Morning!
Welcome to Inquisition Update.
My name is Tom Friess, and I'll be your host for the next hour.
You're listening to FirstAmendmentRadio .com.
Thank you for tuning in, everybody.
We're going to continue in our reading and discussion of the book, A Woman Rides a
Beast, by Dave Hunt.
We're currently in the chapter entitled, Seducer of Souls.
And we'll continue where we left off last Friday, backing up just one paragraph for
continuity purposes.
The last paragraph of this particular section, you'll find it in the middle of
page 180.
It says,
The latter is so far from Rome's official party line that in 1979, the Vatican
revoked his status as theologian.
Yet he remains a powerful influence within the Roman Catholic Church.
Or take Father Matthew Fox, silenced for one year by the Vatican, but vocal
thereafter, with views that could only be called pagan and New Age.
Expelled from the Dominican Order for insubordination, and not excommunicated
from the Church for his gross heresies, Fox has since become an Episcopalian.
A wide range of other theologians and clergy remain in the Church, from
Maryknoll priests and nuns advocating Marxism and liberation theology,
to the Society of St. Pius X zealots, who are scandalized by John Paul II's
ecumenism.
Okay, there's where we ended up Friday.
Still talking about the real divisions within the Roman Catholic Church.
You know, we're led to believe that the Roman Catholic Church is so united in its
belief system, and that as evidence of its infallibility as the one holy Roman
Catholic and Apostolic Church, outside of which there is no salvation,
which in fact is a lie.
The Roman Catholic Church is fractured into many different pieces.
All rival factions seeking their particular influence over the papacy,
and trying to change the Church, change the theology of the Church,
and it is truly confusion.
Okay?
Confusion.
That's its Babylonian roots.
Confusion.
Now Dave Hunt continues with the next portion of this chapter entitled The Great
Schism.
He says there have been at least as many divisions among Roman Catholics throughout
the centuries as among Protestants.
And there still are to this day.
Some of these disagreements were fought with sword and spear.
Consider for example the Great Schism when France and Italy struggled for possession
of the lucrative papacy.
In 1378 Pope Urban VI, the Neapolitan, became Pope.
Trying to effect some much-needed reform, Urban excommunicated the cardinals who had
purchased their benefices.
Simony.
Now it was a well-intentioned, but politically foolish move, as the
historian Von Gollinger explains, quote, Simony had long been the daily
bread of the Roman Curia, and the breath of its life.
Without Simony, the machine must come to a standstill, and instantly fall to pieces.
The cardinals had, for their own point of view, ample ground for insisting on the
impossibility of subsisting without it.
They accordingly revolted from Urban, and elected Clement VII, a man after their
own heart.
And thus it came to pass that in 1378-1409, Western Christendom was divided
into two obediences.
So because of the war over Simony, the papacy was split in two, there being
two popes.
And in 1409, Pisa was the scene of a synod from all Europe that was called to heal
the breach.
It was the first time in 300 years that those attending such a gathering dared to
speak openly and vote freely.
There was a sense of relief, even of triumph, when the two reigning popes,
Gregory XII and Benedict XIII, were deposed as heretics, and a third
pope, Alexander V, was elected.
Of course, neither of the two popes yielded to their synod's decision.
Now there were three, quote-unquote, vicars of Christ, instead of a mere two,
just as there had been 350 years before.
The situation lasted from 1409-1415 A.D.
Could it be that one of the abominations to which this woman in John's vision would
give birth was a man claiming to be the vicar of Christ?
And even worse, three men each claiming to be Christ's true and only representative
on the earth, each damning those who followed either of the other two?
Catherine of Siena, who persuaded Gregory XI, seventh of the Avignon popes,
to return to Rome, is recognized today as a Catholic saint.
She was a staunch supporter of Urban VI, but he is shown on the list as an
anti-pope.
The worst abominations.
Just before her death, Catherine, who had lengthy trances in which she
allegedly saw heaven, purgatory, and hell, received permission from God,
so she said, to allow her, quote, to bear the punishment of all the sins of
the world, unquote.
Yet Christ's death had already paid the full penalty for sin.
Was she excommunicated as a heretic for blasphemy?
No, she was so admired for her, quote, unquote, sacrifice, that the Roman
Catholic Church made her a saint.
Five hundred years later, the Church would accept the claim that the sufferings,
as evidenced by the stigmata and bleeding in the hands, feet, and the side where
Christ was pierced, endured for fifty years by a monk named Pedro Padre Pio,
were also in payment for the sins of the world.
Pio claimed that more spirits of the dead than living persons visited him in his
monastery cell.
The spirits came to thank him for praying for their sins with his sufferings,
so they could be released from purgatory and go to heaven.
Other monks testified that they heard multitudes of voices talking with Padre
Pio at night.
The Bible, however, repeatedly assures us that Christ suffered the full penalty for
sin.
Quote, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace.
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7 and Colossians chapter 1 verse 14.
There is nothing left for sinners to pay in order to receive the pardon offered by
God's grace.
The debt has been paid in full.
Quote, It is finished.
Unquote.
Christ cried in triumph just before he died upon the cross.
To suggest otherwise is the most serious heresy.
John the Baptist hailed Christ as, quote, the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world.
See John chapter 1 verse 29.
All others, including Pio at all, being sinners, for all have sinned,
see Romans chapter 3 verse 23, would have to die for their own sins and
therefore could not also pay for the sins of another person.
Peter declared that Christ once and for all time suffered for sins the just,
that is the sinless one, for us the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
First Peter 3.18 Yet Catherine of Siena and Pedro Pio and other suffering saints
are revered and prayed to by millions of Catholics, including the current Pope,
for having suffered for the sins of others.
They are greater than Christ in the sense that his suffering leave good Catholics
still in purgatory, whereas Padre Pio's suffering releases multitudes to heaven.
Vatican II declared that believers have always, quote, carried their crosses to
make expiation for their own sins and the sins of others, to help their brothers
obtain salvation from God, unquote.
Such blasphemy is one of the abominations to which the Roman Catholic Church has
given birth and which she still nurtures today.
Can there be any greater abomination than teaching that sinners for whom Christ paid
the full penalty of sin, need yet to, quote, make expiation for their own sins
and the sins of others, unquote.
Under the subtitle, Idols of Thy Abominations, Dave writes, In the Bible,
the word abomination is a spiritual term associated with idolatry.
God condemned Israel for, quote, the idols of thy abominations,
unquote.
See Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 36.
Occult practices are also called abominations, along with illicit and
perverted sex.
Since the woman astride the beast is, quote, the mother of harlots and
abominations, unquote, it seems clear that these evil practices rooted in Babel will,
under Antichrist, characterize the world religion which this woman represents.
She is called the mother of these things because she has fostered and encouraged
them.
The description fits exactly both the history and the present practice of the
Roman Catholic Church.
The biblical prohibition against making images for religious purposes and bowing
down before them and God's abhorrence of this pagan practice is clearly set forth
in the second of the ten commandments and in numerous other passages of scripture.
For example, quote, ye shall make you no idols nor graven image to bow down unto
it.
Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image an abomination unto the
Lord, unquote, Leviticus 26.1, Deuteronomy 27.15.
Yet Vatican II recommends images in the church as if they are to be venerated by
the faithful.
In Catholic churches and cathedrals around the world one sees the faithful on their
knees in front of images of this sort or that saint, most often Mary.
The second of the ten commandments that God gave to Israel states, quote,
thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is
in the heaven above or that is in the earth be thee.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.
Exodus chapter 20 verse 4 and 5 and Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 8 and 9.
How does the Roman Catholic Church get around this clear prohibition?
She does worse than ignore it.
She literally hides it from the people.
The ten commandments shown in the Catholic catechisms leave out the second
commandment prohibiting images and divide the last one, prohibiting covetousness,
into two.
It is a flagrant rejection of the clear command by God.
Moreover, that rejection is dishonestly covered up by pretending the command
doesn't exist.
It is a deliberate deception practiced upon the members of the church,
most of whom know nothing of the Bible except what the clergy tell them.
When Emperor Leo III issued an edict from Constantinople calling for forcible
baptism of Jews, he was praised, but when in 726 A.D.
he demanded that all images be broken, there was a great outcry from citizens and
clergy.
Pope Gregory II claimed that images were not worshipped, but reverenced.
The truth slipped out, however, in his letter to the Emperor.
But as for the statue of St. Peter himself, which all the kingdoms of the
West esteem as a god on earth, the whole West would take a terrible
revenge if it were destroyed.
A bloody war was fought around Ravina over this issue, and a synod in Rome
excommunicated all who dared attack the images.
Christians had not used images until Constantine became the de facto head of
the church.
The door that was open to paganism at that time has never been shut.
The Roman Catholic Church attempted to accommodate the pagans joining it by
retaining their idols under Christian names.
That practice is still part of Santeria, voodoo, etc.
today.
Catholic apologists insist that veneration is not of the image itself, but of the
quote-unquote saint that it represents.
Yet Pope John Paul II openly promotes the pagan belief that images have power.
Recently at St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope declared, quote, a mysterious
presence of the transcendent prototype seems as it were to be transferred to the
sacred image.
The devout contemplation of such an image thus appears as a real and concrete path
of purification of the soul of the believer, because the image itself,
blessed by the priest, can in a certain sense, by analogy with the sacraments,
actually be considered a channel of divine grace, unquote.
Such idolatry the Bible repeatedly condemns as spiritual adultery or
fornication.
Rome is the mother of harlots in this way as well, having led untold millions into
idolatry.
Now under the subtitle, Salvation for Sale, we're going to talk about
indulgences now, a subject that is familiar to my regular listeners.
The Roman Catholic Church has been in the business of selling salvation to the
naive, with much of her great wealth accumulated from that source.
And she does this in the name of Christ, who offers salvation as a free gift.
He told his disciples, quote, freely ye have received, freely give, unquote.
See Matthew chapter 10 verse 8.
There could be no greater abomination than selling salvation.
Yet Rome has never repented of this evil, but continues similar practice to this
very day.
Under Pope Leo X, who reigned from 1513 to 1521, who cursed and excommunicated Martin
Luther, specific prices were published by the Roman Chancery to be paid to the
church for absolution from each imaginable crime.
Even murder had its price.
For example, a deacon guilty of murder could be absolved for 20 crowns.
The quote-unquote anointed malefactor, as they were called, once pardoned in this
way by the church, could not be prosecuted by civil authorities.
Leo's sale of salvation was nothing new.
200 years earlier, Pope John XXII, who reigned from 1316 to 1334,
had done the very same thing, setting a price for every crime from murder to
incest to sodomy.
The more Catholics sinned, the richer the Roman Catholic Church became.
Similar fundraising schemes had been in operation for years.
Pope Innocent VIII, who reigned from 1484 to 1492, for example, had granted the
20-year Butter Brief indulgence.
For a certain sum, one could purchase the privilege of eating favorite dishes during
Lent and at other times of fasting.
It was a way to be credited with fasting while indulging oneself in the richest
foods.
The people believed that the Popes had such power.
After all, wasn't whatever the quote-unquote victors of Christ bound or
loosed on earth similarly bound and loosed in heaven?
The proceeds from this enterprising scheme built the bridge over the Elbe.
Pope Julius III, who reigned from 1550 to 1555, renewed this indulgence for a
handsome fee for another 20 years after he came to office.
Pope Leo X tore down Constantine's Basilica and built St. Peter's,
largely with monies paid by people who thought they were thereby gaining
forgiveness for sins and entrance into heaven.
That magnificent structure stands as one more piece of evidence that Rome is the
mother of abominations.
As Giovanni de' Medici, Leo had made an abbot at age 7 for his first communion and
a cardinal at age 13.
Though he was the youngest cardinal at the time, Pope Benedict IX ascended the papal
throne at age 11.
Imagine an 11-year-old solemnly pronouncing forgiveness of sins as
Christ's one true representative on earth.
It was Pope Leo X who commissioned the Dominican friar Tetzel to sell
indulgences, which it was promised would free those in purgatory or release the
purchaser, if bought in his own name, from having to spend any time in that
intermediate place of torment.
Tetzel's infamous sales pitch went something like this, quote, As soon as the
coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs, unquote.
How could anyone be so naive as to believe that the forgiveness of sin for which
Christ had to endure the full wrath of God upon the cross could be purchased with
money?
This, quote, unquote, God of Catholicism, who moves in response to whatever
regulations a corrupt church invents, is clearly not the God of the Bible.
It was this particular abomination of selling salvation that scandalized Martin
Luther and sparked the Protestant Reformation.
Well-meaning Protestants, wanting to believe the best, imagine that Roman
Catholicism has rid itself of past abominations, including indulgences.
But Charles Colson's book, entitled The Body, contains examples of such incorrect
information.
Though the book eloquently speaks much truth, it erroneously presents Roman
Catholicism as biblical Christianity and calls for union therewith on the part of
evangelicals.
Colson writes, quote, the Reformers, for example, assailed the corrupt
practices of indulgences.
Today, they, meaning indulgences, are gone, save for the modern-day
equivalent practices by some unscrupulous televangelist hucksters, ironically mostly
Protestants, who promise healing and blessing for contributions, unquote.
We endorse his condemnation of the, quote, unscrupulous television hucksters,
unquote, but wonder at his incorrect interpretation of Rome.
A major document of Vatican Council 2 devotes 17 pages to explaining indulgences
and how to obtain them, and excommunicates and damns any who deny that the Church has
the right to grant indulgences today for salvation.
The rules are complex and ludicrous as well as abominable.
Try to imagine God honoring such regulations as granting certain
indulgences, quote, only on set days appointed by the Holy See, or that of a
plenary indulgence applicable only to the dead can be gained in all churches on
November 2nd.
We'll be back right after this.
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Now, Dave Hunt says, We endorse Chuck Colson's condemnation of the,
quote-unquote, unscrupulous television hucksters, unquote, but wonder at his
incorrect interpretation of Rome.
A major document of Vatican II devotes 17 pages to explaining indulgences,
and how to obtain them, and excommunicates and damns any who deny that the Roman
Catholic Church has the right to grant indulgences today for salvation.
The rules are complex and ludicrous as well as abominable.
Try to imagine God honoring such regulations as granting certain
indulgences, quote, only on set days appointed by the Holy See, unquote,
or that a, quote, plenary indulgence applicable only to the dead can be gained
in all churches on November 2nd, etc.
I wonder why they chose November 2nd.
Anybody have an idea?
I do.
The entire teaching on indulgences denies the sufficiency of Christ's redemptive
sacrifice for sins upon the cross.
Some ancient indulgences even remain in force today.
A recent notice inside the publication known as Inside the Vatican reminded Roman
Catholics that on August 28th and 29th of 1994, an unusual opportunity for obtaining
a special indulgence would occur.
Quote, Pope Celestine V gave a holy door to the Cathedral of Maria Callimaggio in
his bull of the 29th of September 1294.
To obtain this, quote, unquote, perdonanza indulgence, it's necessary to
be in the Cathedral between 6 p.m.
on the 28th of August and 6 p.m.
on the 29th of August.
To truly repent of one's sins and to confess and go to mass and communion
within 8 days of the visit.
The holy door is opened every year, but this year, 1994, is the 700th
anniversary of the bull of pardon.
Go there, unquote.
Warning, reformation ahead.
Inside the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, to which Martin Luther nailed his
95 theses, were relics, including an alleged lock of the Virgin Mary's hair,
offering two million years in indulgences to those venerating them according to
prescribed rules.
Never has the Roman Catholic Church apologized for having led multitudes
astray in this manner.
And how does one apologize to souls now in hell for having sold them a bogus,
quote, ticket to heaven, unquote.
For both ingenuity and infamy, no money-grabbing scheme of the past or of
today's unscrupulous television hucksters even comes close to the sale of
indulgences.
It provided much cash for the popes at the time of the Reformation.
In AD 593, Pope Gregory I had first proposed the unbiblical, but ultimately
very, very profitable idea that there was a place called Purgatory, in which the
spirits of the dead suffered in order to be purged of their sins and fully
delivered from, quote, the debt of eternal punishment, unquote.
This fabrication was declared to be a church dogma by the Council of Florence in
1439 and remains an important part of Roman Catholicism today.
It was not such abominable heresies, however, that divided Roman Catholics.
All seemed content with the promise that the church would somehow get them to
heaven no matter how repugnant to common sense and justice the methods were.
As Chamberlain has said, quote, the eye of faith was blind to the
incidental discrepancies, unquote.
It was the division caused by the rival popes, each claiming to be in charge of
the machinery of salvation that stirred the church to action.
By deposing all three rivals who each claimed to be the so-called vicar of
Christ and then appointing a new pope, Martin V, the Council of Constance
reunited the church.
Many bishops were convinced that a reformation was desperately needed.
To move the church toward reformation, Constance decreed that there should be
another ecumenical council each ten years.
Pope Martin V dutifully, quote, summoned the council in 1423 to meet first
at Pavia, then at Siena.
But the moment any signs of an attempt to reform manifested themselves, he dissolved
it, quote, on account of the fewness of those present, unquote.
However, shortly before his death, he summoned the new council to meet at
Basel.
Martin V's successor, Eugenius IV, could not avoid carrying out the duty he
had inherited from his predecessor, to which he was already pledged in
conclave, unquote.
The struggle for supremacy between the popes and the councils, Eugenius ordered
the council disbanded almost immediately upon a pretext.
But the assembly refused, and a contest with the pope began.
At first, with the backing of the general populace of Europe and King Sigismund,
in vain, the pope excommunicated the prelates involved.
Support for reform poured into the council from kings, princes, bishops, prelates,
and universities.
Under pressure, the pope was forced to give the council his full sanction,
an acknowledgement once again of the superiority of council over pope,
which Pope Pius IX would manage to reverse at Vatican Council I.
The council deposed Eugenius, calling him, quote, a notorious disturber of peace and
unity of God's church, a simoniac, a perjurer, an incorrigible man,
a schismatic, an apostate from the faith, an obstinate heretic, a squanderer of the
church rights and property, incapable and harmful to the administration of the Roman
pontificate, unquote.
Yet his name remains on today's official lists of the vicars of Christ.
With great courage, the council declared, quote, all ecclesiastical appointments
shall be made according to the canons of the church.
All simonies shall cease.
All priests, whether the highest or lowest rank, shall put away their concubines.
And whoever within two months of this decree neglects its demands shall be
deprived of his office, though he be the bishop of Rome.
The pope shall neither demand nor receive any fees for ecclesiastical offices.
From now on, a pope shall think not of this world's treasures, but only of those
of the world to come, unquote.
That machine, or rather, that medicine, excuse me, proved too strong.
And the tide of opinion turned against the council.
The people wanted reformation, but not that much reformation.
And the last thing the pope and the curia wanted was to be required to live as true
Christians with a council making certain they did.
Pope Eugenius summoned his own council at Florence, deposed and anathematized the
members of Basel, quote, laid Basel under interdict, excommunicated the municipal
court, and required everyone to plunder the merchants who were bringing their
wares to the city, because it is written, quote, the righteous hath spoiled the
ungodly, unquote.
The pope then bribed King Frederick with a hundred thousand florins, quote,
together with the imperial crown, assigned tithes to him from all the German
benefices, and gave full power to his confessor to give him twice a plenary
absolution from all sins, unquote.
Such is the abominable manner in which the popes dispensed their favors, including
forgiveness of sins.
Let me tell you, popes of Rome still wield that kind of power, and that's how they
control the kings and presidents and queens and potentates of the world.
Still, the world has not learned the lesson of history or of Bible prophecy.
He says the Council of Basel could not compete with the power and wealth of the
pope.
Eugenius now had the backing he needed.
Von Dollinger comments, quote, the victory of Eugenius was complete.
When on his deathbed he received the homage of the German ambassadors,
the event was celebrated, February 7, 1447, in Rome, with the ringing of bells
and bonfires.
Even the slight concessions the pope had made to the Germans, he thereupon recalled
in secret bowls, unquote.
In 1443, an anonymous German Catholic, in mourning for his church, seemed to echo
the very vision that God had given John in the book of Revelation, chapter 17.
Quote, the Roman harlot has so many paramours, drunk with the wine of her
fornications, that the bride of Christ, the church, and the council representing
her, scarcely received the loyal devotion of one among a thousand, unquote.
As he died, having triumphed over the council and Germany, Eugenius cried in
agony of conscience, quote, how much better were it for thy soul's salvation,
hadst thou never become cardinal and pope, unquote.
The next pope, Nicholas the Fifth, who reigned from 1447 to 1455,
voided Eugenius' decrees against the council of Basel, yet both popes remain on
the official list of popes today.
It was the last chance for the papacy to be reformed, but it would not happen.
In only a short while, the curious, diligent forgers were at work once again
producing more false documents to prove the pope's infallibility and dominance
overall.
Under the subtitle, Corruption of the Era, Dave Hunt continues, he says, Rome's
dominance of church and world for more than a thousand years through
excommunication, torture, and death had led to corruption of such proportions that
even the secular world recoiled in shame and horror.
The cry resounded throughout Christendom for a reformation of the church.
All knew, however, that it was impossible, as long as the court of Rome remained what
it was.
Quote, There every mischief is fostered and protected, and hence it spreads,
but there, unless a miracle, there is no hope for reformation.
Unquote.
Among the popes who followed Nicholas on Peter's alleged throne were some whose
evil was beyond imagination.
Von Dollinger says of Pope Paul II, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, and Alexander
VI, that each tried, quote, to exceed the vices of his predecessor.
Unquote.
One contemporary said that Paul II had, quote, made the papal chair into a sewer
by his debaucheries.
Unquote.
Pilgrims who went to Rome with high hopes returned disillusioned, just like Martin
Luther, to declare that, quote, In the metropolis of Christendom,
speaking of Rome, and in the bosom of the great mother and mistress of all churches,
the clergy, with scarcely an exception, keep concubines.
Unquote.
And the church made a profit from it.
Pope Sixtus IV, who reigned from 1471 to 1484, who had licensed Rome's brothels for
an annual fee, and taxed the clergy for their mistresses, invented an even more
ingenious method of filling the church coffers.
It would be used by the popes after him to full advantage.
Sixtus decided that he, as Christ's vicar, could apply indulgences to the dead as
well as to the living.
It was a novel idea which no one had thought of before, and one which turned
out to be incredibly profitable.
What surviving relative could refuse to purchase the release of a deceased mother,
father, aunt or uncle or child from the tortures of purgatory?
And of course, the richer the living relatives were, the more it invariably
cost to transfer the deceased from purgatory to heaven.
One marvels that anyone would take the word of such an evil pope.
But Sixtus was no worse than many others, and after all, evil or not, he was
Christ's vicar and the successor of Peter.
Was he not?
Again, Chamberlain put it so well, quote, No lay monarch, no matter how
powerful or virtuous, could hope to attract to himself the deep instinctive
reverence that men felt for the successor of St. Peter, no matter how unworthy,
unquote.
The few bold souls such as Savonarola of Florence, who dared to criticize Rome's
abominations, were consigned to the flames for their zeal.
Now on to the Council of Trent.
Dave Hunt says, Such was the state of the Roman Catholic Church at the time of the
Protestant Reformation.
Remember, Luther and Calvin were devout Roman Catholics.
There were no Protestants.
That word had not yet been invented.
Multitudes had been crying for reformation for at least 200 years.
No one, however, Calvin and Martin Luther included, wanted to leave the Roman
Catholic Church.
They desired to see it reformed from within.
Furious at the challenge to their power, the popes would have consigned Luther and
Calvin to the flames.
But unable to get their hands on them because of the protection afforded by
certain German princes, the hierarchy threw them summarily out of the Church.
Sick to death with the arrogant despotisms of the papacy, with its oppression and
slaughter of any who would not bow to its imperious demands, multitudes followed
Martin Luther and John Calvin and the other reformers, the Reformation leaders,
out of the Church.
Giddy with the first gasping breaths of spiritual freedom they had ever drawn.
Suddenly Protestantism, this upstart clamor of heresy, was thriving and on the
march everywhere.
Pope Paul III saw his empire dwindling and his influence over kings coming to an end.
A despotic Renaissance pope who had, quote, bestowed the red hat on his
nephews, age 14 and 17, and promoting them despite their notorious immorality,
unquote.
Pope Paul III acted decisively on two fronts.
He convened a council in Trent, in northern Italy, that would condemn the
Protestant Reformation theologically.
And he went to work behind the scenes to organize a holy war that was intended to
militarily wipe Protestantism from the face of the earth in Christ's name.
Rome's popularity was at a low ebb when the Council of Trent met in 1545 to
consider its response to the menace of Protestantism, which threatened the Church
and much of Europe.
There were still many clergy within the Roman Catholic Church who realized the
need for a Reformation and hoped that the Council of Trent would bring it about,
thereby making it possible to welcome those who had left the Church back into
its fold.
The Pope and his Curia, however, had other plans.
The opening speech at the Council by Bishop Coriolano Martorano encouraged
those who hoped for reform.
Unfortunately, very few so-minded were present, for the Pope had stacked the deck
with his own men.
Von Dolliger describes that stirring oration, quote, The picture he,
Mortorano, drew of the Italian cardinals and bishops, their bloodthirsty cruelty,
their avarice, their pride, and the devastation they had wrought of the
Church, was perfectly shocking.
An unknown writer who has described this first sitting in a letter to a friend
thinks Luther himself never spoke more severely, unquote.
In fact, this lone cry for a return to genuine Christianity was followed by a
chorus supporting the very evil which Martorano had exposed.
The Council of Trent, controlled by Italians, was to prove itself incapable of
facing the facts.
When once again a non-Italian delegate dared to bring up charges that reflected
badly upon the papacy, the Italian bishops shouted, stamped their feet, and cried
that this, quote, accursed wretch must not speak.
He should at once be brought to trial, unquote.
The, quote, freedom of speech, unquote, at Trent was similar to what it
would be 325 years later in Rome at Vatican Council 1.
A famous eyewitness wrote shortly after the council opened that nothing beneficial
was to be hoped for from the monstrous bishops attending.
There was nothing episcopal about them except their long robes.
They had become bishops through royal favor, through solicitation, through
purchase in Rome, through criminal arts, or after long years spent in the Curia,
unquote.
They, quote, must all be deposed, unquote.
If Trent was to produce anything worthy, but that was impossible.
Another contemporary, Pallavicini, wrote, quote, the Italian bishops knew of
no other aim than the upholding of the apostolic see and its greatness.
They thought that in working for its interests, they showed themselves at once,
good Italians and good Christians, unquote.
Now Dave is going to talk a little bit about the Catholic and Protestant wars.
He says, not satisfied with damning the Protestants theologically, the canons and
decrees of the Council of Trent containing more than 100 anathemas against Protestant
beliefs, Pope Paul III wanted to destroy them physically.
He offered the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Spain, 1,100,000 ducats,
12,000 infantry, 500 horses, if he would turn his full force against the,
quote-unquote, heretics.
The Catholic Emperor was only too happy to have a reason to bring the rival
Protestant princes of Germany into subjection, unquote, to crush
Protestantism and give to his realm a unified Catholic faith that would,
he thought, strengthen and facilitate his own government, unquote.
Nearly ten years of war across Europe ensued.
Pope Paul III, quote, issued a bull excommunicating all who should resist
Charles and offering liberal indulgences to all who should aid him, unquote.
After heavy losses on both sides and much treasury among rival rulers, the
Protestants remained strong enough to force the Emperor into a compromise.
Will Durant explains the settlement that created the state churches, which still
exist in Europe today.
Quote, In order to permit peace among and within the states, each prince was to
choose between Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism.
All his subjects were to accept, quote, his religion, whose realm,
unquote, it was, and those who did not like it were to emigrate.
There was no pretense on either side to toleration.
The principle which the Reformation had upheld in the youth of its rebellion,
the right of private judgment, was as completely rejected by the
Protestant leaders as by the Catholics.
The Protestants now agreed with Charles and the Pope that unity of religious
belief was indispensable to social order and peace.
The princes were to banish dissenters instead of burning them.
The real victor was not freedom of worship, but freedom of the princes.
Each became, like Henry VIII of England, a supreme head of the church, whether
Catholic or Protestant, in his territory, with the exclusive right to appoint the
clergy and the men who should define the obligatory faiths.
We've run out of time.
We'll finish this quote tomorrow on the broadcast.
Thanks for listening.
You've been listening to Inquisition Update on FirstAmendmentRadio.com.
Again, the title of the book, A Woman Rides a Beast by Dave Hunt.
We'll pick it up where we left off tomorrow.
We'll see you then.
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e-pub, or PDF version of Nicholas Arthur's new book titled, When the Third Temple is
Built.
That's crosstheborder.org.
When it comes to prophecy today, much of the Evangelical Christian world
has their eyes on Israel, waiting and watching to see when the Third Temple will
begin to be built.
The plans are drawn.
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Most Evangelical Christians today believe that the rapture will happen before the
Third Temple is built.
Hi, I'm Michael Eugene.
I was taught that Daniel's 70th week was in the future.
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Why is it so important for a re-established Israel to build a Third
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Is it necessary for sacrifices to take place in the Temple on Temple Mount?
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how the Bible interprets prophecy and not man's private interpretation.
Visit crosstheborder.org to get your print, e-pub, or PDF version of Nicholas
Arthur's new book titled, When the Third Temple is Built.
That's crosstheborder.org.