This is a five-part series on why God placed a divine mark of protection on Cain after he murdered his brother Abel. The first three articles will demonstrate satan’s success in influencing some Churches, and how he has parlayed this success to control certain aspects of our belief. The fourth article will address why God capitulated to Cain’s appeal that his punishment was too severe. And the fifth article will examine a few other Cain-like figures in the Bible and explain why we don’t see them in their true light. As an example, if all you have seen regarding Job is that he patiently endured his satanic affliction, then you have missed the greatest social crusader of all time.
As a disclosure, this article contains material that will be offensive to some Christians. I present it, not to be offensive of course, but to demonstrate an accurate depiction of the evil heart of man.
It is difficult for some to appreciate (I use this word loosely) the deceptive nature of satan. However, if we are to be victorious over sin and root out every other barrier to a ‘
22.And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24.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. 25.Behold, I have told you before (Matthew 24:22-25).
The only reason that the very elect cannot be deceived is that they have been insulated from deception through the Holy Ghost and the deep walk that they have developed with Christ. If we consider that he ruled his kingdom from the Church at Pergamos (see the first article in this series), then we must acknowledge that he is not to be taken lightly.
[satan] has been pervasive in virtually all segments of society; from television to entertainment to education to religion to literature to art and to everything in between. In fact, art has been one of his most affective areas of influence, because a work of art has the potential to create a convincing allusion. Some of you may be familiar with the 1987 photograph by Andres Serrano called [piss christ], which depicts a plastic crucifix that had been submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine. Serrano won a number of awards for his desecration of one of the most sacred symbols of Christianity, including an award that was sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects.
Although [piss christ] stirred enormous controversy when it was exhibited, and rightfully so, it has done less damage to our ability to grasp the deep things of God than other, apparently innocent works of art. When we come in contact with Serrano’s painting, we instantly reject the message that it sends; that contemporary society has not simply trampled Christ and the Gospel under its feet, but it is has ‘pissed’ all over him. In other words, there is nothing subtle about the message; however, other works of art have done severe damage to our sense of spiritual understanding, because of the subliminal nature of the message. For example, although Serrano’s photograph of the crucifix being placed in a glass of his own urine is offensive to many, it is the crucifix itself that has done more damage to our collective ability to properly understand who Jesus is and by extension, who we are.
The crucifix is a ubiquitous, some would even say ‘sacred,’ symbol of Christianity. It has become the icon whereby Christians and people of other faith recognize the crucifixion of Jesus. However, in the early centuries immediately following the crucifixion, no artist dared to depict Jesus in that moment of absolute humiliation, because he hung naked on the cross:
23.Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also His coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24.They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did (John
If we understand this fact; that Jesus was hoisted as a spectacle of contempt before his captors and the ravenous crowd, then it would prompt the question: Why have the Western artists depicted him in a loin cloth while hanging on the cross? Former Jesuit priest, Peter De Rosa, calls it the ‘biggest cover up in history,’ which has claimed millions of lives and has been perpetrated by great artists and not so great artist. The cover up that he is referring to is the piece of fabric that has been affixed to the loin of Jesus on the cross.
Some may argue that the loin cloth was added for modesty’s sake. However De Rosa puts it more succinctly: “What stayed the artist’s hand was not propriety but theology. The artists were not to blame. After all, how could they see that the pain of the recrucified Christ, without the ultimate truth that only complete nakedness brings, would lead to a catastrophe? In giving Jesus the final shreds of decency, that loin-cloth took from Him His Jewishness. It literally covered His pride and turned him into an honorable Gentile. For what it hid was not just his sex but that knife mark in his flesh, the circumcision, that showed he was a Jew.”1
Thanks to the Western artists, when we look at a crucifix we do not see that Jesus’ ethnic background was Hebrew, and that as a Jew he followed the Mosaic Law, which required circumcision. Would the Caesars, the Popes, Hitler, or any other anti-Semitic been audacious enough to institute acts of genocide against the Jews if every time they gazed at the crucifix, they saw the Jewish mark of circumcision starring back at them?
I believe that it could be argued that the Western World’s perch at the top of humankind is the direct result of this false depiction of Christ hanging on the cross, along with the notion that the New Testament is an original Greek document. It is not disputed that Jesus and his apostles spoke Aramaic, yet Western Christians have been conditioned to believe that the New Testament is Greek. Western Christians have become so accustomed to hearing the minister refer to the New Testament in its ‘original Greek’ that they don’t give it a second thought.
Over the years, people have asked me, “Why this is important?” The reasons are too numerous to address here; however, without going into a extensive theological argument, I can say that it perpetuates the notion that the Western world is the custodian of God’s word, when this is not so. It also leaves us to debate the fate of the Jew, without understanding God’s perfect plan for them. If we look at the great lies of all time, I believe the deception that satan initiated in Heaven to deceive the angels into rebelling against God, has to be at the top of the list. In fact, I believe that this satanic plot was so deceptive that God refused to lay it out in His Word, so that it would not cause some of those destined for salvation to stumble. I mean, how does one deceive angelic beings, unless it is a plan that is supremely clever and immensely deceptive?
Notwithstanding the heavenly rebellion, the dual hoax of the loin cloth and the Greek Lexicon, acting as the guardian of the New Testament are two of the greatest lies of all time. And therein lay the great deception: On its surface, the crucifix is a dramatic image of a persecuted prophet and the New Testament, Greek Lexicon is a theological aid; however, at its more mystical level, Western Christendom, (I use the term loosely to describe Western Civilization), has used the Greek New Testament and the icon of the crucifix to institute the Crusades, invade the Americas, carryout the Holocaust and other acts of butchery, including the slave trade.
…to be continued
1 Peter De
1 comment:
Hello brother Tolson this is my first time reading what you had to say so keep up the good work and may God bless you and the family.
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