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Christian Biblical Church of God

Post Office Box 1442

Hollister, California 95024-1442

(831)-637-1875

Fred R. Coulter, Minister

November 19, 2003

Dear Brethren,

My, how time flies! It has been just over a month since the last Great Day. The hosts of all the Feast areas, including New Zealand and Australia, reported that God blessed with a tremendous Feast of Tabernacles! This year there were many brethren attending for the first time and an increase in the number of younger people and families with children. Cannon Beach, Oregon and Fernnie, BC, had rain during most of the Feast; however, the rain only encouraged more wonderful, inspiring fellowship.

It may seem like an old cliché—but it really isn't—when so many brethren say, 'This was the best Feast ever." In fact, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and understand the meaning of the Feast more every year, each Feast should be better than the last. This year's Feast was not only "the best ever," it was also the most peaceful and instructive. With God's Spirit inspiring us, love and harmony among the brethren was truly the best ever. The feasts of God are to be love feasts (Jude 12) where we are to grow in the love of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the brethren. "If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and live in His love. These things I have spoken to you, in order that My joy may dwell in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have made known to you all the things that I have heard from My Father" (John 15:10-15).

Jesus also said that we are to love each other as He has loved us (John 13:34). Obeying this will make the Feast the best ever year after year. It will never be boring or unfulfilling.

Furthermore, we partake of the true fellowship through the Holy Spirit of God when we are fellowshipping first with God the Father and Jesus Christ—through prayer and Bible Study. Then when we fellowship with the brethren, our fellowship is blessed with the joint fellowship of God. As Jesus said, whenever two or three are gathered together, He is in their midst (Matt. 18:20). The apostle John wrote of this kind of fellowship: "That which we have seen and have heard we are reporting to you in order that you also may have fellowship with us; for the fellowship—indeed, our fellowship—is with the Father and with His own Son, Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3). This is the foundation of our Christian lives. When we are living these commands of Jesus Christ, God the Father will bless us with the best Feast every year.

In Flagstaff, Arizona, when one of the hotel managers saw all the brethren with their Bibles open, she asked Leon Ritchie, "Why do all the people have their Bibles open?" He answered, "They are cramming for their final exams." Yes, that is true! We are indeed cramming for our final examinations—for eternal life and rulership with Jesus Christ. That is the whole purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles and our calling. "Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6).

Many brethren have requested the audiotapes of the entire Feast. If you would like to receive them just write, e-mail or call the office, and we will send them to you.

The New Testament Project: We have been working feverishly on the New Testament project, fine-tuning every page to bring it to its final form. On November 7, the printer, Thomson-Shore, in Dexter, Michigan, ordered the paper for the book. It takes 3-4 weeks to receive it, which gives us the extra time we need to finalize the layout. The full title is: The New Testament in its Original Order—A Faithful Version, With Commentary. The new translation is easy to understand, while commentaries explain what the New Testament is, when it was written, who wrote it, when it was canonized, and who canonized it. Other commentaries detail the history and preservation of both the Old and New Testaments. The footnotes and appendices explain difficult-to-understand scriptures and doctrines of the New Testament—especially those of the apostle Paul. It is a complete study book that you can use for many years to come.

Since Thomson-Shore schedules a ten-day holiday break in December every year, the books will be mailed to you right after the first of the year. We realize that you have been most patient while waiting for this project to be completed. We are almost there—99.5% finished. Your patience will be rewarded! Thank you for all your love, prayers and support in making this New Testament possible.

The Battle Over the Ten Commandments and Public Acknowledgement of God: In Montgomery, Alabama there has been a fierce battle over a Ten Commandments monument. Federal Judge Myron Thompson ordered the removal of the monument and subsequently ordered Judge Moore to renounce his public acknowledgement of God. Judge Roy Moore refused to deny God. On November 13, an Alabama Court of Judicial Inquiry removed him from office for his failure to obey the federal judge's ungodly, illegal and unconstitutional order. God will honor Moore's courage in refusing to deny Him even in the face of this hostile inquisition and the loss of his judgeship. I am enclosing part of the Preface that I have written for the New Testament about the battle. I am also including two interviews of Judge Moore from the World Net Daily.

This conflict is a riveting spiritual battle that is unfolding before our very eyes, and it is not yet over. We are facing a great spiritual battle of gigantic proportions, a battle against spiritual wickedness in high places, which will only intensify in the future. As the apostle Paul wrote, we need to be prepared. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual powers of wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:10).

The sermon I gave on November 15 -- Will You Stand for God?-- covers many of the details of the case and the implications for the people of God and for the future. We need to heed the inspired words of the apostle Paul: 'Therefore, do not be joint partakers with them. For you were once darkness; but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, (Because the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is well pleasing to the Lord; and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them; for it is shameful even to mention the things being done by them in secret. But all of these things being exposed by the light are openly revealed. Therefore He says, 'You who are sleeping—wake up, and arise from the dead! And Christ shall shine upon you.' So then, take heed that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as those who are wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:7-16).

Brethren, we are enclosing a lot of vital information in this mailing. It is important that we fully realize the significance of the times in which we are living. As Paul wrote, "Wake up and rise from the dead!" As never before, we need to draw close to God the Father and Jesus Christ and be doing our Father's business—preaching the gospel, growing and overcoming daily. May God the Father's love, grace, mercy and blessings be upon you and everything you do.

With love in Christ Jesus,

Fred R. Coulter

FRC

The Battle Over the Ten Commandments'. During the writing of this Preface, an intense legal battle over the public display of the Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Supreme Court was being waged. Its ultimate outcome will have tremendous significance for the fate of the nation in the eyes of God. Will the remnant, who truly believe in God, make a stand against the atheistic, godless judges who have systematically expunged God from the public conscience? Will they do as the apostle Peter and the other eleven apostles did in the face of threats from the established Jewish government when they commanded the apostles to stop preaching in the name of Jesus Christ? Or, will they succumb to secular humanism and a Christianity without God? Peter set the example and revealed that we are always to obey God, first, in spite of men. "And they brought them [the apostles] in and set them before the Sanhedrin [the supreme council of judgment]. And the high priest asked them, saying, 'Did we not order you by a direct command not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, with the purpose of bringing this man's blood upon us.' But Peter and the apostles answered and said, 'We are obligated to obey God rather than men' " (Acts 5:27-29).

Alabama's Chief Justice, Roy S. Moore, has been waging a one-man battle against a godless, federal judicial system. He fully understood what was at stake in the battle over the Ten Commandments monument—acknowledgment of God in the United States of America. The following is an article that Judge Moore wrote for the Wall Street Journal on August 26, 2003, entitled: In God I Trust.

"The battle over the Ten Commandments monument I brought into Alabama's Supreme Court is not about a monument and not about politics. (The battle is not even about religion, a term defined by our Founders as 'the duty we owe to our Creator and the manner for discharging it.') Federal Judge Myron Thompson, who ordered the monument's removal, and I are in perfect agreement on the fact that the issue in this case is: 'Can the state acknowledge God?' Those were the precise words used by Judge Thompson in his closing remarks in open court. Today, I argue for the rule of law, and against any unilateral declaration of a judge to ban the acknowledgment of God in the public sector.

"We must acknowledge God in the public sector because the state constitution explicitly requires us to do so. The Alabama Constitution specifically invokes 'the favor and guidance of Almighty God' as the basis for our laws and justice system. As the chief justice of the state's supreme court I am entrusted with the sacred duty to uphold the state's constitution. I have taken an oath before God and man to do such, and I will not waver from that commitment.

"By telling the state of Alabama that it may not acknowledge God, Judge Thompson effectively dismantled the justice system of the state. Judge Thompson never declared the Alabama Constitution unconstitutional, but the essence of his ruling was to prohibit judicial officers from obeying the very constitution they are sworn to uphold. In so doing, Judge Thompson and all who supported his order, violated the rule of law.

"Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor and my fellow justices have argued that they must act to remove the monument to preserve the rule of law. But the precise opposite is true: Article VI of the Constitution makes explicitly clear that the Constitution, and the laws made pursuant to it, are 'the supreme Law of the Land.' Judge Thompson and the judges of the 1lth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have all sworn oaths which bind them to support the Constitution as it is written—not as they would personally prefer it to be written.

"By subjugating the people of Alabama to the unconstitutional edict by Judge Thompson, that public officials may not acknowledge God, the attorney general and my colleagues have made the fiat opinion of a judge supreme over the text of the Constitution. While agreeing with me that the Constitution is supreme, and that the opinion of Judge Thompson was contrary to the Constitution, the attorney general has argued that he must follow an order he himself believes to be in direct violation of the supreme law of the land.

"One of the great influences on the Founding Fathers, common law sage William Blackstone, once pointed out that judges do not make laws, they interpret them. No judge has the authority to impose his will on the people of a state, and no judge has the constitutional authority to forbid public officials from acknowledging the same God specifically mentioned in the charter documents of our nation, the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

"My decision to disregard the unlawful order of the federal judge was not civil disobedience, but the lawful response of the highest judicial officer of the state to his oath of office. Had the judge declared the 13th Amendment prohibition on involuntary slavery to be illegal, or ordered the churches of my state burned to the ground, there would be little question in the minds of the people of Alabama and the U.S. that such actions should be ignored as unconstitutional and beyond the legitimate scope of a judge's authority. Judge Thompson's decision to unilaterally void the duties of elected officials under the state constitution and to prohibit judges from acknowledging God is equally unlawful.

"The First Amendment says that 'Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' It does not take a constitutional scholar to recognize that I am not Congress, and no law has been passed. Nevertheless, Judge Thompson's order states that the acknowledgment of God crosses the line between the permissible and the impermissible and that to acknowledge God is to violate the Constitution.

"Not only does Judge Thompson put himself above the law, but above God, as well. I say enough is enough. We must 'dare defend our rights' as Alabama's state motto declares. No judge or man can dictate what we believe or in whom we believe. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments are not a part of the Constitution simply to make the Bill of Rights a round number. The Ninth Amendment secured our right as a people. The Tenth guaranteed our right as a sovereign state. Those are the rules of law" (Moore, In God I Trust, WSJ, emphasis added)

On August 27, 2003, the Ten Commandment monument was removed to a private room in the Alabama court house. It appears that Judge Moore, who was also suspended from his position as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, has lost the battle to retain the monument on public display. After its removal, he issued this statement saying, "It is a sad day for our country when the moral foundation of our law and the acknowledgment of God has to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge" (San Jose Mercury News, August 28, 2003, p. 3A).

Judicial Inquisition Removes Moore: On November 13, 2003, in Montgomery, Alabama, a Court of Judiciary conducted the United States' first official religious inquisition and removed Judge Roy Moore from office as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for his defiance of a federal judge's ungodly, illegal and unconstitional order to remove the Ten Commandents monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse, and for publicly acknowledging God. It was reported that during the course of the inquiry, the panel of nine judges gave him three opportunities to deny his acknowledgement of God so he could retain his position. He refused to do so. He would not deny God.

An eye-witness, Chuck Baldwin, who attended the hearing gave this account: " 'Trial' is not really the proper word, however. A better word is 'inquisition.' There was never a doubt that the 'judges' had made up their minds to remove Chief Justice Moore from the bench before the proceedings ever began.

"Furthermore, Moore's attorneys had some 20 pieces of evidentiary material that they could have presented. This was denied. There were also several credible witnesses, including former Alabama Governor Fob James, that could have been called to testify on Moore's behalf. This was also denied. The trial took upon itself a distinctive tone of inquisition when Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor questioned Chief Justice Moore. Here is an exchange between Pryor and Moore taken from the official transcript of the trial:

Pryor: 'Mr. Chief Justice? And your understanding is that the Federal court ordered that you could not acknowledge God; isn't that right?'

"Moore: 'Yes.'

"Pryor: 'And if you resume your duties as Chief Justice after this proceeding, you will continue to acknowledge God as you have testified that you would today —'

"Moore: 'That's right.'

"Pryor: '— no matter what any other official says?'

"Moore: 'Absolutely.' (Chief Justice Moore then elaborated.)

"Pryor: 'The only point I am trying to clarify, Mr. Chief Justice, is not why, but only that, in fact, if you do resume your duties as Chief Justice, you will continue to do that [acknowledge God] without regard to what any other official says; isn't that right?'

"Moore: (He responds by listing numerous examples of the public acknowledgement of God, and concluded answering the question.) I think you must.

"The point that all Americans must understand is that Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from the bench, not for committing any crime, not for participating in unethical conduct, and not even for posting the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building. He was removed from office for acknowledging God!"

"Americans must understand that people such as judge Myron Thompson and Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor actually believe that the public acknowledgement of God is illegal activity. Even more dangerous, they believe that a federal judge's order, not the U.S. Constitution, is the supreme law of the land. Pryor said as much during the trial" (http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/)

In two interviews with World Net Daily, November, 12-13, 2003, basing his belief on the Bible and the Constitution of the United States, Moore stated: "They yell, 'separation of church and state!' but they want to exclude the knowledge of God. And they've led people to believe that the phrase 'separation of church and state' actually separates God and government, and God from our life and Christian principles. That is absolutely not true, historically, legally or logically. It's completely the opposite. The very phrase 'separation of church and state' mandates an acknowledgement of God. It mandates that you recognize that God separated the jurisdiction of the church from the jurisdiction of the state. ... Throughout the Old and New Testaments you see a separation of those things which belong to Caesar, and those things which belong to God."

"The very efforts of federal district judges to exclude God from our country is a violation of the First Amendment and an intrusion into our field of opinion [and freedom of expression]. In 1878, in the case of United States vs. Reynolds, the United States Supreme Court said, 'To suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty'....It's very simple: It said that magistrates, judges, are not to intrude in your opinions and restrain Christian principles, godly principles, on the supposition that they have an ill tendency. That's a complete destruction of religious liberty. And our Supreme Court recognized that that would be an intrusion by the state into the church. Today, that's exactly what's going on" (Interview, WND, bracketed comments added).

Judge Moore added: "Joseph Storey in 1833, a Supreme Court Justice for 34 years, said very clearly in his 'Commentaries on the Constitution,' 'The rights of conscience are, indeed, beyond the just reach of any human power. They are given by God, and cannot be encroached upon by human authority, without a criminal disobedience of the precepts of natural, as well as of revealed religion.' In other words, the First Amendment guarantees that man will retain freedom of worship because God gave it to them. So, it's not the right of government, it's not the right of a judge to tell anybody how to worship God, or that they must. But they must recognize that that right comes from God, as our founding documents, our organic law, The Declaration of Independence, says" (Ibid.).

In making his stand for God, the Word of God and the Constitution of the United States, Judge Roy Moore was removed from as Chief Justice of Alabama's Supreme Court. He will probably lose his retirement and be defamed and villified by the establishment government, media, the ACLU and a lukewarm "Christian" community. However, God surely acknowledges his couragous stand to obey Him rather than man— and publicly before the world. In obeying God, he defied the edicts of the nine member Court of Judiciary—America's first official religious inquisition.

Will Judge Roy Moore's stand temporarily hold back the hand of God's correction? God says that one man can make a difference. He told Jeremiah, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it [the sin of the nation]" (Jer. 5:1, JKV). Judge Moore is one man who stood for God and the truth, and executed godly judgment. How many others will? The judgment is in God's hands. Only time will tell.

Over twenty years ago, Edward F. Hills, author of The King James Version Defended, wrote a prophetic warning about the coming laxity of professing Christians. In his 1979 edition, Hills sounded the alarm that unless America returned to its heritage of faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ and the Word of God, diligently using the Bible as the standard for her behavior, America's fall and destruction would surely come.

Hills wrote: "For almost two decades this policy of unilateral disarmament and surrender has been relentlessly pursued by the forces of the Liberal-left, until now the end of the road is clearly in sight. Humanly speaking, the United States has only a few more years to exist as an independent nation. Soon riots and insurrections will take place. Then the Russians [and other nations] will move in with overwhelming force in the name of the United Nations, and the United States Government will surrender as planned.

Then world government, the goal of the Liberal-left, will have been achieved. Christians, however, will be bitterly persecuted even unto death.

"Most American citizens are completely carnal, absorbed in their fleshly pursuits and oblivious to their country's impending doom. And, tragically, this carnal carelessness is shared by many [at this time most] professing Christians. They take a balcony view of these threatening dangers and will not lift a finger to avert them, insisting that the rapture will take place before these disasters overtake America. But this is a misuse of biblical prophecy. Christ's word to us is, Occupy till I come (Luke 19:13). We must not use the doctrine of the second coming of our Lord as an excuse for failure to do our present duty now. As spiritually minded Christians we must work for the rearming of our country and do everything we can to roll back the tide of atheism and communism which is now engulfing the world. But in order to accomplish this we must first arm ourselves with the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17), namely, the true Word of God, which is found in the printed Masoretic text, the Textus Receptus, and the King James Version and other faithful translations" (Hills, The King James Version Defended, 2000, p. 242, bracketed comments and bold emphasis added).

Hills protégé, Theodore P. Letis, wrote of the demise of the Bible because political and sexists agendas are now controlling the philosophy of Bible translation committees and publishing companies: "The Bible in English has fallen on hard times. Not only do some feminists see it as a format from which to transform Ancient Near Eastern, patriarchal religions [through the use of inclusive versions] into modern, 20th century paradigms of egalitarianism [i.e. Communism, under the guise of liberalism, and world government], but the American Bible publishing industry has reduced it to a commodity, hoping to maximize gains by imposing a marketing-manufactured consensus on conservative evangelicals, calling it the beginning of a 'new tradition [Christianity without God]' " (Ibid., back cover, bracketed comments added).

The onslaught of vicious attacks from every side against Christianity, God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Word of God have been so overwhelming that the true Word of God and true Christianity are in a desperate battle of epic proportions. Satan, the devil, and the political, secular, sexists and religious establishments of this world have united in their efforts to destroy true Christianity and the truth of the Word of God. This war is a spiritual Armageddon! It is time for everyone who loves God the Father and Jesus Christ to realistically confront these assaults and have the courage to make a stand for God, for His Word and for the Truth, because "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psa. 11:3). Furthermore, God the Father and Jesus Christ hold each one accountable, not only to live by every word of God but also to stand for the Word of God and defend it.

Christendom has grown rich and increased with goods and has need of nothing. Its faith is so weak and insipid that it is on the verge of destruction. It is ready to implode upon itself because it has grossly compromised with and accepted the world's standards—instead of living by God's laws and commandments. The truth of God's Word has been replaced with an ungodly, emotional, feel-good religion—an insipid counterfeit. As a result, the main bulk of Christendom is blind and ignorant. They have fallen sleep, while the forces of evil have marshaled their armies to try to destroy the Word of God by corrupting it and replacing it with a lie!

However, in spite of the efforts of ungodly men to destroy and corrupt the Word of God with a flood of translations that range from inadequate to blasphemous, Jesus Christ promised, "The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away" (Matt. 24:35). God has faithfully overseen the preservation of His Word written by the apostles in the Koine Greek language and preserved in manuscripts known as the Byzantine Text.

This new translation, The New Testament in its Original Order—A Faithful Version With Commentary, is firstly a call to repentance and a return to the true faith of Jesus Christ as taught by the original apostles and written in the original God-breathed New Testament. In his short epistle to the brethren of Jesus Christ, the apostle Jude wrote a most impassioned plea for the true believers to return to the faith once delivered to the saints. When he wrote his urgent message, the apostolic age was coming to a close, the great apostasy was gaining momentum, and false apostles and ministers were leading brethren astray. Likewise, in our day, the age of man's rule under the sway of Satan, the devil, is coming to a close, and the return of Jesus Christ is near. Once again false teachers and pseudo-scholars are busily seeking to subvert and undermine the word of God and destroy the faith of true Christians. Jude wrote: "Beloved, when personally exerting all my diligence to write to you concerning the common salvation, I was compelled to write to you, exhorting you to fervently fight for the faith, which once for all time has been delivered to the saints. For certain men have stealthily crept in, those who long ago have been written about, condemning them to this judgment. They are ungodly men, who are perverting the grace of our God, turning it into licentiousness, and are denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 3-4).

Secondly, we have striven to make the Word of God available to students of the New Testament and the true brethren of Jesus Christ in a modern English that has been faithfully translated from the Textus Receptus—the Stephens Text of 1550. The Stephens Text agrees with 98-99% of the Byzantine Greek manuscripts.

Thirdly, we have endeavored to provide accurate commentaries that explain the history of the preservation of the Word of God and to answer such questions as: What is the New Testament? Who wrote it? When was it written, and by whom was it canonized? Other commentaries and footnotes explain many hard-to-understand scriptures.

Fourthly, we have provided an accurate chronological setting of the days of Jesus and the apostles that is centered around the true Sabbath and holy days of God. This helps to answer questions about when Jesus was most likely born; how Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets; what it means to be born again and born of God; what the true meaning of justification by faith and the works of the law is, and much more.

Finally, we have sought to provide the ministers of Jesus Christ with an accurate translation and commentaries, so they can have confidence that the Word of God is true in order to feed the Flock of God that is among them with the true teachings of Jesus Christ and His apostles. May they rightly divide the Word of God.

May God the Father and Jesus Christ bless you with a humble heart, a contrite spirit, and a hunger and thirst after righteousness and eternal salvation. My prayer for you is what the apostle Paul was inspired to write to the brethren in Ephesus: "For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; and that being rooted and grounded in love, you may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses human knowledge; so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, even into the ages of eternity. Amen" (Eph. 3:14-21).

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