CHAPTER 11
“If I had my choice to live in any time period, I think living during the Millennium would be the period I would choose. Every time I come down from the New Jerusalem, I see how nice it is here on earth and I think back how it was before the Millennium. I remember the bad summer storms with hail and lightning and tornados. It was a wonder more people were not killed by nature than the ones that were killed. The heat in the summer and the cold in the winter, with all the ice storms and heavy snow, was enough to make a person scream. But the one thing that bothered me more than anything else was the sin. The last five to ten years before the rapture, sin was a common companion with people. The Millennium is totally different. The summer storms, hail, lightning, tornados and heat are a thing of the past. The cold winters, blustery winds, ice and heavy snow are just an illusion. The sins that ran rampant before the rapture are not even thought of as far as carrying them out now. Sin does exist, but Christ deals with it immediately. Tom, you remember the terrible storm that first summer I visited Charlie and the remark I made?”
“Oh yes, I remember that storm and the remark. As a matter of fact, I thought about that for years. If that tornado had hit our house and Debbie or I were killed, where would we be? If you and Charlie were right, which you were, I would be in hell, as would Debbie.”
“Well, Tom, I think it is about time I tell the life story of Dr. Messenger, the False Prophet.”
“It is nine sharp and everyone knows it is time for me to start teaching. You wanted to know about Dr. Paul Messenger, so this is the day you will learn about the False Prophet. Before I start, I do not want to refer to Dr. Messenger by his full title all the time, so I will just call him Paul. Paul was born in April of 1950, in a small town outside of Midland, Texas. There were not a lot of jobs in that area of Texas, so Paul’s family decided to move to southern California.
“In southern California, Paul’s father, Jim, did not have any problems finding steady work. He tried a number of jobs, but finally found one where he felt he could remain until he retired.
“There was an advertisement in the newspaper for a janitor to work nights at the Institute for Human Thinking. Having a full-time day job and working five or six hours each night would be difficult, but if the family was to get ahead, Jim had to have an extra job. He decided he would work harder and try to keep the Institute clean, the way he would want his own house. Night after night, he would clean and sweep and wax just to make the Institute look nice for the next morning.
“Dr. Workman noticed how clean everything was each morning and asked who the night custodian was. Dr. Workman talked to Jim and said there would be an opening for a day job if Jim was interested. Jim said he was interested, but he had to work two jobs to make ends meet. Dr. Workman told Jim he would pay him more per hour and give him two hours overtime each day, at double time, if he would take the day job. Before Jim had a chance to accept, Dr. Workman also told Jim he would be required to take two hours of studies from the Institute, each day. After thinking everything over, Jim said he would take the day job.
“After working the day job for two years, the Institute changed its name to Wilson College of Southern California. It was named after the founder of the Institute, Dr. Nathan A. Wilson. After three more years, Jim received a degree from the college. Jim could no longer be the janitor for the school, so he became one of the professors. Dr. Workman talked Jim into getting his master’s degree, also. Jim decided to take courses from Southern California, and in three years, he had his Master’s degree. He decided it would be best for the family if he worked for a doctorate. It took another three years of hard work to earn his doctorate, but it was worth it. He now had a Ph. D. in Psychology. His salary increased and the prestige of his accomplishments made him feel important.
“When Jim was a janitor, Paul would ask his father what he did at work, and Jim would make up different stories to tell Paul. Jim did not want Paul to know he was just a janitor. Jim would tell about things he had done at other jobs so it would be interesting. Jim thought Paul would be ashamed of him for being a janitor. When Jim received his degree, everything changed. At night he would tell Paul what he had done at school and tell about some of the silly things the students would do. Paul said he wanted to be just like his father. He wanted to be a teacher. Jim was flattered that his son would feel that way. At home, Jim would teach Paul about the human mind and other areas of human thinking. Jim did not believe in God or anything that had to do with any religion. You might say Jim was one of the first humanists.
“When Paul started junior high school, in 1962, he was not a small boy. At five foot nine inches, he was one of the tallest boys in school. He played basketball, football and baseball. By the time he entered high school, he was already a star. In high school, he lettered in basketball, and football his first year and was named to the all-conference team in both sports. He excelled academically and had the highest grade point average in school. In fact, he was considered a genius.
“During his senior year, he was a Little All-American in football and was All-State in baseball. Paul could go to any university in the country; all he had to do was to say where he wanted to go. He decided to go to Harvard. During his first two years at Harvard, he lettered in basketball and football and chose not to play baseball, but his first love was studying. The other young men thought he was a little crazy for studying so much, especially with the drug revolution just starting. The liberal ideas that were being taught at Harvard would leave a lasting impression on Paul for the rest of his life.
“During his junior year at Harvard, many things changed drastically. He had a new group of friends and their idea of having fun included drugs and drinking. It started out small at first. He tried smoking marijuana but did not like it. He did like drinking, and after getting drunk, he would then smoke marijuana. He became addicted to drinking and smoking marijuana. In the seventies, there were reports that said marijuana was not addictive. More and more young people tried marijuana and found it was very addictive, and in many cases it would lead them into harder drugs. With Paul, it lasted all through his junior year.
“During his summer vacation, he met one of his old friends he had gone to high school with who was deep into human reasoning. That summer, Paul stopped drinking and smoking. He was learning all about humanism. His friend told him the best way to learn more was to ask his father. ‘Your father is considered the father of human reasoning in southern California.’ Paul was amazed that he had not realized his father’s role and was a little embarrassed that he was hearing this from a friend. Paul did exactly that. He talked to his father, and began asking questions, and from that day on, his father would teach and train him in the mental thinking of reasoning from a humanistic view point.
“His senior year gave him the chance of a lifetime. Paul started working part-time for one of the largest stock brokers in New York on the weekends. He was supposed to be putting together documentation for a sales strategy for the president of the company. When Paul had a little extra time, he would put together a list of what he thought would be good stocks and bonds to purchase that would make money. One weekend, he left his papers in the office and when the owner came in on Monday, he found what Paul had left. He decided he would watch and see if there was anything to the ‘picks’ Paul had made. Within 30 days, everything Paul had chosen did exactly what he had expected them to do. They made money. The president talked to Paul the next weekend and asked if he would put together more companies and see if they also made money.
“Week after week, Paul was correct on all ‘picks.’ When Paul graduated, he was given a job with the firm. Immediately, Paul started making money for customers. During that first year, Paul made the company $57 million. His salary was $100,000. However, at the end of the year, he was the first associate to receive a $1-million bonus. This would not be the first large bonus he would earn. During his next 10 years, he woul
d accumulate a fortune in other areas of business. Paul owned more than 20 businesses with an income of over $30 million a year. During those 10 years in the east, he had time to earn his Master’s Degree.
“Paul decided to move back home to southern California. Once he had returned to California, there were two things he wanted to do. He wanted to get his Doctorate, and he wanted to build a new complex for his new business. He planned to build a 10-story building and start a new movement called the World Council of Religious Beliefs. He knew how strong the Christians were in the United States, so he had to give his new movement a Christian orientation.
“First, he would have to come up with a type of Christian statement of faith. Second, he would have to masquerade his new movement into something that it really wasn’t. Third, he would have to make those he hired believe his new movement was Christian-oriented. If he could develop all three points, he could be known as the greatest Christian of his day. And if you remember back when I explained to you about the first year I taught at Hebrew University, I stated I could not believe the foremost Christian leader of our day would be teaching here. That was Dr. Paul Messenger.
“The work on his new building began in the summer of 1983 and was finished in 1985. He also received his Doctorate from Southern California that same year. He also started to hire a large number of Christians. He stated the new movement would bring all religions together with the idea of evangelizing the world for Christ. The Christians and other individuals who were hired did not know the real intent of his heart.
“Inside the 10-story building, in the basement, he had his publishing company set-up. If he was going to have an organization as large as he was expecting, he knew there would be a lot of material to be published. He began to write a number of books that became best sellers: THE LONG WALK HOME, THE BEST WAY TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE, THE DO’S AND DON’TS IN EVERYDAY LIFE, and the book that sold over 20 million copies, THE GOD WITHIN ME. By having his own publishing company, he made hundreds of millions of dollars. He used a lot of that money to set up more companies, and by the year 2000 he was one of the 10 richest men in the world. He used the publishing company to print material about all the religions in the world. Back in 1995, almost all the material that all the religions were receiving was actually coming from Paul’s presses.
“Many times his employees would complain about the material he was printing, but he would say, ‘If we cannot convert them to Christianity, then we just as well sell them material about their own religion. If I don’t sell it to them, someone else will. And that someone else will not be trying to convert them. By having a communication line into those religions, I still have a chance of reaching them for Christ.’ Most employees never said a word after that. They could agree with his reasoning. The truth of the matter was he never thought about their souls at all. He was only interested in making money.
“Another way he fooled people was by giving money to Christian causes. He would give money to the needy and sponsor food drives for the poor. He also gave electric fans in the summer and paid for gas or electricity in the winter for the poor. He did what he had to do to fool as many people into believing he was someone that he really was not.
“He also set up his own TV network. It was CCBN which stood for the ‘Christian Coalition Broadcasting Network.’ Paul’s network focused on Christian themes. It was on the air 24 hours a day. People from all over the world gave donations to the network. Everyone knew who started the network and who owned it, but Paul would never go on TV. He said, ‘There are professionals who are paid to do that; I am not a professional.’ The network had higher ratings than the three other major networks, seven years in a row.
“To back up just a little, Paul had dated many women during his college days and afterwards. One young lady he dated while he was working in New York was Jennifer Brothers. They dated for two years and were planning on getting married. In the winter months they would go skiing in Vermont. Paul had a cabin built one summer so they could get out of the busy city and have time together. During the summer months they would go canoeing on the lake that was one mile from the cabin. They shared their deepest thoughts and had prepared to do many things once they were married. They talked about having a large family, five or six children or maybe more. During those days, Paul was very easy to get along with. He was never in a hurry, and he was not always thinking of ways to make money. If the money was made, that was fine. If it was not to be made, that was fine also. Once they were married they would move to the Midwest and live. Jennifer grew up in Olathe, Kansas, a small suburb just south of Kansas City. They talked and had decided to get married in the summer of 1976.
“In March, Jennifer started having problems with headaches. The headaches would get so severe, they would blur her vision. She thought it was too much stress from the job. Paul was already a millionaire and suggested to Jennifer to turn in her resignation. She would not think of anything like that. She wanted to work until it was time for her to a have a baby. The headaches continued and increased in intensity until she could not take them anymore. She went to her doctor, and he placed her in the hospital immediately to run tests. One test, after another, came back negative. They were on the verge of giving up until they decided to check one other thing.
“They ran another test, and behind one area of the brain was a small tumor. The area where the tumor was located could not be reached by the doctors, even though surgery was necessary. They decided to take a sample of the tumor through a new technique that had just been developed. A small probe would be place in the brain and a sample of the tissue could be extracted. After the sample was taken, it was analyzed and found to be malignant. Paul and Jennifer did not know what to do or what to say. Paul wanted a second opinion, but it came back just like the first. Both doctors said the headaches would get worse. Her speech would probably be affected, and soon she would most likely go blind. The only thing to do was to keep her as comfortable as possible. They asked how long it would be before she would die. The doctors said she had about six months. Jennifer did not have six months. She was gone in four.
“Paul changed after that. He had to take his mind off the loss of Jennifer, so he became a workaholic. He worked night and day. The more he worked, the more money he made. He decided to get his Master’s Degree while he was still in the Northeast. He also met a number of other women, but no one could ever replace Jennifer.
“In 1998, Paul was asked by Dr. Ben David Kent to come to Jerusalem to teach. Paul said he would not make a decision to go at this time because he had a number of things he must finish before coming to Hebrew University to teach. There was an urgent feeling in Paul that said go, but not at this time. He did not know why he had the urge to go to Jerusalem; he just knew he would have to go before long.
“March of 2000, Paul called Dr. Kent and said he would be coming to teach at the beginning of the new school year. He was told the student’s year started July 2, and it would be nice if he could be there a couple of days early. On July 1, Paul met all the other teachers and the next day school began.
“That first day of school, Paul met Michael. There was an instant bonding between the two of them. Neither one knew the role they would be playing in world history. As the days went by and the years went by, things seemed to working in the direction of a one-world dictator. The Devil was manipulating both men to do the things he considered needed to be done in order to prepare the world for complete control.
“Dr. Mohammed was just another pawn the Devil used for his gain. Dr. Mohammed did not realize the religion he set up would be the religion during the tribulation. Paul knew he should be as close to the new religion as possible; that is why he moved his headquarters to Babylon. Everything was set up and waiting for the rapture. Paul did not know about the rapture until Michael told him everything I had shared with him. The last three years before the rapture, Paul would meet with the leaders of
different religions and tell them of a time in the near future when a certain group of people would disappear. He made everyone promise not to use his name when they told their followers of the coming disappearance. Each leader promised never to use his name. When the leaders met at their annual conferences, they informed the delegates that one day in the coming future, a large number of people would disappear from the face of the earth. These people were considered undesirables. Most, if not all, of the undesirables were called Christians.
“When the delegates went back to their places of worship, they told their congregations what was told to them. They said the undesirables are the ones who have turned the world upside down. If it were not for them, the world would be in a state utopia. They said the undesirables call themselves Christians. And if you look at what Christians believe, there are so many restrictions, they cannot do anything. ‘These Christians want to impose their restrictions on the rest of the world. We know we are not alone in this vast universe, one day in the near future we will be visited and our visitors will take the undesirables with them. Then, a new earth which mankind has not seen will begin, an earth where peace reigns supreme.’
“The delegates believed what the leaders said, as did all of their members. Before long the disappearance of the undesirables would be the main topic in all the other religions of the world. As a matter of fact, even the Christians were talking about the rapture. The signs were everywhere. Christ’s coming for His church could not be that far off; it was right at the door. Preachers on the radio and on TV were preaching about the soon coming of Christ. They were pleading with people to accept before it would be too late. Many, many people all over the world heard the message and responded with faith in Jesus Christ. I guess you might say it was the final call.
“As the rapture grew closer and closer, Paul was doing more to put Michael in the limelight. After Michael won the Nobel Prize, his popularity grew, but faded in a short period of time. They called him the Boy Wonder. Paul would not allow things like that to hamper his drive to put Michael in the forefront of the public eye. Paul would invent something or would be responsible for doing something and give all the praise to Michael. Sometimes it seemed as if they were working as a team. They really were, but the one calling the shots was really the Devil. Paul and Michael were only puppets for the Devil.
“If you remember the story about my second year in Jerusalem, I told you about a student by the name of Barry Cohen. He said his uncle had found the Ark and I could come over to his uncle’s house and see it for myself. When I went to the house, the Ark was in the basement in a large wooden box. When I opened the box, Michael and one other student jumped out and scared me to death. Well, his uncle truly was the leading archaeologist in Israel. Three weeks before the rapture, he and another archaeologist were making digs under the old temple mount when they dug into a secret compartment. Inside the compartment was a small walkway that led to an area that had collapsed. After digging for almost two weeks, the debris was finally cleared, and at the end of the walkway was a door. They opened the door with kid gloves, and inside the room was the Ark. They both knew about the tradition of the Ark. If anyone touched the Ark, they would instantly die. What were they going to do? If they said anything, it might start a war, or worse, some Arab might blow up the passageway. Since they were the only two who did the digging and knew what was in the room, they decided they would talk to one of the high officials in the government.
“Instead of talking to one of the government officials, they talked to an old friend who was a General in the army. It was agreed that early the next morning they would enter the dig area and every five minutes another soldier would enter until there were enough soldiers inside to carry the Ark out. The next day the plan worked to perfection. Within two hours, they had enough soldiers to carry the Ark out and to give protection if need be. A truck was pulled into position, and the Ark was loaded inside along with the archaeologist. They now had to make up a story of how and where they had found the Ark. They did not want the Arabs to be in possession of the Ark, even though it had truly been found in their territory. The next morning they went to a cave five miles outside of Jerusalem and pretended to be digging. Late that afternoon, sirens were blasting, and a convoy of soldiers and trucks pulled up to the cave. As onlookers watched, there was something loaded into one of the trucks. As the convoy left the area, the soldiers were telling all the people, ‘The Ark of the Covenant’ had been found. The General called on his truck radio and communicated the news back to Jerusalem that the Ark had been found in a cave outside of Jerusalem. News media's all over the world were announcing the Ark had been found.
“Paul told Michael, ‘Now is the time for us to travel to Jerusalem. Anyone associated with the Ark will be on the news almost every night.’
When they arrived at Jerusalem, they met Barry Cohen. He said there was a news conference called the next day, and at the news conference they would be introduced as the ones who put up all the money to fund the diggings. What a coincidence. Well, it was just luck, if you want to call it that.
“The same year Michael and Barry graduated, the government had taken away the funding for Barry’s uncle to dig. Digging was his life; he knew nothing else. Barry talked Michael into funding the digs his uncle was involved in. Money was nothing to Michael, so he funded the digs for over six years. He always thought it was a waste of money until now. For the next three days, Michael held interviews and said he believed the money he spent to fund the diggings was well worth the cost.
“Paul had been reading about the Ark and what scholars believed about the end times. Since the Ark had been found, they felt the time of the end was very close. He and Michael decided they must speed up their plans in order to have everything ready when the rapture occurred.
“I know there are a number of questions that everyone wants to ask, so at this time I will take your questions.”
“Did Paul and Michael know what they would be during the tribulation?”
“No, neither one knew they would be the Antichrist or the False Prophet. From what I had told Michael, he knew about the rapture and about the tribulation. He did not realize he would be the Antichrist. He wanted to be the richest man in the world. Because of his desire for wealth, the Devil could manipulate him in the areas that would be useful in the future. Michael would never accept Christ. He had a cold heart toward the things of God. Paul, on the other hand, knew he was destined for greatness. The road his life took would have to lead to something other than retirement and an old folks’ home. He knew he would be known all over the world and he knew he would be acclaimed for his accomplishments.
“When Michael shared the things of the rapture and the tribulation with Paul, Paul was wondering what role he would play. Neither he nor Michael knew what role they would play in world history until the rapture. They had a pretty good idea who they were going to be by then. They felt they could win the world.
“When the tribulation began, they knew their roles, and they would play out those roles until the end.”
“Is it true if a person were to touch the Ark they would die?”
“Yes, God gave instructions on how the Ark was to be carried. God said, ‘Do not touch the Ark; if you do you will die.’ If Barry Cohen’s uncle had touched the Ark, he would have died. When the troops came to carry the Ark out of the cave, they took long, wooden poles inside with them. Even during this time of the millennium, you cannot touch the Ark.”
“If Paul would have been married, would he still have been the False Prophet?”
“Yes, Paul was destined to be the False Prophet. There was nothing that could change what was going to happen to Paul. You may ask the same question about Judas. Is there anything that could have happened to change his life? The answer is no. God does not make people sin, and he does not lead them down a road of destruction. Each man and woman has a choice to make. Their choi
ce is the one that determines where they will spend eternity. Each person has different choices throughout their life. God can look into the future and see each choice they make and see if they have made a choice for eternal life or eternal punishment. Judas, Michael and Paul made their own choices, and they cannot blame God for anything. As a matter of fact, at the Great White Throne Judgment, each person will be shown every opportunity they had to accept Christ. They will also see each time they refused that opportunity. When judgment is given, they have no one to blame but themselves. The same thing holds true for all of you. Some of you are not saved; you have never accepted Christ as your Savior. If you die before the end of the millennium, you will appear at the Great White Throne Judgment. You will be shown each time you had a chance to accept but refused to accept. What is the difference between you and the Antichrist or the False Prophet? There is no difference; all are lost, without faith in Jesus Christ.”