Message 6

Matt. 13: 33; Rev. 17: 1-6. In this message we will take a brief journey into the dark ages and see the bitter persecution involved in the struggle between the two women, the mother of harlots and the Bride of Christ. One is getting drunk on the blood of the saints. We will discuss the confessional box, infant baptism as a great source of revenue. Communism is a child of Catholicism. Indulgences. Reformation.

I would recommend the reading of two books that have to do with the confessional box and the immoral conduct it promotes. The books are "Fifty Years in the Church of Rome" and "The Priest, the woman, and the Confession," by Charles Chiniquy. Mr. Chiniquy was a French, Canadian; priest who was later saved and left the Catholic Church.

Around 1200 A.D. a revolution and rebellion was brewing in England, people were tired of religious slavery. Preachers were speaking out against celibacy and its contributions to immorality in the world. In England, at Runymede, on the Thames in 1215 A.D. on June 12th, the Common people of England forced wicked King John to give a written guarantee of their rights as free men. That document was known as the Magna Charta, which later served as the basis of our Constitution in 'the United States of America. The common people of England were tired of slavery in religious matters as well as in political matters.

Auricular Confession. In October of the year 1215 A.D. there was another important event, the inauguration of another doctrine known as confession in the ear of the priest. It became religious dogma. Everyone had to go to confession on a regular basis and confess to the priest. This had not been practiced until that year and it was instituted to head off the rebellion and to keep Rome informed of what was going on. This was simply an intelligence move on the part of the Church of Rome. This was Rome's ear to the world. People are taught from their youth to turn their hearts inside out to the priest as they confess .You are taught that you will go to hell if you refuse to answer the most intimate questions of the priest. The confessional is the means used to hold control over masses of people and learn what is going on in the world of the common man. You must do as the priest instructs you, according to the church dogma, or you will die and go to purgatory or even to hell according to their teachings.

The confession, purgatory, and infant baptism are all moneymakers. The greatest religious swindle in history has taken place legally for hundreds of years. Paying to get relatives prayed out of purgatory and the charging for getting your baby baptized are two of the greatest, but not the only, swindles in religion. The recent televangelist scandals (1980s and 1990s) in this country are nothing compared to what has gone on for centuries.

2 Peter 2:1-3. The prophecy here is concerning false prophets and false doctrine being used to make merchandise of people. Armitage's History says, "The Emperor Justin crushed out the last right of conscience in the matter of baptism in the 6th century I by making it a special subject of civil legislation. He issued an edict commanding all unbaptised parents us present themselves and their children for baptism at once. Leo III issued another edict A.D. 723 demanding the forcible baptism of Jews and Montanists. Toward the close of the sixth century the baptism of infants was turned to gain in the shape of fees paid for its administration; but the charges soon became so enormous that the poor could not pay them. And yet lest their children should die unsaved, the frightened parents strained every nerve to get them baptized. This is how Catholicism gained Mexico, South America, Canada, and Europe and Asia. The history of the west and the christianising of the American Indians is a very brutal story.

As time progresses greater steps toward apostasy occur until we have as follows: Priestly rule Union of Church and State Religion by law and decree Baptismal regeneration Infant Baptism Infant communion Mariolatry Worship of images Praying to saints The doctrine of transubstantiation The doctrine of purgatory The doctrine of church salvation The doctrine of Auricular confession The doctrine of papal infallibility The doctrine of indulgences.

The doctrine of indulgences is and has been a money maker .The doctrine of indulgences simply said if you were going to be gone for 6 months you could pay in advance for your sins you would commit while you were gone from home and if you died before you got back to confession you would be absolved. This is the doctrine that stirred Martin Luther to leave the Roman Catholic Church. This brings us to 1520 and the beginning of the protestant reformation.

Our next message will deal with the reformation and the rise of various churches. After that we will pick up the Anabaptists and bring them through some of the centuries.

Go To Message 7