SPINDOCTORING THE INQUISITION
Spin-doctoring the Inquisition
Christian greetings everyone in these last days of life on earth. In mid June of this year the Pope spearheaded a public relations ploy designed to place the infamous Office of Inquisition in a better light. This pope, and his media experts, have bluntly lied about this hellish office so as to make all those they seek to attack appear as “conspiracy theorists” by those duped into believing their lies. As is always the case, the grand majority of the people of this world are spiritually lacking and completely unable to see what they’re up to. This is why Satan is able to control the masses. This is also why in Noah’s day only EIGHT people survived the global deluge. And this is also why we true Christians will in fact be looked upon as conspiracy theorists. The following article was released by the online Roman Catholic publication known as Zenit organization…
Crucial to Have the Facts About Inquisition, Says Pope
Writes a Letter for the Publication of Minutes of 1998 Congress
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 15, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II reiterated the importance of historical research so that the Church can purify her memory of the sins of her children, in particular, the Inquisition.
"Instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith," the Pope continued, Christians on occasion "indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal."
Borromeo explained that Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) was the first to establish "inquisitors," "delegates of the Apostolic See with the task of combating heresy in certain areas."
"Obviously, a request for forgiveness can only affect real and objectively recognized events. Forgiveness is not asked for images spread by public opinion, which are part of a myth and do not correspond to reality," he said.
Cardinal Cottier said that the minutes have been published after a long delay due to a series of health problems affecting the scholars.
ZE04061509
this article, as well as many others, the Pope is seeking to make the Inquisition appear “not as bad” as some report. The wording alone seeks to downplay the horrendous and torturous acts this church performed on 100% innocent people, most of whom were true Christians dying for their faith. The Vatican stated that Christians "indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal.” Can you imagine? This evil church is saying FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST did these hellish acts when in fact it was the Catholic church that did these things. Christians do NOT boil people in oil, bury them alive, burn them alive, skin them alive, or torture them for days on end before finally killing them. Christians simply are unable to do acts of demons. Only the Roman Catholic forefather did this! STILL this so called apologetic man in Rome is seeking to place the blame on others for acts the Vatican itself has done! And he does so at a time when Muslims already have an inbred hatred for Christians. They hate Christians because of what the Catholic church did to them in the past. This is historic fact that no one dares to debate. It is that well known. But still, those nations, and even religions that were attacked by Rome think Rome was a Christian entity doing those acts merely because Rome CLAIMS Jesus as Lord! Thing is, NOTHING can be further from the truth! Roman Catholicism is by no means a Christian religion. It is actually a religion designed by Satan to destroy Christianity by masquerading as Christians while doing hellish acts.
On March 12, 2000 when the Pope “supposedly” apologized, he stated that "...Catholics at times "have not been faithful to the great commandment of love, sullying in this way the face of the Church," His church predecessors tortured and killed countless millions, but as usual the Vatican and Pope of this day says the Catholic people did it!? When will the Catholic people realize their Pope is blaming them for what the Church leaders openly did. Have you ever heard of a Catholic pulling someone down to their basement to strip them of their skin? No! Have you heard of priests doing it? Yes! Have you heard of priests telling the governing officials of the day to torture people? Yes again. So why is Rome constantly blaming their faithful congregations for what they themselves did? BECAUSE THEY LET THEM! There is no other reason. It’s no different then the countless millions who stay in a church that not only admitted to killing innocent people, they also admitted to molesting their sons TO THIS DAY and these Catholics stay in this church.
Why isn’t there an uproar regarding these statements? Because for one, the media is controlled, and two, many fear Rome and can see how they manipulate the truth, and how stupid the masses truly are. They know that if they do say something, the Vatican has proven time and time again that they are very capable of lying, twisting the facts, and forcing certain “men in power” to bow to their commands, even if it means to murder. So, those that want to speak out, usually choose not to, figuring it will come to no avail anyway.
The article also stated, “Forgiveness is not asked for images spread by public opinion, which are part of a myth and do not correspond to reality” In other words, the Pope is stating they seek no forgiveness for the “so called” gossip we see in such works of literature as the “Foxes Book of Martyrs” and other globally known sources of information that list the atrocities of this church. He is not talking about actual “gossip” that is running amuck. He is no doubt talking about those works of literature because those books document his church’s past. So he needs to belittle them as a defense lawyers rips into their defendant's victims. All along the church has claimed Foxe’s book, and those like it nothing but myths, as well as out and out “gossip” from what they define as anti-Catholics. Yet, the true Christians and their families do understand these things ARE quite true. In fact, MANY ex-Catholic priests and nuns have stepped forward to voice the truth regarding same over the years. Problem is, most of them, after doing so, simple wind up missing, or are literally found dead. This again affords the Vatican another opportunity to prevent further problems. FEAR reigns supreme in many who do not trust the Lord when He said plainly He has NOT given us a spirit of fear.
I ask… Why would the pope be looking for positive public relations (PR) for the Inquisition?? And why now? Because he himself RE-INSTATED IT IN 1991! And the Vatican plans to USE IT soon. If they had no plans to use it then WHY re-instate it? They know that when the word gets out this office is once again being used, the “so called” gossip concerning it will cause problems for Rome. So, common sense says they need to bathe this hellish office in a light that is far more acceptable to the grand majority of sheeple out there that are truly incapable of seeing the truth for what it is. What better time than now? It’s the twilight hours of the last days, Satan is about to burst forth in all his hellish glory, and the majority of the people the world over are sufficiently conditioned to fall for such hogwash as this. So they jump at the chance!
HOLY OFFICE STILL EXISTS
Pope John Paul II Revives Inquisition
By Kathleen R. Hayes Feb 1991, NRI Trumpet Page 3
The thought of a revived Holy Office of the Inquisition would pacify some and offend others. Nevertheless, the "Holy Office" still exists. Only it's name has been changed. Pope John Paul II has been instrumental in its revival. One may argue that this Ratzinger run agency is merely an attempt by the Catholic Church to root out communism or backslidden priests and their practices. However, with John Paul II's objective to implement "God's mandate" by creating a global church-state which will administer from traditional Roman Catholic theology, is enough cause for alarm. Malachi Martin has already stated in his book, "The Keys of this Blood," that the pope will not tolerate any belief systems that oppose his, not on a civil or church level. In John Paul II the world will behold a tyrant who will coldly execute direct orders against those whom he deems are heretics or immoral. Moreover, like his papal predecessors, John Paul II will carry out his "Godly mandate" in the name of Christ, or perhaps Mary. May God help us all.
The positive PR the Vatican cronies are looking to create is designed to make their actions appear not only moral, but it will also make anyone speaking out against The Vatican to appear as wierdos. It’s similar to the way Hollywood has portrayed the Christian for the last few decades. Have you ever noticed the strange looking people Hollywood places in the crowd scenes of their movies? Check it out the next time you see a movie setting inside a stadium or something like that. Once in a while they will show a person with a multicolored clown wig holding up a large sign that says, “JOHN 3:16” on it! I have seen this more than once over the years. They look to make Christianity appears as a ridiculous faith. And by the way, it’s not just Rome doing this today. Look at the Pentecostal churches, or the folks that dance with snakes in Georgia. They make Christians appear strange! When people walk into the churches and see how strange and ridiculous the people act, they decide Christianity is a joke and not worthy of investigating.
Countless scores of people have exposed Rome and its lies, and yes, countless scores have been killed for it. PLUS, it’s no longer as if the Vatican is trying to hide it’s evil past, or present. Still, people that willfully allow this satanic agency to blind them, are the very ones who defend it. The media is literally drenched today with everything from child molestation, to drunken bishops killing people in hit and run accidents. But those of us that expose Rome are called the evil ones according to this church and it’s media drones. And everyone believes them over those that have bonafide factual data exposing this Antichrist! Amazing isn’t it?
Vatican 'dispels Inquisition myths'
By Verity Murphy BBC News Online
The Inquisition reached its peak in the 16th Century. The Vatican has published a new study on the abuses committed by the medieval Inquisition and come to a rather surprising conclusion - that in fact the much feared judges of heresy were not as brutal as previously believed. According to the 800-page report, the Inquisition that spread fear throughout Europe throughout the Middle Ages did not use execution or torture to anything like the extent history would have us believe. In fact the book's editor, Professor Agostino Borromeo, claims that in Spain only 1.8% of those investigated by the notorious Spanish Inquisition were killed. Nonetheless, as the report was published, Pope John Paul II apologised once more for the interrogators' excesses, expressing sorrow for "the errors committed in the service of the truth by the recourse to non-Christian methods".
… The punishments meted out for wrongdoers ranged from being forced to visit churches and make pilgrimages, to life imprisonment or execution by burning at the stake.
…The accused did not have the right to face and question their accuser and it was acceptable to take testimony from criminals and excommunicated people.
The Inquisition reached its peak in the 16th Century as it battled the Reformation, but its most famous trial was that of Galileo in 1633, condemned for claiming the earth revolved around the sun. Death by burning
The Spanish Inquisition which became independent from the Vatican in the 15th Century, carried out some of the most infamous abuses under its "autos da fé" or act of faith, shorthand for death by burning. They zealously tortured victims, held summary trials, forced conversions and passed death sentences.
"There is no doubt that at the start, the planned procedures were applied with an excessive rigour, which in some cases degenerated into true abuses," the Vatican study simply says of this dark period. But the Vatican report, the product of a six-year investigation, insists that the Inquisition was not as bad as often believed. Professor Borromeo says for example that for 125,000 trials of suspected heretics in Spain, less than 2% were executed. He says that often mannequins were burned to represent those tried in absentia and condemned to death and heretics and witches who repented at the last minute were given some sort of relief when they were strangled before being burnt. Little comfort But for those connected with victims of the Inquisition, Vatican claims that it was not as bad as thought carry little weight. Galileo was the Inquisition's most famous victim
Among those targeted by the interrogators were the Waldensians, members of a Protestant sect declared heretical in the 12th Century. "If there are many or few cases, it doesn't matter. What's important is you don't say, 'I am right and you are wrong and I burn you'," said Thomas Noffke, a US-born Waldensian pastor in Rome.
Who in their right mind is going to believe this pack of lies? I wonder, would this article have been released BEFORE the Roman Catholic Commercial I like to refer to as "The Passion of the ANTI-Christ?" Countless scores of Protestants are now looking at Rome as a "moral" entity thanks to this blasphemous film. Had these articles about the Inquisition been released BEFORE the film, I am sure most people would think, "Who do they think they are trying tell us about history?" But now that so many accept that Catholic commercial as biblically accurate, and they look to Rome as being Christian again, Rome goes for it! Problem is, there are the Elect of God that Rome has to contend with. We know this church has lied before. Plus we know they lied in the past during the Inquisitions. We also know they lied about helping Hitler. And we also know they lied about molesting their own children for as long as there is recorded history, up and including to this day! So I ask, do we think they’re not lying now? I literally chuckle at the stupidity of that assumption.
After the article states, only 1.8% were actually killed, it says, “Nonetheless… Pope John Paul II apologized once more for the interrogators' excesses, expressing sorrow for "the errors committed in the service of the truth by the recourse to non-Christian methods".
Using the word “Nonetheless” to start that comment off is to say, “We don’t need to apologize for such a small number of murders, but, “nonetheless,” the pope did anyway at this time. That disgusts me to no end! What a sickening way to downplay the deaths of innocent people as if they are not worthy of even an apology! Plus, did you also notice this article ADMITS to using the exact same methods our “so called” Homeland Security liars use today? The article stated, The accused did not have the right to face and question their accuser and it was acceptable to take testimony from criminals and excommunicated people.”
They did this to Jesus in His day, they did it during the 1260 year “Great Tribulation” Jesus spoke of, they did it in Hitler’s day, and they are doing it in our day. Another obvious trivializing of the truth was found when the article stated, "There is no doubt that at the start, the planned procedures were applied with an excessive rigour, which in some cases degenerated into true abuses," Is that why they say “it’s not as bad as it seems” because they fudged the numbers to allow for abuses they say they never condoned anyway? How convenient? This is no different than the fudged numbers released by the Vatican in February of 2004 regarding the priests that molested little boys over the years. They even admitted in the articles they didn’t add the number of priests that have died over the years into the total number released to the press, because they felt it wasn’t necessary due to the fact they were dead! That alone gave a false sense of security to the easy to manipulate Catholic who chooses to stay in that church. This “fudging” of the numbers regarding the Inquisition is no different. Sadly, so is the end result. Some will believe the lies Rome spews, simply because Rome never tells the whole story!
In the article “Professor Borromeo says for example that for 125,000 trials of suspected heretics in Spain, less than 2% were executed.” Ok, let’s assume for a moment that the Vatican’s Professor is telling the truth here. Let’s assume that all the historic facts that prove otherwise are wrong, and this pack of biased wolves from the Vatican itself are correct in saying only 125,000 went to trial, and only 2% were burned at the stake or killed in other torturous ways. That means the Vatican admits to torturing and KILLING over 6250 people! “Nonetheless” they apologized anyway.
By the way, all those believing “mannequins were burned” please raise your hands. Not many I’m sure.
One last point I would like to make regarding this article. It was said that those that “repented at the last minute were given some sort of relief when they were strangled before being burnt.” Can you imagine what they said to get them to deny Christ as Lord? They no doubt offered them freedom, and life if they denied the Jesus of the Bible for the Jesus of Rome. And then to Satanically seal their fate as one who just openly denied Jesus Christ before Heaven and man, THEY STRANGLED THEM anyway so as to assure Satan gets his number! So.. in the future… those of you standing before possessed Roman Catholic priests, I implore you to remember. To deny Christ is to die, TWICE! Rome cannot be trusted anyway, but Christ CAN be trusted! No matter what you say, they’re going to kill you anyway! Common sense affords us the reality that if they let you live after denying Christ, they no doubt fear you will tell others of their torturous methods to get you to the point of denial. So.. deny Christ.. they kill you. Refuse to deny Christ, they kill you as well. Of course the difference here is, if they kill you for not denying Christ you will live forever!
By the way, were you aware that MODERN DAY Vatican chit chat is such that they speak of the benefits of burning Christians at the stake right now as we speak? On my “Evils of EWTN” page in the “RCC Exposed” section of the website I have a conversation that was posted on the EWTN Message board online! For those that aren’t aware, EWTN is a National Roman Catholic Television Network in the USA! They posted that conversation in May of 2002. After word got out about some websites gleaning the conversations to show others, EWTN promptly deleted those statements. Too late tho.. Here is just a small excerpt of what they had on that page…
Re:Heretics
Question from Jared on 05-13-2002:
Dr. Carroll, in response to the post by Michael Edwards-Ronning on 5-11-02: I think that the popes during that time felt that the killing of heretics was just. To figure, wouldn't it be a lot better for the general population if a few mainstream heretics were killed, so that the whole population was not "infected" by the heresies of the few? What I am trying to say is that it wasn't a terrible idea. Kill a few heretics to save the eternal souls of the population. That may seem harsh, but that is the basis of my assumption. Thanks.
Answer by Warren H. Carroll, Ph.D on 05-15-2002:
Well stated. I agree with you. - Dr. Carroll
COPYRIGHT 2002 EWTN
What amazes me here is that no one seems to mind when the Vatican and their priests speak of torturing innocent people. No one seems to mind that Roman Catholic “doctors of divinity: openly agree that killing a few people by flames is an agreeable and acceptable act of the church. This graphically evil organization obviously feels no threat from the “so called” authorities. Why do you suppose that is? Can anyone see the forest for the trees here now? For those of you seeking confirmation that the US Government has been completely taken over by Rome, lets do the math. Prophecy states an image of the beast must be set up. Since the Lateran Treaty was signed in 1929 by Cardinal Gasspari making the Vatican a church and State again, it has slowly but surely been taking over the United States Government. Then in October of 2002 the “Christian Coalition” started to graphically seek governmental changes designed specifically to make the US Government into both a church and state entity. You can see all the facts regarding this by reading my October 2002 Truth Provided Newsletter.
Now of course this is only one topic. One can take just about any topic of evil, look to Rome to see it’s inception, and then peer into the halls of Washington D.C. to see the USA accepting it. Students of prophecy are not blind to the fact that the USA is in fact the prophesied lamb horned beast that gives power unto the beast in Rome. Everything from the Roman Catholic contrived blue laws of 1962, to the Government vouchers for Catholic schools just a few years back confirm this nicely. However, the perfect image will have to do as Rome does behind closed doors as well. Rome favor force, terror, torture, and murder to get their agenda realized. So, the USA must do as she.
For example, on the topic of torture, and Government takeover alone:
History confirms Pagan Rome tortured and killed people
History also confirms Papal Rome tortured and killed people in their Inquisitions.
The US Government shows “open” signs of a Vatican takeover since the “blue laws” of 1962.
Ronald Reagan “faces the Mall” at his inauguration, confirming Rome controls Washington D.C. from within.
The Vatican re-instates the Office of Inquisition in February of 1991.
30,000 guillotines are shipped to American soil. (Click here for proof)
The IRS, the Senate, the Congress, and the Supreme Court are all “speaking and causing” laws of Rome to be put in effect.
The US Government is using torture, as well as seeking legislation to make it legal in the mainland as well.
And “beheadings” are now becoming common place in the News media.
US turns to torture to crack prisoners of war
By Dana Priest and Barton Gellman
December 27 2002
Deep inside the forbidden zone at the United States-occupied Bagram air base in Afghanistan are a cluster of metal shipping containers protected by a triple layer of concertina wire. The containers hold the most valuable prizes in the US-led war in Afghanistan - suspected al-Qaeda operatives and Taliban commanders.
Those who refuse to co-operate inside the secret CIA interrogation centre are sometimes kept standing or kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles, intelligence specialists familiar with CIA interrogation methods say. At times they are held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights - subject to what are known as "stress and duress" techniques.
Those who co-operate are rewarded by interrogators whose methods include feigned friendship, respect, cultural sensitivity and, in some cases, money. The most hardened cases are turned over - "rendered", in official parlance - to foreign intelligence services whose practice of torture has been documented by the US Government and human rights organisations.
While the US Government publicly denounces the use of torture, all of the national security officials interviewed defended the use of violence against captives as "just and necessary", and they were confident the American public would back their view. The CIA, which has responsibility for interrogations, declined to comment.
"If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job," said one official who has supervised the capture and transfer of accused terrorists. "I don't think we want to be promoting a view of zero tolerance on this."
The off-limits patch of ground at Bagram is one of a number of secret overseas detention centres where US due process does not apply. Another is Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean that the US leases from Britain.
In other cases, usually involving lower-level captives, the CIA ds them to foreign intelligence services, notably those of Jordan, Egypt and Morocco, with a list of questions the agency wants answered. These "extraordinary renditions" are done without resort to legal process and usually involve countries with security services known for using brutal means.
According to one official who has been directly involved in transferring captives the understanding is: "We don't kick the [expletive] out of them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the [expletive] out of them."
At a joint hearing of the House and Senate intelligence committees in September, Cofer Black, then head of the CIA Counterterrorist Centre, spoke cryptically about the agency's new forms of "operational flexibility" in dealing with suspected terrorists. "All you need to know is that there was a before 9/11, and there was an after 9/11," Mr Black said. "After 9/11 the gloves come off." -The Washington Post
One source of the original article is at http://www.victoria.indymedia.org/news/2002/12/10737.php
Rumsfeld approved torture techniques: top brass
June 4, 2004
Washington AP: United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally approved four special interrogation techniques used on two al-Qaeda operatives held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who then talked about the terrorist network and its plans, the commander of US forces in Latin America said today.
Army General James Hill, who heads the US Southern Command, declined to describe the techniques. He said other detainees might "figure out a way to resist those techniques" if they were disclosed. –SMH.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/04/1086203599711.html?oneclick=true
US 'is using torture techniques' to interrogate top al-Qa'ida prisoners
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 27 December 2002
The United States is subjecting top-level al-Qa'ida captives in its custody to extraordinary physical and psychological coercion, blurring the line between acceptable interrogation techniques under international law and outright torture, according to a detailed report in yesterday's Washington Post. –Independent.co.uk News
This “light torture” as some would call it always leads to graphic torture. Even Rome admitted that long ago. History proves the Vatican tried to do it “lightly” at first, but after men possessed by demons got a taste of torturing and killing Christians, the methods were “abused” as Rome put it. Spiritually speaking, they just got “blood thirsty” as is a natural human as well as animal reaction. In fact, this is why the plague of blood is administered unto them.
Revelation 16:6, "For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy."
As is so apparent in the first article, some people AREN’T cracking under the pressure the lamb horned beast of Revelation is administering. So our Government sends them to other countries where they will use much more intense methods of torture to get the information they seek. Rome did this first, and now the lamb horned beast follows suit. They even admitted in the article that they send them there with a list of questions they need answered during the torture! This is exactly what Rome did long ago! On March 12, 2000 the pope admitted, as did many others, that they sent “heretics” to the local authorities with “questions” they needed answered. The church felt it would be better if they themselves weren’t directly involved in administering the torture. So they got their Roman Catholic authorities controlled to do it for them! And did you also notice that other countries have known about the US Government’s problem with torture before most of us in the states heard anything about it? This has been going on for some time it seems!
By the way, this is not the only thing that has been going on for some time. In Canada we see a bevy of strange laws popping up all over the place designed to benefit Rome as well as glorify sin. This no doubt allows the “sectioned off regions” of a Global Government to have certain laws in place in each continent. All this is of course done for convenience. That way they can make sure their evil desires are accessible without much travel time slowing things down.
Canada preparing to enforce Islamic law
Judges will give legal sanction to disputes between Muslims
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 27, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
©_2003_WorldNetDaily.com
Canadian judges soon will be enforcing Islamic law, or Sharia, in disputes between Muslims, possibly paving the way to one day administering criminal sentences, such as stoning women caught in adultery.
Muslims are required to submit to Sharia in Muslim societies but are excused in nations where they live as a minority under a non-Muslim government. Canada, however, is preparing for its 1 million-strong Muslim minority to be under the authority of a Sharia system enforced by the Canadian court system, according to the Canadian Law Times.
Muslim delegates at a conference in Etobicoke, Ont., in October elected a 30-member council to establish the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice. The institute is classified in Islamic law as a Darul-Qada, or judicial tribunal. Its bylaws are scheduled to be drafted and approved by Dec. 31.
Cases will be decided by a Muslim arbitrator, but the local secular Canadian court will be the enforcer.
How blind do these people think we are? The Vatican did the exact same thing during the Inquisitions, and now we see Canada following suit word for word. Imagine if you will some people in the USA or even Mexico for that matter that have been accused of certain crimes they didn’t commit. Now suppose the Government want’s them dead as per the Vatican’s command. All one needs to do is what the USA is already doing regarding torture. Just ship them to countries where certain barbaric acts are allowed! And now it appears we have one just across the border so as to allow the job to get done the same day!
To this day the Vatican has declared they “thought” they were doing God’s will when they kicked people out of churches and then eventually tortured and killed them. WHERE I ask in the Bible is such decadence as this being allowed? I can see it in the Quran of the Muslim, that Pope John Paul II himself KISSED. But I see it nowhere in the Word of God. HOW can they pretend to tell the masses, a God of mercy would suggest such evils as this? Especially after His Word openly condemns it!
Luke 3:14, "… Do violence to no man”
Luke 9:54-56, "And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village."
We have the Word of a Mighty God that proves the Vatican is indeed home to Satan. Our job is clear. TELL THEM what this Word says! Tell them their own church is mentioned as home to Antichrist in numerous prophetic confirmations from history. (Click here for a large list to help prove this point) Tell them their priests do exactly as Jesus said Antichrist would do…
John 16:2-3, "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me."
I hope you see clearly now as to why Rome seeks positive PR for their Office of Inquisition. The American government is their pawn. But their pawn cannot do the graphic atrocities it wants to do. So, they need to make the Inquisition look acceptable so that the US Government can better facilitate their torturous demands even on US soil! Or at best, Canadian soil.
One last note to help drive this all home. It’s just a bit off topic, but it ties in quite nicely. Do you recall the Newsletters, audio clips, and radio broadcasts I shared regarding the Homosexual agenda of Rome? Do you recall how the Truth revealed in this matter was to help Rome get her so called “Christian” agenda realized in Washington DC for a national Church & State conglomerate? Do you also recall the Christian Coalition movements in this regard?
Now see this…
TESTING THE FAITH
Christians look to form 'new nation' within U.S.
Same-sex marriage called last straw prompting plan for 1 state to secede
Posted: May 24, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Joe Kovacs
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Calling the approval of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts "the straw that broke the camel's back," a group of Christian activists is in the beginning stages of an effort to have one state secede from the United States to become its own sovereign nation.
"Our Christian republic has declined into a pagan democracy," says Cory Burnell, president of ChristianExodus.org, a non-profit corporation based in Tyler, Texas. "There are some issues people just can't take anymore, and [same-sex marriage] might finally wake up the complacent Christians."
Burnell is leading the charge for a peaceful secession of one state from the union, and after originally considering Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina due to their relatively small populations, coastal access, and the Christian nature of the electorate, Burnell says South Carolina has been selected as the target location.
…Burnell, a math teacher and cell-phone dealer, stresses he's not looking for bloody battles that took place in the American Revolution and the Civil War, but is rather seeking a "political divorce." "It's got to be different today," he says. "It has to be peaceful, brokered." But he admits if the federal government decides to use military force to stop the effort, "Then it can't happen."
Already a dozen people are actively working on the project, and some 1,500 by e-mails of support have been received.
If all goes according to plan, Burnell is hoping to have a constitutional convention by 2014, with a president of the new nation – still to be known as South Carolina – elected in 2016, which is also a presidential election year in the U.S. He says the nation would be founded on Christian principles, and the people writing its constitution would have to hash out details to safeguard it as a Christian republic. For now, Burnell prefers to shy away from specifics on the precise laws governing the country. "Independence first, details later," he says
They are using the Homosexual marriage war to push for a religious form of government!! My opinion? It will never happen. Burnell is merely a pawn of the Roman US Government who is testing the masses on this. Common sense people! Does anyone think the Government controlled media would allow anything like this to get out so freely? Is it any wonder the privately owned World Net Daily News service had to break the news on this? One thing WILL happen however, there will be a “Religious” form of Government in this nation. Prophecy proclaimed it, and our God can’t lie. Will it be ONLY situated in South Carolina? Not according to the Word of God. It will be GLOBAL!
For more info on the Roman Catholic Office of Inquisition, see the following links: (I have not checked these sites out 100%, so be forewarned, they may link out to areas I don’t condone)
http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp?CRID=inquisition&OFFID=se4
http://www.bibletopics.com/biblestudy/64.htm
http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1676.cfm
The above was used by permission from Nicholas at http://www.remnantofgod.org/
For proof of present day persecutions by the Roman Catholic church click here
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BURIAL BOX OF JAMES
The burial box of James
Not too long ago, something happened in the global arena that put the Roman Catholic Church once again in the spotlight as a lying entity. Of course I am speaking of the Ossuary, or burial box of James the brother of Jesus Christ. When the story first broke, I purposely remained silent on the issue because I wanted to see what the Roman Catholic Church would do about it. The only comment they made to the press at first was a feeble attempt to blow off the discovery. Anyone that has been watching the Vatican long enough knows, this happens to be the norm for the Roman Catholic Church. They always skirt the issue and dance around it when it places a spotlight upon them and their spurious doctrines. They later solicited the help of a questionable source so as to help them appear vindicated. We will get into that a bit later.
In an interview by the Associate Press, Roman Catholic scholar Joseph Fitzmeyer, acknowledges the writing style on the ossuary 'fits perfectly' with other first century examples and admits the joint appearance of these three famous names is 'striking,' he nevertheless concludes, "But the big problem is, you have to show me the Jesus in this text is Jesus of Nazareth, and nobody can show that." Ignoring the obvious is an infamous technique of Babylon that is designed to permeate the hearts of their congregation. Sadly, this is the case, as many devoted Catholics are now echoing Fitzmeyer's strange testimonial.
Intense curiosity and controversy I might add has been at the forefront globally as far as I can tell since the announcement of the discovery of an ancient limestone bone box dated 63AD, called an ossuary, (pronounced alternatively, "osh-oo-ary" or "os-yoo-ary") inscribed in Aramaic, which was the language of the Jews in Jesus day. The inscription reads, "Ya'akov bar Ysef a khui Yeshua" which translated is, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." Historical fact is, boxes like this were commonly used by Jewish families between 20BC and 70AD to store the bones of their loved ones. James is known to have been martyred in 62 AD, and the box has been dated 63AD. Tradition of that day was to place the body in a tomb until the flesh disintegrated, (1 year) and then move the bones to a ossuary to await resurrection.
Another interesting fact is that out of the hundreds of such boxes that were found, only TWO mention a "brother" in the inscriptions upon the burial box. Some scholars have confirmed that this alludes to the fact that the brother must have been famous or extremely important at the time so as to be mentioned upon a burial box of a sibling. The names James, Joseph, and even Jesus were considered common names in Jerusalem for that day.
Professor Lemaire, who teaches at the Sorbonne in Paris, wrote in a recent issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review that it was "very probable" that the box belonged to Jesus Christ's brother James. In a city as large as Jerusalem was in that day (about 40,000) Lemaire estimates that as many as 20 men who were named James, would have had brothers named Jesus, and fathers named Joseph. However, he also concludes that the odds would be stacked greatly against the probability that there would be more than one person named James who had a brother that was as important or well known as Jesus was at that time. Looking back, one can see plainly that historic fact actually confirms it. All one needs do is research this and you will find that there is no mention recorded in history of a man named "Jesus" for that period of time that had anywhere near the life changing fame of Jesus the Messiah. In fact, the Biblical Archaeology Review has researched an inventory of 900 ossuaries. Out of the 900, 19 of them have the name Joseph inscribed on them, and 10 have the name Jesus on them and only ONE had the name Jesus as the son of Joseph and brother of James inscribed on it. ONLY ONE! (For more info see,"Evidence Of Jesus Written In Stone," Biblical Archaeological Review.
I have been watching this story with particular interest to see if Rome will once again ADMIT to lying before the world for the last 149 years since Pope Pius IX proclaimed, "The Immaculate Conception" of Mary was dogmatic fact. This Roman Catholic doctrine stipulates that Mary was a virgin till death, and Jesus never had any siblings. We all saw in the "Mea Culpa" of John Paul II back in March of 2000 a bevy of admissions that proved the Roman Catholic church is no stranger to fabricating lies to further its agenda. We now have concrete historic fact they admitted it in writing. Will they do right on this issue? The blunt defiance in Fitzmeyer's earlier statement paints an obvious picture of what Rome plans to do. They seek to take the defensive stance proclaiming "Your going to have to show me proof before I believe it! And as far as I can tell no one can." You would think that Fitzmeyer would use his "credentials" a bit more wisely then just shouting like a spoiled child and then stomping his feet as he flees the scene. A normal response I am sure for one caught red handed. Seriously, what other course does he have? He MUST openly deny the now concrete evidence before him so as to keep the Roman lie afloat. To do otherwise would be disasterous!
History proves that once the agenda of the Vatican is threatened, they will go to absolutely ANY lengths to assure they can keep doing business as usual. Even if it means millions must die. The world saw dozens of Bishops and Cardinals stepping forward back in March of 2000, not only agreeing with the Pope's list of admissions, but also speaking of numerous vile and disgusting acts they themselves have done as well!
hey did this to save face because certain facts were no longer easy to hide for the Vatican, especially since it's possible now for even some of the poorest families in the World to access the historic facts online. Families in the poorest nations have access to the Internet in libraries or Internet cafés the world over. The Vatican’s only demonically "wise" course at that time is to admit they killed millions and ask for forgiveness so as to appear to be genuinely concerned about what history so graphically records. Regardless of the fact that the Vatican is still in the business of threatening and even killing those that deny their doctrines to this day. For evidence of this fact CLICK HERE. However, with the discovery of the Ossuary of James, this is in no way an easy admission for Rome to proclaim as we saw by the knee jerking response, and hastened exit of Fitzmeyer. Their counterfeit doctrinal statements regarding Mary depend completely on them keeping that lie going. This is Babylon, and Babylon worships the "Queen of Heaven" as Scriptures so openly proclaims. To deny their Pagan god, is to deny their way of life.
For a Biblical expose' of the "Queen of Heaven" start your study with these verses...
The Bonebox with the inscription (James Brother of Jesus)
Jeremiah 7:18
Jeremiah 44:17-19
Jeremiah 44:25
Imagine if you will that Rome ADMITTED the Ossuary of James to be authentic. This would mean they LIED to literally billions upon billions of Catholics as well as non-Catholics since the lie was fabricated regarding the perpetual virginity of Mary. Rome knows that this is not just some face saving lie that can be shrugged off as "mere sins of the flesh" as we saw paraded before us in all it's graphic decadence on March 12, 2000 when Rome admitted to killing over 500 million souls. Rome can easily afford to admit the sins of the flesh because it affords them the natural ability to play "the priest, cardinal, bishop, or pope is only a man" card, and get away with it by asking forgiveness from their church members and the world. Asking forgiveness from those that believe, is the Christ-like thing to do. It is also a very powerful tool in the art of this ongoing religious deception. Because if you don't forgive them, you can be tagged a NON-believer, and then they again stand supreme above you even though they ADMITTED they are the ones that killed millions. It's a win win situation for Rome to admit to the mass murders. However, to admit to lying about the perpetual virginity of Mary, as well as her "immaculate conception," would cause a MASSIVE upset in the halls of Rome that anyone with an ounce of sense can tell Rome is simply not prepared to do!
Think of it!
If Rome admits the Ossuary of James is authentic, and Jesus did in fact have siblings as Matthew chapter 13 already truthfully proclaims He did, that would mean a BEVY of doctrinal issues would have to be scrapped by the Roman Church.
On more obvious note to ponder... As blessed and loved as Mary was of God. Do you honestly believe that the Almighty and ever living God of all creation would punish her with a barren womb after submitting to His perfect will without question and having His only begotten Son? Remember that it was considered a blessing to have children back then, unlike today's society with their millions of self centered flesh pleasing abortions. Some women actually murder their children to avoid getting stretch marks! Can you imagine how cold a heart must wax to do such a thing? The massive number of abortions alone prove the prophetic statement of Matthew 24:12 an absolute confirmed fulfillment! Mary in her day would never seek a barren womb like many women today. PLUS, would it not be considered sin on Mary's part to DENY Joseph's carnal desires towards his wife, in that pre-birth control pill era? Is it not written plainly in.. 1 Corinthians 7:3-5, "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, …”
Yes, it appears Rome knows it will have to admit a LOT MORE than just murdering 500 million Christians as they did on March 12, 2000. If they admit the Ossuary of James is authentic, they will have to give up quite a few doctrines of demons and traditions of men. And I don't think they are prepared to do that. A few of these spurious doctrines in a list might look like this...
They will have to admit they lied about…
Mary being ever virgin
Mary was born without sin
The Feast of "Immaculate Conception"
Mary being co-redeemer / co-savior
Numerous Popes claiming "Mary saves souls"
Mary being the "bright and morning star"
"Mary" appearing before children. Rome must admit it's a demon
"Mary" sending messages from Heaven
Mary telling them to pray the Pagan rosary
All the weeping Statues of Mary
Mary having an and sinless immaculate heart
Mary sharing in the cross with Christ
Mary telling them to wear the "scapular"
Pope John Paul will have to remove "Mary I am all yours" from etchings on his robes
The "blue league/army" of Mary
Thousands of churches named after the 'Virgin Mary' would have to change names
The thousands of Hospitals named after 'Virgin Mary' would have to change names
Mary as the "Queen of Heaven"
The term "Mother of God" for Mary
The literal millions of books with references to "Mary being ever virgin."
The thousands of convents that seek to emulate Mary
The doctrines that duped millions of people into becoming "dedicated to Mary"
Tens of thousands of statements made over the centuries by Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, nuns and lay people that refer to Mary and her perpetual virginity.
Fatima and how it was designed to lure the Muslims into praying to Mary
References of "Mary" in the Quran itself
Artists who made paintings and sculptures of the 'Virgin Mary'
Symbols of Mary’s perpetual virginity
The "assumption of Mary" that alludes to Mary going to Heaven before the rest of us
All the 'apparitions' of "Mary"
All the "statements" made from the apparitions of Mary
The Roman Catholic "saint" Alphonsus De Liquori's stating Mary is an "Omnipotent Intercessor"
The "Apostolate of Mary" and therefore scrap the doctrine that states Mary shares in the priesthood of Christ
The actual "Apostolate of Mary" would have to be disbanded worldwide
Virgin worship
Salvation through Mary
Proclaiming that Catholics must worship Mary through John Paul II
In the Catholic Encyclopedia regarding "Mary worship."
The "Fatima Apostleship"
(For more information to above facts CLICK HERE)
If I was a betting man, AND I AM NOT, I would have to ask, who wants to lay odds on the final response of the Vatican? Will they jump at the chance to now lie again and say Joseph had children from a previous marriage? Virtually no Christian church holds to that view today. However, that never stopped Rome before has it?
By the way... To claim Joseph had a previous marriage, would mean yet another a re-write of Scripture for the church of Rome. For it is NOT written that Joseph had a previous marriage in the Word. "YET"
Burial box 'held the bones of Jesus's brother'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor and Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 18/04/2003)
Tests on a 2,000-year-old stone box support claims that it once held the bones of James, said to have been the brother of Jesus and an important early Christian leader, scientists have concluded.
The results of the experiments, which are disclosed in a television documentary, back the suggestion that the "bone box", or ossuary, may be the oldest archaeological link with Christ.
Last year, the tomb ossuary, inscribed with the words "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus", came to light in Israel, prompting speculation over whether it was genuine or a fake and whether it referred to Jesus of Nazareth.
Since then, the box has been subjected to tests which are consistent with it coming from the right place and the right time, said Dr Ed Keall, a curator at the Royal Ontario Museum. "It is a genuine box with a genuine inscription, dating from first century AD, likely from the Silouan Valley, Jerusalem," he said.
He argued that it was rare for the inscription to refer to a brother - they usually mentioned the father - although he agreed that this fell short of proof that it contained the bones of James.
The findings will revive interest in James, whose major role in early Christianity has been eclipsed by St Peter and St Paul. He is described in two of the Gospels as the brother of Jesus, but in some traditions he is thought of as merely a cousin.
Scholars believe that he became the leader of the early Christian movement in Jerusalem following Jesus's crucifixion, but he may have regarded himself as a member of a sect of Judaism rather than of a new religion. Fr Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, the uncle of the Archbishop of Westminster and leading Biblical authority, said: "James was a Jew who became a follower of Jesus and remained true to his Jewish faith.
"He was the leader of the Mother Church, the Church of Jerusalem, during its adolescent years, its whole formative period."
The limestone burial box measures 20in by 22in by 10in and carries a worn pattern of six pointed stars on one side. On the other is an inscription with distinctive letters: "Ya'akov, bar Yosef, akhui di Yeshua" - "James [Ya'akov], son of Joseph [Yosef], brother of Jesus [Yeshua]." The words are in Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ, and close to ancient Hebrew.
The palaeographers date the style of lettering to around 50 AD. This timing is just right for a memorial to James who, according to the "Jewish Antiquities" of Josephus, was stoned to death for his beliefs in AD 62.
In the journal Biblical Archaeology Review, Prof Andre Lemaire of the Sorbonne, Paris, concluded that it could be the earliest artefact relating to Jesus. Now scientists have backed his contention with tests.
A team at the Geological Survey of Israel extracted the patina, a cream-coloured film adhering to the stone, and found it matched that inside one of the letters after a study with electron microscopy, as would be expected with the genuine item.
The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto subjected the inscription to a tougher test, using long-wave ultraviolet light which should highlight attempts to fake it. Again, it looked genuine, said Dr Keall.
Prof Camil (fooks) Fuchs, of Tel Aviv University, analysed the probability that the James ossuary refers to the Jesus of the New Testament, after critics said James, Jesus and Joseph were common names in first century Palestine.
He concluded that the inscription on the ossuary probably referred to James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus of Nazareth. "Also, I have to point out that out of the thousands of ossuaries that have been found, there is only one - other than the James ossuary - that mentions not just the deceased, and his father, but the brother," said Prof (fooks) Fuchs.
Because the ossuary did not come from a controlled excavation, where archaeologists plot every detail and possible clue to a discovery's context, scholars said they despaired of ever knowing the inscription's meaning beyond doubt.
Another issue is how many times the ossuary has been used. There is no way to tell that the bone fragments it contains are of St James or of a later lodger.
The present owner, Oded Golan of Tel Aviv, bought the box from a Jerusalem antiques dealer in the 1970s. Mr Golan said he never suspected the ossuary could be linked to Christ.
Usually only the father of the deceased would be mentioned on a ossuary. The reason Jesus’ name was added to the ossuary was because of His fame.
ROMAN CATHOLIC "EXPECTED" RESPONSE... (Found on "Catholic Answers" website) Notice how Jimmy Akin does exactly as expected. As usual the Roman Church seeks to cloud the issue regarding the word "brother" or "brethren." On my “Jesus had Siblings?” page in the RCC Doctrines section of the website I share ample proof regarding the so called perpetual virginity of Mary, as well as the smoking gun passage in Matthew 13:55,56 that proves Rome lied. (my brief comments are in BOLD ITALICS below)
Bad Aramaic Made Easy
By Jimmy Akin
In 2002 a unique archaeological find was announced: a limestone ossuary (bone box) that may have held the remains of James the “brother” of Jesus. The box dates to first century Palestine and is inscribed in Jesus’ native language, Aramaic, with the words “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”
New attention was drawn to the ossuary by a book titled The Brother of Jesus, by Hershel Shanks and Ben Witherington. Shanks is the editor of Biblical Archaeology Review; Witherington is a New Testament professor. To publicize it, the two wrote a tie-in piece in USA Today's weekend magazine, in which Witherington (the primary author) asserted the following:
It is possible the inscription on the ossuary--"James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus"--provides us with a challenge in regard to some basic Christian assumptions about James. The Roman Catholic tradition is that Jesus' brothers and sisters actually were cousins; Orthodox Christians believe they were Joseph's children by a previous marriage. The inscription conflicts with both of those Christian traditions, in fact, for there certainly was an Aramaic word for "cousin" that could have been used in this inscription but was not. If Jesus was the son of only Mary, and James was the son of only Joseph, then Jesus and James would not literally have been brothers, as this inscription states. --"In the Name of the Brother," USA Weekend, April 13, 2003
Witherington's statement proved highly controversial. Though his characterization of Catholic teaching is not without problem, his assertion that there is an Aramaic word for cousin was egregious. (A GREE JUS) (Conspicuously bad or offensive)
The Source of the Controversy
The New Testament is explicit that Mary was a virgin at the time she conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Christian tradition--later infallibly affirmed by the Church--acknowledges that she remained a virgin afterwards. The great majority of Christians acknowledges this. Only the Protestant community dissents.
The better way to explain that is to say that "Catholic tradition" is what acknowledges Mary as a virgin for life. Nowhere in the Bible does to say that. Not one solitary verse. There is not as single Christian denomination that claims she was a perpetual virgin either. Only in Catholicism do you see this, on my Mary Worship page in the RCC Exposed section of the website you can see why they teach this.
But there are certain questions to be answered, such as who the "brethren" or "brothers" of Christ mentioned in Scripture are. In English when we say "brother" we usually mean full brother--a male sibling sharing both biological parents.
Jimmy Akin uses the word "usually" to confirm his opinion? Fact is, I "usually" don't believe anyone that has no confidence in their message. Do you?Think about it. He seeks to convince us by his lack of factual evidence. That “usually” means they have no evidence.
But the term has a broader range of meanings. It can include half-brother (male sibling sharing one biological parent), step-brother (male sibling sharing one parent by marriage), and adoptive brother (male sibling adopted into the family). It can be given figurative meanings, such as "comrade," as when military men are described as "a band of brothers."
No solid, or researchable proof. Just "opinions" of Jimmy Akin are used here. Nowhere does the Word or even the Ossuary intimate that any of these opinions apply.
Which applies to the brethren of Christ in Scripture?
It is unlikely that the term "brother" is being used figuratively or mystically because all Christians are Christ's brothers in that sense, making it pointless to single out certain individuals for this description. Full brother is impossible, as Protestants also acknowledge, since Jesus was not the biological child of Joseph. Half-brother is ruled out by the fact that Mary remained a virgin.
Again, a lack of confidence in his own theory is intimated when words like, “unlikely” come into play. Still, here Jimmy assumes we as Protesting Christians BELIEVE Mary remained a virgin for life, and therefore we must throw out the "half brother" assumption? That statement alone proves he is grasping at straws in a desperate manner. One would think that if Jimmy Akin had Biblical proof of that statement he would use it. And as is always the case, they merely use assumptions to preach as if they have concrete evidence.
I ask Jimmy Akin... Show me one verse that says Mary was a virgin for life. Or show me one verse that shows me Joseph did NOT consummate his marriage to Mary. Or show me one verse that shows me Mary denied her husbands carnal desires for his WIFE. I know Jimmy cannot do this, however a babe in Christ would have no trouble finding the verses that do prove Mary was not a virgin for life, Joseph did consummate that marriage, and Mary did not refuse her husband’s carnal desires.
It is possible they were adoptive brothers, but there does not seem to be any evidence for this in the biblical or patristic record. More plausibly, they were step-brothers: children of Joseph who were Jesus' brothers by marriage.
Plausibly? “Possible? Jimmy Akin is still "suggesting" an opinion here, nothing more nothing less. I have yet to see any Scriptural or historic proof denying that which I laid out previously. Nor do I see Jimmy sharing any Biblical verses proving his perpetual virgin theory. Friends... NEVER accept an "opinion" when there are FACTS laid out for inspection. This is a foolish act for anyone to embrace. Would you walk into a burning building that you see totally engulfed in flame after a friend suggests it appears to them to be safe? The facts never lie. This is why Jimmy avoids them repeatedly here.
There is some evidence for this in the writings of early Christians. The earliest discussion of the matter that we have--in a document known as the Protoevangelium of James (c. A.D. 120)--states that Joseph was a widower who already had a family and thus was willing to become the guardian of a consecrated virgin. Though not inspired, the document was written within living memory of Mary, when Christ's family was still well known, as other sources attest (e.g., second century historian Hegisippus). It may contain accurate traditions regarding the family structure.
This is all Catholic documentation (notice the LATIN title)and therefore 100% untrustworthy. Rome lied in the past, and Rome lies today. In fact, Rome admitted they lied for all its history in the pope’s Mea Culpa of March 2000. So, should we trust Roman documentation that Jimmy himself admits is uninspired? This is another tactic of Rome, if they cannot find proof in the Bible to back their doctrines, they will look for it in MAN’S WORD! And according to Scripture that is a foolish act. Babylon is the house of Antichrist. For proof, CLICK HERE for a FLASH animation.
The step-brother hypothesis was the most common until St. Jerome (the turn of the fifth century), who popularized the idea that the brethren were cousins. One would not guess this from a casual reading of the New Testament, but many have tried to deduce it from statements in the New Testament.
Jimmy admits here that for 5 CENTURIES most people did not agree with his church's theory UNTIL it was "popularized." And it was a Hypothesis that was popularized. In other words, and educated GUESS was accepted as proof, and now we are expected to believe this to be the final say? Still, just because an idea is "popular" it doesn't make it right. Truth is, Cocaine is "popular" eh?
Part of the issue turns on the meaning of the word "brother." Thus far we have been discussing the English word brother for simplicity. The Greek equivalent (adelphos) includes the same concepts in its range of meaning. But Greek also has a word for "cousin" (anepsios), which seems to have been the normal word used when referring to cousins. An advocate of the cousin hypothesis would need to explain why it wasn't used if Christ’s brethren were cousins.
Again, Jimmy is displaying no confidence at all in his own assumptions. This is well noted when he states, "which seems to have been the normal word used" in the above excerpt. My friends, when they have no PROOF they always use "assumptions" to try and get YOU to believe them. Why should we believe them when they themselves don’t believe what they say? Plus, if in fact James was a cousin as Rome proclaims, and since both Aramaic and Greek do in fact have a word for cousin, I ask why wasn’t it used if in fact James was only a cousin?
The standard explanation is that the New Testament isn't ordinary Greek. Some have suggested that parts of it may be translations from Aramaic. It is unknown if or how much of the New Testament had an Aramaic original, but even if none did, Aramaic had a strong influence on it. Probably all the New Testament authors except Luke were native Aramaic-speakers, and much of the dialogue in the Gospels originally occurred in Aramaic. Sometimes the Gospels even tell us the original words (e.g., “Talitha cumi” in Mark 5:41).
In the above paragraph we see Jimmy Akin using the following words...
suggested
it may be
unknown
probably
sometimes
None of which are strong words of confidence by any stretch of the imagination. ALL these words are used in the context of someone who is UNSURE of his message.
This is important because the meaning of the Aramaic word for "brother" (aha) not only includes the meanings already mentioned but also includes other close relations, including cousins.
In fact, there was no word for "cousin" in Aramaic.
Here we see Jimmy speaking untruthfully. Professor Witherinton who was quoted in USA Today stated there is in fact an Aramaic word for cousin.
If one wanted to refer to the cousin relationship, one has to use a circumlocution such as “the son of his uncle” (brona d-`ammeh). This often is too much trouble, so broader kinship terms are used that don’t mean “cousin” in particular; e.g., ahyana ("kinsman"), qariwa ("close relation"), or nasha ("relative"). One such term is aha, which literally means “brother” but is also frequently used in the sense of “relative, kinsman.”
Again, here he is expecting his readers to believe him on mere "opinion" or "circumstantial evidence." Not one shred of provable evidence either Scriptural or historic has yet to have been used to CONFIDENTLY portray his message as being authentic. Not one. In my book this is the message of a liar seeking to hide something.
The first Christians in Palestine, not having a word for cousin, would normally have referred to whatever cousins Jesus had with such a general term and, in translating their writing or speech into Greek, it is quite likely that the Aramaic word aha would have been rendered literally with the Greek word for brother (adelphos).
The word "likely" used here again proves HE IS UNSURE. And the fact that there is a word for cousin in both Aramaic and Greek proves he is lying.
Which James?
There may be as many as seven men named James mentioned in the New Testament. For our purposes the most important are:
* James “the brother of the Lord” (Matt. 13:55, Acts 15:13-21, 1 Cor. 15:7, Gal. 1:19)
* James “son of Zebedee” (Matt. 4:21, 10:2, 17:1, Acts 12:2)
* James “son of Alphaeus” (Matt. 10:3, Acts 1:13)
It is the first whose ossuary may have been found. He often was called “James the Just” and was martyred in the A.D. 60s (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20:9). He is not the same as James son of Zebedee, who was martyred earlier (Acts 12:2). Advocates of the cousin interpretation commonly seek to identify him with James son of Alphaeus.
Here Jimmy Akin is trying to "confuse" the issue further. Did you know the definition of the word "Babylon" is "to mix" truth with error? Jimmy is doing exactly as Rome has always done. Pray for him people. It is sad when it is so obvious to those of us with eyes that see what he is actually doing here. He truly can't see what he is doing. If he did, he would know how absurd it is.
Engaging the Argument
In the USA Weekend piece, Witherington criticized both the step-brother and the cousin hypotheses. Regarding the former, he wrote, "If Jesus was the son of only Mary, and James was the son of only Joseph, then Jesus and James would not literally have been brothers, as this inscription states."
This argument seems flatly erroneous. The inscription does not state that Jesus and James were "literally" brothers. It says that they were brothers, period. It doesn't say "James, son of Joseph, literal brother of Jesus."
This is a common technique of Rome. They use a lie as truth. They do the same with Scriptures at every turn. When the Word of God is bluntly stating Truth, Rome will always seek a way to place a "twist" on what the Lord said so as to confuse the issue. Those of us that are God's children understand easily what's being said in His Word. For His children DO hear His voice. Those that aren't His children, seek to look for ways around what's being said by the Lord. Case in point. Study up on how Satan has always used "what God said" in a way to make it appear He says something else. He has done this since the Garden of Eden.
So, since Jimmy Akin seeks a "literal" proof here. (even though it's already there for those with eyes that see) I ask. Jimmy Akin, where is the one verse that LITERALLY proves Mary was a virgin until death? Or how about the verse that LITERALLY proves Joseph never consummated the marriage? Or the one verse that LITERALLY states Mary denied Joseph's carnal desires towards his God given WIFE? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander I always say, so Jimmy, I ask, where is your LITERAL proof?
And what does Witherington mean by "literally"? To most ears, the most literal meaning of “brother” is full brother, all the other senses being in some sense accommodated to this primary sense. But we know that James can't be a full brother because Joseph was not Jesus' biological father. (A point that Witherington, who has written a book critical of liberal reinterpretations of Jesus, presumably acknowledges.)
Did you catch that? Jimmy Akin is now using the exact same method Bill Clinton used to define sex so as to get away with an evil act. He takes an obvious fact and twists it to generate some question. No matter how vague the twist may be, it’s effective for those that have no faith.
Witherington is trying to get too much out of the single word "brother" in the inscription. It's range of meaning is simply too broad to rule out James being a step-brother.
Truth is folks, Jimmy is trying to do the exact same thing with the word "cousin" here. Yet we are expected to believe him over documented facts?
Even in English, which has a gigantic vocabulary that includes a term for step-brother, we tend to use just "brother." Someone making introductions is more likely to say "This is my brother" than "This is my step-brother," unless family relations are unusually icy.
Again, Jimmy Akin is using "assumptions" to preach this error. More LACK of confidence from Jimmy Akin leads to one thing, and one thing only. A lack of confidence in those that hear him and his message. I praise the Lord for His Word and the factual evidence He supplies for His followers. It’s amazing how this God of ours never leaves us without evidence of His truth as does Rome leave its preachers fumbling about in the dark looking for crafty lies to deceive the masses.
What I truly find amazing is how Jimmy thinks he can compare a flippant statement with an etched epilog. How can anyone assume calling a step-brother “brother” in a casual manner as most people do is comparable to etching “brother” instead of “step-brother” on a bone box? Like today’s tombstones, one doesn’t find it a good idea to be inaccurate when etching in stone the final, and permanent, last statement of a person’s life and or title. Still, Jimmy uses this method to try and pull the onus off the fact that he has yet to share one speck of viable evidence to support his theories.
Witherington dismissed the cousin hypothesis by simply asserting, "there certainly was an Aramaic word for 'cousin' that could have been used in this inscription but was not." For this argument to work, several premises have to be granted:
Fact is, the word "BROTHER" was used on the ossuary, and Jimmy Akin is trying to make us all believe it should have been "COUSIN." The easy and blunt thing to notice here is. THE WORD COUSIN IS NOT ON THAT BOX. That fact alone is what’s got Jimmy blood up.
If you want to see the rest of the article, click the URL below. But understand this. Jimmy Akin merely repeats assumptions, lies, and twists facts as he has done here. I believe I made that crystal clear by simply using common sense. Plus, nowhere does Jimmy Akin prove his side of the story as did the actual Scientists that authenticated the box, or the historians that verified the words, or the preachers that shared the Scriptures that tied the two together.
I will share one more tidbit from Jimmy Akin's article. He said, regarding Witherington's facts...
"Witherington behaved irresponsibly by asserting in popular print that there is such a word. In so doing he misled people of multiple religious persuasions, disturbed the faith of some, confused others, and sparked a round of needless arguments."
Jimmy... You just did exactly what you accused Witherington of doing with the word "cousin." And we now have it in POPULAR PRINT as well.
Original article URL= http://www.catholic.com/library/Bad_Aramaic_Made_Easy.asp
The above was used by permission from Nicholas at http://www.remnantofgod.org/
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RELICS, BONES AND BODYPARTS
Roman Catholics love relics
The Catholic church has a thing about things. Things like bits of bone, desiccated flesh, random body parts, scraps of cloth, splinters of wood and stuff like that. They like to use such things in the practice of those arcane rites which only those in the RCC clerical hierarchy appear to really understand. Now, in the animistic or shamanistic religions, such objects would be called fetishes, and would be given unreasonably excessive attention or reverence. The Roman church calls these things relics and would have her faithful consider them as means to focus on the Lord God. Well, that is what they say, anyway.
1674. Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful. The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals,[Cf. Council of Nicaea II: DS 601; 603; Council of Trent: DS 1822.] etc. Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
In ancient times, there was a regular cult of the dead. It existed before the birth of Christ. In the morning of Christianity, the Church presented no coherent opposition to it. In fact, some of the early church fathers and some bishops participated in the pagan practices of the cult of martyrs and some even encouraged them.
In the early centuries of our Christian faith, there was a wide trade in "relics," or bits and pieces of dead martyrs and "saints." Seems just about every town and church wanted its own piece of some dead church hero or something that hero had touched or worn. Those who could afford it, bought such relics and either enshrined them in their homes or places of business or wore them on their persons.
This was such a lucrative trade that folks began to invent martyrs. No grave was safe, for the unscrupulous – or the excessively religious – were wont to dig up the remains and hustle the various body parts and bits of clothing to some other town in need of a martyr of its own. Sometimes, country folk would erect a little shrine to Saint Somebody-or-other to attract visitors and their custom. This practice became so rampant that, in Africa, the assembled bishops resolved in 401 A.D. that:
...altars set up here and there in the countryside and along roads as if in memory of martyrs, in which it is shown that no body or relics of martyrs have been deposited, shall be overthrown, though, if this is impossible because of demonstrations by the people, at least the population should be admonished. . ." --L. T. Lefort, Le Chasse aux reliques des martyrs en Egypte au IV siecle, La Nouvelle Clio 6 (1954), pp. 225-230)
For centuries, people reported all manner of fantastic experiences, either their own of someone else's, and visitations from angels, spirits of the dead and, of course, Mary. What was behind this surge of religious activity and the incredible growth of the cult of martyrs in the latter years of Constantine's rule? Emperor Constantine, by the Edict of Milan, legitimized Christian worship throughout the Roman Empire, an act which certainly facilitated church growth. Converts began to flock to the new religion, which seemed not to fully meet their spiritual needs:
For by their own act, they found themselves without gods. A strange way to put it. Surely they understood that the one Omnipotence was enough. But no, the answer was overwhelmingly no. That was because the concerns of the little people were little, and they were therefore not accustomed to apply to Jupiter or Zeus for succor; nor to Yahweh, after conversion. Like the great Lex, they thought, great gods cared nothing "de minimis;" great gods were lords and masters, not the fathers they hoped to appeal to (so Apollonius had once put it). Conversion and the repudiation of their old patrons and rescuers among the divine ranks had left an emptiness, a loneliness in times of trouble, not comfortably to be filled by the Power preached from urban pulpits. --Ramsay MacMullen, Christianity & Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries, (C) 1997 Yale University Press, pp. 120-121)
Sure, leaders of the early church made an effort to convince people that Almighty God was big enough and caring enough and accessible enough to handle all their problems, even the littlest of them. Augustine, time and again, struggled against his congregation's reluctance to go to God with the routine problems of ordinary living:
There are those who say God is good, great, the top, beyond our perception, incorruptible, who will give us eternal life and that incorruptibility which he has promised in the resurrection, while temporal matters and matters of this world belong to "daemons."
"Let us reduce it to the very least things: he sees to the salvation of your hen."--Augustine, En. In ps. 34.1.7, In Ioann. Ev. Tract. 34.3f, and En. In ps. 26.2.19
The Bishop of Hippo rebuked "those misguided men who count God as necessary for eternal life, for that life of the soul, but thinks these Powers must be worshipped by us on account of temporal matters." (Ibid.)
What to do now? Christianity taught that God was sufficient to meet all man's needs, yet the common people did not feel confident in approaching so great and illustrious a Being with their "little" problems. They missed their many "little" gods, the lower order superhuman beings to whom they were accustomed to applying for help and protection. Fortunately, there was a Christian answer: they could appeal to sanctified martyrs.
Early Christians were well-served by their dead martyrs in the early days of the church. We have no record of any of these martyrs accomplishing any miracle involving hens, but St. Felix could cure larger animals as well as find those who ran away. Sts. Hypatius and Thecla could do about the same. St. Martin once exorcised a demon from a mad cow, and St. Fides is said to have resurrected a mule. St. Germanus, while still alive, ministered to a rooster who had lost his cock-a-doodle-do (Constantius, "Vita Germani II")
From Augustine and Basil, "The principal business of the martyrs, by far, then as for a thousand years to come, was to restore fertility, straighten limbs, clear the sight, or untwist the mind. Like Asclepieia, like sacred springs presided over by their healing deities, the martyria served as hospitals to urban and rural masses alike . . .The need for divine help, as the traditional was banished by mission and persecution together, was no doubt enormous; to supply it, the Christian God might seem very distant; but the beneficience of the sanctified dead was close and comfortable. The traditional world of antiquity thus retained or resumed its traditional character "under new management."--Ramsay MacMullen, Christianity & Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries, (C) 1997 Yale University Press, pp. 121-122
Even today, in the RCC way of religion, God is presented as virtually inaccessible and Christ seems aloof and even somewhat to be feared. After all He is the Judge Who will seal for all eternity the fate of the lost at His judgment seat. Scripture tells us there is but one mediator between God and man, our Savior Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). How can we, insignificant and virtually powerless, dare to take our petitions straight to the Omnipotence? Rome provides a more loving and nurturing mediatrix to intercede with THE Mediator in our behalf – Mary, Queen of Heaven.
969. 'This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.'[LG 62.]--CCC, Op. cit.
And if a problem requires the services of a specialist, why there are plenty of saints, many of them martyrs, to call on. Why bother God over a coming traffic court appearance? St. Jude can help you. The RCC pantheon of saints not only replaces the old college of pagan gods and demigods, it actually makes it better. Where as before, folks only were able to appeal to a few hundred deities for help, Rome provides a list numbering in the thousands.
And how are these ministering spirits and unacknowledged deities to be recompensed for their labors in our behalf? Why by rendering them worship and reverence, of course. In keeping with Rome's wordplay, these spirits of the dead are to be rendered a type of worship other than that rendered to the Almighty One. God alone, in His Three Persons, is to be adored with latria. Only Mary qualifies for the second level of worship, labeled hyperdulia. However, all those spirits of the dead and even the bits and pieces of their mortal remains or appurtances, as well as odds and ends of things or emanations, are to be honored with the lowest level of worship, which Rome terms dulia. Seems only fair, doesn't it?
Can. 1186 To foster the sanctification of the people of God, the Church commends to the special and filial veneration of Christ's faithful the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, the Mother of God, whom Christ constituted the Mother of all. The Church also promotes the true and authentic cult of the other Saints, by whose example the faithful are edified and by whose intercession they are supported.--Code of Canon Law (CCL), I IntraText Edition LT © 2003 Èulogos
Rome is so caught up in the worship of spirits and things that they like to keep relics in their churches, chapels, shrines, and similar places. Shoot! There is a scrap of rag, or a shrivelled up body part, or splinter of wood or some other things once belonging to a "saint" or martyr in most permanent altars maintained by Rome. It used to be that every permanent altar had to hold relics, but that changed in this ecumenical era of the Novus Ordo Mass. The Code of Canon Law and General Instruction V of the Roman Missal still appear to continue the tradition of relics in altars, but the Nova Ordo does not require them
Can. 1237 §2 The ancient tradition of placing relics of Martyrs or of other Saints within a fixed altar is to be retained, in accordance with the rites prescribed in the liturgical books.--CCL, Op. cit.
Now, doesn't that call to mind the pagan religions Rome so eagerly incorporated into her own religious practice? Rome is so big on the ghoulish business of worshipping body parts or involving them in their worship that some really bizarre situations have developed.
One example of the silliness that has risen up around the cult of saints and martyrs is the fact that the Vatican is in possession of TWO skulls which they claim were Peter's. One is enshrined in the Cathedral of St. John Lateran and at "Peter's burial site" in the graffiti wall in the Vatican. Peter was quite a guy, but I doubt he had two heads.
Then, there's the story of how a merchant paid a hooker to use her skills to obtain an arm of John the Baptist as her price for servicing the sexual needs of an hospitaler. John's relics were in demand. In 1016, monks in Aquitaine claimed they had come into possession of the head of John the Baptist. This "discovery" seemed not to create any distress, although another head supposedly having also belonged to John had been on display in Antioch for a very long time.
Anything that had touched the body of Christ was particularly desirable. One such object was the Spear of Destiny, the very weapon that was said to have pierced the side of Christ as He hung on the cross. Some stories claim this spear has existed since the beginning of recorded time, being passed from dynasty to dynasty. Adolf Hitler, who was deeply involved with things occult, was fascinated by the Spear. On the very day Germany annexed Austria, March 12, 1938, Hitler was in Vienna, where he went to the Hofmuseum to personally take charge of the Spear, which was on display there. After Germany had been defeated, General Patton, himself a believer in reincarnation and other curious things, was shocked to learn that Germany had been in possession of the Spear. The general was concerned that the Allies might have to resort to the use of nuclear weapons to fulfill the Spear's destiny.
Other relics held and revered by Catholic faithful and the Roman church included Christ's Holy Navel, Holy Tears, Hair, Fingernails and Holy Foreskin. Of course, Mary's milk, tears, hair and such were in great demand as well.
Little has changed since the early days when the church, in her zeal to "make converts," adapted pagan beliefs and rituals and legitimized them by tacking on the label "Christian." Do you reckon God is fooled by that label? I'll be posting details of some of the strange things the Catholic church has said and done as regards the ghoulish practice of using "holy" body parts in her worship. For now, I urge all those who participate in the pagan ways of Rome to read and bear in mind the very serious way God has dealt in the past with those who would not heed His commandants and worshipped as heathens:
And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.--2 Kings 17:9-20
Do you reckon God has changed His mind? That the things that bothered Him in the Old Testament no longer concern Him? That believers are not under the Law and therefore need not worry?
With thanks to www.sxws.com/charis
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IS ROMAN CATHOLICISM A CULT?
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
On this page I would like to better define the lines between a Christian church and an actual cult. All too often the word cult is addressed to people that believe in the second coming, trust the Bible, or just plain home school children. What amazes me is how often it is the Catholic church that tags people with the title cult, when they themselves sport all the earmarks of a cult.
When the Sabbath keeping prophecy understanding children of God came out of hiding about 200 years ago, the Roman church with their many millions of members decided they should be tagged a cult. Reason being, not only were these Sabbath keeping Christians embracing the Law of God as a fruit of true Christianity, they also had an uncanny ability to match prophetic facts with historic documentation. Rome of course didn’t like that one bit. They feared their message because they were the ones being unmasked. Every prophecy that has ever been uttered in Scripture regarding Antichrist was now being PROVEN with rock hard evidence to in fact be the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. History had now afforded these Christians with ample evidence that was readily available, as well as the Bible itself was now being printed for the common man. This has allowed almost anyone with a competent knowledge of history a valid method by which to identify Antichrist. So Rome yelled CULT as loud as she could to try and prevent problems.
Now, common human nature has proven that the natural reaction to the mass opinion is to always go with the crowd. In other words, if everyone is saying it, it must be true. Problem with that thought process is, when it comes to Scriptural facts, the crowd theology, or the majority is always wrong. Case in point, the ENTIRE PLANET in Noah’s day thought Noah was just some crazed lunatic building a boat on dry land that was preaching the end of the word was coming by a flood. Science has already proven that at this time in earth’s history it had NEVER rained before on the planet. No one believed Noah. The great firmament was still in place, the great deep was still just under the earth’s crust that was not only watering the soil and roots, it was gently warming it as well due to the close proximity of the earth’s magma. So, rain as we see today was not necessary. The plants had all the water they needed, the atmosphere was hyperbolic in nature, and so the thought of rain, let alone clouds in the air seemed absolutely insane to the majority. Yet, did their adamant disbelief somehow stop the now scientifically proven global flood from coming? No it did not. Scientists have not only proven a global flood, they have found pillow lava on mountain tops as well as large salt formations on Mt. Ararat. Not to mention the actual petrified ark of Noah that has been probed, flown over and even photographed over the years. In fact…
Marco Polo wrote of seeing it during his travels
· In 1883 a Turkish expedition documented the ark’s existence upon Mt Ararat
· In 1916 during World War I, Russian pilot Lt. Zabalotski photographed the ark while on a recognizance mission
· In 1944 a photo of the ark appeared in an issue of the “Stars & Stripes” publication of the US military
· In 1959 F100 Jet Fighter pilot Gregor Schwinghammer sighted the ark
· And Ron Bennet, UPI White House photographer, during the Carter administration was on board Air Force One, while on an escorted flight over Mt. Ararat. He was told along with everyone else on board to look out their windows and see for themselves NOAH’S ARK!
That ark is there, and there was a global flood. We now know this. The MAJORITY, or “crowd theologians” in Noah’s day stated Noah was wrong. The MAJORITY, or shall I say the ENTIRE PLANET figured since everyone else thought Noah was mistaken in his prophetic declarations, he must be wrong. How can the whole planet be wrong they thought? How can this one man and his small family be the only true followers of God?
Well, it’s no different today! When the Sabbath keeping child of God came out of hiding directly after Rome stopped killing the Christians, they started to proclaim prophetic facts that angered the dragon. Satan knew his methods of deception, and crowd theology worked real well in Noah’s day, and as the saying goes, if it works don’t fix it, right? So, the Devil prodded the prelates of Rome to proclaim the true Christians to be a CULT simply because they didn’t go along with the MAJORITY of Roman Catholic theologian’s. Not to mention the hundreds of millions of Catholics that were taught to blindly accept what their leaders said as truth. These peculiar people that are keeping what they called the “Jewish Sabbath,” had to be a cult. Look at how strange they are Rome said! They don’t go to church in Sunday like we do! They don’t embrace the doctrines we do! They don’t believe our Pope is holy as we do! So they must be a cult.
Problem with this lie of Rome was, there will always be people out there that WILL open their bibles to verify the Truth. They are called the elect! And according to Matthew 24:24, the elect can NOT be deceived. Now I know some of you have heard your pastors say that “even the elect” can be deceived. But have you READ Matthew 24:24 lately? It doesn’t say that at all. Remember that verse.. MATTHEW 24:24.. jot it down, and then later look at it and you will see, you have been LIED to.
So.. how can we tell the difference between a cult and a Christian church? Well, finding a Christian church is rather easy. It’s one that will adhere to the Christian God’s Bible as the sole authority. I have a page on the site, called “Remnant Christian Fruits” in the “Bible Truths” section of the website that lays out 8 of the major biblical teachings that we can use to identify the true remnant church, or Bride of Christ in the last days. If we were to look for this church we must not settle for just any church, we must make sure it is exactly as the Word of God describes it to be. It must be God's church! It won’t step off that platform of Truth no matter what the cost! I won't settle for anything less for my self or my family. Why should you?
However a cult is a little more difficult to find sometimes. They don’t rely on Scripture at all. In fact they rely on what Jesus refers to as doctrines of demons and traditions of man over and above the Scripture. So there’s a key we will use in our investigation. Plus the cult will always seek to go against biblical jurisprudence, or actual Christian truths. All one needs to do in this respect is to look at the church in question, investigate its doctrines and teachings and do as the Berean’s of Acts chapter 17 did. We must see what they have to say then open a Bible to see if those things are so.
So.. let’s do that with Roman Catholicism shall we? Does it stand up to the acid test of truth? Do they go by whatsoever saith the Lord? The Vatican does claim to be a CHRISTIAN church does it not? So let’s see if that is so? If they are a Christian church, then they won’t have a problem with the Christian Bible. Biblical jurisprudence is defined by Isaiah rather bluntly when he says, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20) So bringing a Bible into the mix is an absolute necessity when a church proclaims to be Christian. You can use a Bible to expose non-Christian faiths as well of course, but not as effectively as you can with so called followers of Christ, because Muslims, Buddhists, or even Zoroastrian nuns don’t accept him as Lord. So when you walk up to them with a Bible they don’t understand that book as truth. So they ignore it. In that respect the Bible is only effective to the BELIEVER that holds it. But as I said earlier, Rome claims Christ as Lord, so the Bible will have to be the method by which she must be tested! Isaiah made that very clear.
In my research over the years I have found MANY signs of cultic activity in many churches. Of course there are way too many of these signs to mention, so I will concentrate on what I like to refer to as the SIX MAJOR SIGNS OF A CULT. If they have more then one of these, this is a church that has no doubt stepped off the platform of truth and should be avoided at all cost. But if they have ALL SIX, then this is most assuredly a bonafide, died in the wool actual CULT we are dealing with.
Sign 1 that the Roman Catholicism is a cult
Every cult has a single powerful human leader. In fact, all cult leaders will proclaim themselves a god on earth. Do you recall Jim Jones? or Charles Manson? They both proclaimed themselves to be Jesus Christ did they not? Did you know the Pope does this as well? Listen to what the Pope's of Rome have to say in that regard.
"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." Catholic National July 1895.
"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty" ...Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Letter of June 20, 1894,
"For thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husbandman, finally thou art another God on earth." Labbe and Cossart's "History of the Councils." Vol. XIV, col. 109
The title "Lord God the Pope" is found within a gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, title 14, chapter 4, In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words, "Dominum Deum Nostrum Papam" (Our Lord God the Pope) can be found in column 153. In a Paris edition, they are found in column 140.
"The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land . . . He is the vicegerent of Christ, and is not only a priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords"--La Civilta Cattolica, March 18, 1871.
"It seems that Pope John Paul II now presides over the universal Church from his place upon Christ's cross," said Bishop Dunn, who traveled with seven other prelates to Rome. Taken from an article entitled, "Auckland Bishop Says Pope Presides From the Cross" AUCKLAND, New Zealand, SEPT. 20, 2004 -Zenit.org (Article ZE04092001)
http://www.answeringcatholicism.com/catholicismexposed/isromancatholicismacult/index.shtml
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Current estimates of Roman Catholic priests in the U.S.= 49,000 to 50,000
Estimates of pedophile priests = 3,000 (6.1%) to 8,000 (16.3%)
188 Dioceses in the U.S. Divide 3,000 by 188 = 16 perpetrators per diocese
Divide 8,000 by 188 = 42 perpetrators per diocese
Current experts claim a pedophile could abuse 200-265 children in a lifetime.
200 x 16 perps/diocese = 3,200 victims/diocese
200 x 42 perps/diocese = 8,400 victims/diocese
3,200 victims/diocese x 188 dioceses = 601,600 victims in U.S.
8,400 victims/diocese x 188 dioceses = 1,579,200 victims in U.S.
Average American family consists of 4-6 people
(3,200 victims/diocese) 601,600 victims x 4 family members = 2,406,400 indirect victims
60l,000 victims x 6 family members = 3,609,600 indirect victims
(8,400 victims/diocese) 1,579,200 x 4 family members = 6,316,800 indirect victims
1,579,200 x 6 family members = 9,475,200 indirect victims
These numbers are a reflection of immediate family only and do not reflect the indirect victims within the parishes that are affected.
188 Bishops are responsible for the pain of at least 601,600 direct victims and as many as 9,475,200 indirect victims — a total of as many as 10,076,800 people. Clearly, something is wrong.
Using the lower numbers the number of direct victims and survivors alone could populate a city larger than Boston. Using the higher numbers, it would be the fourth largest city in the U.S.— one between the size of Houston and Chicago..
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Recent Quotes...
Tom Brokaw stated on NBC nightly News on March 18, 2002, that Since the mid 80's the Roman Catholic church has paid out over 1 billion dollars in lawsuits stemming from child molestations by their priests.
"Some of these guys cooperate more with evil than they do with God."-FATHER GARY R. HAYES,on priests who abused him and others who covered it up. June 12, 2002, NY Times.
"From a canonical point of view, the bishop or religious superior is neither morally nor legally responsible for a criminal act committed by one of his clerics." THE REV. GIANFRANCO GHIRLANDA, dean of the canon law faculty at Gregorian University in Rome, as quoted by the NY Times, May 18, 2002.
Father McBride on "Meet the Press" 4-28-02 said Gay men should be allowed to become Roman Catholic priests.He also admitted that many of the Roman Catholic priests are gay. Father Richard Newhouse also said that Jesus Christ as well as the Gospels declare men of God should be celebit,
All articles will "pop up" in new windows...
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Homosexuality
Priest downloaded gay porn images
Rector's book on clergy, sex is best seller - among priests
Religion, homosexuality can coexist
Catholic church reaches out to gays
Priests with AIDS
Catholic church worried about link between priests, AIDS
Cliques of gay priests are dividing the Church
Priests with AIDS - Crisis within Catholic church
AIDS in the priesthood
Bishop admits sex with priest
Homosexual Valentines day on Catholic campus
Bishop suspends priest who declared self a practicing homosexual
Priest in Spain announces his homosexuality
Spain’s first openly gay priest said...
'Gay' culture in Catholic Church grows
Gay test for aspiring priests
Confab pushes homosexuality in Church
Gay Catholics celebrate mass together
Sydney´s archbishop pell on communion for open homosexuals
Gays and the Seminary
Homosexuals better priests, Jesuit says
Bishops Avoided 'Real' Issues of Celibacy and Homosexuality, Activists Say
Spanish priest steps down after former gay lover distributes graphic video
While in California on sick leave, Boston priest bought racy gay resort
Gay association to ask Pope for homosexual patron saint
Homosexuals taking over catholic priesthood
History's Gayest Pope
Homosexuality is divinely ordered, say catechism
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Child Molestation
Priest told to step down after sex-abuse accusations
Sanchez abuse kept quite
Vatican studies sex abuse by priests
Pope's new policy is to promote pedophile priests
A dark journey of the soul
Abuse inquiry at top Catholic school (Priest may have transmitted AIDS to children!)
Pedophile Irish priest dies in jail - shocking case topples government
Documents show bishops transferred known abuser
Former altar boys get $119 million in sex-abuse case
U.K. Church report urges police checks of clergy
Child abuse and the priesthood
Priest in Innu community faces sex abuse charges
The Doyle ~ Mouton Report
Priest deserves jail for molesting children
Pastor's arrest stuns parishioners
Priest admits being in bed with 11 year old boy
Popery's plague of pedophile priests
Priest says paedophilia was good for children
Bishop guilty of concealing paedophile priest
French bishop, priest, found guilty in paedophile cases
Six more priests removed on allegations of abuse
DA's given names of 49 more priests
Six Priests Suspended After Claims of Sex Abuse
A Church Dealing With Accusations
Reports of Priests' Abuse Enrage Boston Catholics
Child abuse priest housed by Church
Child sexual abuse: the church´s days of reckoning
2 Massachusetts Priests Suspended -Sexual Abuse of Minors
Scores of priests involved in sex abuse cases
Boston Archdiocese Gives Authorities Names of Priests Abusing Children
Catholics Debate Boston Leadership
Priest says he, too, molested boys
More Catholic Priests dismissed in Child Sex Abuse
Archdiocese Could Pay Up to $30 Million...
Dioceses Sell Land, Borrow Money to Pay Settlements in Sexual Abuse Cases
Pope may sack Polish prelate in sex scandal
Boston Priests Doubting Cardinal After Sex Scandal
Hundreds now claim priest abuse
Rome pays $110 MILLION to settle child sex abuse cases in Ireland
'95 ruling a shield for clergy
Weakland gives priests abuse data
Archdiocese defends secrecy
Church sex scandal taints holy week
6 priests linked to abuse (6 known pedophiles allowed to serve)
Church too lenient on sex-abuse priests -poll
Sex predator: the priest who got away
Victim claims he's 'breaking chain of abuse' (priest takes porno pics of kids)
Suit names archdiocese, N.H. bishop
Victim abused by priest: 'Floodgates will open'
Priest asks victim, "would you like to kiss Jesus?"
Gay test for aspiring priests
Catholic church computer seized in child porn probe
Philadelphia Archdiocese Reveals 35 Pedophile Priests
Vatican wrestles with pedophilia scandals
Portland Main Diocese remove 2 pedophile priests
Florida bishop admits sexual abuse of seminary student
Bishops back offf of OUSTING Priests
Bishops spokesman shielded gay priests
Priests hiding behind confession seal
As Lawsuits spread, Church faces questions on finances
Catholics learning sex from Kinsey's disciples (Known Pedophile)
111 U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops Kept Priests
Catholic Bishops Who Resigned in Sexual Misconduct Scandals
Accused bishop of lexington, kentucky, resigns
Bishops' Meeting on Catholic Sex Abuse Crisis an Echo of 1992 Gathering
Abuse Victims Sue to Void Secrecy Provisions of Settlements With Church
At Least 300 Church Abuse Suits Filed
Hundreds Of Priests Removed Since '60s
Australia Catholic Church Apologizes
Cops check ex-priests yard for remains
Survey Finds Most Catholics Unhappy with Church Handling of Scandal
Florida Priest Held in Michigan on Sex Charges
Archdiocese Ponders Legality of Damage Caps
14 priests in Miami diocese accused of abuse
When priests commit suicide
Weakland denies he abused man archdiocese paid $450,000
Vatican Lawsuit Liability Could Reach $1 Billion in US
Roman Catholic Church uses High Powered Lawyers to Harrass accusers
Egan Paid Accused Priest
Vatican Lawyer Says Bishops Should Not Reveal Abuse Claims
D.A. Demanding Evidence from Catholic Cardinal
Angry Catholics pack sessions on sex abuse
Accused Priest Apparently Kills Self
Priest Who Admitted Sex with Teen Shot in Baltimore
Powerful Cardinal in Vatican Accused of Sexual Abuse Cover-Up
Catholics seek UN action against Vatican
Church reneges on cash for paedophile priest victims
Priests linked to teen sex -Diocese never reported incidents
Former Kansas priest unregistered as sex offender in South Dakota
Former altar boy says priests ran boys' prostitution ring
CATHOLIC CHURCH KNEW OF CHILD MOLESTATION BACK IN 1985!
Priest kept working after abuse cases
Cardinal Law says plaintiffs contributed to alleged abuse
Ex-Boston Priest Arrested in Rape
Dioceses in 46 States Feel Impact of Sex Abuse Scandal Among Clergy
Catholic Military Chaplains Punished
450 MORE VICTIMS COME FORWARD!
Americans target the Holy See
Sex Abuse by Clergy a Global Problem
Priest praised sex with boys in '79 talk
Church allowed abuse by priest for years
Priest molested boy, 12, at rockaway beach: da
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Child Molestation OVERFLOW...
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52505,00.html
Monks, Parishioners Clean Nativity Church
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52362,00.html
Church confessionls remain private ? Discussion
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52318,00.html
Law: 'I Don't Remember Sex Abuse Accusations'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52228,00.html -- Related ^^^^
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52289,00.html -- Related ^^^^^
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52075,00.html -- Related ^^^^^^
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52066,00.html -- Related ^^^^^^^
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,51971,00.html -- Related ^^^^^^^^
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52281,00.html -- Priest pleads guilty
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,51968,00.html
Priest released on bail in Hong Kong -- child sex abuse
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52234,00.html
Retired Mass. Priest Pleads Innocent to Charge He Raped 12-Year-Old Boy
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52240,00.html
A HIP CATHOLIC PRIEST TV SHOW -- COMMING
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52113,00.html
Shanley Pleads Not Guilty; Bail Set at $750,000
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52214,00.html
Retired Priest Arrested in Boston Area
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52048,00.html
Is the Media Overdoing the Scandal in the Catholic Church? Discussion
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52110,00.html
Accused Ex-Priest Extradited to Boston
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52073,00.html
Priest Resigns Over Mardi Gras Photo
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,51961,00.html
Church May Mortgage Properties to Compensate Abuse Victims
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,51848,00.html
Ex-Boston Priest Arrested for Child Rape
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53126,00.html
Priest gets shot by one he molested
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53018,00.html -- Related ^^^
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53076,00.html
Vatican Official: No Need to Tell Parishioners of Sex Abuse by Priests
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53004,00.html
Priest commits suicide
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,52842,00.html
Interview with priest
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ALL Networks have information on...
ROMAN CATHOLIC PEDOPHILE PRIESTS
CNN http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/03/21/vatican.sex.abuse/index.html
CBS http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/20/national/main504125.shtml
NBC http://www.msnbc.com/news/727393.asp?cp1=1
ABC http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/pope_blakemore020321.html
FOX http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48430,00.html
USA http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/03/21/pope.htm
CWNhttp://www.cwnews.com/news/getstory.cfm?recnum=17752
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More articles are coming! However, due to the massive amount of decadence in this church, I have run a bit behind schedule in updating this page, especially the "child molestation section.
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Sexual Abuse
Vatican Acknowledges Sex Scandal
Report says priests sexually abusing nuns
Vatican admits to priests raping nuns
Priest Charged Over Date-Rape Drug
Years later, some charge sexual abuse by nuns
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Sex in the Confessional
Lewd questions asked of young girls and married women in the confessional
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RCC Cover ups
Church Sex Abuse Cover-up
Court case seeks to define Catholic priest's family
Powerful Cardinal in Vatican Accused of Sexual Abuse Cover-Up
Head of Australia's Catholic Church Refuses to Resign Over Cover-Up Claims
Abuse Victims Sue to Void Secrecy Provisions of Settlements With Church
Vatican Lawyer Says Bishops Should Not Reveal Abuse Claims
Vatican Official: No Need to Tell Parishioners of Sex Abuse by Priests
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RCC Survivors
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Misc
Pedophilia advocate featured in Catholic Church concert
French bishops address scandal of pedophilia
Court dubious on priest sex suit
Public Masturbating priest gets five years probation
Vatican encourages sexual deviancy by teens
Vatican seeks help of sexual Rock & Rollers to lure teens
Catholic Priest in trouble for posing nude
Catholic parents arrested trying to stop church teaching masturbation & homosexuality
Priest Pleads Guilty to Making Date-Rape Drug
Priest showers gay live in lover with gifts from $300,000.00 of church funds
Vatican firmly opposed to handover of information
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Links on these topics
Survivors of Clergy abuse in Catholic seminaries
Clergy Crimes
Sanchez deposition
Lechery in the church of Rome exposed
SNAP Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Sexual abuse by Catholic Priests
Catholic Pedophile Priests stats! (Check out these numbers!!)
Tremont & Sheldon Law Offices (Check out the actual cases on file against the pedophile priests of Rome!)
ABUSE TRACKER
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Here's an article that I think sums it up...
Ala. Court Rules Against Gay Mother
Fri Feb 15,10:30 PM ET
By PHILLIP RAWLS, Associated Press Writer
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - In awarding custody of three teen-agers to their father over their gay mother, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court on Friday wrote that homosexuality is "an inherent evil" and shouldn't be tolerated.
The nine-judge panel ruled unanimously in favor of a Birmingham man and against his ex-wife, who now lives with her gay partner in southern California. The parents weren't named in court documents to protect the identity of the children, ages 15, 17 and 18. Chief Justice Roy Moore wrote that the mother's relationship made her an unfit parent and that homosexuality is "abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature." Moore also quoted scripture, historical documents and previous state court rulings that he said backed his view.
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http://www.remnantofgod.org/
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