The early church leaders lived close to the time of Christ and the apostles; plus, they staunchly defended the faith against the first major heretics. However, even they, with their commitment, courage, and character also harbored error and even strange, scandalous, and silly teachings.

The Gospel of Thomas, (unknown author) as early as A.D. 40, ran off the rails by commanding nudity during baptism! “Jesus said: ‘When you unclothe yourselves and are not ashamed, and take your garments and lay them beneath your feet like the little children (and) trample on them, then [you will see] the Son of the Living One, and you will not be afraid.’” Jesus didn’t say that!

It seems they removed their clothes out of fear that a demon might hide inside a fold and be baptized with them! Silly and scandalous teaching so early in church history.

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (A.D. 95) stoops to pagan mythology when it declared, “Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years.” Even such notable non-Christians as Herodotus, Lucan, and Pliny the Elder, along with Isidore of Seville (a professing Christian) propagated that same error! Some even said that the bird is resurrected after each life and can live 1400 years!

It is amazing what sane, educated, and professedly orthodox people believed and please note that Clement was bishop at Rome and knew the Apostle Peter. Some say Peter consecrated him as bishop yet Clement thought the Greek phoenix was a fact! Unbelievable!

Justin Martyr (died 165) declared, “And then, when Jesus had gone to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, and when He had stepped into the water, a fire was kindled in the Jordan.” There is no fire in the Gospel account, just water.

Incredibly, Martyr also indicates that the “true religion” predated Christianity. He declared that the “seeds of Christianity” (manifestations of the Logos acting in history) actually predated Christ’s incarnation as unknowing Christians! Heresy from Martyr! This notion allowed him to claim many historical Greek philosophers including Plato and Socrates as unknowing Christians! Since personal salvation requires a choice, there cannot be any “unknowing” Christians. Furthermore, while dying, Socrates ordered a cock to be sacrificed to Aesculapius–the Roman god of healing.

This same heresy was taught by Clement of Alexandria (who died 215) that Greeks were saved through philosophy! “Before the coming of the Lord, philosophy was necessary for justification to the Greeks; now it is useful for piety . . . for it brought the Greeks to Christ as the law did the Hebrews” (Miscellanies 1:5 A.D. 208). He also taught that Christ’s promise of salvation is available to all, even those condemned to hell!

Clement declared, “By striving to imitate Christ, man can achieve salvation.” Say what! He suggested that Christ is neither male nor female, and that God the Father has both male and female aspects. Please note that Clement was an early pastor at the church in Rome!

Tertullian, who died in 240, taught that dedicated Christians would not have false hair, wear colored garments, have gold and silver vases, downy pillows, eat white bread, take warm baths, or shave the head or beard. In fact, he taught that to shave the face was to lie against our own face and was an attempt to improve on the works of the Creator.

He taught that there is no public entertainment which does not inflict spiritual damage.

He also taught, “Without baptism, salvation is attainable by none.” So, Tertullian taught baptismal regeneration!

Origen, considered one of the most alert, astute, and active minds of the early church, even castrated himself thinking he was obeying Matt. 19:12! Gibbon wittily commented, “As it was Origen’s general practice to allegorize Scripture, it seems unfortunate that, in this instance only, he should have adopted the literal sense.”

Self-castration! I would not call Origen alert, astute, and active but dumb, dumber, and dumbest.

Origen declared, “It is not possible to receive forgiveness of sins without baptism” (Exhortation to the Martyrs 30 A.D. 235). Here was another famous early church leader who taught baptismal regeneration!

Origen rejected the literal teaching of Scripture asserting that the reader would find many passages in the Gospels that were untrue events! He believed God had created other worlds and would do so again in the future. Origen was another mixed up dude!

One of the most famous early church leaders was Augustine who declared, “In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance.”

He even went further to teach baptism of infants! “The custom of Mother Church in baptizing infants is certainly not to be scorned, nor is it to be regarded in any way as superfluous, nor is it to be believed that its tradition is anything except apostolic” This famous theologian declared, “The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of regeneration.” Not according to Scripture.

In 420, he declared, “Baptism washes away all, absolutely all, our sins, whether of deed, word, or thought, whether sins original or added, whether knowingly or unknowingly contracted.” How do followers of Augustine handle his teaching of baptismal generation?

Augustine said, “It is better that men should be brought to serve God by instruction than by fear of punishment or by pain. But because the former means are better, the latter must not therefore be neglected….Many must often be brought back to their Lord, like wicked servants, by the rod of temporal sufferings, before they attain the highest grade of religious development.”

By that teaching, Augustine laid the foundation for the bloody Inquisition in Europe by the Roman Church in dealing with “heretics.”

Modern Christians must ask some questions: Is it possible to be a born again person and hold some of the teachings revealed here? And remember that some of these men gladly went to their deaths for their faith. If a local pastor or seminary professor taught what Origin, Justin, and Tertullian believed, would he be fired peremptorily? Have Christians down through the centuries been too quick to accept a preacher or teacher because of his impressive preaching, pedigree, and personality? Has there been massive failure on the part of pastors and seminary professors to rebuke, exhort, and contend for the faith? What responsibility do laymen have in challenging a pastor who preaches strange, scandalous, and silly beliefs? Isn’t it time to get back to what we have professed: we teach only what the Bible teaches?

Maybe historian Will Durant provided the answer why the early church ran off the rails so quickly when he wrote, “While Christianity converted the world, the world converted Christianity, and displayed the natural paganism of mankind.” Faithful Bible preaching would have kept early Christians on the right track and it will do so today.

Boys’ new book Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! was published recently by Barbwire Books; to get your copy, click here. An eBook edition is also available.

Some recent critics are good people with whom I disagree and others are dumb as a box of rocks. Recently I have been criticized by good people about what is acceptable in defense of the faith and my position on origins.

One of the many conservative websites that have published my columns has informed me that they refused to publish some columns because of my “harsh tone.” They declared that we “don’t want to lower ourselves to the level of Trump with name calling and anger.” They asked that I “bring down the tone and take out the name calling.” I have no recriminations with them for their criticism; although I disagree with them after serious consideration.

After all, circumstances call for unusual actions. Even Christ used such terms as hypocrites, fools, murderer, liar, and whited sepulchres. The Apostle Paul declared, thou child of the Devil, sinners, carnal, liars, heretics, evil beasts, and slow bellies. The Apostle John used false prophet, deceiver, antichrist; Luke used barbarians, false prophet; and Jude used filthy dreamers and brute beasts, etc. Some name-calling is done to ridicule people. As shown above, much name-calling is done to challenge and rebuke or to warn others.

I am convinced that we are in a war, a serious war on many fronts; and winning wars requires many people with various skills. We need cooks, intelligence agents, strategists, pilots, infantrymen, and special forces that operate behind enemy lines. I’m a soldier in this battle for creationism, countering atheism, abortion, public education, Islam, etc. That conservative website has every right to take the position they have taken. They are doing a great job in this battle but I am responsible for what I am called and equipped to do. We can each do our own thing in our own way in this war.

It must be stated that I am never dishonest, devious, or disingenuous but I am direct. I am never vulgar. In the article that prompted the criticism, I used such words as sanctimonious hypocrites for liberals. Well, of course they are sanctimonious hypocrites; and to soften the words puts me at risk of having so much tact that I lose my attack. I also wrote, “Liberals demand that vile perverts be permitted to teach in schools but vocal Christian teachers should be gagged!” Well, that’s a little strong, but it is absolutely accurate. Both vile and perverts are good Anglo-Saxton words that have been used and respected for centuries. Those words are resented today–especially by vile perverts!

I called liberals windbag liberals and I think that is very good description of them. I went on to call liberals Bozos of the Busybody Roundtable and accused them of being lifetime members of the League of the Willfully Blind. Now, they are not card-carrying members of such groups but like the Communists, they stopped carrying cards long ago.

I closed with “Sanctimonious liberals are divisive, dopy, and dangerous people and they are the enemy to good government and common sense.” That’s a little strong but I stand by it.

I was told by some in my battle with evolutionists that I could “catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”; however, I am not trying to catch flies but kill skunks. Evolutionists are destroying untold numbers of innocent youth. That makes me alarmed, agitated, and angry. It is sad, serious, and scurrilous to harm children.

My column dealing with evolution was published on many websites, Canada Free Press being one, and they received some incoming flack for it. I seldom read comments and never answer them unless they are sent to me. I have noticed for more than 40 years that when my critics can’t refute me they attack me. When I am called a bigot or hater, I sit back and smile knowing I have won the debate. After all, if my opponents had an answer they would use it. Are they too dumb to know this or do they think we are too dumb to know it?

One critic wrote to the Canada Free Press what he thought was a terrific answer to my column; however, he did not answer my column. He took some shots but he fired blanks. He did not even try respond to the column! He wrote about a “HUGE conspiracy” but I never said or implied a conspiracy as the driving force of evolution. Evolution is simply the result of unbelievers trying to justify their unbelief and rejection of God. He then suggested that I was obviously wrong since the “mainstream national church councils” support science and evolution. Therefore, I must be in conflict with “their versions of Christianity.” Finally, there he got it right. I have been a critic of mainline denominations for more than 40 years because of their heresy and leftist leanings and if anyone will stand still long enough I can provide reams of information to support my opposition.

My critic sarcastically suggested that I submit my evolutionary research to Oslo “to collect my Nobel Prize.” This critic doesn’t know that one does not recommend himself for the Nobel Prize and Oslo does not award the Nobel Prize for Literature! Sweden does! Oslo only awards the Peace Prize.

Then he said that he would let all the universities and peer review journals know that I know more about evolution than they do. Now, that suggestion may be worthwhile. Finally, he promised to inform the Supreme Court that their rulings are invalid and that I have “overturned all those rulings.” Another good idea. After all, the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott and other Blacks were not citizens and had no right to sue. The Court also ruled that abortion rights were in the Constitution and that same-sex marriage was acceptable although we know it is condemned by God.

I will not deal with my critic’s grammatical errors since he probably hasn’t finished high school yet.

Another critic from Canada Free Press suggested my evolution column was a “pile of BS” meaning, I suppose, Brilliant Suggestions. He said that “Species do not pop out” from nowhere but then he must not be familiar with the Schindewolf-Goldschmidt-Gould “hopeful monster” theory where a dinosaur egg hatches a bird, “the first bird in the whole world.” I will forgive my critic for not having any idea what I am referring to but suffice it to say that a few world-famous scientists supported that silly theory including Stephen Jay Gould! Other scientists are still laughing at their desperation.

By the way, the above quoted book The Wonderful Egg, with the silly egg story, is recommended by American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Council on Education, and the Association for Childhood Education International! Now, I suppose I should say that those educators and scientists are only misguided souls but they are inept, incompetent, irresponsible, and even immoral (meaning debauched, decadent, depraved, dishonest, dissipated, and dissolute) zealots. Here, I suppose I am a little excessive in name-calling but it’s difficult to know when to stop.

He went on to say that evolutionists “do not believe everything came from nothing.” In The God Haters and my new Evolution: Fact, Fraud, or Faith? (to be published in a few weeks by Barbwire Books) I easily documented many major scientists who take that position. This guy doesn’t even know what the people he is defending actually teach! That is super dumb.

However, my critic was right and I was wrong! I said that the media were the most overpaid people west of Hollywood when it should have been “east” of Hollywood. I should have caught that and my editor should have and I would fire her but she works cheap and is my beloved wife.

My editor keeps me from being more pugnacious but I don’t want anyone to wonder what I am saying or what my position is. I am in a war and will someday give an account to my Commander-in-Chief as to how I waged that war. I will sit down to discuss, deliberate, and debate calmly and kindly any subject (of which I am knowledgeable) with anyone; but if it is an abortionist who wants to kill babies or evolutionists who corrupt young minds, or new atheists who want to take from me the right to tell children (mine and others) that Hell is real and Christ is the only way of salvation then I will be in my war mode. Others can take whatever approach they want but then I don’t give an account for them.

Only myself, for which I thank God!

Boys’ new book, The God Haters was published by Barbwire Books; to get your copy of The God Haters click here. An eBook edition is also available.)

In recent years there has been talk of an “American Hiroshima” where many American cities would experience nuclear explosions either on one day or over succeeding days! U.S. officials know nuclear suitcase bombs were purchased from break-a-way rebels in the old Soviet Union. If major American cities were destroyed with millions dead, it would be the end of the greatest civilization in man’s history! Could that be the reason the Bible does not refer to America whereas minor nations are mentioned? I would think that a nation as impressive as America would be hinted at in Scripture, but not so.

You turn on your television set some morning to discover that our major cities are in flames with hundreds of thousands dead and millions dying a slow death from radiation. Would you have a job after that? Would you even care about a job? Your first and major thought would be survival. You would be delighted that you bought a big bag of beans and a bag of rice for your pantry.

It is possible that Muslim terrorists will detonate nuclear bombs in some of our major cities or they might set off a bomb in one city then blackmail us with other bombs: “Surrender to Muslim sharia law and live under an American caliphate or tomorrow bombs will go off in two other cities.” What do you think national politicians would do? Ladies, how do you think you would like wearing a burka? While a burka will not permit your belly button or breasts to be revealed, it will reveal your eyes—only your eyes!

The nuclear bombing of only one U.S. city would affect the world economy and make the Great Depression look like a bounced check. Insurance companies would go into bankruptcy or into the courts to refuse claim payments and banks would be closed. You might try to call the toll-free number to sell your mutual funds only to hear a constant busy signal. You might talk to your broker only to find that both of you are broke.

The U.S. Government would be bankrupt and renege on its financial obligations. Tax payments to the IRS would plummet as the cost of rescue and recovery soar into the stratosphere. Already billions of dollars in the hole, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, an agency that guarantees pensions of major corporations, would go belly up. So would Social Security. Everyone would be on his own.

Some are fearful that the followers of that “peaceful” religion of Islam will go high tech and set off an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) device resulting in wiping out all U.S. electronic devices but keeping our superstructure intact. Former CIA chief James Woolsey testified before a Congressional committee as reported on May 2, 2005 that the EMP could have “devastating consequences.”

If all electronic devices and electronically powered equipment were terminated because of the effects of an EMP device, then the U.S. would quickly grind to a halt. It might be more devastating than a major nuclear bomb! Think what it would mean: no elevators to take people to the upper floors of apartment and office buildings; no air conditioning; no heat; no lights; no subways; no stop and go lights in any city; no telephones, no radio or television (Okay, might be an improvement); no computers, no cell phones, no air travel, and many other problems. America would be back in the 1800s again!

Furthermore, no EMP would have a return address! So against whom do we retaliate? In addition, if all our electronic systems are down, how do we mount an effective response without planes, guidance systems for missiles, etc.? Maybe you are reading this column in the dark, and that is where our military may be at that hour.

I hope you are not reading this column in a dark bomb shelter. It is not melodramatic to say that American streets could become dark, deserted, and dangerous places as anarchy reigns. To my critics who accuse me of crying wolf, I would remind them that the wolf did eventually appear and devoured the sheep!

I can almost hear the approaching hoof beats of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse in the distance. I am sure glad I know Christ in the forgiveness of my sins.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY  Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

Unbelievers and wicked men hate certitude and the Jews, while not always being right, have always been certain. While the rest of the world worshipped multiple pagan gods, the Jews demanded faithful and exclusive worship of Jehovah. Well, there goes the pagan vote!

God told them not to marry into the wicked, unbelieving nations around them and that suggested Jewish superiority. That refusal to be absorbed into the culture has been a reason for the perpetuity of them as a people but also a cause of universal hatred. Jews seemed to think they were special, and they were and still are! Others resented it and still do.

Jehovah gave the Jewish nation a code of personal behavior known as the Ten Commandments and nothing could be more absolute; they were not suggestions. Men still chaff under “Thou shalt not.” Because of such holy demands and their uniqueness, the Jews were usually considered as outcasts.

A major Jewish rebellion against Rome was triggered in 66 A.D., when a Jew-hater dumped a pot of urine outside a synagogue. Jews were rightly furious at this desecration and a riot broke out during which some Jews insulted the Roman Governor of Judea. He ordered his soldiers to destroy the market and kill everyone in sight. What had been occasional acts of rebellion became a full scale national revolt. It was all downhill from there. Josephus reported that 40,000 Jews were killed in Jotapata, a city he was defending as a Jewish leader. He wrote, “From one end of Galilee to the other there was an orgy of fire and bloodshed.”

Fighting continued and in 70 A.D. the Roman Army destroyed Jerusalem, including their holy Temple, killing more than 1 million Jews. About 100,000 Jews were taken into slavery, thousands went to the mines, and thousands scattered over the known world. All because of a pot of warm urine! A second rebellion in 135 caused by a false Messiah resulted in 500,000 more Jews being killed.

About this time more organized opposition was occasioned in the Empire when Jews were forbidden to read the Torah, circumcise their sons, and other restrictions. When Constantine the Hypocrite published the Edict of Milan in 315 providing tolerance to Christians, Jews discovered they lost some rights. With the Council of Nicaea, the first “worldwide” religious conclave in 325, Jews lost the right to Sabbath worship and the right to have Roman citizenship.

The Edict of Theodosius in 391 declared that Christianity was to be the only legal religion in the Roman Empire bringing more pressure and persecution to Jews, although relief to Christians. Many Jewish synagogues had been destroyed earlier under the fiction that the land was “necessary.” By the end of the sixth century, Jewish children in Spain over seven years old were removed from their parents and educated as “Christians.”

Jewish persecution has been extensive, excessive, and always egregious but never excusable. However, the killing of Christ is not the only cause of such hatred since most of the persecutors had no real commitment to Christ. In many European nations Jews were forbidden to own property so they often became wealthy bankers. They were charged with usury which triggered envy, jealousy and hatred. They spoke a strange language, and usually kept to themselves resulting in wild accusations that produced further persecution.

Since Jews were “different,” “strange,” and “reserved” they were convenient scapegoats to explain bad weather, accidents, wars, and plagues. The fear, envy, and hatred prompted massive persecution, torture, ghettoization, and massacre even from professing Christians.

During these problems, persecutions, and prosecutions of the Jewish people it must be remembered that these were done by a state church run by religious tyrants, not by genuine, committed Christians teaching truth in love to every man, especially “to the Jew first.”

Moreover, the Jew-haters had better remember, or forget at their peril, that God promised to bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews. God keeps His word.

My religious ancestors never persecuted anyone, and I would repudiate them if they had.
http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

Following is a response to my column, “Why Are U.S. Moderate Muslims Not Protesting Sharia and Jihad?”

I was accused of “malicious lies” because of my charge that koranic Muslims cannot be moderate. He asked, “How cam (sic) you justify making such dishonest, idiotic generalizations about me?” He asked if I could read his mind. No, I can’t and it’s a good thing since I would be exposed to kaleidoscope of pornography based on his correspondence. Here’s my premise: if a person accepts, and follows the Koran, then he is obligated to practice jihad and world domination by Muslims. By definition, such a person cannot be “moderate.”

He asked, “How do you know what I believe in?” I know because I know what the Koran teaches. He suggested that I needed to be “committed to a psychiatric ward.” I will skip another vulgar reference and jump to his charge that I believe all Muslims are a “cloned species that share a single identical thought!” If he is a devoted follower according to the Koran, he does share a single identical thought: Islam is the only valid religion and it must rule the world. Anyone who asserts that that statement is not accurate is either truth-deficient (see how politically correct I can be?) or is dumb as a box of rocks. Opps, I just backslid again.

He asked if I had supernatural powers and of course, I do not; however, I am closely connected to One who does. And we’re friends and I spoke to Him today!
He yelled, “I am an individual and you have NO CLUE AS TO WHAT I BELIEVE OR SUPPORT!” Oh, but I do since he claims to be a dedicated Muslim who swallows all the mistakes, madness, and mishmash in the Koran.

Evidently my critic professes to be a dedicated Muslim who does not believe in jihad and sharia but that’s impossible! He did not try to answer my following statement that all Muslims must not only believe but practice jihad: “My Koran was published in Medina so it is as authoritative as you can get and it clearly teaches ‘holy war’ or Jihad in sura 2:190 and many other places. To be sure that the dullest of Muslims understand the meaning of that verse, Muslim theologians added a footnote on page 39 that hammers home the truth: ‘Al-Jihad (holy fighting) in Allah’s Cause (with full force of numbers and weaponry) is given the utmost importance in Islam and is one of its pillars (on which it stands). By Jihad Islam is established….Jihad is an obligatory duty in Islam on every Muslim….’ All Muslims must be active in jihad and sharia. End of discussion!”

I believe that Islam has a problem similar to Christianity: most followers are dumb as a sack of hair from the sweepings at the local barbershop. They don’t know what they believe.

He declared, “I am not protesting sharia and jihad because those corrupt creatures from your species have made their choice to behave as hateful, violent, bigoted, intolerant, prejudice and corrupt AS YOU!! They share the exact same hateful views as you do, YOU HAVE EVERYTHING IN COMMON WITH THEM.” It seems he didn’t read my paragraph above and claims that I believe in jihad and sharia!

He charged, “I uphold a much higher set of decent values and morals. I am not an evil, corrupt, lying, deceitful creature like you and your sharia buddies. And it is not my job as a Muslim to be the worlds (sic) baby sitter (sic) to every evil scum that’s (sic) spawns (sic) on planet earth sharing your corrupt values.” I discovered in that statement that I am a friend to sharia and that I expect him and other Muslims to be a babysitter!

Continuing his diatribe, he wrote, “If Muslims were obligated to play the superhero and clean up all corruption from earth then there would be no need for Hell in the after life (sic).” I did not charge in my column or anywhere else that Muslims are obligated to “clean up all corruption” on the earth. However, they should clean up their own house before they try to convert me.

He was wrong about stating that Hell is supposed to clean up the corruption that was on earth. Hell was made for the Devil and his angels and for those who have never accepted Christ as Savior. Furthermore, he was wrong in declaring that the purpose of this world was for God to split the world in two parts. He did not get that from the Bible.

My critic opines that God has split the world into people like him and “Immoral, corrupt, evil, hate mongering, narcissistic, prejudice, deceptive, violent, intolerant creatures like YOU and your religious extremist, fanatic, sharia friends who use lies to create division, hatred, discrimination who maliciously accuse innocent people like me.” There again I am connected to “sharia friends.” And “Islamic extremist friends.” Seems as if he has been sitting under the desert sun and has fried his brain. He is not thinking normally.

But then, maybe he is smoking those funny cigarettes.

Copyright 2013, Don Boys, Ph.D.