Egyptian Biscuit Baron Scrapes Prophecy Barrel

An advert currently featured on various news websites links to a site making a rather peculiar claim – over to World’s Last Chance:

THE BIBLE REVEALS NEXT AND LAST POPE WILL BE A DEVIL IMPERSONATING JOHN PAUL II

Interminable exegesis of the Book of Revelation follows – the basic argument is that the Lateran Treaty created the first Pope-King in 1929, six popes have followed him, and the next one will be an impersonation of one of his kingly predecessors:

…Now the most important reason: Which of the 7 kings is most known, loved and respected in today’s generation? If Satan would want to lead the world into imposing universal laws for exalting his false Sabbath (Sunday), who would be the most effective personality other than John Paul II?…Again, no one is better suited for carrying the agenda of Satan than John Paul II. Hence, impersonating him makes the most sense for Satan, who is intent on deceiving the whole world.

Connoisseurs will quickly recognise that we’re in “Seventh-Day Adventist offshoot” territory, and a bit of Googling brings us to a February press release:

Egyptian businessman Galal Doss officially offers $64,000 to any individual who can prove the Bible shows that Christ or any one of his disciples sanctioned the transfer of the holy Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Mr Doss is determined to show the world that major religious figures, including many Popes of Rome, have been misleading their followers, and hopes this initiative will encourage Christians to challenge received wisdom on the subject.

All those who would like to challenge Mr Doss on the subject of the Sabbath and stand a chance of winning $64,000 are encouraged to provide their evidence here: http://www.worldslastchance.com/competition.html.

Mr Doss has been in the news in the past, and in 2003 he was profiled in Al-Ahram:

For the past two years, Galal Doss, the chairman of a popular cosmetic and food company, has been distributing thousands of brochures and calendars featuring his ideas on Christianity to Egypt’s Coptic Christian community. Doss is a former member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church who left the group in 1999 to propagate Adventist beliefs on his own because he felt the church was not doing enough.

…Doss told Al-Ahram Weekly that he was born and raised as an Adventist, but that he left the group in 1999 because of “their weakness in dealing with social and religious issues”. Since then he has practiced independently, and prefers to refer to himself as someone who is “preserving God’s commandments”. Although he says he is not the “leader of any group”, Doss says between 10-20 people have the same beliefs as he does.

Doss’s efforts at converting the Copts have, unsurprisingly, annoyed the Coptic patriarch:

Al-Keraza, a weekly church magazine which [Pope] Shenouda edits, has featured several articles by Shenouda himself critical of the Adventist- inspired group’s creeds.

One bemused Coptic recipient of Doss’s pamphlets and calendars described the material as “very strange”.

EDGAR Online tells us about Doss’s business interests:

Galal P. Doss

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Family Nutrition, S.A.E.; Chairman, Family Cosmetics, S.A.E. (both Egyptian companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange).

Zawya adds that Doss is Canadian-Egyptian, and that Family Cosmetics is a subsidiary of Avon (premium content; gleaned from Google). According a 2005 $treet Authority report, Doss also has US interests (link added):

A.T. Cross has been in business since 1846, and over the years this company’s high quality writing instruments have built valuable name-brand recognition in the minds of consumers…Cross is a closely held firm, as insiders own the majority of the shares. Director Galal Doss alone owns roughly two-thirds of the company.

EDGAR also tells us that Doss is a director of Phoenix Resource Companies, Inc., which is involved with drilling for oil in Egypt. And – just to provide even more information than anyone might possibly be interested in – from Baking & Snack International we learn that

Family Nutrition SAE, located in 10th Ramadan City, Egypt, is the leader in the biscuit category with an estimated 19% value share. The company produces a wide range of sweet biscuits including brands such as Borio, Nice and Rasco. It also has leading brands with Nity in cakes and Tac in salty biscuits.

One Coptic website alleges that Doss uses his position as a bully-pulpit:

…He tries to force his doctrines upon his factory workers, employing various methods…It is unethical for him to take advantage of the workplace to attempt to convert originally Orthodox persons, teaching them unorthodox doctrines!

This is why we encourage our Coptic Orthodox congregation to ban Family Foods and Avon Products.  And, if he does terminate our Coptic Orthodox engineers and workers, many of our businessmen everywhere are willing to hire them.  We are not concerned lest our people are terminated, but on the contrary, we are concerned lest they remain!

More details appear in a second document:

[Seventh-Day Adventists] came to Egypt in 1932, as a Christian denomination (a false claim), offering help to the needy; and establishing orphanages, schools, and hospitals.

…The priest [sic] named Helal Doss led this group; and Mr. Galal Philip Doss became one of their most active leaders.  Currently, he is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Family Foods Co., previously known as Nutrition Co.  He is also the CEO of Avon Co., for cosmetics.

In the former company are 1000 Christian workers and staff members; while in the latter, 446 Christian. The two companies have factories in the Tenth of Ramadan City, as well as many subsidiaries, similar to sales outlets.  These include subsidiaries for Avon Co., in Alexandria, Aghakhan, Merry Land, Maady, and Garden City.

Mr. Galal Doss conducts daily meetings, for groups of workers in these companies.  He gives 35 lectures to each group, most of them attacking the Christian faith and the Orthodox dogma.  After the block of lectures has been delivered, he publicly asks, “who became an Adventist”? Anyone who was convinced of what he said will then undergo another set of lectures, to fortify their deviated Adventist dogma.

He conducts other meetings in his own house, in the Sheraton Towers, every Saturday.  He even assigns special cars to pick up those living far distances, yet want to attend the meeting.  Furthermore, he regularly visits and calls people persistently and with enticement.  Moreover, he distributes non-Orthodox books and cassette tapes for free.  He also utilizes the companies’ funds to facilitate medical treatment fees for those who attend the meetings.  Further, he accepts the workers’ children into Adventist language schools.

Meanwhile, Doss has also targeted the Ten Commandments Commission:

“Time will prove that the misguided initiative of TCC is but a bold step towards the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, which foretold the day when church and state in the USA will work together towards the forced exaltation of Sunday as a day of worship…”