Showing posts with label Catholicism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholicism. Show all posts

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Church of God Outreach Ministries: Prepare to worship the Devil


 

COG UK joins the fear bandwagon, not that they were ever really off it, with fears about the election of Joe Biden and his Catholocism that he supposedly will integrate into the U.S. Government. A new church-state will be formed and will immediately start attacking COG members.  They envision the world where we are all told to worship the Pope by Satan himself and then the world will swiftly come to an end. 

This has been an ongoing COG fear tactic for decades to keep members in line. Dare to question that and you will be under the bonds of Satan himself and will soon be kneeling down worshiping Satan and the Pope.

Bible readers have long understood (in a variety of scenarios) that 'all the world' will in the latter days succumb to a despotic anti-Christian fusion of religion and state. Perhaps unwittingly, Donald Trump facilitated this in a bid for evangelical votes but he restrained the imposition of a world ruled by and for the elite.

The incoming President, a life-long and devoted Roman Catholic, has made clear his intentions to entwine church and state through state aid. The call to unity and peace, however sincere, is a prel-ude to the real agenda - the universal worship of 'the god of this world.

When this long-envisaged global plan is implemented the choice for Christians will be to worship as the Devil (through his anti-Christian servants subservient to the Papacy) dictates. Or worship the one true God as and when He has prescribed since creation.

When that moment arrives we are assured that the true universal millennial Kingdom presided over by the Saviour will be at hand: '...when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your re-demption draws near' (Luke 21:28).

Friday, October 28, 2011

HORRORS: Women and Catholics Can Now Ascend to Throne of David



A great tragedy has occurred on the Throne of David and it's never ceasing legacy.  The Commonwealth nations voted to allow a first born daughter to ascend to the throne and that they can now be Catholic. This has got Prophet Thiel all hot and bothered tonight

I am surprised that Thiel do not go onto a "women reigning over men" snit, but instead starts off on one of his many anti-Catholic screeds. There are so many bogey-men that make up the Prophet's fantasies that he is no longer unique in placing blame on others.  Where would Armstrongism be if it could not place blame on someone else for all the troubles in the church and the world?


Girls equal in British throne succession
The leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state unanimously approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia.
It means a first-born daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would take precedence over younger brothers.
The ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic was also lifted.

This news development of course sends Prophet Thiel into conspiracy theory mode. Visions (or nightmares) of Mother Shipton in the 1550's is looked upon as visionary truth.

There is an old Catholic prophecy that indicates that the European Great Monarch will taken over the UK and the UK is either divided into thirds or ruled by three, presumably Roman Catholic, leaders:
Mother Shipton (d. 1551) “The time will come when England shall tremble and quake…London shall be destroyed forever after . . . and then York shall be London and the Kingdom governed by three Lords appointed by a Royal Great monarch…who will set England right and drive out heresy (Culleton, R. Gerald.  The Prophets and Our Times. Nihil Obstat: L. Arvin.  Imprimatur: Philip G. Scher, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno, November 15, 1941.  Reprint 1974, TAN Books, Rockford (IL), p. 163).

And then from the Roman Catholic Priest Rossi:

Interestingly, notice what one Catholic has written about the punishment for America and Britain:
Priest G. Rossi (19th century): But boastful pride and presumption always go before a fall. With her large share of guilt, America cannot avoid her due share of punishment…If the world is not yet entirely converted to Christianity, the blame is not on the head nor in the conscience of the Catholic Church… Ah! wretched Protestantism shall have to answer for the loss of faith… English schism and heresy have squandered their treasures and abused their great temporal power, not only in persecuting-the faith in Great Britain and Ireland, but also in banishing the true religion of Jesus Christ from their vast American possessions…Their long-deserved punishment, however, is approaching from the North! (Rossi, Gaudentius. The Christian Trumpet: Or, Previsions and Predictions about Impending General Calamities, the Universal Triumph of the Church, the Coming of the Anti-Christ, the Last Judgment, and the End of the World; Divided Into Three Parts, 4th edition. Patrick Donahoe, 1875. Original from Oxford University. Digitized Sep 1, 2006, pp. 16, 255).
 
I find it strange that Thiel gives credence to these "prophecies" and the "Visions of Fatima" as being truthful while he has written a book ridiculing the Mayan 2012 prophecies.  I guess because the Mayans had no Christian roots, it is proven to be false, but because Catholicism does have roots in Christianity then it gains more respect.

Could it be that given the extreme hatred that Armstrongism has always had for Catholics that he pays lip service to these visions because they fit the model of thinking still prevalent in the 700 some splinter cults of Armstrongism?  When these people see those words in print they automatically know here he is going.



Armstrongism, like a lot of fundamentalist Christianity still look at the Catholic Church as the Great Whore of Babylon who murdered and tortured hundreds of thousands of TRUE Christians over the centuries.  It is the Catholic Church that will give rise to the anti-Christ who will perform miracles and wonders on the streets of Roman hoodwinking the world into taking on the Mark of the Beast (Sunday worship or one of many other speculations.)

Armstrongism has always been great at blaming others for persecution and trials, all the while failing to look inward at the immense corruption that pollutes the hearts of its present leaders. Armstrongism has a proven track record of bringing persecution and trials upon its self without any end time prophecies kicking in.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Against Armstrongism: Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp in their own words


Against Armstrongism: Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp in their own words
Scott C. Blue
Blurb.com
2010


This is an interesting book.  Scott Blue has taken the writings of the Early Church Father’s (Ignatius, Polycarp and Chrysostom) and used their words to demolish Armstrongism.  Unfortunately for Blue, most Armstrongites will never read his book.  He has several strikes going against him.  The book is too intellectual, it quotes writings from Roman Catholics and also Blue has converted to Roman Catholicism after leaving Armstrongism.

Armstrongites have always been taught (and still are today) by HWA and his ministers that Catholicism is the Great Whore of Babylon, the Harlot Church, the false religions and the persecutor of the brethren.  The mere fact that he quotes Catholics and has become a Catholic his opinions are irrelevant and heretical in their sight.

Because he quotes Ignatius, Polycarp and John Chrysostom he is delving into intellectualism in the minds of many Armstrongites.  The only relevant word of God today comes from HWA’s writings or the pen’s of various splinter cult leaders.

Other than the Author’s Note and Preface, Blue has added no written commentary to the writings.  It is the Early Church Father’s speaking for themselves.  As you read it you will quickly see though how these men’s words rip Armstrongism to the core.

I find the book interesting because of my interest in early church history.  Many will not, unfortunately.

He has also written a book about De-mystifying the Mysteries” a debunking of Mystery of the Ages.  I will order it soon to add to my collection.

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From the book:

Author’s Note

In 2006 shortly after our wedding, my wife Lauren and I were starting a family and began looking into going to church.  Neither of us knew where to begin, primarily due to our completely different, however similarly negative experiences with religion as children.

My wife had attended a loosely based Pentecostal congregation as a child whose pastor’s wife sat in the front pew while his mistress sat beside him on the “stage”; obviously not leaving a great taste in her mouth concerning organized religion.

I, on the other hand, was raised in The Worldwide Church of God, a sabbatarian (7th day) non-denominational group who saw its monumental rise in the mid to late part of the 20th century.  It all but imploded on itself in the mid 1980’s when it’s Pastor General, Herbert A Armstrong, died and the new leadership took a more “orthodox” approach to their doctrines.

Neither Lauren nor I had been to church in over a decade, and really had no established foundation on which to make decisions of faith and morals.

We knew we wanted our children to grow up with a faith based set of morals, however due to our own experiences as children we were skeptical about religion in general.

We started to read everything “Christian” we could get out hands on, which conflicted with one another a lot of the time on a theological level.  We decided at that point to start from the beginning and take a historical approach to our decision.

This research led us to Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement of Roan, Justin Martyr, and Eusebius to name a few; what I now know to be the Apostolic Fathers and Sub Apostolic Fathers of the Church – something I discovered both Catholic and prominent Protestant scholars agreed on.

Our next step was to find a Church who matched what these early Fathers wrote. In a nutshell, our first steps towards falling in love with and embracing the Roman Catholic Church.

Our biggest grievance through our learning process, especially before going through the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), was a lack of books we could get on the early Fathers without interpretation.

Worldwide Church of God embraced many of the Hebrew holy days, kept the Jewish Sabbath, Passover, The Day of Atonement, as well as a few others and condemned Orthodoxy’s celebration of Easter, Christmas, the existence of souls and Saints, including the original Apostles souls.

Having such a conflicting background with what I was reading only increased my need to see the whole document.  I needed to read the entire Epistle, not just a quoted excerpt taken from script in order to re-enforce a point.  Much like the Apostle Thomas, I needed to see it with my own eyes before I believed it.

I quickly learned that many of the writings were online or in large, expensive leather bound books, the latter was not something that was affordable at the time.

I remember saying several times to my wife as I poured hour after hour over the writings online on Catholic Encyclopedia, “Someone should compile these letters into a book.”

A year later, my wife and I came into the Catholic Church. As we talked to people in passing about our conversion, Protestants as well as cradle Catholics, we always had to refer people to the internet to mixed reviews; some people just want to sit in a comfortable chair and read.  Again, I found myself saying, “Someone should compile these letters into a book.”

The following RICA year, my wife and I were asked to be on the team. I found myself once again referring people to the Catholic Encyclopedia website and saying, “If there was a book that had all the letters together, that would be a great supplemental teaching tool.”  Then it hit me. Stop wishing for someone to do it, and do it.

The following Epistles are the words of Sts. Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp as available on the Catholic Encyclopedia online (www.newadvent.corg).  The translation of these Epistles are public domain.

I know a lot of people that are hurting because they feel lost and confused, specifically people who were members of the Worldwide Church of God or the children of its members. Some of them know what they don’t believe, but not what to believe at this point.  The Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp are an important link between the teachings of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church, especially when one considers that an official cannon of Christian Scripture was not first agreed upon until the end of the 4th century; some three hundred years later than the Synod of Hippo (393).

Many of the doctrines of he Worldwide Church of God are similar and in some cases identical to other denominations such as the 7th Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormon Church.  I feel these Epistles can also open up the light of truth to these groups while providing a historical backdrop of the early Christian Church.

These Epistles are historical documents as well as Sacred Tradition.  They stand on their own.  They don’t need us near as much as we need them. As far as interpretation goes, especially verses WCG doctrine, they speak for themselves in tone, tempo and doctrine.  Very little is left to the imagination.

In addition, I have included a homily on Ignatius of Antioch by St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 350-407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church and what many scholars argue is the greatest speaker ever heard from a Christian pulpit.

These letters provide faith, hope and love.  Hopefully this will open the doors of ones heart and mind to let the Light in.

Scott C. Blue