Beware of the Tares Within

Fred R. Coulter—October 4, 2025

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We need to fight for the faith, and we've got to always stick with the Truth of God!

Greetings, everyone. welcome to Sabbath Services; this is the Sabbath before the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, we just had the Day of Atonement. And the Day of Atonement is a very powerful day, and a very meaningful day. Eduardo did a very excellent job in presenting all the  Scriptures for the Day of Atonement. This pictures is getting rid of Satan the devil. And that's one of the most powerful things that is going to happen.

Now, today, we have a situation, as Jesus said, that there are tares among us. In the parable of the tares, the disciples came and said, you know, to Jesus, do you want us to get rid of the tares? He said, 'No, leave them, and at the end of the age, when the harvest of the wheat is accomplished, then He'll take care of them. So we always have to be on guard!

Paul wrote in 1-Thessalonians 5:21: "Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good."

Now, why is that? There are a lot of people, even on YouTube you find a million false prophets there. It's an amazing thing! Even one says that the Millennium has already begun, which shows how ignorant that they are concerning the  Scriptures. If the Millennium has already begun, guess who's king in Jerusalem? Not Netanyahu!

Let's look and see how these things come about. And we'll cover some very important things concerning it. Now, let's look at this  Scripture here in 2-Cor. 2. Now, understand that those tares were always working within the Church, and against the Church; in those who had been ministers in the Church.

So, we have to understand that we prove all things by the Word of God, which is the Truth of God, and hold fast to that which is good! Let's see how they operate:

2-Corinthians 2:17[transcriber's correction]: "For we are not like the many…"

So, there were many false prophets out there. Now, think about this: How many heard and saw Jesus and went out and started preaching Jesus, but not the true Jesus?We don't know! But it says:

"…many who for their own profit are corrupting the Word of God…" (v 17).

How do you corrupt the Word of God? Well, those who are on the translating committees for the Bible, they corrupt it by mistranslating the Greek and the Hebrew, and thereby create a 'plausible-sounding' doctrine, which is actually false!

Paul said; "…but we speak with sincerity, as from God, and before God, and in Christ" (v 17).

Now, let's see the power behind that. Have you ever gone along sometime, and all of a sudden an evil thought comes into your head that you didn't know where it came from. Well, that has come from the prince of the power of the air, Satan the devil!

2-Corinthians 4:1: "Therefore, having this ministry, according as we have received mercy, we are not fainthearted. For we have personally renounced the hidden things of dishonest gain… [in trying to get brethren to believe false doctrine] …not walking in cunning craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the Truth…" (vs 1-2)—the Word of God is Truth!

That's why we always have to go by the Word of God!

"…we are commending ourselves to every man's conscience before God. But if our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing… [the tares among us]…in whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the Light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we do not preach our own selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (vs 2-5).

Now, let's look and see what Peter had to say in 2-Peter. This tells us the same thing. Let's understand that Paul, even when he brought all of the elders down to Milpitas, while he was ready to go to Jerusalem, he brought them together and said that:

Grievous wolves will enter in to draw away disciples for themselves, and of your own selvesmen will arise to draw disciples after themselves (Acts 20:29-30)

2 Peter 2—we have a warning here and we will see it and then we will see Peter's comment concerning Paul's difficult Scriptures.

2-Peter 2:1: "But there were also false prophets among the people, as indeed there will be false teachers among you, who will stealthily introduce destructive heresies, personally denying the Lord who bought them, and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And manypeople will follow as authoritative their destructive ways; and because of them, the way of the Truth will be blasphemed" (vs 1-2).

I saw a good example of that last night on television. I don't know how many of you saw it. It was rather funny and humorous, but blasphemous, indeed! Pope Leo XIV—I don't know where it was but they had a big hunk of ice—and I don't know why they dress up like women unless most of them are already homosexuals and transsexuals. Who knows? But anyway, he comes over to the ice and he blesses the ice, and one of the commentators made a comment that 'he didn't lay his hands on it.' That's just an example.

2-Peter 3:15: "And bear in mind that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, exactly as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has also written to you."

What does this tell you? We'll see that Peter had all of Paul's Epistles!

Verse 16: "As he [Paul] has also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things; in which are some things that are difficult to understand… [we'll cover a little bit of that later] …which the ignorant and unstable … [ignorant of the Word of God and are not grounded in the Truth and the faith] …are twisting and distorting… [the teaching of Paul] …as they also twist and distort the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction."

Verse 17: "Therefore, beloved, since you know this in advance, be on guard against such practices..."

We always have to be on guard! That's why when we have services, we all have our Bibles open. Let me mention concerning the translating of the Faithful Version. Michael Heiss did an excellent job with the Old Testament. We wouldn't have a Bible without his translating the Old Testament, and I translated the New Testament.

It is the only Bible in English that has all the books in their original manuscript order, the Old Testament and the New Testament. That also has commentaries and appendices. So, I'm charging all the brethren everywhere:

• read the commentaries
• read the appendices

• What is the first appendices? Appendix A: Fourteen Rules for Bible Study.
• How many other Bibles do you see anything like that? You don't!

We have in their Appendix I—which all of you need to go and review—A Comparison Between The Old Covenant and New Covenants—because a lot of false arguments are made saying that this belongs to Israel or this belongs to the whichever part of the Old Testament or tribe or whatever—and doesn't apply to us today!

So they twist and turn them! Be on guard! Let's see what Jude wrote. Let's see what we need to do. I can tell you this: my whole ministry in one way or the other has been as described right here in Jude!

Jude 3: "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 ferventlyfight for the faith…"

I can tell you this, my entire ministry now, right at 60 years plus, has been a constant fight within the Church, without the Church, for the Truth!

I'll tell you a little later the details of why Worldwide Church of God was destroyed! I want you to think about it, all you old-timers out there, when we had:

• three colleges
• 120,000 members attending Sabbath services
• had an income into the tens of millions of dollars
• had some of the best real estate for the college, right there in Pasadena, and in Big Sandy, Tex., and in Brickett Wood, England

Why is all of that gone? It's because of:

• letting Satan in the door
• not fighting against the tares among us
• those ministers who at one time were faithful—up to a certain point—and then turned

That's why we have to be a fight for the faith, fervently fight!

Verse 4: "For certain men have stealthily crept in…"

There it is! Do you know who the biggest one was that did that? Stanley R. Rader! What he did—and what Herbert Armstrong did in following him—was disastrous and blasphemous, and was the root and destruction of Worldwide!

I will tell you, and I have this verified by Dwight Blevins who worked in the television area there in Pasadena, that Herbert Armstrong said this and I heard it with my own ears sitting in a Bible study in the auditorium in Pasadena. And everyone to this day who follows Herbert Armstrong—blindly and thinking that he was an apostle of God—you better get right with Christ and God the Father because he wasn't!

He himself pronounced the end of Worldwide Church of God and the three colleges when he said publicly 'I have been faithful for so many years that Satan has no interest in me at all.' I heard it with my own ears, Dwight Blevins heard it; I called him recently and verified it. Now then I said to myself when I heard it that is going to lead to trouble!

Now think about it for a minute. What happened when Job said, 'I'm perfect and I can help take away the sins of my children by offering sacrifices.' Who came? Satan!

Now in the case of Herbert Armstrong it was Stanley R. Rader and you can go on YouTube and you can search for Mike Wallace/Stan Rader interview and you will see one of the ways that Herbert Armstrong was taken down was because Stan Rader pumped him up! For Herbert Armstrong to make the statement that 'Satan has no more interest in me' was inviting like an open door for Satan to walk in!

• What happened to Job when he did that? Satan came along and said to God, 'Well look at what Your servant Job, look how good he is.'

God told him, 'Yes he [Job] was good.' What did Satan say? Take everything he has and he will curse You to Your face! So, Job lost everything!

• Why? Because he thought he was in good standing with God when he wasn't!

Everything that he did, that he claimed how good he was actually came from God, first! Job didn't give God the glory! You can read about Job's repentance at the end of the book of Job!

But when Herbert Armstrong said that, that doomed the whole organization! Remember what Jesus said when all the disciples were praising Him coming in as he was riding the donkey into Jerusalem, and they were saying 'Hosanna in the Highest the son of David, and so forth! The Pharisees and Sadducees came and said, 'Tell your disciples to quit saying these things.'

Jesus said, 'If they stopped the stones would speak.' So, we need to understand:

• when we're dealing with the Word of God
• when we're dealing with these things

that

• it has to be in truth
• it has to be in love
• it has to be in righteousness
• it has to be 'proving all things to hold fast which is good'

I got the book The Tithing Dilemma by Ernest Martin, and he was a minister in good standing at one time. But this book is one of the most blasphemous books you could read!

In thumbing through when you get a book you sort of thumb through and I saw one statement that he wrote there; and I want you to see he lost his argument with that one statement. He says 'tithing is sin'!

Then we had a woman and her son take that up and she got on the phone and flapped her mouth like a flag in 100 mile an hour wind everyone she could call. And her son cursed out Darlene Reddaway and me!

That's why I'm going to go through it point-by-point, because there's going to be a day I'm not going to be here. If you're all not grounded in the Truth:

• Be ready for the assault!
• Get prepared now!

Know how to:

• think with the  Scriptures
• think with the Truth
• understand what is right
• put things together properly

Now in thumbing through the book I also saw this statement: 'The tithe belongs to Israel.' Now just think on that one statement: 'The tithe belongs to Israel, and today we shouldn't tithe.' Let's take that one statement and apply it this way:

Since we are the modern descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel are we Israel? Yes or No? IF it belongs to Israel THEN those in Israel should tithe!

That's how they take some of these things and twist them and turn them!

Now, I have this Special Study of the Law. I wrote this 58 years ago in 1967, and Jonathan will remember where we were living at that time: 3760 South 340 West in Granger. Why did I write it?

Gal. 3 is the source this is the source of the problem.

Now let me get the King James Version here so I can read it, and remember during those days we followed the King James Bible I've got one here I have one that's almost completely worn out!

I wrote the paper because in reading Gal. 3, I saw something that was very interesting and I wanted to know what it actually was, and this presented a conundrum, So, I wrote a paper on it!

Galatians 3:13 (KJV):  "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law…"

Most Protestants read that and say that the law is a curse!

Romans 4:15 (KJV): "Because the law worketh wrath…"

So, this is the central doctrine of all Protestantism: 'the law is a curse'! When you read the Bible you read in the Old Testament it's a blessing!

Now, you look at all the things going on right now in the world and in America we are under a curse because of rejecting the Laws of God! The curse is NOT the law, the curse is breaking the law or that which brings the penalty!

"…for where no law is, there is no transgression" (v 15 KJV)

What it is telling us is that when there's transgression the Law works wrath. Are not people who live against the Laws and Commandments of God cursed and blind? Yes!

Galatians 3:13: (KJV): " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law… [ his sacrifice has paid for our sins the result of the curse of the law is correction for breaking it] …for it is written, 'Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.'"

Verse 14 (KJV): "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Even to this day the Jews are so hung up on their works that they are absolutely dedicated today to build the Temple. Why? Because they say when we build the temple Messiah will come!

Well, the false messiah will come, first, and sit in the temple of God and say he is 'God'; because:

• No work of any man is going to bring Christ!
• No work of any man, originating from himself, is going to make God do the will of any man!

Verse 15: (KJV): "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise" (vs 15-18).

Notice carefully v 19 and compare that with v 15 no one adds to it! So, the whole purpose of my paper that I wrote up in 1967 starts with that because:

Verse 19 (KJV): "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator."

The whole doctrine was that God never intended sacrifices for the children of Israel,  not so! I looked at that and I said 'no man adds to it and yet the Law was added'?

How could you say nothing can be added to it, but yet, the Law was added to the promises of Abraham! That was the whole source of the paper, the beginning of it, and hardly anyone could explain it.

If you will look in the Faithful Version, let's see what the translation is there in

Verse 19 (FV): Why then the Law? It was placed alongside the promises for the purpose of defining transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made, having been ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator."

That's entirely different, it's placed alongside! You don't add it on top, you don't change the covenant at all! We find the same thing here very similar to it back in Exo. 31 let's go back there and let's read that concerning the Sabbath. Did He not give the covenant to the children of Israel? Yes, He did and that was all based on the Ten Commandments!

Exo. 31 now here's a perfect example of one covenant and then another covenant not added to but placed alongside!

• What was the covenant made with the children of Israel based upon?
• What is the first thing?

IF you will obey My voice, indeed, THEN I will make you a nation of priests and kingsI

• What's the first thing said of Abraham?

Genesis 26:5 "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My Commandments, My statutes, and My Laws."

What's the first Command that Jesus gave during His temptation by Satan? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!

Everything that God has is based upon that! Notice what he says here to the children of Israel and remember what was going on: Aaron was building a golden calf! Makes you wonder if Aaron was an idol-maker in Egypt. They had a big orgy called a 'Feast to God!' Blasphemous! You know what happened.

Let's read it in Exo. 31 so that you understand:

• you don't add anything to the Commandments of God
• you don't add anything to the Covenants of God

IF there is something that is in addition or that needs to be understood, as well; you don't change the original, you place it alongside!

Exodus 31:13: "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, 'Truly… [in truth] …you shall keep My Sabbaths… [plural; that means all the Holy Days] …for it… [refers to the keeping not the day] …is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is Holy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, Holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath Day, he shall surely be put to death'" (vs 13-15).

Now notice what he says in v 16, a perfect example of a second covenant placed alongside a first covenant, because once a covenant is made you can't change anything of it. I'll explain that in just a bit.

Verse 16: "Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant."

That's placed alongside everything that God has said! It doesn't add to it, doesn't take away from, but it agrees with! As a perpetual covenant:

Verse 17: "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed."

That helps explain Gal. 3, because the promises were given to Abraham first in covenant Gen. 15, then Gen. 22, which was placed alongside Gen. 15

Let's come to Mark 7 and see the works of law, now there are works of law that God gave, and there are works of law that the Jews invented and gave and made and kept as the Law of Moses, but it was never the law of Moses! let's come to Mark 7; we all know this we all know what it says but let's read it again so that we understand what's going on 

Mark 7 is what happens whenever false doctrine comes along and they say it's of God; here's what happens:

Mark 7:5: "For this reason, the Pharisees and the scribes questioned Him, saying, 'Why don't Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?' And He answered and said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me"'" (vs 5-6). We see that today in America as never before!

Verse 7: "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men."

Right in this book, Ernest Martin says 'tithing is a sin.' NoScripture! He also says we're not to circumcise. Circumcision was not of Moses it was of Abraham, and if you live in the physical land of Israel today it is perfectly all right to circumcise the male children. But then he says 'the tithe belongs to Israel'; later he says to the Levites. They received it, but God is the One Who gave it! If I ask someone to give me fifty dollars they have to have the fifty dollars, first, to give it to me. As long as they hold it they own it!

IF they give it to someone or they buy something with it, THEN the one who receives it, it belongs to them. But here's what here's what happens: the tares within us cause the people to worship God in vain!

Verse 7: "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men."

Or as we saw: 'handling the Word of God deceitfully.' interpreting it incorrectly!

Verse 8: "For leaving the Commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and you practice many other things like this.' Then He said to them, 'Full well do you reject the Commandment of God…" (vs 8-9).

• that's what he's done here
• that's what they have done in Galatia
• that's what Peter did in Gal. 2

"…'Full well… [you can't get any worse than this] …do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition'" (v 9).

Then he talks about that you even deny even deny helping out father and mother. Notice v 13 because this is what they do when they follow a man and the teachings of a man that are not in accord with the Word of God. In other words, IF he's not speaking the Truth of God. Same way as Eduardo pointed out on Atonement. Those who think that the live goat is Christ completely missed the point! IF you say it's Christ, THEN:

• you're saying there's no penalty for Satan
• you're saying that his sins will never be brought upon him

• Who is the author of sin? Satan!
• How does he do it? Cleverly!

He brings the pleasure of sin for a season to entrap people into sinning against God!

I can tell you this much about Dr. Martin and his book, he wrote this—from my survey of it—when he was trying to be approved by the Protestant scholars of this world after leaving Worldwide and setting up the Association for Scriptural Knowledge. The only way you're going to be approved by the scholars of this world is if you reject everything in the Old Testament! Isn't that what they say?

How are you as a scholar going to come into the 'club of scholars of this world' if you don't change your teachings to match theirs? Because if you don't, you won't be accepted! So, in this book he renounces everything that should be done, and labels it as sin!

Now we're going to see more of that come along, and it will be clever! Let me tell you what I'm afraid of, that new people coming along now will be more open to being deceived, because:

• they don't study in depth
• they don't apply their minds to it over whatever length of time it needs to understand

• they want a slogan
• they want a sentence
• God forbid if it's two paragraphs long
• I worry about a lot of people

The elders that we have at this point, they've all been very faithful; they've all applied themselves to the Word of God like Eduardo did with his message that he brought on Atonement.

Let me tell you the source of all of the Protestant's problems; let's come to Romans 3. It's right here and as I mentioned before, it took me 20 years to figure this one out: Romans 3:20.

Let me read you what William Tyndale did in erroneously translating this. He admitted and—as you will find in the booklet The Tribute to William Tyndale—he was humble enough to admit that he made mistakes in translating it and hoping that those further after his time would be able to correct them. He misinterpreted this entirely, and this set the stage for all of the Protestant doctrine after that! Here's how he translated it:

Romans 3:20 (WT): "Therefore by the fulfilling of the law… [that is a terrible and awful translation] …there shall no flesh be justified before Him, for through the law is the knowledge of sin."

That's why the Protestants say the Law is nailed to the cross and they don't have a clue as what they're going to talk about.

I think that in the long run the good that the whole Turning Point USA is doing right now in teaching some of the very beginning basics of the Bible, that's all going to be overturned in time. Sooner or later they will come back to their belief that:

• the Law is a curse
• the Law has been nailed to the cross
• the Law has no relationship to being justified

Yet, Romans 2:13 directly contradicts Tyndale's fulfilling the Law: "Because the hearers of the Law are not just before God…"

Everyone who hears it and doesn't do it, you can never be justified by the sacrifice of Christ!

"…but the doers…"—What does that mean? That means the practicers "…of the law shall be justified!" (v 13).

This tells you that when you come to Christ—He doesn't come to you! He calls you. but you have to answer the call!

• When you come to Christ what do you have to do?
• What did Peter say on the Day of Pentecost? Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins!

That means the pardon of the breaking of the Commandments of God! In order for you to receive justification by the sacrifice of Christ what do you have to do? You have to stop sinning, and you start keeping the Law!

Then—because you love God and keep His Commandments—the sacrifice of Christ can be applied to your life and to the pardoning of your sins! But you can't live in sin and promote sin, and say you're justified!

Now it's an amazing thing! When I read this, what I wrote this 58 years ago. Now when we come back from a break we'll go to Gal. 2 and we will see very clearly what we have been talking about. But remember that just because a man had been a minister in the Church of God doesn't mean he's preaching the Truth even though it may sound like it!

You've got to prove all things, hold fast to that which is good, and you've got to rightly divide the Word of God! That's what Paul told Timothy! God wants us to use His Spirit:

• with our mind
• with His guidance
• with His Word

to understand the Word of God!

It's not going to be something that's going to be an easy flip the switch and now you know it. It's not going to work on just a summary. That's why there are many words in the Bible!

You can summarize the words of God like Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word of God, but what does that entail? You can repeat that all you want, but unless you actively do it what does it mean? That's where we are!

I will I will make this study available and I'll put it online so you can download it, and you will see that the finishing touch of what I wrote here 58 years ago is completely and in detail studied out word-by-word, line-by-line in Appendix Z of the Bible: Understanding Paul's Difficult Scriptures Concerning the Law & Commandments of God. We also have a book on it called The Apostle Paul's Teachings On God's Laws

Like Peter said, they're difficult to understand, but that doesn't mean they can't be understood!

(break@56:07)

Now let's continue on with:

• how distortions and false doctrines occur
• how Satan likes to get to the leading person

Galatians 1:3: "Grace and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ."

I wonder what happened to the Holy Spirit. Never identified once in the New Testament as a person! You get our book, The Holy Spirit—The Power of God—A Scriptural Perspective.

Verse 4: "Who gave Himself for our sins…"

Remember that He said, 'No one takes My life. I lay it down.' And He did it because He loved the sheep. What did he say about the hireling who doesn't care for the sheep? He's in there for the money! He's in there to take and steal! That is to steal away not just money, but the Words of God.

"…in order that He might deliver us from the present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father; to Whom be the glory into the ages of eternity. Amen" (vs 4-5).

Never forget, brethren, that we are called to eternal life, which is beyond anything we can imagine! And that's what the whole Feast of Tabernacles is about: How God is going to save the world!

Verse 6: "I am astonished that you are so quickly being turned away from Him Who called you into the grace of Christ, to a different gospel."

I'm astonished that there would be people in the Church who would be so quickly turned away from God by the writings of some man who has rejected God, and once knew God!

Verse 7: "Which in reality is not another Gospel; but there are some who are troubling you and are desiring to pervert the Gospel of Christ."

Now, remember what Eduardo brought out on the Day of Atonement. Satan is the perverter!

Verse 8: "But if we, or even an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel to you that is contrary to what we have preached, LET HIM BE ACCURSED!" You need to ask yourself this question:

• Do I want my relationship with God in love and Truth?

or

• Do I want to be cursed?

What happened to Worldwide? It was cursed and removed because Herbert Armstrong said, 'I've been so faithful that Satan no longer has any interest in me.' Huh! You could not say a more vain, absolutely contrary statement than that! That, my beloved brethren, was the death penalty against Worldwide Church of God!

Now, I do have first-hand evidence that he did repent during the last two years of his life. Let's hope so! But we all suffered because of his egotistical vanity deceived by Stanley R. Rader. How did Rader deceive him? By puffing him up! That's how Satan brings you down, he puffs you up! Notice what Paul writes here:

Verse 8: "But if we, or even an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel to you that is contrary to what we have preached, LET HIM BE ACCURSED! As we have said before, I also now say again. If anyone is preaching a gospel contrary to what you have received, LET HIM BE ACCURSED! Now then, am I striving to please men, or God? Or am I motivated to please men? For if I am yet pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (vs 8-10). Now think about that!

We're going to talk about Gal. 2 and Peter. Two things of Peter that are recorded in the Gospel:

• Matt. 16—Where Jesus told the disciples what was going to happen to Him, and He would die at the hands of the religious leaders. Peter came up to him and said, 'Oh, far be that from You, Lord.' What was the answer from Jesus? Get you hence from Me, Satan! So, Satan put that thought—a good thought to save the Messiah—into Peter's mind!

• What did Jesus tell Peter later on the Passover night, when Peter said, 'Lord, I'm willing to die with You'? Jesus said, 'Peter, Satan has desired to have you. But I prayed for your faith. But before the cock crows twice, you will deny Me three times.'

I want you to stop and think: IF Peter came that close to going against Christ, think about the rest of us! That's why:

• we must always love God first
• we must always believe God
• we must always obey God

All of us dealing with the Word of God, we must be faithful in every aspect of it!

Galatians 2:12 (KJV): "For before certain men from James…"

Who was James? Well, we don't know if this was Jesus' half-brother or whether it was the Apostle James, the brother of John.

"…he did eat with the Gentiles…." (v 12 KJV)

• Why is this of note?
• What did we read in Mark 7? You reject the Commandments of God that you may keep the doctrines and teachings of men your traditions!
• What was the law of the Jews? Not in the Bible! It's not there!

And Peter should have known better, because Christ sent Peter to Cornelius! (Acts 10). Read the whole thing. Peter said, 'I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.' And Cornelius bowed down to worship him and Peter said, 'Oh, don't do that. I'm a man.'

Now, look at it here. I want you to understand the severity of what went on, and how it can happen within the Church, and trouble begins even before you know it.

"…He did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were come…" (v 12 KJV).

Peter was political! He was political to the end! When Jesus asked him three times there in John 21: 'Peter, do you love Me? Peter, do you love Me? Peter, do you love Me? Jesus said, 'Feed My sheep, shepherd My lambs, and so forth.

Then Peter turned around and looked at John and he said, 'Lord, what's going to happen to him?' Jesus said:

What is that to you? If I desire that he remain until I come, you feed the sheep. But when you're old, you're going to be feeble, and you're going to be led around where you don't want to go.

So, Peter knew what was going to happen when he was about to die (2-Peter). Which tells you that even if you are an apostle, you cannot presume that you are exempt from obeying God!

"…but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision…. [Judaism] …And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation" (vs 12-13 KJV). That is their hypocrisy!

Verse 14 (KJV): "But when I saw… [this is Paul seeing them] …that they walked not uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter, before them all…"

Now I want you to stop and think about this whole second chapter of Galatians, because Paul sent all of his epistles to Peter, and Peter was helping with John to formulate the New Testament; Peter did not delete this chapter! So, it looks like he learned a lesson.

Verse 14 (KJV): "But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles… [eat with and associate with Gentiles] …and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?'"

Who separated themselves as 'holier than thou,' and they still to this day despise and hate Gentiles! The whole thing in the Middle East is because there are two people who hate each other with an indescribable hatred. The Jews against Hamas and Hamas against the Jews. If there's any peace, it's only long enough to kill them.

So the Jews still think to this day they're the chosen people, and they haven't understood the fact of history that they are the rejected people! They have suffered at the hands of everywhere they went because of rejecting and absolutely hatefully and blasphemously defying and denying Jesus Christ!

"…'If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?.... [separate yourself from the Jews] …We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law…'" (vs 14-16 KJV)—blatant mistranslation!

"…the works of the law…" they inserted the there. It's not in italics, but it's not there in the Greek!

It's works of law, and that's the first time that it was brought up to the Church the way that it should have been. I make reference to the articles that Ernest Martin was writing according to Truth at that time in the Good News magazine about Judaism is not the Law of God! Never has been, never will be!

The Law of God is the Law of God, because it's the Law of God!

"…by the works of the law…" (KJV)—wrong translation! We'll read the correct one. That's what we have in the Faithful Version correct.

"…but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ… [that means by His faith] …and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (v 16 KJV).

Do you see how that conflicts with Romans 2:13? "Because the hearers of the Law are not just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified."

What was he following? He was following a work of law that was a Jewish religious commandment that has no basis for that at all in the Bible!

Yet, Peter fell for it! That's why it's in the Bible, so that everyone will know you do not follow the teachings of men in place of the teachings of God!

Galatians 2:16 (KJV) "…for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

That's why the Protestants read that—and they have it that way today in most translations—and they say:

IF you try and keep the Commandments of God, you're trying to get justification by your own works.

They don't even understand the conflict that went on in the first century between Judaism and the Church of God.

The Jews would always come along and say, you've got to keep all the law! When they say all the law, they call it the Law of Moses, but their version of the Law of Moses is including all their traditional commandments!

So, you go on Church at Home and watch the series on Judaism! It's amazing, absolutely amazing!

Verse 17 (KJV): "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid."

Now, think of it this way. If you do something that is 'a religious commandment of men,' and you do it in the name of Christ, you're making Christ a minister of sin! Isn't that so?

Verse 18 (KJV): "For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor."

What was Paul? Paul was before, as Saul, a Pharisee. And according to Jewish law, he was blameless (Philip. 3). He did it all so that he could know it could never accomplish what they think.

Verse 19 (KJV): "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live…" (vs 19-20).

That goes right back to Rom. 6. When you are baptized you are crucified with Christ! That's what it is.

"…yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (v 20 KJV).

Now, let's read it in the Faithful Version.

Galatians 2:11: "But when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be condemned"—publicly rebuked!

Verse 12: "For, before certain ones came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. However, when they came, he drew back and separated himself from the Gentiles, being afraid of those of the circumcision party." Because back in Jerusalem they still did all these things even in the Church!

Verse 13: "And the rest of the Jews joined him in this hypocritical act, insomuch that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I [Paul] saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of them all, 'If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles, and not according to Judaism…'" (vs 13-14)—and that is the correct translation!

Everyone needs to understand the conflict that went on between Judaism and the teachings of the Church.

"…why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize?" (v 14)—that is separate from the Jews!

Think about that! Right there in the Church here come all these mucky-mucks from James in Jerusalem… You know, a little misplaced authority! Have we heard of that before? Yes! Playing politics!

So, Peter not wanting to think that he would suffer any political disparagement from the ones from Jerusalem, he separated himself from the Gentiles. Before that he didn't.

It would be like this: here we sit down to eat and then all of a sudden one day he doesn't want to sit down and eat with me, but he gets up and walks out the door! After he insults me, he says, 'I love you'—which is hypocritical! Same thing!

So here come the mucky-mucks from Jerusalem and Peter plays politics and tells all the Gentiles: 'You eat over there, I'm going to eat with all the Jews over here!'

That's what went on! So, it wasn't the works of the law, it was works of law the works of the laws of Judaism, which they said, 'If you do these laws you will be in right standing with God or justified to God.' NONSENSE!

Now we don't know how far down into the ministry that this was, but this was a great difficulty! If you want to know how bad it was afterwards and after the death of John, you can probably go online and do a search for all of the preachings of Chrysostom: {https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/genius-of-chrysostoms-preaching/}

• he hated the Sabbath
• he hated the Holy Days
• he labeled all of the Christians who tried to follow the Sabbath, Holy Days and God's ways as Judaizing

They were meeting in their homes, and because the Jews counted ten or more as a synagogue, he said that they were worshiping in the synagogue when they weren't!

Verse 14: "But when I [Paul] saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of them all, 'If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles, and not according to Judaism, why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize? We who are Jews by nature—and not sinners of the Gentiles—knowing that a man is not justified by works of law…'" (vs 14-16)—NOT the works of the law, but works of law!

• What law was he keeping?
• What law were they following?
• A doctrine of Judaism!

Remember Peter knew this with Cornelius; he said to Cornelius: 'You know that it's not lawful for a Jew to assemble with a Gentile.' He knew it!

Verse 16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but through the faith of Jesus Christ…"—which is the faith that:

• He was God manifested in the flesh
• He was the sole sacrificed on the 14th day of the 1st month, the Passover Day
• His blood is what removes our sins

Not our actions in obedience to the dictates of men!

"…in order that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law; because by works of law shall no flesh be justified. Now then, if we are seeking to be justified in Christ, and we ourselves are found to be sinners, is Christ then the minister of sin? MAY IT NEVER BE!" (vs 16-17).

NO! It's your own reactions! That's the whole thing right there!

Verse 18: "For if I build again those things that I destroyed… [and Paul destroyed them] … I am making myself a transgressor. For I, through law, died to works of law…" (vs 18-19).

• What was this law that he died to?
• What was that?

That was the death of Christ! He explains it:

Verse 20: "I have been crucified with Christ, yet, I live. Indeed, it is no longer I; but Christ lives in me. For the life that I am now living in the flesh, I live by faith—that very faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness… [that is right standing, justification before God] …is through works of law is through works of law, then Christ died in vain" (vs 20-21).

Now, 58 years ago I wrote of that and I didn't know the following repercussions that would come from it. Because we were told if you understand things in the Bible that we need to learn, write them up and send them in. So, I wrote it up and sent it in.

Several months later guess who came out to visit us? Roderick C. Meredith, the authoritative director of the ministry, because he didn't like what this said because this corrected Herbert Armstrong, and who was Fred Coulter to correct Herbert Armstrong who was supposed to be God's apostle!

So Meredith came out to visit. He had a very nice visit in Salt Lake and Boise. I had to fly each week, so we worked it out this way: he wanted to you know be with the brethren get to know them so forth so we had a Spokesman's Club dinner dance on Thursday. The men who spoke were excellent speakers and it was a wonderful night, we all had a good time!

Rod Meredith said, 'In visiting all the churches I've gone to I've never heard spokesman club speak as well as these men.'

So he was expecting—because I wrote this and it was correcting Herbert—that I was rebelling! I wasn't! I was just sending it in because that's what they said! If you can find anything write it up and send it in!

But I did not realize the 'blind allegiance' of Rod Meredith who was thinking that he was number three in Worldwide Church of God! And jump ahead a little bit to when Ted Armstrong was finally put out Meredith expected to be put in charge of the Church; but he wasn't put in charge of the Church because he was so authoritarian that he would destroy the Church! Words of Herbert Armstrong himself!

Now then, we flew up the next morning after services and services were great everything was fine the people were happy, the brethren were all cordial and loving. We flew up to Boise they picked us up at the airport went down and had services in Boise and then afterwards we had Spokesman's Club dinner dance and everything, and the men who spoke were outstanding! Again, Meredith admitted that these are the best Spokesman's Club that he had ever seen in all of his ministry as director of the ministers!

But I was marked from that time and didn't know it!

Then when Herbert Armstrong did what he did overseas, changed the Gospel from the return of Christ to 'the unseen hand from someplace' and I resigned on Day of Atonement 1979, and you can listen to the messages, also with transcripts:

• Repentance and Resignation (Atonement 1979)
• The Rest of the Story #1 & #2

What happened? Rather than understanding the Truth they

• went further into authoritarianism
• went further into trying to destroy me and the family

Jonathan remembers that down in Pasadena. And Al Carozzo, the mafia hit man by Rod Meredith to carry out his nasty dirty works. They wanted to get me out of the ministry because I wrote A Harmony of the Gospels. Which I wrote to keep my sanity while all of these little Hitlerians (which is a favorite term today}were marching around in Pasadena thinking that they were 'God's given people' to exercise authority over the brethren!

They were coming after me to get me and my family out of the Church and Carozzo took Dolores and I to dinner one Friday or Thursday night, I forget which, and we went down to the some kind of carriage cafe right there on Fairview, and we sat down and I didn't know what happened, because when they disfellowshipped a man…

I'm going to take a little time go over time because you need to you need to hear this you need to know what went on, You need to know how they abused the brethren abused everything!

There's a man—his name was Brent Nolan—and he was in the Phoenix area. Ron Reedy was the one who was in charge of the Church at that time in Phoenix. A widow in the Church asked him to build an addition on her adobe house, because down there in in Arizona they have adobe houses adobe brick, so he said he would. He put the foundation in built it laid all the brick everything was fine and then she came out and said, 'I want you to move the window from here to there.' He said he couldn't do it, because it's all brick and it's all set.

Now imagine he was doing this for five dollars a square foot! She got all mad and he was accused of abusing a widow and was disfellowshipped!

So, he moved up to Bosie and I found out the facts of it reinstated him. Rod Meredith was livid—but he never told me—because I reinstated him because he sinned no sin!

I remember sitting there in his house before the Day of Atonement up there in Boise along with Rand Millich who was my assistant at that time. I don't recall if Dolores was with me or not. But he explained all of this to me, and he (Brent Nolan) was held out as the worst thing that had ever walked the face of the earth!

We're sitting there and I'm listening to him explain all of this to me, and I looked at him and said, 'Are you fasting today he said, 'Of course, it's the Day of Atonement.'

I said, 'I'll settle the whole thing,' and I did and I found out that all of the dossier, all of the letters that were sent in against Brent Nolan were lies contrived by and instigated through Ron Reedy. And Rod Meredith knew it!

But because I wrote this paper and Meredith didn't like it, and he never gave it to Herbert Armstrong, he wanted to get rid of me Al Carozzo said at this dinner: 'I'm going to tell you what Dr. Zimmerman told me one time, 'I'm going to correct you, but if I'm wrong you cannot have any answer back!'

So I never answered him! Guess what happened; this was on Thursday, and on Friday Rod Meredith—who was out to get me out of the ministry at that time—was removed as director of ministers and sent to Hawaii to get his brain settled! Then the next week Al Carozzo left the Church and went and joined Ernest Martin!

So, God solved the problem! When I read in there about how in the book of Jude we have to fight for the faith that means we need to fight for the faith, but we've got to always stick with the Truth of God!

Now you know some of the things that are the background as to how we came with the things that we have today. That's why we will entertain no doctrines of men! We will expose every false twisting of Scripture to deceive the brethren. IF the brethren do not prove all things and hold fast to the Truth and they give in to it THEN they will have to suffer the consequences of their own actions!

You're never going to satisfy or correct your errors by getting on the telephone or going to visit other brethren and tell them how evil it is to tithe, or to whatever it is. That also means the Sabbath and the Holy Days. because that's what Ernest Martin did when he turned to be accepted by the world

Now I could spend another 20 hours telling you all the things that we've had to go through, that have come from the tares within!That's why we're here where we are today and you are where you are today!

Let me just close by saying this: We must all come to God HIS way:

• with repentance
• with humility
• with love
• with understanding

But we will not give a single square inch to any false doctrines! IF those in the Church are supposed to be in the Church become subverted by their own choice we'll try and help you. But you better repent, because the days we're going to face are going to be something!

Could you stand in Portland in the middle of Antifa and be faithful to Christ and to God? Though they:

• threaten you with death?
• burn your car?
• take whatever you have?
• ridicule you in the name of Satan the devil?

Will you stand! We'll have to ask ourselves that question, because we're living in these difficult times! I hope this helps you to understand when I pass, which I will! However long God gives me life so be it, but when I pass I do not want anyone saying concerning the Bible 'Fred's Bible'!

It's the Word of God! Michael Heiss translated the Old Testament, I translated the New Testament and we have been faithful to the Word of God

We will give no corner, not one degree, to any false doctrine or any oppression of men! Because when you read this I wrote 58 years ago you will see it was:

• a fight for the Truth
• standing for the Truth

That's why we're here! We're not here to play patty-cake and huggy-lovey! We're here to learn how to be in the Family of God as spirit beings! Keep that in mind!

Don't let any false doctrine or any false minister—whether in the Church or out of the Church—deceive you! You stay close to God!

All Scripture from The Holy Bible In It's Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted KJV)

Scriptural References:

• 1-Thessalonians 5:21
• 2-Corinthians 2:17
• 2-Corinthians 4:1-5
• 2-Peter 2:1-2
• 2-Peter 3:15-17
• Jude 3-4
• Galatians 3:13
• Romans 4:15
• Galatians 3:13-19
• Genesis 26:5
• Exodus 31:13-17
• Mark 7:5-9
• Romans 3:20
• Romans 2:13
• Galatians 1:3-11
• Galatians 2:12-16
• Romans 2:13
• Galatians 2:16-20, 11-21

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Acts 20:29-30
• Genesis 15; 22
• Matthew 16
• Acts 10
• John 21
• Philippians 3
• Romans 6

Also referenced:

Messages:

• Day of Atonement–2025 by Eduardo Elizondo
• Repentance and Resignation (Atonement 1979)
• The Rest of the Story #1 & #2

From the Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version:

• Appendix A: Fourteen Rules for Bible Study
• Appendix I: A Comparison Between The Old Covenant and New Covenants
• Appendix Z: Understanding Paul's Difficult Scriptures Concerning the Law & Commandments of God

Special Study of the Law by Fred R. Coulter

Booklet: Tribute to William Tyndale

Books:

• The Apostle Paul's Teachings On God's Laws
• The Holy Spirit—The Power of God—A Scriptural Perspective
• A Harmony of the Gospels

Church at Home: Series on Judaism

Book (secular): The Tithing Dilemma by Ernest Martin

Preachings of Chrysostom: {https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/genius-of-chrysostoms-preaching/}

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 10/10/25

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