Frequently Asked Questions on Bible related matters are listed herein.

E-mail: secretary@ccg.org

This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
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The Bible…Is the Bible true-Bible as document-Bible inspired-Key to symbolic meanings-Gutenberg Bible-NET Bible-Study Bibles-Douay Rheims-Forgeries-Sola Scriptura-What is Scripture-Oracles of God-Order or reading Bible-Added-Renewing the mind-Septuagint/Kurios-Israel’s Historiography-Earth 6,000 years old-Years measured-Best manager of money-Hidden code-Colours

Destiny…Pleasures of world-Mankind’s future-God’s plan-Suffering-Who’s accountable-Lucky/unlucky

Symbolism of Numbers…72 offerings-How numbers reduce-4^th dimension-References to 300

Society…Marijuana-Marijuana and the Bible- Homosexuality-Cloning- Vegetarianism-Water witching-Dinosaurs-Earrings-Cremation-Life sacred-Failure to see obvious-Police officer-Parents not obeying God’s law- Masturbation-Martial arts-Body piercing-Horoscopes-Organ transplants-Spanking-Forgiveness-Adoption-Allegiance to flag-White lies-Alcohol-Smoking-Lottery-Swearing oath-Sodomy-Alternative medicine-Disobeying parents-Non-believer-Global warming-Fire on Sabbath-Husband’s name-Helping needy-Blood transfusions-Obedience

Pagan Traditions…Christmas pagan-Christ’s birth-God Attis-Xmas-Red & green-Mistletoe-Father Christmas-Star of Bethlehem-Cross pagan symbol-History of cross-Mother’s/Father’s day

History…Crusades-Pilgrim Fathers-Christian persecution-John Bunyan-Shepherd of Hermas

The Church…God’s plan-Wheat/tares-Pastor/minister/reverend-Children sanctified-Christian calling-Right religion-Weekly offerings-Why religion-Baptism by immersion-Healing-Eusebius-Which church-People of the Book-Mysteries of God

Prayer & Fasting…Who to pray to-Beat one’s breast-Praying in church-Prayers of non-Christians-Head covering-3 times a day-Sackcloth and ashes-Feed hungry on fast days

Spirit…Holy Spirit & demonic spirit together-What happens to such a person-Can spirits die

Calendar…Work both calendars-Dateline-Day or hour

False Doctrine…Third resurrection-Place of safety

Nations…Edom-Path of lost tribes-God racist-Shechem-430 years time frame-Future of Christianity-Time of gentiles-Covenants

A: The entire Protestant Reformation was fought on the basis of "Sola Scriptura." The Bible was held as the Word of God and the Ten Commandments were held as binding by all confessions.

The Apocrypha was rejected as uninspired because it conflicted with inspired Scripture and the view of Jerome was accepted which, by and large, accorded with the Jewish council of Jamnia in the second century in condemning the Apocrypha. Apocrypha means "hidden" and that is what they were. The Old Testament canon was closed at the death of Ezra in 323-1 BCE and the Apocrypha was used as a text but not regarded as inspired. Hippo and Carthage considered the question of the canon.

The Council of Trent, in trying to counter the Reformation, made the fatal error of declaring the Apocrypha canonical, allegedly following Augustine. Thus, when you say the Bible is true, one must ask which Bible is true? Look at the paper The Bible (No. 164).

Unfortunately, declaring the Bible true does not mean that the people, who do so, do what it says. In Europe this century during the Holocaust there was a category in the concentration camps with an upside down purple triangle. This was for the "Bibelforschers" or "Bible Researchers." It was the aim of the Holocaust to make Europe a Lutheran/Roman Catholic Christian state, free of the Bible following, Sabbath-keeping Jews and Christians.

The Lutherans seemingly took over the first concentration camp near Hamburg from the SA at the end of 1932. This was an old tradition. After the Reformation the Lutherans took over from the Roman Catholics in Transylvania. Rabbi Kohn records in his work Sabbatarians in Transylvania (CCG Publishing 1998) that the Sabbatarian Christians in Transylvania were persecuted ruthlessly for keeping the Law of God. These upright Christian gentlemen beheaded the women in the street because they were found to have goose fat instead of pig lard in their kitchens.

A million Armenians were taken out and shot between 1919 and the Holocaust because they kept the Bible as truth. Between one and two million Sabbatarians, sheltering among the Bektashi in Turkey, simply disappeared after 1927 along with perhaps up to five million Bektashi.

Look at the history of the Bible-obeying people of God in the paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170). So one can say, "Yes, the Bible is true (minus the Apocryphal works)." However there are a few fraudulent translations and insertions that make some of it not so true (e.g. 1John 5:7 KJV and 1Tim 3:16 in the KJV, Deut. 32:8 in the MT, and thus all Bibles following it, and so on).

A: The Bible refers to contemporary documents and practices all the time, throughout the history of its compilation. The Old Testament has been subjected to the most intense dissection in order to prove it is wrong.

Items like, for example, the notation at the death of Moses by the scribes is taken as indicative of the fact that Moses could not have an account of his own death, therefore it is a later production. The Restatement of the law in Deuteronomy is held to be a product of three documents in the Pentateuch the P, J, and Q documents.

The different uses of names for God and the people acting for Him are taken as evidence of different strains of worship in Canaan, rather than as evidence of the appalling theological ignorance of the scholars themselves, which is the actual case. The fact that Daniel is in Hebrew and Chaldee (Aramaic) is taken as evidence for a later writing, not as evidence for the theological structure of the message, which gives it more authenticity and power. A forger would hardly destroy his own work by adding Aramaic to a Hebrew text he had forged at a later date.

The references to the LXX in the New Testament indicate usage and familiarity. The phraseology in Jude shows a familiarity with Enoch, but does not indicate a lack of inspiration. The alterations of the Old Testament Hebrew by the Sopherim do not indicate a late compilation, but rather with the DSS and the LXX, we know that they altered the texts, and a genuine theologian will understand why.

The problem with chronology often stems from the total ignorance and the paradigms of the scholars themselves. For example, Egyptian chronology is based on Manetho. PhDs have been gained on that structure. Thus, the Bible is discredited rather than have some scholars place them in the correct time frame. I. Velikovsky paid the price for challenging that structure.

The Chaldean sequence is the same. The Hittites were thought to have never existed, as for centuries they appeared only in the Bible. Now, they have found their cities. In a short time they will tie them in as the Celtic people in the Israelite alliance. Until now that has been resisted because the European system has been at great pains to hide the true origins of nations because they want to construct an evolutionary model to get away from Bible laws.

The history of the Anglo Saxons is deliberately shrouded in mystery, up until the time of Julius Caesar, because the Catholic Church does not want the British to find out about their true origins. Look at the paper The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. 268) for some of the history of the nations of Europe

The latest plan is to date the Bible after 600 BCE, and then claim it came from the Indian texts (Vedas and Upanishads), which is the reverse of the case from the Aryan invasions of India 1000 BCE. They hope to thus establish the Process Theology model as the New World Religion. This was developed from Buddhism and Shintoism from the Kyoto School by Harteshorne and Whitehead. The time scale and authenticity of the Bible is examined in the paper The Bible (No. 164).

A: If Scripture is God breathed then He has given instructions for us to follow. However, we agree that it is both inspired and infallible. In a way we can agree on both but do not equate "inspired" with "commanded".

The Bible was "commanded" in the sense that God issued His Laws through His servants the prophets. The epistles are simply the writings of the early Church leaders and teachers that our Church has deemed as being inspired Scripture. God issued His Law through His servants the prophets. In this way the entire structure of the law and the prophets hang on the Two Great Commandments. See the law series papers from The Law of God (No. L1).

A: There are a series of keys to understanding prophecy. Timeframes are explained in the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13). You also need to know who some of the Tribes are, and the identity of modern Israel. Look at the paper The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. 268).

The use of the term, for example, "trees" has a meaning (see the paper The Fall of Egypt The Prophecy of Pharaoh’s Broken Arms (No. 36)) as do the concepts of "women" for churches, and cities of reigns and eras. The meanings are complex and they come out in the explanations of the texts. Look at these papers and they will explain many of the symbols. The City of God (No. 180) will show you what is the ultimate symbolism of the Bible.

A: For the benefit of all readers, the dates of the more famous English Bibles are: Wycliffe (Lollard Bible) (ca 1380); Tyndale (1525); Coverdale (1535); Matthews (1537); Cromwell’s or the Great Bible 1st edition (1539) 2nd edition ka Cranmers Bible; The Geneva Bible (1557-1560); Bishops Bible (1568); Vulgate tr. Reims New Testament (1582); Douay Bible (1609-10). Gutenbergs 42 line Bible was finished in 1453-1455. The thirty-six-line type appears to have been ready as early as the 4^th decade of the century.

A: It is very good to evaluate texts. The NKJV corrected a problem with the New Testament in one text by changing the original text in their Old Testament translation. Hence they have all the problems of the KJV, and more that they have made themselves. Look at the texts in Deuteronomy 32:8. If it doesn’t say "sons of God", it is wrong.

Ezekiel 28 is a good test. Look at the Interlinear Bible and work through the Old Testament text by looking at Strong’s as well: John 1:18, 1Timothy 3:16; 6:16; Philippians 2:5-9; 1John 5:20; 1John 5:7. For instance the paper Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229) is a good start for Revelation 1 and others.

A: We understand what you mean. The NIV is frustrating as well. It is a Trinitarian apology and ignores or deletes many important texts. The explanations often deal with the obvious and ignore the more difficult. Some of the footnotes are of value however and can be quite useful.

The best KJV you can use is the Companion Bible by Bullinger. His notes are very good except where they explain the Godhead or the Chronology. He gets both those wrong. Later, after the Bible work was published, he understood his error when persuaded by A. E. Knock. However, he was too old and left it to Knoch to fix, which he did in the Concordant Literal New Testament. So, that text is also important.

The appendices are of good value except, once again, for his chronology and the explanations based on that. The Marshall’s Greek English Interlinear is good and the RSV version is the best. They are now trying to publish it with the NIV rather than the RSV, which is a shame.

Green’s Interlinear Bible is a good Interlinear with Strong’s numbering and can be used for the Old Testament. The New Testament is based on the Receptus and so you will need Marshall’s as well. Bullinger’s notes deal with the problems in the Receptus in the footnotes. to the New Testament in the Companion Bible. A very good Old Testament Jewish commentary is the Soncino. It is based on the Masoretic Text and has no interlinear but rather a good English translation of it. It has copious rabbinical notes, which will make you even more annoyed than you were with the NIV at the deliberate ignorance of some rabbis and the failure of others to act on obvious messianic truth. In most of the major areas there are papers written taking account of the texts. Hopefully we will be able to produce a good workable text on the International Bible Project through CCG Publishing, in the future.

There is also a Concordance to the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical Books by Collins, which will also help you with their referencing. The New Oxford Annotated RSV is also a good text with notes that are not copious but relevant.

A: The extra books are the works which constitute the Apocrypha. This group of works was declared canonical by the Council of Trent. All of these works were produced after the close of the Canon, and after the death of Ezra in 323 BCE. They all contain serious problems with the Old Testament text.

For example 1 Esdras is in total conflict with the Book of Ezra. Esdras has the construction of the Temple in the time of Darius Hystaspes, which is absolutely impossible both historically and biblically. They are important to Roman Catholicism for various non-biblical and pagan reasons. The doctrine of purgatory is dependent upon the Apocrypha. Thus, it has to be included.

The historical works of the Macabbees is also non-canonical, but an interesting study. Judah has always rejected them as non-canonical. So also has the Church over time. Look at the papers The Bible (No. 164); The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13); General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122) and The Role of the Fourth Commandment of the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

The Heydock commentary (1851 edition) has an important reference, which shows the contention of the problem in the use of the definite article in relation only to the One True God and never to Christ, in the application of "theos" to the New Testament by its error here. The text is derived from the Vulgate and applied to Christ in error in this text.

A: Well, there are many changes and mistranslations. Fortunately, we know about them. The best KJV to get is the Companion Bible. Bullinger makes notes on the ancient texts and what is omitted from them in the notes to each verse.

Also, in the appendices there is a list of the 134 alterations by the Sopherim from "Yahovah" to "Adonai" (Appendix 32). The Appendix has the texts of the alterations to "Elohim", and the print in the KJV reflects the alterations to elohim. The AV renders the texts in 2Samuel 5:19-25 and 6:9-17 as "Lord." Where the AV and the Revised Versions still have "God" in the texts in 1Chronicles and Psalms, it appears that way in the Companion Bible but with a print’s mark.

The Concordant Literal New Testament is important, as is also the Marshall’s Greek English Interlinear. Greens Interlinear Bible is also of use for the Old Testament. The New Testament is based on the Receptus, which has serious problems. The most important alteration, or forgery and mistranslation, in the KJV is the forged text of 1John 5:7 which makes the Trinitarian reference and which is not in any ancient manuscript.

1Timothy 3:16 in the KJV is based on the forged text in Codex A found in the British museum. It has the Uncial O altered by the addition of a bar making it "theta" and another scribe added "sygma," making the letters "theta sygma," and this was interpreted as the word "theos" and hence translated "God" instead of "he who." The forgeries are even in two different kinds of ink.

Philippians 2:6 in the KJV has been muddied up and is clearer in the RSV. John 1:1 is a Trinitarian rendering. John 1:18 has "monogenes theos" replaced by "Monogenes Uios" in the Receptus and hence in the KJV. Most Trinitarians carry on that incorrect translation. (cf. Marshall’s Interlinear).

Ephesians 3:9 has the words "by Jesus Christ" added to the end of the text, "In God, who created all things." The KJV has an "alpha omega" inclusion in the KJV at Revelation 1:8, which is omitted in the ancient texts. This process and the texts are examined in the paper Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229).

Deuteronomy 32:8 has been altered in the Masoretic text from "sons (angels) of God" to read "sons of Israel." It is corrected in the RSV and a few others based on the LXX and the DSS finds of the ancient texts. Genesis 23:6 has "prince of elohim" in the Hebrew and this is translated as "mighty prince."

The Companion Bible also has the emendations of the Sopherim to "Elohim" in Appendix 33, of which there were 18. The fifteen extraordinary points of the Sopherim are noted in Appendix 31 of the Companion Bible.

The Temple codex taken to Rome by Titus, and handed over to the Jewish Community by the Emperor Severin ca 220 CE, had thirty-two passages that differed from other texts. The lists are preserved and the Companion Bible lists them in Appendix 34 and also makes notes in the margin of the verses. The Companion Bible notes are indispensable to any real study of the KJV. The Annotated Oxford RSV is also important.

A: The term "Sola Scriptura" means "by Scripture alone." It denies the right of any tradition, of either the Church or of Judaism, to qualify Scripture or alter the clear intent of its words.

The Bible text which reinforces this view is Isaiah 8:20 which states that if they do not speak according to the Law and the testimony there is no light in them. Another text that deals with this concept is that the Scripture is of no private interpretation. Christ condemned the Pharisees for making the word God of no account by their traditions. All of the Law and the Prophets make up the Two Great Commandments. No tradition is included in them. Revelation closes the New Testament account. The system condemned by the Bible seeks to change times and the Law. Thus, the Bible alone is the word of God by which every man must live: every word of it. The argument as to composition and the structure of the Bible is examined in the paper The Bible (No. 164).

A: Yes, Scripture is inspired. That means literally God-breathed. It follows that if God exists and he created us, then He has a moral obligation, if He is to judge us in conduct, to give us a set of rules by which to live.

He did do this and He spoke to us through His servants, the prophets, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak to the world. He did this originally through the son of Adam, and then through Noah, and then through the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob into the nation of Israel.

When Christ and the Apostles taught, the Scriptures were the Old Testament. The New Testament is a record of the teachings of Christ, in what are called the gospels, meaning "good news." The Book of Acts is a definitive history of the early Church and its approach to Scripture. All the other epistles are either interpretations of the Old Testament in the light of problems experienced in the Church given by God to people under the influence of the Holy Spirit, or the direct Revelation of God to Jesus Christ for example as dictated to John as prophecy. The way the Bible was dictated and compiled is explained in the paper The Bible (No. 164).

A: The Scriptures, and particularly the Law, are the oracles of God. The oracles were given to the people of God through the prophets and those prophets were of Israel (cf. The Oracles of God (No. 184)). The end of the oracles of God in the first phase occurred with the prophets, Ezra and Nehemiah. The Old Testament was finished with these people. God was silent from this end phase of the Old Testament revelation until He spoke through His ministering spirits to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist (Lk. 1:5-30).

The Holy of Holies is also referred to as being the oracle (esp. from 1Kings 6: 16,19,20). This probably stemmed, as we see, from the fact that the Law was kept there and God revealed Himself through prophecy there. It was a cube of twenty cubits (cf. 1Kings 6:20). This is called the "naos" in the New Testament, which refers specifically to the Church, which naos it was (cf. The Ark of the Covenant (No. 196)).

The Church is thus the "naos" or "Holy of Holies" and hence, the oracle of God. The oracle of God thus became the Church at Pentecost 30 CE. So, we then see what Paul meant when he referred to the oracles of God in a broader and more correct context.

A: Reading the Bible from cover to cover can be done in a year if two or three chapters a day are read. The problem in understanding the Bible, is that it is written so that it can only be understood here a little, there a little, precept on precept, line upon line. Christ spoke in parables so people would NOT understand before it was time that they understand.

This process is important in understanding the structure and intent of the Bible. To that end, there is a Bible Study Program formulated so that people can study by topic. See the Bible Study Program (No. B1). Understanding the structure of the plan of God is assisted by the paper: Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272). Looking at the structure of the Bible is also helpful: The Bible (No. 164). The Role of Christ in the compilation of the Bible can also be seen in the papers: Role of the Messiah (No. 226); and The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243).

A. If you go to the web site at www.ccg.org you will find a section with a number of key spots down the side of the CCG second page. On there is a link to the Key Study papers and also a Bible Study Program (No. B1). If you go through the sequences in that paper you will see some 300 papers listed in categories. Papers such as Repentance and Baptism (No. 52) and the series on the Nature of God will tell you the "who" of the question of God and worship.

The papers like Role of Messiah (No. 226) will tell you what part Christ plays in this process. Papers like the God’s Calendar (No. 156) and the various Holy Day papers, and explanations regarding them, will tell you the "how" of worship. There are also papers on the plan of salvation and the Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272) to show you the prophetic sequence of events. There is enough Scriptural and historical material there to keep the genuine student going for years in genuine research. Then, when you get older, you will enjoy doing it all over again because you will approach it from a deeper perspective. With God’s people, learning never ends.

A: Many translations of the Bible, in fact most, are from a Trinitarian point of view. Some hide the use of "Yahovah." From the Sopherim, the Jewish Scribes changed the word "Yahovah" 134 times in the Masoretic text to "Adonai." The Septuagint is the Bible translated into Greek from the Hebrew under the Ptolemies in Egypt. Its abbreviation is LXX for seventy, being the seventy scribes who allegedly translated it. It is often quoted in the NT and most likely was the most common Bible text they used. "Kurios" is Greek for "Lord" used in the NT and in the LXX.

A: When you say mainstream, it should be noted that the Bible has been dismantled as an authoritative source by the mainstream system. You will find a history of the Canon and its compilation at the website in The Bible (No. 164). There are also some comments in the work Christ and the Koran (No. 163). You will also find some comments regarding the timing of the closure of the canon in the papers Reading the Law with Ezra and Nehemiah (No. 250); and The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13). Westcott’s History of the Canon is a good work if you can get to one.

A: It is assumed that you mean the chronology produced by Archbishop James Ussher for the Authorised text. The chronology is in fact from 6004 BCE. It is to be found in the Authorised version of 1701. In later editions many of the notes and references have been omitted. So, if you wish for the complete chronology and list, get that version from the nearest library that has it.

A: The Bible commences the year from the month of Abib, which is the New Moon nearest the equinox. The conjunction formed the basis of the determination for the Hebrews. The finger of Ashirat, or the crescent moon, formed the basis for the Babylonians and Egyptians. There was an intercalary month seven times in every nineteen years. Years were measured from 1 Abib, or 1 Nisan as it was called from the Babylonian Nisanu. Look at the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156); and also The Moon and the New Year (No. 213). The Pharisees introduced all sorts of other new years after the fall of the Temple, as we know from the Mishnah but that was not so in the Temple period. Their New Year from the 3^rd century was Rosh Hashanah in Tishri, or the seventh month, which they borrowed from the Babylonians after their dispersal.

Hebrews did not celebrate birthdays as it was a cult of the Babylonians, the stargazers and the sun cults. Job’s children had been killed for that fact. Astrology and the date charts are also forbidden. Look at the paper Birthdays (No. 286). The date of Christ’s birth is deliberately hidden for that fact.

Adar II, the intercalary month, was simply treated as "WeAdar" or "And Adar," and all dates in this month were treated simply as Adar for purposes of trade. Usury was forbidden and all debts were to have been forgiven at the seventh or Sabbath year of the Sabbatical cycle. You will find most questions answered in the papers on the web dealing with the calendar issues.

A: There are examples in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Job was the correct manager. Joseph was the best with other people’s money as a steward. Jacob managed his father-in-law's estates and accumulated wealth for himself as well. Daniel was also another example of wisdom. Mordecai is another example of a wise steward.

The New Testament example is of the steward who was wise in the ways of this world. However, he was hardly to be followed. Solomon was the epitome of Wisdom and management of the resources of the Kingdom, but he also fell into idolatry. His father David also was wise in that way.

A: The Bible is established by many in certain code sequences. The Bible is also used as a divination tool using various sequences. So also can Moby Dick be used this way and this has been used as we see below.

Comments are as follows:

"Roughly described, both words of a pair are located by finding where each appears at its own respective minimum equidistant letter sequence (ELS). In theory, these minimum sequences may be any number of letters (though no longer than c. 78,000 divided by one less than the number of letters in the word); in practice, they tend to be quite short relative to the total length of Genesis. But as we will see, the actual ELS does not bias the results.

http://www.meru.org/Codes/lettresp.html

http://www.meru.org/Codes/review.html"

"In a recent interview, David Kazhdan, professor and chairman of mathematics at Harvard, cautioned hasty sceptics of the Torah codes, ‘The phenomenon is real. What conclusion you reach from this is up to the individual.’ In addition, word clusters, such as mentioned in Witztum's and Drosnin's books and the so-called messianic codes, are an uncontrolled phenomenon and similar clusters will be found in any text of similar length. All claims of incredible probabilities for such clusters are bogus, since they are computed contrary to standard rules of probability and statistics.

http://math.caltech.edu/code/petition.html"

"Among the signatories below are some who believe that the Torah was divinely written. We see no conflict between that belief and the opinion we have expressed above.

Look also at this web site:

http://www.bible-prophecy.com/codes.htm

These are better refutation codes:

http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/torah.html

This shows ELSs prophesying assassinations in Moby Dick. English with vowels is less able to do this than Hebrew consonants.

http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html

We think that most of this Bible Code type of stuff has the effect of undermining people’s ability to live by faith, and perhaps this is the intent. It promotes searches to gain foreknowledge that will benefit individuals and it is not healthy. It should be noted that Moby Dick also has this same ELS in English.

Establishing a scientific statistical basis to prove how Scripture was written is valid. New Testament Theomatics is the soundest the officers of the Church have studied, and Washburn is now working on the Old Testament.

A: Yes, there are many references to the colour blue, especially in the texts concerning the Temple of God from Exodus 25:4 to Exodus 39:31. There are references in Numbers 4:6-12; 15:38; 2Chronicles 2:7,14; 3:14; Esther 1:6,6; 8:15; Jeremiah 10:9; Ezekiel 23:6; 27:7,24.

The other colours associated with God and the Temple of God are scarlet, purple and gold. There were pomegranates in the Temple but it appears that they were of blue and purple. Scarlet was used for the hem of the robe of the ephod and was separated by small golden bells (cf. Ex. 28:33; 39:24); or they were of natural colours of the materials themselves.

The concept of the Rainbow is a "New Age" concept. Orange, as such, does not appear in the Temple system. It is classed by the Greeks and Romans as an artificial colour needing preparation. There were a wide variety of pigments known by the ancients. There were varieties of ochres and resins and sulphates obtained from great distances.

The groups were in the colour categories of red (which included cinnabar and vermilion, and minium as red oxide of lead among the Romans and Greeks), yellows, greens, blue, indigo, cobalt, purple, brown, black and white. The groups and pigments can be found in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1848, p. 320-322 esp.p. 321). The most common colour in Israel was blue. The Romans excluded it and used black. The blue ribbons on the corners of the garments were used as a reminder of the Law of God. See the paper Blue Ribbons (No. 273).

A: Solomon said this is the whole duty of man: "To keep the commandments of God" (Eccl. 12:13). The saints are those who keep the Commandments of God and the testimony or faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). In the first two centuries, if anyone said that they were Christians and that when they died they went to heaven, you knew by that statement that they were not Christians. They were Gnostic impostors in the church (cf Justin Martyr Second Apology, LXXX; the papers The Soul (No. 92); and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

Now, if you ask people they will tell you, as you have written here, they head up to heaven. They simply do not understand the Plan of God and have not had the Bible explained to them correctly. To understand what God is doing at present, you might read the Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272). Look also at the text The Statement of Beliefs of the Christian Faith (A1). That text will give you the original teachings and beliefs of the Christian Faith as taught by Messiah and the Apostles.

When you come to understand the Plan of God, you will understand what is meant by your question and why the Bible is written in parables. It is done so that people will not understand and turn and be saved before their time.

A: It is written in our Law, "I said ye are Gods" and "Scripture cannot be broken" (Jn 10:34-35). We are to become elohim as the Angel of Yahovah at our head (Zech. 12:8). We are the "naos" or the "Holy of Holies" of the Temple of God (1Cor. 3:17) through the Holy Spirit.

Our destiny is to become the City of God and God is to become all in all (Eph. 4:6). Look at the paper The City of God (No. 180). It is not God’s will that any flesh should perish. Therefore He has purposed a system that will enable the salvation of all. The complex sequences of Scriptures dealing with these processes are in the papers Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272); The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243); The Soul (No. 92) and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143). And this is eternal life, that you know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent (Jn 17:3).

A: No our fate is not "sealed." We all have freedom of will and choice. God is not dealing with the world as yet. It is under the god of this world and that rule will end shortly. At present He is only selecting and training a cadre of teachers who will take over the tasks of the Demons when their rule comes to an end. These people will become spirit beings and rule the world for the 1000 years of the Millennium. At the end of the Millennial system Satan will be released again and the world will come into rebellion one more.

The Second Resurrection of the Dead will occur then and all people on the planet will live again for 100 years. This will be the great Judgment to correction. Everyone who has ever lived will be given an opportunity for salvation in a more pure form and teaching. At the end of the 100 years those who do not repent and are converted are left to die and their bodies will be burnt. They will simply disappear from the memory of the host save as a memorial to the physical creation. Those who do repent will be converted in the Holy Spirit and then translated into spirit beings and join the teachers and judges of the First Resurrection. The City of God will then come to the earth and God will become all in all. Look at the papers The Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272); and The City of God (No. 180).

A: This is a hard question. The problem of the existence of evil and suffering among the innocent is often raised as a problem regarding the existence of God. If he is a good God, why does He allow so much suffering? The answer lies in our decisions and choices. We were created with free choice. The Host that were put in charge of us also had free choice. Under Satan the angels rebelled. Adam and Eve sinned. Thus, they exercised their God given rights of free will or choice.

Since that time the planet has been following a path of its own volition, prompted by Satan and the fallen host. As we approach the time of the end of the rule of the god of this world (2Cor. 4:4) and the return of the Messiah, things will get worse and will continue to get worse because they do not follow God’s ways.

God will send the Messiah back to set up his system of government from Jerusalem. That rule will last a thousand years (cf. Rev. 20:1-15). The earth will be healed and the nations will be healed and we will follow God’s Laws. Until that time, things are going to be pretty grim. Look at the papers: Statement of Belief of the Christian Faith (No. A1); The Purpose of the Creation and the Sacrifice of Christ (No. 160); Trumpets (No. 136); The Seven Seals (No. 140); The Seven Trumpets (No. 141); The Government of God (No. 174); The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95); The Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

In these you will see the Scriptures analysed, and they will show you the Plan of God and how all things will be made right.

A: It is a basis of any belief in God, that God has a responsibility to convey His will to humans through His servants. The Bible is the accepted core of Judaism and Christianity and also in the Koran, if not followed by those claiming Islam. The Koran is commentary on the Bible.

The Bible is clear that the whole duty of man is to obey the commandments of God. The saints, who are the seed of the woman the church and spiritual Israel, are those who keep the Commandments of God and the Testimony or Faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

People can go to any form of psychological process for help in dealing with their personal problems. That is not what the faith is all about. God is choosing a series of people out of this world in order to run the next phase or Millennial system when Christ takes over from Satan. He does that through a process of omniscience and grace. People are predestined to be called, chosen, then called, then justified, and hence glorified (Rom. 8:29-30).

God is not dealing with all people now. The choice is simple. If a person is predestined, they will be called in due time and placed in training under the Holy Spirit to do the task required of them during the Millennial system and in the Judgment of the Second Resurrection.

If a person is not part of that process, then they will not understand. If they are, then the Holy Spirit will open their minds and they will understand it. That is why the Bible is written in parables. It is so people will not understand and turn to be saved before it is their time.

The Law will be run according to the laws of God for 1000 years under one true faith. If you want to be part of God’s system for that process and God has foreknowledge of your calling, you will conduct the faith according to the faith once delivered to the saints.

It has not changed in 2000 years. However, there are very few who find the straight path and the narrow gate.

A: God is omniscient. That means He has perfect knowledge of all true propositions. He ordains the works of some of us. He knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the belly and God ordained his works. That does not mean that God is determining what happens to us, or that He is even intervening in some things. God is only dealing with a few people at present. The god of this world is currently Satan and he has control for only a little while longer.

The practice you speak of here is termed "bibliomancy" and it is the process of divination by Bible reading, but is divination just the same. It leaves you open to the influences of Satan and the demons as any divination does. God says not to do it. The instruction is to walk by faith. Do not be overly concerned about what you do or what you have to eat or wear. God knows what you need and He will provide that, provided you give your ways to Him. Keep the Commandments of God and the Faith or Testimony of Jesus Christ, for that is the whole duty of man. Luck is an Egyptian concept, which is associated with the intrinsic being of the individual. It is like part of the soul and has no part in Christianity. Try to place your cares on God and obey His Laws. Your bread and water will be sure.

A: The prophetic year has twelve months of thirty days. These then can be taken to have 52 Sabbaths as in the solar year. The New Moons are twelve making 64. There are seven feasts days of Passover/UB, Pentecost, Trumpets which has double sacrifices for Trumpets and the New Moon; Atonement, and Tabernacles/Last Great Day. That makes 71 plus The Wave Sheaf Offering, recorded in Leviticus 23 as one of the compulsory feast days. Thus we have 72.

A: The geometric and numerological systems reduce numbers by adding their totals to reduce them to the prime systems of 1 to ten. That is 14 is 4+1 = 5 and so on.

A: Yes, that is the sense of the line of the figure making the third dimension. The fourth dimension is the spiritual, which is allocated to us on baptism.

A: Perhaps it should have been there. The significance of the three hundred is discussed in the paper Gideon's Force and the Last days (No. 22). The three hundred represent three companies each of a hundred that God raises up in the Holy Spirit to defeat the forces of the Baal system in the last days. This has significance then for the structure of the Church as well under Messiah.

I have seen articles about Marijuana, and how the oil, and flowers, were used for anointing and incense. Now I doubt we should smoke incense, but what role, if any, does Marijuana have today? Isn't it edible? Also could you address Medicine, and explain the value of good and bad drugs?

A: This is a very complex issue. Marijuana has apparently serious long-term effects on the chromosomal make up of the human and can pass on birth defects in children. This is a complex medical issue. It can not be fully addressed here.

The plants we have all have a use. Hemp, which is another name for the plant makes good rope and paper and other products. It makes mats and carpets and if properly grown would solve much of the world paper shortage.

It is like all things. Every chemical has a purpose and can be used for good and bad things. Petrol powers cars but it also can be sniffed like glue and that is destroying the brains of a lot of youth in Australia. Cocaine helps pain relief but when you snort it through straws it turns your nose into an expensive whistle.

The basic rule with all drugs is take only what you have to take for the problem. Follow the course and take no more. Always ask the person prescribing the drug for you what it is that you are going to achieve and what side effects are there. Never take drugs from quacks.

Simple things are necessary to our health. The SDA hospital recently did tests on their pastors in AU and found that 77% were seriously deficient because of their vegetarianism. God gave us a diet for a reason. Chemicals sometimes help us through problems but basically if we eat properly we maintain our systems intact.

Also as Paul said take a little wine for your stomachs sake. The Temperance lobby and their bizarre unscriptural reasoning are responsible for the fact that the US people have 2.5 times the heart attack rate of Frenchmen who consume the same amount of fat. The French drink red wine and it keeps their heart attack rates down.

Also chemicals in the environment are regulated in their access to human by the food laws. Keep the food laws and you will restrict rates of disease and mercurial poisoning and other heavy metals. Look at the papers: The Food Laws (No. 15); Balance (No. 209); Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183); Wine in the Bible (No. 188).

You made an assertion that "Marijuana has serious long term effects on the chromosomal make up of the human and can pass on birth defects in children." Can you back up that statement with any serious proof? I thought that maybe you would touch on the Rostafarians of Jamaica and thereabouts and how they use Marijuana? Haven't you ever heard of the debate about Marijuana in the Bible? Isn't it in there with a mistranslation of calamus or some weird name like that?

A: The Calamus to which you refer is of varying types none of which is Marijuana. The word is from SHD 7070 quaneh Hebrew kawneh and Greek kalamos. It is based on the term for reed being that which is upright.

In Exodus 30:23 it refers to Aromatic Cane Calamus (qeneh bosem) (Gr. kalamos euodes) It is qeneh hattob in Jer. 6:20 or "Sweet Cane." (Gr. thymiama) (Isa. 43:24; Kinnamomon and also "fragrant spices" (Jer. 6:20). See also Songs 4:14 where it is mentioned with cinnamon.

There is a distinction between the sweet tasting cane of Isaiah (probably sugar cane: Saccharum officinarum L.) and the sweet smelling substances of other passages, which are held to refer to the ginger grass andropogon aromaticus Roxb, which is native to northern India and highly aromatic.

The opposition to Marijuana in many countries comes from the currently advanced medical opinion as to its genetic effects. We are not in a position to evaluate the effects. It certainly is not mentioned in the Bible texts as Calamus from what we know. We will do some more research and when we are in a position we will produce a paper on the medical effects. As none of our people would smoke any form of weed it is more or less irrelevant to us.

A: Christ did not need to speak out against homosexuality as it was so clearly condemned by the law of God. The entire Bible condemns homosexuality as it does fornication of any sort. No fornicator, whether a heterosexual, homosexual or lesbian will inherit the kingdom of God. Neither will cowards, unbelievers, liars, idolaters, sorcerers, whoremongers (Rev. 21:8) nor anything that defiles the Temple of God.

There are many Scriptures that deal with the prohibitions. The effeminate are also prohibited with Sodomites and fornicators and adulterers (1Cor. 6:9; cf Romans Chapter 1; Rev. 21:8, 27). Look at the paper Law and the Seventh Commandment (No. 260).

A: God denied the resurrection to the Rephaim or Nephilim. This question of making a clone is a very serious problem. The clone grows from the DNA of the individual but takes on the same age as the person was when it was taken.

Thus, DNA for clones has to be taken at the earliest age from the same person. Prolongation of life is perhaps a product of that but the experience raises serious ethical problems that are too complicated to go into here. For example, the original person has a physical nephesh.

Does God honour the creation of a new or multiple cloned nephesh? In other words, how many of these clones are in the resurrection? Do they all get a chance if they have live experiences? The more serious question involves the spare parts business.

Does the creation of a zygote for spare parts constitute murder? Man was confused at Babel precisely so that he could not get to the stage of elohim too early. This is part of the process that God stopped. The cutting short of Satan’s period also has something to do with the salvation of the elect and the protection of the planet. It will also be entirely destroyed. Christ comes so that there will be some flesh saved alive.

A: Vegetarianism is not healthy. It is a direct accusation against the Law of God and the structure God gave to Israel. It is part of the Antinomian arguments of the Gnostics and has nothing to do with Christianity. Paul says it is a doctrine of demons. It is the predominant characteristic of Hinduism.

The Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Sydney, Australia recently did a survey of Adventist pastors and 77% had serious deficiencies as a result of vegetarianism. It is the cause of major nerve deficiencies and it’s extreme form results in serious health problems in the young. Vegetarians require major food supplements that are not required in a normal meat diet. We will have continued and increasing problems with them and the animal liberation lobbies over the next decades.

If you want to see the problems vegetarianism causes go to India and look at a long term vegetarian system. Look at the papers: Balance (No. 209); Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183); The Doctrines of Demons of the Last Days (No. 48); Wine in the Bible (No. 188).

A: In the USA that term is used. In the British Commonwealth it is termed water divining. The process is carried out by some people as a normal expression of energy fields. Some religious bodies do not permit it as witchcraft but I have seen no Bible exegesis of this prohibition.

The incidence of drilling bores with and without it seem to be matter of intuitive process. There appears to be no scientific verification of the process that has been measurable or defined.

A: It is only a problem to those who confine the creation to the 6000 years of the sons of Adam. This aspect has been examined in the paper The Nephilim (No. 154). There are many other papers on our web site that might help you.

A: Earrings were forbidden to Israel. The orifices of the body were protected against entry by evil spirits by the use of rings and other devices. These devices, often rings, protected the wearer from such entry. The Golden Calf was fashioned from the gold taken from the earrings of the people. That is why Aaron used the plural in his address when he said, "these are the Gods…" etc. The text in Nehemiah is a scribal correction to what was considered a grammatical error. Look at the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222).

Israel did not wear earrings. The items referred to in the KJV are in fact forehead jewels. The issue is explained in the paper The Origin of the Wearing of Earrings and Jewellery in Ancient Times (No. 197).

A: What does God say, through Christ, will happen to the unrepentant at the end of the Second Resurrection? They will be consigned to Gehenna fire? Gehenna is the rubbish pit outside of Jerusalem. So, if it is good enough for Christ to cremate the bad guys, then it must not be a sin.

The resurrection of the dead is dependent upon the power and might of God. If your body can’t be burnt in order for you to reach the First Resurrection, then the Martyrs are in an awful lot of trouble. Because the way they got rid of them in the Inquisitions and before was to burn them. Also, there are a lot of people who have died in fires over time.

There are also a lot of people at the bottom of the sea, and the sea will give them up as well. The odd few decomposing in sharks’ and crocodiles’ bellies are another example. God is not restricted by the fact of our disposal for the resurrection. Most of this superstition comes out of the Gnostic systems that talk about heaven and hell. Look at the paper The Soul (No. 92) and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143). Most people were embalmed in the early centuries from the Egyptian practice and that is where the view comes from. The early Church viewed anyone that spoke of going to heaven as a fake or pseudo-Christian.

A: They believe life is sacred because it was created by the One True God, as part of his creation. They both believe that Satan (or Iblis) and the demons rebelled over the creation of man and, for that reason, were cast down to earth and given responsibility in that creation.

Both the Bible and the Koran state that life and the new creation comes from the death of the Morning Star Al Tarikh or the Messiah. Look at the papers: Christ in the Koran (No. 163); The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246); Doctrine of Original Sin Part 2 The Generations of Adam (No. 248); Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258); and The Law of God (No. L1)

A.:The failure to see the obvious, and the perception of things that are not obvious, seems to crop up throughout history. We can explain some events from the myths surrounding them. Some we cannot easily explain. The failure to perceive the ships may be true, and it may have cultural significance. I would like to draw on an example in the Torres Strait, to perhaps explain a perception of the Polynesians.

In the Torres Strait, the ships of the west were called "Lamar Nar" which means "spirit ship." This name itself comes from the Indianised languages based on Sanskrit. It was thus used because the pigmentation of whites indicated that they were the spirits of the dead islanders. The Torres Strait islanders, who were all headhunters until the nineteenth century, often killed them because of this belief. Islanders identifying individuals as dead relatives saved some people, and they stayed alive due to that recognition and adoption.

The reaction to them comes into categories of the rejection of the horrific. I know for a fact that some women, for example, simply do not see things that are too horrific for them. They just stop seeing. This happens with men also, but generally with socks and shirts and papers. The Polynesians may simply have refused to believe the horror of a full-blown spirit ship in their harbour, in the same way we would resist seeing a spirit. This brings us to the next category of seeing visions.

Fatima was a classic example of a group of people carried away by hysteria over time. At first, none saw anything but one girl. Then they saw, but did not hear. After a period, hundreds started to see the sun moving and coming near. Mass hallucinations are regular and we are seeing some now. Looking at the sun produces eye burning and defects. Also, perhaps we are too ready to dismiss the supernatural.

In the Australian Aboriginal societies, the Bain men would hold demonstrations beside lagoons of the battles between the dragons or serpents, and people would watch them. Now, this ability seems to be lost. The capacity of the people to perceive the events is the thing that has diminished. How much was suggestion and self-hypnosis, one can only surmise. Also, a lot of people did not see too well in the age before spectacles. This aspect is covered in the work Mysticism Chapter 1 at www.ccg.org/english/s/B7_1.html.

A: Police are a British invention of recent times by Sir Robert Peel, hence the name "Bobbies" or "Peelers." Paul says to obey those who rule over you and also that the magistrate does not wield the sword in vain.

The whole issue of the implementation of the Law and the execution of the death penalty under the Law is covered in the papers in The Law of God (No. L1). It is suggested that you read the papers concerned with the Law and the Sixth Commandment (No. 259) and also Law and the Ninth Commandment (No. 262).

In short, the answer is, "No." You can be a police officer, only, as Christ says, be content with your wages. The rostering of duty will conflict with your Sabbath duties and that is a problem for you to negotiate.

A: Yes, as Christ says, a man’s foes are often those of his own household. A child is not bound to follow his parents against the Law of God. When a child is old enough to realise that fact, they may well voice it. A child is deemed to be of age under various laws in various lands. The Bible says you are of age at twenty years. If your parents are breaking God’s Law, you do have an obligation to point that out to them. If they persist, then that is their affair. If they insist on thrusting it down your throat, you are not obliged to accept it.

You should be ready to give an answer of the hope that lies within you. They should also be exposed to the unscriptural nature of what they are doing. Parents are still parents even though they sin. Families are families even though they are in disagreement. Try to give and account for the truth and your beliefs. Always be polite and quiet in your answers. A soft word turns away wrath.

A: There is no Bible injunction against masturbation. It might be construed that it is covered under the heading of abusers of themselves referred to in the New Testament, but that is conjectural.

It is a normal function of primates. Caged monkeys masturbate and so do humans. The Bible position attributed to Onan, is an attempt to hide a sin of the Church, which was disguised in their definitions of sin.

The sin of Onan was not masturbation. Onan was killed because he failed to carry out the Levirate law and give Tamar a child, forcing her into incestuous fornication with her stepfather, Judah. His spilling his seed on the ground was in direct contravention to a law of God and it had nothing to do with masturbation.

The reason masturbation is called Onanism by churches is that they encourage people to leave their estates to the church and this is directly forbidden by God’s Law. The reason why Onan was killed is covered in the paper The Sin of Onan (No. 162). Masturbation can only be a sin in direct relation to God’s law and what goes on in your mind.

It should be added that it does not do a lot for the spiritual development of the human, but the Bible is virtually silent on the subject. One or two Scriptures have been twisted in order to be interpreted as covering this aspect, which is extremely doubtful.

A: There are two aspects to martial arts. Boxing and all aspects of self-defence by hand or feet are included in this category

The first question concerns the mind of the adherent and the system in which he learns. The purpose of learning to defend oneself is the first aspect of war. You refer to "chi" and it is assumed you are referring to the forms of the art within the Chinese structure.

The art forms of the Shaolin are a religious system, which is quite forbidden to Christians. The degrees of Tae Kwando are theoretical in the higher orders above the initial black belt degree. The purpose of initial training is to develop "a mind like the waters of the moon." This is a state of mind and tranquillity for reaction. Karate or "empty hand" was developed in Okinawa as a form of self-defence against the Japanese invaders when the Okinawans were forbidden to carry weapons.

In this system, the hand is a major weapon. This has come a long way in its fluidity since the days of Mas Oyama, no doubt prompted by Taekwondo, "the way of punching and kicking." Boxing is a western form, which was developed under rules set form by the Marquis of Queensberry to make a more civilised spectacle of the gladiatorial spectacles of the London street fights.

Thus, there are forms that are not directly animist but most are involved with "Chi," or "Shinto," or the contemplative aspects of animism. If one is free of this, and one must be, the philosophical question boils down to why does one do it? The U.S. forces are now going to China to study the Chinese systems. They had those systems under the Boxers during the Boxer rebellion and we did not bother with it then. So, why is it important now? The answer lies in the moral weakness of the West, not in any superior thinking in the East. Self-defence is a matter of God and man. Some rely, or are forced to rely, entirely on God. That is also often because He has kept our nations free.

In answer to the question, would you fight to protect your child against an intruder in the house who tried to kill them? The answer is an unequivocal, "Yes," from most people. God and his law demands that people are brought to justice and pay the penalty of their crime. To do that, someone has to be an avenger of blood. Someone has to arraign them for trial and to restrain them.

In this imperfect world we are faced with choices and duties to protect our families and our people under the Laws of God. While we are under His protection, we need not often be involved, just as Israel was protected from war in the Exodus, and God went before them and fought for them.

So, the answer is not easy. It is one of faith and responsibility, and love of man. It is difficult to love your neighbour while you are in the final round of a bout, when you are both trying to demolish the other as efficiently as possible. There is also the Bible maxim: "He who lives by the sword dies by the sword."

One’s body tends to reflect the injuries of youth later in life. It may be glamorous smashing bricks and boards with your hands, feet and head, and training on a makiwara board, but one also packs poisons into those damaged hands. The arthritis that can result with the training and diet of a soldier in modern society creates serious problems in hands, feet, ankles, knees and backs. The head and brain are easily damaged especially with the forces involved in these "sports." So the answer is, "No," to the Eastern religious systems behind these martial arts.

The answer to the second point is to choose carefully how you wish to develop your mind and the command to love your neighbour. The next question then involves how do we maintain a defence force under correct law? That is another question for another time.

A: It is a left over from the mysteries and the practice of protecting the orifices of the body. The priests of Attis also used to do this during the Easter festivals.

A: Horoscopes are forbidden by the Bible (Isa 47:13). The source of the error was the Assyro-Babylonian system as early as the third millennium BCE. The idea came from the concept of the immortality of the individual. The satanic system holds the individual’s birthday as the holiest day of the year. The Babylonians had three classes of scientists. They were writers of:

1. Charms placed on afflicted persons or houses.

2. Formulae of incantations: and

3. Records of observations mixing astrology with astronomy. This view also assumed then consequent or concurrent events as the causes one of the other, and so animism was produced from this and the doctrines of causation from heavenly bodies.

This superstition crippled the science of the ages. Job’s children were killed for keeping their "days" in accord with this system. Look at the paper Birthdays (No. 286) for a detailed explanation of the matter and the Bible position.

A: The arguments can become very involved in this aspect. The concept of using a part of a person to give life to another is from the very beginning.

‘And Yahovah Elohim formed the rib, which he had taken from the man into a woman’ (Gen. 2:22). So, she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Thus, there can be no objection to using the parts of a person to give life to another, as we are all descended from the one pair and are all brothers in the creation as one race.

The next step is to come to a decision regarding animal parts. This is rather like the argument regarding blood, however there are specific other texts that prohibit the touching of any unclean animal. Thus, we might deduce it is okay to have insulin from a cow but not from a pig. Many make this distinction every day.

This is in effect an organ transplant de facto in that the product of the organ is consumed by the body, but one can argue, so is milk from a cow. This is the distinction between blood and milk. Both come from a clean animal. One can be consumed, the other cannot. However, insulin and by-products can be used in medicine.

This brings us to the next ethical step. Is it a mortal sin to eat unclean food? The answer is, "No," if the circumstances dictate then it must be done to preserve life. In the Concentration camps it was done deliberately to offend Jews and the Church keeping the Food laws, such as the Church of God and the SDAs.

One Jewish woman, who had a choice between bread and horsemeat in the concentration camps reputedly said it this way. "I eat bread all year and on unleavened bread I eat horsemeat. That way I keep my faith." So, it is permissible to save life in extraordinary circumstances. Thus, we might deduce it is okay to take into our bodies parts of animals that we may eat, and in dire circumstances some from unclean animals. Technology is now increasing to the point where we can create life and spare parts and this is still another ethical issue not able to be discussed here.

A: The Bible is fairly clear on discipline, both of God and of parents. Proverbs says that he that spareth the rod hates his son (Prov. 13:24). The rod is a rod of correction (Prov 22:15). The function of corporal punishment in the Bible system is examined in the paper Law and the Sixth Commandment (No. 259). One of the reasons it has been discouraged is because it has been misused by mal-adjusted parents.

The concept of the abused abuser is the factor involved. The parents of today’s society themselves need discipline and that is part of the problem. Discipline should be internal and self-discipline is always better than imposed discipline.

However, when a nation becomes degenerate, God says he will give them women and children to rule over them. That is exactly what is happening to the English speaking nations now. See the Law series and the function of the family in Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258)

A: Do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you. It says nothing about love them that love you. Forgive them that come and beg forgiveness and throw themselves publicly on their swords in abject repentance before your feet. What did Stephen do when they stoned him to death? They have been killing us for centuries upon centuries over two Millennia. If the person who wronged you has to wait until he comes before you for your forgiveness then they will be in the First Resurrection and you will not be there.

The ones we will have trouble with in the Second Resurrection getting to see their errors will not be the Nazis who ran the camps. They will be easy to convince and rehabilitate. It is the mothers who had their babies torn from them and used in medical experiments, or beaten to death, or bayoneted in front of their eyes; that is the real challenge we face in rehabilitation.

Forgiveness is necessary to your spiritual growth not to anyone else other than as a by-product of what you do and think. If we had been one of our people in the Reformation and before when the Roman Catholics, and later the Lutherans, walked into our houses while the men were out in the fields and executed our wives in front of the door because they cooked with goose fat and not pig lard, then we would all know what forgiveness means. The danger in our society is never from sinners. It is always from the self-righteous who, invariably from history, always seem to have it wrong. See the paper Forgiveness (No.112).

A: Moses was adopted by an Egyptian. Joseph married Potiphar’s daughter. Abraham’s heir was not of his blood until he had sons. The nations are all adopted as sons of God.

I can see no biblical objection to it on the face of it. But the fact is that the child may wish to pursue its natural parents’ views when it is old enough and identifies with its own people, which may cause some heartache. You should also look at the Church you belong to, as some teach many strange brands of racism under the guise of Jesus Christ, which may cause hurt later. If it is an ethnic male Moabite, then there is a Bible injunction. They seem to have died out or been absorbed and the Ammonites are all that is left of the tribes.

A: Christ said to render unto Caesar all that is Caesar’s and unto God all that is God’s. God established the nations and placed us within them as part of His plan. Thus, you have a twofold duty. Your first is to God and the second is to your fellow man. Where the duty to fellow man does not conflict with the duty to God, then it is permissible to pledge allegiance to a particular national cause. It is written that the magistrate does not wield the sword in vain. Also Christ said that soldiers were to be content with their wages. There is no prohibition in the Bible to allegiance to one’s country. Indeed God set it to be so.

A: The concept comes from white and black magic. White lies are okay because they are not intended to harm the person, or so it is reasoned. On this basis, the church has justified its progressive withholding of truth and the wholesale perversion of doctrine. Now it is the reason people say to children on the death of someone, "Oh, they’re in heaven now."

It came into the church as a sop and now it is an accepted doctrine, when it is a complete unscriptural fallacy and a heretical doctrine of the Gnostics. It has destroyed the faith of Christianity in the Resurrection of the dead and we still hear this "little white lie." It is not so that the entire Roman Catholic system and also much of the Protestant system in the US speak as though this godless and blasphemous doctrine is fact. Santa Claus is another example. The Trinity is another example. Christmas and Easter are other examples. Look at the papers: The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235); The Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127); The Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

A: No doubt, you will not like what we have to say. People, who also thought this way, condemned Christ as a winebibber and a glutton. He and the Apostles drank wine, and the Bible enjoins wine as unction of the basic sacrament of the church.

The Temperance Lobby created the basic window of opportunity for organised crime in the U.S. The nations of France, the U.S., and Scandinavia eat the same amount of fat per capita, and yet the French people have 40% of the heart attack rate of the U.S. for the sole reason that they drink wine, and for NO other reason. Look at the papers Balance (No. 209) and also Wine in the Bible (No. 188). The paper Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) is a paper that is also essential to understanding this doctrine.

A: We must disagree with your position that alcohol does as much damage as does smoking. Wine is beneficial for a human being both in health, especially the heart, and for their social interaction. The Bible encourages its proper use.

Smoking causes heart disease and the pollutants contribute to cancer. How much this is a product of the chemicals used by the tobacco industry is a moot point. We have now demonstrated conclusively that there was transatlantic trade in tobacco and cocaine at the time of King David, and that it was consumed in Egypt around 1000 BCE at least. There is evidence of the use of tobacco in all mummies now tested in both Britain and Germany.

All the mummies tested in the German museum also have evidence of cocaine use. These substances must have been brought over by the Israelite/Phonecian trading alliance established by David and Hiram. It appears to have been the substance of use among the Egyptian higher classes. Israelite corpses of that time also need to be tested to confirm usage there.

The objection to the use of tobacco comes from its effect on the body as the Temple of God, and its induction of ischemic heart disease and cancer. It is also a habit-forming substance and, as such, comes under the same categories of substance abuse, as do food and wine. The food laws exist for the prevention of disease and, as such, tobacco has its medicinal and protective attributes in agriculture, but it has to be classed as an addictive drug and, as such, has to be treated with care. Look at the paper The Food Laws (No. 15). With our current levels of medical knowledge, only an idiot would smoke tobacco.

A: Lotteries are a form of gambling. Most Christian churches shun all forms of gambling on biblical and philosophical grounds. The idea behind it is that individuals prey on the misfortunes of others. A loss is sustained by all so that one can win. This might be viewed in other ways as enabling one person to become rich while the others enjoy the process. In reality it runs against all the ideas Christ tried to get across in the gospels. It seeks to obtain wealth, when the message He gave was to care for others, and give your wealth to others and store riches in heaven. The constant theme is that we are to sacrifice for others in order to make our families and society and nation a better place. This "get" way of life and thinking runs counter to that process and most people, who are genuinely trying to follow Christ, can see that.

A: If you cannot judge each other, how can you judge angels (1Cor. 6:3)? There is nothing wrong with making an affirmation to discharge your duties. Once they start interrogating a true Christian however, from what we have seen, most defence lawyers will excuse you on some ground or another.

Our society has to function and the jury system is its guarantee of integrity. Once we get into the proposed world system, under the UN Tribunal system based on European and International Law, we will all see the value of the ancient Anglo-Saxon-Danish-Celtic system of Common Law, and also our Habeus Corpus. By then, we will be in captivity, sold there by our own stupidity and lack of diligence in selecting our leaders. See the paper Swearing By God (No. 32).

A: The Oxford Universal Dictionary defines Sodomy as an unnatural sexual act especially between males. On this basis, Webster’s extends it to oral sex as an unnatural act. The Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches extend the process even to masturbation, and define Onanism as masturbation. We are left with images of adolescents sleeping in boxing gloves to remain pure. This was done to disguise the real sin of Onanism, which was being performed by the church itself. The aspect is examined in the paper The Sin of Onan (No. 162).

Sodomy is more particularly the act of sodomising a male. One who does the act is referred to as a Sodomite. The one who participates or takes the female part is referred to as a Catamite, which is the partner of a Sodomite. Thus, the origins of the gaol house terms, "cat" and "sod". Same sex partnerships are forbidden by the Bible.

The correct term for oral sex is "fellatio." The performer is the "fellator" and the recipient the "fellatrix." The acts are called "fellatory" or "cunnilinctual acts." It is termed "fellation."

The Bible is silent on the aspect of oral sexual acts between a man and wife. The concept is that they are of one flesh. Sex, at the religious shrine of the heathens, was condemned in Israel. Fornication was condemned as well. Thus, fornication is a sexual act between unmarried male and female partners. Same sex partners are thus at the very least fornicators and so are forbidden as well under these Bible laws. There are penalties for all aspects of these things, but nothing specified for oral sex or masturbation. Look at the paper Law and the Seventh Commandment (No. 260).

It might be said that the principal role of sex is for the procreation of children, but it is also for mutual pleasure. When performed for gain it is classed as harlotry or prostitution both male and female. Judah took a harlot for hire and in that way Tamar tricked him into providing a child under the Levirate laws when he withheld his sons. Look also at the paper The Genealogy of the Messiah (No. 119).

A: The question of "Alternative Medicine" is a difficult case. The answer must be, "No, it is not wrong," but the proviso must be included that it is just one alternative and does not hold all the answers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking medical help from qualified people. There are more quacks in alternative medicine than elsewhere, precisely because it is not so well regulated and has freedom of entry.

Some people who have been given advice by alternative therapists ultimately have to be helped by medical practitioners to remedy a deficiency that has been caused by such treatment. People will eagerly accept advice from people they do not know, and reject it from their own families and medical practitioners whom they do know.

The cult of healing involving Escalapius was the worship of a foreign god, and his priests also practised a form of psychological conditioning. The distinction is thus, that you seek help from people who do not require you to worship a foreign god in the healing practice.

Alternative Medicine has more aspects of the New Age paganism to it than we would expect to encounter in modern medicine. Luke was a physician. Thus, one of the gospels and the book of Acts were written by a doctor.

The Church had many medical practitioners over the ages and still does. Jacob was embalmed by the Physicians. Job speaks of them also in a positive sense, as do others.

People have been known to die through teachings about not seeking medical help or because of church doctrines. All of that comes from a narrow bigoted understanding of history and the Bible doctrines on healing. The answer is to choose your medical advice carefully, get opinions, and do not accept negative changes to diet, or to follow quacks. A dangerous form of quackery in the twentieth century is the doctrine of vegetarianism, which is hurting many people (Look at the paper Balance (No. 209), Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) and also The Food Laws (No. 15).

A: This question is a trifle more complex than it perhaps appears. The Internet is a valid study tool and so, if the Internet enhanced the study you were supposed to be doing, then you have the justification.

If you were simply disobeying your parents, then you have broken the fifth commandment and there is always a penalty involved. Look at the paper Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258) to see what is entailed in responsibilities to parents. No information is ever lost. It is applied when necessary or forgotten until need arises. The discipline lies with your parents.

A: Many people go through a process much the same as you. When one starts to study the Bible, one can find there is conflict with their religious beliefs and what the Bible says. For example, the simple fact of the Sabbath and the Fourth Commandment. When you ask, "Which day is the Sabbath?" Mainstream Christianity would say that it is Sunday. If you question this, they might say, "It used to be Saturday, but we changed it." It is just ridiculous that they could say God gave us Ten Commandments but we can change the Sabbath to Sunday, and then kill everyone who actually keeps the day God commanded.

What is God doing? The answer is that God is not dealing with the world at present. The world is under Satan. God is only dealing with a few people, and they are being drawn out to train to take over from the demons at the return of the Messiah. The priests of this planet are part of a false religious system and they deliberately falsify the system in some cases, and withhold the truth in others.

Look at the Bible and ask, if there is a God He has the obligation to reveal Himself and to judge mankind under just laws and in a system that has no respect of person. Therefore no matter what, the Bible says it is the word of God and these other people are simply not called.

If Christ is the true Messiah of the Bible then somewhere there must be a group who understands. You are then faced with locating the elders of God and getting baptised. Ask God for understanding and He will give it to you if you are obedient to what He gives you to understand. Progressive obedience gives progressive understanding.

Now we can also deal with this aspect logically. There is a paper that deals with the matter of the creation at a more advanced level. It deals with Singularist causation and also the Creation as a time directional activity and the impossibility of absolute creation (see the paper Creation (No. B5). Also what you need to do is study the second Law of Thermodynamics and also Theomatics. You can be helped through this problem and assisted in your studies if you are really desirous of learning the truth.

A: Yes, at last we are starting to see an admission that the icecaps are melting, and now they are acknowledging that it is quite rapid. Look at the paper, Global Warming and Bible Prophecy (No. 218), which was written in 1997. People, at first, thought it was a little alarmist. It has since been updated and is now, if anything, conservative. The Bible prophecy aspects are covered in this paper.

A: This is an old chestnut to make a pun. The text refers to fires for work purposes and not for cooking. There are specific commandments to light fires and cook on the Sabbath. Thus, the explanation must lie elsewhere. The explanation of the texts is contained in the paper The Juma'ah: Preparing for the Sabbath (No. 285).

A: This is an interesting question. It reflects the marriage ceremony. A man and woman become one flesh on marriage. Thus, the woman goes into the tribe of her husband under biblical law. This protects the operation and inheritance of the tribe.

The Levirate laws also reflect this aspect. The operation of marriage and the Levirate law is covered in the papers Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258); Law and the Seventh Commandment (No. 260); Genealogy of the Messiah (No. 119); and Ruth (No. 27). There is no legal obligation in many countries to change the name of the woman, but the Bible is clear that she and the husband become one flesh and she goes into the tribe of the husband.

A: We are confronted with this problem all the time. We have limited resources, urgent priorities and endless possibilities and needs. The answer is that we do what we can with the resources available to us. We give away what we teach, as the Bible and the word of God says to "buy the truth but sell it not."

If those among us are in need, we try to help them, as we are able. Sometimes, in order to help others, you need to make sure you are in a position to do so. That means to make sure you are healthy and you have taken care of your responsibilities, and then you can help others more efficiently. The poor will always be with us. Do what you can with all your might within the body you have identified as preaching the Law of God as correctly as the Bible tells you it should be done. The rest is up to God. Place all your cares upon Him and He will ensure Christ deals with each situation. Remember also the prayers of a righteous man availeth much.

A: The Bible says we should not eat blood, for the blood is the life thereof. We take transfusions because our life is threatened. We do not eat the blood. The argument regarding transfusions is as bizarre as the witness doctrine of the return of the Messiah. One should not expect to understand the logic of it because there is none. It is designed to justify an error of the system at the beginning of this century.

It is the same as the silly basis for Kashrut in Judaism. The milk will boil in the stomach with the meat and it may be that we will sin if we perchance get a cow’s milk while eating her calf, even though the text says it refers to kids and goat’s milk. Do not try to make too much sense out of the convoluted logic of the argument.

The AIDS epidemic did not help the silly reasoning. Nor, no doubt, will mad cow disease. However, it has no basis in fact or in reason. The only penalty paid unjustly is by the young who are bound by the insanity and biblical illiteracy of their parents.

A: Both. Samuel said God required obedience more than sacrifice. Revelation says that the seed of the women pursed by the Dragon are those who keep the Commandments of God and the Testimony or Faith of Jesus Christ. This is the patience of the Saints (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). Look at the papers The Law of God (No. L1) and the series within that and also The Relationship Between Salvation By Grace and the Law (No. 82).

A: It is an ancient pagan festival relating to the sun worshipping system. It was set as the birth of the invincible sun god after the northern winter solstice when the sun began to rise in power from the depths of winter. It is linked to the Lupercalia and the Saturnalia of the ancient pagans. Candlemas is linked to it in the ancient pagan traditions.

It was totally confined to the pagans until 375 CE when it came into Christianity in Syria at Antioch, and into Jerusalem in 386. Christmas was the logical end of the heresy of the penetration of the Suncults into Christianity. It commenced with the acceptance of Sunday worship in Rome in the 2^nd century. The equally pagan Easter festival came into the Church in Rome from Anicetus in approximately 150 and then by force from Rome by decree of Victor in 190-192.

The Origins of Christmas and Easter are explained in the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235). Look also at the papers The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277) and The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246).

A: We do not celebrate his birth. The birthday is of the Babylonian system tied into the sun cults and the notion of man becoming a god without the power of God. Look at the paper Birthdays (No. 287). Christ seems to have been born around the Feast of Tabernacles. He certainly was not born in December. The Bible is deliberately silent on the timing of his birth.

The Bible says the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. God gave us a series of festivals that outline the Plan of Salvation and the sequence of God’s activities with men. These are all covered in the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156); and The Holy Days of God (No. 97). There are also other papers that explain the importance of these festivals.

A: Yes, they do overlap in that they are both aspects of the Mystery and sun cults. They both came from the Middle East. Mithras was the Bull-slaying cult and is based on a cosmology of ca 2000 BCE. It is a private all-male cult. The public form of it was Sol Invictus Elagabal, or Elagabalism. The bread and water communion came into Christianity from Mithras.

The Mithras system was developed from the Solstice, and so we have Christmas coming from Mithras and the birth of the Invincible sun was part of that. The other pagan systems then were associated with it. We progress through the Saturnalia, The Lupercalia, The Shrove, and the Carnival also associated with the Bacchanalia. The Easter system was associated with Attis in the West and Adonis in the East.

Attis is the dying God who had a tree cut in the forest and decorated with silver and gold and with the emblems of the death and rebirth. This six-pointed star of sacrifice was also associated with Baal-Easter and is seen in the worship of Atargatis. Look at the papers David and Goliath (No. 126) and also The Piñata (No. 276).

The child in the cave and the parading of the Christ child and sun symbol come from Egypt and is another aspect of the Dying God found in the mysteries and sun cults of Isis, and Osiris, and Horus. It is also the birth of the sun. The paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235) will give a background to most of the traditions and their origins.

A: Christ was never in the day. Christmas is a totally pagan festival that came into Christianity from Antioch in 375 CE and was accepted in the Church in Jerusalem and Rome later. The festival itself was always in Rome over that period as associated with the God Attis.

X perhaps might be associated with the Greek letter Chi. However the pagan associations of Christmas were always so well known among our people that Christmas was outlawed by Henry VIII at the Reformation. It was reinstated by his Catholic daughter Mary Tudor. Elizabeth did not again outlaw it when she ascended. That was left to Cromwell who again proscribed Christmas as a pagan festival but on his death the Stuarts allowed it to be reintroduced.

Thus the use of X in Xmas is probably a knowing admission that there is not and never has been any Christ in Christmas. Look at the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)

A: Red and Green are the ancient colours of the pagan cults. They are of the berries and the leaves we see on Christmas decorations. The plants of Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe, Yule logs and so on are all associated with the various aspects of the Triune God.

Ivy was sacred to Attis and his priests were tattooed with ivy (see the paper Tattooing (No. 5). The pine was his sacred tree. It was collected and decorated with ribbons and metal and the top decoration representing the fertility of the system was kept for the year and burnt the following year. Look at the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

A: Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids and the Aryans generally. The Mistletoe found in oak was especially revered. The idea came from the fact that Mistletoe spread and came into the tree from heaven and never touched the ground.

It was always cut with a special golden sickle. It is associated with human sacrifice as is the entire Christmas system. The explanations are covered in the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

A: No, Father Xmas is not real. It is based on a series of pagan legends and U.S. commercialism of the last 150 years. The origins of the Christmas story and the real truth behind the customs observed on that day come from pagan systems prior to Christ, and which were tied up with barbaric days of sacrifice. The true story is told in the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

A: The texts say that they saw the star in the east. They came from the Northeast, as near as we can tell, probably from the Israelites etc. in the Parthian empire. The occurrence has to be regarded as miraculous and that places the matter beyond speculation. The prophecy in Numbers 24:17-19 is that a star shall come of out Jacob. This is a direct reference to Messiah. He is the sceptre that shall arise out of Israel. This relates to the Morning Star of the planet. Christ will replace Satan, who is the current Morning Star, at his return.

This aspect is examined in the paper Lucifer: Light Bearer and Morning Star (No. 223). The tradition is that there were three wise men, but this has no basis in the Bible. The reference to three is only in the types of gifts they brought. The origins of the number three with the Magi comes from the cult of Demeter (see The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)).

The time of His birth is thought to have been around September/October in the period from 8 to 5 BCE. It may have been earlier and even as early as 12 BCE, but it was probably 5 BCE. It was certainly not later, as Herod died between 1-13 Nisan 4 BCE. It was certainly not at Christmas time as the sheep were not in the fields during December.

The timings from the divisions of Abijah on duty in the Temple in single or joint sittings for the vision of Zechariah indicate September as the likely date. So, you would need to do a chart of the movements of all planets and stars over September/October from 12-5 BCE to see if there is any concrete evidence of it being associated with a comet. As stated earlier, all supposition is removed if it is simply regarded as miraculous.

A: Yes, that is what it says. The cross was used in ancient times long before Christianity and it does represent reproductive powers. In ancient Rome, it was the upright oak that represented the male Genii of Rome. The swastika is a version of this symbol. The cross was used in Egypt in the third millennium BCE, along with the fly, as a symbol of the Triune system and Baal Zeebub, god of Ekron, was the "Lord of the Flies."

The ancient Christian Church never used the cross, it came in by default. In fact, the argument is that Christ was crucified on a stake, not a cross. The concept of the cross comes from the Latin use of "crux" to translate the Greek "stauros." Later, Roman crucifixions became more elaborate with the addition of a cross bar. This was used sometimes to tie prisoners.

The story of the origins and development of the cross is found in The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 39). The priests of the dying god, Attis always made their effigies of pine, and that is why relics of the cross are always of pine as it was sacred to Attis. It is also the origin of the Christmas tree. Look at The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

A: Neither the cross nor the Magan "David" are either Christian or Jewish. The Star of David is a symbol of destruction from the mysteries. It is associated with human sacrifice and is probably the star of the god Remphan mentioned in the Bible texts (Acts 7:43).

The cross is an ancient symbol that was developed around the sun and mystery cults. It was used in tattoos in ancient Egypt in the third millennium BCE along with the symbol of the fly, which seems to be associated with Baal Zeebub, the God of Ekron. See the paper Tattooing (No. 5).

The history of the symbol and its variations can be seen in the paper The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 39).

A: The cult of Mother and Father was adopted by the Romans and forms part of the Triune system as I explained in the paper The Doctrine of Original Sin Part 1 The Garden of Eden (No. 246).

The Mothers Day/Fathers day of the modern system varies from nation to nation. Much of it is commercialism but some of it is tied to the ancient system as well. Look at the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

A: Bull contests originated, as near as we can tell, in Crete with the custom of running at them and leaping over their backs in somersaults. The bull system was associated with the Minotaur and the Golden Calf system.

The Bull slaying cults were associated with Mithras in Europe and from Rome. It spread all over Europe and was the basic cult of the army. These modern games are just variations on a theme thousands of years old in the Bull slaying system.

A: The concept of the birth of the Christ stems from the pagan sun cults. The 25 December is the date from the Solstice when the invincible sun begins its rebirth. The Midnight situation is the deepest part of the night on the deepest part of the year. From this position, the sun begins to make its way back. The Christ child came from the myste