Monday, June 15, 2009

James Standish on religious liberty in the workplace

By Simon Leanos, exo20811@gmail.com


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfuJAmCF3UI&feature=player_embedded


In a 90-minute portion of a hearing on workplace protection, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee heard an unmistakable message from a Seventh-day Adventist representative: the future of religious liberty in the workplace is in lawmakers' hands, and that legislation is needed to protect the rights of Sabbathkeepers and other religiously observant workers.

"These are my daughters," James Standish, legislative affairs director in the General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department, told the February 12 Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee hearing, holding aloft an enlarged photo of his children. "If my daughters grow up and they want to follow the faith of their mother, their two grandmothers, and their four great grandmothers, how are they going to be treated in the workplace? Are they going to be marginalized? Are they going to be harassed? Are they going to be fired when they could easily be accommodated? ... The answer to that question is largely in your hands."


Source: http://emmanuelchgohts.org/article.php?id=37


P.S. 3 observations about this article:
  1. This took place in February of 2008.
  2. James Standish has since then moved on to work in the U.S. Congress as Executive Director of The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom?
  3. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!... Matthew 24:19.

Arsenio

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Suffering As Jesus Did



And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for His sake; ......


Philippians 1:28,29.
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Sunday, June 14, 2009

Census GPS-tagging your home's front door




Coordinates being taken for every residence in nation
Posted: May 05, 20098:32 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh© 2009 WorldNetDaily



According to an online Yahoo program, the Global Position System coordinates for the White House, probably one of the best-known publicly owned buildings in the world, are 38.898590 Latitude and -77.035971 Longitude. And since you know that, it's no big deal for the White House to know the coordinates for your front door, is it?
Some people think it is, and are upset over an army of some 140,000 workers hired in part with a $700 million taxpayer-funded contract to collect GPS readings for every front door in the nation.

The data collection, presented as preparation for the 2010 Census, is pinpointing with computer accuracy the locations and has raised considerable concern from privacy advocates who have questioned why the information is needed. The privacy advocates also are more than a little worried over what could be done with that information.

Enhancing the concerns is the Obama administration's recent decision to put White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in an oversight role over the census, which will be used to determine a reapportionment of congressional seats and could be used to solidify a single political party's control over the nation, its budget, military and future.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke recently told the Washington Post: "The census director reports to me, and, of course, I serve at the pleasure of the president." He added the White House told him "it has no interest in politicizing [the census]."


"GPS coordinates of your front door will make it easier for the government to monitor you," he said. "The U.S. Census Bureau is simply an excuse – a harmless looking means of obtaining the front door coordinates. The creation of GPS coordinates for front doors has nothing to do with the census, in all honesty, no matter how much the United States government tries to convince you that it does."

In his article titled, "Big Brother GPS Doorway Census," Gibbs, recalled wondering why, just weeks ago, the Obama administration announced its oversight of the census, "literally taking control of the census away from the Commerce Department."

He put that together with Obama's longtime push for national service.

"The Obamites, thirsty to serve their new messianic figure, have lost enough of their objectivity to be willingly recruited into such an insidious program like gaining these coordinates for the U.S. government. … I ask again, what would be the purpose of shooting the GPS coordinates of American doorways?" he wrote.

The answer he provided was alarming.

"Imagine, if you will, that there are a number of people in a neighborhood that could not find the addresses they are tasked with finding. They are not locals, maybe are unable to read a map, or perhaps do not have the time to pull out a map, and they need to find you with specific GPS coordinates. Their devices would lead them to your front door with these coordinates. Imagine a crisis is afoot, and martial law is put into place. U.S. troops need to round up particular folks," he wrote.

"Let's take this a step further. After all, with Barack Obama desiring to decrease the number of folks in the military, and with forces committed worldwide, we may not have sufficient military forces at home to deal with a rising national emergency. If the government decided to rely on foreign troops, perhaps United Nations personnel, most of which may not understand the street signs, much less know the lay of the land, they could use GPS devices to direct them to your front door," he wrote.

According to the Census Bureau's website, the GPS technology "allows us to reduce the amount of time spent by census workers in locating addresses. … Most importantly, by adding a GPS coordinate to each housing unit, the Census Bureau is able to ensure that residents are counted in the right location."

At Canada Free Press, commentator J.B. Williams said, "I can't resist the urge to question the authority and purpose behind such a BIG BROTHER initiative, when the official census itself is not due to be taken until 2010…

"No imagination is required to think up a whole laundry list of evil that could be done with a nationwide GPS grid of coordinate's markers painted on every private home across the country. But I was having trouble thinking up one good reason for it, even one legitimate use that would justify what must be a very expensive undertaking," he said.

"Why does the Obama administration need or want the latitude and longitude coordinates for every home in America? Why the rush to GPS paint every home in the next 90 days? Why must the marker be within 40 feet of every front door? For what possible purpose does the Fed need GPS coordinates for every home, and under what authority do they have the right? Census workers, whom I asked, had the same holy-crap look on their faces that I had by then," he wrote.

Then he cited the cooperative effort that the U.S. Census Bureau has reached with ACORN, the organization of community activists with which Obama worked.

"Obama's interest in an ACORN-controlled 2010 Census, for the purpose of redistricting to the advantage of Democrats before the 2010 mid-term elections, comes as NO shock from a regime known for their heavy handed Rules for Radicals political strategies. But what does this have to do with GPS marking every home in the country?" he questioned.

Ask those who have served military duty, he said. They are very familiar with the most common use of GPS target painting, and the rest might want to read books such as "The Precision Revolution: GPS and the Future of Aerial Warfare."

Online sources noted that Google Maps already probably has listed most homes in the nation.

"But the front door? Sounds like a jackboot convenience to me," said RightSoup.com.

Added Williams, "What I do know is this … Coincidences of this number and magnitude don't happen. … I also know that people had better start asking the right people the right questions and demanding answers fast. Begin with asking the mainstream press why there has been no public notification of the federal governments GPS marking your front door?"

A number of concerned citizens have contacted WND about the program, and repeatedly have cited warnings delivered by the GPS squad members that their failure to allow the readings would result in fines and possibly imprisonment under Title 13, which allows the census to be taken.

But repeatedly they've gotten no answers when asked what a GPS reading has to do with the number of people living at the home – which isn't supposed to be subject to questions until 2010 anyway.

One WND reader raised these questions to a local census office.

"What authority does the U.S. Census Bureau have for sending anyone to my front door in April of 2009 to mark it with GPS coordinates? This is unacceptable. The census is not due until 2010, and the usurpation of the census by the White House is unconstitutional. … This citizen will not answer census questions until the year they are due, and demands that my GPS coordinates be removed from all government records."

The census response?

"Address canvassing should conclude by mid-July. The operation will use new hand-held computers equipped with GPS to increase geographic accuracy. The ability to capture GPS coordinates for most of the nation's housing units will greatly reduce the number of geographic coding errors caused by using paper maps in previous counts. … During the address canvassing operation, census workers may ask to verify a housing structure's address and whether there are additional living quarters on the property. All census workers carry official government badges marked with just their name. You also may ask them for a picture ID from another source to confirm their identity. In addition, some census workers might carry a 'U. S. Census Workers' bag."

Another WND reader, from Washington state, reported he is having his attorney look into the legality of the GPS data collection and hopes to have enough support for a legal challenge.

The reader, whose name was withheld because of his concerns over repercussions, said a government home data collector ignored his no trespassing sign, and he was threatened by the collector for wanting to refuse to provide "census" information.

He said GPS mapping nowhere is authorized for census workers.

Census spokesman Stephen Buckner told WND the activity is, in fact, proper, and even necessary. There are homes being built and torn down constantly, and the census needs such information. Local building records and other government databases such as tax records would not suffice, he said.

"There are 140,000 workers walking every street of America," he told WND, in order to document 145 million addresses with GPS coordinates.

He assured WND that all such personal information is confidential, because employees of contractors doing the work are subject to a $250,000 fine or imprisonment for five years for revealing personal information. He also confirmed that the last case that was prosecuted under the law was nearly 50 years ago.

"We have to verify every single address," he said.

Source:http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97208


Carlos Slim's hidden cards

Carlos Ferreyra, AOL Latino,
Posted: 2009-06-12 23:16:28

NEW YORK. - What would you invest in right now if you were the wealthiest man in Mexico?

Certainly not a newspaper; especially when the industry is suffering massive layoffs and company closings due to rapidly diminished advertising revenues and circulation, increased competition from the Internet and television, and other calamities caused by the worst economic recession in over 50 years.

And yet, that is exactly what Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire and the third richest man in the world according to Forbes Magazine, did in January 2009, when he loaned $250 million dollars to the New York Times, the crown jewel of American journalism.

Carlos Slim Helú, the Mexican mogul, is considered the third richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine. Slim's fortune is estimated in $35 billion. Slim, 69 years old, was born in Mexico to Lebanese parents.
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Besides becoming the largest creditor of that company, Mr. Slim - with a fortune estimated at $35 billion dollars - secured warrants of 15.9 million shares, which if converted, would position him as the single largest shareholder of the Times Company.

Mr. Slim's investment shook the financial and business community in New York which for months has asked a simple question. Why would the Mexican tycoon be interested in that kind of business, one that is under such pressure?

To wit, three days ago, Bob Arum, the legendary boxing promoter, slapped the New York Times down, for not covering one of his events at Madison Square Garden. During a news conference, Mr. Arum said that boxing is a healthy sport, that almost all the tickets were sold and that they did not need the help of a Mexican magnate Carlos Slim to rescue them.

So, why did Slim invest in The New York Times? Power, vanity, influence, dreams? Or perhaps, from a profitable business perspective that has not yet been understood?

Carlos Slim was born in Mexico City into a caring and tight-knit family of Lebanese immigrants, who prospered through hard work, luck and good business contacts. His public image has always been controversial, ranging from being a captain of industry loves his country, the simple life and mathematics, to that of the corrupt robber baron who builds on "crony capitalism" to aggressively seek profits everywhere.

He owns and controls more than 200 companies that manage and sell just about everything, from bread to iPhones, toys to music and books, restaurants and real estate. Mr. Slim's holdings are in Mexican cement and tobacco industries, as well as international banks and retailers such as Sears and Saks Fifth Avenue

His flagship companies are Telmex and Telcel, the giant phone companies that control most of the land and cellular lines in Mexico, and their powerful spin off , America Móvil, that dominates the cellular market in vast parts of South and Central America.

In many aspects, Mr. Slim often seems to own the Mexican economy. It has been said that it is not possible to live in Mexico without spending at least one dollar a day across his empire. And according to a recent profile done by the New Yorker magazine, nobody in modern times, not Rockefeller or Gates, can match the grip he has on the wealth and spending of an entire country as Slim does with Mexico.

Yet, with all his wealth, Mr. Slim lives modestly, owning only one house where he lives with his youngest son, and uses American SUVs that he enjoys to drive around town. He has been married only once, to Soumaya Domit de Slim, who passed away in 1999.

An engineer by trade, and schooled in the family business since he was born, he does not use a computer and loves numbers and metrics. In interviews with U.S. correspondents, Slim enjoys bragging about his love of baseball and his great recollection of the sport's stats and figures. Since 2000, Mr. Slim has redoubled his charitable efforts, focusing on the revitalization of Mexico City's historic center, as well as leading the $10 billion Latin America Development Fund which supports cultural projects across Latin America.

But his name is synonymous with wealth and capitalism. Mr. Slim is despised by critics who perceive him as a cutthroat rival who does everything possible to deny the rise of competitors.His supporters note his mastery of business strategy and tactics, and his focus on business as a true calling.

These supporters cite the business savvy displayed when he pocketed close to $600 million dollars in 2005 from selling his stake in MCI to Verizon. Slim had invested $300 million in fire-sale bonds as MCI went into bankruptcy protection following a huge accounting scandal. As it emerged from bankruptcy, the bonds were converted into shares which with the valuation provided by Verizon's offer for MCI's assets, netted the tycoon a tremendous profit.

But for his competitors like the global telecommunications company, Telefónica of Spain which has been entrenched in legal and competition battles with Slim in México and all over Latin America, Slim's actions are the signs of a monopolist who's goal is to completely control markets and crush all competition.

Telefónica first went up against the Mexican magnate when they entered the Mexican mobile phone market, pricing their phones and services lower than Mr. Slim's company, Telcel in order to gain market share. At first, Telefonica was seeing great sales of the phones but poor usage or subscriptions to their services.

After months of investigating, they discovered that affiliates of Telmex were buying the mobile phones, changing the service chips to Telcel and re-selling the phones for only a little more than what Telefonica was offering. Customers were getting newer, cheaper phone models but backed by the leading company services, letting Telefonica's marketing expenditures drive customers to Telcel and depriving Telefonica of the revenues from the subscriptions and service plans.

Since that opening salvo, Telefonica has also fought an expensive battle to leverage consumer and market demands to open the land line phone market in Mexico, facing Telmex's deep pockets and legions of lobbyists and lawyers intent on keeping Telmex dominant position intact.

In the past few years, a new wrinkle has developed as the telco's have been joined by cable operators, communications technology providers and entrenched media companies in targeting the next generation of services: the "triple play" combination of voice, data and content services delivered in one package.

This new market has brought formidable competitors to the table, including Televisa, the dominant media company in Mexico, whose relationships across government, business and society are as deep and powerful as those of Carlos Slim.

By law, Telmex is unable to provide 'triple play' services, but they are certainly interested in changing those laws and it is speculated to be only a matter of time. At that point, Slim's affiliation with Microsoft via their Prodigy MSN venture can provide another piece to the puzzle as he pursues additional media and content partners that will add value to the 'triple play' services he seeks to provide.

When recently asked why he thinks the New York Times is a good investment, the Mexican billionaire that has made fortunes in distressed industries that provide steady cash flows answered:

"We think it's the best newspaper," he said. "We believe in media content. We think paper will disappear, but not the content. The content will become more important."


2009-06-11 15:33:36
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Conservatives Attack Fox's Shep Smith

Posted: 06/12/09

Shephard Smith is something of a contrarian at FOX News. Over the past few months, he has often poked fun at Glenn Beck, criticized the use of torture on terror suspects, and this week, cited the Department of Homeland Security's report that singled out right wing hate groups when reporting on the Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hnuZMglYq0&feature=player_embedded

If, as Charles Krauthammer put it yesterday, FOX News created an alternate reality for its viewers, Smith has seemed somewhat reluctant to play along. As a result, some conservatives are calling for him to be fired. WorldNetDaily and Rush Limbaugh have aimed at Smith. So have conservative blogs like HotAir and Atlas Shrugs, where Pamela Geller wrote:

...Shep sucks. And Shep has always sucked, and it's time to get rid of the
deadwood. I don't know where he gets off talking down to us [conservatives], but
it's not his job to defend Obama and to try to tie African American racism into
this Jew hating incident.

No wonder RNC Chairman Michael Steele has stopped referring to the GOP as a "big tent".

Where do you stand? If you've watched Smith's program, what is your opinion of the man?

David at Paradigms Lost

David on Twitter

Source:http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/12/conservatives-attack-foxs-shep-smith/?icid=mainhtmlws-maindl5link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2009%2F06%2F12%2Fconservatives-attack-foxs-shep-smith%2F

Symbolism of the Three Angels' Messages


Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Mal. 4:5.


To prepare a people to stand in the day of God, a great work of reform was to be accomplished [by the Advent Movement]. God saw that many of His professed people were not building for eternity, and in His mercy He was about to send a message of warning to arouse them from their stupor and lead them to make ready for the coming of the Lord. {Mar 173.1}

This warning is brought to view in Revelation 14. Here is a threefold message represented as proclaimed by heavenly beings and immediately followed by the coming of the Son of man to reap "the harvest of the earth." {Mar 173.2}

The angels are represented as flying in the midst of heaven, proclaiming to the world a message of warning, and having a direct bearing upon the people living in the last days of this earth's history. No one hears the voice of these angels, for they are a symbol to represent the people of God who are working in harmony with the universe of heaven. {Mar 173.3}

The three angels' messages are to be combined, giving their threefold light to the world. In the Revelation, John says, "I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory."... This represents the giving of the last and threefold message of warning to the world. {Mar 173.4}

Revelation 18 points to the time when, as the result of rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-12, the church will have fully reached the condition foretold by the second angel, and the people of God still in Babylon will be called upon to separate from her communion. This message is the last that will ever be given to the world; and it will accomplish its work. When those that "believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:12), shall be left to receive strong delusion and to believe a lie, then the light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord that remain in Babylon will heed the call: "Come out of her, my people" (Revelation 18:4). {Mar 173.5}


Come Out Of Her, My People!


Revelation 18

1And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

3For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

4And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

5For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

6Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

7How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

8Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

9And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

10Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

11And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

12The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

13And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

14And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

15The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

16And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

17For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

18And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

19And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

20Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

21And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

22And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

23And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

24And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

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Saturday, June 13, 2009

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity


9If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Revelation 13: 9,10.
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Did Sunday-Keeping Originate At Jerusalem?


CHAPTER IV


Did Sunday-Keeping Originate At Jerusalem?


The vast majority of Christians don’t know the real reason they worship on Sunday! They have been deceived by thousands of Sunday-keeping preachers and writers who argue that Jesus’ followers began meeting on the first day of the week immediately after His resurrection.

Nothing could be further from the truth! The Bible record makes it obvious that there is simply no way that the Apostles abandoned the keeping of the Sabbath as commanded by God in the Ten Commandments. Wherever and however the Sabbath was changed to Sunday, it was not changed by Christians at Jerusalem during the first century.

Here’s The Proof


The Jews at the time of Christ believed that God was concerned with only one nation on earth - Israel. The promises were for Israel. All other people were simply heathen Gentiles. They were dogs who God would begin dealing with only if they were circumcised and became Jewish proselytes.

With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), the Apostles began to realize the spiritual nature of the Kingdom of God; but they still saw Jesus as the Savior of God’s people Israel. They understood their commission basically in terms of bringing salvation to Israel. Those who repented and accepted Jesus had no thoughts of abandoning Judaism. They continued to meet in the synagogues and worship in the Temple. In fact, when Paul was going to Damascus to look for Christians to persecute, he was going to go to the synagogues (Acts 9:2). Even the Romans, at first, considered the Christians as simply a sect of the Jews, like the Pharisees or Sadducees. The early Church viewed salvation strictly within the context of God’s dealings with Israel.

It was only when God sent a special revelation that one of the Apostles first conceived of the idea that the Gospel might be for the Gentiles too (Acts 10). Through a vision, Peter was instructed by God to preach to Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. Peter was shocked, but he went; and, in addressing Cornelius’ household, he revealed the prevailing Jewish attitude of his day as well as the message he received from God. "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean " (Acts 10:28. NIV).

This was indeed something totally foreign to the Jewish mind. It was the first major break with the "Israel only" concept - and it took a supernatural vision to get Peter to do it. Up until that time and even long afterward, salvation through Jesus was regarded as "for Israel only" by many of the Jewish believers. In fact, when Peter returned to Jerusalem after preaching to Cornelius, he was severely criticized for having gone to a Gentile (Acts. 11:3).

In view of this strong attachment to Judaism, can we possibly believe that the Christians had already abandoned the Sabbath for Sunday? Unthinkable!

As the years went by, Paul and others began to preach more and more to the Gentiles, hundreds of whom believed. However, many, if not most of the Jewish Christians just assumed that these Gentiles would be circumcised and become proselytes. They simply could not conceive of anyone coming into a relationship with God apart from becoming an Israelite.

When Paul insisted that the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and come under the national (OLD) covenant with Israel, a tremendous controversy arose in the Church. It grew to such proportions that a major conference was held at Jerusalem around 49 A.D. to settle the question (Acts 15). And the conclusion of that meeting was that Paul was right; circumcision was unnecessary for the Gentiles. However, the leaders did write letters instructing the Gentile Christians to abstain from fornication, from blood, from things strangled, and from foods polluted by idols. These were laws that they apparently considered particularly important for the Gentiles (Acts 15:20). Remember, the whole conference had to do with Gentiles There was absolutely no thought of Jews forsaking the law of Moses.

However, the controversy didn’t end in 49 A.D. The "Israel only" concept was so strong that it continued long afterwards, For example, some time later at Antioch, Peter was eating with - Gentiles - until certain men from Jerusalem came. He was intimidated by their presence and withdrew from the Gentiles, as did Barnabas and others (Gal. 2:11-13). The attachment to Moses was that great! Can we possibly suppose that they had already abandoned the Sabbath almost 20 years prior to these events? Ridiculous!

Through the preaching of Paul and others, Gentiles continued to turn to Jesus without becoming Jewish proselytes. At the same time, however, thousands of Jews continued to be "zealous for the law" (Acts 21:20-21); and many of them kept on harassing the Gentiles about being circumcised (see Paul’s letter to the Galatians). Rumors began to spread at Jerusalem that Paul was even beginning to teach the scattered Jews to abandon Moses (Acts 21:21) So when Paul returned to Jerusalem, the Apostles there asked him to cooperate with them in proving that these rumors were false. He was to go into the Temple and join in a purification ceremony. ‘Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law" (Acts 21:23-24, NIV).

Of course, the plan "backfired" and Paul ended up in prison. But that incident demonstrates clearly that the Apostles - and even Paul - were still very much in tune with their Jewish heritage. There is simply no way they were keeping Sunday!

Further proof that the early Jewish Christians did not abandon the Sabbath can be seen from a number of references in the New Testament.

First, Jesus instructed His disciples, "Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath" (Matt. 24:20, NIV). Whether He was referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. or to the end of the age or both, it is clear that Jesus expected that His followers would continue keeping the Sabbath after His death. He gave no hint that it was to be abandoned.

Throughout the book of Acts, Paul consistently used the Sabbath for teaching both Jews and Gentiles "as was his custom" (Acts 17:2; l8:4). In Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, where they were asked to speak (Acts 13:14-15). When they had finished, some of the listeners asked them to come back again the next Sabbath at which time ". . . almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord" (vv. 42-44). Again, there is no hint that they were using Sunday for worship or meetings. On the contrary, this passage shows the orientation of both Jews and Gentiles - yes, even "the whole city" to the Sabbath.

Following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the death or scattering of many of the Apostles, the churches of Judea continued to be administered by Jewish Christians. Post-Biblical church writers Eusebius (A.D. 260-340) and Epiphanius (A.D. 315-403) both record that the church at Jerusalem was led by 15 bishops "of the circumcision" until 135 A.D. when Emperor Hadrian besieged the city. The strong Jewish leadership continued at least until then. And in that context, there is simply no way that Sunday-keeping could have arisen among Christians there during the first century.

Of course, Sunday-keeping did arise in the church - but not because of Apostolic teaching. Rather, it began in post-Biblical times at Rome. It began in the church because of severe anti-Jewish attitudes in the Roman world, because of pagan influences, and because of political pressures under the godless emperors. Those pressures caused the early post-Apostolic church leaders to move as far away as possible from anything they had in common with the Jews and to move toward the customs and concepts of the pagan Roman world. In that process, the simple teachings of Scripture were severely compromised.

Back to Restoring Knowledge -- On to chapter 5





Southern Baptists say no to 'hate crimes'


Part of the FedEx campaign of letters from citizens opposing the "hate crimes" bill.



Ask GOP Senate Judiciary Committee leader to fight bill


Posted: June 01, 200912:25 am Eastern© 2009 WorldNetDaily



WASHINGTON – The head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has written to Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on him to battle approval of a "hate crimes" bill critics have called "The Pedophile Protection Act."


Richard Land sent the letter last week "to express our strong opposition to S. 909, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would add 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' specially protected categories for victims of violent crimes. We urge you to vigorously oppose this bill, including by filibuster if necessary."


Land said the legislation is both unnecessary and unconstitutional.


"Laws are already in place to prosecute individuals for every form of violent crime committed against others," he wrote. "Yet the hate crimes legislation would afford special protections to some individuals but deny such protections to others, thereby making the latter second-class citizens. This would turn on its head the 14th Amendment, which grants equal protection under the law."


Land said "hate crimes" laws by definition require judges to determine what perpetrators were thinking.


"This could create a chilling effect on religious speech, connecting innocent expression of religious belief to acts of violence against individuals afforded special protections," he wrote. "The criminalization of religious speech, such as speech against the practice of homosexuality, has already been seen in other countries with similar hate crimes legislation



Meanwhile, no senator – Democrat or Republican – has yet issued a formal denunciation of the bill.



Barack Obama has promised the mother of Matthew Shepard fast action in the U.S. Senate to approve the bill. Judy Shepard, the mother of the murdered homosexual, visited the White House to lobby for Senate approval after it cleared the House with opposition from many Republicans.



The White House issued an official comment on the meeting: "The President thanked Ms. Shepard for her work on the hate crimes bill and reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the Senate finalize the bill and act swiftly."









Sources working with senators opposing the legislation say the campaign has shaken up the dynamics of the debate.



"This bill was supposed to sail through the Senate, but it suddenly has become much more controversial as a result of all these letters," one source said. "Still, not a single Republican senator has yet stood up in open, public opposition to the bill."



Last week, a Texas pastor wrote an open letter to the U.S. Senate, asking someone, anyone, to filibuster the pending "hate crimes" legislation and stop what he calls a "maddening march to the destruction of our First Amendment right to freely practice our religion."



As WND has reported, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 would provide special protections to homosexual people but leave Christian ministers open to prosecution should their teachings be linked to any subsequent offense, by anyone, against a homosexual person.



WND first reported on what has become widely known as "The Pedophile Protection Act" last month, raising nationwide alarm that has already generated hundreds of thousands of individual letters of protest to members of the U.S. Senate.



Part of the FedEx campaign of letters from citizens opposing the "hate crimes" bill.



Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said the only chance to defeat the legislation was for a massive outpouring of opposition from the American people.



"If you guys don't raise enough stink there's no chance of stopping it," Gohmert said on a radio program with Porter. "It's entirely in the hands of your listeners and people across the country. If you guys put up a strong enough fight, that will give backbone enough to the 41 or 42 in the Senate to say we don't want to have our names on that."



An analysis by Shawn D. Akers, policy analyst with Liberty Counsel said the proposal, formally known as H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act bill in the House and S. 909 in the Senate, would create new federal penalties against those whose "victims" were chosen based on an "actual or perceived ... sexual orientation, gender identity."



Gohmert warned Porter during the interview that even her introduction of him, and references to the different sexual orientations, could be restricted if the plan becomes law.



"You can't talk like that once this becomes law," he said.


He said the foundational problem with the bill is that it is based on lies: It assumes there's an epidemic of crimes in the United States – especially actions that cross state lines – that is targeting those alternative sexual lifestyles.



"When you base a law on lies, you're going to have a bad law," he said. "This 'Pedophilia Protection Act,' a 'hate crimes' bill, is based on the representation that there's a epidemic of crimes based on bias and prejudice. It turns out there are fewer crimes now than there were 10 years ago."



He said he fought in committee and in the House, where it was approved 249-175, to correct some of the failings, including his repeated requests for definitions in the bill for terms such as "sexual orientation."



Majority Democrats refused, he said. He said that leaves the definition up to a standard definition in the medical field, which includes hundreds of "philias" and "isms" that would be protected.



Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., a "hate crimes" supporter, confirmed that worry, saying: "This bill addresses our resolve to end violence based on prejudice and to guarantee that all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability or all of these 'philias' and fetishes and 'ism's' that were put forward need not live in fear because of who they are. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule…"



Obama, supported strongly during his campaign by homosexual advocates, appears ready to respond to their desires.



"I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance," he said.



But Gohmert pointed out that if an exhibitionist flashes a woman, and she responds by slapping him with her purse, he has probably committed a misdemeanor while she has committed a federal felony hate crime.



"That's how ludicrous this situation is," Gohmert said.



Akers' analysis said the bill would result in the federalization of "virtually every sexual crime in the United States." And he said it appears to be part of an agenda that would relegate pro-family and traditional marriage advocates into the ranks of "terrorists." Critics also have expressed alarm because in committee hearings Democrats admitted that a Christian pastor could be prosecuted under the law if he spoke biblically against homosexuality, someone heard the comments and then committed a crime.


"Under [the plan] the speech of a criminal defendant and the mere membership of the defendant in a given group may be used as evidence of his or her biased motive," Akers said.



He said there's already an effort afoot in the U.S. to list those pro-family organizations "alongside several neo-Nazi groups ... to create guilt by the artificial manufactured appearance of association."



During arguments in the House while the plan was being adopted, lawmakers pointed out the representatives were voting for protection for "all 547 forms of sexual deviancy or 'paraphilias' listed by the American Psychiatric Association."



Porter cited the amendment offering from King in committee that was very simple: "The term sexual orientation as used in this act or any amendments to this act does not include pedophilia."
But majority Democrats refused to accept it.



"Having reviewed cases as an appellate judge, I know that when the legislature has the chance to include a definition and refuses, then what we look at is the plain meaning of those words," explained Gohmert. "The plain meaning of sexual orientation is anything to which someone is orientated. That could include exhibitionism, it could include necrophilia (sexual arousal/activity with a corpse) ... it could include urophilia (sexual arousal associated with urine), voyeurism. You see someone spying on you changing clothes and you hit them, they've committed a misdemeanor, you've committed a federal felony under this bill. It is so wrong."



Republicans in the House also attempted to amend the bill to offer hate crimes protection for U.S. military veterans who were attacked because of their service. Democrats unanimously rejected the amendment.





Preparing for Persecution


"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Tertullian, 1st century AD


Introduction

On a cold drizzly day in early 1998, I took a sobering tour through the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. A picture of a Gestapo officer brought back memories of the Nazi soldiers that guarded our neighborhood in Norway during World War II. Young as I was -- I was born in Oslo early in the war -- I will never forget the piercing air raids, the thundering war planes, our hiding place in the basement, and the sounds of exploding bombs and fires around us.

My young father was part of the "Hjemme Fronten" (the Home Front) -- an underground army of loyal Norwegians who would rather die than submit to Nazi tyranny. Caught helping other brave soldiers escape into neutral Sweden, he endured hunger, torture, and the threat of death in three concentration camps before his release at the end of the war. Through the years of oppression, we all learned to treasure our freedom.

The Norwegian people hadn't known tyranny until the Nazi warships sailed up the Oslofjord on April 9, 1940. Overnight, Hitler's fascism replaced liberty, and trusted friends became foes. Resistance to the new ideology could cost our lives. Yet, how could we submit to evil and betray our king?

We couldn't! For most Norwegians, the choice was clear. Unlike Hitler's masses, we hadn't been weakened by years of ceaseless propaganda, slogans, service, and celebrations dedicated to the triumph of National Socialism.

My journey through the Holocaust museum began in the section dedicated to Nazi propaganda. Pausing by each display, I was startled by words that could so easily describe America today. The quotes brought stark reminders that, apart from God, human nature doesn't change with time. Nor do the aims of the spiritual mastermind behind the scenes who has always sought ways to stir hatred toward God's people. One tactic was simply to provide nice-sounding alternatives to biblical loyalty and service.

"Individuals were urged to sacrifice themselves for a greater 'People's Community,'" announced one of the displays. Such slogans must have sounded good to the masses, for few saw the cruel manipulation behind the noble words.

I thought of President Clinton's calls for "sacrifice", "service, "unity", "common values", "civil society," and "safe" communities. How many people today see the ominous new meanings behind these nice sounding words?

Another display stated that-

"elementary schools became forums of public indoctrination.

"The Gestapo gathered much of its information from private citizens. Even children were taught to report on their parents. The Gestapo's main sources, however, were Nazi party officials. who constantly monitored the activities of all citizens [and] used such information to track political opponents."

If you have read our articles, you know that America's leaders are using intrusive surveys, assessments, and classroom encounter groups to persuade children to divulge private information about their family's faith, values, disciplines, and church attendance. As in Nazi Germany, socialization, not academic learning, has become the primary goal of education. Children are learning the group thinking and socialist values needed for the envisioned 21st century communities and global workforce.

Do you find this hard to believe? Many do. That's why we urge you to read some of our articles that document the "paradigm shift" from American individualism and freedom to collectivism and control. Just go to our "articles" page and find the following reports that will help you and your loved ones understand and prepare for the growing hostility toward biblical Christianity:




Remember, the new set of global values, based on a blend of earth-centered beliefs, socialist ideology, and globalist goals, rule out biblical boundaries and absolutes. Genuine Christianity simply won't fit.

Our political, legal and education systems have been infiltrated by leaders who have betrayed America for a hollow vision of a global village. Hollywood has taught our children to delight in evil, while schools immerse them in pagan rituals to other gods. Many church leaders are ashamed to mention sin and the cross, and most "Christians" are drifting with the trends, too distracted to know or care.

We shouldn't be surprised. Again and again, the Old Testament shows our natural inclination to drift toward apathy, compromise, rebellion, and paganism -- anything but God Himself. It's happening in America, and 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 tells us that we are not immune to consequences like those that destroyed ancient Israel. Did we forget?

God told us repeatedly what would happen to a nation that that refuses to follow its Shepherd. Listen to this warning and see how it fits our times:


"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget... Otherwise... your heart will become proud.... You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' ... If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods... you will surely be destroyed." Deuteronomy 8:10-20

Having left their Father's protection, God's beloved Israel faced famine, war, slavery, and oppression. When they cried out to God, He restored them, but their peace and prosperity didn't last long. Soon the cycle of apathy, compromise, rebellion and oppression began once again.

God may withdraw His protection from a nation that turns to other gods, but He never fails to guard and guide those who remain faithful to Him. He doesn't promise to save us from pain and persecution, but in the midst of suffering we can count on His strength and loving presence.

Remember, "the whole world is under the control of the evil one" [1 John 5:19]. Satan's subjects will always despise our King, twist His truth, and hate His people. Why should we not expect opposition?

Jesus described the normal Christian life: "If they persecute Me, they will also persecute you," He told His disciples, "for they do not know Him who sent me." John 15:20-21

We need to take His warning to heart, count the cost of discipleship, and pray to be prepared for inevitable battles. Prayerfully consider these steps -- as a family or as an individual believer:


Pray for His guidance.


Learn from those who suffered persecution because of their faith. (See "victory" at the top)

Memorize His Word, the victorious "Sword of the Spirit" in every battle we face. (See Clothed with Truth)


Memorize hymns and songs that enable you to keep praising Him and affirming His victory.


Silently practice singing to Him in the midst of all kinds of distractions.


Practice giving thanks in all circumstances.


By His wonderful grace, "love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." Matthew 5:44-45



"...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged." Hebrew 12:1-3

Those who choose uncompromising discipleship will find an unspeakable joy in His nearness. Stephen did. (See Acts 7) Remember how his face shone as his persecutors hurled the stones that crushed his body. Like him, we may demonstrate to a needy world the overcoming power of the majestic, heavenly King who reached down to earth to love us like a Father.

When I was little, I loved our Norwegian king. Like him, I wanted to be brave enough to die rather than surrender. Years later I learned that this wonderful leader was nothing compared to my heavenly King. Yet my earthly king and the years of war, danger, and deprivation gave me a vision of genuine Christianity that I continue to treasure. I saw that we, His bride and Church, are like a nation of loyal subjects -

who love and obey their King

who discover in their common devotion and warfare a fellowship that can rarely be found apart from persecution

who refuse to compromise, and

who persevere until death -- or until the war is won.

To sustain us through the battles ahead, our King gave us many precious promises. Few bring me more delight than the following words from our Master. May they fill you with joy at the unspeakable privilege of serving our sovereign King, following in His footsteps, and sharing His resurrection life for all eternity.

"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven." Luke 6:22-23


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He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought


1. He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be,
still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Refrain:
He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
by his own hand he leadeth me;
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.

2. Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom,
by waters still, o'er troubled sea,
still 'tis his hand that leadeth me.
(Refrain)

3. Lord, I would place my hand in thine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since 'tis my God that leadeth me.
(Refrain)

4. And when my task on earth is done,
when by thy grace the victory's won,
e'en death's cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me.
(Refrain)




Text: Joseph H. Gilmore, 1834-1918
Music: William B. Bradbury, 1816-1868
Tune: HE LEADETH ME, Meter: LM with Refrain



Text file
Plain MIDI Piano Organ Bells
Piano score (pdf file)



Source: http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh128.sht (today's hymns)


Fairest Lord Jesus


1.Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

2. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer
who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3. Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
than all the angels heaven can boast.

4. Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine.


Text: Munster Gesangbuch;

trans. by Joseph August Seiss

Music: Schlesische Volkslieder; arr. by Richard Storrs Willis

Tune: ST. ELIZABETH, Meter: 568.558




This Is My Father's World


This Is My Father's World



1. This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought.

2. This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
he shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me everywhere.

3. This is my Father's world.
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!

Text: Maltbie D. Babcock

Music: Trad. English melody;

adapt. by Franklin L. Sheppard

Tune: TERRA BEATA, Meter: SMD






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Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness


12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.



Ezekiel 28:12-17.
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Friday, June 12, 2009

No More Signal


After more than 60 years...........................
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The Sovereign Pontiff (The Two Babylons) Alexander Hislop


The Sovereign Pontiff


The Two Babylons

Alexander Hislop
Chapter VI
Section I

The Sovereign Pontiff




The gift of the ministry is one of the greatest gifts which Christ has bestowed upon the world. It is in reference to this that the Psalmist, predicting the ascension of Christ, thus loftily speaks of its blessed results: "Thou hast ascended up on high: Thou hast led captivity captive; Thou hast received gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them" (Eph 4:8-11). The Church of Rome, at its first planting, had the divinely bestowed gift of a Scriptural ministry and government; and then "its faith was spoken of throughout the whole world"; its works of righteousness were both rich and abundant. But, in an evil hour, the Babylonian element was admitted into its ministry, and thenceforth, that which had been intended as a blessing, was converted into a curse. Since then, instead of sanctifying men, it has only been the means of demoralising them, and making them "twofold more the children of hell" than they would have been had they been left simply to themselves.

If there be any who imagine that there is some occult and mysterious virtue in an apostolic succession that comes through the Papacy, let them seriously consider the real character of the Pope's own orders, and of those of his bishops and clergy. From the Pope downwards, all can be shown to be now radically Babylonian. The College of Cardinals, with the Pope at its head,

is just the counterpart of the Pagan College of Pontiffs, with its "Pontifex Maximus," or "Sovereign Pontiff," which had existed in Rome from the earliest times, and which is known to have been framed on the model of the grand original Council of Pontiffs at Babylon.

The Pope now pretends to supremacy in the Church as the successor of Peter, to whom it is alleged that our Lord exclusively committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven. But here is the important fact that, till the Pope was invested with the title, which for a thousand years had had attached to it the power of the keys of Janus and Cybele, * no such claim to pre-eminence, or anything approaching to it, was ever publicly made on his part, on the ground of his being the possessor of the keys bestowed on Peter.

* It was only in the second century before the Christian era that the worship of Cybele, under that name, was introduced into Rome; but the same goddess, under the name of Cardea, with the "power of the key," was worshipped in Rome, along with Janus, ages before. OVID's Fasti

Very early, indeed, did the bishop of Rome show a proud and ambitious spirit; but, for the first three centuries, their claim for superior honour was founded simply on the dignity of their see, as being that of the imperial city, the capital of the Roman world.

When, however, the seat of empire was removed to the East, and Constantinople threatened to eclipse Rome, some new ground for maintaining the dignity of the Bishop of Rome must be sought.

That new ground was found, when, about 378, the Pope fell heir to the keys that were the symbols of two well-known Pagan divinities at Rome. Janus bore a key, and Cybele bore a key; and these are the two keys that the Pope emblazons on his arms as the ensigns of his spiritual authority.





How the Pope came to be regarded as wielding the power of these keys will appear in the sequel; but that he did, in the popular apprehension, become entitled to that power at the period referred to is certain.

Now, when he had come, in the estimation of the Pagans, to occupy the place of the representatives of Janus and Cybele, and therefore to be entitled to bear their keys, the Pope saw that if he could only get it believed among the Christians that Peter alone had the power of the keys, and that he was Peter's successor, then the sight of these keys would keep up the delusion, and thus, though the temporal dignity of Rome as a city should decay, his own dignity as the Bishop of Rome would be more firmly established than ever.

On this policy it is evident he acted. Some time was allowed to pass away, and then, when the secret working of the Mystery of iniquity had prepared the way for it, for the first time did the Pope publicly assert his pre-eminence, as founded on the keys given to Peter.

About 378 was he raised to the position which gave him, in Pagan estimation, the power of the keys referred to. In 432, and not before, did he publicly lay claim to the possession of Peter's keys. This, surely, is a striking coincidence. Does the reader ask how it was possible that men could give credit to such a baseless assumption? The words of Scripture, in regard to this very subject, give a very solemn but satisfactory answer (2 Thess 2:10,11): "Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved...For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." Few lies could be more gross; but, in course of time, it came to be widely believed; and now, as the statue of Jupiter is worshipped at Rome as the veritable image of Peter, so the keys of Janus and Cybele have for ages been devoutly believed to represent the keys of the same apostle.

While nothing but judicial infatuation can account for the credulity of the Christians in regarding these keys as emblems of an exclusive power given by Christ to the Pope through Peter, it is not difficult to see how the Pagans would rally round the Pope all the more readily when they heard him found his power on the possession of Peter's keys.

The keys that the Pope bore were the keys of a "Peter" well known to the Pagans initiated in the Chaldean Mysteries. That Peter the apostle was ever Bishop of Rome has been proved again and again to be an arrant fable. That he ever even set foot in Rome is at the best highly doubtful. His visit to that city rests on no better authority than that of a writer at the end of the second century or beginning of the third--viz., the author of the work called The Clementines, who gravely tells us that on the occasion of his visit, finding Simon Magus there, the apostle challenged him to give proof of his miraculous or magical powers, whereupon the sorcerer flew up into the air, and Peter brought him down in such hast that his leg was broken. All historians of repute have at once rejected this story of the apostolic encounter with the magician as being destitute of all contemporary evidence; but as the visit of Peter to Rome rests on the same authority, it must stand or fall along with it, or, at least, it must be admitted to be extremely doubtful. But, while this is the case with Peter the Christian, it can be shown to be by no means doubtful that before the Christian era, and downwards, there was a "Peter" at Rome, who occupied the highest place in the Pagan priesthood. The priest who explained the Mysteries to the initiated was sometimes called by a Greek term, the Hierophant; but in primitive Chaldee, the real language of the Mysteries, his title, as pronounced without the points, was "Peter"--i.e., "the interpreter." As the revealer of that which was hidden, nothing was more natural than that, while opening up the esoteric doctrine of the Mysteries, he should be decorated with the keys of the two divinities whose mysteries he unfolded. *

* The Turkish Mufties, or "interpreters" of the Koran, derive that name from the very same verb as that from which comes Miftah, a key.

Thus we may see how the keys of Janus and Cybele would come to be known as the keys of Peter, the "interpreter" of the Mysteries. Yea, we have the strongest evidence that, in countries far removed from one another, and far distant from Rome, these keys were known by initiated Pagans not merely as the "keys of Peter," but as the keys of a Peter identified with Rome. In the Eleusinian Mysteries at Athens, when the candidates for initiation were instructed in the secret doctrine of Paganism, the explanation of that doctrine was read to them out of a book called by ordinary writers the "Book Petroma"; that is, as we are told, a book formed of stone. But this is evidently just a play upon words, according to the usual spirit of Paganism, intended to amuse the vulgar. The nature of the case, and the history of the Mysteries, alike show that this book could be none other than the "Book Pet-Roma"; that is, the "Book of the Grand Interpreter," in other words, of Hermes Trismegistus, the great "Interpreter of the Gods." In Egypt, from which Athens derived its religion, the books of Hermes were regarded as the divine fountain of all true knowledge of the Mysteries. * In Egypt, therefore, Hermes was looked up to in this very character of Grand Interpreter, or "Peter-Roma." ** In Athens, Hermes, as its well known, occupied precisely the same place, *** and, of course, in the sacred language, must have been known by the same title.

* The following are the authorities for the statement in the text: "Jamblichus says that Hermes [i.e., the Egyptian] was the god of all celestial knowledge, which, being communicated by him to his priests, authorised them to inscribe their commentaries with the name of Hermes" (WILKINSON). Again, according to the fabulous accounts of the Egyptian Mercury, he was reported...to have taught men the proper mode of approaching the Deity with prayers and sacrifice (WILKINSON). Hermes Trismegistus seems to have been regarded as a new incarnation of Thoth, and possessed of higher honours. The principal books of this Hermes, according to Clemens of Alexandria, were treated by the Egyptians with the most profound respect, and carried in their religious processions (CLEM., ALEX., Strom.).

** In Egypt, "Petr" was used in this very sense. See BUNSEN, Hieroglyph, where Ptr is said to signify "to show." The interpreter was called Hierophantes, which has the very idea of "showing" in it.

*** The Athenian or Grecian Hermes is celebrated as "The source of invention...He bestows, too, mathesis on souls, by unfolding the will of the father of Jupiter, and this he accomplishes as the angel or messenger of Jupiter...He is the guardian of disciplines, because the invention of geometry, reasoning, and language is referred to this god. He presides, therefore, over every species of erudition, leading us to an intelligible essence from this mortal abode, governing the different herds of souls" (PROCLUS in Commentary on First Alcibiades, TAYLOR'S Orphic Hymns). The Grecian Hermes was so essentially the revealer or interpreter of divine things, that Hermeneutes, an interpreter, was currently said to come from his name (HYGINUS).

The priest, therefore, that in the name of Hermes explained the Mysteries, must have been decked not only with the keys of Peter, but with the keys of "Peter-Roma." Here, then, the famous "Book of Stone" begins to appear in a new light, and not only so, but to shed new light on one of the darkest and most puzzling passages of Papal history.

It has always been a matter of amazement to candid historical inquirers how it could ever have come to pass that the name of Peter should be associated with Rome in the way in which it is found from the fourth century downwards--how so many in different countries had been led to believe that Peter, who was an "apostle of the circumcision," had apostatised from his Divine commission, and become bishop of a Gentile Church, and that he should be the spiritual ruler in Rome, when no satisfactory evidence could be found for his ever having been in Rome at all. But the book of "Peter-Roma" accounts for what otherwise is entirely inexplicable. The existence of such a title was too valuable to be overlooked by the Papacy; and, according to its usual policy, it was sure, if it had the opportunity, to turn it to the account of its own aggrandisement. And that opportunity it had. When the Pope came, as he did, into intimate connection with the Pagan priesthood; when they came at last, as we shall see they did, under his control, what more natural than to seek not only to reconcile Paganism and Christianity, but to make it appear that the Pagan "Peter-Roma," with his keys, meant "Peter of Rome," and that that "Peter of Rome" was the very apostle to whom the Lord Jesus Christ gave the "keys of the kingdom of heaven"? Hence, from the mere jingle of words, persons and things essentially different were confounded; and Paganism and Christianity jumbled together, that the towering ambition of a wicked priest might be gratified; and so, to the blinded Christians of the apostacy, the Pope was the representative of Peter the apostle, while to the initiated pagans, he was only the representative of Peter, the interpreter of their well known Mysteries. Thus was the Pope the express counterpart of "Janus, the double-faced." Oh! what an emphasis of meaning in the Scriptural expression, as applied to the Papacy, "The Mystery of Iniquity"!

The reader will now be prepared to understand how it is that the Pope's Grand Council of State, which assists him in the government of the Church, comes to be called the College of Cardinals. The term Cardinal is derived from Cardo, a hinge.

Janus, whose key the Pope bears, was the god of doors and hinges, and was called Patulcius, and Clusius "the opener and the shutter."

This had a blasphemous meaning, for he was worshipped at Rome as the grand mediator.

Whatever important business was in hand, whatever deity was to be invoked, an invocation first of all must be addressed to Janus, who was recognised as the "God of gods," in whose mysterious divinity the characters of father and son were combined, and without that no prayer could be heard--the "door of heaven" could not be opened. It was this same god whose worship prevailed so exceedingly in Asia Minor at the time when our Lord sent, by his servant John, the seven Apocalyptic messages to the churches established in that region. And, therefore, in one of these messages we find Him tacitly rebuking the profane ascription of His own peculiar dignity to that divinity, and asserting His exclusive claim to the prerogative usually attributed to His rival. Thus, Revelation 3:7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." Now, to this Janus, as Mediator, worshipped in Asia Minor, and equally, from very early times, in Rome, belonged the government of the world; and, "all power in heaven, in earth, and the sea," according to Pagan ideas, was vested in him. In this character he was said to have "jus vertendi cardinis"--the "power of turning the hinge"--of opening the doors of heaven, or of opening or shutting the gates of peace or war upon earth. The Pope, therefore, when he set up as the High-priest of Janus, assumed also the "jus vertendi cardinis," "the power of turning the hinge,"--of opening and shutting in the blasphemous Pagan sense. Slowly and cautiously at first was this power asserted; but the foundation being laid, steadily, century after century, was the grand superstructure of priestly power erected upon it. The Pagans, who saw what strides, under Papal directions, Christianity, as professed in Rome, was making towards Paganism, were more than content to recognise the Pope as possessing this power; they gladly encouraged him to rise, step by step, to the full height of the blasphemous pretensions befitting the representative of Janus--pretensions which, as all men know, are now, by the unanimous consent of Western Apostate Christendom, recognised as inherent in the office of the Bishop of Rome. To enable the Pope, however, to rise to the full plenitude of power which he now asserts, the co-operation of others was needed. When his power increased, when his dominion extended, and especially after he became a temporal sovereign, the key of Janus became too heavy for his single hand--he needed some to share with him the power of the "hinge." Hence his privy councillors, his high functionaries of state, who were associated with him in the government of the Church and the world, got the now well known title of "Cardinals"--the priests of the "hinge." This title had been previously borne by the high officials of the Roman Emperor, who, as "Pontifex Maximus," had been himself the representative of Janus, and who delegated his powers to servants of his own. Even in the reign of Theodosius, the Christian Emperor of Rome, the title of Cardinal was borne by his Prime Minister. But now both the name and the power implied in the name have long since disappeared from all civil functionaries of temporal sovereigns; and those only who aid the Pope in wielding the key of Janus--in opening and shutting--are known by the title of Cardinals, or priests of the "hinge."

I have said that the Pope became the representative of Janus, who, it is evident, was none other than the Babylonian Messiah. If the reader only considers the blasphemous assumptions of the Papacy, he will see how exactly it has copied from its original. In the countries where the Babylonian system was most thoroughly developed, we find the Sovereign Pontiff of the Babylonian god invested with the very attributes now ascribed to the Pope. Is the Pope called "God upon earth," the "Vice-God," and "Vicar of Jesus Christ"? The King in Egypt, who was Sovereign Pontiff, * was, says Wilkinson, regarded with the highest reverence as "THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DIVINITY ON EARTH."

* Wilkinson shows that the king had the right of enacting laws, and of managing all the affairs of religion and the State, which proves him to have been Sovereign Pontiff.

Is the Pope "Infallible," and does the Church of Rome, in consequence, boast that it has always been "unchanged and unchangeable"? The same was the case with the Chaldean Pontiff, and the system over which he presided. The Sovereign Pontiff, says the writer just quoted, was believed to be "INCAPABLE OF ERROR," * and, in consequence, there was "the greatest respect for the sanctity of old edicts"; and hence, no doubt, also the origin of the custom that "the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be altered." Does the Pope receive the adorations of the Cardinals? The king of Babylon, as Sovereign Pontiff, was adored in like manner. **

* WILKINSON'S Egyptians. "The Infallibility" was a natural result of the popular belief in regard to the relation in which the Sovereign stood to the gods: for, says Diodorus Siculus, speaking of Egypt, the king was believed to be "a partaker of the divine nature."

** From the statement of LAYARD (Nineveh and its Remains and Nineveh and Babylon), it appears that as the king of Egypt was the "Head of the religion and the state," so was the king of Assyria, which included Babylon. Then we have evidence that he was worshipped. The sacred images are represented as adoring him, which could not have been the case if his own subjects did not pay their homage in that way. Then the adoration claimed by Alexander the Great evidently came from this source. It was directly in imitation of the adoration paid to the Persian kings that he required such homage. From Xenophon we have evidence that this Persian custom came from Babylon. It was when Cyrus had entered Babylon that the Persians, for the first time, testified their homage to him by adoration; for, "before this," says Xenophon (Cyropoed), "none of the Persians had given adoration to Cyrus."

Are kings and ambassadors required to kiss the Pope's slipper? This, too, is copied from the same pattern; for, says Professor Gaussen, quoting Strabo and Herodotus, "the kings of Chaldea wore on their feet slippers which the kings they conquered used to kiss." In kind, is the Pope addressed by the title of "Your Holiness"? So also was the Pagan Pontiff of Rome. The title seems to have been common to all Pontiffs. Symmachus, the last Pagan representative of the Roman Emperor, as Sovereign Pontiff, addressing one of his colleagues or fellow-pontiffs, on a step of promotion he was about to obtain, says, "I hear that YOUR HOLINESS (sanctitatem tuam) is to be called out by the sacred letters."

Peter's keys have now been restored to their rightful owner. Peter's chair must also go along with them. That far-famed chair came from the very same quarter as the cross-keys. The very same reason that led the Pope to assume the Chaldean keys naturally led him also to take possession of the vacant chair of the Pagan Pontifex Maximus. As the Pontifex, by virtue of his office, had been the Hierophant, or Interpreter of the Mysteries, his chair of office was as well entitled to be called "Peter's" chair as the Pagan keys to be called "the keys of Peter"; and so it was called accordingly. The real pedigree of the far-famed chair of Peter will appear from the following fact: "The Romans had," says Bower, "as they thought, till the year 1662, a pregnant proof, not only of Peter's erecting their chair, but of his sitting in it himself; for, till that year, the very chair on which they believed, or would make others believe, he had sat, was shown and exposed to public adoration on the 18th of January, the festival of the said chair. But while it was cleaning, in order to set it up in some conspicuous place of the Vatican, the twelve labours of Hercules unluckily appeared on it!" and so it had to be laid aside. The partisans of the Papacy were not a little disconcerted by this discovery; but they tried to put the best face on the matter they could. "Our worship," said Giacomo Bartolini, in his Sacred Antiquities of Rome, while relating the circumstances of the discovery, "Our worship, however, was not misplaced, since it was not to the wood we paid it, but to the prince of the apostles, St. Peter," that had been supposed to sit in it. Whatever the reader may think of this apology for chair-worship, he will surely at least perceive, taking this in connection with what we have already seen, that the hoary fable of Peter's chair is fairly exploded. In modern times, Rome seems to have been rather unfortunate in regard to Peter's chair; for, even after that which bore the twelve labours of Hercules had been condemned and cast aside, as unfit to bear the light that the Reformation had poured upon the darkness of the Holy See, that which was chosen to replace it was destined to reveal still more ludicrously the barefaced impostures of the Papacy. The former chair was borrowed from the Pagans; the next appears to have been purloined from the Mussulmans; for when the French soldiers under General Bonaparte took possession of Rome in 1795, they found on the back of it, in Arabic, this well known sentence of the Koran, "There is no God but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet."

The Pope has not merely a chair to sit in; but he has a chair to be carried in, in pomp and state, on men's shoulders, when he pays a visit to St. Peter's, or any of the churches of Rome. Thus does an eye-witness describe such a pageant on the Lord's Day, in the headquarters of Papal idolatry:

"The drums were heard beating without.

The guns of the soldiers rung on the stone pavement of the house of God, as, at the bidding of their officer, they grounded, shouldered, and presented arms.

How unlike the Sabbath--how unlike religion--how unlike the suitable preparation to receive a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus!

Now, moving slowly up, between the two armed lines of soldiers, appeared a long procession of ecclesiastics, bishops, canons, and cardinals, preceding the Roman pontiff, who was borne on a gilded chair, clad in vestments resplendent as the sun. His bearers were twelve men clad in crimson, being immediately preceded by several persons carrying a cross, his mitre, his triple crown, and other insignia of his office. As he was borne along on the shoulders of men, amid the gaping crowds, his head was shaded or canopied by two immense fans, made of peacocks' feathers, which were borne by two attendants." Thus it is with the Sovereign Pontiff of Rome at this day; only that, frequently, over and above being shaded by the fan, which is just the "Mystic fan of Bacchus," his chair of state is also covered with a regular canopy.

Now, look back through the vista of three thousand years, and see how the Sovereign Pontiff of Egypt used to pay a visit to the temple of his god.

"Having reached the precincts of the temple," says Wilkinson, "the guards and royal attendants selected to be the representatives of the whole army entered the courts...Military bands played the favourite airs of the country; and the numerous standards of the different regiments, the banners floating on the wind, the bright lustre of arms, the immense concourse of people, and the imposing majesty of the lofty towers of the propylaea, decked with their bright-coloured flags, streaming above the cornice, presented a scene seldom, we may say, equalled on any occasion, in any country. The most striking feature of this pompous ceremony was the brilliant cortege of the monarch, who was either borne in his chair of state by the principal officers of state, under a rich canopy, or walked on foot, overshadowed with rich flabella and fans of waving plumes."

So much for Peter's chair and Peter's keys. Now Janus, whose key the Pope usurped with that of his wife or mother Cybele, was also Dagon. Janus, the two-headed god, "who had lived in two worlds," was the Babylonian divinity as an incarnation of Noah.


Dagon, the fish-god, represented that deity as a manifestation of the same patriarch who had lived so long in the waters of the deluge. As the Pope bears the key of Janus, so he wears the mitre of Dagon. The excavations of Nineveh have put this beyond all possibility of doubt. The Papal mitre is entirely different from the mitre of Aaron and the Jewish high priests. That mitre was a turban. The two-horned mitre, which the Pope wears, when he sits on the high altar at Rome and receives the adoration of the Cardinals, is the very mitre worn by Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines and Babylonians. There were two ways in which Dagon was anciently represented. The one was when he was depicted as half-man half-fish; the upper part being entirely human, the under part ending in the tail of a fish. The other was, when, to use the words of Layard, "the head of the fish formed a mitre above that of the man, while its scaly, fan-like tail fell as a cloak behind, leaving the human limbs and feet exposed." Of Dagon in this form Layard gives a representation in his last work; and no one who examines his mitre, and compares it with the Pope's as given in Elliot's Horoe, can doubt for a moment that from that, and no other source, has the pontifical mitre been derived. The gaping jaws of the fish surmounting the head of the man at Nineveh are the unmistakable counterpart of the horns of the Pope's mitre at Rome.

Thus was it in the East, at least five hundred years before the Christian era. The same seems to have been the case also in Egypt; for Wilkinson, speaking of a fish of the species of Siluris, says "that one of the Genii of the Egyptian Pantheon appears under a human form, with the head of this fish." In the West, at a later period, we have evidence that the Pagans had detached the fish-head mitre from the body of the fish, and used that mitre alone to adorn the head of the great Mediatorial god; for on several Maltese Pagan coins that god, with the well-known attributes of Osiris, is represented with nothing of the fish save the mitre on his head; (Fig 49) very nearly in the same form as the mitre of the Pope, or of a Papal bishop at this day.

Even in China, the same practice of wearing the fish-head mitre had evidently once prevailed; for the very counterpart of the Papal mitre, as worn by the Chinese Emperor, has subsisted to modern times. "Is it known," asks a well-read author of the present day, in a private communication to me, "that the Emperor of China, in all ages, even to the present year, as high priest of the nation, once a year prays for and blesses the whole nation, having his priestly robes on and his mitre on his head, the same, the very same, as that worn by the Roman Pontiff for near 1200 years? Such is the fact." In proof of this statement the accompanying figure of the Imperial mitre (Fig 50) is produced which is the very facsimile of the Popish Episcopal Mitre, in the front view.


The reader must bear in mind, that even in Japan, still farther distant from Babel than China itself, one of the divinities is represented with the same symbol of might as prevailed in Assyria--even the bull's horns, and is called "The ox-headed Prince of Heaven." If the symbol of Nimrod, as Kronos, "The Horned one," is thus found in Japan, it cannot be surprising that the symbol of Dagon should be found in China.

But there is another symbol of the Pope's power which must not be overlooked, and that is the pontifical crosier. Whence came the crosier? The answer to this, in the first place, is, that the Pope stole it from the Roman augur. The classical reader may remember, that when the Roman augurs consulted the heavens, or took prognostics from the aspect of the sky, there was a certain instrument with which it was indispensable that they should be equipped. That instrument with which they described the portion of the heavens on which their observations were to be made, was curved at the one end, and was called "lituus." Now, so manifestly was the "lituus," or crooked rod of the Roman augurs, identical with the pontifical crosier, that Roman Catholic writers themselves, writing in the Dark Ages, at a time when disguise was thought unnecessary, did not hesitate to use the term "lituus" as a synonym for the crosier. Thus a Papal writer describes a certain Pope or Papal bishop as "mitra lituoque decorus," adorned with the mitre and the augur's rod, meaning thereby that he was "adorned with the mitre and the crosier." But this lituus, or divining-rod, of the Roman augurs, was, as is well known, borrowed from the Etruscans, who, again, had derived it, along with their religion, from the Assyrians.

As the Roman augur was distinguished by his crooked rod, so the Chaldean soothsayers and priests, in the performance of their magic rites, were generally equipped with a crook or crosier. This magic crook can be traced up directly to the first king of Babylon, that is, Nimrod, who, as stated by Berosus, was the first that bore the title of a Shepherd-king.

In Hebrew, or the Chaldee of the days of Abraham, "Nimrod the Shepherd," is just Nimrod "He-Roe"; and from this title of the "mighty hunter before the Lord," have no doubt been derived, both the name of Hero itself, and all that Hero-worship which has since overspread the world. Certain it is that Nimrod's deified successors have generally been represented with the crook or crosier. This was the case in Babylon and Nineveh, as the extant monuments show. The accompanying figure (Fig 51) from Babylon shows the crosier in its ruder guise.

In Layard, it may be seen in a more ornate form, and nearly resembling the papal crosier as borne at this day. * This was the case in Egypt, after the Babylonian power was established there, as the statues of Osiris with his crosier bear witness, ** Osiris himself being frequently represented as a crosier with an eye above it.

* Nineveh and Babylon. Layard seems to think the instrument referred to, which is borne by the king, "attired as high priest in his sacrificial robes," a sickle; but any one who attentively examines it will see that it is a crosier, adorned with studs, as is commonly the case even now with the Roman crosiers, only, that instead of being held erect, it is held downwards.

** The well known name Pharaoh, the title of the Pontiff-kings of Egypt, is just the Egyptian form of the Hebrew He-Roe. Pharaoh in Genesis, without the points, is "Phe-Roe." Phe is the Egyptian definite article. It was not shepherd-kings that the Egyptians abhorred, but Roi-Tzan, "shepherds of cattle" (Gen 46:34). Without the article Roe, a "shepherd," is manifestly the original of the French Roi, a king, whence the adjective royal; and from Ro, which signifies to "act the shepherd," which is frequently pronounced Reg--(with Sh, which signifies "He who is," or "who does," affixed)--comes Regah, "He who acts the shepherd," whence the Latin Rex, and Regal.

This is the case among the Negroes of Africa, whose god, called the Fetiche, is represented in the form of a crosier, as is evident from the following words of Hurd: "They place Fetiches before their doors, and these titular deities are made in the form of grapples or hooks, which we generally make use of to shake our fruit trees." This is the case at this hour in Thibet, where the Lamas or Theros bear, as stated by the Jesuit Huc, a crosier, as the ensign of their office. This is the case even in the far-distant Japan, where, in a description of the idols of the great temple of Miaco, the spiritual capital, we find this statement: "Their heads are adorned with rays of glory, and some of them have shepherds' crooks in their hands, pointing out that they are the guardians of mankind against all the machinations of evil spirits." The crosier of the Pope, then, which he bears as an emblem of his office, as the great shepherd of the sheep, is neither more nor less than the augur's crooked staff, or magic rod of the priests of Nimrod.

Now, what say the worshippers of the apostolic succession to all this? What think they now of their vaunted orders as derived from Peter of Rome? Surely they have much reason to be proud of them. But what, I further ask, would even the old Pagan priests say who left the stage of time while the martyrs were still battling against their gods, and, rather than symbolise with them, "loved not their lives unto the death," if they were to see the present aspect of the so-called Church of European Christendom? What would Belshazzar himself say, if it were possible for him to "revisit the glimpses of the moon," and enter St. Peter's at Rome, and see the Pope in his pontificals, in all his pomp and glory? Surely he would conclude that he had only entered one of his own well known temples, and that all things continued as they were at Babylon, on that memorable night, when he saw with astonished eyes the handwriting on the wall: "Mene, mene, tekel, Upharsin."