No peace without the Prince of Peace
AUBREY L DUNCAN
MAY 07, 2024
Seeing with prophetic eyes
Paul Blanshard was one of the most outspoken, far-reaching critics of Catholic power in American society. He was an American author, public official, lawyer, and political activist. His uncompromising criticism, yea, exposure of the Catholic campaign to overtake America was met with ridicule and accusations of being anti-Catholic. He was assailed as a Catholic basher and trouble maker.
His book, American Freedom and Catholic Power, is perhaps his most comprehensive treatment of the impact, goals and objectives of Roman Catholicism in America. In it Blanshard not only delineates the focused determination of the church’s hierarchy to rule America, but he also sounded a clarion call for the nation to be more aware of the inroads of this most formidable foe of our civil and religious liberties. He writes: “There is no Catholic plan for America distinct from the Catholic plan for the world. The hierarchy’s techniques of promotion vary from country to country, but the masterplan is only one plan and the world-wide strategy is directed from Rome. In a catholic world every national government would establish the Roman Catholic Church in a unique position of privilege, and support its teachers and priests out of public revenues. This is what the Holy See has always demanded in every country where it has had the power to support the demand with reasonable strength” (Paul Blanshard, American Freedom and Catholic Power, pg.269-270).
Blanshard was certainly not the first to sound this alarm. Thomas Maley Harris, physician, politician, Army General and member of the military commission which tried the Lincoln Conspirators, emphasized the threats of the Roman Papacy to our blood-bought freedoms in his long-forgotten masterpiece, Rome’s Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Harris provided incontrovertible evidence that the Jesuit Order, the most cruel, unscrupulous, deceptive and powerful champions of popery, conspired to eliminate the one who engineered the end of the civil war and bequeathed to the nation tangible hopes of a more perfect union.
General Harris writes: “It [The Roman Papacy] is, in fact, only a compact, well-organized, and powerful political machine, wielded in the interest of the greatest despotism that has ever cursed the earth. "If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of His;" and if this organization has not the spirit of Christ, it is not a church of Christ. That it is not animated by the Christ spirit is clearly manifest”.
He continued: “It has never manifested the spirit of Christ in all of its past history, and so is not a Christian church at all; and as it has always been grasping after temporal power, and civil domination, and is now, as it always has been, laboring for civil supremacy all over the world, we are surely warranted in calling it a huge and dangerous political machine, that has stolen the livery of heaven to enable it the more effectually to serve the Devil; and the more easily to deceive and enslave mankind).
He concluded: “But are our institutions in danger from this foe? Have we any cause for alarm? Is it necessary that we should sound the trumpet throughout the length and breadth of our land, and muster the hosts of freedom for the conflict? Yes, my fellow countrymen; there is cause for alarm, there is real danger in the immediate situation” (Thomas M. Harris, Rome’s Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, pg.). If there was a danger in Harris’ time, then today we are undoubtedly standing on the precipice of a catastrophe that neither mind can imagine nor pen portray.
The Biblical prophet Daniel foretold: “ And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” Daniel 12:1). It is not too difficult to conjecture that the world is on the brink of a stupendous crisis and the Roman power is involved in every aspect.
We are living in rather troublous times, aren’t we? There are wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and tsunamis, pestilences, uncertain economic times, killings of innocent babies, moral declension, and a host of other atrocities too numerous to mention. The is exactly as our Savior predicted it would be just before He returns. But then He added: “All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8).” In colloquial terms, “we ain’t seen nothing yet”. The worst is yet to come…but praise God, beyond that, the BEST is yet to come.
But what about America? What is her position and what role is she playing in this universal malaise of conflict, confusion and uncertainty?
The Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth Rock. This band of religious enthusiasts were fleeing the persecution of the church/state union that reigned throughout Europe. Sadly, however, they implemented the same policies of their former persecutors on the shores of their new-found home. Those that did not go along with their religious tenets were persecuted, harassed, and killed by the civic authorities for not following the doctrines of the church. Just as it was in the Old World, one of those doctrines was going to church on Sunday…Sunday sacredness.
But there arose one from among them who vehemently disagreed with that concept. His name was Roger Williams, and this is what he said: “An enforced uniformity of religion throughout a nation or civil state, confounds the civil and religious, denies the principles of Christianity and civility, and that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” (1644, Roger Williams (founder of Rhode Island), The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for Cause of Conscience).
Moving a little closer, we see a band of revolutionaries, no doubt influenced and inspired by the sentiments of Roger Williams, organized to cast off the yoke of the European church/state enterprise that controlled the lives of the people for more than 100 years. They would eventually not only succeed in their rebellion to separate from that system of tyranny; but would establish a country that would be founded on a principle of a completely different sort.
Expressed in their founding documents is the foundational principle that would be the source of the nation’s strength and power for as long as it exists—the separation of church and state…a country without a king and a church without a pope: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”(1st Amendment of the US Constitution).
Republicanism: (no, not the republican party) a government of the people, by the people and for the people where the majority rules with the respect for minority rights was the underlying idea. Though not perfect, it has served us well for almost 250 years. It would became a beacon of hope for millions around the world.
Here is a thought of one of the originators of that document and the country it birthed: "The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity" (James Madison, Letter to F.L. Schaeffer, Dec. 3, 1821).
In our not too distant past, we see a man by the name of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was the great grandson of one of those families that fled the continent of Europe to establish a better life for themselves in the land born out of the conviction of Roger Williams and solidified by James Madison and the Revolutionary Founding Fathers of this great nation we call the United States of America.
JFK was a gentleman, a war hero and reared in a culture of public service. He wanted to run for president, the highest elected office in the land of the free and home of the brave. But, he had a problem. He was a Roman Catholic. Americans, ever since the days of its founding, knowing well the true nature of the European Ecclesiastical Establishment, had educated their children to abhor popery, (not individual Roman Catholics) but the hierarchy characterized by its usurpation of civil and religious liberties. It’s the system from which millions fled to the new world in order to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.
In his quest for the presidency, young Mr. Kennedy had to convince the leading ministers of the land that he would not rule the nation based on the principles of his Church’s hierarchy. And indeed he did. In his most memorable speech given to those ministers gathered in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1960, the aspiring president declared: “I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all”. Unfortunately, after becoming president, he was brutally mowed down by an assassin’s bullet before an onlooking world. Had he lived and his ideas prevailed we perhaps would not be cultural and political conundrum in which we are emersed are today.
But how far have we come? Leading ministers, both Protestant and Catholic, are striving in cooperation with the state, to impose their will upon the people. Historical and spiritual amnesia have steeped in and large swats of the populace are fighting against and denying the foundational principle that has sustained the republic. Consequently, the church and state are having a love affair such as has not been seen since the Dark Ages when untold millions were slaughtered by the state for not abiding by the dogmas and doctrines of the European Church/State Establishment.
The Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth Rock. This band of religious enthusiasts were fleeing the persecution of the church/state union that reigned throughout Europe. Sadly, however, they implemented the same policies of their former persecutors on the shores of their new-found home. Those that did not go along with their religious tenets were persecuted, harassed, and killed by the civic authorities for not following the doctrines of the church. Just as it was in the Old World, one of those doctrines was going to church on Sunday…Sunday sacredness.
But there arose one from among them who vehemently disagreed with that concept. His name was Roger Williams, and this is what he said: “An enforced uniformity of religion throughout a nation or civil state, confounds the civil and religious, denies the principles of Christianity and civility, and that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” (1644, Roger Williams (founder of Rhode Island), The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for Cause of Conscience).
Moving a little closer, we see a band of revolutionaries, no doubt influenced and inspired by the sentiments of Roger Williams, organized to cast off the yoke of the European church/state enterprise that controlled the lives of the people for more than 100 years. They would eventually not only succeed in their rebellion to separate from that system of tyranny; but would establish a country that would be founded on a principle of a completely different sort.
Expressed in their founding documents is the foundational principle that would be the source of the nation’s strength and power for as long as it exists—the separation of church and state…a country without a king and a church without a pope: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”(1st Amendment of the US Constitution).
Republicanism: (no, not the republican party) a government of the people, by the people and for the people where the majority rules with the respect for minority rights was the underlying idea. Though not perfect, it has served us well for almost 250 years. It would became a beacon of hope for millions around the world.
Here is a thought of one of the originators of that document and the country it birthed: "The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity" (James Madison, Letter to F.L. Schaeffer, Dec. 3, 1821).
In our not too distant past, we see a man by the name of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was the great grandson of one of those families that fled the continent of Europe to establish a better life for themselves in the land born out of the conviction of Roger Williams and solidified by James Madison and the Revolutionary Founding Fathers of this great nation we call the United States of America.
JFK was a gentleman, a war hero and reared in a culture of public service. He wanted to run for president, the highest elected office in the land of the free and home of the brave. But, he had a problem. He was a Roman Catholic. Americans, ever since the days of its founding, knowing well the true nature of the European Ecclesiastical Establishment, had educated their children to abhor popery, (not individual Roman Catholics) but the hierarchy characterized by its usurpation of civil and religious liberties. It’s the system from which millions fled to the new world in order to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.
In his quest for the presidency, young Mr. Kennedy had to convince the leading ministers of the land that he would not rule the nation based on the principles of his Church’s hierarchy. And indeed he did. In his most memorable speech given to those ministers gathered in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1960, the aspiring president declared: “I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all”. Unfortunately, after becoming president, he was brutally mowed down by an assassin’s bullet before an onlooking world. Had he lived and his ideas prevailed we perhaps would not be cultural and political conundrum in which we are emersed are today.
But how far have we come? Leading ministers, both Protestant and Catholic, are striving in cooperation with the state, to impose their will upon the people. Historical and spiritual amnesia have steeped in and large swats of the populace are fighting against and denying the foundational principle that has sustained the republic. Consequently, the church and state are having a love affair such as has not been seen since the Dark Ages when untold millions were slaughtered by the state for not abiding by the dogmas and doctrines of the European Church/State Establishment.
Looking to the right we are witnessing with increased rapidity the demand for, denial of, legislative and judicial initiatives to discredit the bedrock of the American Experiment, separation of church and state. Central to the Religious Right’s enthrallment of church/state union is their obsession with the legal implementation of Sunday as the designated day of worship. In their now well-publicized, concise plan for the destruction of the the greatest experiment in human civilization, Project 2025, pops up this mind-boggling statement: “Sabbath Rest. God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate by moral and legal regulation of work on that day. God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate by moral and legal regulation of work on that day” (Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, pg. 589).
Coming from a slightly different perspective, the church of Rome is unabashedly bold in its call for Sunday rest. Pope Francis declared: “On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God”…And so the day of rest, centered on the Eucharist, sheds it light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor” (Laudato SI, Section 237).
The Muslim world is in agreement with Francis’ objectives as laid out in Laudato Si. So much so that they launched their own version of the pope’s vision. A leading Muslim cleric declared: “In many ways, ‘Al-Mizan’ is the Islamic equivalent to ‘Laudato Si’,’ the encyclical of Pope Francis, and more recently, the ‘Laudate Deum,’ a follow-up document,” Catholic Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, the apostolic nuncio in Kenya and South Sudan, told those gathered for the announcement. “‘Al-Mizan,’ although building entirely on its own profound Islamic tradition, resonates in many ways the teachings of ‘Laudato Si’.’
Turning to the so-called woke left, though the cultural, political and religious enemy of the Religious Right with its promotion of Christian Nationalism, is warm embrace and fervent promotion of Pope Francis’ agenda for universal Sunday Sacredness. This is presented to the world in the trojan horse called climate change. It is simply a matter of time before the common ground of Sunday exaltation brings the right and the left together in some semblance of unity. But the result will be magnanimous and the cost incalculable. Sadly, when that happens, there will be no American institution standing to mitigate the damage. Harris’ and Blanshard’s fears will have become a living become a reality.
Besides Harris Blanshard and other true American patriots, Rome’s plan for America and the rest of the world is vividly portrayed by the nineteenth century Bible commentator, whom the Smithsonian Institute described as one of the most widely-read American authors. In her classic, the Great Controversy, depicting Rome’s religious/political intrigue of the past, present and future, she writes: “Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side” (Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pg. 565-566).
As you look around the American landscape, the question that must be seriously addressed is: What part is the Roman Church playing in the now not-so-obvious systematic mortal attack on the American Experiment, a form of government she so passionately hates? The salvos are coming from both public and private silos. Is a conspiracy against Washington’s Great Experiment being manifested before our eyes?
In a recent article in the popular online political journal, Politico, journalist, Heidi Przybyla, reports on the intriguing relationship between Donald Trump, his three Roman Catholic Supreme justices and the man who made it all possible, Leonard Leo. Leo is a staunch Roman Catholic who is extremely influential and a consequential player in governmental spaces in Washington D.C. The very respected journalist was brutally attacked by Roman Catholic Bishop, Robert Barron, for her investigation and expose Leonard Leo, an ardent supporter of the religious Right and it agenda to destroy America.
Historian and political commentator, Steve Schmidt, responded to the Bishop’s attack on His [Schmidt’s] Substack page: “Why is Bishop Robert Barron, a Catholic prelate with a huge social media presence, and Leonard Leo targeting an investigative journalist? I explain the strange story of why His Excellency is bearing false witness against Politico’s Heidi Przybyla after she spoke out against Christian nationalism. I warn that this is a demagogic attack. Politicians with clerical collars have historically been very dangerous people. And Bishop Barron, speaking of danger, seems like someone we all ought to keep an eye on”. Schmidt goes to explain the seriousness of the threat posed by the rapidly developing love affair between the Religious Right and the policies of certain powerful political institutions and personalities.
This threat to the American way of life in particular and to democracy in general is real. The upcoming presidential election, regardless of who prevails, will not change the trajectory of the downward spiral from democracy and rise of authoritarianism. The pace may be slower or exponentially accelerated depending on who is the victor. Either way, physical conflict is inevitable. Ironically, the plan for supposed unity is also well laid out.
American leads the way
Unfortunately, the vast majority of earth’s inhabitants, even though we are all involved, are oblivious to the true nature of this conflict of apocalyptic proportions. Even fewer are prepared for what is about to come upon this world as an overwhelming surprise. While men and women are engrossed in the cares of this world and are consumed with the challenges of day to day survival, events are being orchestrated that, while promising peace, safety and unity, will result in chaos, confusion, unmitigated tyranny, and slaughter beyond the human imagination.
Influential, knowledgeable, and perceptive political commentators such as Steve Schmidt, Stephen Beschloss, Mark Elias, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and others have clearly identified the danger and continue to comment responsibly on the threat of Democracy that a Donald Trump presidency poses. Time magazine in its recent edition, If he wins, focuses on the very likely scenario of a Donald Trump presidency and serves up the actual words of the man who would radically change America and the course of world history in a manner that would make it patently unrecognizable from what we know it today. Trump makes no qualms in letting everyone know what are his plans for America, and by extension, the world. They are frightening and should cause every soberly thinking citizen on planet earth to shudder.
It must be clearly understood, however, that unlike despots of old, the prominence of the tyrant represents a far more sinister, cruel and nefarious movement of which he/she is the face. So it is with Donald Trump. The danger with the Trump movement is that no one seems to suspect nor understand the true force and determined focus of the engine that propels Trump. James Carville, political strategist and senior advisor the the presidential campaign of former president Bill Clinton, became famous for the line that many agree propelled Clinton to the White House. It was simply: “It’s the economy, stupid”. In this crucial moment of American and world history, we need to consider: “It it their religion, stupid”.
Paul Blanshard, General Mealy Harris, and Ellen G. White, coming from a purely Biblical perspective, had it right. They were not hateful alarmists; but were rather given insight into the modus operandi of the greatest threat to civil and religious liberty around the world.
Malachi Martin, late Jesuit scholar, gives some insight on what is percolating on the horizon in his volume ,THE KEYS OF THIS BLOOD. In his expose of the Vatican’s plan to take control of the world in a three way competition (Capitalism, Communism and Catholicism), Martin concluded: “It is not too much to say that the chosen purpose of John Paul’s Pontificate-the engine that drives his papal grand policy and that determines his day to day, year to year strategies is to be the victor in that competition…well on the way”(Malachi Martin, Keys of This Blood, pg. 15)
Further, the late Dr. John W. Robbins, a Presbyterian minister and authority on Roman Catholicism, made this bold assertion: “The Roman church/state is a hybrid, a monster of ecclesiastical and political power. Its political thought is totalitarian and whenever it has had the opportunity to apply its principles, the result has been bloody repression. If during the last 30 years it has softened its assertions of full, supreme and irresponsible power and has murdered fewer people than before; such changes of behavior are not due to a change in its ideas but to a change in circumstances… it is only when the Roman church/state faced public opinion that disapproved of church/state sanctioned murder, that it slowed its persecutions and attempted to speak with a voice less bloodthirsty.
The Roman church/state in the 20th century, however, is an institution recovering from a deadly wound. If and when it regains its full power and authority, it will impose a regime more sinister than any the planet has ever seen” (Ecclesiastical Megalomania, Dr. John W. Robbins, page 195). That oft-despised and neglected book foretold it all.
There is no going back to where things were. Our Lord foretells that when they shall say peace and safety sudden destruction shall come. Our ONLY way of escape is in Jesus Christ.
Wake up America…Wake up world.
© 2024 Aubrey L Duncan
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