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 successionThe 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.