Monday, April 28, 2014
The Two Kingdoms: The Ecumenical Movement
New World Order Bible Versions
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
JESUIT Pedophiles and Homosexuals Paid $166.1 Million in CHILD ABUSE CASE in the U.S.A.
Jesuits pay record $166.1 million in child abuse case
By Michael Martinez, CNN
The Society of Jesus' Pacific Northwest unit and its insurers have agreed to pay a record $166.1 million to about 470 people who were sexually and psychologically abused as children by Jesuit priests from the 1940s to the 1990s, the victims' attorneys said Friday.
Blaine Tamaki, an attorney in Yakima, Washington, described the payment as "the largest settlement between a religious order and abuse victims in the history of the United States."
The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus is now in federal bankruptcy court in Portland, Oregon, the attorneys said. Insurers will pay $118 million, and the Jesuits' Pacific Northwest province will pay $48.1 million, Tamaki said.
"The $166.1 million is the largest settlement by a religious order in the history of the world," Tamaki said. "Over 450 Native American children ... were sexually abused repeatedly, from rape to sodomy, for decades throughout the Northwest. Instead of teaching these children how to read and write, Jesuit priests were teaching them distrust and shame.
"Instead of teaching the Native American children the love of God, these Jesuit pedophile priests were molesting these young children," Tamaki told reporters.
The Rev. Patrick Lee, provincial superior of the Jesuits' Oregon Province, declined to comment on the settlement, citing in a written statement the ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
"The province continues to work with the creditors committee to conclude the bankruptcy process as promptly as possible," Lee said.
Jesuits are the world's largest order of Catholic priests and are considered the most educated in the priesthood as they run prestigious universities, said Patrick Wall, a consultant to the victims' attorneys and a former priest and Benedictine monk who's now an expert on Catholic clergy abuse.
Jesuits number about 19,000 worldwide, according to the Society of Jesus in the United States.
The settlement also asks the Jesuits to provide a written apology to the victims, Tamaki said.
The abuse primarily took place in Jesuit-operated mission schools and boarding schools on Indian reservations in Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Oregon, and some of the children were abused by Jesuits serving in dioceses throughout the Northwest, Tamaki said.
Most of the abuse occurred in the 1960s, so many of the alleged victims are now in their late 40s and early 50s, Tamaki said.
None of the 57 Jesuit priests accused of sexual abuse by the victims has been charged with any crimes, Tamika said. He added that less than a handful each of Jesuit brothers and nuns in the Jesuit schools also are accused of child sexual abuse by the victims.
"This same province has settled claims before, but this is the big whopper," Tamika told CNN.
The Jesuits' Pacific Northwest province filed for bankruptcy protection in February 2009 after Tamaki filed 21 federal lawsuits against them in Washington and after another attorney, John Manly of Newport Beach, California, had spent years filing other child sex abuse lawsuits against the Jesuits' regional unit, the attorneys said.
"There is no question that the number of cases filed, and the establishment of prolific abuse, triggered the bankruptcy," Manly said in a statement. He represented almost 200 claims out of Alaska.
During the press conference Friday, Manly told reporters that the settlement was "a small step for this country recognizing the holocaust that occurred to Native Americans at these boarding schools.
"What you had at these boarding schools was nothing less than a Slobodan Milosevic-style cultural assassination using rape as an offensive weapon to control people," he said. "They can deny it, they can pretend like it didn't happen, they can minimize it, but that's what it is."
One abuse victim, Katherine (Hansen) Mendez, 53, was abused as a child at St. Mary's Mission boarding school in Omak, Washington, according to a statement issued by Tamaki.
Mendez, a Yakama tribal member who didn't attend Friday's press conference, was 11 when she was sent to St. Mary's Mission by a state foster worker and was abused for a year by the Jesuit priest who ran the school, she said in the statement.
"I kept the sexual molestation hidden in the dark, in my soul, for years and years. Finally, when I came forward and saw that others did too, it was as if the blanket that had hidden our secret was pulled off and we could move into the light again," Mendez said in a statement.
Another victim, Clarita Vargas, a member of the Colville tribe in Washington, attended Friday's press conference and told reporters that she attended the same boarding school from second to eighth grade during the 1960s and early 1970s.
She said the same Jesuit priest held a movie night in his private office and quarters, and "he would purposely select a child to molest," Vargas said.
"I was a victim of physical and sexual abuse by one of the priests," Vargas said.
About the settlement, she said, "It's a day of reckoning and justice. ... This will continue to allow us on a path for healing. There is a generational trauma in Indian country."
She later added: "When I think about how important this is to us, I can only say my spirit was wounded and this makes it feel better."
Thirty-eight of the claims handled by Tamaki involve sexual abuse by a Jesuit priest who resides in a private retirement facility financed by the Jesuits, Tamaki said.
Forty-nine of the almost 100 victims represented by Tamaki were sexually abused when they were 8 years old or younger, he said. The remaining victims were ages 9 to 14 during the abuse, he said.
Most of the victims were abused during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s at reservation mission schools, including Sacred Heart Mission in Desmet, Idaho; St. Ignatius Mission in St. Ignatius, Montana; St. Paul's Mission in Hayes, Montana; and St. Labre Mission in Ashland, Montana, Tamaki said.
Theo Lawrence, who attended St. Ignatius Mission, had wanted to talk with reporters Friday, but he died this past week, Tamaki said in statement.
Lawrence was in third grade when the molestation began allegedly by a priest and a nun who worked with the Jesuit missionaries, according to Tamaki.
Before he died, Lawrence provided a statement for Friday's press conference: "The nun or one of the brothers would send me to the rectory to see (the priest). He would give me candy or call me special - and then he would molest me. They all did at various times," his statement said.
Lawrence said that he was scared to tell anyone because all of the boys were told repeatedly that "men of God don't talk. We were scared that if we uttered even one word, we would go to hell," his statement said.
Source: Religion.blogs.cnn.com
John Paul's Legacy Stained by Sex Abuse Scandal
Pope John Paul II is rightly credited with having helped bring down communism, of inspiring a new generation of Catholics with a globe-trotting papacy and of explaining church teaching on a range of hot-button issues as Christianity entered its third millennium.But the sexual abuse scandal that festered under his watch remains a stain on his legacy.
John Paul and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the abuse problem until very late in his 26-year papacy, even though U.S. bishops had been petitioning the Holy See since the late-1980s for a faster way to defrock pedophile priests.
The experience of John Paul in Poland under communist and Nazi rule, where innocent priests were often discredited by trumped-up accusations, is believed to have influenced his general defensiveness of the clergy. The exodus of clergy after the turbulent 1960s similarly made him want to hold onto the priests he still had.
Pope Francis has inherited John Paul's most notorious failure on the sex abuse front — the Legion of Christ order that John Paul and his top advisers held up as a model. Francis, who will canonize John Paul on Sunday, must decide whether to sign off on the Vatican's three-year reform project, imposed after the Legion admitted that its late founder sexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children.
Yet the Legion's 2009 admission about the Rev. Marcial Maciel's double life was by no means news to the Vatican.
Documents from the archives of the Vatican's then-Sacred Congregation for Religious show how a succession of papacies — including that of John XXIII, also to be canonized Sunday — simply turned a blind eye to credible reports that Maciel was a con artist, drug addict, pedophile and religious fraud.
By 1948, seven years after Maciel founded the order, the Holy See had documents from Vatican-appointed envoys and bishops in Mexico and Spain questioning the legitimacy of Maciel's ordination (by his uncle, after Maciel was expelled by a series of seminaries), noting the questionable legal foundation of his order and flagging his "totalitarian" behavior and spiritual violations of his young seminarians.
The documents show the Holy See was well aware of Maciel's drug abuse, sexual abuse and financial improprieties as early as 1956, when it ordered an initial investigation and suspended him for two years to kick a morphine habit.
Yet for decades, thanks to Maciel's ability to keep his own priests quiet, his foresight to place trusted Legion priests in key Vatican offices and his careful cultivation of Vatican cardinals, Mexican bishops and wealthy, powerful lay Catholics, Rome looked the other way. Vatican officials were impressed instead by the orthodoxy of his priests and Maciel's ability to attract new vocations and donations.
John Paul, who in 1994 praised Maciel as an "efficacious guide to youth," wasn't alone in being duped. His top advisers were some of Maciel's fiercest supporters, convinced that the accusations against him were the typical "calumnies" hurled at the greatest of saints. They were swayed instead by numerous testimonies from bishops and others of his greatness — documentation which also features in the Vatican archives.
Two years after the Vatican sentenced Maciel to a lifetime of penance and prayer for sexually abusing his seminarians, John Paul's No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in 2008 was still praising the spirit of Maciel and his "humility" in stepping aside after the Vatican finally confronted him with the accusations.
John Paul's prefect of the Congregation for Religious, Cardinal Franc Rode, told Legion priests that same year he had absolved Maciel and praised the good "fruits" that Maciel's Legion had given the church.
"The fruit is good. The fruit is extraordinarily good. It is excellent," Rode said, according to his November 2008 speech made public online by Mexico's El Zocalo newspaper. "Can we say the tree is bad then? Purely from a logical standpoint, I would say no. I absolve Father Maciel. I do not judge him."
Maciel's fraud, one of the greatest scandals of the 20th-century Catholic Church, raises uncomfortable questions for today's Vatican about how so many people could have been duped for so long. It also brings into question how the church's own structure, values and priorities enabled a cult-like order to grow from within and how far accountability for all the harm done should go.
Finally, it begs the question of whether the order has really been purged of the abuses that allowed generations of priests to subject themselves to blind obedience to a false prophet.
In his 2013 book "I Lived With a Saint," John Paul's longtime Polish aide, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, said his pope knew "nothing, absolutely nothing" about Maciel's misdeeds.
"For him, he was still the founder of a great religious order and that's it. No one had told him anything, not even about the rumors going around," wrote Dziwisz, the leading force behind John Paul's remarkably fast canonization.
He blamed the Vatican's "extremely bureaucratic structure" for preventing such information from reaching John Paul and denied that his pope was slow to react to the abuse scandal.
Juan Vaca begs to differ.
Vaca was the Legion's superior in the U.S. from 1971-1976, when he left the order and joined the diocese of Rockville Center, New York. In 1979, a year after John Paul was elected, Vaca's bishop sent the Congregation for Religious a bombshell set of documents in which Vaca and another ex-Legion priest detailed the sexual abuse they and some 19 other priests and seminarians had endured at Maciel's hands.
He later was one of a half-dozen former Legionaries who brought a canonical case against Maciel at the Vatican in 1998. It took eight years — and the death of John Paul — for Pope Benedict XVI to sanction Maciel.
"I feel once more outraged, furious with feelings of deception and rebellion at the circus process to make 'saint' a pope who did nothing to preserve the Catholic Church and society from the horrendous crisis inflicted upon them by the Catholic clergy sexual abuse," Vaca told The Associated Press in an email.
Vaca questioned why Francis was "following the same dubious decision — initiated by Benedict XVI — to make a saint with such an urgency a personality who was involved either in a voluntary complicity or in responsible ignorance in reference to Maciel."
Source: Naharnet.com
Sunday, April 20, 2014
EASTER SUNDAY CELEBRATION - A REJECTED HOLIDAY BY GOD.
As followers and believers in the Messiah we know EASTER is a pagan goddess, and the origin of Easter Sunday is from Babylon and has nothing to do with true Biblical Christianity. Even in Judaism we find no coloured and decorated eggs and rabbits associated with any Old testament holy days or festivals. Obviously, Easter is originally a pagan celebration mixed into Constantine's Catholic Christianity during the first period of Catholicism. The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth has nothing to do with rabbits and coloured painted eggs neither is there a scriptural basis in celebrating a day called "Easter Sunday". The name Easter in English is derived from many ancient languages namely, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. If we look at the root words it's not about resurrection but rather its about the Passover. Pascha or pesha is the Jewish Passover, an Old Testament Holy Day, a Jewish tradition commemorating the deliverance of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery for 400 years.The Modern English word Easter is taken from the Old English word Ä’ostre or Ostara which can also be traced and connect to the Germanic Pagan goddess of equinox and fertility. It is the worship of their sun god, another form of Egyptian Sun worship which is from the ancient religion of Semiramis and Nimrod. So to be precise, the celebration of Easter is connected to SUN WORSHIP and has nothing to do with the resurrection of the Messiah, Joshua or Yeshua the son of Joseph and of Mary.
Now many will ask us or question us how did Easter Sunday became a Christian holy day or festival? Well, if we look at our history, we know the apostles and mostly the first disciples of Jesus of Nazareth were mainly Jews and some were Greeks but we find no trace in the Holy Scriptures about a day called Easter Sunday. The resurrection of the Lord is not called Easter Sunday neither the pre-Constantine believers celebrated a day called "Easter Sunday". There is no word found Easter pointing or in relevance to the resurrection of Christ. The fact is that because Christianity is now a legal religion, new words are used not to bring light to the Messianic teachings of the Old Testament but I believe new words were introduced to deceive not only believers but also to mislead many people who would like to come to Christ and His teachings. I say the organized church during the times before the Reformation became a money making business. A corrupt religion who was headed by corrupt popes, bishops and priests. The inventions of unBiblical doctrines that is designed to bring money to the Church of Rome was the way these people financed their corrupted pagan-Christianity lifestyle hidden within is their scandalous misbehaviour of pedophilia and homosexuality. No wonder why as we are approaching another so-called modern age and year where we find biblically-condemned lifestyle and behaviour that is being pushed and legalized into mainstream Romanist dominated culture and societies. Indeed, we are approaching an age that evil is seen and defined as good or acceptable and vice-versa. The pioneers to counter the Protestant Reformation was seen as successful in another angle, but in God's eyes we know He has a plan that man cannot fathom unless He Himself has revealed it unto Him either through His words or in looking back to the past. The scripture is clear about the last days that many false teachings and teachers will be in the world and will deceive many. (See 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:3, Jude 1:18)
Easter Sunday Celebration is of course just one of many false teachings that has crept into the church today and has deceived many.
Easter Sunday has become a universal belief of many Modern Ecumenical Churches believing it is a holy celebration that gives glory to God. And of course we know God is not pleased if we are not worshipping Him in Spirit and Truth. Hence, we are like Cain whose sacrifice was rejected because it cannot please Him. (See Gen 4:4-7) God is not pleased because it is not according to His Word nor it is His Will. God will never accept an offering that is unrighteous. (Hebrews 11:4)
Clearly, Easter Sunday is another rejected holy day and God is not pleased nor He will accept it because it has nothing to do with Him but its of the devil. Get out of Romanism before it is too late. (Rev. 18:4-8)
Easter Sunday Celebration - A Rejected Holiday by God.
As followers and believers in the Messiah we know EASTER is a pagan goddess, and the origin of Easter Sunday is from Babylon and has nothing to do with true Biblical Christianity. Even in Judaism we find no coloured and decorated eggs and rabbits associated with any Old testament holy days or festivals. Obviously, Easter is originally a pagan celebration mixed into Constantine's Catholic Christianity during the first period of Catholicism. The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth has nothing to do with rabbits and coloured painted eggs neither is there a scriptural basis in celebrating a day called "Easter Sunday". The name Easter in English is derived from many ancient languages namely, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. If we look at the root words it's not about resurrection but rather its about the Passover. Pascha or pesha is the Jewish Passover, an Old Testament Holy Day, a Jewish tradition commemorating the deliverance of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery for 400 years.
The Modern English word Easter is taken from the Old English word Ä’ostre or Ostara which can also be traced and connect to the Germanic Pagan goddess of equinox and fertility. It is the worship of their sun god, another form of Egyptian Sun worship which is from the ancient religion of Semiramis and Nimrod. So to be precise, the celebration of Easter is connected to SUN WORSHIP and has nothing to do with the resurrection of the Messiah, Joshua or Yeshua the son of Joseph and of Mary.
Now many will ask us or question us how did Easter Sunday became a Christian holy day or festival? Well, if we look at our history, we know the apostles and mostly the first disciples of Jesus of Nazareth were mainly Jews and some were Greeks but we find no trace in the Holy Scriptures about a day called Easter Sunday. The resurrection of the Lord is not called Easter Sunday neither the pre-Constantine believers celebrated a day called "Easter Sunday". There is no word found Easter pointing or in relevance to the resurrection of Christ. The fact is that because Christianity is now a legal religion, new words are used not to bring light to the Messianic teachings of the Old Testament but I believe new words were introduced to deceive not only believers but also to mislead many people who would like to come to Christ and His teachings. I say the organized church during the times before the Reformation became a money making business. A corrupt religion who was headed by corrupt popes, bishops and priests. The inventions of unBiblical doctrines that is designed to bring money to the Church of Rome was the way these people financed their corrupted pagan-Christianity lifestyle hidden within is their scandalous misbehaviour of pedophilia and homosexuality. No wonder why as we are approaching another so-called modern age and year where we find biblically-condemned lifestyle and behaviour that is being pushed and legalized into mainstream Romanist dominated culture and societies. Indeed, we are approaching an age that evil is seen and defined as good or acceptable and vice-versa. The pioneers to counter the Protestant Reformation was seen as successful in another angle, but in God's eyes we know He has a plan that man cannot fathom unless He Himself has revealed it unto Him either through His words or in looking back to the past. The scripture is clear about the last days that many false teachings and teachers will be in the world and will deceive many. (See 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:3, Jude 1:18)
Easter Sunday Celebration is of course just one of many false teachings that has crept into the church today and has deceived many.
Easter Sunday has become a universal belief of many Modern Ecumenical Churches believing it is a holy celebration that gives glory to God. And of course we know God is not pleased if we are not worshipping Him in Spirit and Truth. Hence, we are like Cain whose sacrifice was rejected because it cannot please Him. (See Gen 4:4-7) God is not pleased because it is not according to His Word nor it is His Will. God will never accept an offering that is unrighteous. (Hebrews 11:4)
Clearly, Easter Sunday is another rejected holy day and God is not pleased nor He will accept it because it has nothing to do with Him but its of the devil. Get out of Romanism before it is too late. (Rev. 18:4-8)
Friday, April 18, 2014
KOREA FERRY DISGRACE - PLS PRAY FOR SOUTH KOREANS!
Anger boils over in search for S. Korea ferry missing - By Park Chan-Kyong
Jindo (South Korea) (AFP) - Emotions boiled over Thursday in the frantic search for almost 300 people -- mostly schoolchildren -- missing from a capsized South Korean ferry, with angry parents confronting President Park Geun-Hye as prospects dwindled of finding survivors.Worsening weather fuelled the sombre mood, with persistent rain and choppy seas hindering dive teams already struggling with low visibility and strong currents.
Twenty-five people were confirmed dead, the coastguard said late Thursday, as rescuers battled high waves and recovered more bodies
Twenty-five people were confirmed dead, the coastguard said late Thursday, as rescuers battled high waves and recovered more bodies.
But with every hour that passed fears mounted for the 271 still unaccounted for after the multi-deck vessel with 475 on board suddenly listed, capsized and then sank within the space of 90 minutes on Wednesday morning.
"Honestly, I think the chances of finding anyone alive are close to zero," a coastguard official told an AFP journalist on one of the boats at the site.
The coastguard said more than 500 divers, 169 vessels and 29 aircraft were now involved in the rescue operation.
But distraught relatives gathered in a gymnasium on nearby Jindo island insisted more should be done, and vented their frustration when the president came to inspect the rescue effort.
"What are you doing when people are dying? Time is running out!" one woman screamed as Park tried to address the volatile crowd with her security detail standing by nervously.
A total of 375 high school students were on board, travelling with their teachers to the popular island resort of Jeju.
When Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won visited the gymnasium earlier in the day, he was jostled and shouted at, and water bottles were thrown.
- 'Don't run, prime minister!' -
"Don't run away, Mr. Prime Minister!" one mother said, blocking Chung as he tried to leave. "Please tell us what you're planning to do."
The coastguard said 179 people had been rescued.
The tragedy has stunned a country whose rapid modernisation was thought to have consigned such large-scale accidents to the past.
View gallerySouth Korea ferry accident
Updated map showing the area off the south coast of South Korea where a ship carrying 477 people cap …
If the missing are confirmed dead it would become one of South Korea's worst peacetime disasters -- all the more traumatic for the number of children involved.
US President Barack Obama, who will be in Seoul on April 25 and 26, offered his "deepest sympathies" to the victims' families.
"Our hearts ache to see our Korean friends going through such a terrible loss, especially the loss of so many young students," he said.
It was still unclear what caused the 6,825-tonne Sewol to sink.
Numerous passengers spoke of a loud thud and the vessel coming to an abrupt, shuddering halt -- suggesting it had run aground or hit a submerged object.
But the captain, Lee Joon-Seok, who survived and was being questioned by investigators, insisted it had not hit any rocks.
Pulling a hood over his head and face as he was surrounded by camera crews in the coastguard offices, Lee mumbled an apology.
"I feel really sorry for the passengers, victims and families," he said.
Other experts suggested the ferry cargo, which included 150 cars, might have suddenly shifted, irretrievably destabilising the vessel.
Distressing mobile phone footage taken by one survivor showed the panic on board with one woman desperately screaming "The water's coming, the water's coming!"
There was growing public anger over multiple survivor testimony that passengers had been ordered to stay in their seats and cabins when the ferry first foundered.
"We must have waited 30 to 40 minutes after the crew told us to stay put," said one rescued student.
"Then everything tilted over and everyone started screaming and scrambling to get out," he said.
Rescuers said they feared hundreds had been unable to escape the vessel because of the speed at which it overturned.
Regional coastguard commander Kim Soo-Hyun told a press briefing that "investigations were under way" into reports that the captain and crew were among the first to leave the stricken vessel.
Among the confirmed dead were three students, one teacher and a crew member.
Three foreigners -- one Russian and two Chinese -- were listed among the missing.
- Divers 'risking their lives' -
The strength of the currents faced by the divers was underlined by the fact that the ship had drifted several kilometres (miles) since going down.
Chung Dong-Nam, the head of one civilian diving team at the site, said three of his men had to be rescued after being swept out to sea.
"We've tried repeatedly to get into the ship but the waves and currents are too powerful," Chung told the YTN news channel.
"These men are risking their lives."
Before her tense meeting with parents of the missing children, Park took a boat to the rescue site where she appealed to the dive teams to keep working despite the dangers.
"Time is running out. Please hurry," the president said. "If there are survivors, every minute and second is critical."
If the current toll rises as feared, it could end as the nation's biggest disaster since a Seoul department store collapsed in 1995, killing more than 500 people.
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SOURCE: News.Yahoo.com
Monday, April 14, 2014
WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MARY -- A Jesuit Foundation
Mary worship was one of the last false doctrines of Catholicism from which I had to be delivered. From the moment I entered St. Paul’s grade school, I was indoctrinated into the cult of Mary. For the next eight years of Catholic schooling, I would be taught daily prayers to Mary (morning, twice at noon and at the end of the school day). I would be taught songs that glorified Mary and learn the use of rosaries, scapulars, candles, incense and image worship. I can honestly say that I was "saturated" with Mary worship.
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At age six, I had no idea that the masters of mysticism were about to brainwash me or that the same methods used on me would be used on millions of other Catholic children around the world. These masters of mysticism are none other than the Jesuits, the master minds behind Catholic education.
The Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola (himself a mystic given to visions of Mary, often flagellating and cutting himself), are, in the words of Catholic theologian J.Huber (a professor in Munich) in his publication Les Jesuites (1875): "A mixture of piety and diplomacy, asceticism and worldly wisdom, mysticism and cold calculation: as was Loyola’s character, so is the trademark of this Order" ("Secret History of the Jesuits, Edmund Paris, 19).
It is not my purpose to go into the history of the Jesuits, their moral depravity or their numerous crimes against humanity all done "to the glory of God", but more so their teachings, of whom I was a student.
"It is not a Jesuit of old, but a contemporary one who writes: ‘He (the Jesuit) will not forget that the characteristic virtue of the Company is total obedience of the action, the will, and even the judgment...All the superiors will be bound in the same way to higher ones and the Father General to the Holy Father...It was so arranged as to render the Holy See’s authority universally efficacious, and saint Ignatius was sure that teaching and education would henceforth bring back to Catholic unity a Europe torn apart.’ It is with the hope of ‘reforming the world’, wrote Father Bonhours, ‘that he particularly embraced this means: the instruction of youth...’ The education of Paraguay’s natives was done on the same principles the Fathers used to apply, now apply and will apply on everyone and everywhere; their aim, deplored by Mr. Boehmer, but which is ideal to the eyes of those fanatics: the renouncement of all personal judgement, all initiative, a blind submission to the superiors. Is it not that ‘height of freedom’, ‘the liberation from one’s own bondage’ praised by R.P. Rouquette, which we mentioned earlier on? In fact, the good Guaranis [savages] had been ‘liberated’ so well by the Jesuitical method for more than one hundred and fifty years that, when their masters left during the 18th century, they went back into their forests and returned to their ancient customs as if nothing had happened" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 58)(Emphasis mine).
The Jesuits believed that if they could teach the youth they would belong to them forever. They regarded the education of the young as the most important means of achieving this aim, "...for thus could the mind, reason and imagination of innumerable young people, from their first inclination towards independent thought and emotion up to full maturity, be permanently and systematically influenced in the best and most effective manner" ("The Power and Secret of the Jesuits", Rene Fulop-Miller, 404-405). [C.E. NOTE: This emphasis upon the importance of educating the young is a principal tenant of Communism]
O.C. Lambert, who wrote "Catholicism Against Itself", on page 278 of the second volume, recognizes the dangers: "If they [Catholics] can ever get hold of the schools, soon everything else is ruled out. There is no more effective way to make America Catholic than to get control of the schools. THIS IS ALWAYS THEIR FIRST LINE OF EFFORT IN SUBJUGATING A COUNTRY." (Emphasis mine)
"Father" Charmot, in "La Pedagogie des Jesuites", pages 413-17, says: "The pedagogic method of the Company [Jesuits] consists first of all of surrounding the pupils with a great network of prayers ... Let us not be anxious as to where and how mysticism is inserted into education! ... It is not done through a system or artificial technique, but by infiltration, by ‘endosmosis’. The children’s souls are impregnated because of their being in close ‘contact with masters who are literally saturated with it’ " ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 59).
Just these few quotes tell us enough about the principle aim of the Jesuits...their desire to "insert" mysticism into education ...but what mysticism are they talking about? "At the front - it is characteristic of this Order - we find the Virgin Mary. ‘Loyola had made the Virgin the most important thing in his life. The Worship of Mary was the base of his religious devotions and was handed down by him to his Order. This worship developed so much that it was often said, and with good reason, that it was the Jesuits’ real religion’ " [the quote inside the quote is by "Father" Charmot, a Catholic, not a Protestant] ("The Secret History of the Jesuits: Paris, 59).
Loyola himself was convinced that the "Virgin" had coached him through visions and audible voices to draw up "Exercises" which are still practiced today. These exercises of "exterior piety to Mary" were promised "to open heaven’s doors". They consisted of "...giving Mary morning and evening salutations, frequently charging the angels to greet her, expressing the desire to build her more churches that all those built by monarchs put together; carrying day and night a rosary as a bracelet, an image of Mary, etc ...THESE PRACTICES ARE ENOUGH TO ASSURE OUR SALVATION and if the devil, when we are about to die, makes claims on our souls, we just have to remind him that Mary is responsible for us and he must sort things out with her" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 61). (Emphasis mine)
These practices were taught to all Catholic children. But the more extreme actions such as described by "Father" Pemble in the following quote were left to the "holy" men and women who supposedly had reached a perfection we could scarcely hope to attain.
"To beat or flagellate ourselves, and offer each blow as a sacrifice to God through Mary, to carve with a knife the holy name of Mary on our chest: to cover ourselves decently at night so as not to offend the chaste gaze of Mary; to tell the Virgin you would be willing to offer her your place in heaven if she didn’t have her own; to wish you had never been born or go to hell if Mary had not been born; to never eat an apple, as Mary had been kept from the mistake of tasting of it" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 61).
These degenerate "exercises" and forms of worship were cultivated into licentious and sensual expressions in many Jesuits, some of which are too obscene to mention. One hymn dedicated to the Virgin by Jesuit Jacques Pontanus stated: "...He [Jacques] knew of nothing more beautiful than Mary’s breasts, nothing sweeter than her milk and nothing more delightful than her abdomen" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 60).
It’s important to understand that the people behind the education had indeed "saturated" themselves with mysticism and so could more effectively pollute the children they were teaching. Many of the Jesuits experienced mystical visions such as Rodrigue de Gois, who: "...was so enraptured with her [Mary’s] inexpressible beauty that he was seen soaring into the air. A novice of this Order, who died in Rome in 1581, was sustained by the Virgin in his fight against the devil’s temptations; to strengthen him, she gave him a taste of her Son’s blood from time to time and ‘the comfort of her breasts’ " ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 60).
Not only are Catholic children taught Mary worship on a regular basis, but in every subject Catholic propaganda is used to better indoctrinate them, making it even more difficult to escape her bonds. The following paragraph was quoted in a recent concurring opinion by Justices Douglas, Black and Marshall as the Supreme court of the United States, in two cases, June 28, 1971, held by decisions of 8 to 0 and 8 to 1, that State aid to parochial and private schools was unconstitutional.
"In the parochial schools Roman Catholic indoctrination is included in every subject. History, literature, geography, civics, and science are given a Roman Catholic slant. The whole education of the child is filled with propaganda. That, of course, is the very purpose of such schools, the very reason for going to all the work and expense of maintaining a dual school system. Their purpose is not so much to educate, but indoctrinate and train, not to teach Scripture truths and Americanism, but to make loyal Roman Catholics. The children are regimented, and are told what to wear, what to do, and what to think."
As a quick example of this "Catholic slant" let me quote from Christianity in America, "The Catholic Social Studies Series", by Rev. Charles J. Mahoney, Ph.D., on page 220, under the title "The Roots of Frontier Democracy": "This [Democracy] was not a new doctrine; it had been developed in classic form in the Middle Ages by men like St. Thomas Aquinas...The true parents of democracy are the medieval Scholastic philosopher and the American farmer."
This is a blatant lie. Thomas Aquinas never taught democracy -- quite the opposite. He believed that anyone who went against the teachings of Rome should be killed...that doesn’t sound democratic to me. The Church of Rome is totalitarian and blatantly anti-democratic. Just re-read Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors, which is still binding on all Catholics! One view held by our American government and condemned by Pope Pius IX is that: "Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true."
It is obvious that Catholic children are hearing a corrupt and twisted history. The struggle of Protestantism to be free from the chains of tyranny that Rome tried to enslave all humanity under is lost in the retelling in Catholic books. Why tell the truth, as it would shed light on their abominations and atrocities? They were known as the "Home of Forgeries" for seven centuries by the Greeks. "These forgeries made it seem that his [Pope Gregory VII] absolutist claims were based on ancient records zealously kept in the Rome archives. Whenever they [Greeks] tried talking with Rome, the popes brought out forged documents, even papal additions to Council documents, which the Greeks, naturally, had never seen...Many earlier documents were touched up to make them say the opposite of what they said originally" ("Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy", Peter De Rosa, 58-59).
If unbiased history were taught, Rome would be exposed as a fraud; therefore she continues to deceive her students with false information, and works zealously to get public funding for this deception.
A most interesting observation is made by Loraine Boettner in his book, "Roman Catholicism":
"Most of the teaching in the parochial schools is done by the nuns. They teach the children to revere and worship the Virgin Mary and to trust in images and rosaries whether they know anything about faith in Christ or not. All nuns are under solemn vows to promote their religion in every course they teach. They work, year in and year out, without receiving anything more than their board and keep, and without the personal freedom that every American has the right to enjoy. They are kept in abject poverty, while money flows freely to the priests, bishops, and especially to the Vatican in Rome" (360-361).
It is the heart of Jesuitism to cause all to come under subjection to the Pope; therefore it is to the hierarchy’s advantage to have their servants teaching the children to become servants like themselves. I know. I wanted to be a nun throughout all my grade school years. Using this kind of mental seduction has caused many young men and women to enter the convent or priesthood only to find themselves ridden with guilt for daring to think for themselves and many end up committing suicide. A friend’s sister came home from the convent during the holidays and shot herself. Few knew why.
Many fellow Christians will find it hard to witness to a Catholic because all Catholics were "saturated by mysticism" using the same techniques Hitler used on his youth and on his SS. Yes, it was Jesuit techniques that Hitler so admired, "...Ecclesiasticism without Christianity, the discipline of a monastic rule, not for God’s sake or in order to achieve personal salvation but for the sake of the State and for the greater glory and power of the demagogue turned leader - this was the goal for which the systematic moving of the masses was to lead" ("Brave New World Revisited", Huxley, 44-45).
As Hermann Rauschning in 1939 wrote: "Hitler has a deep respect for the Catholic church and the Jesuit order; not because of their Christian doctrine, but because of the ‘machinery’ they have elaborated and controlled, their hierarchical system, their extremely clever tactics, their knowledge of human nature and their wise use of human weaknesses in ruling over believers."
These same techniques are used on Democratic children in America to this day! How well our early Founding Fathers of America discerned the dangers of the Jesuits. John Adams, as early as 1816 wrote to his successor Thomas Jefferson: "I do not like the reappearance of the Jesuits ...Shall we not have regular swarms of them here, in as many disguises as only a king of the gypsies can assume, dressed as printers, publishers, writers and schoolmasters? If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of Loyola’s. Nevertheless, we are compelled by our system of religious toleration to offer them an asylum...." ("The Power and Secret of the Jesuits", Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
Thomas Jefferson replied to his predecessor: "Like you, I disapprove of the restoration of the Jesuits, for it means a step backward from light into darkness...." ("The Power and Secret of the Jesuits", Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
And darkness it is. A Catholic parent is pressured to send his/her children to the Catholic school.
"Canon Law 1374 denies freedom of choice to Roman Catholic parents in regards to schools, and say that they must send their children to parochial school under pain of mortal sin unless excused from doing so by the bishop" ("Roman Catholicism", Boettner, 358) (Emphasis mine).
In "Roman Catholicism", pages 358-359, Boettner points out that parents have no choice, no rights at all as regards teachers, texts, or methods of instruction by Catholic Canon Law 1381:
"In all schools the religious training of the young is subject to the authority and inspection of the Catholic Church" (i.e., the priest or bishop).
"It is the right and duty of the Bishops to take care that nothing is taught or done against the Faith or sound morals in any school in their territory."
"The Bishops have also the right to approve the teachers of religion and the textbooks and further to require that texts be dropped or teachers removed, when the good of religion or morality demands this action."
We entered Catholic school at the request of the priest, who said it was bad enough that we were living in a God-forsaken town ( Greentown was primarily Protestant). "The fact is that the parochial school has been promoted primarily by the priests and bishops as a means of keeping the children of their church separate from Protestant children and from public school influences during their formative years, the better to indoctrinate and control them" ("Roman Catholicism", Boettner, 359).
In all the Jesuit’s methods of control to form our minds in complete obedience to Rome, they have only one thing to fear -- the Word of God. That’s why they have worked overtime putting out "new and better" versions. They know from experience of history that the "...word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb.4:12)
From the moment that Jesus circumcised my heart (Deut.30:6) to hear His Word, the control Catholicism had over me diminished, until it eventually lost all holds. I have escaped Rome, but left behind me are millions like me who were given a Jesuit foundation. If you wish to witness to a Catholic, be prepared for a struggle, for we are in a war, a spiritual war. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph.6:12)
These high places are not only the Vatican and her Jesuit army, but also any denomination that has broken with her, yet still retains any of her blasphemous doctrines or practices. Yes, they have their army and use education and indoctrination against our youth, turning church and school into a battleground. Our strength lies in the knowledge that the "...battle is the Lord’s...."(I Sam.17:47) and that it is "...not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Zech.4:6)
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor.4:6)
by Rebecca Sexton, Former Catholics For Christ
Source: CuttingEdge.org
At age six, I had no idea that the masters of mysticism were about to brainwash me or that the same methods used on me would be used on millions of other Catholic children around the world. These masters of mysticism are none other than the Jesuits, the master minds behind Catholic education.
The Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola (himself a mystic given to visions of Mary, often flagellating and cutting himself), are, in the words of Catholic theologian J.Huber (a professor in Munich) in his publication Les Jesuites (1875): "A mixture of piety and diplomacy, asceticism and worldly wisdom, mysticism and cold calculation: as was Loyola’s character, so is the trademark of this Order" ("Secret History of the Jesuits, Edmund Paris, 19).
It is not my purpose to go into the history of the Jesuits, their moral depravity or their numerous crimes against humanity all done "to the glory of God", but more so their teachings, of whom I was a student.
"It is not a Jesuit of old, but a contemporary one who writes: ‘He (the Jesuit) will not forget that the characteristic virtue of the Company is total obedience of the action, the will, and even the judgment...All the superiors will be bound in the same way to higher ones and the Father General to the Holy Father...It was so arranged as to render the Holy See’s authority universally efficacious, and saint Ignatius was sure that teaching and education would henceforth bring back to Catholic unity a Europe torn apart.’ It is with the hope of ‘reforming the world’, wrote Father Bonhours, ‘that he particularly embraced this means: the instruction of youth...’ The education of Paraguay’s natives was done on the same principles the Fathers used to apply, now apply and will apply on everyone and everywhere; their aim, deplored by Mr. Boehmer, but which is ideal to the eyes of those fanatics: the renouncement of all personal judgement, all initiative, a blind submission to the superiors. Is it not that ‘height of freedom’, ‘the liberation from one’s own bondage’ praised by R.P. Rouquette, which we mentioned earlier on? In fact, the good Guaranis [savages] had been ‘liberated’ so well by the Jesuitical method for more than one hundred and fifty years that, when their masters left during the 18th century, they went back into their forests and returned to their ancient customs as if nothing had happened" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 58)(Emphasis mine).
The Jesuits believed that if they could teach the youth they would belong to them forever. They regarded the education of the young as the most important means of achieving this aim, "...for thus could the mind, reason and imagination of innumerable young people, from their first inclination towards independent thought and emotion up to full maturity, be permanently and systematically influenced in the best and most effective manner" ("The Power and Secret of the Jesuits", Rene Fulop-Miller, 404-405). [C.E. NOTE: This emphasis upon the importance of educating the young is a principal tenant of Communism]
O.C. Lambert, who wrote "Catholicism Against Itself", on page 278 of the second volume, recognizes the dangers: "If they [Catholics] can ever get hold of the schools, soon everything else is ruled out. There is no more effective way to make America Catholic than to get control of the schools. THIS IS ALWAYS THEIR FIRST LINE OF EFFORT IN SUBJUGATING A COUNTRY." (Emphasis mine)
"Father" Charmot, in "La Pedagogie des Jesuites", pages 413-17, says: "The pedagogic method of the Company [Jesuits] consists first of all of surrounding the pupils with a great network of prayers ... Let us not be anxious as to where and how mysticism is inserted into education! ... It is not done through a system or artificial technique, but by infiltration, by ‘endosmosis’. The children’s souls are impregnated because of their being in close ‘contact with masters who are literally saturated with it’ " ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 59).
Just these few quotes tell us enough about the principle aim of the Jesuits...their desire to "insert" mysticism into education ...but what mysticism are they talking about? "At the front - it is characteristic of this Order - we find the Virgin Mary. ‘Loyola had made the Virgin the most important thing in his life. The Worship of Mary was the base of his religious devotions and was handed down by him to his Order. This worship developed so much that it was often said, and with good reason, that it was the Jesuits’ real religion’ " [the quote inside the quote is by "Father" Charmot, a Catholic, not a Protestant] ("The Secret History of the Jesuits: Paris, 59).
Loyola himself was convinced that the "Virgin" had coached him through visions and audible voices to draw up "Exercises" which are still practiced today. These exercises of "exterior piety to Mary" were promised "to open heaven’s doors". They consisted of "...giving Mary morning and evening salutations, frequently charging the angels to greet her, expressing the desire to build her more churches that all those built by monarchs put together; carrying day and night a rosary as a bracelet, an image of Mary, etc ...THESE PRACTICES ARE ENOUGH TO ASSURE OUR SALVATION and if the devil, when we are about to die, makes claims on our souls, we just have to remind him that Mary is responsible for us and he must sort things out with her" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 61). (Emphasis mine)
These practices were taught to all Catholic children. But the more extreme actions such as described by "Father" Pemble in the following quote were left to the "holy" men and women who supposedly had reached a perfection we could scarcely hope to attain.
"To beat or flagellate ourselves, and offer each blow as a sacrifice to God through Mary, to carve with a knife the holy name of Mary on our chest: to cover ourselves decently at night so as not to offend the chaste gaze of Mary; to tell the Virgin you would be willing to offer her your place in heaven if she didn’t have her own; to wish you had never been born or go to hell if Mary had not been born; to never eat an apple, as Mary had been kept from the mistake of tasting of it" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 61).
These degenerate "exercises" and forms of worship were cultivated into licentious and sensual expressions in many Jesuits, some of which are too obscene to mention. One hymn dedicated to the Virgin by Jesuit Jacques Pontanus stated: "...He [Jacques] knew of nothing more beautiful than Mary’s breasts, nothing sweeter than her milk and nothing more delightful than her abdomen" ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 60).
It’s important to understand that the people behind the education had indeed "saturated" themselves with mysticism and so could more effectively pollute the children they were teaching. Many of the Jesuits experienced mystical visions such as Rodrigue de Gois, who: "...was so enraptured with her [Mary’s] inexpressible beauty that he was seen soaring into the air. A novice of this Order, who died in Rome in 1581, was sustained by the Virgin in his fight against the devil’s temptations; to strengthen him, she gave him a taste of her Son’s blood from time to time and ‘the comfort of her breasts’ " ("The Secret History of the Jesuits", Paris, 60).
Not only are Catholic children taught Mary worship on a regular basis, but in every subject Catholic propaganda is used to better indoctrinate them, making it even more difficult to escape her bonds. The following paragraph was quoted in a recent concurring opinion by Justices Douglas, Black and Marshall as the Supreme court of the United States, in two cases, June 28, 1971, held by decisions of 8 to 0 and 8 to 1, that State aid to parochial and private schools was unconstitutional.
"In the parochial schools Roman Catholic indoctrination is included in every subject. History, literature, geography, civics, and science are given a Roman Catholic slant. The whole education of the child is filled with propaganda. That, of course, is the very purpose of such schools, the very reason for going to all the work and expense of maintaining a dual school system. Their purpose is not so much to educate, but indoctrinate and train, not to teach Scripture truths and Americanism, but to make loyal Roman Catholics. The children are regimented, and are told what to wear, what to do, and what to think."
As a quick example of this "Catholic slant" let me quote from Christianity in America, "The Catholic Social Studies Series", by Rev. Charles J. Mahoney, Ph.D., on page 220, under the title "The Roots of Frontier Democracy": "This [Democracy] was not a new doctrine; it had been developed in classic form in the Middle Ages by men like St. Thomas Aquinas...The true parents of democracy are the medieval Scholastic philosopher and the American farmer."
This is a blatant lie. Thomas Aquinas never taught democracy -- quite the opposite. He believed that anyone who went against the teachings of Rome should be killed...that doesn’t sound democratic to me. The Church of Rome is totalitarian and blatantly anti-democratic. Just re-read Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors, which is still binding on all Catholics! One view held by our American government and condemned by Pope Pius IX is that: "Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true."
It is obvious that Catholic children are hearing a corrupt and twisted history. The struggle of Protestantism to be free from the chains of tyranny that Rome tried to enslave all humanity under is lost in the retelling in Catholic books. Why tell the truth, as it would shed light on their abominations and atrocities? They were known as the "Home of Forgeries" for seven centuries by the Greeks. "These forgeries made it seem that his [Pope Gregory VII] absolutist claims were based on ancient records zealously kept in the Rome archives. Whenever they [Greeks] tried talking with Rome, the popes brought out forged documents, even papal additions to Council documents, which the Greeks, naturally, had never seen...Many earlier documents were touched up to make them say the opposite of what they said originally" ("Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy", Peter De Rosa, 58-59).
If unbiased history were taught, Rome would be exposed as a fraud; therefore she continues to deceive her students with false information, and works zealously to get public funding for this deception.
A most interesting observation is made by Loraine Boettner in his book, "Roman Catholicism":
"Most of the teaching in the parochial schools is done by the nuns. They teach the children to revere and worship the Virgin Mary and to trust in images and rosaries whether they know anything about faith in Christ or not. All nuns are under solemn vows to promote their religion in every course they teach. They work, year in and year out, without receiving anything more than their board and keep, and without the personal freedom that every American has the right to enjoy. They are kept in abject poverty, while money flows freely to the priests, bishops, and especially to the Vatican in Rome" (360-361).
It is the heart of Jesuitism to cause all to come under subjection to the Pope; therefore it is to the hierarchy’s advantage to have their servants teaching the children to become servants like themselves. I know. I wanted to be a nun throughout all my grade school years. Using this kind of mental seduction has caused many young men and women to enter the convent or priesthood only to find themselves ridden with guilt for daring to think for themselves and many end up committing suicide. A friend’s sister came home from the convent during the holidays and shot herself. Few knew why.
Many fellow Christians will find it hard to witness to a Catholic because all Catholics were "saturated by mysticism" using the same techniques Hitler used on his youth and on his SS. Yes, it was Jesuit techniques that Hitler so admired, "...Ecclesiasticism without Christianity, the discipline of a monastic rule, not for God’s sake or in order to achieve personal salvation but for the sake of the State and for the greater glory and power of the demagogue turned leader - this was the goal for which the systematic moving of the masses was to lead" ("Brave New World Revisited", Huxley, 44-45).
As Hermann Rauschning in 1939 wrote: "Hitler has a deep respect for the Catholic church and the Jesuit order; not because of their Christian doctrine, but because of the ‘machinery’ they have elaborated and controlled, their hierarchical system, their extremely clever tactics, their knowledge of human nature and their wise use of human weaknesses in ruling over believers."
These same techniques are used on Democratic children in America to this day! How well our early Founding Fathers of America discerned the dangers of the Jesuits. John Adams, as early as 1816 wrote to his successor Thomas Jefferson: "I do not like the reappearance of the Jesuits ...Shall we not have regular swarms of them here, in as many disguises as only a king of the gypsies can assume, dressed as printers, publishers, writers and schoolmasters? If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of Loyola’s. Nevertheless, we are compelled by our system of religious toleration to offer them an asylum...." ("The Power and Secret of the Jesuits", Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
Thomas Jefferson replied to his predecessor: "Like you, I disapprove of the restoration of the Jesuits, for it means a step backward from light into darkness...." ("The Power and Secret of the Jesuits", Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
And darkness it is. A Catholic parent is pressured to send his/her children to the Catholic school.
"Canon Law 1374 denies freedom of choice to Roman Catholic parents in regards to schools, and say that they must send their children to parochial school under pain of mortal sin unless excused from doing so by the bishop" ("Roman Catholicism", Boettner, 358) (Emphasis mine).
In "Roman Catholicism", pages 358-359, Boettner points out that parents have no choice, no rights at all as regards teachers, texts, or methods of instruction by Catholic Canon Law 1381:
"In all schools the religious training of the young is subject to the authority and inspection of the Catholic Church" (i.e., the priest or bishop).
"It is the right and duty of the Bishops to take care that nothing is taught or done against the Faith or sound morals in any school in their territory."
"The Bishops have also the right to approve the teachers of religion and the textbooks and further to require that texts be dropped or teachers removed, when the good of religion or morality demands this action."
We entered Catholic school at the request of the priest, who said it was bad enough that we were living in a God-forsaken town ( Greentown was primarily Protestant). "The fact is that the parochial school has been promoted primarily by the priests and bishops as a means of keeping the children of their church separate from Protestant children and from public school influences during their formative years, the better to indoctrinate and control them" ("Roman Catholicism", Boettner, 359).
In all the Jesuit’s methods of control to form our minds in complete obedience to Rome, they have only one thing to fear -- the Word of God. That’s why they have worked overtime putting out "new and better" versions. They know from experience of history that the "...word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb.4:12)
From the moment that Jesus circumcised my heart (Deut.30:6) to hear His Word, the control Catholicism had over me diminished, until it eventually lost all holds. I have escaped Rome, but left behind me are millions like me who were given a Jesuit foundation. If you wish to witness to a Catholic, be prepared for a struggle, for we are in a war, a spiritual war. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph.6:12)
These high places are not only the Vatican and her Jesuit army, but also any denomination that has broken with her, yet still retains any of her blasphemous doctrines or practices. Yes, they have their army and use education and indoctrination against our youth, turning church and school into a battleground. Our strength lies in the knowledge that the "...battle is the Lord’s...."(I Sam.17:47) and that it is "...not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Zech.4:6)
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor.4:6)
by Rebecca Sexton, Former Catholics For Christ
Source: CuttingEdge.org
Saturday, April 12, 2014
The Power and Influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines
“The Philippines was dilapidated, looted and now an impoverished nation because of the conspiracies made by some elite peoples, priests and nuns that are controlled by the Jesuits. Today, political crisis & intrigues, social agitations, street marches-protests-rallies, and rebellions are very common in the Republic of the Philippines. These arenas are the expertise of the Jesuit Order.”
There are people who blame the Jews for the world’s problems. In Catholic countries like Spain, anticlericals blame the Catholic Church for the country’s problems. When I lived in Spain, it was in particular the Jesuits to whom all problems were attributed. Was the streetcar service in Madrid bad? Blame the Jesuits!! Actually,I found out later that the Jesuits did own the Madrid street car system. This Jesuitphobis is an old story;I take it up in one of my studies of the well known writer.
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Shocking testimonies from the late Dr. Rivera (a former Jesuit priest) during their secret ceremonies “Black Mass” that the Jesuit General Pedro Arrupe wears a ring symbolizing that the Jesuit General himself is the Supreme Leader of communism in the world. The Jesuit Order also supported the Bolshevik Revolution. Manny hidden historical writings that the Federal Reserve financed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia via Council Of Foreign Relations. The very reason, Jesuit Father Edmund A. Walsh was present in Russia busy woking catholic church properties affected by the Bolshevik Revolution. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo graduated from the Edmund Walsh School Of Foreign Service at Georgetown Univesity in Washington, D.C. and classmate of former US President Bill Clinton. Suprisingly, Jesuit Father Romeo Intengan is the secret spiritual advisor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. And that Fr. Romeo Intengan, S.J. is the Jesuit Provincial Head directly reporting to the Jesuit General Peter Hans-Kolvenbach.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of The Philippines (CBCP) headed by Archbishop Fernando Capalla has direct control or even direct supervision of the Philippine Jesuit Foundation. These are separate entities although under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Church. The CBCP is conservative while the Jesuit Foundation is liberal. Former senator Ninoy Aquino who was assassinated and Jesuit Father Romeo Intengan were both imprisoned during the Marcos regime. Suprisingly, Fr. Romeo Intengan, one of the founders of the Partido Demokratiko-Sosyalista Ng Pilipinas of which Ninoy Aquino is a member, together with Norberto Gonzales, are Ateneans (Jesuit Ateneo de Manila). Ninoy Aquino is the husband of Cory Aquino, who become president and was very close to the late Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin. Norberto Gonzales is now President Arroyo’s National Security Secretary. Jaime Cardinal Sin owned the San Juan De Dios Hospital in Pasay City on the heart of Manila, where you will find Jaime Cardinal Sin Building.
It was former president Cory Aquino who allowed Bishop Teodoro Bacani, Sister Christene Tan and Fr. Joaquin Bernas (Jesuit Priest Of Ateneo as Constitutionalist) to participate in the amendments of our beloved 1987 Philippine Constitution. I thought that there was a separation of church and state.
Professor Francisco Ramirez (a proud Filipino) is indeed correct. The Univesity Of Santo Thomas (UST) is owned by the Dominican Order. UST is called “PAPAL UNIVERSITY IN THE PHILIPPINES”. However, the Ateneo de Manila is owned by the Jesuit Order. When Pope Clement XIV issued a Papal Bull in 1773 abolishing the Jesuit Order, the Ateneo de Manila was temporarily suspended. Pope Clement XIV was assassinated by the Jesuits using a”Poison Cup” and many Dominican friars in France were killed by the Jacobins for siding with Pope Clement XIV. When the Jesuit Order was re-established, the Ateneo de Manila was again back in normal operation. The Dominicans will not touch again the properties of the Jesuit Order.
It is believed that the Loyola Memorial Park Cemetery in the Philippines is owned by the Catholic Church. A cemetery only for rich and famous filipino families.
The Jesuit Order is the real order that controls the Freemasons Secret Society. This is the reason Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaignwas supported by the Masonic Lodges Of The Philippines. The former Philipine National Police (PNP) Director-General (Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane is a Masonic Master). Now the present PNP Dir. Gen. Aturo Lomibao & PNP NCR Chief Gen. Vidal Querol are also members of Masonic Lodges together with Ebdane. The Gloria-Gate Scandal “Wire-Tapped Tele-Conversation” between Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and Pres. Arroyo was tapped by the ISAFP – Intelligence Service Armed Forces Of The Philippines. Former National Bureau Of Investigation (NBI) official Atty. Samuel Ong kept the alledge mother of all tapes. Atty. Ong together with ISAFP Sgt. Doble found safe haven at the San Carlos Seminarista in Gudalupe, Makati City. There, Atty. Samuel Ong handed over the mother of all tape to Roman Catholic Bishop Teodoro Bacani. While Father Robert Reyes is standing in vigil outside the gate of the San Carlos Seminarista and the PNP Policemen can’t enter.This shows how powerful the Catholic Church is in the Philippines.
Bobby Limeta (Historian)
SOURCE: THE WATCHMAN'S CRY.
There are people who blame the Jews for the world’s problems. In Catholic countries like Spain, anticlericals blame the Catholic Church for the country’s problems. When I lived in Spain, it was in particular the Jesuits to whom all problems were attributed. Was the streetcar service in Madrid bad? Blame the Jesuits!! Actually,I found out later that the Jesuits did own the Madrid street car system. This Jesuitphobis is an old story;I take it up in one of my studies of the well known writer.
- The re-opening of Manila Cathedral is another significant event in our country. We are not unaware that this building is nothing but a landmark of the past Hispanic Suppression in our nation using Romanism. For centuries our people have been deceived by this religion. These remnants of the Spanish Conquests of the 16th century has now become the dominants secretly using religion. There is nothing new about this false religion but money making business, pedophilia, suppression of the poor and deprivation of the mostly impoverished uneducated masses of our country, who are trying their best to make a living out of scrap and refuse of the rich Masonic-Jesuit-Illuminati controlled government Philippino oligarchy elite minority believing in so-called Philippinism of the Jesuit-Illuminati Education. Romanism has not changed since the Spanish conquest but they have become more powerful in our country and their deceptions has tripled and even reached a higher level. We shouldn't be ignorant that both Romanists and Islamists are partners in crime to forge their way for a one world government here in the PH.
Shocking testimonies from the late Dr. Rivera (a former Jesuit priest) during their secret ceremonies “Black Mass” that the Jesuit General Pedro Arrupe wears a ring symbolizing that the Jesuit General himself is the Supreme Leader of communism in the world. The Jesuit Order also supported the Bolshevik Revolution. Manny hidden historical writings that the Federal Reserve financed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia via Council Of Foreign Relations. The very reason, Jesuit Father Edmund A. Walsh was present in Russia busy woking catholic church properties affected by the Bolshevik Revolution. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo graduated from the Edmund Walsh School Of Foreign Service at Georgetown Univesity in Washington, D.C. and classmate of former US President Bill Clinton. Suprisingly, Jesuit Father Romeo Intengan is the secret spiritual advisor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. And that Fr. Romeo Intengan, S.J. is the Jesuit Provincial Head directly reporting to the Jesuit General Peter Hans-Kolvenbach.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of The Philippines (CBCP) headed by Archbishop Fernando Capalla has direct control or even direct supervision of the Philippine Jesuit Foundation. These are separate entities although under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Church. The CBCP is conservative while the Jesuit Foundation is liberal. Former senator Ninoy Aquino who was assassinated and Jesuit Father Romeo Intengan were both imprisoned during the Marcos regime. Suprisingly, Fr. Romeo Intengan, one of the founders of the Partido Demokratiko-Sosyalista Ng Pilipinas of which Ninoy Aquino is a member, together with Norberto Gonzales, are Ateneans (Jesuit Ateneo de Manila). Ninoy Aquino is the husband of Cory Aquino, who become president and was very close to the late Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin. Norberto Gonzales is now President Arroyo’s National Security Secretary. Jaime Cardinal Sin owned the San Juan De Dios Hospital in Pasay City on the heart of Manila, where you will find Jaime Cardinal Sin Building.
It was former president Cory Aquino who allowed Bishop Teodoro Bacani, Sister Christene Tan and Fr. Joaquin Bernas (Jesuit Priest Of Ateneo as Constitutionalist) to participate in the amendments of our beloved 1987 Philippine Constitution. I thought that there was a separation of church and state.
Professor Francisco Ramirez (a proud Filipino) is indeed correct. The Univesity Of Santo Thomas (UST) is owned by the Dominican Order. UST is called “PAPAL UNIVERSITY IN THE PHILIPPINES”. However, the Ateneo de Manila is owned by the Jesuit Order. When Pope Clement XIV issued a Papal Bull in 1773 abolishing the Jesuit Order, the Ateneo de Manila was temporarily suspended. Pope Clement XIV was assassinated by the Jesuits using a”Poison Cup” and many Dominican friars in France were killed by the Jacobins for siding with Pope Clement XIV. When the Jesuit Order was re-established, the Ateneo de Manila was again back in normal operation. The Dominicans will not touch again the properties of the Jesuit Order.
It is believed that the Loyola Memorial Park Cemetery in the Philippines is owned by the Catholic Church. A cemetery only for rich and famous filipino families.
The Jesuit Order is the real order that controls the Freemasons Secret Society. This is the reason Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaignwas supported by the Masonic Lodges Of The Philippines. The former Philipine National Police (PNP) Director-General (Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane is a Masonic Master). Now the present PNP Dir. Gen. Aturo Lomibao & PNP NCR Chief Gen. Vidal Querol are also members of Masonic Lodges together with Ebdane. The Gloria-Gate Scandal “Wire-Tapped Tele-Conversation” between Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and Pres. Arroyo was tapped by the ISAFP – Intelligence Service Armed Forces Of The Philippines. Former National Bureau Of Investigation (NBI) official Atty. Samuel Ong kept the alledge mother of all tapes. Atty. Ong together with ISAFP Sgt. Doble found safe haven at the San Carlos Seminarista in Gudalupe, Makati City. There, Atty. Samuel Ong handed over the mother of all tape to Roman Catholic Bishop Teodoro Bacani. While Father Robert Reyes is standing in vigil outside the gate of the San Carlos Seminarista and the PNP Policemen can’t enter.This shows how powerful the Catholic Church is in the Philippines.
Bobby Limeta (Historian)
SOURCE: THE WATCHMAN'S CRY.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
How to Spend the Day With God
adapted and updated from RICHARD BAXTER (1615-1691)
by Matthew Vogan
A holy life is inclined to be made easier when we know the usual sequence and method of our duties - with everything falling into its proper place. Therefore, I shall give some brief directions for spending the day in a holy manner.
Sleep
Measure the time of your sleep appropriately so that you do not waste your precious morning hours sluggishly in your bed. Let the time of your sleep be matched to your health and labour, and not to slothful pleasure.
First Thoughts
Let God have your first awaking thoughts; lift up your hearts to Him reverently and thankfully for the rest enjoyed the night before and cast yourself upon Him for the day which follows.
Familiarise yourself so consistently to this that your conscience may check you when common thoughts shall first intrude. Think of the mercy of a night's rest and of how many that have spent that night in Hell; how many in prison; how many in cold, hard lodgings; how many suffering from agonising pains and sickness, weary of their beds and of their lives.
Think of how many souls were that night called from their bodies terrifyingly to appear before God and think how quickly days and nights are rolling on! How speedily your last night and day will come! Observe that which is lacking in the preparedness of your soul for such a time and seek it without delay.
Prayer
Let prayer by yourself alone (or with your partner) take place before the collective prayer of the family. If possible let it be first, before any work of the day.
Family Worship
Let family worship be performed consistently and at a time when it is most likely for the family to be free of interruptions.
Ultimate Purpose
Remember your ultimate purpose, and when you set yourself to your day's work or approach any activity in the world, let HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon your hearts in all that you do.
Do no activity which you cannot entitle God to, and truly say that he set you about it, and do nothing in the world for any other ultimate purpose than to please, glorify and enjoy Him. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Diligence in Your Calling
Follow the tasks of your calling carefully and diligently. Thus:
(a) You will show that you are not sluggish and servants to your flesh (as those that cannot deny it ease), and you will further the putting to death of all the fleshly lusts and desires that are fed by ease and idleness.
(b) You will keep out idle thoughts from your mind, that swarm in the minds of idle persons.
(c) You will not lose precious time, something that idle persons are daily guilty of.
(d) You will be in a way of obedience to God when the slothful are in constant sins of omission.
(e) You may have more time to spend in holy duties if you follow your occupation diligently. Idle persons have no time for praying and reading because they lose time by loitering at their work.
(f) You may expect God's blessing and comfortable provision for both yourself and your families.
(g) it may also encourage the health of your body which will increase its competence for the service of your soul.
Temptations and Things That Corrupt
Be thoroughly acquainted with your temptations and the things that may corrupt you - and watch against them all day long. You should watch especially the most dangerous of the things that corrupt, and those temptations that either your company or business will unavoidably lay before you.
Watch against the master sins of unbelief: hypocrisy, selfishness, pride, flesh pleasing and the excessive love of earthly things. Take care against being drawn into earthly mindedness and excessive cares, or covetous designs for rising in the world, under the pretence of diligence in your calling.
If you are to trade or deal with others, be vigilant against selfishness and all that smacks of injustice or uncharitableness. In all your dealings with others, watch against the temptation of empty and idle talking. Watch also against those persons who would tempt you to anger. Maintain that modesty and cleanness of speech that the laws of purity require. If you converse with flatterers, be on your guard against swelling pride.
If you converse with those that despise and injure you, strengthen yourself against impatient, revengeful pride.
At first these things will be very difficult, while sin has any strength in you, but once you have grasped a continual awareness of the poisonous danger of any one of these sins, your heart will readily and easily avoid them.
Meditation
When alone in your occupations, improve the time in practical and beneficial meditations. Meditate upon the infinite goodness and perfections of God; Christ and redemption; Heaven and how unworthy you are of going there and how you deserve eternal misery in Hell.
The Only Motive
Whatever you are doing, in company or alone, do it all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Otherwise, it is unacceptable to God.
Redeeming The Time
Place a high value upon your time, be more careful of not losing it than you would of losing your money. Do not let worthless recreations, television, idle talk, unprofitable company, or sleep rob you of your precious time.
Be more careful to escape that person, action or course of life that would rob you of your time than you would be to escape thieves and robbers.
Make sure that you are not merely never idle, but rather that you are using your time in the most profitable way that you can and do not prefer a less profitable way before one of greater profit.
Eating and Drinking
Eat and drink with moderation and thankfulness for health, not for unprofitable pleasure. Never please your appetite in food or drink when it is prone to be detrimental to your health.
Remember the sin of Sodom: "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness" - Ezekiel 16:49.
The Apostle Paul wept when he mentioned those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame -- who set their minds on earthly things, being enemies to the cross of Christ" - Philippians 3:18-19. O then do not live according to the flesh lest you die (Romans 8:13).
Prevailing Sins
If any temptation prevails against you and you fall into any sins in addition to habitual failures, immediately lament it and confess it to God; repent quickly whatever the cost. It will certainly cost you more if you continue in sin and remain unrepentant.
Do not make light of your habitual failures, but confess them and daily strive against them, taking care not to aggravate them by unrepentance and contempt.
Relationships
Remember every day the special duties of various relationships: whether as husbands, wives, children, masters, servants, pastors, people, magistrates, subjects.
Remember every relationship has its special duty and its advantage for the doing of some good. God requires your faithfulness in this matter as well as in any other duty.
Closing the Day
Before returning to sleep, it is wise and necessary to review the actions and mercies of the day past, so that you may be thankful for all the special mercies and humbled for all your sins.
This is necessary in order that you might renew your repentance as well as your resolve for obedience, and in order that you may examine yourself to see whether your soul grew better or worse, whether sin goes down and grace goes up and whether you are better prepared for suffering, death and eternity.
May these directions be engraven upon your mind and be made the daily practice of your life.
If sincerely adhered to, these will be conducive to the holiness, fruitfulness and quietness of your life and add to you a comfortable and peaceful death.
Source: Puritansermons.com
by Matthew Vogan
A holy life is inclined to be made easier when we know the usual sequence and method of our duties - with everything falling into its proper place. Therefore, I shall give some brief directions for spending the day in a holy manner.
Sleep
Measure the time of your sleep appropriately so that you do not waste your precious morning hours sluggishly in your bed. Let the time of your sleep be matched to your health and labour, and not to slothful pleasure.
First Thoughts
Let God have your first awaking thoughts; lift up your hearts to Him reverently and thankfully for the rest enjoyed the night before and cast yourself upon Him for the day which follows.
Familiarise yourself so consistently to this that your conscience may check you when common thoughts shall first intrude. Think of the mercy of a night's rest and of how many that have spent that night in Hell; how many in prison; how many in cold, hard lodgings; how many suffering from agonising pains and sickness, weary of their beds and of their lives.
Think of how many souls were that night called from their bodies terrifyingly to appear before God and think how quickly days and nights are rolling on! How speedily your last night and day will come! Observe that which is lacking in the preparedness of your soul for such a time and seek it without delay.
Prayer
Let prayer by yourself alone (or with your partner) take place before the collective prayer of the family. If possible let it be first, before any work of the day.
Family Worship
Let family worship be performed consistently and at a time when it is most likely for the family to be free of interruptions.
Ultimate Purpose
Remember your ultimate purpose, and when you set yourself to your day's work or approach any activity in the world, let HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon your hearts in all that you do.
Do no activity which you cannot entitle God to, and truly say that he set you about it, and do nothing in the world for any other ultimate purpose than to please, glorify and enjoy Him. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Diligence in Your Calling
Follow the tasks of your calling carefully and diligently. Thus:
(a) You will show that you are not sluggish and servants to your flesh (as those that cannot deny it ease), and you will further the putting to death of all the fleshly lusts and desires that are fed by ease and idleness.
(b) You will keep out idle thoughts from your mind, that swarm in the minds of idle persons.
(c) You will not lose precious time, something that idle persons are daily guilty of.
(d) You will be in a way of obedience to God when the slothful are in constant sins of omission.
(e) You may have more time to spend in holy duties if you follow your occupation diligently. Idle persons have no time for praying and reading because they lose time by loitering at their work.
(f) You may expect God's blessing and comfortable provision for both yourself and your families.
(g) it may also encourage the health of your body which will increase its competence for the service of your soul.
Temptations and Things That Corrupt
Be thoroughly acquainted with your temptations and the things that may corrupt you - and watch against them all day long. You should watch especially the most dangerous of the things that corrupt, and those temptations that either your company or business will unavoidably lay before you.
Watch against the master sins of unbelief: hypocrisy, selfishness, pride, flesh pleasing and the excessive love of earthly things. Take care against being drawn into earthly mindedness and excessive cares, or covetous designs for rising in the world, under the pretence of diligence in your calling.
If you are to trade or deal with others, be vigilant against selfishness and all that smacks of injustice or uncharitableness. In all your dealings with others, watch against the temptation of empty and idle talking. Watch also against those persons who would tempt you to anger. Maintain that modesty and cleanness of speech that the laws of purity require. If you converse with flatterers, be on your guard against swelling pride.
If you converse with those that despise and injure you, strengthen yourself against impatient, revengeful pride.
At first these things will be very difficult, while sin has any strength in you, but once you have grasped a continual awareness of the poisonous danger of any one of these sins, your heart will readily and easily avoid them.
Meditation
When alone in your occupations, improve the time in practical and beneficial meditations. Meditate upon the infinite goodness and perfections of God; Christ and redemption; Heaven and how unworthy you are of going there and how you deserve eternal misery in Hell.
The Only Motive
Whatever you are doing, in company or alone, do it all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Otherwise, it is unacceptable to God.
Redeeming The Time
Place a high value upon your time, be more careful of not losing it than you would of losing your money. Do not let worthless recreations, television, idle talk, unprofitable company, or sleep rob you of your precious time.
Be more careful to escape that person, action or course of life that would rob you of your time than you would be to escape thieves and robbers.
Make sure that you are not merely never idle, but rather that you are using your time in the most profitable way that you can and do not prefer a less profitable way before one of greater profit.
Eating and Drinking
Eat and drink with moderation and thankfulness for health, not for unprofitable pleasure. Never please your appetite in food or drink when it is prone to be detrimental to your health.
Remember the sin of Sodom: "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness" - Ezekiel 16:49.
The Apostle Paul wept when he mentioned those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame -- who set their minds on earthly things, being enemies to the cross of Christ" - Philippians 3:18-19. O then do not live according to the flesh lest you die (Romans 8:13).
Prevailing Sins
If any temptation prevails against you and you fall into any sins in addition to habitual failures, immediately lament it and confess it to God; repent quickly whatever the cost. It will certainly cost you more if you continue in sin and remain unrepentant.
Do not make light of your habitual failures, but confess them and daily strive against them, taking care not to aggravate them by unrepentance and contempt.
Relationships
Remember every day the special duties of various relationships: whether as husbands, wives, children, masters, servants, pastors, people, magistrates, subjects.
Remember every relationship has its special duty and its advantage for the doing of some good. God requires your faithfulness in this matter as well as in any other duty.
Closing the Day
Before returning to sleep, it is wise and necessary to review the actions and mercies of the day past, so that you may be thankful for all the special mercies and humbled for all your sins.
This is necessary in order that you might renew your repentance as well as your resolve for obedience, and in order that you may examine yourself to see whether your soul grew better or worse, whether sin goes down and grace goes up and whether you are better prepared for suffering, death and eternity.
May these directions be engraven upon your mind and be made the daily practice of your life.
If sincerely adhered to, these will be conducive to the holiness, fruitfulness and quietness of your life and add to you a comfortable and peaceful death.
Source: Puritansermons.com
Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale sentenced to 8 years in jail for child abuse
Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale has been sentenced to eight years in jail with a minimum non-parole period of five years for the abuse of 14 children.
The offences came to light last year following the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse and span almost three decades.
The 80-year-old pleaded guilty to the most recent charges, which included raping and abusing children as young as four.
In sentencing Judge Michael Rozenes said Ridsdale's crimes were abhorrent and had caused his victims ongoing pain and suffering.
"It is clear that you used your position within the Church to facilitate your offending, befriending the complainants under the guise of the ‘friendly priest’ before perpetrating various serious sexual acts upon them," the judge said in court.
"Your victims were amongst the most vulnerable in our community, children."
The sentence adds three years to the jail term he is already serving for offences committed against dozens of girls and boys in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
During a pre-sentencing hearing a woman from western Victoria, who was 10 years old when Ridsdale began abusing her in 1961, told the court she felt "dirty, scared and confused" by Ridsdale's repeated sexual abuse.
He told her it was "the Lord's work".
Statements from other victims told of a lifelong battle with alcohol and drugs and broken relationships.
Another victim, who was abused during the 1970s, told the court in a statement that "the turmoil of those grim images continues to diminish my dignity".
Ridsdale will be eligible for parole in April, 2019.
Read more similar stories from the SOURCE: ABC.net.au
The offences came to light last year following the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse and span almost three decades.
The 80-year-old pleaded guilty to the most recent charges, which included raping and abusing children as young as four.
In sentencing Judge Michael Rozenes said Ridsdale's crimes were abhorrent and had caused his victims ongoing pain and suffering.
"It is clear that you used your position within the Church to facilitate your offending, befriending the complainants under the guise of the ‘friendly priest’ before perpetrating various serious sexual acts upon them," the judge said in court.
"Your victims were amongst the most vulnerable in our community, children."
The sentence adds three years to the jail term he is already serving for offences committed against dozens of girls and boys in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
During a pre-sentencing hearing a woman from western Victoria, who was 10 years old when Ridsdale began abusing her in 1961, told the court she felt "dirty, scared and confused" by Ridsdale's repeated sexual abuse.
He told her it was "the Lord's work".
Statements from other victims told of a lifelong battle with alcohol and drugs and broken relationships.
Another victim, who was abused during the 1970s, told the court in a statement that "the turmoil of those grim images continues to diminish my dignity".
Ridsdale will be eligible for parole in April, 2019.
Read more similar stories from the SOURCE: ABC.net.au
Sunday, April 06, 2014
What is the Biblical, Historial, Prophetic Solution to the NWO?
Tom Friess of Inquistion Update at First Amendment radio will be my co-host. He is currently reading "Romanism and the Reformation" author Henry Grattan Guinness. What is the solution to the New World Order?. Mr. Guinness will share his solution of a Biblical, Historial, Prophetic solution to the New World Order. Also Tom also has a audio Call every Sunday at 4:00 PM Pacific standard time. For more information Click here.
Saturday, April 05, 2014
PHILIPPINE HISTORY IN BRIEF
This article I'd like to share with you is from Pistos.com - Corruption in the Philippines. The author is Mr. Wallace H. Little of Ft. Smith, Arkansas, U.S.A. I believe Mr. Wallace is a Church of Christ minister or popularly known as Disciple of Christ. Pls click here for more info about them. My purpose in sharing this article is for you is to see in another persons mind and point of view the truth of what is really happening in the Philippines, specifically the corruption happening in our country. Pls. visit his website and it's worth reading some articles that are truly revealing and exposing hidden things about our country. Pls click here to visit the website. Happy reading! God bless!
Corruption in the Philippines - Philippine History in Brief.
About 8000 miles due west from the US, the Philippines are an archipelago of 7100 islands, with only about 300 that are habitable. Over a 100-year period, there were three waves of immigrants from Malaysia. They came by open boats, but we have no knowledge of how they managed to navigate the distance. These settled in the north, on Luzon, during most of the first two waves. The third group split between Palawan, Mindoro, the Visayans, and the Bicol areas, comprising the largest ethnic group. The settlers in the Visayans eventually established Cebu, the largest city of that area. Those became primarily fishermen.
Intermixed were the much smaller pygmy-size Negretos, who settled mostly in the flatlands of central Luzon, 70 to 100 miles north of present day Manila. They tended to be isolated, and never grew to more than small numbers. These groups brought with them pagan religions, including animal sacrifice. Most of those in these areas became rice farmers.
Midway in this influx, large numbers came on the much shorter trip from Indonesia, ending up mostly in the southernmost largest island of Mindanao. Some, fewer, also came and settled in central and northern Luzon. They brought with them their brand of Islam.
Various others, including Chinese, came in small numbers, with the Chinese remaining mainly in the Manila area. Primarily, they were business people, and engaged in shipping. The Chinese introduced many of their customs and cultural elements into the Philippine society, and are responsible for its basic Oriental slant.
When Spanish arrived 400 years ago, there were only (estimated) about half a million Filipinos. These isolated tribes retained their own distinct and culture, language, and laws, until to facilitate their control, the Spanish conquistadors and their missionaries forced the Filipinos into a seemingly heterogeneous nation. But many groups were, and remain, fiercely resistant to change. With their deep cultural roots and strong tribal affiliation, it is a serious matter for these to accept another religion. Hence, it is often difficult to persuade men to leave their religion, for it generally means giving up their and culture, society, and families. Often religious defectors are subsequently ostracized or even killed. Too many visiting American preachers who have returned home with glowing reports of large numbers of baptisms, have fostered the idea that the Philippines is a ripe mission field. These gave American churches the idea that the Philippines are a sort of "second Pentecost." However, most of those put under the water during these visits by Americans are fakes. Some have even been paid to be "baptized" in order that local preachers gain a good reputation with American "moneybags." To assume the Philippines are what is called "a missionary area" with many easy conversions is a serious mistake.
The Philippines has a written culture dating back 1700 years, and therefore, must have had an earlier unwritten one. Their dialects reflect their culture, and as different groups were isolated in the early part of their history, this produced a variety of cultures that in turn, developed a variety of dialects.
The primary and universal Philippine principal cultural concepts center around two basic ideas. The first is survival, and the second is family. Concerning the first, the brutally harsh economic situation obtaining from virtually the first settlers has generated an intense concentration on devising means of survival. Likewise, isolation from others prevented mutual help between them, particularly in difficult times as typhoons, drought, disease, and crop destruction by locust infestations. The isolation of language and culture was reinforced by physical isolation during these periods of natural disaster. From a purely survival point of view, this required the development of a concept of mutual dependence within the immediate and extended family. In turn, that produced what Jose P. Rizal, their national hero, said is the idea that "a Filipino is an individual only, and not a member of any particular (political-whl) group." They have nothing resembling nationalism, no strong sense of belonging to a higher group than the family.
The family itself is based on the concept of mutual assistance and adoption. Remaining members of deceased families are taken in and provided for. The family concept basically is the immediate physical/ biological unit, but most also include other non-biologically-connected but with a personal closeness in the extended family such as marriage, concubinage, or close friendship.
At the personal level, Filipinos group with others of like ideas into what are called "barkadas." So inclined by their culture, these usually will have one leader who by force of his personality, takes control. This has spread to the extent that it is not uncommon for a barkada leader in a work area or business to exercise more real control than the nominal boss.
One particularly significant element of the family concept is that the father "runs" affairs outside the house, and the mother does the same thing inside. To a large degree, the wife/mother controls the family spending and raising the children. Surprisingly to Americans, the mother is much stricter on her daughters than her sons. The girls will be the ones to raise the future generation of Filipinos, while the men only provide the necessary physical support for that role. Boys are allowed a much greater freedom and less discipline, whereas girls are held to higher standards and strictly controlled. A family that does well is expected to provide support for less wealthy members of the extended family. Sometimes this is abused, with who are deemed "wealthy" may find relatively distant kinfolk moving in to live with them without invitation. This practice is often enforced by "avengers" who will threaten, beat, and may eventually even may try to kill men who complain and resist.
In this nation, religion is heavily into politics - - and the reverse. I'll cover more on that later. Religiously, the Philippines are essentially made up of three major groups: Catholics, Iglesia ni Cristo, and Muslims. The first, and by far the largest, is the Roman Catholic Church to which 86% of the Filipinos give at least casual allegiance. This itself is redivided into a variety of smaller sects, the majority of which have very limited membership. Of the total population of the Philippines, about 65% are nominal Catholics in the standard sense of the word. Another 21% are in a powerful offshoot called El Shaddi whose key distinction is its politics instead of religion per se - - that is, in competition with the larger group of Catholics, it selects and backs political candidates that offer them the strongest voice in political decisions. The remaining multiple RCC sects have less than 1% of population.
Another large (non-Catholic) group is the Iglesia ni Cristo. That includes about 6% of the Philippine population. Its distinguishing religious concept is its denial of the divinity of Jesus. It is more a business than a religion, but is very powerful politically, as it contributes bountifully to those politicians who support its goals. Politicians grovel before it for its support, because a faithful member will always vote as headquarters directs. Thus, they are a strong voting block that often has sufficient political power to swing a national election. It is very jealous of its membership and defections from its ranks are not always conducive to longevity. It is also very antagonistic to public criticism, and doing such can be dangerous unless the one speaking against it has plenty of backing present when he does the criticizing. Men who have done that have also been known to disappear permanently.
The third significant religious group is the Muslims, which has about 7.9% of the population. Most are peaceful, but some have adopted radical fundamentalism with its militant desire to return to the golden age of Islam and, like many of similar persuasion worldwide, have developed powerful terrorists units. These, passing themselves off as "freedom fighters," some are a strong influence in the southern Philippines. In actuality, they use their religion as an excuse for rapine, and are nothing but avaricious kidnappers and murderers. The more peaceable Muslims are fearful of condemning their violent conduct.
All other religious groups are classed as "Protestant," which includes churches of Christ. Taken together, these form a very small part of the religious community - - amounting to less than 1% of the population.
The early work here was centered in two men. One was Harold Cassells (1928, Manila). I have found little record of what he did, either written or verbal transferred through the generations. The second was George Benson (1929, Mindoro). He managed to convert a number of men some of whom developed into outstanding preachers. When WWII came, the church members were pretty well scattered, and many killed. As Benson had worked primarily in Mindoro, most of the deaths among saints occurred there where most of the churches existed.
Institutionalism "arrived" in 1948, resulting in the establishing of the Philippine Bible College (PBC). These Americans ran a "tight ship," controlling churches through the support they provided or withheld from preachers. This lasted until 1964 when two NI Americans were stationed at our Naval Base in Subic Bay. Dave Turner (deceased 1999), and Richard Ellis (now an elder in a Jacksonville, Florida, congregation), first began to oppose the institutional errors while they were stationed in the Philippines. I arrived in 1966, and began meeting Filipinos who had learned enough to realize the PBC practices did not agree with their Bible teaching. They wanted to separate.
Until the mid-1990s, despite strong institutional opposition, the work grew slowly but steadily. Then began the influx of American money began here. Often these big fund-carrying preachers used their money to try to control the work. When some Filipinos would not bend, those Americans used their money, and influence to try to "cast them out of the Synagogue." They created false issues to do this, beginning a division that has yet to run its course. The troublings engendered by these men has greatly stunted the real growth of God's work in the PI.
The present situation is that where preachers are genuinely working, and the work is growing, if still slowly. The infusion of these large sums of money beginning in 1998 has thoroughly corrupted many, greatly expanding a previously existing but limited corruption. There are three groups of men here claiming to be preachers. ONE, those who are genuine. TWO, the out-and-out crooks and con men, some of whom are very clever indeed. THREE, those who are simply job seekers. Most asserting themselves to be preachers are in that category. Their reports have wild claims of successes. If true, they would be witnessed by hundreds of self-supporting congregations. Their claims are belied by the fact that to date, to the best of my knowledge, which goes back 40 plus years, there are no self-supporting NI congregations in the PI.
Within 100 years, the direct descendants of the Spanish and the Roman Catholic Church Jesuits whom the Spanish brought with them were already in control. These descendants of the Spanish settlers, a group commonly called "The Oligarchy," effectively run things in the Philippines today. Between these two groups, within that same 100 years, they amassed control of two-thirds of the arable land here and most of the wealth. When the industrial revolution hit, these wealthy landowners and the RCC were the only ones with the money to take advantage of it, and they consequently became even more rich and powerful. Today, the Oligarchy and the RCC each own about one third of the farmable land and 40% of the industry here. In one way or another, most people depend upon them for their livelihood in a sort of serf-like relationship. Consequently, there is only a very small middle class, mostly business and professional men, and most of these are clustered in the large cities. Land costs in the Philippines are exceedingly high, even when measured by United States standards.
When the Spanish arrived and the number of Filipinos numbered only about one-half a million, the land grabbing had no immediate effect. Today, however, 80-million dirt poor Filipinos live on the productive capacity of about one third of the land and 20% of the industry. By "dirt-poor," I mean people that for practical purposes are "naked" to disasters - - those for whom a serious storm may mean the difference between whether they have food to eat and the other necessities of life, or suffer privation that sometimes includes death. This is particularly true when severe medical problems arise. High quality medical care is available there, but it costs, relatively, as we would say, "an arm and a leg." I've known few brethren who have died for lack of sufficient funds to get the needed medical care.
In the cities, the government enforces a minimum wage, but this amounts to $0.89/hr take home pay. With it, one may purchase five eggs, or 1/8th of a pound of oatmeal, or less than half a pint of milk, or 6 ounces of fruit juice, or 1/8th of a pound of chocolate powder to flavor the milk, or a loaf of wheat bread. That is NOT "all the above" but one - - take your single pick. A man working for a minimum wage would make about $160 a month. Often for this, an employer demands more than the standard eight-hour day and five-day week. If the employee objects, there are others "out there" who will gladly accept what he wants to turn down, so he is out of a job. A family man can generally make enough to feed his family as long as he is able to work every day, but he often has little or nothing left for other needs. Therefore, many people live under bridges or in shacks and shelters made of cardboard, shipping crates, and discarded metal sheets or whatever other junk can be found. I made a video of some who lived atop a massive one-square mile in-the-city dump so they had the "privilege" of being the first to pick through the trash and garbage. That finally ended when the government developed a better disposal system, and closed the dump, and moved the "settlers" off of it.
In order to get professionals away from the cities and into the provinces where they are desperately needed, the government has financed the education of and supports doctors and other professionals to work in rural areas--at their minimum wage that amounts to a taken-home of $1.30/hr. These professionals working in the countryside are those whose education are financed by the government, are serving five years (usually) as "pay back" for their education. Beyond high school, such professionals put in four years of college and in the case of doctors, four more in medical school, plus two years internship, then must study for some extended period after that to be able to pass national board examinations in their field so that the government will certify them.
Because of the shortage of jobs, men are willing to work ten years to become a doctor and take home $1.30 an hour ($240/mo). Those not fortunate enough to get into government education programs covet the treatment afforded to Church of Christ preachers here, many who receive $300-$500 a month support from the USA. Because of the money incentives, there are many men that seek preaching as a job. Therefore, when evaluating men desiring to become "CHURCH OF CHRIST" preachers, you must distinguish among three groups. They have a variety of deceptions practiced to get support and to entice Americans to increase it. Don't underestimate those just because these are small, brown-skinned, and act as innocents abroad. There are the genuine ones who are committed to Christ no matter what; the out-and-out crooks/con artists; and job seekers (by far the largest group). Those in this last group submit reports with wild claims of many baptisms and wondrous success, but the fact that there are no self-supporting congregations today belies their exaggerated claims.
Here is how a job seeker operates. He submits to baptism, preferably by a visiting American. Then he convinces an American (usually a different one coming later) that he is a faithful Christian and longs to spend his life serving God in preaching. So the American gets him support, often in the $300.00 to $500.00 range, and since he now is a "clergyman," he pays no tax on it. This individual, with only a high school education, is receiving an income higher than a doctor in the provinces who had to spend 10 or more years in hard education.
Is it any wonder so many Filipino men want to be CHURCH OF CHRIST preachers?
There is yet another serious economic problem among preachers here. For 40 years, I have virtually beaten my head against a stonewall trying to get preachers to teach on 1 st Corinthians chapter nine, and the responsibility of local churches to support their preachers. I know no more than what I can count on one the fingers of one hand who do so. Why? The supported preachers don't want to "rock the boat" by exposing the dishonest ones lest they endanger their support. The Unsupported ones are likewise reluctant, lest this jeopardize their chance of getting US support. Filipino saints are not stupid. Properly taught, they will pick up the support of their preachers -- at a level they can handle, NOT at the level provided by the Americans. I am NOT saying it is wrong to support a preacher here . I AM saying one must check carefully. I am not far off the mark when I say that virtually every American coming here has been fooled by one and sometimes more of these men passing themselves off as preachers. I am not excluding myself in this, and by far, I have far more experience here than any other NI preacher.
In addition to other hazards from American support often with it comes the demand that the Filipino comply with Americans' doctrinal positions, "OR ELSE!" And of course, the "or else!" is to have their support cut off.
Those Filipinos claiming to be preachers who are, in reality, nothing but crooks, have a variety of methods they use to hoodwink Americans into sending them funds. Among them:
1. Claiming there has been a typhoon in which they (others) suffered greatly and badly need help. Sometimes the typhoons that hit that nation do serious harm and hurt. Often, however, the existence of one is used as the excuse to seek money. Check weather in that area, and a good place to start looking is the Internet.
2. Illness in family/friends/members of the congregation. While illness and medical need is present and often urgent, many times such appeals are fakes, generated in the knowledge that many Americans will gladly provide help.
3. Faking baptisms. One favorite method here is to find a real preacher but who is unsupported, who actually goes out and converts people. Their general practice is "save 'em up" for the end of the month. So the crook goes to this unsupported one, offers him money to take pictures of him -- the crook -- doing the actual baptizing. Then he reports to his supporters (with the pictures) that these as his work.
4. Claim that many postal service mailing addresses are unreliable, and convince the Americans providing support for several to send him the checks which he guarantees to get to those to whom they are written. He may do that, but in doing so, he is seen as the source of the support -- AND having the power to stop it if they do not bow to his "leadership."
5. Manufacturing a "need" for benevolence, then using this as an appeal to Americans for money.
6. Generating a fake congregation, complete with names, when visited by American preachers. The American is impressed with the "results." These may well be the man's relatives and friends who have been persuaded to attend "worship" the day the American is there, but who, really, are not Christians at all. An alternative to this is to offer something in exchange for attendance, as one "preacher" did on one Island. He offered each attendee a package of noodles each time they showed up. Given the very low state of the economy in that area, the appeal was real -- and partially successful.
7. Claiming growth by dividing the congregation into two groups, with another "preacher" working the second one, and now, doubling the need for support.
8. In advance of a visiting American preacher, arrange for other preachers in that general area to "save up the baptisms for the American," and bring them to the American's lectureship. Now with the increased "growth," these make an appeal for additional support.
9. Mass writing to American churches (lists are available in the various gospel newspapers freely circulated there), with claims of faithful labor for the Lord. An example: one wrote to a preacher in Florida seeking support, and listed his results for the previous 24 months. The Florida preacher called me, asking if I knew the man. I did not, so he FAX'd me a copy of the letter. When I added up the number of adults he claimed for that two-year period, it totaled 194 adults. That would have made it the largest NI congregation in that nation of which I had knowledge. I called the Florida preacher back, suggesting he write the Filipino "preacher," and ask why he wasn't supported by the members of that large "church." He did -- and never received an answer. However, this was not the only preacher or congregation the man had written. In another instance, I know of one "preacher" there who has receiving "support" from 38 different US churches. Some of this was a one-time shot, but a lot was regular. For a time, his income was higher than that of a provincial vice-governor. I contacted each supporter, and provided documented evidence of fraud. However, only two responded, both telling me that no matter what I sent, they thought he was honest, and planned to continue supporting him.
Need I urge caution in responding to appeals for money? Such conduct is not right, but given the exceedingly poor state of the Philippine economy, they are understandable. So check carefully first before responding to appeals for financial help from there.
All politics here are religious and/or business-connected, and largely controlled by these "connections." In the 350 years under Spanish control -- actually in the first 100 years -- the Spaniards and the RCC Jesuits they brought with them, gained ownership of large portions of the land and passed title on when they died. This early amalgamation of land by a few powerful settlers and their descendants amounted to them getting control of about one third of the land usable for raising crops. And in the industrial revolution, each group leveraged the wealth produced by their land to finance industrialization and each ended up with ownership of about 40% of the Philippine industry. The Oligarchy and the RCC Catholic Church very much control the economy here, and consequently business is thoroughly mixed with religion. In order to control business, those with power ensure only people of their choosing are elected to high office. Their candidate selection is enforced by money and bullets. Political campaigning in the Philippines is a serious business. So also is control of the political elite. When politicians or rival religious groups become too powerful, these powerful elites will see to it that they are ousted. In the last 20 years, there have been two "rebellions," but with nothing changing except which religious group ended up with the strongest grip in the control of the nation.
After the Spanish were kicked out in the Spanish-American war (1898), in the subsequent 50 years under American Control, there was a great improvement of the physical infrastructure. Additionally, schooling became universal. It also marked the beginning of loosening of total RCC control of religion and education. During WWII when the Americans were forced out, there were four years of the brutal Japanese Occupation in which the people experienced periods of total repression, murder, rape, and pillage. The gross and persistent violation by the Japanese of the dearly held Filipino values of family led to the emergence of a fanatical class of Philippine resistance fighters. These culturally indignant friends of the US fought with such maniacal ferocity that they became the only force the Japanese feared to fight during WWII. The reason was that there was no quarter given - - battles were always under the conditions that the guerillas chose, and ended only when either all Filipino guerillas or all Japanese were dead. The Filipinos took no prisoners. When it became obvious that MacArthur was going to take back the Philippines, the Japanese retaliated against the fierce Philippine resistance by slaughtering a large part of the population in Manila. In the three days immediately prior to MacArthur's return to Manila, the Japanese butchered between 100,000 and 150,000 Filipinos, mostly old men, old women, pregnant women, young children, babies, and so on. For that senseless rampage, MacArthur ordered the hanging of the responsible Japanese general. This one had asked to be allowed to commit seppuku, so he could die in honor. MacArthur denied this, saying he was going to hang him so he would die with the dishonor he so richly deserved.
In theory, the Philippines have been a free nation since 1946, but while the government is recognized as representing one nation, the politics of the people has essentially remained that of the individual. The needs of the nation take second (or third, or fourth, or, or, or, etc) to the personal desires of the politicians who are often speaking only for their moneyed sources that elect and reelect them. The current president is only a figurehead for the religious/business elite in background who are "pulling the strings." The political culture of aggrandizement of self at the expense of the nations has greatly inhibited the creation of a middle class and consequently has prevented the development of much of their national potential, and seriously jeopardized the future of their natural resources, and because of that, the people themselves remain in poverty.
ONE:--Couples including brethren, living together for years without marriage, with no serious social stigma.
TWO:--Babies have babies, and no possibility of getting a husband.
THREE:--"Curing" marital problems by one partner simply getting up and walking out on spouse and kids, and taking up "residence" with someone else.
FOUR:-- Government Tourist officials arranging sex tours for Jap men until public outcry stopped the more blatant instances, but didn't put much dent in the practice, now just more hidden; lagay-bribery-works "wonderfully" well. These events include young boys as well as girls.
FIVE--Recruiters going to the provinces, finding attractive young girls and offering them good jobs in Japan. When they get them there, take their passports, and dump them into Japanese brothels.
SIX:--In Manila in 1980, police reported at least 6000 registered hospitality girls." Today the figure is closer to 15,000. Do I have to spell this one out?
SEVEN:--Some parents urge their daughters to go to Japan to "work," so they can send money back to these "wonderful parents."
EIGHT:--For beautiful young girls, employers making the "casting couch interview" a condition of employment.
NINE:--In one case, I know of personally, a "preacher" made such an arrangement for the daughter of a friend of mine for that "kind" of an "interview" for a "job."
TEN:--Parents deliberately maiming their babies, to make them objects of pity for begging purposes.
ELEVEN:--These parents, plus those of children with natural birth defects, renting out their deformed children to a professional beggars' organization for "so much" per day. TWELVE:--Filipino "preachers" lying to their supporters to get exorbitant levels of support.
THIRTEEN:--These causing God's people to be known as "The Church Of Prize," or alternately, "The Church Of Price," or " Church Of Money."
FOURTEEN:--Homosexualism is rampant here, estimated to be three times the level that it is in the USA.
FIFTEEN:--Filipino Christians INCLUDING preachers either turning their backs on these situations, making no effort to protest them, not even in the preaching in where they labor, much less working to stamp them out. Enough?
Those serving God in preaching/teaching here face some daunting problems that are organic to this nation and its culture. For example, including English, there are 154 known and recorded dialects, plus some tribal dialects. The primary native languages are Tagalog (Pilipino), Ilocano, and Cebuano, this last one the language developed by settlers in the Visayans. Additionally, there are 67 of these different tribals ( NOT tribes), some of whom would not let you live long enough to learn whether or not if they speak a known language. These have never been under any the control of any central government. They are small, seldom numbering more than 200 to 300, but they are a law unto themselves, including marriage and divorce. The central government leaves them alone, knowing it would be impossible to control them, and the only way to change their multitudes of different laws would be "ethnic cleansing."
For the recognized status of congregational ownership of land/ buildings/bank accounts, each local church must file separately for permission to the Philippines Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) -- a very difficult task made more so by reluctant bureaucrats. This induced the centralized control, as the PBC exercised for so many years, or alternately, the building and property deeded as "owned" by preachers. More than one has sold these from under the brethren, and then absconded with the money.
Religious money from and control by Americans has infected the churches here, especially since 1995. Many Americans who bring money for support or benevolence, directly or by inference, insist the Filipinos who received these funds "toe the line," OR ELSE! And when one refuses, as the real preachers do, the OR ELSE! (having support cut off) happens. Also, American preachers often have one special Filipino "friend," and he is the one who, in the final analysis, controls the decision as to which Filipino the American support goes. You can be sure he does his best to direct the money to his family and friends -- and in one case I know of, not all these family members were not even Christians, much less preachers.
Another special problem is evangelistic oversight. Probably 99% of the churches were started by preachers. Given their cultural background of one "taking charge," evangelistic oversight is the norm here. I've tried for 40 years to get preachers away from that, with only minimal success. There are several reasons why this is so difficult. If anyone wants more details, ask, and I'll be glad to explain this.
Yet another problem especially frustrating here is the tendency of Americans to export American problems from the US and import them into the Philippines. One of the most prominent of these today is MDR. In this 86% Roman Catholic nation, this is entirely moot, as there is a specific constitutional prohibition against divorce. There is no possibility of that being changed, but if it did, their culture says no remarriage no matter what the circumstances, even the death of the spouse. Bringing MDR here has caused nothing but needless division and heartache because those Filipinos who follow the "importing, money-bringing Americans" push it to please them.
And more, another difficulty introduced by meddling Americans is the interference in the affairs of local churches. I do NOT mean preaching a particular doctrine, but demanding Filipinos live and preach specific doctrine on and, again, OR ELSE! These Americans are not satisfied to observe Biblical congregational autonomy.
Concerning needs, money for medical benevolence is always critically short. If a saint or one his family has a serious medical need, often, he must sell all he owns to pay for it, or else he essentially becomes a slave to the predatory lender who provides help.
Another very disturbing situation is the envy and jealousy some "preachers" have toward other Filipinos whom visiting Americans deem successful. The ones with envy will try to do something to destroy the reputation and the work of the one of whom they are envious. This "crab" syndrome is endemic among many Filipino preachers as well as the ones just claiming to be such.
A final serious problem is training men to preach and straightening out those converted from the denominations. Such older preachers do not intentionally preach errors, but they have inherited these things as part of their previous religious culture. We have to help dig them out. The only input of new preachers here worthy of the name is our preacher-training classes. We finished our 16th on 26 May 2006 . We use only unpaid voluntary teachers, and have a specific and well thought out ten-week curriculum of very hard work. Subjects and class hours are below.
I pray these short articles help understand more about God's work in the Philippines, and open in you the thought to assist in it.
[Editor's Note: Compare this article to the one Wallace Little wrote in 1979 by clicking here.]
Source: Pistos.com
Corruption in the Philippines - Philippine History in Brief.
EXISTENCE AND SETTLEMENT
About 8000 miles due west from the US, the Philippines are an archipelago of 7100 islands, with only about 300 that are habitable. Over a 100-year period, there were three waves of immigrants from Malaysia. They came by open boats, but we have no knowledge of how they managed to navigate the distance. These settled in the north, on Luzon, during most of the first two waves. The third group split between Palawan, Mindoro, the Visayans, and the Bicol areas, comprising the largest ethnic group. The settlers in the Visayans eventually established Cebu, the largest city of that area. Those became primarily fishermen.
Intermixed were the much smaller pygmy-size Negretos, who settled mostly in the flatlands of central Luzon, 70 to 100 miles north of present day Manila. They tended to be isolated, and never grew to more than small numbers. These groups brought with them pagan religions, including animal sacrifice. Most of those in these areas became rice farmers.
Midway in this influx, large numbers came on the much shorter trip from Indonesia, ending up mostly in the southernmost largest island of Mindanao. Some, fewer, also came and settled in central and northern Luzon. They brought with them their brand of Islam.
Various others, including Chinese, came in small numbers, with the Chinese remaining mainly in the Manila area. Primarily, they were business people, and engaged in shipping. The Chinese introduced many of their customs and cultural elements into the Philippine society, and are responsible for its basic Oriental slant.
When Spanish arrived 400 years ago, there were only (estimated) about half a million Filipinos. These isolated tribes retained their own distinct and culture, language, and laws, until to facilitate their control, the Spanish conquistadors and their missionaries forced the Filipinos into a seemingly heterogeneous nation. But many groups were, and remain, fiercely resistant to change. With their deep cultural roots and strong tribal affiliation, it is a serious matter for these to accept another religion. Hence, it is often difficult to persuade men to leave their religion, for it generally means giving up their and culture, society, and families. Often religious defectors are subsequently ostracized or even killed. Too many visiting American preachers who have returned home with glowing reports of large numbers of baptisms, have fostered the idea that the Philippines is a ripe mission field. These gave American churches the idea that the Philippines are a sort of "second Pentecost." However, most of those put under the water during these visits by Americans are fakes. Some have even been paid to be "baptized" in order that local preachers gain a good reputation with American "moneybags." To assume the Philippines are what is called "a missionary area" with many easy conversions is a serious mistake.
PHILIPPINE CULTURE
The Philippines has a written culture dating back 1700 years, and therefore, must have had an earlier unwritten one. Their dialects reflect their culture, and as different groups were isolated in the early part of their history, this produced a variety of cultures that in turn, developed a variety of dialects.
The primary and universal Philippine principal cultural concepts center around two basic ideas. The first is survival, and the second is family. Concerning the first, the brutally harsh economic situation obtaining from virtually the first settlers has generated an intense concentration on devising means of survival. Likewise, isolation from others prevented mutual help between them, particularly in difficult times as typhoons, drought, disease, and crop destruction by locust infestations. The isolation of language and culture was reinforced by physical isolation during these periods of natural disaster. From a purely survival point of view, this required the development of a concept of mutual dependence within the immediate and extended family. In turn, that produced what Jose P. Rizal, their national hero, said is the idea that "a Filipino is an individual only, and not a member of any particular (political-whl) group." They have nothing resembling nationalism, no strong sense of belonging to a higher group than the family.
The family itself is based on the concept of mutual assistance and adoption. Remaining members of deceased families are taken in and provided for. The family concept basically is the immediate physical/ biological unit, but most also include other non-biologically-connected but with a personal closeness in the extended family such as marriage, concubinage, or close friendship.
At the personal level, Filipinos group with others of like ideas into what are called "barkadas." So inclined by their culture, these usually will have one leader who by force of his personality, takes control. This has spread to the extent that it is not uncommon for a barkada leader in a work area or business to exercise more real control than the nominal boss.
One particularly significant element of the family concept is that the father "runs" affairs outside the house, and the mother does the same thing inside. To a large degree, the wife/mother controls the family spending and raising the children. Surprisingly to Americans, the mother is much stricter on her daughters than her sons. The girls will be the ones to raise the future generation of Filipinos, while the men only provide the necessary physical support for that role. Boys are allowed a much greater freedom and less discipline, whereas girls are held to higher standards and strictly controlled. A family that does well is expected to provide support for less wealthy members of the extended family. Sometimes this is abused, with who are deemed "wealthy" may find relatively distant kinfolk moving in to live with them without invitation. This practice is often enforced by "avengers" who will threaten, beat, and may eventually even may try to kill men who complain and resist.
RELIGIONS
In this nation, religion is heavily into politics - - and the reverse. I'll cover more on that later. Religiously, the Philippines are essentially made up of three major groups: Catholics, Iglesia ni Cristo, and Muslims. The first, and by far the largest, is the Roman Catholic Church to which 86% of the Filipinos give at least casual allegiance. This itself is redivided into a variety of smaller sects, the majority of which have very limited membership. Of the total population of the Philippines, about 65% are nominal Catholics in the standard sense of the word. Another 21% are in a powerful offshoot called El Shaddi whose key distinction is its politics instead of religion per se - - that is, in competition with the larger group of Catholics, it selects and backs political candidates that offer them the strongest voice in political decisions. The remaining multiple RCC sects have less than 1% of population.
Another large (non-Catholic) group is the Iglesia ni Cristo. That includes about 6% of the Philippine population. Its distinguishing religious concept is its denial of the divinity of Jesus. It is more a business than a religion, but is very powerful politically, as it contributes bountifully to those politicians who support its goals. Politicians grovel before it for its support, because a faithful member will always vote as headquarters directs. Thus, they are a strong voting block that often has sufficient political power to swing a national election. It is very jealous of its membership and defections from its ranks are not always conducive to longevity. It is also very antagonistic to public criticism, and doing such can be dangerous unless the one speaking against it has plenty of backing present when he does the criticizing. Men who have done that have also been known to disappear permanently.
The third significant religious group is the Muslims, which has about 7.9% of the population. Most are peaceful, but some have adopted radical fundamentalism with its militant desire to return to the golden age of Islam and, like many of similar persuasion worldwide, have developed powerful terrorists units. These, passing themselves off as "freedom fighters," some are a strong influence in the southern Philippines. In actuality, they use their religion as an excuse for rapine, and are nothing but avaricious kidnappers and murderers. The more peaceable Muslims are fearful of condemning their violent conduct.
All other religious groups are classed as "Protestant," which includes churches of Christ. Taken together, these form a very small part of the religious community - - amounting to less than 1% of the population.
The early work here was centered in two men. One was Harold Cassells (1928, Manila). I have found little record of what he did, either written or verbal transferred through the generations. The second was George Benson (1929, Mindoro). He managed to convert a number of men some of whom developed into outstanding preachers. When WWII came, the church members were pretty well scattered, and many killed. As Benson had worked primarily in Mindoro, most of the deaths among saints occurred there where most of the churches existed.
Institutionalism "arrived" in 1948, resulting in the establishing of the Philippine Bible College (PBC). These Americans ran a "tight ship," controlling churches through the support they provided or withheld from preachers. This lasted until 1964 when two NI Americans were stationed at our Naval Base in Subic Bay. Dave Turner (deceased 1999), and Richard Ellis (now an elder in a Jacksonville, Florida, congregation), first began to oppose the institutional errors while they were stationed in the Philippines. I arrived in 1966, and began meeting Filipinos who had learned enough to realize the PBC practices did not agree with their Bible teaching. They wanted to separate.
Until the mid-1990s, despite strong institutional opposition, the work grew slowly but steadily. Then began the influx of American money began here. Often these big fund-carrying preachers used their money to try to control the work. When some Filipinos would not bend, those Americans used their money, and influence to try to "cast them out of the Synagogue." They created false issues to do this, beginning a division that has yet to run its course. The troublings engendered by these men has greatly stunted the real growth of God's work in the PI.
The present situation is that where preachers are genuinely working, and the work is growing, if still slowly. The infusion of these large sums of money beginning in 1998 has thoroughly corrupted many, greatly expanding a previously existing but limited corruption. There are three groups of men here claiming to be preachers. ONE, those who are genuine. TWO, the out-and-out crooks and con men, some of whom are very clever indeed. THREE, those who are simply job seekers. Most asserting themselves to be preachers are in that category. Their reports have wild claims of successes. If true, they would be witnessed by hundreds of self-supporting congregations. Their claims are belied by the fact that to date, to the best of my knowledge, which goes back 40 plus years, there are no self-supporting NI congregations in the PI.
ECONOMICS
Within 100 years, the direct descendants of the Spanish and the Roman Catholic Church Jesuits whom the Spanish brought with them were already in control. These descendants of the Spanish settlers, a group commonly called "The Oligarchy," effectively run things in the Philippines today. Between these two groups, within that same 100 years, they amassed control of two-thirds of the arable land here and most of the wealth. When the industrial revolution hit, these wealthy landowners and the RCC were the only ones with the money to take advantage of it, and they consequently became even more rich and powerful. Today, the Oligarchy and the RCC each own about one third of the farmable land and 40% of the industry here. In one way or another, most people depend upon them for their livelihood in a sort of serf-like relationship. Consequently, there is only a very small middle class, mostly business and professional men, and most of these are clustered in the large cities. Land costs in the Philippines are exceedingly high, even when measured by United States standards.
When the Spanish arrived and the number of Filipinos numbered only about one-half a million, the land grabbing had no immediate effect. Today, however, 80-million dirt poor Filipinos live on the productive capacity of about one third of the land and 20% of the industry. By "dirt-poor," I mean people that for practical purposes are "naked" to disasters - - those for whom a serious storm may mean the difference between whether they have food to eat and the other necessities of life, or suffer privation that sometimes includes death. This is particularly true when severe medical problems arise. High quality medical care is available there, but it costs, relatively, as we would say, "an arm and a leg." I've known few brethren who have died for lack of sufficient funds to get the needed medical care.
In the cities, the government enforces a minimum wage, but this amounts to $0.89/hr take home pay. With it, one may purchase five eggs, or 1/8th of a pound of oatmeal, or less than half a pint of milk, or 6 ounces of fruit juice, or 1/8th of a pound of chocolate powder to flavor the milk, or a loaf of wheat bread. That is NOT "all the above" but one - - take your single pick. A man working for a minimum wage would make about $160 a month. Often for this, an employer demands more than the standard eight-hour day and five-day week. If the employee objects, there are others "out there" who will gladly accept what he wants to turn down, so he is out of a job. A family man can generally make enough to feed his family as long as he is able to work every day, but he often has little or nothing left for other needs. Therefore, many people live under bridges or in shacks and shelters made of cardboard, shipping crates, and discarded metal sheets or whatever other junk can be found. I made a video of some who lived atop a massive one-square mile in-the-city dump so they had the "privilege" of being the first to pick through the trash and garbage. That finally ended when the government developed a better disposal system, and closed the dump, and moved the "settlers" off of it.
In order to get professionals away from the cities and into the provinces where they are desperately needed, the government has financed the education of and supports doctors and other professionals to work in rural areas--at their minimum wage that amounts to a taken-home of $1.30/hr. These professionals working in the countryside are those whose education are financed by the government, are serving five years (usually) as "pay back" for their education. Beyond high school, such professionals put in four years of college and in the case of doctors, four more in medical school, plus two years internship, then must study for some extended period after that to be able to pass national board examinations in their field so that the government will certify them.
Because of the shortage of jobs, men are willing to work ten years to become a doctor and take home $1.30 an hour ($240/mo). Those not fortunate enough to get into government education programs covet the treatment afforded to Church of Christ preachers here, many who receive $300-$500 a month support from the USA. Because of the money incentives, there are many men that seek preaching as a job. Therefore, when evaluating men desiring to become "CHURCH OF CHRIST" preachers, you must distinguish among three groups. They have a variety of deceptions practiced to get support and to entice Americans to increase it. Don't underestimate those just because these are small, brown-skinned, and act as innocents abroad. There are the genuine ones who are committed to Christ no matter what; the out-and-out crooks/con artists; and job seekers (by far the largest group). Those in this last group submit reports with wild claims of many baptisms and wondrous success, but the fact that there are no self-supporting congregations today belies their exaggerated claims.
Here is how a job seeker operates. He submits to baptism, preferably by a visiting American. Then he convinces an American (usually a different one coming later) that he is a faithful Christian and longs to spend his life serving God in preaching. So the American gets him support, often in the $300.00 to $500.00 range, and since he now is a "clergyman," he pays no tax on it. This individual, with only a high school education, is receiving an income higher than a doctor in the provinces who had to spend 10 or more years in hard education.
Is it any wonder so many Filipino men want to be CHURCH OF CHRIST preachers?
There is yet another serious economic problem among preachers here. For 40 years, I have virtually beaten my head against a stonewall trying to get preachers to teach on 1 st Corinthians chapter nine, and the responsibility of local churches to support their preachers. I know no more than what I can count on one the fingers of one hand who do so. Why? The supported preachers don't want to "rock the boat" by exposing the dishonest ones lest they endanger their support. The Unsupported ones are likewise reluctant, lest this jeopardize their chance of getting US support. Filipino saints are not stupid. Properly taught, they will pick up the support of their preachers -- at a level they can handle, NOT at the level provided by the Americans. I am NOT saying it is wrong to support a preacher here . I AM saying one must check carefully. I am not far off the mark when I say that virtually every American coming here has been fooled by one and sometimes more of these men passing themselves off as preachers. I am not excluding myself in this, and by far, I have far more experience here than any other NI preacher.
In addition to other hazards from American support often with it comes the demand that the Filipino comply with Americans' doctrinal positions, "OR ELSE!" And of course, the "or else!" is to have their support cut off.
CROOKS' METHODS
Those Filipinos claiming to be preachers who are, in reality, nothing but crooks, have a variety of methods they use to hoodwink Americans into sending them funds. Among them:
1. Claiming there has been a typhoon in which they (others) suffered greatly and badly need help. Sometimes the typhoons that hit that nation do serious harm and hurt. Often, however, the existence of one is used as the excuse to seek money. Check weather in that area, and a good place to start looking is the Internet.
2. Illness in family/friends/members of the congregation. While illness and medical need is present and often urgent, many times such appeals are fakes, generated in the knowledge that many Americans will gladly provide help.
3. Faking baptisms. One favorite method here is to find a real preacher but who is unsupported, who actually goes out and converts people. Their general practice is "save 'em up" for the end of the month. So the crook goes to this unsupported one, offers him money to take pictures of him -- the crook -- doing the actual baptizing. Then he reports to his supporters (with the pictures) that these as his work.
4. Claim that many postal service mailing addresses are unreliable, and convince the Americans providing support for several to send him the checks which he guarantees to get to those to whom they are written. He may do that, but in doing so, he is seen as the source of the support -- AND having the power to stop it if they do not bow to his "leadership."
5. Manufacturing a "need" for benevolence, then using this as an appeal to Americans for money.
6. Generating a fake congregation, complete with names, when visited by American preachers. The American is impressed with the "results." These may well be the man's relatives and friends who have been persuaded to attend "worship" the day the American is there, but who, really, are not Christians at all. An alternative to this is to offer something in exchange for attendance, as one "preacher" did on one Island. He offered each attendee a package of noodles each time they showed up. Given the very low state of the economy in that area, the appeal was real -- and partially successful.
7. Claiming growth by dividing the congregation into two groups, with another "preacher" working the second one, and now, doubling the need for support.
8. In advance of a visiting American preacher, arrange for other preachers in that general area to "save up the baptisms for the American," and bring them to the American's lectureship. Now with the increased "growth," these make an appeal for additional support.
9. Mass writing to American churches (lists are available in the various gospel newspapers freely circulated there), with claims of faithful labor for the Lord. An example: one wrote to a preacher in Florida seeking support, and listed his results for the previous 24 months. The Florida preacher called me, asking if I knew the man. I did not, so he FAX'd me a copy of the letter. When I added up the number of adults he claimed for that two-year period, it totaled 194 adults. That would have made it the largest NI congregation in that nation of which I had knowledge. I called the Florida preacher back, suggesting he write the Filipino "preacher," and ask why he wasn't supported by the members of that large "church." He did -- and never received an answer. However, this was not the only preacher or congregation the man had written. In another instance, I know of one "preacher" there who has receiving "support" from 38 different US churches. Some of this was a one-time shot, but a lot was regular. For a time, his income was higher than that of a provincial vice-governor. I contacted each supporter, and provided documented evidence of fraud. However, only two responded, both telling me that no matter what I sent, they thought he was honest, and planned to continue supporting him.
Need I urge caution in responding to appeals for money? Such conduct is not right, but given the exceedingly poor state of the Philippine economy, they are understandable. So check carefully first before responding to appeals for financial help from there.
POLITICS
All politics here are religious and/or business-connected, and largely controlled by these "connections." In the 350 years under Spanish control -- actually in the first 100 years -- the Spaniards and the RCC Jesuits they brought with them, gained ownership of large portions of the land and passed title on when they died. This early amalgamation of land by a few powerful settlers and their descendants amounted to them getting control of about one third of the land usable for raising crops. And in the industrial revolution, each group leveraged the wealth produced by their land to finance industrialization and each ended up with ownership of about 40% of the Philippine industry. The Oligarchy and the RCC Catholic Church very much control the economy here, and consequently business is thoroughly mixed with religion. In order to control business, those with power ensure only people of their choosing are elected to high office. Their candidate selection is enforced by money and bullets. Political campaigning in the Philippines is a serious business. So also is control of the political elite. When politicians or rival religious groups become too powerful, these powerful elites will see to it that they are ousted. In the last 20 years, there have been two "rebellions," but with nothing changing except which religious group ended up with the strongest grip in the control of the nation.
After the Spanish were kicked out in the Spanish-American war (1898), in the subsequent 50 years under American Control, there was a great improvement of the physical infrastructure. Additionally, schooling became universal. It also marked the beginning of loosening of total RCC control of religion and education. During WWII when the Americans were forced out, there were four years of the brutal Japanese Occupation in which the people experienced periods of total repression, murder, rape, and pillage. The gross and persistent violation by the Japanese of the dearly held Filipino values of family led to the emergence of a fanatical class of Philippine resistance fighters. These culturally indignant friends of the US fought with such maniacal ferocity that they became the only force the Japanese feared to fight during WWII. The reason was that there was no quarter given - - battles were always under the conditions that the guerillas chose, and ended only when either all Filipino guerillas or all Japanese were dead. The Filipinos took no prisoners. When it became obvious that MacArthur was going to take back the Philippines, the Japanese retaliated against the fierce Philippine resistance by slaughtering a large part of the population in Manila. In the three days immediately prior to MacArthur's return to Manila, the Japanese butchered between 100,000 and 150,000 Filipinos, mostly old men, old women, pregnant women, young children, babies, and so on. For that senseless rampage, MacArthur ordered the hanging of the responsible Japanese general. This one had asked to be allowed to commit seppuku, so he could die in honor. MacArthur denied this, saying he was going to hang him so he would die with the dishonor he so richly deserved.
In theory, the Philippines have been a free nation since 1946, but while the government is recognized as representing one nation, the politics of the people has essentially remained that of the individual. The needs of the nation take second (or third, or fourth, or, or, or, etc) to the personal desires of the politicians who are often speaking only for their moneyed sources that elect and reelect them. The current president is only a figurehead for the religious/business elite in background who are "pulling the strings." The political culture of aggrandizement of self at the expense of the nations has greatly inhibited the creation of a middle class and consequently has prevented the development of much of their national potential, and seriously jeopardized the future of their natural resources, and because of that, the people themselves remain in poverty.
SOME OF THE REAL MORAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE PHILIPPINES
ONE:--Couples including brethren, living together for years without marriage, with no serious social stigma.
TWO:--Babies have babies, and no possibility of getting a husband.
THREE:--"Curing" marital problems by one partner simply getting up and walking out on spouse and kids, and taking up "residence" with someone else.
FOUR:-- Government Tourist officials arranging sex tours for Jap men until public outcry stopped the more blatant instances, but didn't put much dent in the practice, now just more hidden; lagay-bribery-works "wonderfully" well. These events include young boys as well as girls.
FIVE--Recruiters going to the provinces, finding attractive young girls and offering them good jobs in Japan. When they get them there, take their passports, and dump them into Japanese brothels.
SIX:--In Manila in 1980, police reported at least 6000 registered hospitality girls." Today the figure is closer to 15,000. Do I have to spell this one out?
SEVEN:--Some parents urge their daughters to go to Japan to "work," so they can send money back to these "wonderful parents."
EIGHT:--For beautiful young girls, employers making the "casting couch interview" a condition of employment.
NINE:--In one case, I know of personally, a "preacher" made such an arrangement for the daughter of a friend of mine for that "kind" of an "interview" for a "job."
TEN:--Parents deliberately maiming their babies, to make them objects of pity for begging purposes.
ELEVEN:--These parents, plus those of children with natural birth defects, renting out their deformed children to a professional beggars' organization for "so much" per day. TWELVE:--Filipino "preachers" lying to their supporters to get exorbitant levels of support.
THIRTEEN:--These causing God's people to be known as "The Church Of Prize," or alternately, "The Church Of Price," or " Church Of Money."
FOURTEEN:--Homosexualism is rampant here, estimated to be three times the level that it is in the USA.
FIFTEEN:--Filipino Christians INCLUDING preachers either turning their backs on these situations, making no effort to protest them, not even in the preaching in where they labor, much less working to stamp them out. Enough?
SPECIAL PROBLEMS
Those serving God in preaching/teaching here face some daunting problems that are organic to this nation and its culture. For example, including English, there are 154 known and recorded dialects, plus some tribal dialects. The primary native languages are Tagalog (Pilipino), Ilocano, and Cebuano, this last one the language developed by settlers in the Visayans. Additionally, there are 67 of these different tribals ( NOT tribes), some of whom would not let you live long enough to learn whether or not if they speak a known language. These have never been under any the control of any central government. They are small, seldom numbering more than 200 to 300, but they are a law unto themselves, including marriage and divorce. The central government leaves them alone, knowing it would be impossible to control them, and the only way to change their multitudes of different laws would be "ethnic cleansing."
For the recognized status of congregational ownership of land/ buildings/bank accounts, each local church must file separately for permission to the Philippines Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) -- a very difficult task made more so by reluctant bureaucrats. This induced the centralized control, as the PBC exercised for so many years, or alternately, the building and property deeded as "owned" by preachers. More than one has sold these from under the brethren, and then absconded with the money.
Religious money from and control by Americans has infected the churches here, especially since 1995. Many Americans who bring money for support or benevolence, directly or by inference, insist the Filipinos who received these funds "toe the line," OR ELSE! And when one refuses, as the real preachers do, the OR ELSE! (having support cut off) happens. Also, American preachers often have one special Filipino "friend," and he is the one who, in the final analysis, controls the decision as to which Filipino the American support goes. You can be sure he does his best to direct the money to his family and friends -- and in one case I know of, not all these family members were not even Christians, much less preachers.
Another special problem is evangelistic oversight. Probably 99% of the churches were started by preachers. Given their cultural background of one "taking charge," evangelistic oversight is the norm here. I've tried for 40 years to get preachers away from that, with only minimal success. There are several reasons why this is so difficult. If anyone wants more details, ask, and I'll be glad to explain this.
Yet another problem especially frustrating here is the tendency of Americans to export American problems from the US and import them into the Philippines. One of the most prominent of these today is MDR. In this 86% Roman Catholic nation, this is entirely moot, as there is a specific constitutional prohibition against divorce. There is no possibility of that being changed, but if it did, their culture says no remarriage no matter what the circumstances, even the death of the spouse. Bringing MDR here has caused nothing but needless division and heartache because those Filipinos who follow the "importing, money-bringing Americans" push it to please them.
And more, another difficulty introduced by meddling Americans is the interference in the affairs of local churches. I do NOT mean preaching a particular doctrine, but demanding Filipinos live and preach specific doctrine on and, again, OR ELSE! These Americans are not satisfied to observe Biblical congregational autonomy.
Concerning needs, money for medical benevolence is always critically short. If a saint or one his family has a serious medical need, often, he must sell all he owns to pay for it, or else he essentially becomes a slave to the predatory lender who provides help.
Another very disturbing situation is the envy and jealousy some "preachers" have toward other Filipinos whom visiting Americans deem successful. The ones with envy will try to do something to destroy the reputation and the work of the one of whom they are envious. This "crab" syndrome is endemic among many Filipino preachers as well as the ones just claiming to be such.
A final serious problem is training men to preach and straightening out those converted from the denominations. Such older preachers do not intentionally preach errors, but they have inherited these things as part of their previous religious culture. We have to help dig them out. The only input of new preachers here worthy of the name is our preacher-training classes. We finished our 16th on 26 May 2006 . We use only unpaid voluntary teachers, and have a specific and well thought out ten-week curriculum of very hard work. Subjects and class hours are below.
| Subjects | Hours | Subjects | Hours |
| Acts Of The Apostles | 40.0 | Bible Authority | 20.0 |
| Bible Fellowship | 6.0 | Bible History | 12.0 |
| Bible Law | 10.0 | Christian Evidences | 15.0 |
| Church History | 12.0 | Ecclesiastes | 10.0 |
| Genesis | 20.0 | God's Promise | 10.0 |
| Gospel of John | 45.0 | Greek Usage | 40.0 |
| Hermeneutics | 20.0 | Homiletics | 48.0 |
| Mind Of Christ | 20.0 | Music And Song Leading | 60.0 |
| Nature Of The Church | 15.0 | Personal Evangelism | 8.0 |
| Philippine Culture, Philippine Law and Christian Values | 8.0 | Preaching | 6.0 |
| Scriptural Giving-Basis | 2.0 | Survey of the Old Testament | 6.0 |
| Topical subjects | 10.0 | ||
| Total: | 443.0 | ||
| Additional when teacher available: | Gospel Of Luke | 15.0 | |
| Grand Total: | 458.0 |
I pray these short articles help understand more about God's work in the Philippines, and open in you the thought to assist in it.
[Editor's Note: Compare this article to the one Wallace Little wrote in 1979 by clicking here.]
Source: Pistos.com
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