I John 2:28: “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”

Who is going to be ashamed before Him at His coming? Those Christians who have been living sinful, carnal lives, confident that He was not going to appear anytime soon. They will be caught off-guard when He comes back. At that moment they will realize what they have done and they will be greatly ashamed. They will be caught red-handed, so to speak.

John is warning us ahead of time that we need to be prepared: we ought to abide in Jesus and seek holiness, so that when He appears we will not be caught doing shameful and wicked things. After all, once Jesus returns it will be far too late to change.

There is a very simple rule here: don’t do anything that you wouldn’t want Jesus to catch you doing when He returns. Live your life as if God was watching you, because – guess what? – God is watching you. There are believers who will be greatly ashamed when Jesus comes back, as they look at their lives in utter horror. You don’t have to be one of them.

A Ned Steele Space Explorer adventure!

I John 2:22: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

These verses are all that you need to undo the lies of a great many cults. Cults invariably deny a part of the truth surrounding Jesus Christ, and in doing so they prove themselves to be tools of Satan. If you deny that Jesus is God, that He became a man, or that He was the Messiah, then you are not saved and your religion is a lie. If you deny that Jesus is God then you are not saved. If you reject Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah then you are not saved. If you deny that Jesus came in the flesh then you are not saved either.

Cult after cult opposes some part of Jesus’ work or ministry. Some say that He was not God; others that He never really became a man; others that He never died; others that He was not resurrected. All of these heresies are fatal and are, quite literally, damnable lies. If you deny the Son then you are lost; if you accept the Son, bow down to Him, and plead for His forgiveness and mercy then you are saved. It really is as simple as that.

“Miles has temporarily left Mars. Amy took him and all of the refugees back to Earth for some sort of hearing that’s happening today. (I would love to know how she’s able to zip between planets so effortlessly, but sadly she won’t tell me. It must be an Administrator thing.) She offered to take me with them as well but I had to turn her down – I just have too much to do here. When Miles gets back I’ll have to take him out to dinner one night and hear how things went.”
–Noel Lawson
July 15, 7243
 

The following day the debate hall was packed. Everyone had heard the rumors that were flying about – that a cure had been found, that someone had tried to kill the cured boy, and that something had happened to Monroe. No one really knew what was going on but everyone suspected that history was about to be made. The room was packed. Every seat was taken, and people had flooded into the hall and were standing anywhere they could find an inch of ground. Those who couldn’t come were at home watching the live telecast.

The opposition section was packed with people. Monroe’s followers had returned to Earth and sat in their seats. Ken Ochoa had not joined them but he did take a seat near their section. He was beginning to realize that he was on the wrong side but he was afraid of Monroe. Privately, he hoped that something would happen in the meeting that would give him a way out. The knowledge that the test bomb he built had killed hundreds of people – people who could have been cured – weighed heavily on him. He felt guilty and apprehensive.

The council had arrived early and were seated around the table. Conrad Forbes was there, as was Evan Maldonado, who was seated beside him. They were talking to each other in low tones.

Five minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin a shout went up. General Maldonado whirled around and went pale. There, walking through the front door, was Monroe Araiza. He was holding the hand of Nate, who looked around the room in wonder. Behind him the general saw the black-haired girl who had talked with him in the nuclear lab. He also saw two other people he didn’t recognize – a very old man dressed in overalls, and a middle-aged man wearing a gray suit and hat.

Monroe, the boy, and the girl walked into the speaker’s area inside the ring of tables. The rest of the party sat down in the opposition section. Monroe glanced at Maldonado and politely nodded at him. The general looked at him, shocked. A horrible feeling gripped him. He glanced over at Forbes, who looked equally shocked. The two had a quiet whispered exchange, which Amy watched closely.

With a mischievous smile on her face the girl made a small motion with her hand. A second later their private exchange boomed over the entire room, silencing everyone.

“What do we do now?” the general asked.

“I thought you killed them!” Forbes said irritatedly.

“I did! I don’t understand it.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get us through this. Just tell your men to be standing outside the door so we can kill them as they leave. I’ll think of something to pacify the crowd.”

The crowd was silent for a moment, then stood to their feet. They began booing loudly. Things were instantly in an uproar. Forbes tried to call for silence but the angry mob ignored him.

Monroe quickly stood up and gestured that he would like to speak, and the crowd quieted down. They remained on their feet, however.

“So now the truth comes out,” Monroe said. “All along I thought that the general was leading the attempted genocide against the tribes, and the council was merely an unbiased facilitator. But now we see that Forbes was behind it all along! Even when he chastised the general it was merely an act to divert suspicion. Maldonado was just doing his bidding. This whole project was his attempt at setting himself up as the first in a line of Emperors.”

“You are entirely mistaken,” Forbes said. “I was simply acting in the best interests of this city.”

“Were you, now? Let’s see. You tried your best to cover up the fact that the tribes can be cured – a fact that the city is quite interested in. You tried to have this little boy killed so that the city would never find out the truth of what was going on. You weren’t trying to give them all the facts. You were trying to bury inconvenient facts that were getting in your way. The truth – as everyone here can see – is that it is possible to cure the clans. Here we have a young man who has been completely cured.”

“Hi,” Nate said. He then looked around, embarrassed, and sat down again.

Miles smiled at him, then resumed speaking. “Moreover, it is possible to cure all of them. All of them! The sacred mission that is carved in the Hall of Stone can finally be completed. We can at last bring light to those who are in darkness. Success is within our grasp!”

Maldonado stood up. “I will never let you cure them, do you hear me? Never! This planet is ours, by right. We are the civilized ones here! It is our destiny to rule over the stars, and for too long we have let these mindless morons stand in our way. I am not going to let you stop us.”

“It is over,” Monroe replied. “You will not be allowed to harm one more clan member.”

The general started screaming. “You know nothing! I will kill every last one of those stupid people – starting with that boy right there! I will kill them all if I have to do it with my bare hands.”

Nate started crying. He ran over to Amy and clutched her, screaming hysterically. Amy held him close and looked at the general coldly. “Don’t even think about it. I will kill anyone who tries to lay a hand on him.”

“Guards!” Forbes shouted. Instantly a group of thirty soldiers, heavily armed, ran into the room and positioned themselves at strategic positions. After they were in place Forbes looked around the room. “This discussion is over. Cure or not, I have decreed that the savages will die and they will die. Adrasta is now under martial law. Anyone who tries to interfere with the bombing campaign will be shot on sight. Moreover, I order the deaths of Monroe Araiza, his followers, and that screaming child right there. General, kill him. Now.”

The general smiled and drew his gun out of its holster. “It will be a pleasure,” he said, as he aimed the gun at the boy.

Amy looked at Maldonado. An intense rage burned within her as she saw the cold hatred in his eyes. Before he could pull the trigger she made a decision, and gave the nanites that saturated the planet a series of instructions.

As the general began pulling the trigger the boy vanished. A moment later Maldonado died. His body dissolved, leaving only a pile of bones that clattered to the floor. As Forbes looked on, horrified, he died as well, and a moment later all that was left of him was a skeleton.

In that same moment sixty giant black robots appeared throughout the room – two beside each guard that Forbes had posted. The guns dissolved from the guards’ hands, and each robot grabbed one arm of each of the guards. The guards struggled but found it impossible to move.

A second later the ceiling rumbled, then cracked, and then violently torn open. The gash spread to one of the chamber’s massive stone walls, which was violently blown outward. The crowd could now see the sky, the mountain, and the plain beyond it. As they watched, a giant spaceship – miles long – appeared in the sky above them. The ship was so large that it blotted out the entire sky. A white light emanated from it, lighting the area.

Finally, in the plain at the bottom of the mountain, a giant rift appeared in spacetime. The rift widened until it was hundreds of feet high and hundreds of feet wide. Beyond it the people could see a magnificent, modern city on a beautiful planet.

Amy eyed the rest of the council, and then spoke. “Citizens of Adrasta, the reign of Emperor Conrad is over. I absolutely will not allow the tribes to be harmed, and they will not be harmed. Since the council does not listen to reason I will respond with overwhelming force.

“I offer each of you a choice. Those who wish to help cure the tribes and heal them may leave Adrasta and come with me. I have opened a door to my home on Tonina. Together we can give the poor people on Earth a new life.”

One of the remaining council members stood up. He glared at Amy. “I would rather die than join you, you monster.”

Amy stared at him coldly. “Then so be it. In 48 hours that giant spaceship out there is going to destroy Adrasta. When it is done there will be nothing left. If you will not change your ways and abandon your hatred then I will forcibly relocate you to a place that you do not want to go. I will take away your city, your comforts, and your future, and you will be left destitute.

“That is your choice, citizens. You can abandon your hatred and come join me on Tonina, and together we can help the tribes. Or you can keep your hatred, stay here, and be forcibly evicted from the Earth. The choice is yours.”

“You don’t frighten me!” the man screamed. “I am not going to bow to your whims. I will fight you if it’s the last thing that I do!”

Amy shook her head. “You have 48 hours to leave this place. 48 hours! Make your choice. I promise you that if you choose to leave the council will not be able to stop you. I will position my soldiers throughout the city and they will neutralize the council forces. My robots will help you however they can. If you need something – anything at all – just ask them.”

She then vanished, along with Monroe, Miles, and the Sentinel.

If you’ve spent your entire life in church, you will have heard thousands of sermons by the time you reach 30. If you attended Sunday School, the evening service, and the Wednesday service, then you would have heard even more messages. In fact, you’ll have heard so many sermons that you can probably predict everything that the pastor is going to say. Simply put, you’ve heard just about everything.

But there are some subjects that are never discussed in church. Even after a lifetime of church attendance I bet you’ve never heard a sermon on aliens from outer space. I know that sounds funny, but I’m not joking. Churches simply don’t talk about UFOs. It never happens. If you want to find out what the Bible has to say about aliens, going to church isn’t going to help you.

That is unfortunate, because the culture is very interested in aliens. According to a 2008 Scripps UFO poll, 56% of Americans believe that life probably exists on other planets. 8% of Americans believe that they have seen an actual UFO. On top of that, according to a 2002 poll commissioned by the SciFi channel, 2% claim to have had an encounter with alien life. That 2% number has been fairly consistent over the past few decades; it keeps coming up in poll after poll. If there are 300 million Americans then that means that six million people claim to have encountered alien life – or, to put it more bluntly, have been abducted.

Most people just laugh at these numbers and move on, believing that the whole “alien” thing is nothing more than fringe lunacy. The problem is that they just assume it’s lunacy without actually checking into it first. Since the Church doesn’t take it seriously, pastors ignore the matter – and since we’re not providing answers, people look elsewhere for the truth. That is very bad, because the Bible actually does address this – and what it has to say is simply not being told.

One thing you may not realize is that UFO sightings have been increasing over the past few decades. In July 1992 there were 32 reported UFO sightings. In July 2002 there were 430 reported sightings. In July 2012 the number of sightings increased to 867. The reported sightings has jumped sharply in the past twenty years. You may not hear about them on the news, but the number of sightings is going up, not down. The UFO phenomenon is not going away.

Another fact you may not realize is that UFO sightings are not a recent occurrence. There are reports of UFOs in documents from ancient Egypt, Rome, and during the Middle Ages. A UFO was seen in Boston in 1639 – and there are many other cases. What has changed in the last century is the frequency of the sightings. In the past they were rare; now they’re quite common.

Now, you may dismiss this whole phenomenon as the work of delusional minds. Maybe people are just seeing things. After all, there are lots of planes in the air these days; perhaps that’s why people are seeing more UFOs. Maybe this whole subject is just a misunderstanding and isn’t worth our attention. In any case, why should we take this seriously? Shouldn’t it just be left to scientists and investigators?

The reason I think it’s worth a closer look is because of what the aliens are telling people during abductions. Now, you may not believe in alien abductions; you may think that these stories are just the ravings of lunatics. But if you read the accounts and listen to the actual claims of the supposed aliens, a picture begins to emerge – and it isn’t a pretty picture.

There are certain common themes that run through nearly all abduction stories. For example, the message that the aliens bring tends to be very religious. They didn’t come here to talk about science; no, what they want to talk about is religion. Aliens often claim that we had past lives:

“Then [the alien] said that it was my choice, that I agreed to all this a long time ago. I said I didn’t remember the agreement … and he answered, ‘Before you were born, and we’ve had this conversation before.” [Taken, p147]

They claim that they are here to help us, and that if we join them we can become one with the Creator (also known as “pantheism”):

“People on Earth, open your doors to our help, for you need it desperately … Join our Confederation and be one with the Creator.”

The aliens claim that they created mankind:

“’Did you create humans, too?’ [the abducted woman] asked, and he confirmed this.” [Taken, p157]

“Aliens genetically changed the DNA of a distant cousin to the ape on this planet … the aliens took the natural evolution and sped it up.” [Alien Contact, p178-9]

They claim that the Bible is not accurate:

“Not all stories in your Bible are accurate because your Bible is not 100% correct…” [Alien Contact, p177-8]

They claim that Jesus was an alien:

“The messages include … exhortations to put the world in order by returning to the ‘Cosmic Laws’ as taught by great Masters such as Jesus, Buddha, and Krishna – all of whom are said to have come from other planets” [Aetherius Society, p12-3]

“The millions that come from other worlds, from far-off galaxies to assist in bringing peace upon Earth, have my staunch support… I am Sandanda, known to you as Jesus the Christ… I am Sandanda, and this is my message to the world.” [Project World Evacuation, p8-9]

“The most controversial thing is the ascension and resurrection of Christ. You see, he went up to a UFO in a beam…” [Alien Contact, p177-8]

“the creators therefore arranged for a child to be born of a woman of the Earth and one of their own people (aliens). The child in question (Jesus Christ) would thereby inherit certain telepathic faculties which humans lack… Mary was the woman chosen…” [The True Face Of God, p60]

There is a great deal more, but I think you get the point. The main thing that aliens want to do is convince people that Christianity is false. Aliens claim that Jesus didn’t actually die; instead, He was beamed up to a UFO and scientifically revived. They claim that Mary was an alien. They claim that Jesus was sent here not to save us from our sins, but to help us advance scientifically – and on and on it goes.

The point is, these supposed aliens spend a great deal of time attacking the Bible, Jesus, and the Gospel. Their message is primarily a religious, New Age message that is a direct attack on Christianity.

This message, incidentally, is having a tremendous impact. People are believing what the aliens are telling them. One person put it this way: “My belief system went right out the window” (1 in 40, p322-3). After encountering aliens, people are not only drawn away from Christianity, but they are plunged into the occult. Alien encounters have the effect of changing the person’s worldview – and this is happening to a great many people! Regardless of what you may think of alien abductions, these people believe that it was real, and their experiences are causing them to reject the Gospel. In many cases alien abductions turn into conversion experiences, as people are shocked by what happened and accept a false gospel. Regardless of whether they were actually abducted or not, their embrace of paganism after the encounter is very real.

This should be a cause of great concern, because the aliens’ message is spreading. Each year people are becoming more interested in what the aliens have to say. The message that they bring is both clear and disturbing: the Bible is false, Jesus cannot save you from your sins, the Earth is on the verge of a terrible crisis, and the only thing that save mankind is if we avoid Christianity and put our faith in the aliens. What we are dealing with here is nothing less than a false religion – a dangerous cult that has led countless lives astray, and that has gone almost completely unchallenged by the Church. (Like I said: how many sermons have you heard about this in church? For that matter, how many Christians know anything at all about aliens?)

All of this brings up a question: does it seem likely to you that extraterrestrial beings would travel thousands of light-years across space, just to come to Earth and tell people that the Bible is wrong? Does it seem likely that an advanced race of beings, with superior intelligence and amazing powers, would spend their time torturing people, sexually molesting them, performing horrifying medical experiments on live subjects, and preaching a false gospel?

Dr. Jacques Vallee put it this way:

“The ‘medical examination’ to which abductees are said to be subjected, often accompanied by sadistic sexual manipulation, is reminiscent of the medieval tales of encounters with demons. It makes no sense in a sophisticated or technical framework: any intelligent being equipped with the scientific marvels that UFOs possess would be in a position to achieve any of these alleged scientific objectives in a shorter period of time with fewer risks.” [Confrontations, p13]

John Keel was more blunt:

“The UFO manifestations seem to be, by and large, merely minor variations of the age-old demonological phenomenon…” [Operation Trojan Horse, p299]

What do we know about these supposed aliens? Well, based on abduction reports, the aliens are sadistic, cruel, and heartless. They torture people and molest them. They have tremendous powers. Most of all, though, they attack Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the gospel. Given that profile, isn’t it possible that, instead of extraterrestrials, what we are dealing with is actually demons? What if these aren’t aliens at all, but are evil spirits posing as aliens to peddle a false gospel and inflict horror? This does fit the profile of what we know about them, and demons are known as deceiving spirits.

There is another reason to suspect that these alien encounters are actually demonic in nature: born-again, Bible-believing Christians have never been abducted. Unbelievers are abducted all the time, and people who are involved in the occult are especially likely to have an encounter. (According to research, most abductees have had some sort of involvement with the occult prior to their experience.) But Christians are avoided. In the tens of thousands of known abduction cases that have been studied, not one of them happened to a Christian.

On top of that, it turns out that there is only one way to stop an alien abduction. In nearly all cases, people who were abducted had no power over what happened. The aliens simply took them and there was nothing they could do about it. In a few cases, though, people were able to stop the abduction. How did they do it? In every case it was the same: they called on the name of Jesus. These people were not Christians, but they called on Jesus to help them, and the aliens were terrified. They simply could not stand that Name. The name of Jesus made them flee.

Is there a group of powerful, superhuman beings who is terrified of the name of Jesus? Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. Demons are terrified of the Lord, as the New Testament demonstrates time and time again:

Matthew 8:28: “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”

I say all of that to say this. The modern Church has this idea that demonic occurrences were something that happened a long time ago, back when Jesus walked the Earth. In those days there were lots of demon-possessed people, and Jesus fought the demons and cast them out. Today, though, times are different. Demons tempt people to sin, but that’s about it. They don’t go around tormenting or possessing people anymore. That only happened back then, in Bible times. Things are different now – or so the Church thinks.

But what if we’re wrong? What if demons have not stopped seeking whom they may devour? What if they’re still active, and the Church simply hasn’t noticed because the demons picked a particularly good disguise? After all, posing as aliens would be a terrific way to deceive countless people, and there are many who would believe anything an “alien” told them. What makes it even better is that most people think UFOs are “goofy” and just ignore them – which would give demons free reign to do just about anything they wanted. If the demons are behind the UFO phenomenon, I have to say that they’re winning because the Church isn’t even fighting the battle. We’re ignoring it entirely.

Regardless of whether aliens are demons or not, someone is out there destroying the faith of millions of people and bringing countless souls into spiritual darkness. Is this really something that should go unchallenged?

I have uploaded my summary of I Thessalonians. You can find it here:

Summary of I Thessalonians, PDF file

I John 2:20: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.”

In other words – much to the dismay of Catholics everywhere – we do not need a special group of priests to interpret the Bible for us! We do not need the Pope to tell us what the Bible actually says. We have an unction from the Holy One. The Holy Spirit will guide us into the truth. Despite what Catholics will try to tell you, the Bible is not a sealed book that can only be interpreted by a select few. It is open to all who believe. Those who seek understanding need only to ask God for wisdom, and He will grant it. If we seek the truth we will find it, if we seek it with all our heart.

This concept is emphasized again a few verses later:

I John 2:27: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

This verse is saying that we don’t need priests or clergy to interpret the Bible for us – we can (and should!) read it for ourselves. This idea that only a select few can interpret the Bible is completely unbiblical. If you want to know what the Bible says, don’t go to the Vatican and ask them. Read it for yourself.

A Ned Steele Space Explorer adventure!

I John 2:18: “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

John’s point in this verse is that we are living in the final days. The “last time” started when the Church was born on the day of Pentecost, and it has gone on until this present day. John is not saying that the Antichrist has already arrived, or that the Millennium has already begun, or that the end-times prophecies were all symbolic or allegorical. That is not his point at all.

It may seem that way at first glance, but go back and look at the verse again. What it says is that, in this present age, there are many antichrists. The word he uses is plural, not singular. John does not say that the Antichrist himself has already arrived. The verse does not say “The antichrist is here, now.” The Bible (Old and New Testament) has a lot of specific prophecies regarding what the Antichrist is going to do, and so far no one has arisen who has fulfilled those prophecies.

What we are seeing in this age is the rise of people who oppose (or claim to be) Christ – in other words, the appearance of people who are anti-Christ. John is saying that this is evidence that these are the final days.

The final days have been going on for quite some time. They will not go on forever, though. The Old World waited a century while Noah built the ark. He warned them, but they did not listen, and when the Flood finally happened they were caught off-guard – and all of them perished. The Second Coming will be the same. John warned people two thousand years ago that the last days were at hand, and that message is still true today. The world has had a great deal more than a single century to prepare for the end, but when the Lord does return they will still be caught off-guard, and a great many will perish.

This is how Jesus put it:

Matthew 24:37: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

You have been warned. Don’t disregard the warning.

“This morning Miles invited me over to his place for breakfast. I was quite shocked to get the invitation; I thought he would never reveal the secret location of his underground bunker. I was even more surprised when I looked up the location on a map and saw how close it was to the outskirts of Tikal. The city was practically built on his front doorstep! All those times he took an hour to drive home must have been a ruse to fool the unwary. Anyway, while I was there I had a chance to talk with a man from Earth named Monroe Araiza. He was a fascinating person. His account of the current strife in Adrasta was riveting. I sincerely hope that Amy is able to stop Evan Maldonado. Given that she was able to terraform Mars it ought to be child’s play for her, but the situation may be more complicated than that. In a way I’m glad that she’s the one that’s dealing with it instead of me. I’d much rather tackle an engineering problem than a people problem.”
–Noel Lawson
July 14, 7243
 

Amy and the Sentinel were standing at the base of Falcon Ridge. It was a warm and humid day, but the sky was dark and overcast. The air was still. It’s going to rain today, she thought. I can feel it. Not that it matters, I guess.

Alex was busy eating his breakfast – a bowl of dog food. He had long ago learned how to use the nanites in his bloodstream to materialize food, and every morning he fed himself. When Amy first saw what he was fixing she explained to him that he could have anything he wanted. Alex, though, insisted on eating the exact same food he had eaten back in the 19th century. He was a creature of habit and saw no reason to change. So Amy backed off and let him handle it. The food was perfectly healthy and well-balanced; eating it wasn’t going to harm him. She was just surprised that he wasn’t using his powers to create something tastier. She didn’t know if it was discipline or a simple lack of imagination.

Amy looked to the horizon. Even though the crater that was left behind by the neutron bomb was beyond the line of sight, its effects were not. The radiation that the weapon had released when it was detonated had contaminated the plain, and the grass was starting to die. It was a depressing sight. By now the radiation should have decayed into harmlessness, but the cellular structure of the grass was still decimated. It simply had taken a while for that to kill the grass. Death had claimed it from within long before that was visible from the outside.

“One day I’m going to replant the forest that Maldonado destroyed,” Amy commented. “I can’t stand having that big black crater there. It’s ugly.”

“That does seem like a good idea,” the Sentinel agreed. “However, I would recommend waiting until after you have completed your negotiations with Adrasta. They have proven to be quite hostile.”

“Boy, have they ever! What is it with those people? Why are they all homicidal maniacs? When we started all this I really thought that they could be saved. I thought that they would make the right decision and it would all work out. But now – well, now I think that the city is doomed. I just don’t see how it can be saved. They are too fond of murder and too eager to kill others for the sake of their own convenience. There’s nothing left in them but hate.”

“All you can do is give them a choice. What they do with that choice is up to them. You are simply here to make the offer.”

“I guess,” Amy said. “Anyway, how are things going with you? Have you found a cure for the adults yet?”

“Indeed I have. In my simulations the cure has proven to be effective 100% of the time. The cure itself is a bit more specific than the cure for the children, however. Each dose that we administer will have to be tailored to that person’s specific abnormalities and level of development. While we can cure all of them, it will not be possible to create a single antidote and mass-distribute it.”

“Didn’t the cure for the children have the same problem?” Amy asked. “But we were still able to create a single antidote for them.”

“Yes and no. The cure did have to be customized for each child, but the changes were fairly minor. I was able to design the nanites so that they could analyze the child and change their configuration accordingly. Since the cure could change itself to match the disease, a single dose could cure anybody. Adults, though, are significantly more challenging to cure. The amount of variation between them is more than the nanites can handle on their own. They simply don’t have the necessary processing power. I’ll need to use the network to create a tailored cure for each one of them.”

Amy thought for a moment. “In that case, we should probably just administer the cure ourselves. I was kind of hoping that we could get Adrasta involved, but I think that would just slow things down. Besides, I doubt they’d be willing to help us anyway. Things will go much faster if we handle it. I bet once you’ve manufactured the cure we can distribute it in a matter of days.”

The Sentinel nodded. “The exact amount of time will vary between persons. In some cases a person may be cured in only three days, while others may take up to eight. It just depends on their age and on how much damage has been done to them. It should also be noted that when they are cured their minds will be almost entirely blank. They will be like adult toddlers. Someone will have to care for them for a number of years, as they will essentially recapitulate childhood.”

“So, basically, you’re saying that when we’re done everyone on this planet is going to be a child. Wow. Well, the Stewards can handle it, I think. Can you install one on this planet? Ten million people is a lot, but they were built to serve billions, right? So they should be up to this.”

“There are actually 34,186,972 tribal peoples on this planet,” the Sentinel said. “The council estimated a population of ten million but their figures are quite erroneous. I am surprised you did not count them myself.”

“Sorry,” Amy said. “I just heard the number ‘ten million’ so many times that I came to believe it myself. You’re right, of course. But – wow! And the general wants to kill them all with just 153 bombs?”

“Interestingly, that goal is actually achievable. The general has several factors working in his favor. First of all, the tribes are only located in North and South America. The rest of the world is unpopulated. Second, the tribes are not evenly dispersed across the entire hemisphere; they are located in several tight clusters. A small number of bombs can kill a great many people. The final point to keep in mind is that his bombs are enormously powerful – far more powerful than the test weapon he used to eradicate the forest. Each bomb is capable of devastating nearly a thousand square miles. As a side-note, the oversized bombs that the general is designing are actually not very efficient. A large number of small bombs would actually work far better. The general is aware of this but has chosen to use large weapons because he lacks the resources to create and deploy thousands of small weapons in his allotted time frame.”

“Wow! I guess I really haven’t done my homework. I’ve been spending too much time monitoring the people in Adrasta.”

“I would not discount that effort. So far your activities have prevented Maldonado from taking any more lives. That is probably more important than knowing the exact geographical distribution of the tribes.”

Amy nodded. “All right. So we have a cure, it will need to be tailored to each person, and the Stewards can take care of all the new children. How soon can you get things started?”

“I can begin the process immediately, but are you sure that you want to go ahead and start curing them? What about Adrasta?”

“I’ll deal with them tomorrow. They’re going to have a meeting to decide what to do, and I’ll show up and give them a choice. They can stop the genocide and help take care of the cured people, or they can continue to be monsters and get booted from Earth. I see no reason to postpone the cure until after the meeting, especially since it will take several days for the cure to work. Oh – and make sure you install the Steward before you start the cure process. He’s going to be kept pretty busy.”

“All right,” the Sentinel agreed. “I will begin the process immediately.”

“Great! You know, I will be so glad to have all of this behind me. Do you realize that by this time next month we could be done with all of this? I don’t know about you, but I think that will be a good day.”

“Yes it will,” the Sentinel agreed.

In the city of Adrasta, Evan Maldonado was standing in a busy room. Since it would take months to repair the foundations and rebuild his old nuclear lab, the general had obtained space elsewhere and commissioned a new one. His chief nuclear scientist, Ken Ochoa, was supervising the construction process.

“So how long is this going to take?” the general demanded.

Ochoa glanced down at his notes. “Well, first of all, the electrical engineers are working on fabricating another control board. It’s a pretty big project and they won’t have it ready until the middle of next week. Once we get it we’ll need to install it and make sure that it’s fully operational. A lot of wiring will have to be done, of course, but by the time we get the board we should have the rest of the lab set up. In two weeks we should be able to begin processing lithium again. Fortunately, very little lithium was destroyed, and the amount that remains is more than sufficient to build all of the bombs.”

“More delays,” Maldonado grumbled. “This is the worst project I’ve ever been on! It’s nothing but delay after delay after delay. At least Monroe won’t be around to cause any more ‘accidents’. Maybe we can finally get some work done. If we can start processing lithium in two weeks then perhaps we can start the bombing campaign in three. We can finally make some headway.”

Ochoa hesitated. “You know, speaking of Monroe, there’s been a lot of rumors going around Adrasta lately. A man was caught trying to shoot the red-headed savage. Some people say that he was working for you, and you’re trying to cover up a cure.”

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do! What other choice do I have? Someone has got to step in and stop this cure thing before the public gets in an uproar. Support for the bombing campaign is dwindling rapidly. The last thing we need is for people to lose faith in what we’re doing.”

“So you did hire the sniper?” Ochoa asked, surprised.

“Of course I did! Do you think he hired himself? It worked, though. The boy is gone, Monroe is gone, and the cure is gone. There won’t be anything to talk about in the meeting tomorrow, so all of this will blow over. Then we can get back to work.”

“You murdered Monroe!?” Ochoa exclaimed.

“I sure did! Oh, he had it coming. I’ve been wanting to kill him for years. Let me tell you, it felt good. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Now that that little pipsqueak is gone we can finally have some peace around here.”

“Uh, wow. Ok. But, um, aren’t you afraid of getting arrested?”

“Of course not! I did what had to be done. Besides, don’t you realize that our bombing campaign is going to kill millions upon millions of people? Compared to the total genocide of the savages, killing Monroe Araiza was small potatoes. He’s just one person – a drop in the bucket. If you stacked up all the skeletons of everyone that we’re going to kill, you wouldn’t even notice him. He’s nothing.”

“Oh,” Ochoa said.

“Come on! Put your head together. What did you think we were doing here – baking cookies? The last bomb you built for me was used to kill more than four hundred people. What’s the life of one crabby scribe compared to that?”

“I guess I’d never really thought about it,” Ochoa said uncertainly. “I was just doing my job.”

“Well, you just keep on doing your job. We’re way behind schedule. Leave the council to me. I’ll make sure that no one tries to stop you from making those weapons of mass destruction.”

Ochoa nodded, and the general left the room. The men around him resumed work but he did nothing. He just stood there, staring off into the distance, thinking. What have I done? he asked himself, over and over and over.

I John 2:15: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

This is a very powerful passage that speaks on another distinguishing characteristic of true Christians. One of the signs that you are not saved is being in love with this world, its pleasures, the things that it offers, and the material things of life. We can see this in verse 15: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” John is very clear about what the “love of the world” entails: “the lust of the flesh”, “the lust of the eyes”, and “the pride of life”. None of these things come from God.

This makes for three distinguishing characteristics of Christians: they obey Jesus out of a great love for Him, they have a sincere love for fellow believers, and they have no love for the world and the things that it offers. Their love is focused on Jesus and His Church, not on material goods and pleasures. Jesus has their heart. Next to Him, the delights of this world just aren’t important.

Of course, not everyone is happy with this idea. Some people say that you can be a Christian and be materialistic, and there’s nothing wrong or sinful with that. They claim that you can spend your entire life trying to amass all the material things that people crave and still be a child of God. Or, to put it another way, they claim that there is no inherent conflict between living a self-centered, materialistic life and living for God.

The problem with this view is that John does not mince words: he clearly states that if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. He strictly tells us not to love the world or the things that are in it. Our desires should be fixed on the Lord Jesus. Our time should be spent building His kingdom, not ours. Our heart should be fixed on Heaven and our joy should come from serving Him, not from getting the world’s latest toys and gadgets.

All of this world, and the things that are in it, are passing away. As we saw in II Peter, one day this world is going to be destroyed by fire. God wants us to be in the world but not of the world. We are to be different. We must not let the desires of our flesh rule over us; instead we must die to them and live to God. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth”. The Bible tells us many times to flee fleshly lusts. Run from these things. Don’t embrace them; die to them.

This is not an easy thing to do. It is not easy to become uninterested in the things that the world has to offer, and to instead find our joy in Jesus. It is not easy to walk away from pride, and money, and the pursuit of riches, and instead seek a deeper walk with the Lord. It is not easy to die to our own dreams and seek the Lord’s dreams instead. Nor is it easy to seek to glorify God instead of ourselves. We want to be known; we want to be big and important; we want to have friends and be somebodies; we want to be successful and respected. But this is nothing more than the pride of life, which Christians are commanded to run away from.

God does not want us to spend our lives glorifying ourselves; He wants us to spend all of eternity glorifying and enjoying Him – the one who alone is worthy of all glory and honor and praise. He may choose to glorify us and lift us up, but if we are to be glorified then let God do it, and not ourselves.

I came across this statement online today:

“Elsewhere, Dr. Whitaker discusses the common thread between the Columbine High School shooters, spree shootings at a community center in Los Angeles, two brokerage firms in Atlanta, and a printing plant in Kentucky: SSRI antidepressants. Every one of those shootings was perpetrated by people taking Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox, Paxil, or a related antidepressant drug.”

I had heard this before, so it was not news. It’s actually amazing how many mass murders are committed by people who were on on antidepressants. Many doctors have argued that there is a link between psychotic behavior and SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors – drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil, among others). If you do some research and start poking around you’ll discover case after case after case.

Why would an antidepressant lead to murder? It’s really not very hard to figure out. The key feature of an antidepressant is the fact that it improves your mood. Specifically, when you take it you don’t feel bad anymore. It effectively shuts down the part of your brain that makes you feel bad. In fact, that is the entire purpose of the drug.

The problem with this is that there are times in life when you are supposed to feel bad – like when you hurt someone or do something terrible. The drug, however, stops that bad feeling from ever happening. It turns off the conscience. Since the conscience is gone (or severely impaired), the person can do horrific things and not feel bad about it. They no longer have an inner voice that says “that is a horrible thing to do!” It’s simply gone.

So what do people do? They revert to their true inner nature. With nothing restraining them from doing evil, they plunge into it. For some people this manifests itself by outrageous, psychotic behavior. Some people commit suicide. Some people go on killing rampages. In each case their depraved, evil nature came to the surface. The drug didn’t actually make them do anything; all it did was remove the part of them that keeps people from acting like sociopaths. It removed the restraint.

Stop and think about it for a moment: what kind of person would you become if you could do any act of evil and still feel good about yourself? What would you do if the voice inside your head that says “that is evil” was gone, and every option seemed like a good one? You would become like those people who cannot feel physical pain, and who inflict horrible injuries on themselves without even knowing it.

There is tremendous danger in giving someone a drug that stops them from feeling bad. It’s very much like giving someone a pill that prevents them from ever feeling pain again. It may cure the depression but the side-effect is horrific.

In this day and age we have come to believe that behavioral problems can be solved by giving people pills. Is the child misbehaving? Give him a pill. Is the person depressed? Give him a pill. Is the student having trouble paying attention? Give him a pill. Instead of investigating the situation and seeing if there is an actual cause for the misbehavior, or a root issue that needs to be addressed, we just give the person a pill and treat the symptom.

I am not arguing that it is always bad to give someone a pill. What I am saying is that pills have very dangerous side-effects and can cause even bigger problems than what they are trying to solve. It might be a good idea to look into the problem and see what is really going on, instead of just handing them a prescription.

A Ned Steele Space Explorer adventure!

The other day I was reading the book of Colossians and I came across a verse that surprised me. In fact, it surprised me so much that I stopped what I was doing and started looking for commentaries to see what was going on. The verse that grabbed my attention was this one:

Colossians 4:16: “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”

What Paul is saying is simple: the Colossians were to take the letter that he wrote to them and have it read in the church of Laodicea. They were then supposed to take the epistle from Laodicea and read it in their church. Yes, you read that correctly: Paul wanted the Colossians to read a letter that he apparently sent to the church at Laodicea.

Needless to say, you will not find the book of Laodicea in your Bible. There is a letter to Laodicea in the New Testament, but it was written decades later by the apostle John and is part of Revelation (Rev. 3:14-21). If you do a word search on “Laodicea” you will discover that it is only mentioned 6 times: 4 times in the book of Colossians and twice in the book of Revelation. That’s it. There is simply nothing in the Bible that says “Paul, to the church at Laodicea”. It doesn’t exist.

This came as a tremendous surprise to me because I’d never heard anything about this before. I’ve done a fair amount of research when it comes to the Bible and I’d never heard anyone mention a lost epistle. This is apparently one of those topics that never gets talked about. It seemed like a big deal to me, though. So what’s going on?

The commentaries that I read revealed that no one had any idea what was actually going on. All theologians have are some theories that cannot be proven one way or another. One theory is that Paul did write an epistle to Laodicea and it has just been lost. Another theory is that the letter might not have been addressed to the Laodiceans themselves. Instead, the letter that was now in their possession may have been sent to another church entirely and was being passed around from church to church (which is exactly what Paul asked the Colossians to do with the letter he sent to them). If that’s the case, the letter may have been the one Paul wrote to the Ephesians, since Ephesus and Laodicea were both located in Asia Minor. The problem with this theory is that Ephesians was probably written after Colossians.

But no one really knows. The Bible never speaks of this letter again and provides no further information. It could be a letter written to another church that was now in the possession of Laodicea, but the text doesn’t actually say that and there’s no way to prove that. If we interpret the verse as meaning “Paul’s letter to the church at Laodicea” – which is not unreasonable – then we are faced with the fact that this letter is simply gone. It joins a long list of books that the Bible refers to but have been lost to history – the Book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13), The Book of the Wars of the Lord (Numbers 21:14), the Book of Jehu (2 Chronicles 20:34), etc..

Since there’s no way to tell, let’s assume that the letter actually was written to Laodicea. Let’s also assume that the letter was authoritative (since Paul wanted the churches to pass it around and read it). If that is the case – if an actual, inspired letter was lost and not included in the Bible – isn’t that bad?

Nope. It actually doesn’t matter. This is why:

I Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

What this verse means is that the information contained in the Bible that we possess is enough to make us perfect, furnished unto all good works. I’m not talking about being sinless here (that’s another discussion entirely); what I mean is that the Bible is not lacking in any area. There is no information that we need that the Bible does not provide. All spiritual information and insight that we must have in order to live our lives may be found in its pages. It is not missing anything. The books that it contains are enough.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are many inspired words of God that are not included in the Bible. I know that sounds like a terrible thing to say, but stop and think about it. Jesus lived for more than 30 years, and ministered for around 3 years. Does the Bible record every single word that He said? Of course not. Does it record His every conversation, His every sermon, His every act? Nope. This is important, because whenever Jesus speaks He always speaks authoritatively. Jesus, being God, cannot lie. He cannot be wrong. He is, after all, God. By definition, His words are the words of God. John tells us that there were actually a staggering amount of things that Jesus did that were not recorded:

John 21:24: “This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

In other words, John did not tell us everything. There were many other things that Jesus did that he simply did not record. The point is that the things that were recorded are enough. The Bible gives us everything that we need so that we may perform all good works. Even though there are words of Jesus that it does not contain, the words that it does contain are enough for us.

This means there’s no need for us to go around hunting for a letter to Laodicea, or for lost books of the Bible. We don’t need a book of Mormon to tell us the rest of the things that somehow got left out of the Bible. The Bible is enough, and is complete. It lacks nothing.

My point is that even if the worst-case scenario is true and there was an actual, inspired letter to Laodicea that was lost, it wouldn’t actually matter. The Bible is missing nothing. You don’t have to wonder what valuable insights that letter contained that have been lost to us forever. Likewise, if someone comes along and claims that they have discovered a “lost gospel” or “lost book”, run from them. There are no missing doctrines, no forgotten teachings. We are already fully equipped.

I have posted my summary of the book of Colossians. You can find it here:

Summary of Colossians, PDF file