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Now let’s finish this section off concerning not to lord it over the flock.  Let’s come here to 1 Peter 5.  I know we’ve covered this somewhat in the past.  I think we did when we covered with Simon Magus but let’s go ahead and read it into the record so we have it all here together. 

Now 1 Peter 5:1, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder…”  Now this helps us understand that even though Peter was an apostle, he considered himself an elder.  “…And a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.”  Because he went James and John to the mount of transfiguration and saw Jesus in His glorified form.

Verse 2, “Feed the flock of God…”  That’s what it’s to be.  It’s not to be an office over.  It is not to be one of glory, self-serving, dictatorial things at all.  “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight…”  Now there is a difference between oversight and overlording.  Oversight is that you oversee that everything is done properly and in order.  Overlord is you make everyone come under you and force them to do your will.  There’s a vast difference.  “…Taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (vs. 2-3). 

And so the thing that anyone who is an elder has to remember: All the brethren belong to God.  They are the flock of God.  They are His.  And as stewards we are to take care of the flock of God as we take care of another persons property.  That’s what a steward is.  It is also called in today’s language a fiduciary relationship.  Which means that you look out for the best interests of the one that you are working for, such as in the case of a real estate broker in helping someone buy or sell a house.  You have a fiduciary relationship with that person that you have to give the utmost of honesty, integrity, service, knowledge, disclosure and everything like that. 

So likewise it is with the elders and those who oversee, it is a fiduciary responsibility because you are responsible for those whom God has called.  Because no man calls anyone else to Christ.  Christ along can call.  Now men have to make the word of God available through preaching or writing or as we have here in this case, cassette or video or whatever means.  And like we have now with the video site.

Now notice the exaltation for those who then are the elders, comes at the resurrection, verse 4. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”  So we’re not to look for rewards in this life.  Status, power, and especially getting into the things concerning politics and super-exaltation and things like this.  No. No way.  So that’s part of the doctrine of the Nicolaitans contained right in the name.  The name names them for what they are – lords over the laity. 

Now let’s look at some other things concerning the deeds of the Nicolaitans.  It doesn’t say the deed but the deeds.  And this is going to be very interesting because most of this will be for all of us new material. 

Now when I was on my trip during the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Dayton, someone gave me this book, “Primitive Christianity in Crisis” by Alan Knight.  And I put it away and I didn’t start reading it till I started on the plane trip coming back from Phoenix.  Now Alan Knight lives in Antioch, California, which is just north of us here.  So when I was about half way through reading the book I wrote him a letter and told him and sent him a Passover book, and “Lord What Should I Do”, and “The Seven General Epistles” book, and told him that I thought his book was really quite good.  Since I couldn’t get his phone number I gave him mine, and he called me.  And I talked to him the other day on the phone, and I think we can do quite a bit with some of the things that he has here.  Now he used to be in WCG and Ambassador College and he left Ambassador College after 2 years, 1960.  And he left Worldwide in 1970.  But he has written this book which is really quite good, “Primitive Christianity in Crisis”. 

Now primitive Christianity means this: it is the pure Christianity as Christ and the apostles taught it.  This book shows what happened to it.  “The ‘Mystery of Lawlessness’, Prophecies:  Nicolaitan Christianity for Our Time.”  Now he’s got some other writings that he’s going to do.  Let me just summarize the first part of it which is called Hellenism.  Now Hellenism is the Greek religions, all of them.  And there was a great religious reformation that took place, which moved away from animal sacrifices to the religion of the immortality of the soul, and the inner strength, and the worshipping of gods, and the worshipping of angels.   And one of the things that came out of that were the mystery cults and they had a new spirituality, which then was concentrating from within.  And this goes back and comes from the philosophy of Pythagoras and Orpheus, and it was the spiritual development of the inner spirit with the immortality of the human soul and its repeated incarnation in the human body.

Now at the same time that this was taking place there was also in the East, in Asia…  And this is in the 500 and 600’s B.C., which ties into the time that the children of Israel were in captivity in Babylon.  And in history this time is called an Axial Period.  And Axial means a profound historical development that took place universally across the whole face of civilization.  Not only did this religious reformation take place in Greece, which then spread to all of the Mediterranean area, because that was all conquered later by Alexander the Great.  But also in the 5^th and 6^th century B.C. it went eastward too and developed into the religion of Hinduism and Buddhism and that is the same thing that we have today in Hinduism and Buddhism with reincarnation and karma, and the spirits and all of this sort of thing.  So it’s really quite a thing, how this also was centered around the stars, and then the planets.  And the planets were originally called the wandering stars. 

Then he brings in Greek philosophy, and so forth, and brings about the historical development of the new Hellenistic religion.  Now this becomes very important, especially when I get into the series concerning Hebrews because Hebrews was written to the Hellenistic Christians.  And Hellenism, though it is paganism, did not come out of paganism but it came out of pagan Judaism.  This also affected the Jews. 

Now let me come here to page 41.  Now I’ll give you the address here before I get off this tape here.  I’ll give the address where you can write for it.  Now page 41. 

Gnostic Christianity in History

“What does all this have to do with Christianity?  It has everything to do with it because a large part of the Christian movement in the first century combined Hellenistic [that is Greek philosophies] religion with New Testament Christianity to create a hybrid called Gnostic Christianity” (pg. 41).  And that’s what all the forces are dealing with when we read in the epistles of the apostle Paul.

It should be obvious from the start that Gnostic Christianity in general is merely another manifestation of the reformation of Greek religion that began with Orphism and Pythagoreanism.” “For Gnostics the world is altogether evil, and so its creator Yahweh and his religion must be absolutely evil as well” (pg. 42). Now this becomes important because the same philosophy comes down today of rejecting the Old Testament and the laws and commandments of God and is in fact the very heart and core of what I’m teaching against concerning refuting Sunday-keeping, and out of the book that I’m doing by Tarbor.

Now continuing on page 42.  “The Gnostics, however, were Christians.  They came into existence in the first century of the Christian era, almost immediately after the death and resurrection of Christ and the founding of the church.  The teachings of the Bible about evil, the emphasis on evil as the great problem of mankind, had to be incorporated into the mix.”

“However, in the Gnostic mainstream, Hebrew religion generally was viewed as totally evil.”  That’s the whole Old Testament.  Sabbath-keeping, holy day keeping, and so forth.   “Gnostics saw themselves as a reformation, not of Judaism but of the New Testament Church, the so called Primitive or ‘Jewish’ Christianity that prevailed for a time after the founding of the church in the 30s A.D.” (pg. 43). 

“By a process…”  Now here it talks about how they believe.  “The basic reinterpretation of biblical religion under Gnosticism is as follows:  The world was not created by the highest deity, the Father…”  Now this will begin to ring a lot of bells as we go through.  How many times are we told that Christ was God?  You can just start out with the first three verses of Gospel of John.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“…The world was not created by the highest deity, the Father…”  So they believed in the Father.  “…But by an emanation from the Father.  This is the demiurge, generally equated with Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament.  He is an inferior, deluded and often evil being.  His claims to be the supreme God are a wicked delusion, and man must by all means reject him and his religion.  For Gnostics, the Old Covenant and the Old Covenant God have to be evil” (pg. 44).  Because they viewed everything materialistically evil.  Now this is a little more radical than what it’s developed into.  Since it’s developed and it’s come along and evolved where they dropped some of the radicalism of it, this kind of thing of being against materialism is the very foundation for the monastic societies, where you deprive yourself of all physical things.  Swear a poverty vow, and so forth.  Which, by the way, those of Buddhism do.  Many in Hinduism do.  So you see it’s with us today. 

“If the material world is evil then its creator equally must be evil.  The religion of the Old Covenant is a false religion based on materialistic animal sacrifice.  It deceives man into seeking spirituality in the material world, keeping him in bondage to this world” (pg. 44).  So now along comes Christianity and ha-ha.  Now we have something that agrees with us.  The end of animal sacrifices.

“By a process of emanations or a fall from a higher state, spirit has become trapped in the material world.  The true Father has sent Christ to rescue the spark of spirit that exists in some men, to reveal the knowledge (gnosis)…”  And today the inheritors of gnosis are the Masons.  To reveal the gnosis, or the knowledge.  Now you see, we are to grow in what?  Grace and knowledge.  See.  You’re going to see how all this fits in.  It is so clever.  It is absolutely just unreal.  That’s why it’s called the mystery of iniquity, or lawlessness.  “…The knowledge (gnosis) that will rescue these souls from the God of the Old Testament and his material creation, and enable them to enter heaven” (pg. 44). So that’s how going to heaven entered into the so-called Christian church. 

“So Gnosticism viewed the religion of the New Covenant as a spiritual teaching that liberates man from material existence” (pg. 44).  Because what are we to do?  We are to not give into the desires of lust of the flesh, correct?  Now, when we get done with this, and I’ll bring a full sermon on it, what is the mystery of iniquity, or the mystery of lawlessness?  You’re going to be surprised. 

“It [Gnosticism] is a religion focusing on the heavens, and the inner life of the soul, the divine spark which is from the heavens and which takes us back there after death” (pg. 44).  Mormonism today.  In Mormonism you were once a spirit in heaven.  And Adam and Eve had to sin so they could bring forth children, so that these spirits in heaven could come down and possess a human body so then they could be perfected and go back to heaven.  That’s Mormonism today.  Mormonism is pure Gnosticism. 

“Some Gnostics especially relied on the writings of Paul, because of his common emphasis on the superiority of the New Testament.  However, Gnosticism also relied heavily on the theory of progressive revelation, claiming special, private revelations to support their reinterpretation of New Testament Christianity.  Many Gnostic texts claim a special revelation from Christ after the resurrection, which supercedes New Testament scripture” (pg. 44).  Now what are those called in the Catholic church today?  Traditions.  This is something.

It talks about then a little bit here concerning Simon Magus.  Let’s go to page 51.

Second Century and Later Gnostic Sects

“The Nicolaitans had disappeared by 200 A.D.…”  That is the radical Nicolaitans.  “…And the Simonians by 250 A.D.…”  That is the ones who followed Simon Magus.  Now why did they disappear?  Because through the evolution of moderacy then they were moderated and evolved into another form.  “In any event many more Gnostic sects appeared in their place to carry on the tradition.  As time progressed, Gnosticism flourished in many new forms as it continued to mix and match ideas from the broad range of Hellenistic religion and New Testament Christianity.”

“The Gnostic teacher Carpocrates founded his movement in Alexandria, Egypt, in the mid-100’s.  He taught that the world was created by inferior angels.  Jesus was an extraordinary man with a pure soul, but not divine.  Carpocrates taught a libertine Christian ethic and antinomian [which the Greek word is anomian, which means “against law”] theology.  To become free from the evil creator God, one must aggressively insult the God of the Old Testament by flagrantly violating His law.  According to Carpocrates, there is no fixed standard of morality.  It is, after all, he claimed, only a matter of opinion, as witnessed by the multitude of opinions on the subject found throughout the world.”  Now isn’t that exactly what we have in the ecumenical movement today?  Your religion is only a matter of opinion, as they view it. 

Now here’s a quote from Irenaeus, Against Heresies.  “We are saved, indeed, by means of faith and love; but all other things, while in their nature indifferent, are reckoned by the opinion of men some good and some evil, but there is noting evil by nature” (pg. 52).  

“Once again, this does not mean they totally abandoned morality.”  And this is the key.  The mystery of lawlessness does not get rid of moral values.  But it substitutes it’s own standards. “The argument was that nothing is intrinsically good or evil but depends on the situation and especially its relation to the issue of materialism.   By breaking free from Jewish religion you will enable your mind to reorient itself towards the inner soul and its connection with the heavens and the spirituality that comes from above” (pg. 53).

Now before I read the next section let’s go to 1 John 4 please.  This is a direct teaching against the Nicolaitan Gnostics who were bringing it into the Church then.  Verse 1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”  Now this tells us something very important.  Wherever you have false prophets you have demonism, called false spirits.  Now one thing that we have failed to understand is…  You go back and you read the gospel sections, how many times did Jesus come into a synagogue and the demons were the ones who recognized Him?  But why would the demons be in the synagogue?  Because they want to be brought back to God somehow.  So many of these teachings of Gnosticism and going to heaven are demonic spirits contriving a way to reconstruct Christianity so that they, through this person, can go back to heaven.  Now that may sound a little weird but that’s exactly what has happened.  So you have the false prophets, you have the false spirits. 

Now verse 2, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that [is confessing] confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:”  Now that’s very important.  And I spent quite a section in the Passover book, chapter 26, explaining about the nature of God / the nature of man, and the kind of flesh that Jesus took upon Himself.  So anyone who claims that He did not come in the flesh with the same flesh that we have, that God indeed did do that, see.  Anyone who does not claim that is of the anti-christ. 

Now the Gnostics said the world is evil, all physical things are evil, so therefore flesh is evil.  Since flesh is evil God would not come in the flesh.  It’s impossible for God to come in the flesh because God would not do that.  So this is what he’s talking about here. 

Now today it’s modified a little bit in Gnostic Catholicism, or Catholic Nicolaitanism, which is this: they believe that Jesus came in the flesh.  However what have they done?  They have said that we go to heaven. 

Now let’s finish this off here.  “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God:…”  If it’s not of God, who is it from?  Satan the devil, cause you only have the spirits, which are angels from God, or the spirits which are angels from Satan the devil.  And he has his angels because Revelation 12 says that Satan fought, and his angels fought.  So he has angels.  Notice, “…And this is that spirit of anti-christ…”  So Nicolaitanism is anti-christism.  But what does it do?  It uses the name of Christ.  “…Whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (vs. 3).

Now let’s come down here to verse 5.  “They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us.  Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error [or deception].”

Now, let me read this concerning the nature of Christ.  “As we know, they almost universally call themselves Christians [that is the Gnostics who had gnosis].  Furthermore, there was no single body of Gnostic doctrine, nor even a harmonious community of Gnostic Christianity.  They regurlarly condemned and fought among themselves, at the same time denouncing their external enemies - Hellenistic mystery cults, Hellenistic philosophy, and Hellenistic Roman Christianity.” 

“The New Testament sometimes refers to them by one of their most common doctrines.  This is the docetic teaching that Jesus and the Christ are not the same person.  Most but not all Gnostics believed that Christ was a spiritual being who entered into the man Jesus but withdrew just before the crucifixion and it was only Jesus [the man] who died on the cross.  This is a natural product of Gnosticism’s extreme interpretation of Hellenistic cosmology.  If God is perfect and matter is evil, then it is philosophically impossible that God could mix with matter.”  (pg.77)

What was the first thing that good old Stavrinides did?  Remember that?  Changed the nature of God.  And what did he say?  God is an emanation.  Meaning, God is in everything that is created.  So you had Hellenistic Christianity come in, and who was Stavrinides?  He was half-Greek, and half-Turkish.  Meaning he was an Esauite.  Ok, does that blow your mind or not? 

Let’s come to 2 Thessalonians 2 here for just a minute and let’s see something concerning this mystery of iniquity.  This tells us that the mystery of iniquity will, which was working then and we’re reading about it here now, would continue and come down clear to our time.  Paul says, verse 7, “For the mystery of iniquity…”, and iniquity here is anomia where you get antinomeanism.  That’s kind of a difficult word to say so I’ll just call it anomia, which is the literal Greek word, meaning “lawlessness”. 

Now hold your place here and come to Matthew 7.  Now we’re going to read another scripture.  Jesus gave a prophecy that this very thing would happen.  The very thing that I’m telling you about right now, that I’m reading out of this book by Alan Knight, Primitive Christianity in Crisis.  Remember the Gnostics were Christians, so called.  The Nicolaitans were Christians, so called.  They are called the mystery of iniquity or lawlessness, but they have a form of morality, which sounds very Biblical and as a matter of fact many times they even use some of the Biblical commandments because they accept them. 

But notice what Christ said here.  And this is concerning false prophets leading down to verse 21.  “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that [is practicing] doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.”  What was the will of the Father concerning the Sabbath and holy days?  Keep them.  All the will of God.  You shall not add to, you shall not take from.  Meaning you shall not mix together, which is what they did.  

Now notice verse 22, “Many…”  Now who are the many?  Let’s read that, verse 13, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:”  That’s a majority of people.  That’s the majority of those who consider themselves Christian in this world.  Hence it also includes all of the other religions of the world because they come from the same root: Babylon> Greece- Hellenistic Christianity; Babylon> Buddhism- Hinduism- Shintoism- Animism, and the whole thing all come out of Babylon. 

Ok now back down to verse 22, “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:…”  And they claim to be Gnostics, knowing I never knew you.  “… Depart from Me, ye that work [anomia - lawlessness] iniquity.”  Now you know the scripture which says, “And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.  Anyone who says I know Him [gnosis] and keeps not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4, paraphrased).

Now with that background let’s continue on out of the book here, by Alan Knight.  I’m going to read from pages 106-107.  The author Alan Knight says, “I think it appropriate to mention here a common fault in the world of Primitive Christianity.”  Now that is the true Churches of God.  “Many tend to fixate on pagan customs and symbols in criticizing Nicolaitan Christianity.”  That is the idolatry of the Catholics, the idolatry of the Protestants, and so forth, and they have their own.  “This is a valid issue, but the Bible demonstrates repeatedly that God is displease by mixing his worship with pagan practices.  But the Easter bunny, and Santa Claus and Christmas trees really are not the core issue.”  In that he’s correct.  That’s a periphery.  That’s a start to begin stripping it away from them.  “Mixing pagan practices with the worship of the true God, in an atmosphere of anything goes as long as you paint it Christian, is only one example of the spirit of lawlessness.  The real, core issue is the underlying theological, de facto licensing of disobedience in general, the wave of sin and human misery that comes from it in the form of war, divorce, the entire gamut and daily grind of strife and emotional dysfunction that afflict mankind, and, most important, the disrespect for God himself and his creation-centered institutions that cuts man off from the true God of the universe.”

That’s the lawlessness we have today.  Look at how the United States is today as a result of Protestantism and Catholicism and bringing in a gnosis that “I am good enough on myself that I, me, myself alone will determine what is right.”  Look at what we have, all done in the name of Christ.

“After lawlessness comes docetism [which is that Christ descended into the body of a man],… asceticism [which then leads to the monasteries and depriving of the flesh]…”  “We see that Gnostic Christians commonly infiltrate the true church.”  Does that ring a bell?  Yes.  “This includes antinomian preachers operating inside the primitive church.  Antinomian Christians are depicted as hounding and slandering God’s people with their false claims to be more spiritually advanced and the only true Christians accepted by God.”  Which is precisely what they say today concerning Sabbath.  Exactly the same thing. 

Now here on page 117, I think is really a profound one.  He goes through showing the forms of spirituality, and going through the different religions.  Now this is a direct going after ecumenism. 

“Does that mean all religions are a valid approach to God?”  Now this is currently what is done in ecumenism.  So Nicolaitanism is also ecumenism, isn’t it?  Even the Catholics are now saying that there are many roads to God.  Some are in Hinduism, some are in Buddhism, some are in Protestantism, and so forth, but we’re all going to heaven.  And even the Jews believe that.  I saw a Rabbi on Larry King Live say, “Well, yes we’re all going to heaven.”  (Laughter)  That’s that fierce looking Rabbi with the black beard and the deep-set eyes.  Ok. 

He {Alan King} says, “I think not.”  Now here’s something profound that he wrote.  “The religions of the world essentially are embodiments of natural human spirituality…”  And I will add to it: coupled with demonic spirituality.  Because wherever false prophets are there are false spirits.  “…All shaped by historical and cultural processes into unique individual forms, incorporating much truth along with a large assortment of error.  As sponsors of natural human spirituality they frequently guide their followers into genuinely godly conduct.  They often do a great deal of good.”  That is why it is the spirit of lawlessness, and why God hates it. 

“The theological foundation of Gnostic libertinism is strikingly analogous to what survives in modern Nicolaitan Christianity.  This is the teaching that moral conduct and law in general are commonly divorced from salvation.  Even intentional sin will not disqualify your salvation as long as you maintain your inner spiritual relationship with God” (pg. 128).  Which then is this:  Once you have been saved you are always saved regardless of your conduct.  And that’s what the Baptists teach.  They have Nicolaitanism.  Yes and that’s what Worldwide is teaching now. 

There was a woman one time, where she said she was trying to explain some things to her Baptist friend.  And she said, “No, regardless of what I do I’m saved.  When the Rapture comes I’ll be raptured on.”  She looked her right in the eye and said, “You mean if you are right in the middle of committing the act of adultery, that you would be raptured?”  She said, “Yes.” 

“This is perfectly legitimate, they believe, if it is interpreted as protecting man from materialistic passions that tie him to the world, and as long as it is not associated with the deception of the Old Testament and Judaism.”  That is you can do whatever you want.  “Thus Gnostics could rail against the Old Testament and the evil creator God Yahweh, and proclaim liberation from Hebrew law, and then turn right around and substitute their own rules for human conduct that sometimes was quite similar or even more strict than the laws of the Bible” (pg. 128).

A comment was made for the Jews.  Read the code of Jewish law.  That is more strict.  I mean you talk about strict.  What it is, it’s the type where they have so many laws they don’t want you to think.  You are bound up by those laws.  Now this gets into a little bit of Colossians 2, which we’ll cover a little later. 

“Individual ascetic practices varied widely.  Marriage commonly was forbidden [1 Timothy 4], also wine and eating of meat [1 Timothy 4].  Water usually was substituted for wine in celebrating the Lord’s supper” (pg. 128).  That’s exactly what the Mormons do today.  Precisely.  Mormonism is the most Gnostic religion today as far as getting right back to the believing in angels and so forth.  That’s what they say, when you’re saved you become like an angel.

Now on page 129, “Some [Gnostics] promoted systems of magical charms to overcome the evil angels who blocked the soul from ascending through the planetary spheres after death.”  That is to reach heaven.  “Others provided secret passwords to accomplish the same goal.”  Masons.  Secret handshakes.  And when the Mormons are married in the temple they are given a secret temple name.  “Some sects taught that Christian converts obtained various forms of power that rendered them invisible to the evil angels.  Valentinian Gnostics believed their sacraments provided them with a spiritual body of light that made them invisible to the demons.  They believed that participation in the eucharist clothed them with the spiritual body of Christ, and this was the guarantee that they were spiritual and would be saved.”  Which comes right down into the Catholic doctrine of taking the eucharist today.  That the only way to be saved is through the eucharist. 

I’m happy that he wrote this book.  I don’t remember who gave it to me, but anyway you can get it by writing to:

ARC Research

1917 Mount Hamilton Drive

Antioch, California 94509

The price is $15 with shipping.

Now we’ll have to end it here but we’ll continue with this because this is very important because when we get into the section concerning Thyatira, that it’s developed even more.  But suffice to say that Gnosticism and Nicolaitanism is alive and well in this world.  And we are going to see that one of the things that the Gnostics did was that they said, because the Sabbath was given of the God of the Old Testament, therefore they have a new revelation that they now keep the eighth day instead of the seventh.  And the eighth day is the first day of the week.  And so that came in early, early on. 

Now then you tie that into the one I did on Sabbath-keeping #8, and where I bring out in Hebrews 4 about Sabbath-keeping.  That’s why it’s so important to understand that Hebrews was written to Hellenistic Christians who were what?  They were being infiltrated with the Gnostics, infiltrated with this thing, Sunday-keeping and so forth, and having a totally wrong perspective concerning the Old Covenant and the animal sacrifices and the New Covenant in Christ sacrifice.  So this is really dynamite stuff and ties it all together.  I know it’s a little laborious to read some of these things but there is so much that it’s absolutely incredible.  Well I’ll quit here.