France‚ 24/9/80DFO 1478

—Doctrinal Questions Inspired by "Satan of Light" Comic.

1. CATHOLICS COULD SAY THE SAME THING FOR THE PROTESTANTS! They have to listen to preachers for years & years & years before they ever get serious, ever get desperate enough to get down & seriously study the Bible for themselves, & by that time it's all interpreted!—Just exactly like what the Protestants say about the Catholics! Pitiful! Obviously, I mean, the Bible couldn't be more specific than it is in the last two chapters in Revelation! It says "Outside the city"!—There are this & that & all these sinners & nations & kings & the Lake of fire‚ outside the City! (Rev.22:15.) It doesn't even say there's any great gulf fixed or anything. (See also "Heaven, Hell & In-Between!" No.1466:57-60.)

2. I MEAN, WHEN I READ THAT TO PEOPLE RIGHT OUT OF THE BIBLE, SOME HAVE BEEN HORRIFIED & said, "Oh, I couldn't believe it's right outside the City! The Lord wouldn't have us have to be watching all those people for Millenniums being tormented in a Lake of Fire!" (Maria: So what were you saying he was wrong on?)

3. WELL, THIS IS A THEORY I'VE HEARD BEFORE FROM THE PREACHERS!—That Abraham's bosom is in the heart of the Earth, like limbo‚ & that it's right in more or less the same location as Hell—that they're both down there, anyhow—& that all the people who died from the time of Adam to the Crucifixion who had been faithful to the Lord were waiting there! Now wouldn't that be some place to have to wait for thousands of years before going to Heaven to be with the Lord—waiting, just waiting for Jesus' Crucifixion!

4. WELL, IF THE BIBLE IS TRUE & THIS IS THE LAMB WHICH WAS SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, by faith the Crucifixion had already occurred, He certainly shouldn't have been keeping the faithful down there was prisoners, you know?—Just because Jesus hadn't been literally crucified yet. Abraham was saved by faith, by looking forward to Christ's Crucifixion‚ & all the old saints were. Then what were they doing poppin' out of the graves when Jesus rose from the dead, huh? I suppose they say that's when they were going to go up to Heaven to be with God & they were in prison all that time, spirits in prison!—That God held His Own most faithful ones as spirits in prison, & Jesus then had to go to preach to, to get them out!

5. HE SAYS, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, "THEM WHICH WERE SOMETIMES DISOBEDIENT!" Get me my Bible, I wanna read that right now! You gotta give me my concordance too, 'cause I've forgotten exactly where it is, Peter or something. I want to look that up in the Bible, because it sounds like definite false doctrine! (Maria: What is false doctrine?) Teaching that the spirits in prison that Jesus was preaching to were the dead saints being held prisoner down there in Hell, or right next-door to Hell, in a place called Abraham's bosom! I mean, that's pure theory, total theory & their own interpretation! I wonder if that's some Jewish thing? I wouldn't be surprised! Let me see my Bible, I wanna see that! I think He says, "who were sometimes disobedient"! It doesn't talk about the people who were faithful & saints, it says they were the disobedient & they are in prison, spirits in prison!

6. HERE IT IS IN 1PETER 3:18 & SO ON: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went & preached unto the spirits in prison; which some time were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." It sounds more like the people who were alive during Noah's day‚ not all the way from Adam to Jesus!

7. HE WENT & PREACHED TO THEM‚ & if He had to preach to them, why did He have to preach to them unless they needed to repent & believe & get saved! Not the faithful ones of God! It doesn't say the faithful ones, it says the disobedient! So that is absolutely a false doctrine as far as I'm concerned, that business about Abraham's bosom being some kind of a limbo in Hell or next-door to Hell in the bowels of the Earth, full of the faithful just waiting to be let out when Jesus comes! I mean, what a horrible conception!

8. (MARIA: SO WAS ABRAHAM'S BOSOM SYMBOLISING HEAVEN?) Yes! To a Jew, that would be Heaven! Lazarus went to be in Abraham's bosom! In fact, let me see that story! (Luke 16:22:) "And it came to pass‚ that the beggar died"—Lazarus—"and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom!" Well‚ that certainly was Heaven, of all places! I never got that it was down in the heart of the Earth in a prison for those spirits! I never could swallow that! I heard that before & I just don't swallow it, I don't buy it! I think the Lord took care of all the Saints the same, just like He does us, in those days the same! So that's another false doctrine as far as I'm concerned.

9. THEN—GET THIS—HE SAYS THAT 1CO.2:8 IS ADDRESSED TO SATAN & HIS DEMONS after the Crucifixion & Resurrection of Christ, etc. It says, "Satan & his demons are sick, They realise they lost‚ for the Bible says, 'For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory!’" (Maria: That doesn't apply to the angels!) Of course not! The Bible's talking about the Jews [the religious leaders who were responsible for Jesus' death]! This guy, like the other guy, almost interchangeably calls people here Satan & his demons when it was talking of [those] Jews. Really‚ some of these guys! Lord, help us & deliver us from some of these false teachings!

10. IN 1CO.2:6 PAUL BEGINS: "HOWBEIT WE SPEAK WISDOM AMONG THEM THAT ARE PERFECT; yet not the wisdom of this World, nor of the princes of this World, that come to nought." I think he was talking about the actual political princes, not the Devil's princes. That's another phoney idea they got from some preacher's screwy interpretation! "Even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the World unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this World knew: for had they known it‚ they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

11. DO YOU THINK IT WOULD HAVE MADE A BIT OF DIFFERENCE TO SATAN & HIS DEMONS?—NOT A BIT! What a ridiculous doctrine! I mean, they knew what was gonna happen from the beginning but they wanted to cause Him all the suffering they possibly could! He's talking here about the princes of this Earth, like the Romans! If they'd really known what they were doing, it says they wouldn't have done it. The Romans would have repented!

12. EVEN THE DEVILS BELIEVE & TREMBLE (JA.2:19), BUT IT DOESN'T SAVE THEM, THEY DON'T REPENT. The writer says that they would have repented, they wouldn't have done it! That's accusing Satan & his demons of being pretty dumb, not knowing what they were doing! They new exactly what they were doing!

13. EVEN THE PRINCES OF THE JEWS REALISED WHAT THEY WERE DOING, they were so deceived & filled with the Devil! They knew what they were doing, but they refused to believe He was the Messiah, they rejected it, refused it‚ so God sent them strong delusion! But can you imagine anybody interpreting this to be Satan & his demons? It says‚ "the princes of this World!" It's really got a lot of screwy things there, poor guy!

14. THIS POOR COMIC ARTIST! (Maria: Well, it's Chick Publications. I don't know who the artist is. I can hardly read his artist credit.) It says Copyrighted 1970 by Jack T. Chick, Published by Chick Publications. His name is in such fine print you can hardly read it! It doesn't give him any credit‚ imagine that, not even on the cover. Isn't that something? "By J.T.C." Doesn't even put his full name, I wonder why? (Maria: I don't know, cause he's evidently head of the whole Publishing Company.)

15. (MARIA: IT'S TOO BAD THEY HAVE TO GET ALL COMPLICATED & GET INTO DOCTRINE & EVERYTHING, they're just supposed to be trying to help you know how to get saved!) Yes, isn't it a shame? Especially in all these very controversial & screwy little doctrines & mysteries, if they don't understand it, they shouldn't get into them! Probably some preacher got ahold of this poor guy Chick & gave him all this stuff, so he thinks it's great & puts it in! He's probably just a babe himself! He doesn't know too much, he's an artist. He's trying to use his art for the Lord‚ then these preachers give him all these funny, controversial, screwy doctrines! (Maria: 'Cause several places it gives a reference of somebody's book.)

16. THAT'S SO MYSTERIOUS that my mother even said she wished Peter had never written that! Ha!—About Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison. (1Pe.3:19.) She said, "It almost confirms Mormon doctrine that there's a second chance for the people in Hell!"

17. THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY IN SOME KIND OF A PRISON. They may not be in Hell-fire, but they're in prison & Jesus had to preach to them in His mercy. It says as plain as day they were the disobedient, not as this guy says‚ the faithful Saints! I wonder where he got that doctrine? He doesn't give any references to that one, maybe that's his own private doctrine! Whew!

18. [CANAAN'S] DESCENDANTS WERE SURE A MESS! ... Genesis 10 says Cush was one [of Ham's sons], & Mizraim, Phut & Canaan; that's the Canaanites, they were Black too. "And the sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah‚ Sabtah, Raamah, Sabtecha: & the sons of Raamah; Sheba & Dedan." Now it gives all those sons without mentioning Nimrod. "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the Earth. He was a mighty hunter before he Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord."

19. NOW THIS IS WHAT IT SAYS IN THE BIBLE ABOUT NIMROD, who this comic here accuses of being the father of all Satanism & Witchcraft & everything else! Well, maybe so‚ we don't know. But it says, "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord"—why does it say "before the Lord"?

20. "AND THE BEGINNING OF HIS KINGDOM WAS BABEL"—well, that sure caused a lot of trouble—"and Erech, & Accad, & Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land"—Shinar—"went forth Asshur, & builded Nineveh"—that's Assyria. Asshur is Assyria, & builded Nineveh. (Maria: That was a pretty evil city.) Those were pretty evil kingdoms, both Babylon & Assyria—"and builded Nineveh‚ & the city Rehoboth, & Calah, & Resen between Nineveh & Calah: the same is a great city. And Mizraim"—which is Egypt—begat Ludim, & Anamim, & Lehabim, & Naphtuhim, & Pathrusim, & Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) & Caphtorim."

21. SO FROM NIMROD CAME BABYLON, ASSYRIA, NINEVEH & OTHER ROTTERS!—WHICH IS ALL A PRETTY BAD BUNCH, I MUST ADMIT! He also begat Sidon & Heth. Canaan begat Sidon, Jebusite, & the Amorite—oh my, they were great enemies of Israel—Hivite, Arkite, Sinnite, Arvadite, Zemarite, Hamathite, "and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad." Lots of Canaanites. (Maria: So in other words, he didn't have very good fruit, but maybe he started off good.) Yes. "And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon‚ as thou cometh to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, & Gomorrah"—Ha, ha, ha‚ what a bunch! Sodom & Gomorah! (Maria: Oh dear!) "These are the sons of Ham."

22. I MEAN, THEY [THE CANAANITES] JUST WERE A WHOLE BIG MESS, & THEIR NATIONS! Well, no wonder they blame dear Nimrod for so much, but they oughtta blame [Canaan] … because he was the forefather of … all the Canaanites & Sodom & Gomorrah! … [HomeARC note (9/98): See "The Un-Cursed Sons of Ham!", ML #2928.]

23. SO THEY CERTAINLY DID DEVELOP A BAD BUNCH, THAT'S FOR SURE. All those were the enemies of Israel, all these sons of [Canaan]. But it doesn't really make clear exactly what Nimrod's status was, it says he was a great hunter before the Lord, & it even turns around & almost compliments him‚ saying, "Therefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." (Ge.10:9.)

24. THAT SOUNDS MORE LIKE A COMPLIMENT TO ME THAN LIKE A CONDEMNATION! So where do they get all this business about Nimrod being the father of all Witchcraft & Satanism & Satanic worship & Baal? …

25. (DAD READS FROM COMIC): "IN THE LAKE OF FIRE FOR ETERNITY." How could God be a God of love & put people in a Lake of Fire for Eternity, forever! (Maria: Yes, for making what they consider to be mistakes. Most of the Church believe that!) All the churches & Catholics & Catholic churches especially emphasise that. God bless dear old Pridgeon! I mean, you can read it right from the Bible, how could they get so far off? (Maria: By not studying their Bible! Ha! The Protestants are as bad as the Catholics‚ that had only Latin all the time! You'd think the Protestants' Bible had been in Latin all this time, as much as they read it!)

26. IF BABEL WAS NIMROD'S IDEA—& HE DID BUILD BABEL, IT SAYS—SO HE MUST HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE, the leader that helped build the tower of Babel which became Babylon later. If that was his idea, he obviously displeased the Lord. They wanted to make a great name of themselves, in other words‚ they wanted to be one great World government. So if Babel was Nimrod's idea, it surely was a bad idea, that's for sure! God condemned it & judged it, confused their tongues & scattered'm!

27. BUT DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT THAT WOMAN IN PORTUGAL SAID TO US?—Joao's wife. I guess she already knew I was some kind of a mystic, but it was kind of peculiar! She was pretty much in the government with high officials, etc., & she said‚ "You know that 12 men run the World, don't you?" and I said, "I wouldn't be surprised"—& I thought of the Illuminati at that time & the [ACs]. And see, this is what he's saying all the time. (Maria: Yes, she said she had classified information that she wasn't allowed to talk about.) See, he claims there are 13 of them, she said 12. It says‚ "All this is interwoven with the Lodges & can be traced back to Nimrod's idea for one World Government." (Maria: That's a pretty good statement, I guess. The Bible said it was Nimrod.)

28. APPARENTLY THEY LET TODD GET THAT HIGH, & they have to get into the 33rd Degree, which is the Council of 33‚ before they really know what's going on, you see? (Maria: But Todd wasn't that far, was he?) Well, I think he was in the top Seven Grand Druids! (Maria: Oh, are the Grand Druids above that? But that's not the Masons, is it?) The Grand Druids is strict Witchcraft, but he said that the Grand Druid Council of Seven works over the Council of 12, I think, & that they work over the Council of 33! (Maria: Oh, he said the Council of 13, the Grand Druid Council, that is what he sat on! Oh, it's the same—the Council of 13 is the Grand Druid Council!) Yes, but it's not the Council of the Illuminati. (See "The Illuminati & Witchcraft!" by John Todd, No.948.)

29. HE SAYS THERE ARE TWO GROUPS, THERE ARE THE SPIRITUAL RELIGIONISTS WHO ARE BEHIND THE PHYSICAL KINGDOM. He was in the spiritual, the religious Witchcraft kingdom & sat on the Council of Seven Druids under whom come all this‚ that & the other. But the Council of Twelve, the Illuminati—or he says 13, I think—this is the political group. They are the political, in other words, the above ground.

30. THE WITCHCRAFT‚ THE GRAND DRUID COUNCIL OF SEVEN & ALL THAT ARE THE BELOW GROUND, the real spiritual background‚ the undercover organisation. Whereas the other is the sort of above-ground political organisations topped by the Illuminati, Council of Thirteen & the Council of 33‚ 33rd-degree Masons. Well, supposedly the 32nd degree is as high as you can get, so apparently most Masons don't know that the 33rd degree exists, see?

31. (MARIA: HE SAYS AT THE TOP OF EVERY PYRAMID YOU'LL FIND A 500, THE WORLD BANKING SYSTEM, the next is the Council of 33, the 33 highest Masons in the World, so maybe it's not 32nd, evidently there're 33 men, 33 highest Masons.) But someplace else he gives indication that it's above the 32nd degree somewhere in there, at least I got that impression. (Maria: Yes. And then he says after that is the Council of 13, the Grand Druid Council‚ he makes them synonymous.)

32. IT SAYS, "A COPY OF INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY ALBERT PIKE‚ 33rd-degree Mason, the Grand Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry, July 14th, 1889, to the 23 Supreme Councils of the World‚ will tell you who the god of Masonry really is!" And then he says, "You'd better sit down before you read this, if you wanna read the shocking revelations! Albert Pike, this 33rd-degree Mason says, 'Lucifer is God'"—& they give the credit to Nimrod as being one of their founders of Masonry, that's his great revelation. This is from "The Occult Theocracy" by Lady Queenborough.

33. REV.14:11 SAYS: "THE SMOKE OF THEIR TORMENT ASCENDETH UP FOR EVER & EVER: & they have no rest day nor night." They take this Scripture out of context, because it was spoken of the Devil & the Antichrist & the False Prophet‚ not the peoples of this World! Give me my Bible, I'll show it to you! It's speaking there of those who worshipped the Beast & his Image & received the Mark of his name. I mean, they're really the worst. Then it goes on to tell later where the Beast & his False Prophet are cast in the Lake of Fire.

34. (MARIA: WILL ANY CHRISTIANS RECEIVE THE MARK OF THE BEAST?—LIKE JUST OUT OF FEAR?) I don't think any true Christian, of course‚ who really loves the Lord, will receive the Mark of the Beast. They will know it's the Mark of the Beast & they know they don't dare receive it! (Maria: 'Cause they'll be certainly damned if they do.)

35. REV.14:9-11: "IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST & HIS IMAGE, & RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND, the same shall drink of the wine of the Wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; & he shall be tormented with fire & brimstone in the presence of the holy angels & in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever & ever: & they have no rest day nor night, who worship the Beast & his Image, & whosoever receiveth the Mark of his name."

36. (MARIA: BUT LOTS & LOTS OF WEAK CHRISTIANS ALL DOWN THROUGH HISTORY & EVERY DAY DENY CHRIST. They've been saved but they're really weak & they go back & backslide & do a lot of horrible things. I mean‚ I don't understand how some weak Christians will keep from getting the Mark out of fear & not having anything to eat.)

37. I THINK IT'S GONNA BE SO OBVIOUS THEN THAT IT'S THE DEVIL, that Christians will be so aware of what's happening & God will give them the strength. They'll have the strength to resist, contrary to what a lot of these bloomin' preachers have been saying! They got that idea, the heads of the Christians, that "If you're not good‚ then Jesus will come & take out the good ones & you'll be left behind. Even if you're a Christian, you're a bad Christian, & you'll have to take the Mark of the Beast & blah blah" & all this stuff!

38. SOME OF THE PREACHERS SAY JUST WHAT YOU SAID‚ that some Christians will be so weak they'll take the Mark of the Beast! Well, I don't believe that doctrine! First of all, I don't believe in the doctrine of a Pre-Trib Rapture, because all the Saints will be raptured after that, God's gonna take all the Christians out of the world. If they're weak saints‚ they're no saints at all! (Maria: Well, you've always got weak saints, I mean‚ you've always got weak Christians around.) Honey, there aren't going to be any weak Christians in that day, they're probably all going to be dead!

39. LOOK HERE, THEY'RE USING THIS SCRIPTURE, HEB.9:27‚ TO SHOW THAT ONCE YOU DIE & GO TO HELL, IT'S TOO LATE! Now just think how many people will probably repent in Hell when they finally wake up to the fact that it was all true & what a horrible place they've gone to! But they use the Scripture here to try to prove that it's too late & it's impossible to be saved then! To show you how they quote Scriptures or give references when "it ain't necessarily so," here's the reference they give that it's too late!:

40. "AND AS IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MEN ONCE TO DIE, BUT AFTER THIS THE JUDGEMENT," The Judgement! So what? That doesn't say it's too late! They die, sure. (Maria: And they get judged.) And they get judged, & it says they'll be every one punished—this word means judged & punished—according to their sins, their works, their words or evil deeds & all the rest! Well‚ all right, then there must be some end to it.

41. JESUS HIMSELF SAID, "SOME WILL BE BEATEN WITH FEW STRIPES." Some are only going to get punished very little, others with many stripes. (Lk.12:47,48.) Well, that indicates there's gonna be an end to their punishment, both of them, especially the few stripes, the ones who are the most innocent & ignorant, right? But He says, "Those that knew their Father's will & did things worthy of punishment, should be beaten with many stripes."

42. IT SAYS, "BUT THOSE WHO KNEW NOT THE FATHER'S WILL & DID THINGS WORTHY OF PUNISHMENT SHALL BE BEATEN WITH FEW STRIPES." In other words, the ignorant & the innocent that didn't know, didn't have the Word‚ all those people that the Christians didn't preach the Gospel to, who didn't know any better‚ are going to be beaten with few stripes, going to get very little punishment.

43. THIS COMIC DOESN'T MAKE ANY DISTINCTION IN THE KIND OR QUANTITY OR QUALITY OF THE PUNISHMENT GIVEN IN HELL & says it's all the same for everybody!—It's fire & demons & demonic & horrors! Can you imagine little babies & everybody going to that kind of a place? It's ridiculous! I just cannot possibly believe that false‚ unbiblical, unscriptural doctrine of eternal Hellfire & brimstone & torment & torture—eternal‚ mind you, eternal! I mean, it's impossible!

44. IF THAT WERE TRUE, I COULDN'T BELIEVE IN GOD, HE'S BE A MONSTER!—To punish ignorant, innocent people who did the best they could, even though they never heard about Jesus & never received Him! He makes it as plain as anything He's got a place for them, outside the City, & He speaks of preaching to those spirits in prison.

45. LOOK AT THE MERCY OF CHRIST! He went down into the bowels of Hell‚ so to speak—the real actual translation of the Word "Hell" means "the grave," or "death," "underworld"—& He preached to them! (See No.1476:5, pg.3.) Why did He preach to them when there was no hope for them to be saved? Even this crazy comic says that these people He preached to are going to get out‚ even though they weren't in Heaven.

46. THE AUTHOR SAYS IT WAS THE FAITHFUL BELIEVERS, BUT IN THAT PASSAGE IN PETER IT SAYS THEY WERE "THE DISOBEDIENT"—even of the times of Noah, which was the worst time of all! I think that's why he brings up the times of Noah, obviously it was the people who were already down there, because they were evidently the worst of all. All those disobedient people that God just wiped out in the Flood in the time of Noah, He's even gonna give them a second chance! Think of that! We sure need a little study on that, altho' I've mentioned it before.

47. BUT THEY PREACH THIS DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL HELL & NO HOPE FOR ANYBODY & THAT'S IT; once you're gone, you're gone forever! How awful! I wouldn't even wanna show kids these pictures‚ they're horrible, horrors! He sure preaches Hell in this one! Whew! Condemnation! Sounds like the Catholic Church! Even the Catholics are a little bit more merciful than that, they've got Limbo for babies, & they've got Purgatory, for the people who repent & then get out. Even the Catholics aren't that bad, they came closer to it than the Protestants!

48. THIS VERSE IN HEBREWS DOESN'T PROVE YOU'RE GONNA BE IN HELL FOREVER AT ALL! "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; & unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." That doesn't prove that they cannot repent. He went down & preached to them Himself after He was dead! (Heb.9:27–28.)

49. WHY SHOULD HE PREACH TO THEM IF THERE WAS NO CHANCE? Why should He go to the spirits in prison if they haven't got a chance to repent & believe? That's exactly why He went there, to give a chance to the many innocent, ignorant people, & even people who apparently committed things very little worthy of punishment 'cause they didn't know. We oughtta look up that Scripture about "few stripes" & "many stripes." Jesus Himself said it.

50. SO OBVIOUSLY SOME ARE GOING TO BE PUNISHED WORSE THAN OTHERS. Some are going to get very little punishment, if any! Others are gonna get plenty, just what they deserve, but no more! My Lord, nobody deserves a flaming‚ tormenting, torturous Hell forever, I don't think even the Devil! I think Pridgeon taught that even the Devil, after aeons in Hell, would eventually be purified‚ repent & come out. (See Is Hell Eternal? by Charles H. Pridgeon.)

51. (MARIA: LUKE 12:47: "AND THAT SERVANT WHICH KNEW HIS LORD'S WILL, & prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not...")—He that knew not, that's the word to put the emphasis on—"but did things worthy of stripes," go ahead. (Maria: "Shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: & to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.") and this is in what context, what preceded?

52. (MARIA: "BLESSED ARE THOSE SERVANTS, WHOM THE LORD WHEN HE COMETH SHALL FIND WATCHING.") It talks about the Lord's servants, talks about the Second Coming of the Lord, right? (Maria: Yes.) They're gonna be blessed! (Maria: "And the Lord said, who then is that faithful & wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing." It talks about the ones who are blessed, the saved, & the faithful servants. Go ahead.

53. (MARIA: "OF A TRUTH I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT HE WILL MAKE HIM RULER OVER ALL THAT HE HATH. But & if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming; & shall begin to beat the menservants & maidens, & to eat & drink, & to be drunken; the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for Him, & at an hour when he is not aware‚ & will cut him in sunder, & will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.")—Obviously he was pretty unbelieving or he wouldn't have been doing it, right? (Maria: Yes.) So He kicked him out with the rest of the unbelievers. Go ahead. (Maria: "And that servant, which knew his Lord's will‚ & prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes.") There you are! (Maria: "But he that knew not, & did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.")—Amen!

54. SO THE ONES WHO KNEW BETTER & KNEW WHAT GOD'S WILL WAS & KNEW THE WORD & had all this chance & rejected it & went ahead in their wickedness, God's really gonna sock it to'm! If anybody gets Hell, it's gonna be them! Obviously the rich man Dives must have heard & must have had it, or he wouldn't have been punished like that. But those who knew not‚ were ignorant, virtually innocent, but if they did things worthy of stripes, they're gonna get some punishment but very few, very little‚ which means it's gotta come to an end! (Maria: Yes, it does, of course!)

55. AND IN REVELATION‚ YOU SEE'M RIGHT THERE, ON THE NEW EARTH OUTSIDE, in the World outside the City. "Only the saved walk therein," but outside are these people who were once wicked‚ & kings & nations & so on, to whom we have to go out & heal with the Leaves of the Tree. It's plain as day! (Rev.21:24; 22:2.) I mean, these people who preach an eternal horrible torment, torturing flames of Hell forever, what a God they have! My Lord, what a monster would such a God be! Think of it!

56. EVEN THE CATHOLICS PREACH LIMBO & PURGATORY & IT'S NOT GONNA BE FOREVER, & the people are gonna be purified by the flames of Hell & repent & get out when their punishment is up, when there sentence is up. They're gonna be judged, the Scripture says they'll die & be judged, but it doesn't say they're gonna be in Hell forever at all! Why do they so misuse the Scripture? It doesn't say anything about it! (Maria: Maybe those verses about being purified by fire apply there, too.)

57. THIS POOR GUY IN THE COMIC SAYS, "JESUS, NOW I'M READY TO ACCEPT YOU"—he's in Hell amongst all these demons.—You don't think Jesus would take mercy on a guy like that? He that is repentant? The Lord says‚ if you repent, that everybody who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved‚ everybody! (Ac.2:21.) Now, if that's everybody, it means the people in Hell too! (Maria: Yes, I guess that's right!)

58. BUT HE'S GOT THIS HORRIBLE DEMON TALKING TO HIM, SAYING, "YOU FOOL, IT'S TOO LATE!"—& as a reference to that they give Hebrews 9:27 which simply says you're gonna be judged after you die! Here he's died, he's being judged, so, that Scripture is fulfilled. It doesn't say he can't get out‚ he can't repent, he can't call on the Name of the Lord & be saved! What a God to have! My Lord! It's certainly not my merciful God of Love who died for my sins!

59. BUT THEY'VE BEEN LED ASTRAY, these poor ignorant people who write comics like this. He doesn't know any better, he's been led astray by the preachers who preach that kind of a Hell & that kind of a God! Eternal punishment! Here's another Scripture that Pridgeon used: "The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2Pe.3:9.) It's another one from Peter, he must have known something about the doctrine of eventual restitution & universal restoration!

60. DEAR OLD BROTHER PRIDGEON OUGHT TO HEAR ME NOW, HE'D BE HAPPY! And Brother Kemper. Dear Brother Kemper is one of the few people who received us, this whole caravan of a 125 Gypsies on his college campus, think of that! The poor guy himself was a cast–out & knew what it was to be persecuted by the churches, just because he believed God was eventually going to save everybody. There's hardly a wicked sinner on Earth that's not gonna repent in Hell eventually.

61. (MARIA: THIS ONE SAYS, "THERE SHALL BE WEEPING & GNASHING OF TEETH, WHEN YE SHALL SEE ABRAHAM, & ISAAC, & JACOB, & all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, & you yourselves thrust out." Evidently they're gonna see them, huh?) Yes‚ it's talking about the [unrepentant] Jews‚ right there, by the way. [Mat.8:11,12] (Maria: "Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!")

62. THE EASTERN STAR WAS UPSIDE–DOWN. The Eastern Star that they put on, you know, it's a Woman's Society similar to Masons. (Maria: You never noticed that it's upside-down?) Yes. He points that out. It's a Witchcraft symbol, upside-down. And the Star of David with the two points up is used as a Witchcraft symbol.

63. (MARIA: BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN WE CAN'T USE LITTLE STARS?) No, no. The star that we usually use only has one point up, you see the difference? We use it this way. It's almost like a two-legged cross then, the Star of David they use this way, two points up. Remember when I pointed out in something I wrote‚ that I thought maybe the Star of David was gonna be like the Mark of the Beast, could be his symbol? What was that I put that in? (Maria: I don't know. It was a long time ago.) (See Nos. 274:81,82; 973:23-27.)

64. THEY'RE REALLY PUTTING THESE COMICS OUT! (Maria: Well, I guess they probably do more good if they use them as a witnessing tool, but the Christians don't even witness. Probably just the Church people get these, you know?) Well, they might buy them & give them to one of those "terrible hippies" or something! (Do you wanna read this one too?) Yes‚ I wanna read them all!

65. —I'VE GOTTA SEE HOW MUCH MORE FALSE DOCTRINE THEY TEACH!—We sure can't use'm! I don't see how Eve'n' Stephen can stomach this stuff & even buy'm & distribute'm by the thousands instead of our True Komix! God have mercy on'm! They've sure gone haywire! I don't even want our Family to read'm!—They're so fulla rot! GHU!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family