Bishops Middle East may soon be empty of Christians
Catholic Herald

By staff reporter
6 March 2009

There are Christians, Believers in Christ that are not of the church and denominational fold. They are in every Muslim nation, but they are hidden, they are invisible to the naked eye, even as Christ himself declared they would be.

 

Chaldean Catholic leaders have said that Iraq's diminishing Christian population should be an "alarm bell" for the rest of the world and could foreshadow the transformation of the Middle East.

Chaldean Bishop Michel Kassarji of Beirut said at a conference that the Iraqi model of depleting Christians could extend to the whole of the region.

He said the mission of the conference was to "sound the alarm bell ... to avoid the transformation of the East into a desert of Christianity".

The bishop said "international religious authorities look at the Iraqi Christian situation as hopeless" and view Christians' departure "as something imminent and unavoidable".

 

No where in the Gospels did Jesus Christ ever command or teach that these disciples were to build a system of synagogues. No where in the book of Acts and the Epistles did Paul or any of the other apostles understand any commandment of Christ to build a system of synagogues.

 

Cryptically in the book of Revelation to one of the seven churches Jesus spoke of the synagogues of Satan.

 

Revelation 2:8-10 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) (Here is the testimony of true new covenant believers) and I know the blasphemy (Blasphemous words and teachings) of them which say they are Jews, (In the New Covenant all true believers are grafted into the root of the tree of  Abraham Isaac and Jacob and have become true Jews)  and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Revelation 3:7-10 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make (Future event) them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. (A second church that lives as a matter of course in tribulation and poverty as following in the footsteps of Christ and the apostles) Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, (Here we unmistakably that this is a prophecy to the end time church.) which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

So we see that the synagogue of Satan in both passages is something that is throughout the church age pressing, and persecuting true believers and blaspheming the name of God as they do so, and this occurs here unto the end of the age.

 

Later in the book of Revelation this synagogue of Satan is revealed to be the great whore and her daughters, having a cup filled with all filthiness and blasphemies, and they are covered so to speak with the blood of all the true believers they have slain.

 

The Catholic Church, The Lutheran Church and The Churches and Denominations that follow John Calvin are all covered with the blood of the hundreds of thousands that these had slain in the name of their Church and God.

 

All the churches and denominations that teach the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, or Luther’s and Calvin’s restoration of the 6th century Roman Catholic doctrines of Saint Augustine and their own personal embroideries has the same sin and blood upon them and shall be a partaker of their sins and the judgment that shall befall them – That is to be burned up in unquenchable fire

 

Who hails Martin Luther and John Calvin as great fathers of the faith? Who teaches their brands of recycled 6th century Augustinian Roman Catholicism, the whole of evangelicalism, the whole of fundamentalism, the whole of Pentecostalism, and the whole of Charismaticism and to these we can add another one the daughters: Muslimism that teaches a combination of 6th century Augustinian Catholicism mixed with 6th Century Talmudic Judaism.  

 

Christ was speaking to the church here of a segment of believers that were replicating some form of a synagogue as part of their worship and meetings and Christ here is declaring this move to be a grave, grave departure from being the church of the wilderness, the church that was made without hands.

 

Making this act tantamount to Israel crying out for a king like other nations, here instead Christians are crying out for a temple or a synagogue like that of the Pharisees, or those built by the gentiles unto other God’s. 

 

Christ is declaring in the book of Revelation that the origin of replicating or building synagogues or temples or any other structures in the name of Christ is of the devil, that this practice has no part in the kingdom of Heaven, and that God Himself opposes such illegal buildings and structures. – Because of the corrupt priesthood and satanic system (As the God of this world) that such structures engender.  These synagogues and earthly temples with the corruption and disobedience that these teach their disciples, become the barns and granaries that house untold numbers of tares. All of which John the Baptist and Jesus Christ prophesied of their being burnt up with unquenchable fire.  

 

Luke 17:20-21 And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, (The men of the synagogues and rabbinical schools) when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: (It is invisible to your eye because the kingdom has no synagogues, it has not buildings with idolatrous symbols declaring their existence – because the kingdom is in people and is in the households of the poor and the common people who do dress also as the common people – Therefore it is invisible to you and the eye of the fowler.) Neither shall they (The children of the kingdom) say, (Do as ye do crying out we have a baby synagogue) Lo here! or, (We are starting a synagogue) lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Who believe my words and follow after truth.)

 

Despite all the talk here about the fall and the destruction of the church that has been made with hands, the church visible with signs and symbols to mark and distinguish it, Christ here to the Pharisees declares that He is building a church invisible with no synagogues, no temples, a church that meets in unmarked indistinguishable individuals homes, in fields, and in the wilderness just as what was recorded in the Gospels by Christ himself. A church that dresses just as common men and women so that when you look out in a crowd you can not see them as they have no distinguishing marks, jewelry of distinctive garb.

 

By the Spirit for a decade of two there has been a steady stream of people that have been departing Churchianity in all its forms and manifestations and seeking to go the way less traveled, the straight and narrow way that is based on individuals and their personal relationship with the Lord and their hearing of His voice.

Matthew 24:23 -31 Then if any man (Talmudic Christian) shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, (In this synagogue) or there; (in that synagogue) believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, (Anti-Christs as the Apostle John declares) 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 (Prophesied) before. (Christ is declaring he is repeating this because it is important that we know this) Wherefore if they (Those of the Klesia; the disciples of Christian rabbis) shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; (In our secret underground synagogue – come fellowship with us – let us break bread together) go not forth:  (Or) behold, he is in the secret chambers; (Of our underground church in a town or city you must come to support the Talmudic body of Christ and work spiritual warfare to hold back the fourth beast of Daniel and the true Anti-Christ) so believe (Obey them not) it not. (And go thou not lest their synagogues and their members cry out in witness against thee and thy household.) For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (And as to these hidden and secret underground Christian synagogues – which teach the living death of the Mishnah and the Talmud.) For wheresoever the carcase  (Of them) is, there will the eagles (Greek Vultures of the Antichrist will) be gathered together. (And completely devour them. And when the land is finally cleansed of all of them) Immediately after the tribulation of those days (Shall come to an end – And in the hour that the false prophet and beast and all their minions shall shout and celebrate they victory over the Talmudic church and Talmudic Israel ) shall (Suddenly) the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: -- (And in that terror of darkness) And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth (That serve the beast and the false prophet and Ant-Christ)  mourn, (Cry out in great fear [If you have not read the article Who shall dwell with the Everlasting Burnings – you probably should do so, to help you understand in scripture what is written hereafter.]) and (As) they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of (The Shekina of) heaven (That is behind the veil of the tabernacle in heaven) with power (Shall the fire of the Shekina) and (with) great glory (Fervent heat cleanse and purge the heavens and come down as the great deluge of Noah and sweep away, vaporizing all the ungodly.) And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, on the earth those (The faithful The Ek-Lectos of God – Those that can dwell with the everlasting burnings. As well as the Ek-Lektos ) from one end of heaven to the other.(That all of these shall be the bride of Christ and members indeed of the household of God.)

"Our fellow Muslim brothers (This is quite a statement in itself.  Hear the word of the Lord The appeasement these churches and denominations are doing in order to save their denominational Churches lives – will utterly fail and they will lose them. And He who loses their Churchianity and their denominationalism and all its trappings for the cause of Christ and the Gospel shall themselves be saved.)  must be aware of these dangers and must take responsibility in turn. The Arab and Muslim countries have to make a serious move to stop the extermination of the Christian existence in Iraq," he said.

"Many Muslim officials have acknowledged that the persecution of Iraqi Christians is actually taking place and it is a practice that is foreign to Islamic traditions," Bishop Kassarji added.

Maronite Fr Walid Mousa, president of Notre Dame University, Louaize, which hosted the conference, told participants: "Christianity is not the one who invaded Iraq and led to the fall of Saddam Hussein. So why is it now a victim?"

The conference, under the patronage of Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, was organised by the Chaldean Catholic Church in Lebanon. About 400,000 Christians have fled Iraq since 2003 and about 300,000 remain. One bishop and three priests are among the 500 Christians who have been killed.  (This is because they are visible and distinct, with distinct clothes and markings. It is because Christians live in fixed Christian’s communities that are marked and distinguished, Jesus said they were to travel from city to city, for the protection of their households, Christian communities with fixed synagogues and churches do not and mark them out easily to be targets.)

Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq, said the reasons Christians were fleeing Iraq were complicated.

"Tragic mistakes were committed in Iraq, which created huge chaos," he said.

"The occupation of Iraq by the Americans resulted in fatal mistakes, such as the dismantling of organisations, including the army and police forces, and the opening of borders without monitoring them."

In addition, neighbouring countries have had a direct influence on Iraq. Internally, political parties vying for power have taken advantage of minorities, the archbishop said. "Extremist Islamic rhetoric and the call for establishing a theocratic ruling system has played a huge part in the agony of Christians," he said.

"They [Christians] have been associated with the occupier without having any relation to it, or to the crusaders from whom they suffered. And they have been accused of blasphemy_and polytheism and are innocent of such accusations.

"The idea of emptying the East of Christians is a deadly sin."

"We need to reject all forms of oppression, suppression and terrorism in the name of religion, and the Church has a big responsibility for open and sincere dialogue with Muslim authorities," Archbishop Sako added, noting there is also a need for government institutions to help to protect minorities.

Matthew 23:29-34 (Jesus is prophesying down through the church age of the church made with hands that follows in the footsteps of Talmudic Judaism that has erected Talmudic synagogues and temples for all to see, where they follow the order and doctrine of the pharisees) the Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, (In your synagogues of Satan) and persecute them from city to city:

This shall indeed come to pass once more even as Christ prophesied as churches and denominations sell out and betray and slay one another in order to try to save and preserve themselves, but shall lose everything they thought they had, and their lives as well.