the death and resurrection of Christ. The true Gospel can be found in one small passage of scripture:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The Judas document does no such thing. And there is no evidence proving that it is authoritative source on the subject of Christ's life and ministry. In fact it demonstrates itself to be quite the contrary.

As an example of the differences between authentic and authoritative, allow me to utilize the following:

During the time of World War II many histories were written that denied the holocaust. They were authentic, because they were written in that time period, but they were found to be non-authoritative when reviewed against other evidences of the period.

The authenticity of the 'Gospel of Judas' simply tells us that it was an accurate snapshot of a movement of Gnosticism that was alive and well at the time of the early church. If anything it fully validates the scriptures:

2Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2Ti 4:3 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;

Conclusion

So why then is the media all in a 'flap' about the National Geographic's findings?

The answer is simple.

All through the twentieth century, we have allowed secularism to replace Judeo-Christian values of our society. God has been deliberately and systematically removed from prominence in our culture and intellectual lives. In an effort to create the new tower of Babylon, to show ourselves that we need nothing but ourselves, and definitely no God in heaven, we have made Him irrelevant to our modern culture.¹

Anything that the media can grab that furthers our doubt in God, appeals to this movement in ways that would only serve to horrify the societies of a mere 50 years ago. This same thirst for mankind's independence is the same reason that last years hot topic was the 'Da Vinci' Code and it will remain on the scene until the movie is gathering dust on the rental shelves.

The bible speaks directly to our society through prophecy.

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; -- 1Timothy 4:1

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; -- 2 Timothy 3:1-4

In response and conclusion to all this, I humbly submit a request to all of you to join me in changing the name of the document from 'The Gospel of Judas' to 'The Gnospel of Judas'.

For all of us Christians out there, the bible promises more and more such heresies will arise as we near the time of the end. Let us be SURE OF OUR CALLING during these perilous times.

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. -- 2Timothy 2:15

- J.R. Hall

References:
1. Lahaye/Hindson – “The Popular Prophecy Workbook’, Harvest House, 2006, p24

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