KEEP the FAITH The Torch of False Prophecy

By Pastor Hal Mayer

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry once again. Today, we’re going to look at the situation in the Middle East and its impact on prophecy and its fulfillment. There are many false prophets in the last days, and the Middle East is in the middle of it, though it isn’t understood by most. The origins of Israel’s war with the Palestinians over Gaza are supported by this false doctrine and by false prophets or prophecies. Many people on both sides of the conflict are suffering because of false prophecy. So, as we dig into this issue, please listen carefully with understanding and wisdom.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we realize that we are living in a time that has been prophesied in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy and that we must understand it and prepare for the crisis that is coming upon us and the whole world. Please help us today as we study by sending Your Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding. Help us to align with heaven’s take on the whole situation. That way we can be in harmony with heavenly agencies in doing the work of the three angels’ messages. Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit and for being our guide today. In Jesus name, amen.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 24:23 and 24.

Jesus himself predicted the rise of false prophets in the last days. These may be in the form of individuals that predict certain things, and then the enemy makes them come true. These are not based on a true understanding of scripture, but an understanding that supports their agenda or aspiration. These are usually in the form of false prophecies built on evangelicals’ theology that supports worldly or earthly governments and an earthly kingdom. It’s the same today as it was in Jesus’ day. There were some individuals who laid the foundation that is now in the form of popular theology.

Rome plays into this agenda too. In fact, Rome has used popular theology to neutralize the protestant voice and bring them back to the “Mother Church,” as she styles herself. But her skin color has been the only thing that has changed. Her character is still the same.

The Antichrist has a masterful plan. It is the startling story behind the 400-year smokescreen of false prophecy that’s concealing the real antichrist and taking the finger off the papacy for her cruel intolerance and debauchery. Today, most Christians would be shocked to know that popular beliefs they’ve been taught for years about the antichrist are based on a clever plan developed over 400 years ago by Catholic speculative theologians to destroy their churches. The authors of the plan eventually died, and the blueprint lay unknown for several centuries until a small group of men breathed life back into it. Soon it was being used to stealthily dismantle a once-strong fortress of teaching that had, once upon a time, threatened to throw the papal tiara off the head of the pope. Protestant doctrine undermined the false claims of the papacy to temporal rule and ruined her oppressive control over society and brought much freedom and liberty to millions.

The story of how the ancient plan took over the seminaries until they were nearly all promoting prophetic viewpoints completely at odds with those of scripture and their spiritual forefathers, many of whom died defending the very prophetic principles their spiritual children were abandoning. Here is the brief story of the grand deception.

The Church had asserted that popes were infallible, and church councils were above the Bible. Teaching or even believing something different than the pope or the Church was heresy, and heretics could be executed as enemies of the state and eternally damned without expiation. Rome held this power for over 1000 years. Ignorance prevailed and Rome could wield her power unchecked by anyone. Listen to this from Great Controversy, pages 50 and 51.

“It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has been given the very titles of Deity. He has been styled “Lord God the Pope,” and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage.”

“God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ’s church except by usurpation.”

In many different ways Rome tried to hide the scriptures and keep them from the people. Satan’s reason for this was that he knew that the holy scriptures would enable men to discover his deceptions and withstand his power. The Roman church was motivated by money and control. So, Satan found in them a useful ally. This is from Great Controversy, page 51.

“For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.”

And the earth was once again dark with the misapprehension of God. The consequences of this were enormous and wreaked havoc on society. Here’s another passage from Great Controversy, pages 57 and 60.

“The darkness seemed to grow more dense. Image worship became more general. Candles were burned before images, and prayers were offered to them. The most absurd and superstitious customs prevailed. The minds of men were so completely controlled by superstition that reason itself seemed to have lost its sway. While priests and bishops were themselves pleasure-loving, sensual, and corrupt, it could only be expected that the people who looked to them for guidance would be sunken in ignorance and vice.”

“Popery had become the world’s despot. Kings and emperors bowed to the decrees of the Roman pontiff. The destinies of men, both for time and for eternity, seemed under his control. For hundreds of years the doctrines of Rome had been extensively and implicitly received, its rites reverently performed, its festivals generally observed. Its clergy were honored and liberally sustained. Never since has the Roman Church attained to greater dignity, magnificence, or power. But “the noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world.’”

In the early 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church encountered a doctrinal crisis which threatened its control over Western and Central Europe, a region also known as the Holy Roman Empire and also as Christendom. Martin Luther rediscovered the authority of the Bible and salvation through faith in Jesus, not through a church. This began to pry Rome’s fingers off temporal and spiritual control over the populations of Europe. Rome panicked. Then she redoubled her persecutions at least in places where she still had control. But this only increased the perception that the pope and his minions were indeed the despotic antichrist.

The protestant doctrines may not seem like dangerous viewpoints today, but to 16th-century Christians, they were revolutionary! The Catholic Church had claimed for centuries that she alone held the keys to heaven. She regularly used the threat of eternal damnation through excommunication and interdiction to keep rulers and their citizens submissive to her political and temporal ambitions.

For a thousand years these religious influences had controlled the people and nations of Europe. But by the 16th century, a growing “protest” against these abuses climaxed in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, a monk with a passion for learning and a great desire for freedom from sin and peace with God, discovered a Bible in the university, and later, one chained to the convent wall. As he read its sacred pages, he was convicted more deeply of his sins and tortured and humiliated himself trying to rid himself of his sins. This discouraged him until he almost despaired of salvation. But God was watching over him and sent a messenger of mercy to set his feet on the right path. Staupitz, his friend and superior, came to encourage him.

“Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins,” he said, “throw yourself into the Redeemer’s arms. Trust in Him, in the righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death…. Listen to the Son of God. He became man to give you the assurance of divine favor. Love Him who first loved you.”

That’s quoted from D’Aubigné in Great Controversy, pages 123 and 124. I don’t know if Staupitz realized what he had done, or what Martin Luther would do with that. Sometimes an offhanded word can be the very thing that revolutionizes your world. And it must have been heartwarming to Staupitz to see Martin Luther grasp the love of Jesus and then with his encouragement mount the pulpit and preach the truths he was learning.

Luther was enthralled with the Bible. There were still Bible truths to be discovered, and doctrines that needed to be corrected and sorted out, but he set Europe on fire for the gospel light and gave the people of Europe hope that they had not had before. The Catholic Church could not contain it. The more they tried to stop it, the more it spread, frustrating their efforts.

The Bible was placed in its rightful position above church authority and in its pages a Savior and His all-sufficient sacrifice for sin was revealed. This good news was proclaimed from pulpits, published in tracts and spread far and wide, overturning centuries of pilgrimages, penance, and payments to obtain forgiveness of sin.

The good news of the gospel spelled bad news for the papacy and its political hold on Europe. Protestant reformers noted that if sinners could seek forgiveness directly from God through Jesus, the one Mediator approved by heaven, Rome’s whole system of priests and saints was a fraud. Many of the people wanted to read the Bible for themselves. So, night schools sprang up to teach people how to read, often using the Bible, or portions thereof to learn.

More troubling to the church was the challenge of church finance. Cathedrals, convents, and monasteries, along with the decadent lives of cardinals, bishops, priests and monks had all been funded by souls eager to buy forgiveness through the Church. If the true gospel was allowed to flourish, what would happen to church revenues? If the corruption was exposed then there would be no money. Does that sound familiar?

But far worse was the discovery by Protestants of prophecies identifying the papacy as Daniel’s “little horn” who made war with the saints. They also proclaimed Paul’s “man of sin,” and “son of perdition,” as well as John’s “antichrist” and the persecuting “ten-horned beast,” which all pointed to Rome as the cause of all society’s ills. These had exposed the papacy as the enemy of Christ and His followers and had strengthened the Protestant cause, inspiring believers to remain steadfast despite threats of excommunication and martyrdom. Unless some way could be found to get the prophetic finger of “antichrist” off the Catholic Church and the pope, Catholic leaders feared their cause was bleak.

As whole nations and regions began abandoning the Church, the papacy had to act decisively. Rome began to fight back. Bibles and Protestant books were seized and burned. Censorship reigned. Sound familiar? Borders were closed. Inquisitors were sent to root out heretics in every land still under the papacy’s control. The rack, the stake, and the dungeon were all employed to punish heretics. Nations who had accepted the “faith once delivered to the saints” were now defending their newfound liberties with the sword.

But the more intensely the papacy persecuted the faithful ones, the more it matched Daniel’s description of the “the little horn power,” who “made war with the saints, and prevailed against them….” Dan. 7:21. What was needed was a new method of prophetic interpretation that could produce a plausible “persecuting antichrist” to take the focus off the papacy. Discrediting the old historicism became a primary goal of the Catholic Counter-reformation, a hardline movement initiated by Pope Paul III during the Council of Trent (1545‒1563) to regain ground lost to the Protestant Reformation and curb the decadence of the Catholic clergy.

The newly formed Society of Jesus (1540), having sworn unreserved allegiance to the pope in this all-out war with Protestantism, was especially keen to discredit the charge of “antichrist.” Jesuit scholars set to work, and within 50 years they added two new methods of prophetic interpretation to the church’s arsenal: futurism and preterism. Each method cleverly removed both the papacy and the troublesome record of the Church’s treatment of heretics. Here are the three prophetic contenders and their views of the antichrist:

Historicism views the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation and the struggle between good and evil as an uninterrupted chain of world events down to the Second Coming and beyond. When historicists come across prophetic symbols, they look for symbolic rather than literal fulfillment, including the symbolic fulfillment of time prophecies, unless the prophetic allusions are obviously to be taken literally. Prophecies about literal Israel and its future are understood to be conditional, depending on Israel’s obedience. More importantly historicists rightly apply the prophecies about Israel to faithful Christians who are now Abrahams seed. Let’s read it from the Bible. It’s found in Galatians 3:29.

“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Historicists are united in seeing a system (the papacy), not a single historical individual, as the antichrist.

While the writings of Christian historicists can be traced back to the 3rd century AD, the 10th-century Catholic bishop Arnulf was the first to apply Paul’s “man of sin” to the papacy; also did Joachim of Floris in 1190 and Eberhard II, Archbishop of Salzburg, in 1240. This view was also shared by the Waldenses, Wycliffe (1330‒1384), Hus (1370‒1415), and finally all the principal 16th-century Protestant Reformers—Luther, Calvin, Knox, the English Puritans, Early American Reformer Roger Williams, the Wesley’s of the 18th century, and many prominent Protestants into the early 20th century, including the great 19th-century English preacher, Spurgeon.

“It has been said that the Reformation first discovered Jesus Christ, and then, in the blazing light of Christ, it discovered the antichrist. This mighty, Spirit-filled movement for Christ and against the antichrist shook the world!”
Futurism views the majority of Revelation’s prophecies as awaiting fulfillment shortly before the Second Coming. The Spanish Jesuit scholar Francisco Ribera (1590) developed futurism to advance the Catholic Counter-reformation. He taught that a renegade Jew would become the end-time antichrist and would rule from a rebuilt temple at Jerusalem complete with the revival of the Levitical laws and sacrifices. Persecution of the church would start three and a half years into his reign.

Ribera was not a public speaker, but his contemporary, Cardinal Bellarmine, a fellow Jesuit and a popular and charismatic presenter, enlarged on Ribera’s views and convinced many fellow Catholics to accept futurism. It became the widely accepted view by Catholics for several centuries and helped to retain the church’s influence in battleground regions.

For 300 years, Protestants viewed futurism as a Catholic ploy to discredit the Reformation. But in the 19th century, Anglicans seeking reconciliation with English Catholics discovered Ribera’s and Bellarmine’s writings and began promoting them to ease the tension over the subject of “antichrist.” Their tracts caught the attention of John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren, a prolific writer who saw in futurism a way to package his dispensationalism. Darby influenced many Protestants to accept and promote dispensational futurism, most notably the American Cyrus Scofield, whose annotated reference Bible included Darby’s views and sold in the millions. Despite the clear historicist faith of their Protestant fathers, Evangelicals on both sides of the Atlantic as well as their seminaries and Bible colleges, gradually and tragically adopted dispensational futurism, and the inevitable slide toward unity with Rome began.

Preterism regards Revelation’s prophecies as largely fulfilled in the 1st century AD, more specifically, in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Preterism was developed by Spanish Jesuit theologian Louis del Alcazar (1614). He revived Flavius Josephus’ view that Daniel’s persecuting little horn was Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek king who controlled Palestine several centuries before Christ. You may have heard that view about Antiochus creeping into Adventism 40 years ago. Desmond Ford promoted that theory far and wide. There may still be some today who take that view. But today, most of the ones who adopted that view have left Adventism.

Preterist views on the beast of Revelation range from the Roman Emperor Nero to the Emperor Vespasian or his son Titus, who destroyed Jerusalem. Some preterists believe that “antichrists” have existed throughout history and that Christ’s second coming is a spiritual coming to every soul. Still others believe that the Second Coming and the judgment are still in the future and don’t believe in the investigative judgment.

Fake Bible scholars who use higher critical methods favor preterism because they don’t accept the supernatural aspect of predictive prophecy. Instead, they believe that the “prophets” merely described the world in which they lived, not anything in the future. This is nonsense, because it ignores some of the clearest prophecies of scripture that were predictive to the people of Israel, for example. Preterism is also the favored method of Protestants seeking ecumenical agreements with Rome and others. Catholic scholars now largely accept Preterism. So do most Bible scholars of mainline Protestant denominations. Even Adventists are more in harmony with Rome if they believe preterist views.

Does it really matter what you believe about the antichrist?

Preterists aren’t worried about “the end-time antichrist,” because antichrist came and went in the first century AD!
Futurists believe fervently that antichrist is an eminent, yet-to-be-identified, single individual who takes over a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, enforces the mark of the beast, and plunges the world into Armageddon. But before all this, the faithful will be raptured. Nonetheless, many left behind will be converted before the end of all things, including many Jews. Most Evangelicals believe some version of this viewpoint. Popular books and movies such as the Left Behind series resonate with these themes.

Because of futurism, American Evangelicals have an outsized influence on Middle East politics, which in itself could lead to World War III. Pastor Phil Hagee’s 4-million-member Christians United for Israel is the largest pro-Israel Christian group and actively lobbies the US Congress on issues regarding the State of Israel. In 2018, when the American embassy moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, President Donald Trump invited Hagee to participate in its opening. Israel’s war with Gaza is largely supported by evangelicals because of futurism.

Historicists still believe that the papacy is the best fit for the Bible’s description of the antichrist. They point to the precise fulfillment of the symbolic 1260 day/year time period in 1798, when the papacy received its temporary deadly wound, as even more proof of historicism’s accuracy. They believe the revived papacy is hiding behind a 400-year smokescreen of false prophecy, aided and abetted by preterists and futurists past and present.

But God doesn’t want to leave anyone in darkness or confusion. And He will use anyone He can to expose the lies and false teachings. Recently, for example, there have been several high-profile individuals who have exposed the lies of futurism and other views as false and self-serving. Evangelicals who are quite happy to take temporal political power, are being exposed through an understanding of their theology and where it takes them. Tucker Carlson, a very famous podcaster based in Maine, for instance, has recently interviewed a couple of these individuals that have condemned these false views.

People are now asking questions about the rapture and futurism. They are surprised to learn that their favorite understandings are false. That what they have believed and cherished are now shredded and exposed as fake. The seeds have been dropped. God is watering them so that they spring to life when His time is ripe. God will eventually bring them to an understanding not only of what is false, but also what is true. He is getting the world ready to receive the three angel’s messages.

Jesus warned that deceptions about His return would be rampant in Matt. 24:4 and 5; 11, 23 and 26.

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”

“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.”

Not surprisingly, those who receive antichrist’s mark are described as being both deceived and coerced. You find that in Revelation 13:11-17.

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

That’s both deception and coercion. We know about coercion from the pandemic when many people were coerced to take the shot by threats of losing their jobs, or their government benefits. But deception is more difficult to discern.

But to us who want to follow Jesus and His truth no matter the cost, we have the certainty of His promise to send “the Spirit of truth,” who will reveal these things to us. Let’s read it from John 16:13.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

As the Middle east is roiled in war and human suffering, evangelicals are looking for a temporal Israel to be restored and their earthly reign to become reality. They are longing for their day. And, of course, they’re looking for a time when they can enforce, at long last, the National Sunday Law and get everyone in church, and to make the nations convert their swords into plowshares.

President Donald Trump thinks part of his mission is to bring peace and restore America to greatness. Of course, it may look like He will get his way with peace. But it will end in more war, chaos and destruction. For the Bible says so in 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

The Bible predicts that America will become great again, like it or not. President Donald Trump is fulfilling this prediction. The United States will become so powerful that it can lead and even coerce all the other nations of the earth to enact national Sunday laws. It will even enforce a global, international Sunday law. This will be the fulfillment of Revelation 13:11-17. Let’s read that again and think about what it says in the context of what I’ve just said.

The Bible is speaking about universal issues here, not just issues related to the United States. No doubt globalism will help with this. And the global church, Roman Catholicism, will sponsor it. Roman Catholic popes have spoken of the Sunday law in various ways, in just about every encyclical that they have published in the last 40 years or more.

We are coming to a time when these issues are coming to a head. And as America becomes more assertive and more coercive of other nations, like it is doing right now in other areas like trade, commerce, war negotiations, etcetera, it will be a natural thing for it to step into the religious realm when it is convenient, and it will become the enforcement mechanism of Rome. America will indeed enforce a Sunday law upon its own people first, and then on the rest of the whole world.

What is happening in the Middle East must be viewed in the light of false prophecy. Whether you side with Israel or side with the Palestinians you have to rise above that and take the side of the Bible. The war with the Palestinians is a war that arose because of a long relationship between American evangelicals and Israel. And they will defend America’s support for Israel because it is supportive of Israel’s dominance. Don’t just blindly follow politics, either national or world politics. To navigate them correctly, you have to have a correct understanding of Bible prophecy.

The three angels’ messages apply these principles that will keep us on the straight and narrow path. They expose Rome for what it is, and they warn God’s people of being deceived by her. Let’s read Revelation 14:6-12.

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and 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; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

Keep your eye on Jesus. Do what He did. Act like He acted. Think like He thought. He was not involved in politics. Listen to this from Desire of Ages, page 509.

“The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses, —extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.”

The enemy will try to fulfil false prophecy to make it look real. And many people will lose their lives. Then he will even try to blame Sabbath-keepers for the wars and devastation, suggesting the wars would not exist but for Sabbath keepers. After all, Israel is full of Sabbath keepers.

We need to pray that we will not be deceived by what is happening in the middle east or be drawn into controversy over it. We can be drawn into controversy by arguing for one political side or the other. Listen to this from Fundamentals of Education, page 475.

“The Lord would have His people bury political questions. On these themes silence is eloquence. Christ calls upon His followers to come into unity on the pure gospel principles which are plainly revealed in the word of God. We cannot with safety vote for political parties; for we do not know whom we are voting for. We cannot with safety take part in any political schemes. We cannot labor to please men who will use their influence to repress religious liberty, and to set in operation oppressive measures to lead or compel their fellow men to keep Sunday as the Sabbath.”

If we are politically motivated, we will discredit the massage and cut off our influence with those on the other side of the political question. We will eventually be drawn into other false prophecies and create more confusion and disagreement. That’s not to say that we should not speak out on moral issues. Some of these will invite deceived people to think that you are taking political sides. But you can’t mute your voice on these things. God wants you to do what you can about these moral matters.

We have counsel on this matter regarding temperance. Here is a statement from Manuscript 59, 1900.

“Every church needs a clear, sharp testimony, giving the trumpet a certain sound. If we can arouse the moral sensibilities upon the subject of practicing temperance in all things, a very great victory will be gained.”

So, temperance or self-control is a moral issue. There is very little temperance in this world today, even among God’s people. Taking a stand on moral issues such as, temperance, abortion, LGBTQ+ issues, war, etc. is something God would have us do. We cannot side with the enemy on these things. Silence is the same as siding with the enemy. This will bring us into conflict with the public church and make us unpopular with the leaders. The public church does not take a stand, but instead compromises to maintain its favor with the government. And many abominations and various forms of corruption are carried on because of government money that flows into denominational institutions. May God help us to take a stand for things that are moral issues.

Let us pray. Dear Father in heaven, this world is sick. It is about to be destroyed, and Jesus will come. So, help us we pray, to be faithful to Your cause and live for Jesus every day. Help us to see these prophetic fulfillments as harbingers of Jesus’ return. Help us to understand these prophetic things as they are. There is going to be a lot of strange developments. But please help us stick to the Bible and to Jesus very closely. We also thank You for Your magnificent sacrifice and the great salvation You have offered to the human race. Please help us to take advantage of it for Your kingdom’s sake. In Jesus name, amen.