Monday, November 23, 2009

Rulers of Evil by Tupper Saussy


'Rulers of Evil' - Divide & Conquer:The Jesuit Way
by URI DOWBENKO

Book Review:
Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge about Governing Bodies
by F. Tupper Saussy
http://www.tuppersaussy.com/


American history is intimately entangled with occult politics.

The secret science of Masonic, Roman and Babylonian symbology figures
prominently. The semiotics of cabalistic signs as well as Sumerian iconography also points to a subliminal influence which has been virtually ignored by mainstream historians.

Tupper Saussy's "Rulers of Evil" is a well-honed and highly readable account of the hidden history of America.

In great detail, the author circumscribes the influence of the Roman
Catholic Church and its Jesuit cadres in promoting the governance of the Church Militant and the US Federal Government -- both of which he equates with the proscribed rulership by those bearing the Mark of Cain.

Well-versed in the nuances of Jesuitic and specious reasoning, Tupper
Saussy maintains that American history has been dominated by the subrosa machinations of the Jesuits.


More...


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"Change"











EAH MAKES GA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION’S PRESIDENTIAL HONOR ROLL


6/29/2009

(Smyrna, GA, June 29, 2009)—Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna has been named as one of only 38 hospitals in the state to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Presidential Honor Roll.

The honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the federal Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), which administers the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. The data was collected from January 2008 through December 2008. To qualify as a Presidential Honor Roll hospital, EAH maintained a score of 93% or higher in its Appropriate Care Measures (ACM) during that time period.

The CMS data details how well a hospital’s caregivers adhere to a list of Appropriate Care Measures (ACM) which are the clinical processes of care that are known to be the most effective methods of treatment for patients who have suffered heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia. For instance, a recommended treatment to help prevent a heart attack is to take aspirin either before or upon arrival at the hospital. A hospital’s adherence to these recommended clinical practices usually leads to better outcomes.

"Congratulations to Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna for its outstanding performance," said Joseph Parker, president of GHA. "We are proud of this accomplishment," said Ed Moyer, COO of the Hospital. "It is our mission to ensure that each of our patients receives the right care at the right time, and this recognition validates this."

Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna is operated by Adventist Health System (AHS) as a joint venture with Emory Healthcare. AHS operates the largest not-for-profit Protestant healthcare system in the nation, with 38 hospitals in 11 states, as well as extended-care, home health and hospice facilities. Emory Healthcare is one of the nation's leading health systems and is affiliated with the world-renowned Emory University School of Medicine and Emory University Hospital.

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Source: http://www.emoryadventist.org/News/NewsArticle/tabid/4625/ItemID/2891/srcmid/21550/Default.aspx
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Emory’s name doesn't ensure its high standards



Friday, November 6, 2009

Emory’s name doesn't ensure its high standards
Medicare data reveals some partner hospitals’ shortcomings


By Carrie Teegardin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


Patients who arrive for care at Emory-Adventist Hospital might reasonably assume that the Cobb County facility is run by Emory University


Those turning to Emory Eastside Medical Center in Snellville and Emory Johns Creek Hospital in North Fulton might also believe they are entrusting their care to the folks who operate the highly regarded teaching hospital on the Emory campus.

But Emory’s name on the sign out front does not mean Emory is completely in charge. And it doesn’t ensure that high quality standards are always met.

Medicare statistics measuring the quality of care at the nation’s hospitals reflect shortcomings at two hospitals using the Emory name, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution study.

Of the five metro Atlanta hospitals in the Emory Healthcare system, Emory University exclusively manages just two: Emory University Hospital on Clifton Road and Emory University Hospital Midtown on Peachtree Street.

The other three Emory hospitals are joint ventures with other hospitals chains. In each case, Emory helps oversee operations but leaves much of the day-to-day management to its partners.

Academic hospitals such as Emory’s Clifton Road and Midtown facilities partner with community hospitals to extend their reach into suburban areas. Some jointly run the hospitals. Others team up to create a specialty unit within a hospital, said Dr. Joanne Conroy, chief health care officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Conroy said quality control is key for the academic hospitals.

“When their brand is out there, they want to make sure that patients have an expectation and receive the same level of services they would receive at the mother ship,” she said.

Emory Eastside, a joint venture between Emory and the health care company HCA Inc., posted a high death rate among pneumonia patients admitted between 2005 and 2008. Emory-Adventist, which is co-owned by Emory and Florida-based Adventist Health System, earned some of the worst marks in the state on 2008 patient satisfaction data compiled by Medicare. The numbers are the most current statistics available to the public.

John T. Fox, Emory Healthcare’s chief executive officer, said Emory sets quality standards and demands good results. Emory doctors serve on each hospital’s board of directors and also work at each facility monitoring quality statistics. He said Emory has closely worked with its partner to address problems highlighted in the Medicare reports.

“We would not enter into a joint venture with anyone who had a lower standard of commitment on quality,” Fox said. “We obviously take our name and our reputation very seriously and we are careful with how we use the brand.”

Fox said Emory staff constantly monitor a range of statistics measuring outcomes and satisfaction.

“Whenever we see a number that is below our expectations, and we see it long before it ever gets published, we go to work on it,” Fox said. “That’s independent of whether it’s a joint venture or a 100 percent Emory-owned hospital.”

As one of its many measures of hospital quality, Medicare surveys the nation’s patients after a hospital stay.

On seven of the 10 patient satisfaction questions, Emory-Adventist posted scores that ranked it no better than third-worst in the state, according to an AJC analysis of the data covering overnight admissions in 2008.

Only two Georgia hospitals scored worse than Emory-Adventist on overall satisfaction and only one scored worse on the percentage of patients who said they would not recommend the hospital. Only one Georgia hospital scored worse on the measure of how well doctors communicated with patients and only two hospitals scored worse than Emory-Adventist on communication with patients by nurses.

No hospital had a more negative rating than Emory-Adventist on how well pain was controlled and only two had higher negatives on whether patients received help quickly when they called for assistance.

Emory owns 35 percent of the 88-bed Emory-Adventist through a 1995 joint venture. Adventist Health System, a nonprofit chain with 37 hospitals nationwide, owns the majority stake of Emory-Adventist and handles most day-to-day operations.

The facility gets more than 80 percent of its admissions through its emergency room, the hospital said.

Emory appoints four of the facility’s 10 board members, one of whom is the chief quality officer at Emory Hospital Midtown.

Insurance companies and government regulators are paying close attention to customer feedback. “Patient satisfaction is clearly an important component of quality,” said William S. Custer, a Georgia State University professor who is an expert in health care and insurance.

Custer said if he were a consultant to Emory-Adventist, he would study emergency room operations since the vast majority of patients start there.

“What this shows is that they need to change the culture to have their employees communicate with patients better at every step,” Custer said.

Emory Eastside and Emory Johns Creek are joint ventures with HCA Inc., a Tennessee-based health care company that operates hospitals nationwide.

At both Eastside and Johns Creek, an Emory doctor monitors quality statistics. Fox said Emory doctors are also assigned to serve as “hospitalists” at the facilities — internal medicine specialists available to nursing staff around the clock. Emory doctors serve on each hospital’s board of directors.

HCA, however, oversees most day-to-day details.

Emory Johns Creek earns strong marks on patient satisfaction surveys and quality measures.

Emory Eastside’s patient ratings were better than Emory-Adventist’s, but below state averages on most questions.

Emory Eastside scored poorly on Medicare’s pneumonia mortality rate, in spite of earning high scores from Medicare for following protocols designed to prevent pneumonia deaths. The hospital is among 14 across Georgia that Medicare highlighted for posting high 30-day death rates among patients admitted with a pneumonia diagnosis over a three-year period, the latest data available.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an in-depth story in October about Georgia hospitals’ poor performance on Medicare’s measurements of clinical outcomes.

Larry Kloess, president of HCA’s division that includes Georgia, said the foundation of HCA’s partnership with Emory is a “shared commitment” to delivering the highest quality care possible.

In a prepared statement, Kloess also said it’s important for consumers to realize that some publicly reported data lags months behind current performance. Medicare does reach back to 2005 to calculate its current pneumonia death rates.

Emory Eastside said it is making a special effort to work with patients suffering from chronic conditions after they leave the hospital to try to improve results. Emory Eastside’s Web site prominently displays its affiliation with Emory Healthcare, but not with HCA.

Dr. John Santa, director of the health ratings center for Consumer Reports magazine, said many patients would assume Emory alone runs a facility that bears its name.

“If they find out differently, doesn’t that kind of sound like a bait-and-switch?” he said.

Some patients might want to know, Santa said, they are going to a hospital where a for-profit company is involved in management. Santa described Emory as a “very impressive brand.”

“I would assume that Emory has business reasons for being willing to share their brand,” he said. “How that involves quality and performance is a good question.”

Administrators at Emory-Adventist are working furiously to improve patient satisfaction ratings, including making changes to assure feedback is accurate.

Ed Moyer, the hospital’s chief operating officer, said the changes include phones instead of call lights, message boards displaying key staff names and a “turn-down” service offering patients a clean gown or fresh sheets.

The hospital’s most recent internal data show significant improvements in satisfaction ratings for patients admitted this year.

Adventist Health System is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “We take seriously our mission to extend the healing ministries of Christ,” Moyer said.

Fox, the Emory Healthcare chief, said he is very comfortable with the quality of care being delivered at all hospitals in the system. But he said he wants to see improvements at each facility, including the highly regarded hospital on the Emory campus that does ground-breaking work every day.

“I want perfection,” he said. “That does not exist in the Milky Way in terms of health care.”


Online rankings


Patient opinions about their experiences in a hospital have historically been limited to what friends and neighbors share. Today, Medicare’s “Hospital Compare” Web site allows consumers access to detailed patient survey data collected in a scientific manner and made available for almost every hospital in the country.

Many consumers have grown accustomed to checking online reviews before making a purchase. Medicare’s data is backed by hundreds of responses, not just the feedback of patients who happened to post comments on a Web site.

To review detailed quality and satisfaction data for hospitals around the country, go to: 
www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov


How we got the story


To examine how well Georgia hospitals performed on patient satisfaction surveys, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution studied the most recent data collected by Medicare for every hospital in Georgia. The newspaper reviewed the latest quality measures published for each hospital. The AJC also interviewed hospital executives and experts in hospital quality and management.



Sunday, November 22, 2009

Uganda People News: Police arrests more SDA cult leaders


First published: 20091116 1:30:25 PM EST


By Walakira Nyanzi, Ultimate Media

Police in Luweero have today arrested more Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church members who teach their followers to eat uncooked food.

These members of the cult have been arrested today in Busula village, Luweero district. Police accuses them of misguiding their followers and holding illegal assembly.

The development comes after the Chief Magistrate of Nakaseke court, Fred Gidudu recently found 25 of the cult leaders guilty of misguiding people. The magistrate imprisoned the cult leaders for 20 months.

The suspects waiting for trial are detained at Wobulenzi police station, in Luweero.

The suspects teach that it is unhealthy to eat cooked food.

The group wants its followers to eat raw eggs, cassava tubers, sweet potato, onions, bananas, maize, greens, Irish potatoes and meat among others.


Source: http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=Police+arrests+more+SDA+cult+leaders+&ID=13580



Related:

Adventist cult members jailed in Nakaseke

Frederick Kiwanuka

TWENTY-five members of a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) sect which prohibits followers from eating cooked food have been jailed.

The members were convicted of trespass and holding an illegal assembly. Their leader, Aloni Kusasira, was jailed for 20 months, while the rest will serve 10 months in prison.

Kusasira and his followers were arrested from Kaddunda village in Nakaseke and arraigned before Grade 1 Magistrate Fred Gidudu, who convicted them on their own plea on Wednesday.

The sect broke away from the main SDA church and embraced cult tendencies which teach that it is unhealthy to eat cooked food.

Followers eat grass, raw cassava tubers, egg plants and other raw foods. Tea and bottled drinks are outlawed and said to be unsuitable for the human body.

Those imprisoned are David Jjuuko from Wakiso, Michael Kamagala of Entebbe, and Sam Kyaterekera of Kapeeka in Nakaseke and Moses Wokulira of Ntebe.

Others are Stephen Kiribedda and Amos Mawejje both of Kapeeka, Mukula Jonathan of Katikamu in Luweero, Ben Mukalazi, Elisa Mutabaazi and Mayengo Fred of Bukomero in Kiboga,

Also sentenced are Dan Katumba of Busia Daniel Kaggwa of Ngogolo in Luweero, Juliet Nanfuka of Bukoto in Masaka, and Margaret Namayega of Wakiso.

Sarah Kiyingi of Kapeeka, Deborah Nanziri of Ngogolo in Luweero, Paulina Nalukwago and Joyce Nalule of Bukomero in Kiboga and Margaret Nalubega of Kapeeka in Nakaseke were also sent to jail.

Others are Mary Nabisaso of Ngogolo in Luweero and Sarah Namande of Kasana in Luweero town council.


Published on: Saturday, 7th November, 2009


Source: http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=125&newsId=700415

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Evo Morales addresses Cochabamba SDA Church


Bolivian President Evo Morales speaks to members of Adventist Church next to a montage of Jesus Christ in Cochabamba Nov 19, 2009. Morales' visit is a part of his campaign for the re-election next Dec 6. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Church and State are partners – Shawa


Sunday, November 15, 2009, 21:29


Lusaka Province Minister, Charles Shawa has asked the Church to assist government in addressing the emerging alcohol abuse among youths in the country.

Mr Shawa says the Church can play an important role in counseling the young people on alcohol abuse to address some of the social ills that afflict society and restoring morality among young people.

He said this during the dedication church service for the Chainda Seventh Day Adventist Church in Lusaka today.

Mr Shawa has since commended the Seventh Day Adventist Church for its robust social policy that has seen the opening of Universities, Hospitals and schools among many others that have benefited the less privileged in society.

He challenged the church to double its efforts in supplementing government’s poverty intervention programmes aimed at fighting disease, poverty, illiteracy and destitution in the country.

And speaking earlier, Seventh Day Adventist Church Central Zambia Conference President, Pastor Passmore Mulambo, said his church is non-partisan and will continue working with the Zambian government in the provision of social services.

Pastor Mulambo further said the church should be in the forefront of preaching and promoting peace and unity among all political players in the country.

ZANIS





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No topic off limit for church's women's ministry group

No topic off limit for church's women's ministry group
By Kelly Voll / The Citizen

Monday, November 16, 2009 12:19 AM EST

AUBURN - Topics that normally wouldn't be touched at most meetings or clubs are fair game at the Seventh-day Adventist Women's Ministry meetings.
On the third Sunday of every month, 18 to 20 women meet at the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Prospect Street in Auburn to discuss planned topics and any other issues that come up in their lives, said Lucille Cardinell, the group's leader and a retired nurse.

“Our purpose is to help all women with any problem that a woman faces,” said Cardinell. “The friendliness, the sisterhood ... we're all together. A lot of us have the same things that we're all going through.”

The ministry is religiously affiliated, but is non-denomination.

Women of any faith or even those with no religious beliefs are welcome at the meetings, said Cardinell.

Topics such as depression, substance abuse, health problems, stress and menopause are openly discussed at meetings.

Cardinell explained that many of the older women who attend the meetings were taught in their youth not to talk about their problems outside the home.

She said she is trying to get women to bring their problems to the group, talk them through and get help from the meetings.

“I'm trying to bring that out,” she said. “If you're hurt, I want to know about it.”

Cardinell said the meetings can be especially beneficial to younger women, as the more mature women can pass their advice on to the younger women. Cardinell said she welcomes any girl or woman over the age of 14 to the meetings.

Even if a member isn't comfortable speaking in front of the group, Cardinell said she still encourages women to see her privately about problems and get help on a personal level.

Cardinell also has speakers come in and talk to the group about different topics. Cardinell said the speakers can offer the group advice she may not have.

“I don't know all the answers,” she said. “I don't even know a third of all the answers.”

Sunday's speaker was Cardinell's sister, Denise Newvine, who has a master's degree in social work and teaches at Morrisville State College.

She worked for an all-women organization for 14 years, which enables her to understand the challenges and opportunities that women have, she said. She spoke on the topic of stress women face during the holidays. She gave the members helpful handouts and showed them a relaxation technique called “guided imagery.”

“I think they're very supportive of one another,” Newvine said. “In a world where women are still considered to be a minority group, this type of gathering can empower them in many ways ... it brings them together as one to share their fears, wants and needs, but mostly to give back to one another.”

Sunday's meeting also featured drawings for door prizes, a Thanksgiving meal, prayers and readings. Members had time to socialize, share stories and offer advice to one another.

Donna Richardson Jones, of Auburn, said the meetings have helped her in general.

“Coming here has been very supportive and very encouraging,” she said. “The prayers have helped.”

Diantha Pratt, of Auburn, credits the Women's Ministry and the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Women's Prayer Retreat with bringing her back to the church after having gone through serious crises.

“I have been an Adventist since 1967, but a string of events that were crisis-level got me so discouraged that I quit coming,” Pratt said. “But there was just so much love there - so much encouragement and support. I was loved back into the church.”

Staff writer Kelly Voll can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or kelly.voll@lee.net


Source: http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2009/11/16/latest_news/latestnews01.txt

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Man Stabbed To Death Over Subway Seat

By MEREDITH TRAINA wpix.com
8:40 PM EST, November 21, 2009

http://www.wpix.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=bc4bd793-e434-42b6-8e68-16f0fd472fea&src=front">

NEW YORK (WPIX) - A man was fatally stabbed on a train Saturday after a fight over a subway seat.

Gerardo Sanchez , 37, of the Bronx has been arrested and charged with murder, police said.

Sanchez and another man in his 30s got into an argument on the northbound "D" train in Midtown about 2 a.m. That's when Sanchez pulled a knife and repeatedly stabbed the man in the neck and face.

Police were immediately alerted, and were waiting on the platform when the train pulled into the West 53 Street and 7 Avenue station.

Officers say Sanchez was standing over his bloodied victim when the doors opened.

The victim was declared dead at the scene.


Source: http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-subway-stabbing,0,4387450.story

Scientist's E-Mail Cites 'Trick' to 'Hide the Decline' on Climate Change


DAVID STRINGER, AP


LONDON (Nov. 21) -- Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online — stoking debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate change.


The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, said in a statement Saturday that the hackers had entered the server and stolen data at its Climatic Research Unit, a leading global research center on climate change. The university said police are investigating the theft of the information, but could not confirm if all the materials posted online are genuine.

More than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists is included in about 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Web sites following the security breach last week.


Some climate change skeptics and bloggers claim the information shows scientists have overstated the case for global warming, and allege the documents contain proof that some researchers conspired to manipulate data.


The furor over the leaked data comes weeks before the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, when 192 nations will seek to reach a binding treaty to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases worldwide. Many officials — including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — regard the prospects of a pact being sealed at the meeting as bleak.
In one leaked e-mail, the research center's director, Phil Jones, writes to colleagues about graphs showing climate statistics over the last millennium. He alludes to a technique used by a fellow scientist to "hide the decline" in recent global temperatures. Some evidence appears to show a halt in a rise of global temperatures from about 1960, but is contradicted by other evidence which appears to show a rise in temperatures is continuing.


Jones wrote that, in compiling new data, he had "just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i.e., from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline," according to a leaked e-mail, which the author confirmed was genuine.


One of the colleague referred to by Jones — Michael Mann, a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University — did not immediately respond to requests for comment via telephone and e-mail.


The use of the word "trick" by Jones has been seized on by skeptics — who say his e-mail offers proof of collusion between scientists to distort evidence to support their assertion that human activity is influencing climate change.


"Words fail me," Stephen McIntyre — a blogger whose climateaudit.org Web site challenges popular thinking on climate change — wrote on the site following the leak of the messages.
However, Jones denied manipulating evidence and insisted his comment had been taken out of context. "The word 'trick' was used here colloquially, as in a clever thing to do. It is ludicrous to suggest that it refers to anything untoward," he said in a statement Saturday.


Jones did not indicate who "Keith" was in his e-mail.


Two other American scientists named in leaked e-mails — Gavin Schmidt of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and Kevin Trenberth, of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, in Colorado — did not immediately return requests for comment.


The University of East Anglica said that information published on the Internet had been selected deliberately to undermine "the strong consensus that human activity is affecting the world's climate in ways that are potentially dangerous."


"The selective publication of some stolen e-mails and other papers taken out of context is mischievous and cannot be considered a genuine attempt to engage with this issue in a responsible way," the university said in a statement.


Associated Press Writer Meera Selva in London contributed to this report.





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46 Years after that single bullet ended JFK's life




Saturday, November 21, 2009

In the U.S. Democrats at work: The End Justifies the Means


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Democrat colleagues achieved a partisan victory by voting 60 Dems vs 39 Reps, approving their HealthScare Overhaul Bill. The "We Know whats best for the nation" party has voted twice in a row as a block; Two weeks ago, this twinight began on (Saturday Night ) 11/8/09; when U.S. House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and her comrades passed their version of the HealthScare Reform Bill in a 220 to 215 vote.
Democrats who regularly call for a bipartisan approach to legislation have shown no compunction in forcing their will on this health legislation. Another Saturday Night Happy Hour; Another opportunity to prove that their is a massive right wing conspiracy to resist needed "Change".
Hooray for American politics!
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We can teach Afghanistan, Iran, and all those other countries that don't know how to do politics, a thing or two.
Eat you hearts out Ahmadinejad, and Hamid Karzai.
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Here in the land of the free; It's like Burger King: Have it your way!
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To the U.S. citizens: Think of it as medicine....Just hold your nose and swallow.
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Prepare for cap and trade, Copenhangen demands (the new Kyoto), Millennium Development Goals, carbon tax, wealth redistribution, rise in taxes, plus more loss of jobs.
The next changes will also will be rammed through in similar fashion. It's that time!
But, it's for your own good. The greater good! By any means necessary...
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Mother Earth Gaiia appreciates your sacrifices. It takes a village!
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Arsenio.
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Tumultuous times fuel end-times preparations





November 18, 2009

NEWS FEATURE

Tumultuous times fuel end-times preparations


By Amy Green

(RNS) For years, Ken Uptegrove believed another Great Depression was at hand.

A computer professional in Springdale, Ark., Uptegrove started a garden and researched ways to live more simply. He studied the lives of early Christians and launched a ministry and Web site (http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.religionnews.com%2Findex.php%3FURL%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.arkhaven.org) where he and his wife now share their beliefs with some 100 visitors a day.

Ideally, one day they’ll move to a remote area with other self-sufficient Christians where they can raise their own food and be ready should things get any worse.

They do not call themselves survivalists per se, but inherent in their way of life is the Christian ideal of neighborliness, he says. Surviving is not about saving yourself alone, but about coming through disaster with enough strength to help your neighbors, too.

“We are not militia. We are not an armed camp. We simply describe ourselves as first-century Christians,” said Uptegrove, 74. “It is always just simply living the Christian community lifestyle and being ready for (Jesus’) return as if it will happen tomorrow, but at the same time being ready to live our life and being ready for a full life.”

In the wake of 9/11, war, Hurricane Katrina, the worst recession in a generation and countless other woes, preparation and survivalism are no longer fringe activities. In fact, for some Christians, current events yield signs of the end times and Jesus’ Second Coming.

Government leaders warn of rising unemployment and worldwide pandemics. Movies such as “2012” stoke fears about looming Armageddon, while TV shows such as “Man vs. Wild” make survivalism seem almost hip. Sustainability and self-sufficiency seem downright mainstream, led by first lady Michelle Obama’s White House vegetable garden. Mormon beliefs in stockpiling food and supplies no longer seem quaint, but maybe something worth looking into.

“We as Americans have this sense of personal responsibility and efficiency,” said Richard Mitchell, Jr., a professor emeritus at Oregon State University and author of “Dancing at Armageddon: Survivalism and Chaos in Modern Times.”

“Individually we can solve those problems, and that we don’t live in an easy world or one that is consistent but one that requires focused reaction and cooperation and sort of individual grit.”

Across the Web, message boards, blogs and businesses promoting survivalism are flourishing. Living Fresh, an online store that sells emergency supplies, has seen business jump as much as 700 percent, owner Joe Branin estimated. Among his best-selling items are pouches that can store water up to five years and sturdy blankets that also can be used as tents. He sells perhaps 1,000 blankets a month.

Today, survivalists are “your basic person, like a ... person that just read about it or started hearing about it and thought, `You know what? This is a good idea,”’ Branin said.

The popular myth has been that survivalists are Rambo types, Mitchell said. Instead, survivalists often are urbanites or suburbanites who distrust the government or believe the government is flawed. For the less hard-core, the concept perhaps renders a measure of control they feel they have lost to disasters or 9/11, Branin said.

“This is one way people feel like they’re taking control of their own situations again,” he said. “We’ve had so much drama. It’s like getting your oil changed in your car. You’ve done something that feels good. It’s the same way with somebody going down and getting a survival kit and having extra food or water. It gives them that level of a little bit of security.”

Of course, doomsday fads come and go. In the 1830s, New York farmer William Miller saw the return of Jesus in 1843, which led to the “Great Disappointment” but also the birth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Similar end-times predictions led to the founding of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Some say the hype is fueled by the government and the media: just ask anyone who worried about Y2K a decade ago, or the 2003 government directive to stock up on duct tape to seal homes from a chemical or biological attack.

Yet being prepared isn’t all bad, Mitchell said. If survivalists are gardening because they feel the U.S. should be less dependent on foreign countries for food or even energy, maybe they’re on to something. And if survivalists distrust government and economic systems they don’t completely understand, perhaps the recession has proven they have a point.

New technology is helping measure progress toward completing Jesus’ Great Commission command to make disciples of all nations, said the Rev. Allan Beeber, who runs the online Global Media Outreach missionary effort for Orlando-based Campus Crusade for Christ.

Many Christians believe the Great Commission must be fulfilled before Jesus can return, and at the rate the ministry is growing, Beeber believes it’s possible the job might be completed by 2020, maybe sooner.

Then again, he’s not making any specific plans.

“It may happen in our lifetime. I just don’t wake up everyday thinking today’s going to be the day. I just don’t do that. I’ve been through too much,” he said. “I do believe the scriptures will be fulfilled someday, but I think the timing will surprise every one of us.”

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Vatican Backs Obama’s Global Agenda


Photo (Courtesy)http://www.usasurvival.org/images/pope_obama2.png


AIM Report By Cliff Kincaid November 18, 2009

In fact, the bishops believe that “health care is a basic human right,” which is the premise of the Obama plan and it is driving the campaign to have the federal government take over the health care sector.

Some pro-life Catholics reacted with shock to the news that the Vatican warmly greeted the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who is pro-abortion. They don't seem to understand that the Vatican and Obama agree on most major international issues. This is the untold story-how Obama and the Vatican accept major ingredients of what has been called a New World Order.

Another untold story is how, despite a disagreement over abortion, the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the Obama Administration agree on major aspects of so-called health care reform.

These topics are mostly taboo in the liberal and conservative media. Liberal and conservative Catholics alike would prefer not to discuss how the Catholic Church, here and abroad, functions like a liberal/left-wing political lobby.

But the facts should not be much of a surprise. A majority of Catholics voted for Obama, despite the fact that his pro-abortion record was well known, and when he was honored at Notre Dame, the premier Catholic University in the U.S., only about one-third of U.S. Catholic Bishops publicly objected.

The Nobel Committee's award to Obama has been viewed by many, on the left and right, as a surprise. But it makes perfect sense. The committee noted that Obama "has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play." All of this is true. Obama has built up the power of global institutions at the expense of the United States.

While the Vatican statement congratulating Obama was also seen by some as a surprise, it too makes sense. The Vatican expressed the hope that "this most important recognition will ultimately encourage such a difficult but fundamental commitment for the future of humanity, so that it might bring the expected results."

The "expected results" are evident when one considers that Pope Benedict, the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics, had endorsed a "World Political Authority," a form of world government, in his recent encyclical "Caritas in Veritate." This world political authority, in the Vatican view, is supposed to "manage the economy," bring about "timely disarmament," and ensure "food, security and peace."

On domestic matters, it is frequently reported that the Roman Catholic Bishops in the U.S. oppose the Obama health care plan. In fact, the bishops believe that "health care is a basic human right," which is the premise of the Obama plan and it is driving the campaign to have the federal government take over the health care sector.

The Bishops disagree with Obama on tax-funding of abortion, but on other matters-such as health care for immigrants and the poor-the Bishops are to the left of the plans introduced by Congressional Democrats.

The Bishops, who have a staff of 350 people, also agree with the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats on what is euphemistically called "immigration reform." On October 8, Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick told the Senate that a new bill should help bring illegal aliens "out of the shadows" and give them permanent residency and citizenship. Such a bill figures to be one of the next major Obama initiatives.

On the matter of a cap-and-trade energy bill, which would raise energy prices supposedly to combat global warming, the Catholic Bishops believe that the U.S. should adopt "mitigation and adaptation" approaches that mean "shifting behavior now to adjust to the near-term impacts of climate change." The Bishops explain that "Mitigation means cutting back on the emissions of harmful global warming pollutants and taking action to prevent further harm to the atmosphere."

Again, this is the Obama Administration position.

The Bishops have launched a "Climate Change Justice and Health Initiative" that promotes "legislative action," including "the transfer of such technologies and technical assistance that may be appropriate and helpful to developing countries in meeting the challenges of global climate change." This, too, is accepted and being promoted by the Obama Administration.

Decision On Afghanistan

On the controversial matter of what to do in Afghanistan, left-wing pressure has been applied on the Obama Administration by Pax Christi, a Catholic group which insists that the U.S. military presence has "fueled the spiral of violence and further destabilized the region." It says that the solution lies in "reducing the U.S. military footprint" and favors ending the use of air strikes and drones on terrorist targets. Its "solution" is more diplomacy and foreign aid.

On an equally serious matter, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, Dave Robinson, executive director of PaxChristi USA, recently signed a letter endorsing "the administration's intent to engage Iran diplomatically..." Robinson favors more talking with Iran, not more sanctions and certainly not military action against the fanatical regime.

What's interesting is that you find the same Catholic personnel working on domestic and foreign policy issues.

For example, the executive committee on the Pax Christi national council includes figures such as Donna Toliver Grimes, a "Poverty Education and Outreach Manager" for the bishops who also serve on the staff of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). This is the entity funded by an annual collection authorized by the U.S. Catholic Bishops which is advertised as a charity to "break the vicious cycle of poverty" but which has poured millions of dollars into ACORN and related organizations over the years.

In an October 2 memorandum, Bishop Roger P. Morin acknowledged that the CCHD had also been funding several groups promoting public policy positions in violation of Catholic moral teaching. These were groups promoting homosexual rights and abortion. Morin claimed that the funding had been cut off.

However, Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, which uncovered the scandal, says that Morin's response is unsatisfactory and "factually deficient in several areas."

Obama's Catholic Connection

Obama's community organizing days in Chicago began in an organization funded by the Catholic Church. In a Politico.com story about Barack Obama's friendly meeting with the Pope, reporter Josh Gerstein featured information that made it clear that the President's Catholic connection goes back to his days as a community organizer and that Obama's associates understand and appreciate this fact.

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough was quoted as saying that Obama's work as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago "was funded partly" by the "Catholic Church campaign for human development..."-the CCHD.

McDonough, a former Senior Fellow at the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress (CAP), was the moderator of a May 10, 2006, CAP event on "How Catholic Progressives View the Role of Faith in Governance."

Conservative Catholics concerned about this problem have documented that millions of dollars of Catholic money over the last four decades have gone into Saul Alinsky-style networks which pursue their own brand of socialist direct action. CCHD itself acknowledges funding ACORN projects with grants totaling more than $7.3 million during the last 10 years.

Filling in more of the details of the story that Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough referred to, conservative Catholic writer and activist Stephanie Block has documented that Obama was lead organizer in Chicago for the Alinskyian Developing Communities Project. It received a $40,000 Catholic Campaign for Human Development grant in 1985 and another $33,000 grant in 1986.

While he was in Chicago, Obama was trained by top Alinskyian organizers. One was the ex-Jesuit, Greg Galuzzo, lead organizer for Gamaliel. The Developing Com-munities Project operated under the Gamaliel Foundation, a network of Alinskyian organizations that also received CCHD grants.

Gamaliel calls Obama a former Gamaliel organizer and boasts of connections to top White House officials such as Obama friend Valerie Jarrett.

The Developing Communities Project, which hired Obama as lead organizer, was an offshoot of the Calumet Community Religious Conference of Alinsky-trained Jerry Kellman. The network of community organizations Alinsky founded, known as the Industrial Areas Foundation, also received CCHD grants.

The grants are being used, however, not just to seize power, but to change the minds of traditional Catholics. Indeed, this is a necessary prerequisite for taking power.

Alinskyian training sessions in the religious context are designed not to develop or cultivate a personal relationship with Christ and promote traditional values and cultural institutions but to engage in Marxist political activity and radical change. Stephanie Block puts it this way: "Their worldview is marred by visions of class struggle and perpetual revolution. They are systematically trained to renounce moral truth in favor of consensus-based 'values.'"

What has happened over the years, some of these experts say, is that Catholics trained in Alinskyian thought have become confused about moral issues and problems. They think, for example, that opposition to the death penalty is on the same moral plane as opposition to abortion, even though Catholic moral teaching has never precluded capital punishment. They believe that fighting "global warming" is as important as saving the lives of unborn children or preventing the killing of the elderly. They are trained to fight for abortion and homosexual "rights" in violation of traditional Catholic Church teaching.

The BigGovernment.com videos of questionable ACORN activities have outraged taxpayers and members of Congress. Many Catholics will be angered by the revelations-if Fox News dares to publicize the evidence-of how their money has been funneled to ACORN and similar organizations by the official Catholic hierarchy.

The evidence of Catholic collaboration with Marxist and "progressive" networks is substantial. A documentary, "The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy," notes that "Alinsky envisioned an 'organization of organizations,' comprised of all sectors of the community-youth committees, small businesses, labor unions, and, most influential of all, the Catholic Church." A website devoted to the documentary cites the Catholic Campaign for Human Development as one of several organizations "actively practicing Alinsky's techniques."

The Citizen's Handbook to radical organizing notes that "Much of IAF [Industrial Areas Foundation] organizing occurs through Christian churches particularly the Catholic church."

Obama "worked in several Catholic parishes, supported by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, helping to address severe joblessness and housing needs in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods of Chicago," noted the group calling itself Catholic Democrats. Another group, Catholics for Obama, says that "President Barack Obama reflects core values of Catholic Social Teaching, which informs how we live our faith in the world."

The president of Catholic Democrats, Patrick Whelan, serves on the board of Catholics for Obama and as co-director of Pax Christi in Massachusetts.

In the newsletter of Pax Christi Massachusetts, Whelan writes about flying to Chicago in May of this year, "where I attended a reunion of Catholic Priests and community activists who hired a young Barack Obama in 1985."

Whelan says that Obama, in his book, Dreams from My Father, "created a character named Marty Kaufmann, based on two real-life community organizers who attended this gathering on May 16, 2009."

Whelan also writes about Obama's meeting with the Pope. "Overall," he says, "it was clear that the common ground between the US Government and the Holy See-on poverty, the environment, international armed conflict and peace in the Middle East-far outweighed their differences."





PROGRESSIVES SUPPORT GLOBAL TAXES

While policymakers debate a few million dollars for ACORN and a few hundred billion dollars more for health care reform, those committed to one-world government are moving ahead with plans for a global tax that could extract trillions of dollars out of Americans' already depleted IRAs and stock holdings.

One can't exclude the possibility of such a tax being slipped into a health care or cap-and-trade bill that the Congress or the public could not have time to read before passage.

Bob Davis of the Wall Street Journal deserves a journalism prize for taking the time to read the recent communiqué issued by the G-20 countries meeting in Pittsburgh. He found they had assigned the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the job of studying how to implement a global tax on America and the rest of the world.

"The IMF assignment from the G-20 has been widely overlooked," Davis noted. His article ran under the headline, "IMF Mulls Global Bank Tax."

The "Leader's Statement" endorsed by President Obama and released at the event declares on page 10 that "We task the IMF to prepare a report for our next meeting with regard to the range of options countries have adopted or are considering as to how the financial sector could make a fair and substantial contribution toward paying for any burdens associated with government interventions to repair the banking system."

The term "fair and substantial contribution" is code for a global tax. Other misleading terms for global taxes include "innovative sources of finance" and "Solidarity Levies."

While the global tax would affect the savings of ordinary Americans and be passed on to consumers, it is being packaged by the international left and its progressive allies in the U.S. as an assault on Wall Street and the big banks.

One proposal, popular at the United Nations for decades and long-advocated by Fidel Castro, is the Tobin Tax, named after Yale University economist James Tobin. Such a tax, which could affect stocks, mutual funds, and pensions, could generate hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Indeed, Steven Solomon, a former staff reporter at Forbes, says in his book, The Confidence Game, that such a proposal "might net some $13 trillion a year..." because it is based on taking a percentage of money from the trillions of dollars exchanged daily in global financial markets.

Such transactions are commonplace on behalf of Americans who have stock in mutual funds or companies that invest or operate overseas.

Meanwhile, President Obama used his recent speech to the United Nations to declare, "We have fully embraced the Millennium Development Goals." He left unsaid what this means. It has been calculated that this will cost the U.S. $845 billion to meet U.N. demands for a certain percentage of Gross National Product to go for official foreign aid to the rest of the world. Compliance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was incorporated into the Global Poverty Act that Obama had introduced as a U.S. senator but which never passed.

A global tax of the kind envisioned in the G-20 document could help provide the revenue to fulfill Obama's promise to comply with the MDGs.

One of the leading cheerleaders for the global tax is economist Joseph Stiglitz, an Obama supporter and former Clinton official who has been working with the Socialist International Commission on Global Financial Issues. He played a key behind-the-scenes role in the June United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis. He was selected as a U.N. adviser by the then-president of the U.N. General Assembly, Communist Catholic Priest Miguel D'Escoto.

Over at the Huffington Post, a voice of the Obama-supporting left, Kyle G. Brown advised that such a tax is doable and that "a modest fee on every stock, every bond-in short, every financial transaction" could generate $100 billion a year at a rate of just 0.5 percent. He explains, "That would defray health care costs, and help struggling states restore social services that have been axed over the past two years."

Brown is not a policy maker but rather a self-described writer and broadcast journalist at the BBC and CBC.

The progressives know that such a rate could be ratcheted up quickly, bringing in hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars.

The AFL-CIO, the giant labor federation backing Obama, has already endorsed the Tobin Tax, as has Robert Kuttner, a leading liberal thinker who serves as co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior fellow at Demos. This is a pro-Democratic Party think tank that still includes ousted Obama green jobs czar Van Jones on its board.

As reported by The Hill newspaper, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman of the Highways and Transit Transportation Subcommittee, has "seized on the idea as a way to help pay for a new massive surface transportation reauthorization bill, estimated to cost $450 billion over six years," but wants to tax oil-based derivatives rather than stock transactions. DeFazio had previously introduced a House resolution to pass a Tobin Tax.

What is driving the global taxation agenda is a Marxist view that the U.S. is exploiting the people and natural resources of the world.

In his 2001 speech to the U.N. World Conference on Racism, Castro advocated the Tobin Tax specifically in order to generate U.S. financial reparations to the rest of the world. He declared that "the tax suggested by Nobel Prize Laureate James Tobin" should be imposed in order to generate "one trillion US dollars annually to save and develop the world."

The only thing that has changed is that the U.S. now has a President who agrees with Castro, and he and his progressive backers believe that they can obtain a slice of the revenue for their socialist projects here as well.

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Source:http://www.aim.org/aim-report/vatican-backs-obamas-global-agenda/

Who is mystery Babylon?


The Identity of Mystery Babylon


Who is mystery Babylon? Revelation 17:5 reads, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Just from analysing scriptures alone from the Book of Revelation a consistent theme can be seen of an Apostate Church that persecuted the Christian Saints through the dark ages for 1260 years. Further analysis reveals that this Apostate Church is the key component of mystery Babylon and changed God’s law in favour of pagan traditions. The ultimate climax seen is God taking justice on this Apostate Church and those that supported her, for her crimes and fornication just before the second coming of Christ, which is also part of what is known as the Battle of Armageddon. Just before this happens the issue of 666 and the Mark of the Beast will be enforced and all will have the choice to bow down to the image made to this Apostate Church or to Worship God only and keep His Commandments. Those who willingly disobey God in favour of bowing down to the commandments of this Church and mystery Babylon, the mother of Harlots, will ultimately receive her Mark and “shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.”


Before continuing please allow me to emphasize that this document is not intended to offend any person or their Church. Some of the best missionaries and humanitarians have been part of this Apostate Church and have taken no part in her crimes. What the scripture refers to in these chapters of Revelation are not all the wonderful Christians that have been in this Church, but the system itself, so no offence is intended in any way towards people that belong to this Church or have ever been part of this Apostate Church. Much of this is very distressing and as much as it may hurt to hear these truths, we must teach what the Bible says as God’s true Church is called to do. God does not want mystery Babylon to remain a mystery.


Clues to the identity of Mystery Babylon


In Revelation, the Apostle John tells the tale of TWO WOMEN. One is dressed in pure white, revealing the purity of true faith and doctrine. This pure woman of Revelation 12 is committed to Christ. She’s absolutely loyal to Him and her heart burns with a love for Jesus. Nothing can break her loyalty to the One she loves so much. This woman represents all the faithful believers who have loved Jesus Christ, kept His commandments and been obedient to Him down through the ages. Revelation 17 pictures another woman. Now we have the opposite picture. Who is this woman in scarlet riding on a Beast?


Mystery Babylon is a CHURCH: In the Bible a WOMAN symbolizes a CHURCH. This is an extremely important point that must absolutely not be overlooked as it proves beyond all shadow of a doubt that this “WOMAN” with mystery Babylon written upon Her head and riding a Beast (Kingdom) has to be a “Church.” Below are several scriptures that prove this is undeniable fact. The only question that then remains is which Church? Note that an unfaithful Church commits spiritual adultery.


God also refers to Israel as a “Woman” (HER) as it represents the Old Testament Church that brought forth the Man child (Jesus Christ) in Revelation 12. Do not miss this really important point which is that God called Israel a “Harlot” and a “Whore” when she worshipped other gods and committed spiritual adultery. Which Church deleted the Commandment on idolatry and worshipped the SUN and has many pagan traditions? Which Church changed the Sabbath to SUNday in favour of SUN worship? Which Church has the statue of St Peter in St Peters Cathedral which was originally the statue of the pagan god Jupiter? This statue has had its foot kissed away and replaced several times because of the multitude that have bowed down to this statue and kissed its foot. This is unmistakable idolatry and especially when this was originally a pagan god.


In the following verse you will note that God calls the fourth Commandment “MY” Sabbath.
Exodus 31:13 “Speak you also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily MY Sabbaths you shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am the LORD that does sanctify you.”


Now note the following verse refers to the ceremonial sabbaths and the various feasts days and new moons which were associated with a temporary law that was for Israel only. It is called the Book of the law, Mosaic Law and the ordinances. The term Ceremonial law is also used. Speaking of Israel, note that God calls them HER Sabbaths and HER feast days etc. Israel is all through the Old Testament referred to as a “Woman” (HER) and when she worshipped other gods was called a “Harlot.”


Hosea 2:11 “I will also cause all HER mirth to cease, HER feast days, HER new moons, and HER sabbaths, and all HER solemn feasts.

When the Church apostatized it was compared with a corrupt Woman


Jeremiah 3:1-25 “…If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? ...but you have played the HARLOT with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 2 …you have polluted the land with your WHOREDOMS and with your wickedness. 3 …you hadst a WHORE'S FOREHEAD, you refusedst to be ashamed… 6 The LORD said also unto me… Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the HARLOT… 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed ADULTERY I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the HARLOT also… 20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.”


Ezekiel 16:26-32 “You have also committed FORNICATION with the Egyptians your neighbours, great of flesh; and have increased your WHOREDOMS, to provoke me to anger… 28 You have played the WHORE also with the Assyrians, because you were unsatiable; yes, you have played the HARLOT with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. 30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing you doest all these things, the work of an imperious WHORISH WOMAN; 31 In that you buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and have not been as an HARLOT, in that you scornest hire; 32 But as a wife that committeth ADULTERY, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!”


Revelation 17:1-3 “…Come hither; I will show unto you the judgment of the great WHORE that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed FORNICATION, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her FORNICATION. 3 …I saw a WOMAN sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy… 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON the great, the MOTHER OF HARLOTS and abominations of the earth.”


God’s true Church is frequently represented as a Woman


Isaiah 54:5-6 “For your Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For the LORD has called you as a WOMAN forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, saith your God.”


2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”


Ephesians 5:31-32 “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning CHRIST AND THE CHURCH.”


Christ is represented as the Bridegroom and the Church is the bride which of course is a “Woman.”


Matthew 9:14-15 “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but your disciples fast not? 15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.”


Revelation 19:7-8 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his WIFE has made HERSELF ready. 8 And to HER was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

Revelation 12:1 “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a WOMAN clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:”
Some have wrongly concluded that this woman is Mary but the following verse demonstrates that this woman represents God’s true Church by the symbolism used. The time period here represents the 1260 years called the dark ages where the Church had to flee into the wilderness to survive the persecution. Mary did not live for 1260 years or have eagles wings!


Revelation 12:14 “And to the WOMAN were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”


Mystery Babylon is a CORRUPT Church: Just as a pure woman represents a pure Church, a corrupt woman represents a corrupt Church. The woman in white is Christ’s bride, the true Church. But Revelation 17:1, 15-16 and 19:2 call this second woman a “WHORE” or “HARLOT”, a fallen Church teaching false doctrines.


Mystery Babylon is a RICH Church: This symbolic wicked woman, this corrupt Church is a rich one with gorgeous display. Revelation 17:4 says she’s “decked with GOLD and PRECIOUS STONES and PEARLS, having a GOLDEN cup in her hand.” Which Church would you say is the richest in the world?


Mystery Babylon is a Church built on SEVEN HILLS or MOUNTAINS: This identification given in Revelation 17:9, is impressive and clear, for ROME is proverbial as “the city built on seven hills.” Webster’s large unabridged dictionary says this under the entry “seven-hilled”: “as, the SEVEN-HILLED CITY, that is, ROME, Italy.” Furthermore, Revelation 17:18 tells John, “The woman whom you saw is that GREAT CITY which reigns over the kings of the earth.” John wrote this using the present tense for the word “reigns” and he knew as well as anyone else that “that great city” was ROME.


Mystery Babylon is a LARGE, WORLDWIDE Church: She sits on “many WATERS,” explained as being many “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” Revelation 17:1 and 15. The very word catholic means “universal,” and the Papal Church has the largest, most widespread membership in Christendom.


Mystery Babylon is a Church that revives BABYLON’S pagan teachings: “On her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT...” Revelation 17:5. Long before John wrote the Book of Revelation, the ancient city of Babylon had been completely destroyed and never rebuilt. For centuries it lay in ruins and had faded into insignificance. The apostle Peter could not have been referring to literal Babylon when he wrote in 1 Peter 5:13 that: “She who is in Babylon ... greets you.” For there was no Church or any other human institution in the desolate ruins of ancient Babylon. He was referring to ROME as all authorities agree. It is easy to see why early Christians used “Babylon” as a code word or nickname for Rome, for there are many striking parallels between the twin cities of literal Babylon of ancient times and figurative “Babylon” or Rome. Consider just a few: Babylon was the dominant warring power of its day and Rome was the dominant warring power of its own era. Babylon conquered Israel and centuries later, Rome also conquered Israel. Babylon destroyed the first Jerusalem Temple and Rome destroyed the second. Each carried sacred vessels from the Jewish Temple back to Babylon in the east and Rome in the west; each completely destroyed and devastated the city of Jerusalem; each carried away surviving Jews into captivity. Rome was Babylon all over again. As Babylon’s “carbon copy,” Rome provides a perfect example of history repeating itself! But more to the point, this woman who sits on seven hills which is this Church located in Rome, has revived the same pagan teachings that ancient Babylon taught ages ago. She baptizes them, sanctifies them, and brings them into the Christian Church. Ages ago, when presumptuous men tried to build the Tower of Babel at Babylon, God confused their language. Genesis 11:1-9. So here in the last book of the Bible, “Babylon” is a spiritual term referring to confusion, not the confusion of languages in the Old Testament but religious confusion as the Church drifted away from God’s Word.


Mystery Babylon is a RELIGIOUS power dominating the CIVIL powers: Revelation 17:3 and 7 tell us the harlot, or fallen Church, is RIDING the beast. Daniel 7:17 and 23 tell us a beast represent a king or kingdom. When we ride a horse, we direct it and control it, so the picture God gives here is of a Church dominating the civil power. For centuries, the Papacy dictated to kings. When she wanted to punish or execute any who dared to question her teaching, she would often call on the police power of the state. Revelation 17:2 describes this harlot: “with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication.” She has influence over the kings of the earth, great influence over heads of state. Today, unlike other Churches, the Vatican exchanges ambassadors with every major nation on earth. They come to her city on seven mountains, and they bow before her, having “lived luxuriously with her.” Revelation 18:9
The Harlot and NATURAL Immortality: Sincere Catholics often bow down before a statue of a SAINT and devoutly pray, even though the saint is DEAD. But the Roman Church doesn’t teach that they’re dead. Even though the idea that man’s soul is naturally immortal is a PAGAN one. All the ancient pagan religions, without exception had the idea that the soul, or man’s essential being, was immortal. That non-biblical concept, inherited from Babylon was a common thread running through them all. In Egypt for instance, the pyramids were great monuments, great houses for the dead to hold their immortal spirits. But the heathen idea of man’s soul being naturally immortal comes from Egypt and Babylon and Greece, not the Bible whose teaching directly contradicts it. See such verses as 1 Timothy 6:15-16, Ezekiel 18:4, 20, Ecclesiastes 9:5, Psalm 6:5; 13:3; 115:17, John 11:11-14, Ephesians 5:14 etc.


The Harlot and IMAGE Worship: Many false doctrines entered the Church, but let’s focus on just three: IMAGE worship, IMMORTALITY of the soul, and SUN worship. First of all, Babylon was the center of idol worship. Everywhere you turned there were images, idols representing the pagan gods, not just statues of Bel-Marduk, their chief god. King Nebuchadnezzar set up a huge golden idol and commanded all to bow down before it. But God’s Second Commandment in Exodus 20:4-5 FORBIDS using images in religious worship, FORBIDS bowing down before them. Today the Papal Church not only fosters those very things but also has DELETED the Second Commandment from its catechisms (official training manuals).


The Harlot and SUN Worship: The main deity of Babylon and Egypt was the Sun god. Astrology and worship of the heavens originated in Babylon. But God calls it one of the greatest of “abominations” in Ezekiel 8:15-16. Roman Emperor Constantine was a sun worshiper who never gave it up. The Roman Church disregards not only the Second Commandment about image worship but also the Fourth Commandment about the Creator’s Seventh-day Sabbath, substituting the unscriptural SUNDAY.


Mystery Babylon is the Mother of Harlots: This is because SHE has continued to have a massive impact on what truly does matter to God, i.e., His Church. She is the root of many false doctrines, has changed God’s law and shed the blood of millions of Christians etc. When Israel committed spiritual adultery, God called His Old Testament Church a “WHORE”, a “HARLOT” and a “WHORISH WOMAN” and accused her of “FORNICATION” and “ADULTERY.” The Catholic Church is guilty of much worse than Israel. In a recent address to the nations, Pope Benedict caused a major uproar among many Churches as he referred to the Catholic Church as being the “MOTHER” Church and called for all the daughter Churches to come back to HER. They are referred to as daughter Churches because they originally came from the Catholic Church, eg: Martin Luther, who had been a Catholic priest established the Lutheran Church. Sadly, many of the daughter Churches have also ignorantly inherited various false doctrines and this is why SHE is called the “MOTHER OF HARLOTS” as is Mystery Babylon. See mark of the beast and paganism for many images that reveal more on why God also calls her Babylon. See also the origins of 666 and how it relates to Babylon and the Catholic Church.


The Testimony of History:


“It has often been charged… that Catholicism is overlaid with many pagan incrustations. Catholicism is ready to accept that accusation and even to make it her boast… the great god Pan is not really dead, he is baptized” — The Story of Catholicism p 37.

“The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.” — An Essay on the The Development of the Christian Doctrine John Henry “Cardinal Newman” p.373.


“It is interesting to note how often our Church has availed herself of practices which were in common use among pagans … Thus it is true, in a certain sense, that some Catholic rites and ceremonies are a reproduction of those of pagan creeds…” — (The Externals of the Catholic Church, Her Government, Ceremonies, Festivals, Sacramentals and Devotions, by John F. Sullivan, p 156, published by P.J. Kennedy, NY, 1942).


“The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom. ... The sun has worshippers at this hour in Persia and other lands. ... The PAGAN Sunday dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus.” — Catholic William Gildea, Doctor of Divinity, wrote in The Catholic World, March, 1894, page 809.


Doctor Alexander Hislop, in his classic work, The Two Babylon’s, page 105, says this: “To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals [that’s the Sabbath and Sunday] amalgamated, and ... to get Paganism and Christianity now far sunk in idolatry in this as in so many other things, to shake hands.” He says further: “A glance at the main pillars of the Papal system will sufficiently prove that its doctrine and discipline in all essential respects have been derived from BABYLON.”


“In ancient Babylonia the SUN was WORSHIPPED from immemorial antiquity.” — Sir James G. Frazer, an authoritative scholar, makes this statement in his book The Worship of Nature, Volume 1, page 529.


“The doctrine of natural, as distinguished from Christian, immortality ... crept into the Church, by a BACK DOOR. ... When arguments are offered for the purely natural immortality of the soul, they are rarely, if ever, derived from Scripture. ... The natural immortality of the soul is a doctrine wholly unknown to the Holy Scriptures, and standing on no higher plane than that of ... PHILOSOPHICAL OPINION ... of philosophical speculations DISGUISED as truths of Divine Revelation.” — William E. Gladstone, four-time Prime Minister of Great Britain and a theologian in his own right, wrote in Studies Subsidiary to the Works of Bishop Butler, pp. 195-198.
“The adoration of idols that is in Babylon was succeeded by the adoration of saints.” — Henry Thomas Buckle, a world-famous historian, says in his book The History of Civilization, Volume 1, page 188.


The book Catholic Belief, by Roman Catholic scholar Father Joseph Faà di Bruno, page 45, states this: “Like two sacred rivers flowing from Paradise, the Bible AND divine Tradition contain the Word of God, the precious gems of revealed truths. Though these two divine streams are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of EQUAL sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, Tradition is to us MORE clear and safe.” Are the traditions, customs and practices of man safer than the Bible? Rome baptizes tradition with the word “divine” and dares to hold it above the Bible.


“Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is IMPOSSIBLE.” — Cardinal James Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore and noted writer, said in The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.


“One cannot well refer to those cults of Babylon and Egypt and the rest as DEAD religions. For the echo of their ancient thunder is still to be heard reverberating in almost every form of faith existing today. Ancient Babylonian image worship is in the church today. Ancient Babylonian sun worship is there. Ancient Babylonian belief in the immortality of the soul is there. Yes, the echo of that thunder is still heard in the church today!” — Lewis Brown says this in The Believing World, page 112.


“His coins bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ; on the other, the figure of the SUN GOD, as if he could not bear to relinquish the patronage of the bright luminary.” — Historian Arthur P. Stanley in his book, The History of the Eastern Church, page 184, says this about the Roman Emperor Constantine.


Mystery Babylon by Commentary - Page 2




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Speaking Great Words and Blasphemy


Popes claiming to be God on Earth:

"The Pope is not simply the representative of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, he is Jesus Christ Himself, under the veil of the flesh, and who by means of a being common to humanity continues His ministry amongst men ... Does the Pope speak? It is Jesus Christ Who is speaking. Does he teach? It is Jesus Christ Who teaches. Does he confer grace or pronounce an anathema? It is Jesus Christ Himself Who is pronouncing the anathema and conferring the grace. Hence consequently, when one speaks of the Pope, it is not necessary to examine, but to obey: there must be no limiting the bounds of the command, in order to suit the purpose of the individual whose obedience is demanded: there must be no cavilling at the declared will of the Pope, and so invest it with quite another than that which he has put upon it: no preconceived opinions must be brought to bear upon it: no rights must be set up against the rights of the Holy Father to teach and command; his decisions are not to be criticized, or his ordinances disputed. Therefore by Divine ordination, all, no matter how august the person may be — whether he wear a crown or be invested with the purple, or be clothed in the sacred vestments: all must be subject to Him Who has had all things put under Him." -Evangelical Christendom, January 1, 1895, pg. 15, published in London by J. S. Phillips.

"It seems that Pope John Paul II now presides over the universal Church from his place upon Christ's cross." "Auckland Bishop Says Pope Presides From the Cross" AUCKLAND, New Zealand, SEPT. 20, 2004, Zenit.org

"In founders and foundresses [of the consecrated orders of nuns and priests, etc.] we see a constant and lively sense of the Church, which they manifest by their full participation in all aspects of the Church's life, and in their ready obedience to the bishops and especially to the Roman Pontiff. Against this background of love towards Holy Church, 'the pillar and bulwark of the truth' (1 Tim 3:15), we readily understand the devotion of Saint Francis of Assisi for 'THE LORD POPE', the daughterly outspokenness of Saint Catherine of Siena towards the one whom she called 'SWEET CHRIST ON EARTH', the apostolic obedience and the sentire cum Ecclesia of Saint Ignatius Loyola, and the joyful profession of faith made by Saint Teresa of Avila: 'I am a daughter of the Church'. We can also understand the deep desire of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus: 'In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love'. These testimonies are representative of the full ecclesial communion which the Saints, founders and foundresses, have shared in diverse and often difficult times and circumstances. They are examples which consecrated persons need constantly to recall if they are to resist the particularly strong centrifugal and disruptive forces at work today. A distinctive aspect of ecclesial communion is allegiance of mind and heart to the magisterium of the bishops, an allegiance which must be lived honestly and clearly testified to before the People of God by all consecrated persons, especially those involved in theological research, teaching, publishing, catechesis and the use of the means of social communication. Because consecrated persons have a special place in the church, their attitude in this regard is of immense importance for the whole people of God" (Pope John Paul II, "Apostolic Exhortation on the Consecrated Life and Its Mission in the Church and in the World," to the bishops and clergy, religious orders and congregations, societies of apostolic life, secular institutes, and all the faithful, given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, March 25, 1996) (Emphasis added)

"It seems that Pope John Paul II now presides over the universal Church from his place upon Christ's cross," said Bishop Dunn, who traveled with seven other prelates to Rome. Taken from an article entitled, "Auckland Bishop Says Pope Presides From the Cross" AUCKLAND, New Zealand, SEPT. 20, 2004 -Zenit.org (Article # ZE04092001)

(Also note the term "Universal Church" is now being used!)

"The Pope is of so great dignity, and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God. and the vicar of God." -Ferraris Ecclesiastical dictionary

"All names which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the Pope." - On the Authority of the Councils, book 2, chapter 17

"The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth." Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, "Cities Petrus Bertanous".

"...the Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #1, 5, 13-15, 18, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.

"The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth." Quoted in the New York Catechism.

-These words appeared in the Roman Canon Law: "To believe that our Lord God the Pope has not the power to decree as he is decreed, is to be deemed heretical.-I?i the Gloss "Extravagantes" o.f Pope John XXII Cum inter, Tit. XIV, Cap. IV. Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium, Paris, 1685.

-Father A. Pereira says: "It is quite certain that Popes have never approved or rejected this title 'Lord God the Pope,' for the passage in the gloss referred to appears in the edition of the Canon Law published in Rome in 1580 by Gregory XIII."

-Writers on the Canon Law say, "The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in heaven and earth."- Barclay Cap. XXVII, p. 218. Cities Petrus Bertrandus, Pius V. - Cardinal Cusa supports his statement.

.-Pope Nicholas I declared that "the appellation of God had been confirmed by Constantine on the Pope, who, being God, cannot be judged by man." - Labb IX Dist.: 96 Can. 7, Satis evidentur, Decret Gratian Primer Para.

"The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man (...) he is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power." -Lucius Ferraris, «Prompta Bibliotheca», 1763, Volume VI, 'Papa II', pp.25-29

"The supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires (...) complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself." -Leo VIII, «On the Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens», Encyclical letter, 1890

"God separates those whom the Roman Pontiff, who exercises the functions, not of mere man, but of the true God (...) dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority." -Decretals of Gregory IX», Book 1, Chapter 7.3

"Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions (infernorum)." -Lucius Ferraris, «Prompta Bibliotheca», 1763, Volume VI, 'Papa II', p.26)

"Innocent III has written: "Indeed, it is not top much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the priests are so many gods." -The dignity of the priesthood by Liguori p, 36

"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." Catholic National July 1895.

"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty" ...Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Letter of June 20, 1894,

"For thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husbandman, finally thou art another God on earth." Labbe and Cossart's "History of the Councils." Vol. XIV, col. 109

The title "Lord God the Pope" is found within a gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, title 14, chapter 4,

In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words, "Dominum Deum Nostrum Papam" (Our Lord God the Pope) can be found in column 153. In a Paris edition, they are found in column 140.

Roman Catholic Canon Law stipulates through Pope Innocent III that the Roman pontiff is "the vicegerent upon earth, not a mere man, but of a very God;" and in a gloss on the passage it is explained that this is because he is the vicegerent of Christ, who is "very God and very man." Decretales Domini Gregorii translatione Episcoporum, (on the transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Devretales, col. 205

"The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land... He is the vicegerent (replacement) of Christ, who is not only a Priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords." - La Civilia Cattolica, March 18, 1871, quoted in Leonard Woosely Bacaon, An inside view of the Vatican Council (American Tract Society ed.), p.229, n.

The last line of the 1302 ad Bull Unam Sanctam... Issued by POPE BONIFACE VIII states; we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff. -UNAM SANCTAM (Promulgated November 18, 1302) (For a complete look at this quote, see this... http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/b8-unam.html or this... http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Bon08/B8unam.htm )

"Christ entrusted His office to the chief pontiff;... but all power in heaven and in earth has been given to Christ;... therefore the chief pontiff, who is His vicar, will have this power." Corpus Juris chap. 1 column 29, translated from a gloss on the words Porro Subesse Romano Pontiff

"The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land . . . He is the vicegerent of Christ, and is not only a priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords"--La Civilta Cattolica, March 18, 1871.

"All the faithful must believe that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff [the Pope] possesses the primacy over the whole world, and the Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and is true vicar of Christ, and heed of the whole church, and father and teacher of all Christians; and that full power was given to him in blessed Peter to rule, feed, and govern the universal Church by Jesus Christ our Lord."--First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, "Eternal Pastor," published in the fourth session of the Vatican Council, 1870, chap. 3, in Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom. vol. 2, p. 262.

“The Pope’s authority is unlimited, incalculable; it can strike, as Innocent III says, wherever sin is; it can punish every one; it allows no appeal and is itself Sovereign Caprice; for the Pope carries, according to the expression of Boniface VIII, all rights in the Shrine of his breast. As he has now become infallible, he can by the use of the little word, “orbi,” (which means that he turns himself round to the whole Church) make every rule, every doctrine, every demand, into a certain and incontestable article of Faith. No right can stand against him, no personal or corporate liberty; or as the [Roman Catholic] Canonists put it—“The tribunal of God and of the pope is one and the same.” -Ignaz von Dollinger, “A Letter Addressed to the Archbishop of Munich” 1871; as quoted in MacDougall, The Acton Newman Relations (Fordham University Press) pp. 119,120.

"The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: 'I am the door of the sheep.' Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His personal representative on earth." (Pope John XXIII in his homily to the Bishops and faithful assisting at his coronation on November 4, 1958).

"This is our last lesson to you: receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church; the strong and effective instrument of salvation is none other than the Roman Pontificate." (Pope Leo XIII, Allocution for the 25th anniversary of his election, February 20, 1903; Papal Teachings: The Church, Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 653).

"Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors." (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical, Mortalium animos, January 6, 1928, The Papal Encyclicals, Claudia Carlen, I.H.M., McGrath Publishing Co., 1981, pp. 317, 318).

"We define that the Holy Apostolic See (the Vatican) and the Roman Pontiff hold the primacy over the whole world."-A Decree of the Council of Trent, quoted in Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, "The Most Holy Councils," col. 1167.

"Of what sublime dignity is the office of the Christian priest who is thus privileged to act as the ambassador and the vicegerent of Christ on earth! He continues the essential ministry of Christ; he teaches the faithful with the authority of Christ, he pardons the penitent sinner with the power of Christ, he offers up again the same sacrifice of adoration and atonement which Christ offered on Calvary. No wonder that the name which spiritual writers are especially found of applying to the priest is that of 'alter Christus.' For the priest is and should be another Christ" (Faith of Millions, John O'Brien, Ph.D., LL.D., 268-269, "nihil obstat" by Rev. T. E. Dillon-Censor Librorum and "imprimatur" by John Francis Noll, D.D. -Bishop of Fort Wayne).

"But as for you and your companions, you certainly sin, if, having heard the decrees of the Apostolic See, and of the universal Church, and the same is confirmed by Holy Writ, you refuse to follow them; for, though your fathers were holy, do you think that their small number, in a corner of the remotest island, is to be preferred before the universal Church of Christ throughout the world? And if that Columba of yours (and, I may say, ours also, if he was Christ's servant), was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet could he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the Apostles to whom Our Lord said 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven'?" When Wilfrid had spoken thus, the king said, "Is it true Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by Our Lord?" He answered, "It is true, O king!" Then says he, "Can you show any such power given to your Columba?" Colman answered, "None." Then added the king, "Do you both agree that these words were principally directed to Peter, and that the keys of heaven were given to him by Our Lord?" They both answered. "We do." Then the king concluded, "And I also say unto you, that he is the door-keeper, whom I will not contradict, but will, as far as I know and am able, in all things obey his decrees, lest, when I come to the gates of the kingdom of heaven, there should be none to open them, he being my adversary who is proved to have the keys." (St. Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, quoted in Readings from Church History, Volume I, edited by Fr. Colman Barry, O.S.B., The Newman Press, Westminster, MD, 1966, p. 273.)