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Roman politics

Started by Amo, Fri Jun 24, 2016 - 20:10:38

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0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Amo

Quote from: piecrust on Sat May 25, 2019 - 17:18:54
Is this about blaming Rome for everything?

It is about exactly what the title states, Roman politics, and the obvious prophetic implications of the same.

piecrust

Quote from: Amo on Sat May 25, 2019 - 17:21:51
It is about exactly what the title states, Roman politics, and the obvious prophetic implications of the same.

So you are using Roman to mean Roman Catholic Church, not pagan Rome, which was what the Bible referred to.

Amo

Quote from: piecrust on Sat May 25, 2019 - 17:43:14
So you are using Roman to mean Roman Catholic Church, not pagan Rome, which was what the Bible referred to.

Yes, Papal Rome did not exist to be referred to in the bible save by way of biblical prophecy. Nor does it exist now, save one admits of or believes papal Rome to be an extension of pagan Rome. Which is true in a sense.

piecrust

Quote from: Amo on Sat May 25, 2019 - 18:32:33
Yes, Papal Rome did not exist to be referred to in the bible save by way of biblical prophecy. Nor does it exist now, save one admits of or believes papal Rome to be an extension of pagan Rome. Which is true in a sense.

You obviously do not believe then that prophecy was fulfilled by pagan Rome.

Amo

Quote from: piecrust on Sat May 25, 2019 - 19:05:46
You obviously do not believe then that prophecy was fulfilled by pagan Rome.

No, I'm a Protestant.

piecrust

Quote from: Amo on Sat May 25, 2019 - 19:08:43
No, I'm a Protestant.

Not quite sure what that has to do with anything.

Amo

Quote from: piecrust on Sat May 25, 2019 - 21:49:56
Not quite sure what that has to do with anything.

No surprise. I'll explain later when I have more time.

Amo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-pOibckT0Y

Good example of how the Church of Rome is well aware of her ever increasing influence upon the policies of our nation. Not to mention other denominations as well.

Amo


piecrust

Quote from: Amo on Sun May 26, 2019 - 11:03:15
No surprise. I'll explain later when I have more time.

Waiting for the explanation.  This is like waiting for Godot.

piecrust

Quote from: Amo on Sun May 26, 2019 - 11:06:58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-pOibckT0Y

Good example of how the Church of Rome is well aware of her ever increasing influence upon the policies of our nation. Not to mention other denominations as well.

So this is all about which denomination is right?

Amo

Continued from reply #101

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Entire Encyclical quoted and commented upon below may be viewed at link above.

Excerpts from - ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI'
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME(All emphasis is mine, my comments in blue)

QuoteII. THE ISSUE OF WATER

27. Other indicators of the present situation have to do with the depletion of natural resources. We all know that it is not possible to sustain the present level of consumption in developed countries and wealthier sectors of society, where the habit of wasting and discarding has reached unprecedented levels. The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty.

28. Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and for supporting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Sources of fresh water are necessary for health care, agriculture and industry. Water supplies used to be relatively constant, but now in many places demand exceeds the sustainable supply, with dramatic consequences in the short and long term. Large cities dependent on significant supplies of water have experienced periods of shortage, and at critical moments these have not always been administered with sufficient oversight and impartiality. Water poverty especially affects Africa where large sectors of the population have no access to safe drinking water or experience droughts which impede agricultural production. Some countries have areas rich in water while others endure drastic scarcity.

29. One particularly serious problem is the quality of water available to the poor. Every day, unsafe water results in many deaths and the spread of water-related diseases, including those caused by microorganisms and chemical substances. Dysentery and cholera, linked to inadequate hygiene and water supplies, are a significant cause of suffering and of infant mortality. Underground water sources in many places are threatened by the pollution produced in certain mining, farming and industrial activities, especially in countries lacking adequate regulation or controls. It is not only a question of industrial waste. Detergents and chemical products, commonly used in many places of the world, continue to pour into our rivers, lakes and seas.

30. Even as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market. Yet access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity. This debt can be paid partly by an increase in funding to provide clean water and sanitary services among the poor. But water continues to be wasted, not only in the developed world but also in developing countries which possess it in abundance. This shows that the problem of water is partly an educational and cultural issue, since there is little awareness of the seriousness of such behaviour within a context of great inequality.

31. Greater scarcity of water will lead to an increase in the cost of food and the various products which depend on its use. Some studies warn that an acute water shortage may occur within a few decades unless urgent action is taken. The environmental repercussions could affect billions of people; it is also conceivable that the control of water by large multinational businesses may become a major source of conflict in this century.

There most certainly is a problem with corporations taking control of water supplies basic to the needs of all humanity and redistributing that water as they see fit to whomever they see fit. There is also just as much of a problem concerning governments or globalist governments taking control of water supplies basic to the needs of all and doing the same. Government for the people and by the people represented by elected officials of the people, would most rightly represent the interests of the people of course. This concerning water supplies as well as all else. Certainly not disconnected corporations or globalist unelected officials.

First and foremost, the peoples of various nations and localities need to exercise personal responsibility in the distribution of fresh water amongst themsleves and their neighbors. This would include of course not choosing to live where there is no good water supply, or building up cities or populations which outgrow said supplies or the ability to distribute the same from other areas without negatively affecting peoples of said areas. Corporations certainly should not be allowed to take control of such things. Neither should unelected globalist elitist politicians be given control over the water supplies of the peoples of various nations or localities to do with them as they please.

Coordination between governments and peoples to most effectively supply wants is of course crucial. Handing power over to corporations or elitist self appointed government to do so is and would be idiotic. Helping people learn how to help themselves and helping implement the same, is alway better than simply taking from those with a working profitable system, and giving it to those with a failing and ever burdensome system. The former is productive to self management and sustainability, the latter is simply likely to drag both the provider and the needy down. This is the main problem with the globalist elitist mentality, they want to spread failing peoples and systems around within once successful systems which have already been in decline for some time now themselves, which will only drag both down. Which in reality is the exact purpose of the elitists, that is to create a new globalist two class society, with them at the top.

This is why they are at war with personal liberty, freedom, government for the people by the people, and Capitalism. Therefore do they and are they redistributing the wealth and natural resources of successful nations which have had the same, while politically transforming them from within into government dependent and owned peasants. Therefore also are they diluting these same nations with peoples from other failing nations who bring the failing mindset and politics with them to support the ever growing number of these elitist politicians within our own ranks. They come here because it is better, but they bring the flags, patriotism, and mindset of their failing nations with them. Refusing adaption to the politics and moral fiber which provided the wealth they are seeking coming here, they instead support the globalist politicians who facilitated their arrival, and support their own future doom.

The biblical and Protestant principles of personal responsibility which alone allows for true freedom and liberty, is and has been being trashed from within and without for far to long now. The rejection of God's word and grace through His Son Jesus Christ by an ever increasing number within spells the certain doom of a great nation and form of government based upon the same, in the very near future. Even "Christianity" itself is so far diluted and compromised that it could no longer produce or reproduce such in the future again. So be it. Come Lord Jesus.

Amo

Quote from: piecrust on Sat May 25, 2019 - 21:49:56
Not quite sure what that has to do with anything.

CHAP. 13 TESTIMONY OF THE REFORMERS

Unless otherwise specified, all of the following quotes are taken from the four volume series THE PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS by Le Roy Edwin Froom.


HILARY OF POITIERS  (300-368)

   " He [Hilary] begins by speaking the blessings of peace, which the Christians of that day could neither enjoy nor promote, beset as they were by the forerunners of Antichrist........ They bear themselves not as bishops of Christ but as priests of Antichrist. This is not random abuse, but sober recognition of the fact, stated by St. John, that there are many Antichrists. For these men assume the cloak of piety, and pretend to preach the Gospel, with the one object of inducing others to deny Christ. It was the misery and folly of the day that men endeavoured  to promote the cause of God by human means and the favor of the world. Hilary asks bishops, who believe in their office, wether the Apostles had secular support when by their preaching they converted the greater part of mankind......
    " The church seeks for secular support, and in so doing insults Christ by the implication that His support is insufficient. She in her turn holds out the threat of exile and prison. It was her endurance of these that drew men to her; now she imposes her faith by violence. She craves for favors at the hand of her communicants; once it was her consecration that she braved the threatening of persecutors. Bishops in exile spread the faith; now it is she that exiles bishops. She boasts that the world loves her; the worlds hatred was the evidence that she was Christ's....... The time of Antichrist, disguised as an angel of light, has come. The true Christ is hidden from almost every mind and heart. Antichrist is now obscuring the truth that he may assert falsehood hereafter." (E. W. Watson, Introduction to Hilary of Poitiers, in NPNF, 2d series, vol. 9, pp. lii, liii.) Vol. 1, p. 409.


ARNULF bishop of Orleans during the pontificate of John XV (985-996)

    "What shall we say, revered fathers? To what blemish shall we attribute the fact that the first of the churches of God, once so lifted up and crowned with glory and honour, should be brought down so low and tarnished with shame and infamy? If we severely expect gravity of manners, purity of life, joined to sacred and profane learning, in every man who is ordained to the Episcopate; what ought not to be exacted in the case of him who aspires to be the teacher of all bishops. How, then, is it that those have been put in possession of that most high See, who were not worthy to fill any place whatsoever in the priesthood? What, in your eyes, reverend fathers, is that Pontiff, seated on a throne, and clad in purple and gold? If he hath not charity, and be puffed up with his learning only, he is Antichrist sitting in the temple of God, and demeaning himself as a god; he is like unto a statue in that temple, like a dumb idol, and to ask of him a reply, is to appeal to a figure of stone." ( This English translation is from Villemain, op. cit., vol. 1 pp.175,176.) Vol. 1 chap. 22 p. 541&542

    " Let us imitate the great church of Africa, which, in reply to the pretensions of the Roman Pontiff, deemed it inconceivable that the Lord should have invested any one person with his own plenary prerogative of judicature, and yet have denied it to the great congregations of his priests assembled in council in different parts of the world." ( Quoted in Schaff, History, vol. 4, p. 291.) Vol. 1 chap. 22 p. 542


EBERHARD II, archbishop of Salzburg (1200-1246)

    " Under the title of Pontifex Maximus, we discern, unless we are blind, a most savage wolf, with the garment of a shepherd; the Roman priests [flamines] have arms against all Christians; made great by daring, by deceiving, by bringing wars after wars, they slaughter the sheep, they cut them off, they drive away peace and harmony from the earth, they stir up internal wars, domestic insurrections from below, day by day they weaken more and more the energies of all, so that they revile the heads of all, they devour all, they reduce all to slavery."  (Translated from Ioannes Aventinus, Annales Boiorum Libri Septem, p. 683.) Vol. 1 chap. 32 p. 799


   " Both true and false concepts of the continuance of Rome powerfully influenced not only churchmen but statesmen, but the position taken by Eberhard in 1240-that the breakup of Rome gave rise to a group of smaller kingdoms, among whom afterward came up the relgio- political power of the historical Papacy as thye Little Horn-became the standard interpretation of fourteenth-century Wyclif in Britain, then of sixteenth-century Luther and most of his associates, and next of Cranmer, Knox, and the bulk of British Reformers.  Practically all the post-Reformation writers on the Continent and in Britain and America declared the same.  Even the Jewish expositer Don Isaac Abravanel of Spain, in 1496, made a like explanation.
  This reformation view was the sort of belief which helped to nerve men to withstand the powerful forces under the command of the Papacy, and to go to the stake rather than yield to her spiritual despotism; for Protestant martyrs dared not obey her injunctions or follow her apostasies, and thus incur the displeasure of Heaven.  Therefore they no longer feared her anathemas." (THE PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS, by Froom, vol. 1, chap. 32, p. 806)



FRANCESCO PETRARCH, Poet (1304-1374) Concerning the church of Rome.

    " Vengeaunce must fall on thee, thow filthie whore
Of Babilon, thow breaker of Christ's fold,
That from acorns, and from the water colde,
Art riche become with making many poore.
Thow treason's neste that in thie harte dost holde
Of cankard malice, and of mischief more
Than pen can wryte, or may with tongue be tolde,
Slave to delights that chastity hath solde;
For wyne and ease which settith all thie store
Uppon whoredome and none other lore,
In thye pallais of strompetts yonge and olde
Theare walks Plentie, and Belzebub thye Lorde;
Guydes thee and them, and doth thye raigne uphold:
It is but late, as writing will recorde,
That poore thow weart without lande or goolde;
Yet how hathe golde and pryde, by one accorde,
In wickedness so spreadd thie lyf abrode,
That it dothe stinke before the face of God."
( Francesco Petrarch, Sonnet CV, translated by Wyatt  (?), in The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch, pp. 135, 136.)


    " Thou Babylon, seated on the wild banks of the Rhone, shall I call thee famous or infamous, O harlot, who hast committed harlotry with the kings of the earth? Truly thou art the same that the holy Evangelist saw in spirit, the same, I say, and not another, sitting upon many waters. Either literally, being surrounded by three rivers, or, in the profusion of this world's goods, among which thou sittest wanton and secure, unmindful of eternal riches; or, in the sense laid down by him that beheld thee, that the waters on which you the harlot sit are peoples and nations and languages. Recognize thine own features. A women clothed in purple and scarlet, decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abomination in the impurity of her fornication-Dost thou not know thyself, O Babylon? Unless perhaps what is written upon her forehead is wrong, Babylon the great, you indeed are Babylon the little." ( Translated from Petrarch, Epistolarum Sine Titulo, Liber, letter headed Babylonem Gallicam Describit, in Opera, vol. 2, p. 807. )



WALTER BRUTE  fourteenth-century British or Welsh layman and Lollard scholar.

    " Item, The said Walter hath oftentimes said, and commonly avouched, that the Pope is Antichrist, and a seducer of the people, and utterly against the Law and life of Christ," ("Proceedings in the trial of Walter Brut for Heresy, Etc.," original Latin in Registrum Johannis Trefnant, Episcopi Herefordensis, p. 279; translated in Foxe, Acts, vol. 1, p. 543.)

    " If the high Bishop of Rome calling himself the Servant of the Servants of God, and the Chief Vicar of Christ in this World, do make and maintain many laws contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; then is he of those that have come in Christ's name, saying, I am Christ, and have seduced many a one, by the Testimony of our Savior in Math. Chap. 24. And the Idol of desolation sitting in the Temple of God and taking away from him the continual sacrifice for a time, times, and half a time, which Idol must be revealed to the Christian people by the testimony of Daniel. Whereof Christ speaketh in the Gospel; When ye shall see the abomination of desolation that was told of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place; let him that readeth understand." (Registrum, p.287; Foxe, Acts, vol. 1, p. 545.)

    " And sitting in the Temple of God, doth advance himself above all things that is called God, or whatsoever is worshipped, by the testimony of Paul to the Thess. 2 Epistle, Chap. 2. And in the defection or falling away shall the man of sin be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth....He is also besides, The Beast ascending up out of the earth, having two horns like unto a Lamb, but he speaketh like a Dragon, and as the cruel Beast ascending up out of the Sea, whose Power shall continue 42 months. He worketh the things that he hath given to the Image of the Beast. And he compelled Small and Great, Rich and Poor, Free-men and Bond-slaves, to worship the beast, and to take his mark in their Forehead or their Hands, Apoc. Chap. 13. And thus by the testimony of all these places is the chief Antichrist upon the Earth, and must be slain with the sword of God's Word, and cast with the Dragon, the cruel Beast and the false prophet that hath seduced the Earth, into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented world without end." (Registrum, p. 288; Foxe, Acts, vol. 1, pp. 545, 546.)

    " If the city of Rome do allow his Traditions, and do disallow Christ's holy Commandments, and Christ's Doctrine, that it may confirm his Traditions; then is she Babylon the Great, or the Daughter of Babylon, and the Great Whore sitting upon many waters, with whom the Kings of the Earth have committed Fornication, and the Inhabitants of the earth are become drunken with the Wine of her Harlotry lying open to Bawdry. With whose spiritual Whoredom, Enchantments, Witchcrafts, and Simon Magus Merchandises, the whole round world is infected and seduced; saying in her heart, I sit as a Queen, and Widow I am not, neither shall I see Sorrow and mourning. Yet is she ignorant that within a little while shall come the day of her destruction and ruine by the Testimony of the Apoc. Chap. 17. Because that from the time of the continual Sacrifice was taken away, and that abomination of Desolation placed, there be passed 1290 days, by the Testimony of Daniel [chap. Xii.], and the Chronicles added to agree to the same. And the holy City also hath been trodden under foot of the Heathen, for forty two months, and the Woman was nourished up in the Wilderness (unto which she fled for fear of the face of the Serpent) during 1260 days, or else for a time, times, and half a time, which is all one. All these things be manifest by the Testimony of the Apocalyps, and the Chronicles thereto agreeing." (Registrum, p. 288; Foxe, Acts, vol. 1, p. 546.)


POPES ARE ANTICHRIST BECAUSE THEY ARE PRIEST-KINGS.-
    " Seeing then that the Bishops of Rome do say that they are the High Priests; they say also therein that they are Kings, because they say that they have the Scriptural Sword pertaining to their Priesthood, and the corporal Sword which agreeth for a Kings State. So is it plain, that really and in very deed, they say, That they are Christs, albeit that expressly they be not called Christs. Now that they come in the name of Christ it is manifest, because they say that they are his principal Vicars in this World, ordained of Christ specially for the Government of the Christian Church. Therefore, seeing they say, that really and in very deed they are Christs, and the chief friends of Christ: If they make and justifie many Laws contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then it is plain that they themselves in earth are the principal Antichrists, because there is no worse plague and pestilence, than a familiar enemy. And if in secret they be against Christ, and yet in open appearance they say that they are his friends, they are so much more the meet to seduce and deceive the Christian people." (Registrum, pp. 300, 301; Foxe, Acts, vol. 1, p. 550.)


SIR JOHN OLDCASTLE  1360-1417

    "But as touching the Pope and his spirituality, I owe them neither suit nor service, forsomuch as I know him by the scriptures to be the great Antichrist, the Son of Perdition, the open Adversary of God, and the Abomination standing in the holy place." (Foxe, Acts, vol. 1, p. 636.)

    " My belief is (as I said afore) that all the scriptures of the sacred Bible are true. All this is grounded upon them I believe throughly. For I know it is God's pleasure that I should do so. But in your lordly Laws and idle determinations have I no belief. For ye be no part of Christ's holy Church, as your open deeds do shew: But ye are very Antichrists, obstinately set against His holy Law and Will....
    " And let all men consider well this, That Christ was meek, and merciful; the Pope is proud, and a tyrant; Christ was poor and forgave, the Pope is rich and a malitious Man-slayer, as his daily acts do prove him. Rome is the very nest of Antichrist, and out of that nest come all of the Disciples of him. Of whom, Prelates, Priests, and Monks, are the body, these pil'd Friers are the tail, which covereth his most filthy part." (Foxe, Acts, vol. 1, pp.640, 641.)


JOHN HUSS, OR HUS ( 1369-1415)  "I beseech you in Christ Jesus, with all your fellow members of the University, to be prepared for a battle; for the reconnoiters of Antichrist have already begun, and the fight will soon follow. The Goose also must needs flap his wings against the wings of Behemoth, and against his tail, which always conceals the abomination of the beast Antichrist....... The Lord shall destroy the head and the tail- that is, the Pope and his prophets, masters, doctors, priests, who under the false pretext of sanctity conceal the abomination of the beast. Pray, what greater abomination can their be than a harlot who should parade herself and offer herself publicly? Yes, there is still greater abomination of the beast sitting in a place of honour and offering himself for worship to all comers, as though he were God: ready to sell whatever a man may wish to buy in matters spiritual. Yea, he sells what he does not possess. Woe be to me, then, if I shall not preach, weep, and write against such an abomination!" (The Letters of John Hus, edited by Herbert B. Workman and R. Martin Pope, Letter XXVI, pp. 118, 119.)

    " Surely now the wickedness, iniquity, and baseness of Antichrist has been revealed in the Pope and his associates in the Council: now the faithful servants of God can understand the meaning of the Saviour's words, When ye shall see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet,....he that readeth, let him understand. Verily 'a great abomination' is pride, avarice, and simony: 'in a place apart'- that is,dignity which lacks modesty, love, and other virtues; and this is whatwe clearly mark in those who win office and dignity. Would that I were allowed to point out their wickedness, in order that the faithful servants of God might beware of them! Gladly would I do so; but I am trusting that God will raise up others after me, braver men than there are to-day, who shall better reveal the wickedness of Antichrist and lay down their lives for the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will grant eternal joy both to you and to me. Amen. I write this letter in prison, on the day of St. John Baptist, as I lie bound in chains, remembering that St. John also was beheaded in prison for the sake of God's truth." (Ibid., p. 258.)

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA (1452-1498)  "The Roman church is full of simony and vileness.... I visualized a black cross over Babylon-Rome with the inscription: Wrath of the Lord. And it rained upon her swords and knives, lances and weapons of all kinds, as well as hailstones and brimstones in a terrible thunderstorm in deepest gloom. And I saw another cross of gold which reached from the sky over Jerusalem to the earth with the inscription: Mercy of God. And here was full sunshine. And on the strength of vision I declare again, that the Church must reform herself, and that very soon because God is angry." (Savonarola, Auswahl, pp. 120, 121.)

    " Fly from Rome, for Babylon signifies confusion, and Rome hath confused all the Scriptures, confused all vices together, confused everything. Fly, then, from Rome, and come to repentance." (Villari, op. cit., p.413, citing Lenten Sermon (1496), for Wednesday after fifth Sunday.)

   
    " 'Come here thou ribald Church. The Lord saith: I gave thee beautiful vestments, but thou hast made idols of them. Thou hast dedicated the sacred vessels to vainglory, the sacraments to simony; thou hast become a shameless harlot in thy lusts; thou art lower than a beast, thou art a monster of Solomon, and soliciteth the world; he that hath gold is made welcome and may do as he will..... O prostitute Church...... thou hast multiplied thy fornications in Italy, in France, in Spain, and all other parts. Behold, I will put forth My hand, saith the Lord. I will smite thee, thou infamous wretch." (Villari, op. cit., pp. 517, 518, citing Lenten Sermon XXII (1497), afterward suppressed by the Congregation of the Index.)

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546)  "I will send you these compositions of mine, that you may judge whether I am right in my divination when I assert, that the true Antichrist mentioned by St. Paul reigns in the court of Rome and is, as I think I can prove, a greater pest than the Turks." (Dr. Martin Luthers Sammtliche Schriften edited by Johann Georg Walch, vol. 15, col. 2430; translated in Waddington, History of the Reformation, vol. 1, p. 201. Hereafter Luther's Schriften, without other specification, will mean this Walch edition.)

    "I am sifting the pontifical decrials with a view to my disputation [at Leipsig]; and, to whisper to you the truth, I am not determined whether the Pope be Antichrist himself or only his apostle, so cruelly is Christ (which is the truth) corrupted and crucified by him in his decrials. I am in perfect torture when I consider that the people of Christ are thus mocked, under the pretence of the laws and name of Christ." (Luther, Schriften, vol. 21a, col. 156; translated in Waddington, History of the Reformation, vol. 1, p. 201.)

    "I am practically concerned, and can hardly doubt any more, that the Pope is really the Antichrist, whom the world expects according to a general belief, because everything so exactly corresponds to the way of his life, action, words, and commandments." (Translated from Luther, Schriften, vol. 21a, col. 234. In all translation a faithful, literal rendering, rather than a free, literary translation, is followed.)

    " We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist, against whose deceit and vileness all is permitted for the salvation of souls. Personally I declare that I owe the Pope no other obedience than that to Antichrist." (Luther, Schriften, vol. 15, col. 1693.)

    " I cry aloud on behalf of liberty and conscience, and I proclaim with confidence that no kind of law can with any justice be imposed on Christians, whether by men or angels, except so far as they themselves will; for we are free from all. If such laws are imposed on us, we ought so to endure them as still to preserve the consciousness of our liberty. We ought to know and steadfastly to protest that a wrong is being done to that liberty, though we may bear and even glory in that wrong; taking care neither to justify the tyrant nor to murmur against the tyranny. 'Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? (1 Pet. 3:13.) All things work together for good to the elect of God. Since, however, there are but few who understand the glory of baptism and the happiness of Christian liberty, or who can understand them for the tyranny of the Pope- I for my part will set free my own mind and deliver my conscience, by declaring aloud to the Pope and all papists, that, unless they shall throw aside all their laws and traditions, and restore liberty to the churches of Christ, and cause that liberty to be taught, they are guilty of the death of all the souls which are perishing in this wretched bondage, and that the papacy is in truth nothing else than the kingdom of Babylon and of very Antichrist. For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the Church; while he yet sits in the Church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny. It has extinguished faith, darkened the sacraments, crushed the gospel; while it has enjoined and multiplied without end its own laws, which are not only wicked and sacrilegious, but also most unlearned and barbarous." (Luther, First Principles, pp. 196, 197 (Schriften, vol. 19. Cols. 70, 71).

    " Neither is that which Matthew hath foretold, in ch. 24, touching that Horrible Abomination (to wit) Antichrist, a less certain Signs to me then [than] the former, namely that under his Kingdome, there should be and prevail, extream blindness, the most pernicious Errors, and the highest wickednesses. All which things do most wretchedly flourish in the kingdom of the Pope, and that in the greatest impudency and tyranny that can be." (The signs of Christ's coming and of the Last Day, the substance of a sermon of Martin Luther, p. 6.)


    " Oh, Christ, my Lord, look down upon us and bring upon us thy day of judgment, and destroy the brood of Satan in Rome. There sits the Man, of whom the Apostle Paul wrote (2 Thess. 2:3,4) that he will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God,- that Man of Sin, that Son of perdition. What else is papal power but sin and corruption? It leads souls to destruction under thine own name, O Lord! .... I hope the day of judgment is soon to dawn. Things can and will not become worse than they are at this time. The papal see is practicing iniquity to its heights. He suppresses the Law of God and exalts his commandments above the commandments of God." (Dr. Martin Luthers sammtliche Werke (Erlangen edition), vol. 21, p.339.)


PHILIPP MELANCHTHON (1497-1560)  " 18. Since it is certain that the pontiffs and the monks have forbidden marriage, it is most manifest, and true without any doubt, that the Roman Pontiff, with his whole order and kingdom, is very Antichrist." (Translated from Melancthon, Disputationes, No. 56, "De Matrimonio," in Opera (Corpus Reformation), vol. 12, col. 535.)

    "19. Likewise in Thess. II, Paul clearly says that the man of sin will rule in the church exalting himself above the worship of God, etc.
    "20. But it is certain that the popes do rule in the church, and under the title of the church in defending idols.
    "21. Wherefore I affirm that no heresy hath arisen, nor indeed shall be, with which these descriptions of Paul can more truly and certainly accord and agree than with this pontifical kingdom....
    "25. The prophet Daniel also attributes these two things to Antichrist; namely, that he shall place an idol in the temple, and worship [it] with gold and silver; and that he shall not honor women.
    "26 That both of them belong to the Roman Pontiff, who does not clearly see? The idols are clearly the impious masses, the worship of saints, and the statues which are exhibited in gold and silver that they may be worshiped." (Ibid., cols. 535, 536.)

NICOLAUS VON AMSDORF (1483-1565) He [the Antichrist] will be revealed and come to naught before the last day, so that every man shall comprehend and recognize that the pope is the real, true Antichrist and not the vicar of Christ.... Therefore those who consider the pope and his bishops as Christian shepherds and bishops are deeply in error, but even more are those who believe that the Turk is the Antichrist. Because the Turk rules outside the church and does not sit in the holy place, nor does he seek to bear the name of Christ but is an open antagonist of Christ and His church. This does not need to be revealed, but it is clear and evident because he persecutes Christians openly and not as the pope does, secretly under the form of godliness." (Nicolaus von Amsdorf, Funff furnemliche und gewisse Zeichen, sig. A4v.)

    ' This beast we know is the Roman Empire, which carries and supports the red Babylonian whore, which is the Papacy. The mark of the beast is the canons, the decrees and ceremonies of the Pope, and all ecclesiastical traditions concerning food, drink, and dress, singing, reading, and other childish things which have nothing to do with, nor belong to, the kingdom of God, which is true Christianity." (Ibid., sig. D1r.-D2r.)


MATTHIAS FLAGIUS (Vlacich)  (1520-1575)  The sixth and last reason for our separation from the pope and his followers be this: By many writings of our church, by the Divinely Inspired Word, by prophecies concerning the future and by the special characteristics of the papacy, it has been profusely and thoroughly proved that the pope with his prelates and clergy is the real true great Antichrist, that his kingdom is the real Babylon, a never ceasing fountain and a mother of all abominable idolatry.  (Flacius, Etliche Hochwichtige Ursachen und Grunde, warumb das sich alle Christen von dem Antichrist.....absondern sollen.)

ANDREAS MUSCULUS (1514-1581) .........And today we see and hear how the precious word has taken its course straight towards midnight and how it shall reach further and further till it comes to the very last hamlet of this world.....[On Matt. 24.9-they shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you] Whereas this was first fulfilled under the persecution of emperors..... Now since 800 years the pope of Rome from the beginning of his Antichristian kingdom has started to slay, to kill, and to destroy. Many a learned man, many pious Christians who have comprehended this abomination, protested against it, and refused to worship the Bride of Babylon, were put to death by him and exterminated.
(Translated from Andreas Musculus, Vom tungsten Tage.)

HULDREICH (ULRICH) ZWINGLI (1484-1531)  .......Not because they do any injustice to the Papacy, for I know that in it works the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist. (Huldreich Zwingli, Hauptschriften [Principal Works], vol. 7, p. 135.)

If we would live Christlike, everybody would fall away from Popedom, because they would recognize that nothing else than deceitful pomp stands behind it. [In this spirit] everything undertaken toward its fall will succeed. And I request that we break the might of the Papacy not by the power of hate, but by the power of love to God and to our neighbor. (Ibid., p. 137.)

You are protecting all this disorder, this most wicked profession, this antichristian Papacy, although you see the bright shining light and perceive that all nations rejoice that the wickedness of the harlot, who deceived everybody, has been revealed. (Ibid., p. 199.)

The Papacy has to be abolished or it conceals itself until it suppresses again the gospel. But by no other means can it be more thoroughly routed than by the word of God (2 Thess. 2), because as soon as the world receives this [the word of God] in the right way, it will turn away from the pope without compulsion. (Ibid., p. 205.)

HEINRICH BULLINGER (1504-1575) The scarlet woman of Revelation 17 is "the Romish church" and Rome the seat of the Beast. (Bullinger, A Hundred Sermons upon the Apocalips, preface; see also his Decades, decade 4, sermon 7, pp. 273 ff.)

The Pope is Antichrist because he usurps the keys of Christ and His kingly and priestly authority. (Ibid., sermon 6, p. 44.)

WILLIAM TYNDALE (1484-1536)  And [they] have set up that great idol, the whore of Babylon, antichrist of Rome, whom they call pope; and have conspired against all commonwealths, and have made them a several kingdom, wherein it is lawful, unpunished, to work all abomination. (Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, in Works, vol. 1, p. 191.)

The apostles were clear-eyed, and espied antichrist at once, and put him to flight, and weeded out his doctrine quickly. But when charity waxed cold, and the preachers began to seek themselves, and to admit glory and honour of riches, then antichrist disguised himself after the fashion of a true apostle, and preached Christ wilily, bringing in now this tradition, and now that, to darken the doctrine of Christ; and set up innumerable ceremonies, and sacraments, and imagery, giving them significations at the first; but at the last, the significations laid apart, preached the work as an holy deed, to justify and put away sin, and to save the soul, that men should put their trust in works, and in whatsoever was unto his glory and profit; and under the name of Christ ministered Christ out of all together, and became head of the congregation himself.

The bishop of Rome made a law of his own, to rule his church by, and put Christ's out of the way. All the bishops swear unto the bishop of Rome, and all curates unto the bishops; but all forswear Christ and his doctrine.

But seeing John took a sign of the last day, that he saw antichrist begin, how nigh ought we to think that it is, which, after eight hundred years reigning in prosperity, see it decay again, and his falsehood to be disclosed, and him to be slain with the spirit of the mouth of Christ. (Tyndale, The Exposition of the First Epistle of St. John, in Works, vol. 2, pp. 179, 180.)

Now though the bishops of Rome and his sects give Christ these names, yet in that they rob him of the effect, and take the significations of his names unto themselves, and make of him but an hypocrite, as they themselves be, they be the right antichrists, and deny both the Father and Son. (Ibid., p. 183.)

NICHOLAS RIDLEY (1500-1555)  Yea, what fellowship hath Christ with Antichrist? Therefore is it not lawful to bear the yoke with papists. ' Come forth from among them, and separate yourselves from them, saith the Lord'.
("Conferences...Between Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer," in Ridley, Works, p. 124.)

I acknowledge in no point that usurped supremacy of Rome, and therefore contemn and utterly despise all authority coming from him. (Ibid., p. 258.)

The head, under Satan, of all mischief is Antichrist and his brood; and the same is he which is the Babylonical beast, The beast is he whereupon the whore sitteth. The whore is that city, saith John in plain words, which hath empire over the kings of the earth. This whore hath a golden cup of abominations in her hand, whereof she maketh to drink the kings of the earth, and of the wine of this harlot all nations hath drunk; yea, and kings of the earth have lain by this whore; and merchants of the earth, by virtue of her pleasant merchandise, have been made rich.

Now what city is there in the whole world, that when John wrote, ruled over the kings of the earth; or what city can be read of in any time, that of the city itself challenged the empire over the kings of the earth, but only the city of Rome, and that since the usurpation of that See hath grown to her full strength? And is it not read, that old and ancient writers understood Peter's former Epistle to be written at Rome, and it to be called of him in the same Epistle, in plain terms, Babylon! BY the abominations thereof, I understand all the whole trade of the Romish religion, under the name and title of Christ, which is contrary to the only rule of all true religion, that is God's word. (Ibid., p. 258)

The see is the seat of Satan; and the bishop of the same, that maintained the abominations thereof, is antichrist himself indeed. And for the same causes this see at this day is the same which St. John calleth is his Revelation Babylon, or the whore of Babylon, and spiritually Sodoma and Egyptus, the mother of fornications and of the abominations upon the earth. ("Letters of Bishop Ridley," letter 32, in Works, p. 415.)

This whore of Babylon and the beast whereupon she doth sit maintained at this day with all violence of fire and sword, with spoil and banishment (according to Daniel's prophecy), and finally with all falsehood, deceit, hypocrisy, and all kind of ungodliness - are as clean contrary to God's word as darkness is unto light, or light to darkness, white to black, or black to white, or as Belial unto Christ, or Christ unto antichrist himself. (Ibid., pp. 415, 416.)

The whore of Babylon may well for a time dally with you, and make you so drunk with the wine of her filthy stews and whoredom (as with her dispensations and promises of pardon a poena et culpa), that for drunkenness and blindness ye may think yourself safe. But be ye assured,... the living Lord shall try the matter by the fire, and judge it according to his word....For he that is partner with them in their whoredom and abominations, must also be partner with them of their plagues, and on the latter day shall be thrown with them into the lake burning with brimstone and unquenchable fire. Thus fare ye well, my lords all. I pray God give you understanding of his blessed will and pleasure, and make you to believe and embrace the truth. Amen. (Ibid., p. 418.)


JOHN PHILPOT (1516-1555)  St John in the Apocalypse telleth us plainly, that none of those who are written in the book of life do receive the mark of the beast, which is, of the papistical synagogue, either in their foreheads or else in their hands, that is, apparently or obediently....Finally, in the 18th of the Apocalypse, God biddeth us plainly to depart from this Babylonical synagogue, and not to be partakers of her trespass. St Paul to the Thessalonians commandeth us, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to 'withdraw ourselves from every brother that walketh inordinately, and not according to the institution which he hath received of him.'

Ponder therefore well, good brethren and sisters, these scriptures, which be written for your erudition and reformation; whereof one iota is not written in vain; which be utterly against all counterfeit collusion to be used of us with the papists in their fantastical religion. (Philpot, Examinations and Writings, letter1, p. 222.)

JOHN BRADFORD (1510-1555)  Ah, wretches then that we be, if we will defile either part with the rose-coloured whore of Babylon's filthy mass-abomination! It had been better for us never to have been washed, than so to wallow ourselves in the filthy puddle of popery: it had been better never to have known the truth, than thus to betray it. Surely, surely, let such men fear, that their 'latter end be not worse than the beginning.' (John Bradford in Writings [vol. 1] {Sermons, Meditations, Examinations}, vol. 1, p. 390.)

Wherefore I now am condemned and shall be burned as an heretic. For, because I will not grant the antichrist of Rome to be Christ's vicar-general and supreme head of his church here and every where upon earth, by God's ordinance. (Ibid., pp. 441,442.)

This bearer hath told me, that your desire is to have something sent to you concerning the usurped authority of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome, which is undoubtedly that great Antichrist, of whom the apostles do so much admonish us;.........(Ibid., p. 142.)

JOHN HOOPER (1495-1555)  Because God hath given this light unto my countrymen, which be all persuaded, (or else God send them to be persuaded!) that the bishop of Rome nor none other is Christ's vicar upon the earth; it is no need to use any long or copious oration: it is so plain that it needeth no probation; the very properties of antichrist, I mean of Christ's great and prinipal enemy, is so openly known to all men, that are not blinded with the smoke of Rome, that they know him to be the beast that John describeth in the Apocalypse. (Hooper, A Declaration of Christ and His Office, chap. 3, in Works, vol. 1[Early Writings], p. 24)

As the pope, under the title and pretence of God's ministry, hath gotten himself not only a bishopric, but also the whole monarchy, in manner, of all Europe; a richer kingdom than any prince of the world; which never ceased from his beginning to move christian princes to most cruel and bloody war, under the cloak and mantle of God's name. What means and craft hath he found to maintain this whorish and antichrist[ian] seat of abomination; idols, peregrinations, masses, dispensations, absolutions, defensions of all things abominable; tyrannies against virtue, establishments of his own laws, abrogations of God's laws, emptying of heaven, and filling of hell, blessing of things exterior, oil, bell, bread, water, with other that be not cursed, and cursing of the souls that Christ redeemed with his precious blood; with a thousand more such abominations, under the name and pretence of God and his holy church, the which neither the patriarchs, neither the prophets, Christ, neither his apostles, never knew of, as both the testaments doth bear record. (Hooper, A Declaration of the Ten Commandments, chap. 6, in Works, vol.1, p. 325)

Of that wicked and pestilent see and chair of Rome, which is indeed the very whore of Babylon that St John describeth in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, sitting upon a seven headed beast, which St John himself interpreted to be seven hills, and the children in the grammar-school do know that Rome is called civitas septem montium, the city of seven hills. (Hooper, An Apology Against the Untrue and Slanderous Reports, in Works, vol. 2, p. 554.)

THOMAS CRANMER (1489-1556)  And as for the pope, I refuse him as Christ's enemy and antichrist, with all his false doctrines. (Cranmer, Works, vol.2, appendix, p. 566.)

I know in what office God hath placed me, and to what purpose; that is to say, to set forth his word truly unto his people, to the uttermost of my power, without respect of person, or regard of thing in the world, but of him alone. I know what account I shall make to him hereof at the last day, when every man shall answer for his vocation, and receive for the same good or ill, according as he hath done. I know how antichrist hath obscured the glory of God, and the true knowledge of his word, overcastting the same with mists and clouds of error and ignorance through false glosses and interpretations. It pitieth me to see the simple and hungry flock of Christ led into corrupt pastures, to be carried blindfold they know not wither, and to be fed with poison in the stead of wholesome meats. And moved by the duty, office, and place, whereunto it hath pleased God to call me, I give warning in his name unto all that profess Christ, that they flee far from Babylon, if they will save their souls, and to beware of that great harlot, that is to say, the pestiferous see of Rome, that she make you not drunk with her pleasant wine. (Cranmer, Works, vol. 1, pp. 6,7.)

After all these sprung up the pope, that tripled crown monster, and great antichrist, which took upon him authority, not only over the clergy, but also climbed above kings and emperors, deposing them at his pleasure, and settled himself in the temple of God, that is, in the consciences of men, extolling himself above God, dispensing with good laws, and giving men leave to break them, and to regard more his decrees than the everlasting commandments of God. (Ibid., vol. 2, p. 15.)

And in the seventeenth chapter he lively setteth forth the pope in his own colours, under the person of the whore of Babylon being drunken with the blood of saints; pointing, as it were with his finger, who this whore of Babylon is, and the place where she shall reign, saying: 'The woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.' Now what other city reigned at that time, or at any time since, over the christian kings of the earth, but only Rome? Whereof it followed Rome to be the seat of antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons. (Ibid., pp. 62, 63.)

Not content herewithal, more insolent than Lucifer, [the Pope] hath occupied not only the highest place in this world above kings and princes, but hath further presumed to sit in the seat of Almighty God.  Which only he reserved to himself, which is the conscience of man; and to keep the possession thereof, he hath promised forgiveness of sins totiens quotiens.

"He hath brought in gods of his own framing, and invented a new religion, full of gain and lucre, quite contrary to the doctrine of the holy scripture, only for the maintaining of his kingdom, displacing Christ from his glory, and holding his people in a miserable servitude of blindness, to the loss of a great number of souls, which God at the latter day shall exact at his hand: boasting many times in his canons and decrees, that he can dispense contra Petrum, contra Paulum, contra vetus et novum Testamentum; and that he, plenitudine potestatis, tantum potest quantum Deus; that is, 'Against Paul, against the old and new Testament; and of the fulness of power may do as much as God.'  O Lord, who ever heard such blasphemy?  If there be any man that can advance himself above him, let him be judged antichrist.

This enemy of God and of our redemption is so evidently painted out in the scriptures, by such manifest signs and tokens, which all so clearly appear in him, that, except a man will shut up his eyes and heart against the light, he cannot but know him: and therefore, for my part, I will never give my consent to the receiving of him into this church of England, and you, my lord, and the rest that sit here in commission, consider well and examine your own  consciences: you have sworn against him: you are learned, and can judge of the truth.  I pray God you be not willfully blind.  As for me, I have herein discharged mine own conscience toward the world, and I will write also my mind to her grace (Queen Nary), touching this matter." (Ibid., pp. 222, 223. The forthright letter written to Queen Mary in that same month, September, 1555, appears on pp. 447-554.)

John Bale (1495-1563)  The great antichrist of Europe is the king of faces, the prince of hypocrisy, the man of sin, the father of errors, and the master of lies, the Romish pope. He is the head of the said pale horse, whose body are his patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, fat prebends, doctors, priests, abbots, priors, monks, canons, friars, nuns, pardoners, and proctors, with all the sects and shorn swarm of perdition, and with all those that consent with them in the Romish faith, obeying their wicked laws, decrees, bulls, privileges, decrials, rules, traditions, titles, pomps, degrees, blessings, counsels, and constitutions, contrary to God's truth. The wickedness of these hath so darkened the blind world, that scarce was left one sparkle of the verity of the christian faith. Nowhere can men dwell to greater loss of their souls' health, than under their abominations. (Bale, The Image of Both Churches, in Select Works, pp. 325,326.)

By the monstrous, ugly, and most odious beast rising out of the sea, with seven heads and ten horns, is meant the universal or whole Antichrist, comprehending in him all the wickedness, fury, falsehood, forwardness, deciet, lies, crafts, sleights, subtilties, hypocrisy, tyranny, mischiefs, pride, and all other devilishness, of all his malicious members which have been since the beginning.......

No abomination nor mystery of iniquity, as Paul calleth it, was ever found in these kingdoms, but now reigneth manifold in the detestable papacy or monstrous kingdom of antichrist, as all the world may see. (Ibid., pp.420,423.)

With this stinking strumpet have the mighty potentates of the universal earth, the emperors, kings, princes, and other notable governors, committed most shameful whoredom in the spirit by many strange worshippings, agreeing among themselves to her wickedly decreed laws and customs. Too long should we stand here in this place, if we should describe them all severally in their colours at large as they be.

Through the crafty legerdemain of the priests on the one side, and the cruel constitution of princes on the other side, the dwellers of the earth or worldly-minded multitude are drunken with the wine of her fornication spiritual, or practiced worshippings besides the prescript rules of God's word.....

And I saw (saith St John) in mystery a woman (for a whore at the first blush seemeth only a woman) sitting upon a rose-colored beast. This beast is the great antichrist that was spoken of afore, or the beastly body of the devil, comprehending in him popes, patriarchs, cardinals, legates, bishops, doctors, abbots, priors, priests, and pardoners, monks, canons, friars, nuns, and so forth; temporal governors also, as emporers, kings, princes, dukes, earls, lords, justices, deputies, judges, lawyers, mayors, bailiffs, constables, and so forth, learning their own duties-offices as to minister rightly, to serve their abominations. (Ibid., pp. 494-496.)

Edwin Sandys (1519-1588)  He that sitteth in the temple of God, and termeth himself Christ's vicar, doth in like sort offer unto the people bread, water, wine, milk, pardon of sins, grace, mercy, and eternal life; but not freely: he is a merchant, he giveth nothing, and that is nothing which he selleth. For although he make large promises to the buyer, he selleth that which he hath not to deliver. 'Eternal life is the gift of God.' The pope therefore selleth but wind and smoke for fire, shadows for truths: he deceiveth the buyers with false slights, false measures, false weights. Beware of this merchant, lose not your labour, cast not away your money: it is not meat but poison which he offereth you. His physic cannot heal your diseases; his holy water cannot wash away the spots of a sullied and defiled soul, as he untruly would bear you in hand; his blasphemous masses do not appease, but provoke God's wrath; they cannot benefit the quick, much less the dead, which either need no help, or are past all help; his rotten relics cannot comfort you; his blind, dumb, and worm-eaten idols can do you no good. It is cast away which is spent upon his shameless pardons; they will not prevail-God will not admit them: by his Latin service ye cannot be edified, or made wiser. Yet this trumpery they sell for money, and upon this trash they cause silly men to waste their substance, and to these to commit their souls. Thus you see a manifest difference between Christ and antichrist. (Edwin Sandys, The Sermons of Edwin Sandys, pp. 11,12.)

Christ is obscured by that great enemy antichrist, 'the man of sin,' who hath set himself in Christ's peculiar place, and will be 'exalted above all that is called God.' To make any other mediator between God and man, saving only Christ Jesus which is not only man, but also God; to seek elsewhere remission of sins, justification, redemption, sanctification, or salvation, that only in this Jesus, and in him crucified, doth darken and make dim both him and his merits. And of the treason the Romish antichristian church, which they term catholic, is found guilty. For the children of this harlot labour by all means to obscure the Son of God, to rob him of the glory of his deserts in our salvation. (Ibid., pp. 358,359.)

We do utterly abandon this usurped and proud authority: we have happily forsaken that synagogue of Satan.

This is our apostasy. We have forsaken him that hath forsaken God, and whom God hath forsaken: we have left that man of sin, that rose-colored harlot with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, that triple-crowned beast, that double-sworded tyrant, that thief and murderer, who hath robbed so many souls of salvation, and sucked so much innocent blood of christian martyrs, that adversary unto Christ, that pretensed vicar, who hath displaced the person, not only taking upon him Christ's room and office, but also boasting himself as if he were a god, and being content of his parasites so to be called. This wicked man of sin is at length revealed by the sincere preaching of the gospel. Daniel in his prophecies, Paul in his epistles, and John in his revelations, have most lively described and pointed hin forth even as it were with the finger. Yea, through his pride and ambition, his usurping authority and worldly rule, his tyrrany and persecuting of Christ in his members, he hath sufficiently revealed and detected himself, if none had done it for him. (Ibid., p. 389.)

William Fulke (1538-1589) The see being found, it is easy to find the person by S. Paul's description; and this note especially, that excludeth the heathen tryants, 'He shall sit in the temple of God:' which when we see to be fulfilled in the Pope, although none of the eldest fathers could see it, because it was performed after their death, we nothing doubt to say and affirm still, that the Pope is that 'Man of sin,' and 'Son of perdition,' the adversary that lifteth up himself 'above all that is called God;' and shall be destroyed 'by the spirit of the Lord's mouth, and by the glory of His coming. (William Fulke, A Discovery of the Dangerous Rock of the Popish Church, in Works, vol.2 p. 373.)

And concerning the usurped power of the bishop of Rome, which he most wrongfully challengeth, as the successor of Christ and Peter, we may easily perceive how false, feigned, and forged it is, not only in that it hath no sufficient ground in holy Scripture, but also by the fruits and doctrine thereof. For our Saviour Christ and St. Peter teach, most earnestly and agreeably, obedience to kings, as to the chief and supreme rulers in this world next under God; but the bishop of Rome teaches, that they that are under him are free from all burdens and charges of the commonwealth and obedience towards their prince, most clearly against Christ's doctrine and St. Peter's. He ought therefore rather to be called Antichrist and the successor of the Scribes abd Pharisees, than Christ's vicar or St. Peter's successor. ("An Exhortation Concerning Good Order and Obedience To Rulers and Magistrates" [Third Part]. In Certain Sermons or Homilies Appointed To Be Read in Churches in the Time of Queen Elizabeth [1890 ed.], pp. 119, 120: see also Wylie, op. cit., vol. 3. P. 436.)

Jean (John) Calvin (1509-1564)  I deny that see to be Apostolical, wherein nought is seen but a shocking apostasy-I deny him to be the vicar of Christ, who, in furiously persecuting the gospel, demonstrates by his conduct that he is Antichrist-I deny him to be the successor of Peter, who is doing his utmost to demolish every edifice that Peter built-and I deny him to be the head of the Church, who by his tyranny lacerates and dismembers the Church, after disserving her from Christ, her true and only head. (Calvin, Tracts, vol. 1, pp. 219, 220; see also Guiness, Romanism, p. 236.)

Daniel and Paul had predicted that Antichrist would sit in the temple of God. The head of that cursed and abominable kingdom, in the Western Church, we affirm to be the Pope. When his seat is placed in the temple of God, it suggests, that his kingdom will be such, that he will not abolish the name of Christ or the Church. Hence it appears , that we by no means deny that churches may exist, even under his tyranny; but he has profaned them by sacrilegious impiety, afflicted them by cruel despotism, corrupted and almost terminated their existence by false and pernicious doctrines; like poisonous potions, in such churches, Christ lies half buried, the gospel is suppressed, piety exterminated, and the worship of God almost abolished; in a word, they are altogether in such a state of confusion, that they exhibit a picture of Babylon, rather than the holy city of God. (Calvin, Institutes, vol. 2, pp. 314,315. The English translation of 1561, fol. 15v, gives the same thought, only in the quaint but often more ivivd phrasing of the time.)

Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption upon Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt. And lest anyone should object, that we improperly pervert to the Roman pontiff those words of Paul, which belong to a different subject, I shall briefly show that they are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy. Paul says that Antichrist 'sitteth in the temple of God.' In another place, also, the Holy Spirit, describing his image in the person of Antiochus, declares that his kingdom will consist in 'speaking great words,' or blasphemies, 'against the Most High.' Hence we conclude that it is rather a tyrrany over the souls of men, than over their bodies, which is erected in opposition to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. And in the next place, that this tyrrany is one which does not abolish the name of Christ or of his Church, but rather abuses the authority of Christ, and conceals itself under the character of the Church, as under a mask. Now, though all the heresies and schisms which have existed from the beginning belong to the kingdom os Antichrist, yet when Paul predicts an approaching apostasy, he signifies by this description that that seat of abomination shall then be erected when a universal defection shall have seized the church, notwithstanding many members dispersed in different places, persevere in the unity of the faith. But when he adds, that even in his days 'the mystery of iniquity' did 'already work' in secret, what it was afterwards to effect in a more public manner, he gives us to understand that this calamity was neither to be introduced by one man, nor to terminate with one man. Now, when he designates Antichrist by this character,-that he would rob God of His honor in order to assume it to himself,-this is the principal indication which we ought to follow in our inquiries after Antichrist, especially where such pride proceeds to a public desolation of the church. As it si evident therefore that the Roman pontiff has impudently transferred to himself some of the peculiar and exclusive prerogatives of God and Christ, it cannot be doubted that he is the captain and leader of this impious and abominable kingdom. (Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 410,411 [in 1561 ed., fol. 45v].)

JOHN KNOX (1505-1572)  First, then, not only are all the impious traditions and ceremonies of the papists taken away, but also that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church, is altogether abolished; and it is provided that all persons shall in the future acknowledge him to be the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks.

The mass is abolished, as being an accursed abomination and a diabolical profanation of the Lord's supper; and it is forbidden to all persons in the whole kingdom of Scotland either to celebrate or hear it. (The Zurich Letters [1st series], 1558-1579, p. 199.)

As for your Romane Church, as it is now corrupted, and the Authority thereof, wherein stands the hope of your Victory, I no more doubt but that it is the Synagogue of Sathan; and the head thereof, called the Pope, to be that man of Sin of whom the Apostle speaketh, then that I doubt that Jesus Christ suffered by the procurement of the visible Church of Jerusalem. Yea, I offer myself by word or writing, to prove the Romane Church this day farther to degenerate from the purity which was in the dayes of the Apostles, then was the Church of the Jewes from the ordinance given by Moses, when they consented to the innocent death of Jesus Christ. These words were spoken in the open audience of the Parish Church of Saint Andrews, after the said Dean John had spoken what it pleased him, and had refused to dispute. (Knox, The Historie of the Reformatioun of Religioun Within the Realm of Scotland, book 1, pp. 75, 76.)

As far as I am concerned I am absolutely convinced, that whatever is done in the Roman church is contradictory to Christ's blessed rule, and is nothng else than a lethal poison; and whosoever drinks of it drinks death and damnation to himself.......

The malice of your bishops is only to evident, their impure lives contaminate the very air; the innocent blood they shed cries to God for vengeance; the idolatry and abominations they with impunity commit perverts and defiles the whole country. And none amongst you has the courage to do away with these villainies. Will not God consider you guilty? Do not decieve yourselves, dear bretheren. Do not sleep in your sins, for vengeance is near to all the disobedient. Flee from Babel, if you do not want to partake in her destruction. (Translated from Brandes, op. cit., p. 494.)

JOHN NAPIER  (NEPER)  (1550-1617)  In the former proposition was described the holie Spouse of Christ, here is to bee described the filthie whoore of Sathan, there that Ladie, who is adorned with the Sunne, Starres, and heavenlie virtues: here that Adultresse, who glories in golde, silver, precious stones, and worllie pleasures: there shee, who is persecuted by the Dragon, here she unto whome the Dragon doeth give authoritie: There she, who is chaced into the wilderness, and hath no lodge to hide her in; here she who impireth above all people, and is the Metropolitane citie of the world. And finallie, seeing in al things this Whoore, or whoorish Babylon, is contrarious to Christes holie Spouse, lette us, and all Christians trie her out, as our detestable and deadlie enemie, and see what Babylon she is. We say then, that this Babylon, is not that reall Babylon of Chaldee, but Rome, for these reasons. First, for that this Babylon is called mysterium Babylon, that is to say, mysticall or figurative Babylon: Therefore, it is not Babylon it self in Chaldee. (John Napier, A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of Saint Iohn., p. 34. This first reason was supported by a series of supplemental arguments.)

For firste (saieth the text) the Woman that sate upon this Beast, is the great Citie, that sitteth over the Kings of the earth: So the chiefe seate and citie of the Latine or Romane Empire, is that great citie Rome, that had Empire overe all the kingdomes of the earth. Secondly, saith Daniel, there shal foure chief kingdomes arise upon the earth, under the figure of foure beastes: Whereof (by plaine interpretation hee saith) the fourth beast that had these ten horns, is the fourth kingdome of the earth: And so it is, that the firste greate kingdome or Monarchie being the Babylonians: The seconde, of the Medes and Persians: The thirde, of the Graecians. The fourth and laste, is certainlie the Monarchie of the Latines or Romanes:and therefore, that fourth beaste which both there in Daniel, & here in Iohns Revelation, hath ten horns, must necessarily be the Romane or Latine Empire. (Ibid., pp. 36,37; and introductory table.)

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) (Congregational Theologian) 
"The oracles of God foretold the rising of an Antichrist in the Christian Church: and in the Pope of Rome, all the characteristics of that Antichrist are so marvelously answered that if any who read the Scriptures do not see it, there is a marvelous blindness upon them." 
Taken from The Fall of Babylon by Cotton Mather in Froom's book, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 3, pg. 113.

John Wesley (1703-1791) (Methodist) 
Speaking of the Papacy he said, "He is in an emphatical sense, the Man of Sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly styled the Son of Perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his opposers and followers... He it is...that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped...claiming the highest power, and highest honour...claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone." 
Taken from Antichrist and His Ten Kingdoms by John Wesley, pg. 110.



SECOND SCOTCH CONFESSION OF FAITH  In special, we detest and refuse the usurped authoritie of that Romane Antichrist upon the scriptures of God, upon the Kirk, the civill Magistrate, and consciences of men. (Philip Schaff, Creeds, vol. 3, p. 481.)

The statement from the Westminster Confession of Faith of the Church of England, which was later used by the Presbyterians, is significant:
There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition that exalteth himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God. (The Westminster Confession of Faith, Section 6, chapter 25)

Irish Articles of Faith (adopted in 1615): "The Bishop of Rome...be that 'man of sin', foretold in the holy Scriptures."

Westminster Confession of Faith: "The Pope of Rome...is that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ."

Savoy Declaration: "The Pope of Rome...is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition."

Baptist Confession 1688: "The Pope of Rome...is no other than Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition."

The Waldensian treatise titled the Noble Lesson, dated 1100 A.D., stated: "Antichrist, the predicted murderer of the Saints, hath already appeared in his true character, seated monarchally in the seven-hilled city." In 1120 or 1160 A.D., A Treatise Concerning Antichrist identified the Pope of Rome as the Antichrist. George Faber identifies this as a production of Peter the Valdo (Faber, pp. 379-384).

In 1206, the Albigenses made the following confession: "That the Church of Rome was not the spouse of Christ, but the Church of confusion, drunk with the blood of the martyrs. That the polity of the Church of Rome was neither good nor holy, nor established by Jesus Christ" (Peter Allix, The Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the Albigenses, 1821 edition, first published in 1692, p. 178).



piecrust

Not quite sure what Amo's latest reply had to do with anything either.

Amo

Quote from: piecrust on Sat Jun 01, 2019 - 21:38:45
Not quite sure what Amo's latest reply had to do with anything either.

No big surprise in that. You wanted to know what being Protestant had to do with not believing biblical prophecy was only in relation to pagan Rome. So I supplied you with the testimony of primarily Protestant Reformers identifying the Pope as the anti-christ of biblical prophecy, or the head of the system of anti-christ. What do you think Protestants protested? They protested the abuses of the Church of Rome upon humanity, and identified her as BABYLON THE GREAT, and or the system of anti-christ. Nor are her abuses only of the Reformation era or less distant past, as her policies and practices to date continue to bring untold woe and suffering upon humanity. During her hay day of power various estimates place her victims at 50 to 125 million over about a 1200 year period. Since then, she being continuously and hopelessly entangled in the politics of this world, her hand has been in many of the wars, if not directly responsible for several of them. She has supported abusive Kings, Queens, and Dictators repeatedly throughout history. She has been, is, and will always continue to be the enemy of freedom and liberty, and the friend of big abusive government. This is not to mention the homosexuality, and abuse of women and children perpetrated by her in large numbers all throughout her history due primarily to her demand of celibacy among all priests and monks. The child abuse cases are all over the world presently, and the Church has been caught covering it up repeatedly.

In the last couple of decades her emphasis has been upon the globalist agenda and has recently called for a global government and economic system again, to enforce her global vision. If she is not BABYLON THE GREAT, or a system of anti-christ, it is certainly not because she has not been involved in, and is trying to bring about exactly what scripture states concerning the same. No other entity fits the details as she does. So be it.


Amo

https://www.charismanews.com/world/76267-did-pope-francis-just-call-for-a-one-world-government

QuoteDid Pope Francis Just Call for a One-World Government?

Pope Francis is pushing for steps toward global authority that supersedes the rights of individual countries, all with the goal of pursuing "the common good" on issues like climate change and immigration.

"When a supranational common good is clearly identified, it is necessary to have a special authority legally and concordantly constituted capable of facilitating its implementation. We think of the great contemporary challenges of climate change, new forms of slavery and peace," he told members of the Pontifical Academy.

They met last week at the Vatican to discuss the topic of: "Nation, State, Nation-State."

While addressing the conference, Francis rebuked the trend of nationalism among individual countries and the many tensions that "come from an excessive demand for sovereignty on the part of states."

However, the pope defended patriotism as a good thing. But he warned it can become perverted when "it involves the exclusion and hatred of others when it becomes a conflictual nationalism that builds walls, indeed even racism or anti-Semitism," according to Breitbart.com.

Francis also implied national sovereignty becomes twisted when countries do not have a welcoming attitude toward migrants.

"The church observes with concern the reemergence, in many parts of the world, of currents that are aggressive towards foreigners, especially immigrants, as well as a growing nationalism that neglects the common good," he told the conference.

This, in turn, "threatens to jeopardize consolidated forms of international cooperation, undermines the aims of international organizations as a space for dialogue and meeting for all countries in a spirit of mutual respect, and hinders the attainment of the sustainable development goals approved unanimously by the United Nations," the pope said.

International organizations are filled with unelected elitist politicians who bypass the will of the people of the various nations and the leaders they voted into office to represent their concerns. They have been forcing mass migration down the throats of the citizens of many nations without their consent or approval at all. They have also been redistributing the wealth, jobs, natural resources, and power structures of these nations as well according to their own elitist self appointed globalist agenda. They are the minions of BABYLON THE GREAT, in facilitating the final global beast of biblical prophecy which the Church of Rome herself rides to dominion over the same.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. 21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

piecrust

Quote from: Amo on Sun Jun 02, 2019 - 08:43:12
No big surprise in that. You wanted to know what being Protestant had to do with not believing biblical prophecy was only in relation to pagan Rome. 

Seems that you can only get salvation if you are a protestant, Amo.  You are interested in the Reformers, you don't really seem all that interested in Jesus Christ.

No I'm not  Catholic, I am "just" a Christian.  I trust in Him.

Amo

Quote from: piecrust on Sun Jun 02, 2019 - 21:34:36
Seems that you can only get salvation if you are a protestant, Amo.  You are interested in the Reformers, you don't really seem all that interested in Jesus Christ.

No I'm not  Catholic, I am "just" a Christian.  I trust in Him.

Yes, of course piecrust, cause you know me so well.

Amo

Continued from reply #116

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Entire Encyclical quoted and commented upon below may be viewed at link above.

Excerpts from - ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI'
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME(All emphasis is mine, my comments in blue)

QuoteIII. LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY

32. The earth's resources are also being plundered because of short-sighted approaches to the economy, commerce and production. The loss of forests and woodlands entails the loss of species which may constitute extremely important resources in the future, not only for food but also for curing disease and other uses. Different species contain genes which could be key resources in years ahead for meeting human needs and regulating environmental problems.

33. It is not enough, however, to think of different species merely as potential "resources" to be exploited, while overlooking the fact that they have value in themselves. Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost for ever. The great majority become extinct for reasons related to human activity. Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.

34. It may well disturb us to learn of the extinction of mammals or birds, since they are more visible. But the good functioning of ecosystems also requires fungi, algae, worms, insects, reptiles and an innumerable variety of microorganisms. Some less numerous species, although generally unseen, nonetheless play a critical role in maintaining the equilibrium of a particular place. Human beings must intervene when a geosystem reaches a critical state. But nowadays, such intervention in nature has become more and more frequent. As a consequence, serious problems arise, leading to further interventions; human activity becomes ubiquitous, with all the risks which this entails. Often a vicious circle results, as human intervention to resolve a problem further aggravates the situation. For example, many birds and insects which disappear due to synthetic agrotoxins are helpful for agriculture: their disappearance will have to be compensated for by yet other techniques which may well prove harmful. We must be grateful for the praiseworthy efforts being made by scientists and engineers dedicated to finding solutions to man-made problems. But a sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention, often in the service of business interests and consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, ever more limited and grey, even as technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly. We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves.

35. In assessing the environmental impact of any project, concern is usually shown for its effects on soil, water and air, yet few careful studies are made of its impact on biodiversity, as if the loss of species or animals and plant groups were of little importance. Highways, new plantations, the fencing-off of certain areas, the damming of water sources, and similar developments, crowd out natural habitats and, at times, break them up in such a way that animal populations can no longer migrate or roam freely. As a result, some species face extinction. Alternatives exist which at least lessen the impact of these projects, like the creation of biological corridors, but few countries demonstrate such concern and foresight. Frequently, when certain species are exploited commercially, little attention is paid to studying their reproductive patterns in order to prevent their depletion and the consequent imbalance of the ecosystem.

36. Caring for ecosystems demands far-sightedness, since no one looking for quick and easy profit is truly interested in their preservation. But the cost of the damage caused by such selfish lack of concern is much greater than the economic benefits to be obtained. Where certain species are destroyed or seriously harmed, the values involved are incalculable. We can be silent witnesses to terrible injustices if we think that we can obtain significant benefits by making the rest of humanity, present and future, pay the extremely high costs of environmental deterioration.

37. Some countries have made significant progress in establishing sanctuaries on land and in the oceans where any human intervention is prohibited which might modify their features or alter their original structures. In the protection of biodiversity, specialists insist on the need for particular attention to be shown to areas richer both in the number of species and in endemic, rare or less protected species. Certain places need greater protection because of their immense importance for the global ecosystem, or because they represent important water reserves and thus safeguard other forms of life.

38. Let us mention, for example, those richly biodiverse lungs of our planet which are the Amazon and the Congo basins, or the great aquifers and glaciers. We know how important these are for the entire earth and for the future of humanity. The ecosystems of tropical forests possess an enormously complex biodiversity which is almost impossible to appreciate fully, yet when these forests are burned down or levelled for purposes of cultivation, within the space of a few years countless species are lost and the areas frequently become arid wastelands. A delicate balance has to be maintained when speaking about these places, for we cannot overlook the huge global economic interests which, under the guise of protecting them, can undermine the sovereignty of individual nations. In fact, there are "proposals to internationalize the Amazon, which only serve the economic interests of transnational corporations".[24] We cannot fail to praise the commitment of international agencies and civil society organizations which draw public attention to these issues and offer critical cooperation, employing legitimate means of pressure, to ensure that each government carries out its proper and inalienable responsibility to preserve its country's environment and natural resources, without capitulating to spurious local or international interests.

39. The replacement of virgin forest with plantations of trees, usually monocultures, is rarely adequately analyzed. Yet this can seriously compromise a biodiversity which the new species being introduced does not accommodate. Similarly, wetlands converted into cultivated land lose the enormous biodiversity which they formerly hosted. In some coastal areas the disappearance of ecosystems sustained by mangrove swamps is a source of serious concern.

40. Oceans not only contain the bulk of our planet's water supply, but also most of the immense variety of living creatures, many of them still unknown to us and threatened for various reasons. What is more, marine life in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, which feeds a great part of the world's population, is affected by uncontrolled fishing, leading to a drastic depletion of certain species. Selective forms of fishing which discard much of what they collect continue unabated. Particularly threatened are marine organisms which we tend to overlook, like some forms of plankton; they represent a significant element in the ocean food chain, and species used for our food ultimately depend on them.

41. In tropical and subtropical seas, we find coral reefs comparable to the great forests on dry land, for they shelter approximately a million species, including fish, crabs, molluscs, sponges and algae. Many of the world's coral reefs are already barren or in a state of constant decline. "Who turned the wonderworld of the seas into underwater cemeteries bereft of colour and life?"[25] This phenomenon is due largely to pollution which reaches the sea as the result of deforestation, agricultural monocultures, industrial waste and destructive fishing methods, especially those using cyanide and dynamite. It is aggravated by the rise in temperature of the oceans. All of this helps us to see that every intervention in nature can have consequences which are not immediately evident, and that certain ways of exploiting resources prove costly in terms of degradation which ultimately reaches the ocean bed itself.

42. Greater investment needs to be made in research aimed at understanding more fully the functioning of ecosystems and adequately analyzing the different variables associated with any significant modification of the environment. Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another. Each area is responsible for the care of this family. This will require undertaking a careful inventory of the species which it hosts, with a view to developing programmes and strategies of protection with particular care for safeguarding species heading towards extinction.

2 Pe 3:1This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

It certainly can and should be agreed upon by all professed Christians, that care for this earth and the creatures upon it is in fact a Christian duty, as good stewards of this earth created for us by God. Just how and why such should be approached and or implemented however, is another matter altogether. Needless to say, good government will be necessary to effecting the same. So, what kind of governing should be applied to this universal problem of preservation and maintenance of the globe?

This world is filled with those of very different religious and even non religious faiths. Self preservation and sustenance should be and likely is common ground to all. Therefore, as the Church of Rome is so apt to point out or continuously refer to, a common good should be sought concerning the same. Is a global government and economy the answer to this dilemma? While the Church of Rome is quick to point out that certain governments and or corporations interested in self centered short term profits or benefits are necessarily therefore also shortsighted, would a global government of unelected officials be any better? Or would such great power being put into the hands of such fewer people disconnected from so many of the masses they would be effecting, only inflate the same problems on a much wider scale to the benefit of a select few?

Unfortunately, history has already answered this question many times over.  More power in the hands of fewer people has almost universally resulted in abuse throughout the history of this world. This is true concerning the Church of Rome itself, the author of this very document calling for the same. This is far though from the only problem concerning her perspectives and suggested courses of action in relation to the topic at hand. Which perspectives are not only at variance with other contending political ideologies, philosophies, or disciplines, but with many a Christian as well.

Many Christians believe the word of God above the prevailing scientific theories of the day. The Church of Rome though has embraced evolution and human effected if not straight up controlled climate change. The former casts serious doubt upon the global flood account which evolutionists cannot allow for while maintaining their theory. Even though the Church of Rome claims the Apostle Peter as their first Pope, they apparently take the testimony of evolutionists over his own regarding the flood. The latter places humanity in control of God's creation. While many understand that humanity is certainly capable of destroying God's creation, they also know without question that they cannot save that which God Himself has said He will destroy. Nor will He allow humanity to do what He has made it clear, He will do.

So then, while bible believing Christians agree with good stewardship in all things including the care of our planet, such is not part simple self preservation and or therefore subject to fear mongering politics built upon the same. Nor are they apt to sacrifice personal or national liberties obtained and maintained by representative government for the people and by the people, to all intrusive global government by self appointed unelected unrepresentative elitists. Such who have in the past and are presently employing fear mongering political tactics exactly to exalt themselves to the position of elitist lords over us all. While the Church of Rome covers herself with the cloak of "Christianity" her political designs have always in the past and now in the present support elitism and servility over personal responsibility and therefore equality.

Therefore did the Church of Rome fight tooth and nail to preserve Feudalism in the past. Ever entwined in illicit relations with the kings, queens, and nobility of the same, as they abused their subordinates. Therefore also has she supported the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, and other dictators or abusive governments if they would only enter into an illicit relationship with her. Therefore did she use the United States to help her topple Communism as a world power ruling over many once historically Catholic nations. Therefore does she now even praise and side with communists and socialists against Capitalism and the United States in order to topple us as a world power, that her power within may yet become greater. Therefore does she now not only side with but rather leads the globalists toward their all consuming goal which is the same as hers, world domination. Therefore was this document written, as another rally cry for her minions around the world.

Her fear mongering politics and practices will not save this world. All of this world who will be saved must come out of Babylon and into the fold of Jesus Christ the only Lord and Savior of humanity. She is not leading the world to salvation, but rather its ruin. God destroyed the world once before because "every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually." After that destruction He once again intervened to split humanity apart and divide them to help prevent the same condition from coming about to soon the second time at the Tower of Babel. Now BABYLON THE GREAT seeks the unity of all humanity under her banner unto the same end. This God will eventually allow right before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns to deliver His own, as biblical prophecy predicts. Come out of Babylon, come out of this world, and enter the fold of Christ Jesus. The unity of this world is false and rebellion against God.


Quote13. In addition to its important link with the entirety of the Church's social doctrine, Populorum Progressio is closely connected to the overall magisterium of Paul VI, especially his social magisterium. His was certainly a social teaching of great importance: he underlined the indispensable importance of the Gospel for building a society according to freedom and justice, in the ideal and historical perspective of a civilization animated by love. Paul VI clearly understood that the social question had become worldwide [25] and he grasped the interconnection between the impetus towards the unification of humanity and the Christian ideal of a single family of peoples in solidarity and fraternity. In the notion of development, understood in human and Christian terms, he identified the heart of the Christian social message, and he proposed Christian charity as the principal force at the service of development. (ENCYCLICAL LETTER CARITAS IN VERITATE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS THE LAY FAITHFUL AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHARITY AND TRUTH)

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

piecrust

Quote from: Amo on Sat Jun 08, 2019 - 15:09:32
Yes, of course piecrust, cause you know me so well.

?

Amo

Continued from reply #123

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Entire Encyclical quoted and commented upon below may be viewed at link above.

Excerpts from - ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI'
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME(All emphasis is mine, my comments in blue)

QuoteIV. DECLINE IN THE QUALITY OF HUMAN LIFE AND THE BREAKDOWN OF SOCIETY

43. Human beings too are creatures of this world, enjoying a right to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity. So we cannot fail to consider the effects on people's lives of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture.

44. Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water. Neighbourhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space. We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.

45. In some places, rural and urban alike, the privatization of certain spaces has restricted people's access to places of particular beauty. In others, "ecological" neighbourhoods have been created which are closed to outsiders in order to ensure an artificial tranquillity. Frequently, we find beautiful and carefully manicured green spaces in so-called "safer" areas of cities, but not in the more hidden areas where the disposable of society live.

46. The social dimensions of global change include the effects of technological innovations on employment, social exclusion, an inequitable distribution and consumption of energy and other services, social breakdown, increased violence and a rise in new forms of social aggression, drug trafficking, growing drug use by young people, and the loss of identity. These are signs that the growth of the past two centuries has not always led to an integral development and an improvement in the quality of life. Some of these signs are also symptomatic of real social decline, the silent rupture of the bonds of integration and social cohesion.

47. Furthermore, when media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload. Efforts need to be made to help these media become sources of new cultural progress for humanity and not a threat to our deepest riches. True wisdom, as the fruit of self-examination, dialogue and generous encounter between persons, is not acquired by a mere accumulation of data which eventually leads to overload and confusion, a sort of mental pollution. Real relationships with others, with all the challenges they entail, now tend to be replaced by a type of internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim, thus giving rise to a new type of contrived emotion which has more to do with devices and displays than with other people and with nature. Today's media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections. Yet at times they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences. For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.

If Rome wants to look one of the major contributors to all of the above in the face, she can look in a mirror. Her policies of the past have drained virtually all nations she has become predominant within, always ending in a two class society, the clergy and laity, and the elites and peasants. Both of the latter completely dependent upon the former. Her present lefty progressive political aspirations and relations are conducive to the same. The increased decline in quality of life, and societal breakdown are in direct correlation to her ever rising political power and influence the world over.

She is presently in bed with various elites of the world, pushing mass migration, wealth, natural resources, and job redistribution. Increasing the financial burdens of successful self governed peoples and nations through mass migration, while also redistributing their wealth, natural resources, and jobs to less productive more elitist societies or governments. This without changing their failing systems which will therefore require indefinite support from the once successful nations which are now in a downward spiral due to the same. The eventual result of which will be a global two class society of elites and peasants. The society she has always favored and fostered.

All of these efforts themselves transforming once self governed peoples and nations into peasant dependent societies as well, as she manipulates their politicians and politics to bypass the will and power of the people in subjugation to her own judgment and policies. Thus does anti-christ go about preaching love and good will in the name of Christ as his whore of a church destroys freedom, liberty, and prosperity for all but herself and her lovers.


The following is from -
THE PRACTICE OF PRELATES by William Tyndale
Martyred in 1536
Library of The Theological Seminary
PRINCETON  NEW JERSEY
PRESENTED BY
Samuel Agnew, Esq.
1814-1880

QuoteMarch 26, 1851

A proper similitude to describe our holy Father

And to see how our holy father came up, mark the ensample of the ivy tree: first it springeth out of the earth, and then awhile creepeth along by the ground till it find a great tree. Then it joineth itself beneath alow unto the body of the tree, and creepeth up a little and a little, fair and softly. And at the beginning, while it is yet thin and small, that the burden is not perceived, it seemeth glorious to garnish the tree in winter, and to bear off the tempests of the weather. But in the mean season it thrusteth roots into the bark of the tree, to hold fast withal; and ceaseth not to climb up, till it be at the top and above all. And then it sendeth his branches along by the branches of the tree, and overgroweth all, and waxeth great, heavy, and thick; and sucketh the moisture so sore out of the tree and his branches, that it choaketh and stifleth them. And then the foul stinking ivy waxeth mighty in the stump of the tree, and becometh a seat and a nest for all unclean birds, and for blind owls, which hawk in the dark, and dare not come at the light.

Even so the bishop of Rome, now called the pope, at the beginning crope along the earth; and every man trod upon him in this world. But as soon as there came a christian emperor, he joined himself unto his feet and kissed them, and crope up a little with begging now this privilege, now that; now this city, now that; to find poor people withal, and the necessary ministers of God's word. And he entitled the emperor with choosing the popes and other bishops; and promoted in the spiritualty, not whom virtue and learning, but whom the favor of great men commended; to flatter, to get friends, and defenders withal. And the alms of the congregation which was the food and the patrimony of the poor and necessary preachers, that he called St Peter's patrimony, St Peter's rent, St Peter's lands, St Peter's right; to cast a vain fear and a heathenish superstitiousness into the hearts of men, that no man should dare meddle with whatsoever came once into their hands for fear of St Peter, though they ministered it never so evil; and that they which should think it none alms to give them any more (because they had to much already) should yet give St Peter somewhat, (as Nabuchodonesser gave his god Beel) to purchase an advocate and an intercessor of St Peter, and that St Peter should at the first knock let them in. And thus, with flattering and feigning, and vain superstition, under the name of St Peter, he crept up and fastened his roots in the heart of the emperor, and with his sword clamb up above all his fellow bishops, and brought them under his feet. And as he subdued them with the emperors sword, even so by subtilty and help of them (after that they were sworn faithful) he clamb above the emperor, and subdued him also, and made him stoop unto his feet and kiss them another while. Yea, pope Caelestinus crowned the emperor Henry the fifth, holding the crown between his feet: and when he had put the crown on, he smote it off with his feet again, saying, that he had might to make emperors and to put them down again.

And he made a constitution, that no layman should meddle with their matters, nor be in their councils, or whit what they did; and that the pope only should call the council, and the emperor should but defend the pope; provided alway that the council should be in one of the pope's towns, and where the pope's power was greater than the emperor's. Then, under the pretence of condemning some heresy, he called a general council, where he made one patriarch, another cardinal, another legate, another primate, another archbishop, another bishop, another dean, another arch dean, and so forth, as we now see.

And as the pope played with the emperor, so did his branches and his members, the bishops, play in every kingdom, dukedom, and lordship; insomuch that the very hiers of them by whom they came up, hold now their lands of them, and take them for their chief lords. And as the emperor is sworn to the pope, even so every king is sworn to the bishops and prelates of his realm: and they are the chiefest in all parliaments; yea, they and their money, and they that be sworn to them, and come up by them, rule altogether.

And thus the pope, the father of all hypocrites, hath with falsehood and guile perverted the order of the world, and turned the roots of the trees upward, and hath put down the kingdom of Christ, and set up the kingdom of the devil, whose vicar he is; and hath put down the ministers of Christ, and hath set up the ministers of Satan, disguised yet in names and garments like unto the angels of light and ministers of righteousness. For Christ's kingdom is not of the world (John XVIII); and the popes kingdom is all the world.

And Christ is neither judge nor divider in this world (Luke XII): but the pope judgeth and divideth all the world, and taketh the empire and all kingdoms, and giveth them to whom he lusteth.

Christ saith, "Blessed are the poor in spirit:" so that the first step into the kingdom is humbleness, or humility; that thou canst find in thine heart to do service unto all men, and to suffer that all men tread thee.

The pope saith, 'Blessed be the proud and high minded, that can climb and subdue all under them, and maintain their right, and such as will suffer no man:' so that he which was yesterday taken from the dunghill and promoted this day by his prince, shall to-morrow, for the pope's pleasure, curse him, and excommunicate him, and interdict his realm.

Christ saith, "Blessed by the meek," or soft, that be harmless as doves.

The pope blesseth them that can set all the world together by the ears, and fight, and slay manfully for his sake, that he may come hot from blood-shedding to a bishoprick; as our cardinal did, and as St Thomas of Canterbury did, which was made bishop in the field, in complete harness on his horseback, and his spear bloody in his hand.

Christ hath neither holes for foxes, nor nests for birds, nor yet whereon to lay his head, nor promised aught in this world unto his disciples, nor took any to his disciple but him that had forsaken all. The ivy-tree, the pope, hath under his roots throughout all Christendom, in every village, holes for foxes, and nests for unclean birds in all his branches, and promiseth unto his disciples all the promotions of the world.

The nearer unto Christ a man cometh, the lower he must descend, and the poorer he must wax. But the nearer unto the pope ye come, the higher ye must climb, and the more riches ye must gather, whencesoever ye can get them, to pay for your bulls, and to purchase a glorious name, and license to wear a mitre, and a cross, and a pall, and goodly ornaments.

This same process described above is and has been going on again in this world for quite some time now, that is ever since the papacy fell from power in 1798 till the present as it has been busy reestablishing the same. Politics, politicians, and forms of government may have changed since the papacies first establishment, but her process of regaining her lost power is much the same as that described by William Tyndale above. As the papacy destroyed him, and all other truly biblical Christians when she had the power to do so, so she will again in the future when she regains all that she had lost with the help of her confederates. This process is not only well under way, but we are living during the final stages of the papacies resurrection as the woman riding yet another beast power, the final global one. The beast that was, and is not, is about to be again. The beast that received a mortal wound to the head, is almost completely healed.

 

Amo

Continued from reply #125

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Entire Encyclical quoted and commented upon below may be viewed at link above.

Excerpts from - ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI'
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME (All emphasis is mine, my comments in blue)

QuoteV. GLOBAL INEQUALITY
48. The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet: "Both everyday experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest".[26] For example, the depletion of fishing reserves especially hurts small fishing communities without the means to replace those resources; water pollution particularly affects the poor who cannot buy bottled water; and rises in the sea level mainly affect impoverished coastal populations who have nowhere else to go. The impact of present imbalances is also seen in the premature death of many of the poor, in conflicts sparked by the shortage of resources, and in any number of other problems which are insufficiently represented on global agendas.[27]

49. It needs to be said that, generally speaking, there is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which especially affect the excluded. Yet they are the majority of the planet's population, billions of people. These days, they are mentioned in international political and economic discussions, but one often has the impression that their problems are brought up as an afterthought, a question which gets added almost out of duty or in a tangential way, if not treated merely as collateral damage. Indeed, when all is said and done, they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile. This is due partly to the fact that many professionals, opinion makers, communications media and centres of power, being located in affluent urban areas, are far removed from the poor, with little direct contact with their problems. They live and reason from the comfortable position of a high level of development and a quality of life well beyond the reach of the majority of the world's population. This lack of physical contact and encounter, encouraged at times by the disintegration of our cities, can lead to a numbing of conscience and to tendentious analyses which neglect parts of reality. At times this attitude exists side by side with a "green" rhetoric. Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

50. Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate. At times, developing countries face forms of international pressure which make economic assistance contingent on certain policies of "reproductive health". Yet "while it is true that an unequal distribution of the population and of available resources creates obstacles to development and a sustainable use of the environment, it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development".[28] To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues. It is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption. Besides, we know that approximately a third of all food produced is discarded, and "whenever food is thrown out it is as if it were stolen from the table of the poor".[29] Still, attention needs to be paid to imbalances in population density, on both national and global levels, since a rise in consumption would lead to complex regional situations, as a result of the interplay between problems linked to environmental pollution, transport, waste treatment, loss of resources and quality of life.

Population growth must certainly be considered where there is already not enough food, jobs, or natural resources to go around. Or, where governing bodies are either to corrupt or incompetent to provide such for their people.  Parents who already cannot feed their children, shouldn't have more children. While such irresponsible actions and or behavior certainly can be offset with integral shared development including wealth redistribution from more responsible and or successful governments and peoples, enabling failed governments and peoples through the same will only spread such conditions, not cure them. Nor is it the right of the Pope or any other self appointed elitist unelected globalist official to lord themsleves over any peoples and nations in redistributing their wealth without their consent. Fix what is broken, don't break everything trying to sustain what is broken.

The message of this document is plain and simple, Popery wants control of all wealth, natural resources, industry, government, and peoples to distribute them as she wishes. Her minions are already implementing the same wherever and whenever possible through politicians following her globalist dominion lead. She is not just telling the world what she wants in this present document, she is telling us what she has been and is busy implementing right now. Therefore do we see the redistribution of peoples, wealth, natural resources, and governmental powers going on all over the world. Mass migration is a key factor in all of this. Her politicians have been facilitating the redistribution of the wealth of this nation for quite some time now by moving our jobs and companies over seas or creating conditions which make it more profitable for them to do so, straight up giving countless billions to other countries who even hate us, implementing the welfare state, calling for open borders and facilitating mass migration regardless, and taking billions of dollars of tax payers money from us herself, just to mention a few methods she has been implementing in draining the life blood out of our nation. All her policies enrich herself and the elites she is always in bed with, while ruining nations and subjugating the peoples of the same to her and her elitist lovers.

Mk 14:6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, said the poor will always be with us. He said we may do them good whenever we wish. In other places He admonished all to do them good. He never though, even hinted at forcing all to do them good through government enforced redistribution of wealth. No doubt the King of kings and Lord of lords, had good reasons for not suggesting any such thing.

I can think of one good reason. Many are poor because of individual poor decisions and or practice. Drugs and alcohol come to mind as among the more extreme examples of such. There are many other less extreme causes of individual poverty though, the remedy of which lies with the decisions and or practice of said individual, not charity from others around them. To continually give such individuals charity without facilitating a change in their poverty producing decision making or actions, is simply to enable their poor decisions, actions, and poverty. They will continue to be a constant drain upon those providing the charity. As is obvious, if the number of those needing charity continually increases, while those not needing it are forced to supply that ever increasing need, eventually all will need charity and there will be none to supply it.

This same scenario can be and is played out on national levels as well. Failing systems of government which are continually needing to be bailed out by successful systems of government, will eventually drag the latter down if they are forced to provide for such without facilitating the change necessary in said failing government to prevent poverty producing leadership. This is not even to address the issue of taking the prophets of successful peoples and nations and redistributing them with or without the consent of said people.

This nation has been in a downward spiral of ever increasing debt for decades now. In many places we have failing infrastructure. The level of poverty and homelessness in the cities of many states is reaching third world proportions. While we are falling apart within, our wealth based upon trillions of dollars of debt apparently, continues to be redistributed by Rome and her lefty progressive minions. At the same time Rome and her minions continue to facilitate illegal immigration of millions of poverty stricken from other failing nations who need all kinds of help. How long do they think this can go on? Are they not purposely pushing unsustainable wealth draining policies upon us in order to collapse the present system, that they might implement their own at such a time? Whether the system collapses as is or not, their mission will and is being accomplished. They are already dismantling the system that was and replacing with their own through their political minions within. If the system crashes they are ready to replace it, if not, then they successfully changed it into their own from within.

So be it. Let the system of anti-christ and BABYLON THE GREAT,  spread poverty and destruction around the world while proclaiming to be angels of light. Come Lord Jesus.

2 Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

The Lord Jesus Christ never commissioned His own to politically bring about global equality. He commissioned them to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ unto salvation. They are to prepare a people to meet their God face to face, not bring about global equality on this planet of sin and deception which God has declared He will destroy. Nor is Rome's vision really about global equality accept among the peasants of the two class society she fully supports and ever seeks to establish. She and her elitist government allies will be far above the rest of us, controlling every aspect of our lives. The Dark Ages all over again on a global scale.

The Catholic politicians of our land who submit to and seek to establish Roman Catholic social doctrine and teaching within the same, and the lefty progressive minions who go along with them, want to tare down the borders of these United States of America. This according to the globalist mindset of Rome and her minions, allowing for countless citizens of the predominantly Catholic failing nations to our south, to enter into our nation and reap what benefits remain of our once productive and successful nation. They bring their failed political ideologies with them. Thus does Rome intend to destroy this once productive and successful nation built upon Protestant and biblical principles of freedom and liberty. A nation once blessed by personally responsible and productive peoples inspired by the superior morality promulgated in the Holy scriptures.

A deadly threefold union between resurrected political Popery, Secular Humanism and or Atheism, and Apostate Protestantism mingling with the same, is dragging this nation down rapidly. Biblical principles of morality and the freedoms and prosperity this nation once proved go along with the same, are disappearing right before our eyes. The blessings this world and nation once received by the enlightenment of Holy scripture facilitated by the Protestant Reformation, are on the way out. The dark ages facilitated by the removal of the Holy scriptures from the people by BABYLON THE GREAT, is on the way back in on a global scale. It is Babylon and the three unclean spirits of the book of Revelation that gather together the kings of the earth in rebellion against and the battle of Armageddon. So be it. Rise again Babylon, and ride your global beast, it will be the last beast you ever ride.


Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.  

Rev 17:1And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee 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 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.


https://www.7continentslist.com/vatican-city-the-smallest-country-by-land-and-population.php

Vatican City, the Smallest Country by Land and Population

Whether you are a student of geography or not, peeping deeper into the strange secrets of the world and its geopolitical divisions must always be of some interest to you as is the case with others living in this global village. The purpose of writing this article is to add to your knowledge about a sovereign state in the world, which is considered to be the smallest with regards to its population as well as land area Vatican City. This landlocked country shares its borders, from all sides, with the city of Rome in Italy, which in turn is a unitary parliamentary republic in Southern Europe. Run by the absolute monarchy type of government, the area of this sovereign state is extremely small, measuring even less than half a square kilometer (0.44 square kilometer). If you want to acquaint yourself with some of the very strange Vatican City facts, just go through the following list of facts and figures:

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Rev 18:1And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Amo

#127
https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2019/07/25/jesuit-magazine-makes-catholic-case-for-communism/

QuoteJesuit Magazine Makes 'Catholic Case for Communism'

The Jesuit flagship publication in the United States, America magazine, has published an article defending Marxism and comparing the murderous, atheist ideology to Christianity.

In "The Catholic Case for Communism," America writer Dean Dettloff says that the militant atheism of Marxist politics is "understandable" because "Christianity has so often been a force allied to the ruling powers that exploit the poor."

As a number of prospective presidential candidates from the Democrat party are openly donning the mantle of socialism, America took the issue one step further, suggesting that the negative reaction to "Bernie Sanders's inspiring 2016 primary bid and the electoral success of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib" represents a "revival of socialist hysteria."

Dettloff showcases Marxist priests "like Herbert McCabe, O.P., Ernesto and Fernando Cardenal, S.J., Frei Betto, O.P., Camilo Torres" who "have been inspired by communists and in many places contributed to communist and communist-influenced movements as members," as if the corruption of Catholic clergy were grounds for supporting Marxism.

"Many of my friends in the Party for Socialism and Liberation, for example, a Marxist-Leninist party, are churchgoing Christians or folks without a grudge against their Christian upbringing," Dettloff declares, "as are lots of people in the radical wing of the Democratic Socialists of America."

The writer then describes Christianity as just another ideological "faction" alongside other factions, such as communism.

"The history of communism, whatever else it might be, will always contain a history of Christianity, and vice versa, whether members of either faction like it or not," he proposes.

Citing Marxist arguments, Dettloff makes the bizarre claim that the ownership of private property necessarily leads to slavery, since property owners come to see other people as just another form of property to be owned.

Capitalism emerged through "the privatization of what was once public, like shared land," Dettloff declares, paraphrasing Marx. "As time went on, human beings themselves would become the private property of other human beings."

Communists, on the other hand, are loving people concerned above all for the good of the poor, even if they have occasionally strayed from their pure roots, he suggests.

"Communism has provided one of the few sustainable oppositions to capitalism, a global political order responsible for the ongoing suffering of millions," Dettloff states.

"Communism in its socio-political expression has at times caused great human and ecological suffering," Dettloff concedes, but any "good communist is quick to admit as much," he adds, because "communism is an unfinished project that depends on the recognition of its real and tragic mistakes."

Mr. Dettloff evidently believes that over 100 million deaths in the 20th century can be reduced to "great human and ecological suffering" caused by the Marxist ideology being an "unfinished project."

One would be tempted to suggest that if Marxism were a "finished" project, the deaths would be many times greater.

Dettloff goes so far as to parallel Marx's The Communist Manifesto to Catholic teaching on the nature of private property.

Although the Catholic Church "officially" teaches that private property is a natural right, Dettloff writes, "this teaching also comes with the proviso that private property is always subordinate to the common good."

In what has been called the "Magna Carta" of Catholic social thought, Pope Leo XIII wrote something a trifle different in his 1891 encyclical letter Rerum Novarum.

The socialists, Leo wrote, "working on the poor man's envy of the rich, are striving to do away with private property, and contend that individual possessions should become the common property of all, to be administered by the State or by municipal bodies."

Their proposals are, however, "emphatically unjust," Leo wrote, "for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community."

"Socialists, therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large, strike at the interests of every wage-earner, since they would deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and of bettering his condition in life," Leo wrote.

The remedy to injustice proposed by the socialists is "manifestly against justice," he continued, since "every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own."

The Jesuits' decision to publish a radical article of this sort suggests that they believe public opinion is warming toward communism. America's editors have floated a weather balloon to see how Americans react to communism 2.0.

In so doing, the Jesuits have likely overplayed their hand. Even in the age of Francis, too many people remember that communism has been one of the most destructive and murderous ideologies in the history of humanity. A century of unspeakable terror, tortures, and massacres is difficult to forget.

Roman politics are of course extremely flexible, and can be and are adjusted as necessary toward their final goal, world domination.

Amo

#128
https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2019/07/21/pope-francis-may-just-hit-it-off-with-new-eu-leader/

All emphasis in quoted article below from link above is mine.

QuotePope Francis may just hit it off with new EU leader

ROME - For sure, German politician Ursula von der Leyen isn't exactly taking office as the first female leader of the European Union under the best of circumstances.

To tick off just a few less-than-auspicious realities, the UK is about to name a prime minister determined to exit the EU even without a formal agreement, the new European parliament contains a record share of Euro-skeptics, and her six-year tenure as Germany's defense minister is under a cloud due to allegations of improperly awarding bids to outside contractors.

Moreover, von der Leyen only won the job last Tuesday by nine votes out of 733 cast, in part because of objections over how she became a contender in the first place.

In advance of the 2019 race, European politicians of all stripes vowed their next leader would be one of the Spitzenkandidaten, meaning the candidate declared publicly by each of the major parties. Instead, von der Leyen is a classic product of a backroom deal. A protégé of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and never among the declared candidates for the job, her selection was a product of a deal worked out behind closed doors between Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron and then endorsed by their allies in the European parliament.

Nigel Farage, the hardline anti-EU British politician who led his Brexit party to a first-place finish in the UK's European elections in May, sniffed on twitter after Tuesday's vote that von der Leyen has "power but no legitimacy."

Granted, Farage has ideological reasons for being dismissive, but few people seem to regard the result as meaning much. Here's how "Time" summed it up, under the heading of "One Thing to Say about It at a Dinner Party":

"Ursula von der Leyen is more of the same. That's not what a waning Europe actually needs right now... but it's what it can get. She's not going to move Europe forward, but she won't let it fall apart, either."

Yet however she got there, von der Leyen is now the closest thing Europe has to a commander-in-chief. A pope, meanwhile, is the closest thing Europe has to a chaplain, so one important question for anyone interested in the future of the Old Continent is whether these two figures can hit it off - and, as it turns out, there's considerable reason to believe the answer is "yes."

Born in Brussels to a European civil servant father, von der Leyen is of German and British-American descent. (On her mother's side, her roots are in South Carolina and her ancestors include several governors of the Carolinas). Her family is traditionally Lutheran, though there's no reason to believe von der Leyen personally is especially religious.

Yet because von der Leyen comes from Germany's Christian Democratic Union, which historically is the successor of the Catholic Centre Party, she's not anti-religious either. When it comes to the issues, there are several reasons to believe she'll see Francis as an ally.

To begin, von der Leyen, like her mentor Merkel, is basically pro-immigrant. As Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in Germany, she supported lowering barriers for foreign workers. In the program she outlined ahead of last Tuesday's vote, she indicated that she supports reforms in the EU's "Dublin rules" requiring refugees and asylum-seekers to make their applications in the country where they arrived, potentially sharing the burden of welcoming new arrivals more equitably.

Her selection, therefore, is a further indication that despite the right-wing populist and nationalist tide coursing through European politics, the Old Continent hasn't completely rejected what Francis likes to call a "culture of welcome."

For another thing, von der Leyen is pro-family. When she was Germany's Minister for Family Affairs in 2007 under Merkel, she pioneered a plan to raise the country's dismally low birth rates by expanding government support for family leave.

Under the plan, the federal government pays mothers or fathers two-thirds of their last net paycheck (up to $2,360) for 12 months as long as they stay at home to take care of the baby. If the other parent takes an additional two months off to care for the child, the government heaps two more months of pay on top. Von der Leyen also pushed for expanded public funding for day care centers for working parents.

Despite opposition from conservatives who objected to the price tag, her initiatives won Catholic support. Joachim Meyer, at the time the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics, said of the backlash: "With that kind of politics Germany does its families no justice, and dramatically endangers its own future."

Certainly for a pope who called two synods of bishops on the family, who's called the family "the foundation of co-existence and a remedy against social fragmentation," such attitudes likely will seem congenial.

Finally, von der Leyen is also pro-environment, committing herself in her programmatic speech to making Europe carbon-neutral by 2050 and to creating a European investment bank to fund sustainable "green" projects across the continent. For the pope of Laudato si', all that has to be music to the ears.

For bonus points, Francis repeatedly has advocated greater empowerment of women, and the fact von der Leyen is the first woman ever to become Europe's leader ought to be something he applauds.

Granted, there may be flash points too. In Germany, for instance, von der Leyen backed adoption rights for gay couples, while Francis has opposed such measures. However, there's no reason to believe such differences are unmanageable.

In von der Leyen, in other words, Francis would seem to have a European leader with whom he can do business. Whether that business eventually will turn a political profit, however, is anyone's guess.

Follow John Allen on Twitter: @JohnLAllenJr

Surprise surprise, Catholic minions put lefty progressive papal puppet in place of outgoing papal puppet Angela Merkel's position as EU leader in backroom closed door politics. The new leader and Merkel both being members of "Germany's Christian Democratic Union, which historically is the successor of the Catholic Centre Party". Now the forced mass immigration upon Europe can continue, and the new papal puppet can continue to force the Pope's globalist climate change politics upon Europeans as well. Behold, what BABYLON THE GREAT, has, can, and does do when her unelected officials and politicians cease control. The will of the people becomes history under Rome's leadership, while she breaks up and destroys their power by dividing, displacing, and bankrupting them through mass migration and the redistribution of their wealth unto her own ends, wealth, and power. Rise BABYLON, and raise your minions along with you, it must be so before the Lord of Glory humbles and destroys you in the sight of all humanity. When those also whom you have deceived will turn on you and contribute to your destruction.

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee 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 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

18 :1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. 21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Amo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q4pQkNUwlY

Catholic puppet and minion Macron, continues to put globalist papal politics into place. While they are busy trying to disarm citizens of all nations, arming and building up an EU army to help force their globalist agenda upon all is certainly not off the table. 

Amo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpxAIYrtGLw

Good rebuff of climate change and the politics attached. Rome and her minions methods of subjugation.

Amo

Continued from reply #126

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Entire Encyclical quoted and commented upon below may be viewed at link above.

Excerpts from - ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI'
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME (All emphasis is mine, my comments in blue)

51. Inequity affects not only individuals but entire countries; it compels us to consider an ethics of international relations. A true "ecological debt" exists, particularly between the global north and south, connected to commercial imbalances with effects on the environment, and the disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over long periods of time. The export of raw materials to satisfy markets in the industrialized north has caused harm locally, as for example in mercury pollution in gold mining or sulphur dioxide pollution in copper mining. There is a pressing need to calculate the use of environmental space throughout the world for depositing gas residues which have been accumulating for two centuries and have created a situation which currently affects all the countries of the world. The warming caused by huge consumption on the part of some rich countries has repercussions on the poorest areas of the world, especially Africa, where a rise in temperature, together with drought, has proved devastating for farming. There is also the damage caused by the export of solid waste and toxic liquids to developing countries, and by the pollution produced by companies which operate in less developed countries in ways they could never do at home, in the countries in which they raise their capital: "We note that often the businesses which operate this way are multinationals. They do here what they would never do in developed countries or the so-called first world. Generally, after ceasing their activity and withdrawing, they leave behind great human and environmental liabilities such as unemployment, abandoned towns, the depletion of natural reserves, deforestation, the impoverishment of agriculture and local stock breeding, open pits, riven hills, polluted rivers and a handful of social works which are no longer sustainable".[30]

While the above addresses some negative specifics that certainly should be corrected, it is basically a complaint against governments and peoples which are more successful than their neighbors. As admitted above, those guilty of taking advantage of less developed countries, are practicing things they would not be allowed to practice in their own countries. Why are they not only allowed to do so in these developing countries, but are apparently aided in doing so by the governments of the same? The problem here is not so one sided as presented. Nor does an elitist unelected self proclaimed globalist leader, have a right to pronounce a debt upon all the citizens of successful nations the vast majority of whom have no idea what this or that company from their nation has been doing in other nations. Let alone approved of such.

The solution to this problem is not pronouncing a debt and demanding payment from the people of said nations, but rather going after the people responsible for said abuse. Which would be the companies involved, and the politicians of said developing countries who allowed said companies to abuse their own no doubt, for personal gain. Raise the standard in developing countries to combat this problem, don't throw the debt and cost of fixing it upon the citizens of the nation a particular company comes from, who had no idea and in no way shape or form approved of what that company did. Go after the corrupt politicians and companies perpetrating these abuses, not the citizens of entire nations just for being more successful and productive than their neighbors. Of course it is easier for the papacy to blame entire nations, than the corrupt elitists and politicians she continuously rubs shoulders with.

As usual, the papacies solution to problems is to stifle productivity and progress she does not have control over. This is about power and control, not inequity or equality. If it was truly about inequity or equality then the papacy would be trying to raise standards in the developing nations, not lower them in developed ones. It is about power and control, therefore does she seek to cast a debt upon developed nations. To remove their wealth, freedom of mobility or travel, and just plain progress in general from all but the elites such as herself. In this manner they may be transformed into nations more like the predominantly Catholic ones to our south. While she is encouraging the Catholic politicians of our nation and their lefty minions to bring about her social justice demands, she is also facilitating mass migration of citizens from these same failing nations to our south into our nation to increase our financial crisis and bring us down to her vision of a global two class society. The elites whom she is in bed with, and the peasants whom she pretends to care about but really creates that she may be exalted above the same. Her politics are just like her religion, the success of both creates the clergy and nobility, and the laity and peasantry. All of the latter subservient to the former of course, and dependent upon the same.

This is not to mention the fact that no doubt the Vatican itself has had a great deal to do with establishing international companies for the purpose of redistributing the wealth of developed nations. Without question, the ever increasing number of Catholic politicians inhabiting our government have contributed greatly to producing conditions which made moving jobs to other countries increasingly desirable for the sake of profit. They could pay less in taxes, not be as bogged down with countless laws, rule, and regs, and pay employees less for their services while offering less benefits. If you yourself are a main proponent of, and continually foster and promote wealth redistribution through Catholic and or lefty progressive minions, then you yourself are responsible for the negative results of such endeavors. Man up, take responsibility for your own actions. Stop blaming and trying to get tax paying citizens of successful nations to pay for the wrong doing of corrupt politicians, powerful executives, and elitists of the same, whom you regularly rub shoulders with and influence. No citizens anywhere elected you to politically represent them, or implement your social justice upon all through the manipulation of their elected officials. You are a self appointed unelected usurper, exalting yourself above the will of the people of various nations. Stop intruding upon their political processes with the intention of manipulating their governments, businesses, wealth, natural resources, and very lives according to your own global agenda with or without their consent. There will be hell to pay in the end.

Rev 18:And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

Amo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzCMHL1wElI

The above video addresses the hypocrisy of the green deal pushers, and the reality that it is all about a power grab. The subjugation of the peasants of a two class society they wish to help bring in through the climate agenda. Us peasants will have to give up all, while the elites continue their fossil fueled and other liberties, which they wish to transform into privileges which only they have. Make no mistake about it, this is not as much about saving the planet, as it is about subjugating the masses once again to a privileged elite as in the Dark Ages. So does the Roman church itself a relic of the Dark Ages, fully support all efforts at reestablishing the same.

Amo

The Pope, Climate Change, and children.

Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury urge 'drastic measures' on climate change

https://www.edie.net/news/9/Pope--Archbishop-of-Canterbury--urge--drastic-measures--on-climate-change/

Pope Francis declares 'climate emergency' and urges action

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/14/pope-francis-declares-climate-emergency-and-urges-action

Teenage climate activist meets the Pope after scolding EU leaders on climate change

https://kdvr.com/2019/04/27/teenage-climate-activist-meets-the-pope-after-scolding-eu-leaders-on-climate-change/

Preaching to the converted: Swedish teen climate activist gets pope's blessing

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-youth-greta-pope-idUSKCN1RT1B9

Notre Dame president co-signs climate change accords with energy and investor executives at Vatican summit

https://news.nd.edu/news/vatican-and-notre-dame-co-sign-climate-change-accords-with-energy-and-finance-executives/

Pope Francis took the climate crisis to those who can fix it: oil and gas execs

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/392943-pope-francis-took-the-climate-crisis-to-those-that-can-fix-it-oil

The pope is having none of Trump's DACA-ending, climate change-denying nonsense

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/pope-none-daca-ending-climate-change-denying-nonsense/

A Rising Generation Asserts Itself On Climate Change

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/20/761916356/global-youth-climate-strike-expected-to-draw-large-crowds

Pope warns oil bosses of climate threat

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48641799

Protesting Climate Change, Young People Take to Streets in a Global Strike

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/climate/global-climate-strike.html

Climate change: Children are carving out a place in politics, now adults must listen and act

https://phys.org/news/2019-09-climate-children-politics-adults.html

Millions hit the streets for global climate change strike - live updates

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/global-climate-change-strike-protests-today-2019-09-20-live-updates/

Scaring the children on climate is cruel, cynical, and dangerous

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/scaring_the_children_on_climate_is_cruel_cynical_and_dangerous.html

Pope urges politicians to take 'drastic measures' on climate change

https://news.yahoo.com/pope-urges-politicians-drastic-measures-103550652.html

Africa: Pope Francis Launches Trip to Three African Nations Affected By Climate Change

https://allafrica.com/stories/201909050005.html

Students Demand Change In Vast Global Climate Strike

https://www.ibtimes.com/students-demand-change-vast-global-climate-strike-2829706

Pope Francis issues new call for world leaders to act on the climate emergency

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/09/01/pope-francis-issues-new-call-world-leaders-act-climate-emergency

Pope Francis claims climate in state of 'emergency', asks world to 'abandon' fossil fuels

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-claims-climate-in-state-of-emergency-asks-world-to-abandon-fossil-fuels

Change life to combat climate crisis, say bishops

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12010/change-life-to-combat-climate-crisis-say-bishops

Pope to oil companies: Climate crisis threatens humanity's future, I'm not exaggerating

https://www.romereports.com/en/2019/06/14/pope-to-oil-companies-climate-crisis-threatens-humanitys-future-im-not-exaggerating/

Pope backs carbon pricing to stem global warming and appeals to deniers

https://in.reuters.com/article/oil-vatican-conference-idINKCN1TF1KA

Pope Francesco Bergoglio addresses climate emergency

https://www.eturbonews.com/255445/pope-francesco-bergoglio-addresses-climate-emergency/

Pope Francis Calls For 'Radical Energy Transition' To Stem Global Warming

https://www.eurasiareview.com/17062019-pope-francis-calls-for-radical-energy-transition-to-stem-global-warming/

Pope Francis: Mitigate global warming and spare further injustice to poor

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2019/06/14/pope-francis-mitigate-global-warming-and-spare-further-injustice-poor

'Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with disdain': Pope Francis calls carbon pricing 'essential'

https://vancouversun.com/news/world/pope-calls-carbon-pricing-essential-and-calls-for-action/wcm/f7ae25d7-d9e2-4e41-b59c-6246c32c9b28

Repent, convert, pray, give up fossil fuels, pope says

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/09/01/repent-convert-pray-give-up-fossil-fuels-pope-says/

Young People Lead Millions To Protest Global Inaction On Climate Change

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/20/762629200/mass-protests-in-australia-kick-off-global-climate-strike-ahead-of-u-n-summit

Surprise, surprise, the Vatican and lefty progressive Climate Changers use the youth they have indoctrinated in our public school systems to support their political agenda. At least many of these youth are vowing not to have children, and therefore will not pass their brain washed ignorance to another generation. Nevertheless, these children will soon be adults, unless they are educated they will most certainly politically support the Vatican and their lefty progressive minions.

Amo

#134
QuoteNolte: Climate 'Experts' Are 0-41 with Their Doomsday Predictions

For more than 50 years Climate Alarmists in the scientific community and environmental movement have not gotten even one prediction correct, but they do have a perfect record of getting 41 predictions wrong...................................

It seems evolutionists and climate alarmists have something in common. They are wrong so very very often, but are so very very confident that they are right all along their wrong marry way. You have no stinking idea how things work. Arrogant sinners learn a little about the environment of the few dimensions God has limited them to, then they deny His testimony regarding them, and create their own false projections of the past and future according to their own puffed up extremely limited and faulty understanding. Placing their faith in "Scientists" so called, who continually prove even themselves wrong over and over again, and yet have undaunted faith in their own speculations and expect and even demand that others do as well.

Joined by a growing number of the false religions of this world who also reject the testimony of God's word, they ever increasingly seek political justification and enforcement of policies based upon their arrogant speculations. Eventually in doing so they will form the final beast of biblical prophecy in defiance of God's word and authority. Which beast power will castigate and eventually persecute all who will not submit to the usurped authority of these arrogant sinners in defiance of the God of heaven and earth. Shortly after which time they will experience the second mass extinction event upon this world, at the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Having rejected the testimony of God's word concerning the first mass extinction event on earth brought about by His judgment upon arrogant evil sinners, they reproduce the same conditions of fallen human pride and arrogance leading to another final judgment and extinction of created being who reject the authority of their creator and sustainer.

2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, but desires that all would repent and submit to the truth of His testimony and authority of the same. They will not repent though. They will continue to place faith in their own faulty speculations and understanding over and above God's word, and create their own abusive authority over others accordingly.

Rev 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. 8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. 12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Go to, gather together your armies through fear mongering politics based upon the "Science" of arrogant self deluded fallen humanity in defiance of the plain testimony of God's word. The Devil knows and understands that God's word is sure, therefore he knows global warming is on the way. Therefore has he raised up a final delusion based upon fallen humanities faith in their own selves. Never mind what God's word has said, He is not responsible for the global warming to come, humanity is. Therefore humanity must also save itself from the same through massive government controlling every aspect of human life and conscience. It is all a lie. Humanity has not caused the global warming to come through industry or technology, they have and will cause it by the rejection of the testimony of God's word. Nor can they save themselves from what is to come through political action addressing the lies which they have chosen over and above God's testimony. Faith in that very testimony alone will save anyone, because it is the Word of God alone who can save anyone.

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Seek salvation where alone it can be found. Abandon faith in the arrogant claims of fallen humanities "Science", in conjunction with the false religions and political systems of this world. Place your faith in Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Fallen humanity will not destroy or save this world. God destroyed it once before, and almost all of fallen humanity perished then because they would not accept the salvation God had provided. He has declared that He will destroy it again, and that salvation is in His Son Christ Jesus alone. Do not reject God's testimony through His Son as the world did in the days of Noah. Do not be deceived by those who reject the testimony of God's word concerning this world's first destruction by flood, and now submit to those who claim we are going to destroy this world unless we do what they say. Submit to the sure testimony of God found in the holy scriptures. This world will not be saved from the destruction to come, but all within it who will submit themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved out of it to inhabit the new heaven and new earth promised in the holy scriptures.

Luk 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Do not listen to the Pope of Rome and his minions, they will not save anyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7hb1zYqZ-k

Pope Francis And the UN - RE-EDUCATING THE MASSES

Submit to and obey God's Word, not the globalist leader of "Scientists", false religions, and unelected elitist leaders seeking to establish their own authority above all others, including God's.

Amo

https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2019/03/05/vatican-urges-religions-to-back-u-n-s-sustainable-development-goals/

Vatican Urges Religions to Back U.N.'s 'Sustainable Development Goals'

Hmmm. Sounds familiar, religion or church and state uniting with global political power to enforce a global agenda. Where have I heard of something like that before?

Amo

#136
Continued from reply #131

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Entire Encyclical quoted and commented upon below may be viewed at link above.

Excerpts from - ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI'
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME (All emphasis is mine, my comments in blue)

Quote52. The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned. In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future. The land of the southern poor is rich and mostly unpolluted, yet access to ownership of goods and resources for meeting vital needs is inhibited by a system of commercial relations and ownership which is structurally perverse. The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development. The poorest areas and countries are less capable of adopting new models for reducing environmental impact because they lack the wherewithal to develop the necessary processes and to cover their costs. We must continue to be aware that, regarding climate change, there are differentiated responsibilities. As the United States bishops have said, greater attention must be given to "the needs of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, in a debate often dominated by more powerful interests".[31] We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, still less is there room for the globalization of indifference.

Yes, debt gives power to the lenders over the borrowers. Increasing debt increases the amount of that power. The United States is 23 trillion dollars in debt. To whom do we owe that money, and what power do they exert over us? How does a nation 23 trillion dollars in debt lend or just straight up give countless billions of dollars every year to various nations and institutions all over the world? Who has told them to do this? Certainly not the citizens. Our own elitist politicians decide to spend us into oblivion. Which elitists the Vatican rubs shoulders with and hops in bed with from all countries of this world. She herself receiving at least tens of billions a year from our government with or without the consent of the people, and countless billions from other nations as well with or without the consent of their people.

She is right in the middle of the money games played by the elitists of this world, always at the expense of people they rob or extort the money from. Much of all such inspired if not straight up directed by her own wealth redistribution mandates for all minions of her "social justice" agenda. Just as she and her minions have been directly involved in the wealth redistribution of this nation from within and without for many a decade now. She and her ever increasing number of minions within our government in cooperation with many from without, are directly responsible for a large portion of the debt our elitist politicians have incurred. The incorporation or implementation of her political and or economic policies do always ruin all interests but her own. To cooperate with Rome is to subjugate one's self to Rome.

Now, after all of the above, she insists Americans subject themsleves to major downgrades in all areas of life, and pay a debt defined and created in her own mind, to poorer nations we have already no doubt been financially aiding for quite some time now also under her guiding redistributive hand. This is her globalist vision. The redistribution of the wealth of prosperous successful nations, to failing unsuccessful nations without corrective change to said nations, in a welfare world. She does not raise humanity to higher standards, she desires to lower all standards on a global scale, and subjugate the resulting mass peasantry and dependency to her and her elitist lovers. In this manner she seeks to reestablish the usurped abusive power she once had and maintained during the dark ages on a global scale today. The present fear mongering political article of agitation and instruction of implementation under examination, being her latest manifesto. Her minions such as AOC are about the business of serving Babylon's wine up in our legislative halls. The number of Catholics within our nation has and continues to grow through mass migrations, legal or not. Their political vision never has been in line with the founders of this nation. As their numbers continually increase, so will our nation continually diverge from that vision into the global vision of BABYLON THE GREAT.


https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/decolonizing-faith-and-society/laborem-exercens-aoc-why-im-catholic-democratic

All emphasis in below article quoted from link above is mine.

From Laborem Exercens to AOC: why I'm a Catholic Democratic Socialist

As we begin Lent, one of the signs of our time is unrelenting attacks on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), who upset the former Queens Democratic party boss Joe Crowley after he had served 10 terms in Congress.

People of faith who seek to deepen their love of neighbor this Lent, I believe, ought to embrace the vision and practice Ocasio-Cortez represents.

How does a 29-year-old Latina inspire such scorn? Reviewing the long list of smears and insults, it seems like heavy doses of ageism, sexism and racism certainly make up the poisonous mix.

As Newsweek reports, Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, has gained the moniker the "queen of savage comebacks." Full of joy and passion for her constituents and American democracy, AOC deflects critics with an implacable sense of humor and irony.

Stephen Colbert interviewed AOC on his late night show just days after her June 2018 primary victory. Colbert began by admitting that he didn't know her name before she won. Then he asked her how she overcame a 36-point deficit in the polls and win by 15 points, a staggering 51-point shift.

Polling is often wrong, she explains, because it tries to predict who will turn out to vote; she won because her campaign "changed who turns out." She was able to attract youth and other voters who typically do not vote in a midterm election.

At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, former White House official Sebastian Gorka warned that AOC and the Democrats "want to rebuild your home. They want to take away your hamburgers. That is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved." GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel referred to people "eating dog food to survive. That is the path that Democrats are taking us down."

So it sounds like what really irks powerful politicians, especially the GOP and some conservative Democrats, is Ocasio-Cortez's passionate advocacy for the vision and policies of the Democratic Socialists of America and the new constituency that supports it.There's a staggering irony to the GOP redbaiting when a Republican president met with Russian President Vladimir Putin a second time without any American translator or note-taker.

Although the ridiculous hypocrisy of GOP redbaiting is laughable, the rhetoric reveals a deeper irony of our time. The GOP rhetoric claims that AOC and the Democrats are taking away "our" beef, homes and way of life. "Our" goods and way of life trumps all other social and moral concerns — pun intended.

Yet the assumption of the GOP's "our" rhetoric goes to heart of Catholic social teaching and why I became a member of Democratic Socialists of America in 1988 under the inspiration of the Catholic Democratic Socialist John Cort, when I was a graduate student at Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

Cort was a Catholic Worker with Dorothy Day during the Great Depression, helped found the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists in 1937 and worked with Michael Harrington to initiate Democratic Socialists of America. Cort has been described as "one of the great figures of twentieth century American Catholicism" by the historian of American Catholicism James Fisher.

In the epigraph to his Christian Socialism (1988), Cort quotes St. Gregory's enduring admonishment that the goods of the Earth are "common to all and brings forth nurture for all alike. Idly then do men hold themselves innocent when they monopolize for themselves the common gift of God. In not giving what they have received they work their neighbors' death; every day they destroy all the starving poor whose means of relief they store at home."

Three patristic Cappadocian bishops, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus, all underscored the primary biblical obligation to share the goods of God's creation with all, especially those who are in any way destitute.

St. John Paul II repeatedly taught this point. It is not "our" option of charity. It's a spiritual and moral obligation to God and neighbor.
For example, in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, on the social concerns of the church, John Paul II wrote that one of the greatest injustices in the contemporary world is "the poor distribution of the goods and services originally intended for all."

"Having," as possession of goods, the pope continued, does not contribute to human perfection or the common good unless it contributes to the maturing and enriching of human "being."
Put in other terms of the social tradition, capital is obligated to be at the service of labor, the economy at the service of people, not labor at the service of capital or the economy (see Laborem Exercens, on human work).

Pope Francis extends this primary understanding of God's gratuitous love and Catholic social teaching in "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," in how he develops an "integral ecology" where "society as a whole, and the state in particular, are obliged to defend and promote the common good."

So, when AOC tells Colbert that she is a democratic socialist because "in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live," and as human beings we possess rights to health care, food, education and jobs to "lead a dignified life," she is articulating a democratic socialist vision that is deeply rooted in Jewish and Christian Scripture and Catholic social teaching.


That is a vision whereby Americans may yet achieve a fully functioning democracy.

More importantly, that is a morally rich vision of how we may authentically worship God and integrate our primary obligation to love both God and neighbor. It's a vision and practice rooted in the Gospel whereby we may passionately promote "a faith that does justice" on our Lenten journey.

[Alex Mikulich is a Catholic social ethicist.]

Amo

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2019/may/pope-pushes-idea-of-global-authority-at-vatican-nation-state-conference-nbsp

All emphasis in article quoted below is mine.

QuotePope Rejects 'Excessive Demand for Sovereignty', Pushes Idea of Global Authority

Pope Francis is pushing for steps toward global authority that supersedes the rights of individual countries, all with the goal of pursuing "the common good" on issues like climate change and immigration.

"When a supranational common good is clearly identified, it is necessary to have a special authority legally and concordantly constituted capable of facilitating its implementation. We think of the great contemporary challenges of climate change, new forms of slavery and peace," he told members of the Pontifical Academy.

They met last week at the Vatican to discuss the topic of: "Nation, State, Nation-State."

While addressing the conference, Francis rebuked the trend of nationalism among individual countries and the many tensions that "come from an excessive demand for sovereignty on the part of States."

However, the pope defended patriotism as a good thing. But he warned it can become perverted when "it involves the exclusion and hatred of others when it becomes a conflictual nationalism that builds walls, indeed even racism or anti-Semitism,"  according to Breitbart.com.

Francis also implied national sovereignty becomes twisted when countries do not have a welcoming attitude toward migrants.

"The Church observes with concern the reemergence, in many parts of the world, of currents that are aggressive towards foreigners, especially immigrants, as well as a growing nationalism that neglects the common good," he told the conference.

This, in turn, "threatens to jeopardize consolidated forms of international cooperation, undermines the aims of international organizations as a space for dialogue and meeting for all countries in a spirit of mutual respect, and hinders the attainment of the sustainable development goals approved unanimously by the United Nations," the Pope said.

The Pope also said individual countries can no longer look out for their own people by themselves due to globalization.

"The nation-state is no longer able to procure the common good of its populations alone. The common good has become global and nations must associate for their own benefit," Francis said.


The Pope also pushed the idea of supranational entities to the conference.  A supranational union is defined as a type of multinational political union where negotiated power is delegated to an authority by governments of member states.  The term is sometimes used to describe the European Union, according to Wikipedia.

For instance, a group of nations could "strengthen their cooperation by connecting certain functions and services to intergovernmental institutions that manage their common interests," he said.

"When a supranational common good is clearly identified, it is necessary to have a special authority that is legally and concordantly constituted and capable of facilitating its implementation," the Pope concluded.

Yes, all nations must submit to the unelected elitist papal minions of the UN. BABYLON THE GREAT is pushing all the leaders to become intoxicated with her wine.

Amo

The following is a response from another thread concerning climate change. It seems appropriate here as well.

https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4603-pope-francis-our-duty-is-to-obey-the-united-nations

QuoteSaturday, September 14, 2019
POPE FRANCIS: 'Our duty is to obey the United Nations!'
Written by  Michael J. Matt | Editor


https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/pope-francis-says-we-should-obey-the-united-nations

QuotePope Francis says we should obey the United Nations

https://catholictruthblog.com/2019/05/27/pope-francis-not-climage-change-is-leading-the-world-towards-disaster/

QuotePope Francis (not climate change) Is Leading The World Towards Disaster...

Many Catholics themselves know and understand that the Pope has called for submission to the UN. The video at the first above Catholic link addresses several of their concerns including the Popes call for submission to the UN. They view this call as satanic, and are correct. Nevertheless, it has been the constant habit of Rome to fully support those vying for civil authority whom she deems most likely to acknowledge and eventually submit to her temporal authority over all. This of course tends towards those with agendas similar to her own, in this case elitist globalists. The last article addresses who is really in charge of the situation.


http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2019/may/documents/papa-francesco_20190502_plenaria-scienze-sociali.html

Emphasis in the following quote from the link above is mine.

QuoteADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY SESSION 
OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Clementine Hall
Thursday, 2 May 2019

Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I welcome you and I thank your President, Prof. Stefano Zamagni, for his courteous words and for having agreed to preside over the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. This year too, you have chosen to address an ever current topic. Unfortunately we have before our eyes situations in which certain nation-states conduct their relations in a spirit more of opposition than of cooperation. Moreover, it should be recognized that State borders do not always coincide with the demarcations of homogeneous populations and that much tension arises from excessive claims of sovereignty on the part of States, often in the very areas where they are no longer able to act efficiently to protect the common good.

Both in the Encyclical Laudato Si' and in this year's Address to Members of the Diplomatic Corps, I drew attention to the challenges, of an international nature, that humanity must address, such as integral development, peace, care for our common home, climate change, poverty, wars, migration, human trafficking, organ trafficking, protection of the common good, the new forms of slavery.

Saint Thomas had a beautiful idea of what a people is: "The river Seine is not this river because of this water flowing down it, but because of this source and this river bed; so it's always regarded as the same river in spite of different water flowing down it. And it's like this for a population: it's the same population, not because of any sameness of soul or of persons, but because of the same dwelling place; or, even more, because of the same laws and the the same style of living, as Aristotle explained in book 3 of his Politics" (On Spiritual Creatures, a. 9, ad 10). The Church has always encouraged love of one's people, of country; respect for the value of various cultural expressions, uses and customs and for the just ways of living rooted in peoples. At the same time, the Church has admonished individuals, peoples and governments regarding deviations from this attachment when focused on exclusion and hatred of others, when it becomes hostile, wall-building nationalism, or even racism or anti-Semitism. The Church observes with concern the re-emergence, somewhat throughout the world, of aggressive tendencies toward foreigners, types of migrants, as well as that growing nationalism that disregards the common good. This risks compromising previously consolidated forms of international cooperation, threatens the aims of International Organizations as spaces for dialogue and encounter for all countries on a level of mutual respect, and prevents the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015.

It is a common doctrine that the State is at the service of the person and of natural groupings of people such as the family, the cultural group, the nation as an expression of the will and customs inherent in a people, the common good and peace. Too often, however, States are subjugated to the interests of a dominant group, largely for motives of economic profit, which oppress, among others, ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities who are in their territory.

In this perspective, for example, the way in which a nation welcomes migrants reveals its vision of human dignity and of its relationship with humanity. Every human being is a member of humanity and has the same dignity. When a person or a family is compelled to leave their homeland they must be welcomed with humanity. I have said many times that our duty to migrants can be articulated around four verbs: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. Migrants are not a threat to the culture, customs and values of a receiving nation. They too have a duty, that of being integrated into the nation that receives them.

Integrating does not mean assimilating, but sharing the way of life of their new homeland, while they themselves remain as individuals, with their own biographical history. In this way, migrants can present themselves and be recognized as an opportunity to enrich the people that integrates them. It is the task of public authorities to protect migrants and to regulate migratory flows with the virtue of prudence, as well as to promote welcome so that the local populations may be formed and encouraged to consciously take part in the integrative process of the migrants who are to be received.

The migratory issue too, which is a permanent fact of human history, revives reflection on the nature of the nation state. All nations are the result of integration of consecutive waves of migrating individuals or groups, and tend to be images of the diversity of humanity while being united by values, common cultural resources and healthy customs. A State that arouses in its people nationalistic sentiments against other nations or groups of people would fail in its own mission. We know from history where similar deviations have led; I am thinking of Europe in the last century.

The nation-state cannot be considered as an absolute, as an island with respect to the surrounding circumstances. In the current situation of globalization not just of the economy but also of technological and cultural exchanges, the nation-state is no longer able to procure on its own the common good of its populations. The common good has become global and nations must affiliate themselves for their own benefit. When a supranatural common good is clearly identified, it necessitates a specific, legally and concordantly constituted authority capable of facilitating its fulfilment. Let us consider the great contemporary challenges of climate change, of the new forms of slavery and of peace.

While, according to the principle of subsidiarity, the power of individual nations to work for whatever they can achieve must be recognized, on the other hand, groups of neighbouring nations — as is already the case — can strengthen their own cooperation by conceding the exercise of certain functions and services to the intergovernmental institutions that manage their common interests. It is to be hoped, for example, that awareness of the benefits produced by this approach and harmony among peoples undertaken in this post-World War II period not be lost in Europe. Meanwhile, in Latin America, Simón Bolivar urged the leaders of his time to forge the dream of a Great Homeland, which knows how and is able to welcome, respect, embrace and develop the richness of every people. This vision of cooperation among nations can advance the narrative by upholding multilateralism, opposing both new nationalistic impulses and hegemonic policies.

Humanity would thus escape the threat of resorting to armed conflict every time a dispute between nation-states arose, and would likewise exclude the danger of economic and ideological colonization by superpowers. Thus, it would avoid the subjugation of the strongest over the weakest, being attentive to the global dimension without losing sight of the local, national and regional dimension. Before the design of a globalization imagined as "spherical", which levels differences and suffocates localization, it is easy for both nationalism and hegemonic policies to re-emerge. In order for globalization to be beneficial for all, a "polihedrical" form must be considered, supporting a healthy struggle for mutual recognition between the collective identity of each people and nation and globalization itself, according to the principle that the whole first comes from the parts, so as to arrive at a general state of peace and harmony.

Multilateral petitions have been drawn up in the hope of being able to replace the logic of revenge, the logic of dominion, of subjugation and of conflict with that of dialogue, of mediation, of compromise, of harmony and awareness of belonging to the same humanity in the common home. Of course, it is imperative that such organizations assure that the states be effectively represented, with equal rights and obligations, so as to avoid the growing hegemony of powers and interest groups that impose their own visions and ideas, as well as new forms of ideological colonization, not rarely disrespectful of the identity, of uses and customs, of the dignity and sensitivity of the concerned peoples. The emergence of these tendencies is weakening the multilateral system, resulting in insufficient credibility in international policies and in the progressive marginalization of the weakest members of the family of nations.

I encourage you to persevere in seeking appropriate processes to overcome what divides nations and to propose new paths of cooperation, especially in regard to the new challenges of climate change and new forms of slavery, as well as that exalted social good which is peace. Unfortunately, today the season of multilateral nuclear disarmament seems to have been superseded and no longer moves the political conscience of the nations that possess atomic weapons. Instead, a new season of disturbing nuclear confrontation seems to have appeared, as the progress of the recent past is cancelled out and the risk of war increased, also due to the potential malfunctioning of technologies that are highly advanced but always subject to the naturally and humanly imponderable. Now, if offensive and defensive nuclear arms are placed not only on earth but also in space, the so-called technological new frontier will raise and not lower the danger of nuclear holocaust.

The state is called therefore, to a greater responsibility. While maintaining the characteristics of independence and sovereignty, and continuing to seek the good of its own population, today it is its task to participate in the edification of the common good of humanity, a necessary and essential element for global balance. This universal common good, in its turn, must acquire a heightened legal significance at the international level. Of course, I am not thinking of a universalism or a generic internationalism that disregards the identity of individual peoples: this, indeed, must be appreciated as a unique and indispensable contribution in the largest harmonious plan.

Dear friends, as inhabitants of our time, Christians and scholars of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, I ask you to cooperate with me in spreading this awareness of renewed international solidarity with respect for human dignity, the common good, with respect for the planet and the supreme good of peace.

I bless all of you; I bless your work and your initiatives. I accompany you with my prayers, and you too, please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you!

As previously stated, this Pope is using fear mongering tactics associated with climate changers to promote submission of all nations to a global authority of unelected elitist politicians who represent no peoples or nations will, but only her own and that of the minions she chooses to side with. The previous Pope used the same kind of fear mongering tactics concerning economic instability as evidenced in the following quotes from one of his Encyclicals. They both of course identify Capitalism as an evil which must be overcome, or at least chained by their superior temporal and civil authority above and over the same. We simply cannot have a system of economic freedom inspired by the likes of the Protestant Reformation, of course. Such is continually demonized by the masters of the Counter Reformation.


Excerpts from
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
CARITAS IN VERITATE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS
PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
THE LAY FAITHFUL
AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL
ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
IN CHARITY AND TRUTH
(All emphasis mine)

QuoteOn what is truly needed to establish this unification and wealth redistribution


Globalization certainly requires authority
, insofar as it poses the problem of a global common good that needs to be pursued.

64. While reflecting on the theme of work, it is appropriate to recall how important it is that labour unions — which have always been encouraged and supported by the Church — should be open to the new perspectives that are emerging in the world of work.

67. In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth. One also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protectand of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making. This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority,

Furthermore, such an authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights. Obviously it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties,[/szie] and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums.
Without this, despite the great progress accomplished in various sectors, international law would risk being conditioned by the balance of power among the strongest nations.

These Popes are of course simply employing political maneuvers aimed at accomplishing the goals of the Church of Rome established and declared at one of the heights and zeniths of her power during the Dark Ages, recorded in her following Papal Bull.


QuoteUNAM SANCTAM
Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: 'One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,' and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: 'Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.' [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: 'Feed my sheep' [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter].

Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John 'there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.' We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: 'Behold, here are two swords' [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: 'Put up thy sword into thy scabbard' [Mt 26:52]. Both, therefore, are in the power of the Church, that is to say, the spiritual and the material sword, but the former is to be administered for the Church but the latter by the Church; the former in the hands of the priest; the latter by the hands of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power.
For since the Apostle said: 'There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God' [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: 'Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms' and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: 'The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man' [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, 'Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven' etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

Amo

https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201710/what-common-good-31181

Emphasis in the article below quoted from link above is mine.

QuoteWhat is the common good?

The task of creating a good life for all members of society is never perfectly realized.

Social life is a lot like being on a sports team. Individual players want to be as successful as possible, perhaps by scoring lots of points. The ultimate goal of each player, however, is the success of the team, a goal more than the sum of every player's statistics. A team does not win because each player tries to score as many points as possible, but conditions do need to be optimal for each individual player to play well in order for a team to win. The good of both the individual and the team are interdependent.

The common good is a lot like the set of "optimal conditions" that allow both the team and its players to succeed. In theological terms the common good is defined in Pope John XXIII's encyclical Materet Magistra (On Christianity and Social Progress) as "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily."

Sometimes the common good is presented as "sacrificing for the good of the whole." And while, indeed, the good may require sacrifice, as any athlete could tell you, the common good is not exalting the team at the expense of the individual. Rather it is the realization that both the individual and the team's success depend on one another. For the common good to be achieved, no one on the team may be sacrificed or disregarded.

This analogy does have its limitations. First, the success of a team—winning—depends on meeting the clear objective standard of scoring the most points, while the success of a society can be measured in a variety of different ways. For this reason it is often easier to point to ways that the common good is not being pursued than to specific ways that the common good ought to be pursued. The other principles of Catholic social teaching function to concretize the common good. The preferential option for the poor, for example, turns our attention to the most vulnerable members of society, whose own suffering most threatens the achievement of the common good.

Perhaps the greatest difficulty with this analogy, however, is seeing society as a team. Our society is so thoroughly individualistic that it is difficult to see beyond our own individual happiness. Solidarity encourages us to see one another as each other's keepers, to make sure that no individual is hogging the ball. Also necessary is the state, which acts a lot like a coach to "guarantee the coherency, unity, and organization of the civil society" (Compendium, 168). 

Because society is always evolving, the concrete demands of the common good will also evolve. This means that the task of creating a good life for all members of society is never perfectly realized. Because of the pervasive temptations of individualism and self-interest, one of the most pressing demands of the common good is the persistent conversion of hearts in the realization that we do not exist for ourselves.

This article also appears in the November 2017 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 82, No. 11, page 49).

The new green deal and climate changers are all just part of the ever evolving concrete demands of the common good which the papacy and globalist minions intend to force upon all. Unelected religious leaders and self appointed elitists attempting to force their leadership upon all, few if any of whom have asked them to do so.

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