Chapter 14

Deception

Judas betrayed out Lord for thirty pieces of silver even though he witnessed the healing of Blind Bartimaeus. He also witnessed the sightless man conning from the pool of Siloam exclaiming, “I can see! I can see!” after Jesus had made a plaster for his eyes composed of mud and spittle. Although Judas was an eyewitness of the multiplied bread and fishes that fed five thousand from a little boy’s lunch basket, he still chose the glitter of earthly silver in preference to Heavenly gold. Satan deceived Judas, who in turn betrayed our Lord.

During the Lenten season in Mexico City, a large stuffed doll bearing the inscription Judas is paraded through the streets, tied to buses, cars and any moving vehicle. Then on Good Friday they bring all of their Judas’ and make a huge pile and burn them.

While the Judas’ go up in a furious blaze of fire and smoke, the Mexicans will dance around and chant, pray and delight in the fact that they were burning the devil.

Great crowds had gathered on the street to watch a parade. During a great fiesta, celebration is often hilarious, wild and boisterous. Suddenly, the laughter and wild jeering cease. And all is calm and a look of reverence appears on the faces of the bronze-faced people, intermingled with white-faced tourists from Europe and America. On one particular float, during such a festival, sat two priests and two Nuns dressed in their holy habits. Also on the float was the elaborate image of the Virgin Mary and another image of Christ.

One priest sat beside the image of Christ and called to the people, “Give to Jesus! Your offerings will make Him so happy that He will shed tears of joy for you!”

One by one, men and women walked over to the float and drop in money. Each time that money was given to the priest, real tears flowed down the image of Christ’s face. After a while two policemen stopped the parade and investigated this float. To the surprise of hundreds of devoted, believing people the police found the head of the image filled with a wet sponge attached to a string in the priest’s hands. When the mite box received a coin or bill, the priest merely pulled the string and water issued from the image’s eyes making it appear as though Jesus was really crying. Thank God those policemen had the nerve and courage to expose the fraud.

One tourist, who traveled extensively, reported seeing two skulls of Saint John the Baptist. One was on display in a magnificent church in the suburbs of Constantinople. The other in Edessa, having been put there in 761.

He questioned the sacristan about this last skull. He was stunned and his faith was shaken. The sacristan explained that it wasn t coincidental, but said, “Sir, the first skull you viewed was John as a boy. This one was of John when he was a man.” This explanation might have satisfied a pure ignorant dupe, but this educated traveler was flabbergasted.

I’m told that sixty-one forgers of Saint Peter have been exhibited in various Cathedrals across the world. The “Church” claims to have the following:

1 The halter Judas hung himself with,

2 The wedding ring of the Virgin Mary,

3 A lock of Mary’s hair,

4 Wedding veil of Mary.

5 Twenty four boards from the manger where Christ Jesus was born,

6 Jesus’ first baby dress,

7 Jesus’ first baby shoes,

8 Jesus’ first baby shirt,

9 Tail of the ass that Jesus rode into Jerusalem,

10 Crown of thorns that Jesus wore,

11 Nails that nailed Jesus to the cross,

12 The spearhead that the Roman Soldier thrust into His side,

13 A part of Jesus’ seamless robe,

14 A bottle of Joseph’s breath which an angel caught while Joseph chopped wood,

15 A bottle of milk taken from Mary’s breast in the Chapel of Scala Santa in Rome,

16 Bottles of tears while He hung on Calvary in the Chapel of Scala Santa in Rome,

17 The arm of Saint Andrew and the head of Saint Luke that were brought to Rome by Gregory the Great and given as gifts to the Monastery of Saint Andrew of Rome,

18 The bottle of blood and water taken from his Side on Calvary,

19 Part of the original cross on which Jesus hung.

If you were traveling m India you might wonder why you found so man people fishing in the famous, revered Ganges River. But on closer inspection you would discover that in the end of each pole is not a hook or bait but a relic, an image of Buddha. The more often little Buddha strikes the water, and the greater the splash, the greater reward this one will receive. He is building up a merit system in order to enter Nirvana and thus escape Karma. He is not catching trout or bass.

Poor deceived Indian people! No wonder they are willing to walk miles through forest jungles where tigers and other vicious animals roam, and wade through swollen, infested streams and scale precipitous mountain trails to our church conventions where they can hear more about the One Who has liberated them and set them free. His name is Jesus Christ.

One of the well-known missionaries in Colombia, South America, said these words, “When the ‘Church’ is in the minority, she is gentle an unsuspecting as a lamb. When in equality, she is like a tigress watching her little ones. But in the majority she is a roaring lion seeking her prey.”

Few people know why Peron lost the presidency in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Our newspapers picked up the propaganda that he was ousted because he was a dictator. Here is the true story.

A Holy Ghost preacher sent from God entered the capitol City of Buenos Aires and inquired of a man named Peron. He was refused admittance at the Presidential Palace and was mocked for making such a request as an audience with President Peron. The very idea of a commoner wishing to speak to the President! But as he purposely wandered around, knowing God sent him, he noticed that Peron’s servant was a cripple. He began talking to this servant about Jesus Christ and of His power to heal.

The missionary prayed for him and God immediately healed that crippled, deformed body and made him every whit whole. The good news spread like a prairie fire through the Presidential Palace. Very soon afterwards, a messenger was dispatched to this man of God to tell him that President Peron wanted to see him.

Breathing a prayer of thanks, Missionary Hicks was ushered into the presence of Mr. Peron. While explaining about the miracle of healing that had happened to his servant, he witnessed to him about Jesus Christ. Mr. Peron was so impressed that he fell upon his knees and prayed in the presence of this evangelical preacher.

As a result of this meeting, Mr. Peron gave permission to Missionary Hicks to have an evangelical meeting in Buenos Aires’ largest auditorium. A thing unheard of in that country!

What a glorious revival it was! Thousands attended, including Mr. Peron. The blind people were made to see, the crippled walked again, the deaf were made to hear and the dumb to speak. The demon-possessed minds were restored and diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis faded into oblivion after being exposed to the rays of faith produced by the man of God.

Scores of people both rich and poor filled the altars and gave their hearts to God. As a result of this meeting Mr. Peron admitted that Evangelicals were possessors of salvation, and, in the future, the State Church would be relegated to just another church and not the government-recognized church of Argentina.

Mr. Peron took certain priests off the government payroll, and he also took power from the hierarchy. But Mr. Peron and all of Argentina were soon to learn that she doesn’t relinquish authority and power without a fight, even if it means bloodshed.

Soon the battle raged. Rebellion, internal strife. Civil War in Argentina. Peron the Dictator ousted, were in our newspaper’s headlines. In smaller print we read of Peron being a traitor living in immorality. His wife, though in the grave, was not left in peace, but derided and mocked for having lived in luxury and spending Argentina’s millions. Finally, Peron fled into exile. His president’s chair was filled by a loyal Church member. Was he demoted and exiled because he was cruel? No! The truth is that the Church Hierarchy waged the war behind the scenes simply because Peron recognized Protestantism and took power from the State Church.

This religious power delves into polities and deceives the nations, but it even finds its way to the ignorant, unlearned and backward villages of our United States and Canada. While in a small town in New Brunswick, Canada, we conducted a series of meetings giving my testimony. A group of Church members attended from another nearby town. One day while I visited friends there, some women knocked at the back door and asked to speak to me. During the course of our conversation, they trembled and said, “We do not dare return to your meetings, Father N, said he would turn us into into green pigs if he caught us in that Protestant meeting.” No doubt those poor women ever attended a school. Place them in the illiterate class of society and laugh them off if you want to, but I know it to be factual that the priests kept them in ignorance, superstitions and poverty. If a priest can turn a wafer into the literal body of Jesus Christ, and wine into His blood at “Holy Communion,” why wouldn’t it be just as simple to turn human beings into green pigs?

Saint Paul spoke on Holy Communion in his epistle I Corinthians Chapter Eleven.

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread.’ And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it]. in remembrance of me.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup.

If the doctrine of Transubstantiation is true, why did not Paul, in his conclusion, admonish these Corinthians to “examine himself and so let him eat of Christ’s flesh and drink His blood?” Instead, he admonished them, “Let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.” Why? Simply because the Bible makes it plain that Jesus was standing there in His own human body and presented them bread and the fruit of the vine as a memorial of His death at Calvary. Neither did Jesus drain any blood out of His veins and give the disciples to drink nor ask them to gnaw on his flesh.

I’m reminded of an incident that took place several years ago. A priest was determined to win this particular lady into the faith. Her persistent ways held him aloof, however, she offered to bake the wafer for the Holy Communion. The priest granted her request, thinking this kind gesture was a step towards conversion.

Mrs. A. wife of a devotee, baked the communion bread after receiving special instructions from the priest. She also made it her business to be in service for Holy Communion.

When the priest was about to place the Holy wafer on the tongue of his first penitent, Mrs. A. screamed out, “Father, are you sure you can turn that bread into the literal body of Christ?”

He assured her he could. Then she answered, “if you’re sure, then go ahead. But if not, I want to warn you that there is arsenic lead in that bread.”

Needless to say, Holy Communion service stopped immediately.

In the convent, Mother Superior came holding a dead rat and half a wafer of the Holy Communion. She held the rat in one hand by the tail and the wafer in the other. She exclaimed to the Nun, “See what God has done to this rat that dared to eat the holy wafer?” ’

That pantomime was a lesson in disguise to teach us the sacredness of “Holy Communion.” Although it was another lie, it placed added fear in our hearts.

In all countries where the Bible is a hidden book, you will find poverty, ignorance, superstition, darkness, bondage, illiteracy and illegitimacy.

After three hundred years of State Churchianity in South America, forty-eight percent of her population are born out of wedlock. Forty-five percent of Spain’s population are born out of wedlock. The oaths of celibacy doesn’t keep priests from being the fathers of many illegitimate babies.

One of our missionaries from Colombia, South America, reported, “Many Colombian couples with large families will come to our evangelical meetings and be convicted of their sins. They will arise and come to our altar and be converted. When preparing for water baptism, we often learn they have never been married, although they have lived together for many years, and sometimes have six, seven or as many as ten children.”

This missionary stated that at that time Colombians were taught to hate the Bible from infancy. It was a hidden book priests searched homes for Bibles. And if one was found, it was taken along with the other heretic’s Bibles and placed in a pile on the street and burned.

Priests led the mobs as they rioted and screamed, “We hate you! Go back home you foreign devils!” Then they raided our churches, broke down the doors and shattered the windows with rocks and stones. In one year, twenty-four churches in Colombia were burned. They also attempted to burn one missionary’s wife and baby alive!

A Colombian mob entered one church and forced eight young men to stand and face the wall, and then shot them in the back. Two of these men were not Christians, but willingly died as martyrs for the truth.

In Colombia, the Law cooperated fully with the priests. One woman came to the mission and found Christ. When she and her five children returned home, they found the door locked. The husband finally came and unlocked the door, and carried a hatchet in his hand. He struck his wife on the head making quite a gash, and then ordered her and the children to leave. He took all of her clothes and burned them. She and the children returned to the Mission where she was cared for. Beds were made on the church benches for them to sleep. Later God called one of her sons to preach the Gospel.

One evening the father heard his son preach and his heart was melted with tears trickling down his cheeks. And admissions of guilt, begging forgiveness, replaced the angry, cursing tongue. God gloriously filled him with the Holy Ghost. One week later. God in His infinite mercy reached down and called him home.

Praise the Lord for the thousands of converted Colombians! Many have sacrificed homes and families, spent days in jail, allowed their bodies to be beaten or their babies to be burned or murdered all because they stood for the Bible and its teaching — the infallible Word of God — and were filled with the Holy Ghost. No more “holy water,” no scapulars, no more relics, no more purgatory, no more bowing down to idols, and no more patron saints. There is no longer a wafer-god that they must eat every time they take holy communion. All they have is a living Christ who forgives all our iniquities.

I, too, feel as the Colombian who purchased his first Bible from the missionary. The missionary gave him this express warning, “Son, I’ll only sell you this Bible if you promise to hide it.” Why? The missionary tried to spare him persecution knowing he was a young convert.

With animated spirit the young man climbed on his bicycle and rode away. His prized possession tucked under some of his other belongings in the basket. He decided to stop at the barber and get a haircut, but every chair was filled. That meant a long wait. He forgot the missionary’s warning and rushed out to his bicycle. He picked up his Bible and sat down to wait his turn while he read the Holy Scriptures.

A priest walked in to have his crown shaved. When he walked past the boy, he stopped and asked sharply, “What are you reading?!”

The boy replied, “The Bible.”

The priest knocked it out of his hand. As the boy stooped to pick it up, the priest kicked him. The whole Barber shop went into an uproar. The police were summoned and the boy was taken to jail. He was not given a trial or court appearance; not even an opportunity to relate the facts.

In Colombia, because of the tropical heat, a well-known remark is often heard, “No one works between 11:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. except an Englishman and mad-dogs.” However, the prison authorities compelled this boy to run around the compound with a huge stone on both shoulders during this time. And if (and he did) he fell or fainted from exhaustion, they merely picked him up and laid him in his cell block with neither food nor water. After five days of this treatment they released the boy without any explanation. Although he could hardly walk with his bleeding back and body, he made it over to the missionary’s house.

When Brother T. looked down the road and saw him coming, he rose to meet him. The Colombian boy leaned his weary body against the wall of patio and spoke so softly and tenderly, “Just to think my Jesus would count me worthy to suffer for him.”

It is doubtful the boy ever read Revelation 2:10.

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of Life. “