Beers 1 . . . .

Dump the Church That Decided to Ignore Gods Words First let me state, this is not a denouement on the core concepts of faith. For the sake of this discussion let us assume the definition of faith to be: A deep and spiritual belief in something that cannot or will not actually be proven in the physical world; and having said that, the point here is not to bash God or the choice to believe in God through faith. Secondly, debating the existence of God is entirely outside the scope of this essay. For one to take an interest in this topic, at all, I must assume you have some level of faith, and that you choose to believe God exists in some form. Beyond those basic assumptions; however, lie much room for debate and even more room for misguided teaching. In fact, I believe many modern churches have taken liberty with their founding principles and expanded to the point of corruption. Whether intentional or accidental, the result is the same, that

Beers 2 regardless of faith and a belief in God, many churches are simply not to be trusted. Churches may not even be the correct term for some; perhaps faith based organizations; or more to the point, organizations which claim to be faith based and which state The Bible as an origin point for their derivative works. For the sake of this essay, the term church will suffice to categorically summarize any such religious, faith based or pseudo faith based structure which derives a portion of its claims on Biblical sources. To begin, most churches have a set of doctrines which can be traced back a number of years, sometimes thousands. A very large number of churches trace back to The Bible, or at least they make this claim. While clearly The Bible itself is grounds for debate under some circumstances; let us assume here, that any works using The Bible as a structural background point are themselves admitting some truth to The Bible. As such, one would expect those derivative works to adhere to the rules set up, by The Bible itself. The most important fact to keep in mind here is that the Bible is littered with references stating clearly not to add

Beers 3 anything further. Here are just a few examples, of which there are many: The first is from the book of Proverbs: Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Proverbs 30:5-6 The final book of the Bible was the book of Revelation. It is physically the last book in the Bible, but it was also the last book written (90 AD). Revelation begins with these verses: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep

Beers 4 those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Revelation 1:1-3

Revelation ends with these verses: For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19 The first thing to note about the book of Revelation is that the revelations within came directly from Jesus to John. So it is to be considered the highest possible authority. So lets pick this apart in comparison to The Urantia society. Nearly one quarter of the Urantia book is devoted to detailing the life of Jesus Christ, and they teach that the Bible was for people who lived during Biblical times, and that the Urantia books additional revelations are for today.

Beers 5 However, Revelation 1:3 clearly states that the revelations in The Bible are for all who will live from that time forward, including those who will live in the last days, just prior to Jesus second coming and the end of the world as we know it. Yet, The Urantia Book was published in 1955 and makes claims that aliens have given mankind a new set of revelations to replace The Bible. The Urantian narrative goes on to explain a mixture of philosophy and religion as handed down by galactic visitors who are only now revealing themselves in modern times. The Bible is taught (in Urantian Society) as a historical reference and yet pieces of it are conveniently ignored if they do not agree with the Urantian storyline. Further exposition goes on to claim that facts presented in the book of Urantia were revelations of the future; for example, the Urantian book states that carbon plays a catalytic role in the suns nuclear reactions. The book further claims this prophecy was given in 1935, thus making it a prediction of the future. The problem is the book was published in 1955. Human science had discovered the link between carbon and the sun already, and this fact had been widely published since 1938. There is simply no proof that the Urantian manuscript existed in 1935 with what would have been an important

Beers 6 scientific fact. It could simply have been added at any time after 1938 to the manuscript, before being published. Many other stated facts have been proven falsei by modern scientific discovery and more powerful telescopes, since The Urantia Book included claims to the layout and placement of planets and solar systems as handed down by celestial prophecy. The Urantia Book has sold millions of copies and is still in publication today with an ever growing foundation of believers including the Urantia Book Fellowship, and the Urantia Foundation who believe that all of the science fiction presented in the book will one day be proven as truth. It all boils down to, give them more money and they will explain the universe to you. This makes so much sense because aliens are poor and need Earth currency. (Sarcasm) Mormons are in the same boat. Mormonism was founded by Joseph Smith in the 1830s; he was a known conman and thief. He had been run out of town numerous times for scams and bank fraud. Heading west, he started writing fictional novels and short stories about angelic visits and prophecies happening in the United States. When his novels and stories failed to sell, he began telling them on the streets as performance pieces. He quickly found that he made more money by claiming those stories

Beers 7 were true and asking for tithes, rather than as a storyteller asking for donations. The rest is history. His collected stories have been published and revised numerous times as a religious text, and the modern book of Mormon is now published as a book of facts to essentially replace The Bible, despite numerous parts that can easily be proven false. To date there have been more than 3913 grammatical changes to the book of Mormon in the past 200 years, in an attempt to not only remove obvious lies, but to make it sound more believable. Other edits have removed segregation and hate speeches contained in the original such as this quote: "There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less...There were no neutrals in the war in heaven. All took sides either with Christ or with Satan. Every man had his agency there,

Beers 8 and men receive rewards here based upon their actions there, just as they will receive rewards hereafter for deeds done in the body. The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward he merits." Doctrines of Salvation, by Joseph Smith There have now been several versions of the Book of Mormon, all claiming to be the real thing and all containing bits of reprint fiction dating from the 1800s and earlier times. Even the most well known story about angels and the discovery of gold plates, which is used as proof that Joseph Smith is a prophet, is known to be an adaptation of an old Masonic legend of the Hiram Abiff; the cave, the stone, the box and the treasure, etc. Joseph Smith was very familiar with Masonic traditions and blatantly plagiarized many of their works, claiming them as his own first person account of events witnessed in his lifetime. In comparing modern reprints of the book of Mormon you will find many word and grammar changes that attempt to disguise his plagiarism. Earlier versions contain some passages that were lifted word for word from Masonic books and various fictional novels of the day.

Beers 9 Further proof that the Book of Mormon was nothing more than a scam can be seen by the fact that Joseph Smith even set up an illegal bank. The Kirtland Bank was created in the State of Ohio by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Joseph was the Cashier and Sidney was the President. Unable to obtain a Banking Charter, Joseph and Sidney created an "Anti-Bank" Bank. Depositors were lured in because Joseph Smith told his followers that as a Prophet of God, the Bank would never fail. Joseph Smith's delusions left them empty-handed and the bank declared bankruptcy. Many faithful Mormons lost their life savings and investments. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon fled Kirtland with all of the banks money under the cover of darkness in January of 1838 to escape bank depositors who were given worthless bank notes in exchange for gold and silver deposits. The bank was a complete scam from the beginning. Joseph Smith continued to travel and evade the law, eventually establishing himself in Utah where he started over again with a new scam. Rather than call it a bank, he simply called it a church and began training missionaries to go out and solicit donations, this time with no promises of getting the money back.

Beers 10 His new cult followers persist to this day, as the Church of Latter Day Saints,ii and a variety of splinter groups using various names but all derived from various versions of the Book of Mormon. The Muslim teachings in the Quran are another example of someone taking advantage of religious teachings for their own gain. Claiming to be a divine prophet and sent to this Earth to replace the Bible with his own version, the prophet Muhammad founded the nation of Islam in the early seventh century A.D. Loosely based on a mixture of Christian doctrine from the Old and New Testament along with pagan ritualsiii, he went on to pervert everything in a way that would allow him divine permission to invade other countries at will. Muhammad led 27 military campaigns against innocent villages and caravans, and he helped plan 38 other wars and skirmishes carried out by his followers. One of his famous quotes was known to be, I am the prophet that laughs when killing my enemies.iv Muhammad posed as an apostle of God. Yet the facts of his life are filled with lust and perversion: twelve marriages, sex with children, sex slaves kept for himself or traded among his tribal leaders, and numerous concubines in addition to his

Beers 11 wives. He was also known to rape women and children during his war campaigns, and brutally torture his enemies during decades of warfare and conquest, often against nearby peaceful nations. What Muhammad produced in the Quran is nothing more than a book of gibberish consisting of later war mongering verses which supersede earlier peaceful verses that are quoted or taken almost entirely from The Bible. While these verses may come across as poetic in their original language, a closer examination on a more detailed level reveals not poetry but a blending of pagan war rituals with biblical teachings, with no greater intention than to justify his war machine. Those who claim the Quran is a book of peace and that Muslims are peaceful people have only read the beginning.v The end goes on at great length about how to destroy ones enemies and it states clearly that anyone not of the same church are those enemies. It is a march to war and terror, plain and simple. For those simple folk who truly believe the peace put forth in the opening words of the Quran, I can only urge them to read them from the source of those words; they are quotes or revisions of biblical teachings, and should be read from The Bible, not the Quran.

Beers 12 Lets spend some time picking apart Scientology. Scientologists hold the Bible as a holy work and claim to have no argument with the Christian belief that Jesus Christ was the Savior of Mankind and the Son of God. They claim to share Christ's goals for man's achievement of wisdom, good health and immortality. Christianity is among the faiths studied by Scientology ministerial students. At least, thats what they say to the public and to new recruits. Scientology is another multilevel marketing scheme, this one even more insidious than the Mormons. To gain a higher rank in the church and to receive the next set of doctrinal teachings, you are required to give larger and larger donations. You purchase your way to salvation. By the time you have reached the highest levels of the church, what you have been given, is a science fiction novel. You get to read about magical airplanes and aliens that infect our minds, because, they died on this planet 75 million years ago after being chained to volcanoes and getting blown up with hydrogen bombs. It gets even more convoluted, with obvious language and storylines pulled from some of L. Ron Hubbards earlier novels about interstellar travel and war across the stars.

Beers 13 Dianetics, the first level of the books available to the public, comes across as innocuous and harmless science fiction. The later portions that require thousands of dollars in tithes are barely legible diatribes against all other religions and modern psychology theorem where in you are expected to give over everything you own, and everything you believe in, for the sake of pleasing your alien overlords, so they dont suck out your brain. And it comes with a warning, if you read this story without first paying lots of money to understand it, you will die of pneumonia. No, seriously, that comes straight from the founder of scientology; pay lots of money before reading about Xenu, the alien overlord and the magical wall of fire, or you will die of pneumonia.vi Scientology is a junk religion that blatantly lies about having anything to do with The Bible and quickly replaces it entirely with a science fiction novel written by a famous wait for it science fiction author. How people fall for this scam is beyond me.vii Do I even need to go into detail on Catholicism? Catholic doctrine has so many contradictions to The Bible it would take many additional pages to even begin recounting them all.

Beers 14 Instead I will quote from a magazine published by the Vaticanviii itself on a slightly different topic: Alexander VI was one of the most notorious Popes in Church History. He pursued a libertine lifestyle, fathering children by various noblewomen and continuing a long relationship with the beautiful Gjulia Farnese Orsini. His offspring from a union with Vannozza Cattanei(Giovanni, Cesare, Lucrezia and Joffre) were given some of the most important positions and fiefs in all Italy. In fact, many of his policies were based on nepotism. Ruthless and unscrupulous, he conducted the affairs of the Pontifical State as a temporal prince.

That this pope is, one of the most notorious is what should stand out; meaning, there were many notorious, corrupted popes throughout history, and a bit more research will uncover lists of them.ix

Beers 15 The Catholic Church has a well documented history of doing what it wants for the sake of money and power, and has more than once openly contradicted The Bible. Whats worse is the history of the Catholic Church to openly declare other churches as heretical simply for following The Bible more literally. Montanists, Novatians, Donatists, Paulicians, Waldenses, Paterine, the list goes on, these are all religions openly attacked by armies of the Catholic Church, often resulting in thousands, sometimes millions of deaths. The Albigenses as an example, in the 12th 14th centuries A.D. they opposed the transubstantiation doctrine. Where in, the Catholic Church claims that the drinking of wine and eating of bread during communion is not just the symbolic eating of the body and blood of Christ, but that the wine and bread physically morph into real flesh and blood. Albigenses believed that it was a purely symbolic eating and drinking and that there was no physical transformation taking place in the mouth. After holding an open public debate, it was the Albingenses who won over the peoples support. Rather than concede the debate, the Pope ordered his armies to war and killed over one million people. Tens of thousands

Beers 16 more died in the rioting afterwards, and the few survivors who did not convert to Catholicism were forced to flee in exile. All of this, for what, because the Pope and the Catholic Church would rather pervert The Bible for their own personal gain than admit people have the right to read it for themselves? They hold Catholic Doctrine as more sacred than the original text it claims to be inspired by, and despite a history of war mongering tyrants being made into Popes, they still claim the Pope is a divine incarnation of God on the Earth. The Catholic Doctrine as written by corrupt Popes is itself one of the most dangerous and abused pieces of literature in history.x I say, take it back to the original text, or at least as far back as you have access to. Do not believe anything without researching it, and dont fall for modern scams (Mormons, etc), science fiction novels (scientology, etc) or the power trip manipulations of despotic dictators masquerading as prophets (Muslims, Catholics, etc). Read deeper into the prophecies contained in The Bible, use them as your guide to evaluating any choice of religion. Especially be wary of those which claim to use Rhe Bible as a part of their teachings, while simultaneously ignoring the parts about not adding more books.

Beers 17 Among those prophecies in the bible, is the fact that false angels (i.e. demons) would lead many away from the truth about the Bibles message of salvation, and they would do so through false doctrines. In other words, extra-Biblical false revelations would come directly from spirits or celestial beings claiming to be from Heaven or a higher authority. The Urantia Book, The Book of Mormon, The Quran(Muslim), Dianetics (Scientology), Catholic Doctrine by order of the Pope, all make claims to such divine authorship, and are intended to replace The Bible in whole or in part. That fact alone should immediately set off major red flags about their contents. When applying Biblical examination to the Urantia book, book of Mormon, the Quran, Catholic Doctrine and other alleged holy books, they are quickly exposed for the demonic masterpieces they truly are. You cant claim these books and writings as divine inspirations that add to The Bible, it only proves that you either didnt read The Bible in the first place or that you assume your followers are too stupid to read it themselves. The bottom line is this: If you are Mormon, Urantian, Muslim, Catholic, Scientologist or some other cult and you find

Beers 18 yourself offended by what I have written here; answer this: Do you worship God? Or do you worship the church? Im not telling you to denounce your God or stop having faith. I am telling you to stop blindly believing in false teachings and to explore the roots which your religion claims to have originated from. If in those roots you find truth, understanding, and clear statements that those words should not have been tampered with, then dont dump your faith or your God. Dump the church churches that decided to ignore Gods words. You dont need false churches and books filled with lies to find God, you only need The Bible and any church that tells you different is ignoring The Bible itself that they claim to be based on.

The described formation of the solar system (In the Urantia book) is consistent with the Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis. Though popular in the early part of the 20th century, by the early 1940s it was discarded by Henry Russell's argument that it was incompatible with the angular momentum of planets such as Jupiter. The book repeats the idea prevalent at the time of its origin that one side of the planet Mercury always faces the sun due to tidal locking. In 1965, radio astronomers discovered that Mercury actually rotates fast enough for all sides to see exposure to the sun. The book says that a solar eclipse was predicted in 1808 by the Native American prophet Tenskwatawa. The eclipse actually was predicted in late April 1806 and occurred on June 16, 1806. And most damning comes from Meredith Sprunger, a liberal believer in The Urantia Book and retired minister in the United Church of Christ Quote "research has revealed that virtually all of the scientific material found in The Urantia Book was the accepted scientific knowledge of the period in which the book was written, was held by some scientists of that time, or was about to be discovered or recognized." Matthew Block, published a paper that showed nineteen examples of The Urantia Book utilizing material published earlier. All of the source authors identified in Block's paper were published in English between 1905 and 1943 by U.S. publishers and are typically scholarly or academic works that contain concepts and wording similar to what is found in The Urantia Book. Block has since claimed to have discovered over 125 source books and articles, written by over 90 authors, which were incorporated into the Urantia papers. Gardner and Block note that Paper 85 of the Urantia book appears to have been taken from the first eight chapters of Origin and Evolution of Religion by E. Washburn Hopkins, published by Yale University Press in 1923. Each section of the paper corresponds to a chapter in the book, with several passages possibly used as direct material. Additional research information: http://www.culthelp.info/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=823&Itemid=10
ii

The underlining theme of these items is that many of these issues, or the details of these issues, are unknown to most Latter-day Saints. Most members only know the sugar-coated, inaccurate, incomplete versions told by the Church. Certainly investigators are never told any of these things before they join. If all of the history was taught, as the evidence indicated it happened, and the members could decide the truthfulness of these issues on their own, then that would be a different story, but the secrecy involved adds to the distrust of the Church. Also, since modern Mormon apostles have stated that all truth shouldnt be revealed, things that are true should not be talked about if it damages member's testimonies, only approved Church history books should be read and how church historians have been excommunicated for printing truthful information that contradicts the Church's approved historical accounts, then this adds to the problems considerably. Further information can be found through historical research and is often documented online by former Mormons who have become disillusioned by the churchs secrecy and refusal to admit the existence of factual historical documents. Example: http://www.mormonthink.com/outline.htm
iii

Much of the Islam structural mechanics, names and symbolism are derived from the pagan moon god. The word Allah has origins older than Islam. Allah the father of al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat is an ancient story of the fertility cycle of the moon. The requirement for multiple prayer breaks during the day is derived from the pagan ritual where worshipers beg the moon to return and protect them from the sun. The modern symbol of Islam is still a crescent moon. Further notes on the

subject can be found here: http://mikeblume.com/islam.htm http://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-polytheism-moon-worship.htm

iv

Information on the history of Muhammad and the history of Islam comes primarily from Muslim historians and the Qur'an (Koran) itself... Some of these sources used are: The Qur'anAbu Dawud (sunnah)(A.D. 832?)Quote from Imam Muhammad Baqir (676-743 AD) about Imam MahdiTirmidhi (A.D. 892)Ibn Ishaq (A.D. 768) Tabari (A.D. 929)Ulmar al-Waqidi of Medina (A.D. 822) Zamakhshari (A.D.1144)Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham (A.D. 828) Baidawi (A.D. 1292)Ibn Sa'd (A.D. 845) Ibn Kathir (A.D. 1301-1372)Ahmad ibn Hanbal (A.D. 855) Ibn Khaldun (A.D. 1332-1406)Amr ibn Sharhabil (Caliph 717-20 AD)Imam al-Mawawyal-Bukhari (A.D. 810-870) Sahih al-BukbariIbn Hazam (A.D. 994-1064) Ali Dashti Ibn Hajar - "Isabah", or "Dictionary of Persons who knew Muhammad"Muhammad Ibn al-Rawandi, in "The Quest for the Historical Muhammad"Also, Alfred Guillaume best known/respected Western Scholar on IslamAlso, Shmuel Berkovits' book "How Dreadful Is this Place!"Also, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades" Also, Ali Dashti: "Twenty Three Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad"Also, "Islam and Terrorism" and "Jesus and Muhammad", by the former professor of Islamic history at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt (Born a Muslim in Egypt/name changed to: Mark A. Gabriel, PHD)"Inside Islam, A Guide for Catholics", Pages 61, 62, 69, Co-wrote by David Ali, Islam ApostateQuote from Imam Muhammad Baqir (676-743 AD) about Imam MahdiIbn Hisham, The Life of Muhammad, 3rd ed., pt. 6, vol. 3 (Beirut, Lebanon: Dar-al-Jil, 1998), p. 8The Truth about Muhammad, Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, by Robert SpencerThe Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin & Ravi Zacharias, pages 445-447"Islam Reviewed" by M. Ali, 2nd edition 1999The Quran Unveiled, by Dave Miller, P.H.D.The Islamic AntiChrist by Joel Richardson
v

The Qur'an itself calls the Gospel of Jesus "Guidance and Light"

The fact that Muslims do not traditionally read and study the New Testament / the Gospel of Jesus is yet another contradiction in Islam. First Islam tries to gain acceptance by attesting to the truth and validity of both the Christian and Jewish holy books. But, it then clearly steps out of sync by contradicting and falsifying the facts and teachings in both these books. Further research: http://www.bibleprobe.com/muhammad.htm

vi

This can be found in "Technical Notes of Operating Thetans, a scriptural document published by the Church of Scientology. It should be noted that all references to aliens, Xenu, walls of fire and various other blatant science fiction elements are only found in the deepest levels of spiritual documents that must be purchased from the church for thousands of dollars. Church officials will not even discuss this information in public until you pay them for this material. Example; Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis stormed out of an ABC Nightline interview when simply asked to confirm the accuracy of information on Xenu: http://www.american-buddha.com/cult.scientleadercanthandleheatonxenu.htm

vii

Scientology was started in the 1950s by a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard in fulfillment to his publically declared aim to start a religion to make money. It is an offshoot to a method of psychotherapy he concocted from various sources which he named "Dianetics". Dianetics is a form of regression therapy. It was then further expanded to appear more like a religion in order to enjoy tax benefits. He called it "Scientology". Scientology is a confused concoction of crackpot, dangerously applied psychotherapy, oversimplified, idiotic and inapplicable rules, ideas and science-fiction drivel that is presented to its members (at the "advanced" levels) as profound spiritual truth. Further research: http://www.xenu.net/index.html In one lecture L. Ron Hubbard even claimed you could cure blindness by shifting a persons attention. The audio recording for this and many other L. Ron Hubbard lectures can be

found here:
http://www.xenu.net/archive/multimedia.html
viii

The article quoted is from May 1996. Inside the Vatican is a monthly catholic news magazine:

http://www.insidethevatican.com/
ix

Source: Catholic Encyclopaedia; a top 10 list of the most wicked popes can be found here:

http://listverse.com/2007/08/17/top-10-most-wicked-popes/
x

Catholic doctrines are provided by the Catholic Church and disseminated to followers as truth handed down by Papal authority. Much of it is only available in print and shared directly among members. Some portions of doctrine can be found online at sites such as: http://www.catholicdoctrine.org/