There is even more than Jesus coming in the flesh 2000 years ago, it is also that He IS COME in the flesh, something I did not fully understand when this article was written.   See article in Contents:  John's Epistle.

Who is God?

The first commandment of God’s Law shows very clearly that we must have no other gods other than the God of the universe.  “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”. 
Exodus 20:3.

Who is this God?    And how can we identify Him?

There are men and women who claim to worship the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who believe in Noah, Abraham, Moses, a judgment, heaven, and they call him Allah.

But Allah is not God.

How do we know he is not God?   

According to the Scriptures, God has an only begotten Son, but the worshipper of Allah says, “God has no son”.   Clearly this identifies Allah as a false god.

There are other men who worship the Architect of the Universe, but their lodge meetings cater for anyone who believes in a supreme Being.    Thus the Christian can take his oath on the Bible, the Muslim on the Koran, the Jew on the Old Testament. 

On the wall of the Masonic Lodge is a large letter ‘G’.  This is said to represent ‘God’, however, a god that caters to the beliefs of all men is not the God of the universe.   Thus, the Architect of the Universe is not the true God.

In the Royal Arch ritual of Masonry, the name of God can only be said secretly, between three men.   It is Jahbulon.   But Jahbulon is not the God of the Bible.   It is a composite name, made up of three Gods: Yah, the Hebrew God
(Y in Hebrew, J in English);  Bul (or Baal), a Babylonian god;  On (or Osiris), an Egyptian god.   Thus, Jahbulon is a trinity of heathen confusion.   

                                   “I am the Lord (Yahweh):  that is My name:
                                           and My glory will I not give to another,
                                             neither My praise to graven images.”

                                                         
Isaiah 40:8.

Even Christians must consider if their God is the genuine God of the universe, for Paul has warned about a false gospel, and a false gospel will have a false god. “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” 
Galatians 1:8.9.    

Satan weaves himself into everything that is not truth, and those who believe the false gospel, though sincere, may be worshipping the instigator of that deceptive gospel.   John says those who worship the beast are worshipping the devil, “for they worship the dragon which gave power unto the beast”.  
Revelation 13:4.

But not only is there a false god and a false gospel, there is also a false Jesus and a false Spirit.   

Again the apostle says, “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not received, ye might well bear with him.”   
2 Corinthians 11:4.

The warning given centuries ago still stands.

“Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you,
(for the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”  Deuteronomy 6:14.15.

Let us pray our God is the real One.   Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”  
John 17:3.

In this world, there are “gods many”, but to Christians, “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  
1 Timothy 2:5.

“For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him;  and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” 
1 Corinthians 8:5.6.

This is a serious matter, for it concerns our eternal life.

God wants us to learn more of His Son, as it will bring us closer to the perfection of Christian maturity.

“Christ has ascended to heaven and given gifts to men – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… and may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” 
Ephesians 4:11-15.

If we trust in the wrong god, the wrong Jesus, the wrong gospel, and have the wrong spirit, not only will we not reach the full stature of Christ, but we will be lost eternally.    Error can never sanctify.

How can we identify the true God, the true Christ, the true gospel, and the true Spirit?

There is only one way – the Bible.

 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God… for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness….” 
2 Timothy 3:16.17.

If you have thought it impossible that you yourself might be worshipping a false god, please consider the information in the pages of this booklet.


​God's Character Dimmed

Over the years prior to the coming of Jesus, man’s understanding became hazy as to God’s true identity.   The earth was dark through a misunderstanding of His character.

Although men refused to worship God before the flood, it was not until after the destruction of earth’s inhabitants, that Satan really began his masterpiece of deception.

Through the work of Semiramus, the widow of Nimrod
(a great grandson of Noah), a counterfeit system of religion was formed, and in due time, Semiramus “announced the news that the spirit of Nimrod had descended from the sun, and she would bear a child by her sun-god husband.   Not only would Nimrod be the father, he would also be the resurrected, incarnate son”.   Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop p58.59.

From that time men and women began to worship the “alma mater”, the ‘virgin’ mother, a woman purported to be chaste and without blemish.  The son was called the zero-ashta, the “seed of the woman”, and the mother, the “virgin of salvation”. 
Ibid p56.59. 305-310.

Semiramis gained glory from her dead and deified husband and in the course of time, both ‘mother and son’, were worshipped  as the “personification of the sun-god”. 
Ibid p77. 157.158.264.

Eventually, the mother received more glory than her son, gaining the dubious honour of being called the ‘queen of heaven’, a totally false concept of the heavenly realm.

Another important aspect of this Babylonian religion was that devotees worshipped – Semiramis, Nimrod and Tammuz, an unholy ‘trinity’ of licentiousness and sun worship. 

When Israel was in apostasy, it is recorded that the women “wept for Tammuz”.
Ezekiel 8:14.  It may seem confusing that they wept for Tammuz, when it was Nimrod who died, but remember, in their heathen philosophy, Tammuz was Nimrod incarnate.

Although there was a trinity formed of Nimrod, Semiramus and Tammuz,  the “sun was the essential principle of the Babylonian system.  They claimed ‘he’ was the only god”. 
Two Babylons p96.

“In the unity of that ‘one only’ god of the Babylonians, there were three persons, and to symbolise that doctrine of the trinity… the equilateral triangle, just as it is well known the Romish Church does as at this day”   
Ibid  p16.

In India the supreme deity, in like manner, in one of the most ancient cave temples, is represented with three heads on one body, under the name ‘Eko Deva Trimurth’. 
(One God – three forms)   In Japan, the Buddhists worship their great divinity, Buddha, with three heads, in the very same form, under the name of ‘San Pao Fuh’. Ibid p18.

“Strictly speaking, they (the numerous gods of heathenism) are resolved into one or other of a trinity, composed of a Father, Mother, and Son, the various attributes of whom were personified and worshipped under different titles, and known under different names in different nations”.  
The True Christ and the False Christ. J Garnier. Vol  11. p4.5. London 1900.  Quoted in Handbook for Bible Students p248. 1927.

One writer stated, “As far back as we can go into the ancient world, we find that all known cultures had a ‘three-in-one’ triune god.  The very first trinity was simply the three stages of the life of the sun.   1. New born at dawn.  2. Mature full-grown at 12 noon.  3.  Old and dying at the end of the day.  All three were of course One Divinity – the Sun!”   
Jordan Maxwell. BBC of America. Quoted in Exposure Vol 5. No.6 1999.

Alexander Hislop summed it up, “All these have existed from ancient times.  While overlaid with idolatry, the recognition of a trinity was universal in all the ancient nations of the world…”  
Two Babylons p18. 


Masterpiece of Deception

We are well aware that Satan entered the Christian church during the days of the apostles, for Paul says men “entered unawares” causing “divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned”.
Romans  16:17.

Eventually the devil was able to capture the church in the Western part of the Roman Empire, and there he began his masterpiece of deception.

His plan was to bring pagan doctrines into the church as a means of attracting men and women to Christianity, but the result was that the church itself became heathen.

This first began in the city of Rome.  Gradually its influence grew, and became the Roman Catholic Church, eventually called the Papacy.    The fact that Catholicism has many practises and beliefs that were once pagan is admitted by the Church.

According to Catholic writer Lawrence Leinheuser, the Catholic Church “adapts herself as far as possible to her surroundings.  She does not reject completely the customs and institutions of a people into whose land she carries the good tidings, but endeavors to bring these institutions into harmony with her own doctrines….  

So it is that we find the early writers of the church retaining in substance many of the old heathen myths and legends, changing them only to invest them with a Christian atmosphere.”  
Lawrence N Leinheuser. MA in Legend of the Phoenix.  The Catholic Education Review (Washington.DC). March 1921.

For many years there was a vast difference between the church in the West and the church in the East, but gradually, almost imperceptibly, the customs of heathenism found their way into Christendom as a whole.

To list the heathen dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church would be to mention every single tenet.

But the most important doctrine is who they worship.  This is central to any religion. 

Catholicism has a false God, a false Christ, and a false Spirit.   Their god is the god of Babylon, with its licentious ‘madonna’ and her illegitimate son.  The Mary of Catholicism is Semiramus, the ‘queen of heaven’, and the Christ-child is her son Tammuz, one born ‘miraculously’ of Nimrod, the sun god.   The Holy Spirit is not God’s Spirit, but one who desires to be worshipped as God.  

Sadly, the millions in Catholicism know nothing of the falseness of their triune god.   They need our love, not condemnation.   And they need to be told the truth.

The Catholic gospel is one of works through the ‘seven sacraments’, a system of bondage, no different from any heathen religion.  It has christening in place of baptism, penance in place of repentance, auricular confession to the priest in place of confession to God alone. There are pilgrimages, indulgences, acts of penance, hail Mary’s, and meritorious works that take the place of faith in the righteousness of Christ.  Not to mention praying to the saints, kneeling before images, the supremacy and infallibility of the Pope, rosary beads, holy water, medallions, celibacy, relics.   The list goes on. 

There are also many heathen festivals, such as Lent, Easter and Christmas, indeed the entire church calendar.  Their Communion service is called the Eucharist or the Mass.   This is a  perversion of the symbolic service instituted by Christ, for in the doctrine of transubstantiation, the substance of bread and wine becomes the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ.   It is called His ‘unbloody sacrifice’.

Catholicism even has a counterfeit Bible.  It is based on the Latin translation.  Unfortunately, the majority of new translations are based on this same corrupted text, rather than on the majority of manuscripts preserved by the faithful.  It is called the Received Text
(Textus Receptus), and from these manuscripts the King James was translated.

Another false teaching in Catholicism is the day of worship.  Instead of obeying God’s Law and resting on the seventh day of the week, the following day has been chosen, a day never sanctified by God.   The change was made gradually, but in AD321, it was brought to the fore by the Emperor Constantine.

                      “Let all judges and townspeople
                          and occupations of all trades
                  rest on the Venerable Day of the Sun…”
                  
Orations and Praise of Constantine Chap. 1X.

Few students of history believe Constantine became a genuine Christian, as he was still minting coins to the various gods after his ‘conversion’.   His allegiance to the sun god is clearly shown in this Sunday legislation.

When pagan ‘Christians’ entered the churches of Rome on the ‘Venerable Day of the Sun’, they saw the sanctuaries filled with sun symbols -- sun discs over altars, halos overshadowing crosses, halos on the heads of Mary, Jesus, angels, the disciples – all erected to help them adjust to their new surroundings.   And they felt perfectly at home.

It is a sad state of affairs, for millions of lovely Catholic people partake of a wafer sun disc in the Mass, on the day dedicated to the sun god.  Even the letters I.H.S. are heathen, as they stand for Isis, Horus and Seb, the Egyptian trinity.

Every one of these Papal teachings has its origin in paganism, and this is documented without contradiction.

Compare the following quotation of heathenism with the Catholic religion and you will see marked similarities.  In actual fact – it is a description of ‘Catholic’ heathenism itself.

“The worship of the pagan gods was always carried on through their idols or images, and that these idols being the characteristic and apparently an inseparable feature of that worship… The pagan rites were regarded as a service done to the Deity, as acts of homage which satisfied his demands and appeased his anger, while they were rites also which were supposed to purify the souls, and obtain pardon for the sins of the worshippers…. Holy water purified him;  the sacrifice of the round cake atoned for his sins; charms, relics, and holy signs preserved him from danger; righteousness consisted of ritual acts and ordinances, penances and self-mortifications;  auguries and oracles revealed the will of the gods, whom he worshipped through the images;  while the priesthood stood in the place of God to him, both as mediators between the gods and men, and as the sole channel through which all spiritual effects were to be obtained.…” 
The True Christ and the False Christ. J Garnier. Vol 11. p37.38. London 1900.  Quoted in Handbook for Bible Students p248. 1927.

No, the Catholic Church does not worship the true God, for the Bible clearly says that the Papal Antichrist denies the Son, thus it does not have the Father or the true Spirit.

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God…. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:   Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God;  and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world.”  
1 John 4:1-3.

Obviously there is another meaning to the Bible words, for the Catholic Church does say Jesus is the Christ, born of the virgin Mary.   Apart from the fact that the Catholic Jesus is the heathen Tammuz, many think the text alludes to the belief that Mary was born immaculate, entirely free from original sin.   This means
(to the Catholic) that Christ could also be free of original sin.

However, in spite of this belief, Catholicism still says Jesus was the Christ, born of Mary and the Holy Spirit.   Catholics say they believe Jesus had human flesh, that He was subject to our necessities, and was capable of committing sin, yet remained sinless all His life.    

However, John’s message has another meaning.  It is not just that Jesus was called the Christ and born of human flesh, but that He is God’s Son who took upon Himself human flesh.    This is shown throughout the epistle.

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins….

Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit, and we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.   Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God…”  
1 John 4:9-16.

The message is clear – God sent  His Son.

According to John’s words, the true Spirit is identified by the belief that Christ is the Son of God.  “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:  Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” 
1 John 4:1.2.

How do we recognise the true Spirit?    By the confession that Jesus
(who is the Son of God) came in the flesh.   Both parts of this confession are important as this is what the Papacy denies.   John makes it clear that to deny the Son is to deny the Father.

“Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?  He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.   Whosever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father;  but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”  
1 John 2:22.23.   

Again, to deny that Jesus is the Christ is in actual fact denying that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent from heaven.

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…. for whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”   
1 John 5:4. 

Many stop at the end of this verse, but to understand the identity of those who will overcome the world, we must go on to the next verse, as it gives the object of our faith.

“Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?    This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ;  not by water only, but by water and blood.   And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth….

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater;  for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.   He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself;  he that believeth not God hath made him a liar;  because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son, and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 
1 John 5:1.3.4.5.6.9.10.11.12.

It is not that God became a Son, but that the Son was sent by His Father.   Thus Christ is the real, only begotten Son of God.   What a glorious truth!

However, unlike the experience of Abraham and Isaac on Moriah, the God of the universe could not save His Son from death -- and at the same time, save you and me from eternal damnation.    He was willing to give His Son for our salvation.

According to the Bible, the Papacy does not believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.   She might say He is, but you need to read further to understand the true meaning of Catholic words.    Remember, the scarlet woman has in her hand a “golden cup, full of abominations.” 
Revelation 17:4.

Who do you Worship?