SIXTY-FIVE: VATICAN TWO
Far more grim a perspective than one more nation having Catholic rule is what may have been the beginning of total world control at the Vatican Council of the 60's. To introduce you to that meeting, I give this clip from the Random House Encyclopedia, p. 2653:
"Vatican Council, Second (1962-65). 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church under Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. Designed to reform and revitalize the Church, the Council redefined the duties of bishops, the relationships of the Catholic to other churches, and the nature of the priesthood and the mass. It condemned anti-Semitism while calling for Christian reunion."
Whoa now! The changeless church is changing? A thousand questions come. What about re-defining the duties, positions, and authority of the Pope? How is it that Rome's relationship to the churches can change now? Was the Reformation wrong, or not? What of Bishop Sheen's warnings? Can the mass really be redefined at this late date? Is there really to be no more anti-Jewish policy in Rome, including a hands-off policy in the land of Israel? If Christians are being called to reunite, what will be the basis for that unity, and what the price?
A person growing up after Vatican II must see the things I have recorded in this book up until now as pure nonsense plus paranoia, or perhaps as ancient history not to be confused with the real Catholicism, espoused today. Others will see this as hate literature.
I certainly understand these criticisms, and am even tempted to agree. Things have been so different in Rome!
Oh the head spins with confusion! Will the real Roman church please speak? 1600 years of repression, 400 years of Protestant-bashing, and now you tell us no discrimination is to be tolerated! You say we are simply different, but we can get along? That really our marriage need not end in divorce after all?
For nearly 30 years [in 1992], this indeed is the message coming out of Rome, though you can read between the lines and realize that Rome will accept those parts of non-Catholicism which are Catholic, and continue to repudiate the rest.
DeRosa (op. cit., p.21) describes the radical change which concerns the Catholic teaching, "There is no salvation outside the church."
"It was first formulated to exclude all the un-baptized, such as Jews and unbelievers. Even babies born of Christians who died before baptism were said to be excluded from Heaven. Today, John Paul still teaches there is no salvation outside the church but 'church' and 'salvation' are so widely interpreted that all people of goodwill, even atheists, can be saved. This linguistic trick stops Catholics seeing that traditional teaching has been reversed. To admit change would expose too much of the past as a bad dream...the Catholic Church refuses to admit she has changed in essentials, even when she has improved."
His further opinion is that "almost every document of Vatican II would have been condemned as heretical by Vatican I..."
In reference to the about face on the Jewish question, he quotes John XXIII, opener of the Council, in his prayer of repentance:(p.5)
"The mark of Cain is stamped upon our foreheads. Across the centuries, our brother Abel has lain in blood which we drew, and shed tears we caused by forgetting Thy love. Forgive us, Lord, for the curse we falsely attributed to their name as Jews. Forgive us for crucifying Thee a second time in their flesh. For we knew not what we did."
For less than 2% of her existence as a body (if we look to Constantine as her first head) she gives to the world a message of peace, trying to make us forget the 98%.
She has all but silenced the great men of God throughout the world, who fear to come against one speaking such peaceable things. All but forgotten are the warnings of the great Reformers, the messages regarding Rome by giants of the faith from the Middle Ages until Vatican II. Check the "Christian" air waves, and you will find that the prince of the power of the air still controls there. You can speak about the cults, and sins of most any sort, but speak a word against the Babylonian mistress, and trouble ensues.
John, you knew not what you did. We know not what you are doing now, but it seems to be working.
And of course I must add, some of what was done is pure gold. Some people have been set free. Some have found the Lord. With this we must rejoice!
SIXTY-SIX: THE CHARISMATICS
To compound the problem of confusion created by this conciliatory tactic, along comes a movement pounced upon by Rome with all the excitement of a starving feline.
The charismatics descend from Pentecostalism, which I believe to be a genuine outpouring of God's Spirit on hungry hearts secretly searching for more of God. I believe there was a sovereign work of God here and throughout the world. I believe, further, though, that the experience gave rise to problems, just as the first outpouring of the Holy Ghost did:
First there were and are unscrupulous men who take advantage of God's people when they are in a heightened state of spiritual emotion. Let us put the judgment where it belongs here, on the unscrupulous men, and not on the spiritual emotion.
Second, the experience God gives to refresh is often interpreted by babies to mean an authorization of all personally held credos. The big Divine "O.K."
Thus hungry Roman Catholics, suddenly exposed to life-giving words from God, and even a surge of Holy Ghost power, begin to believe, as they hurriedly seek counsel from a priest, that God is ratifying their doctrine and position. It is God's joy to meet a man where he is, after all. The undiscerning, and the clergy-controlled, will tend to stay put, mouths wide open, waiting for more.
The charismatic movement among Catholics gains grudging, then much wider, approval in Rome's officialdom. Then it even becomes a part of the norm in Catholic circles. Finally the Vatican itself is forced to rubber stamp approval for the strange happenings, rather than lose hosts of people to the Protestants. Many, of course, leave anyway.
But many do not leave. And with the full approval of Rome-Babylon, which has always majored in confusion, they speak in tongues but go to Mass. They prophesy but praise Mary. They receive revelations, but honor the Pope as their grand revealer and head of the church.
Much has been gained by this particular political move of Rome. The Catholic organization, strangely enough, is now seen as a safe haven for Protestant charismatics too. Sure, a Protestant will still feel ill at ease at a May-crowning procession, but he is made to understand that there is "something for everyone" in Rome. Maybe you can't pray to Mary (yet), maybe Purgatory is still outside your theology, but we do have common ground in this tongues thing. Come home to Rome, whence we all came.
It's a tough argument to overcome for many. I will document this in various ways later.
Vatican II and the charismatic renewal (as used by the unscrupulous and unwise) create a new atmosphere in Christianity. Pro-Roman (as opposed to obsolete anti-Protestant) propaganda has people saying that, due to Vatican II, the Reformation is lessened in importance. The breakaway, they will say, was a phenomenon of that past day from which we can learn, but then we must move on to greater things.
A good Lutheran is heard to say,
"...joint worship services have been held in which it would be difficult for any Christian to find anything false or wrong."
In the same book he calls Rome, "A mother church in Christendom." He is unquestionably correct, according to John's Revelation. And he says,
"The church of Rome undoubtedly has a direct and unbroken contact with Jesus Christ, His Word, and His holy apostles." And, "The Roman Catholic Church administers Christian baptism...She reveres the Holy Bible as the inspired and infallible Word of God."(Vatican II, Renewal or Reform, Manz)
Uh, I don't think so. I shall speak of those issues in my own story, later.
The Spirit-filled Catholic. Quite a combination of images. And what happens if that Catholic just happens to be a priest?
Tom Forrest is such a one. I quote him here, speaking at a Charismatic Conference in the early 90's, Indianapolis.
"Every born again charismatic must join a Catholic parish, for this is the church, the true body of Christ...The Catholic church is the only body of Christ...Catholics have the living Christ every week. They partake of the literal body of Christ and the priest partakes of the literal blood of Christ...I believe in purgatory; thank God for purgatory. If there were no purgatory, I would not go to heaven...When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, we are led into the true church, the Roman church...You do not invite folk just to become Christians, but to become Catholics...we are saved by the sacraments of Consecration and become Christians...the priest can still forgive sins...no need to go to Christ...the Roman priest can forgive sins...Mary is praying for us till she sees us in glory..."
Depressing, isn't it? I mean, assuming you love the Scriptures and have a personal relation to Jesus based on His Word. Did the Spirit of God speak those things through him? Why then did not that same Spirit speak those same things through the foundation-stones of the church, the apostles?
In the area of evangelism, most leading missionologists, so as not to offend Rome, do not include Catholic-dominated countries in their lists of unreached peoples. Thus Catholic Spain is considered evangelized. In the rush to Muslim lands - and thank God for that! - there is a by-passing of Papal territories.
Evangelism, Catholic style, is explained in this article borrowed from the New Age Bulletin, no. 24, vol. III, Dec. 1990. Once more Tom Forrest is at center stage.
"The Roman Catholic program ' Evangelization 2000' is one of the groups spearheading world evangelization by the year 2000 A.D. 'Father' Tom Forrest, at a training session, spoke about the Roman Catholic Institution's program to evangelize the world...
" ' I am going to start off this morning with an announcement...I am not only a Christian; I am a Catholic. I have been a Catholic for 63 years and I just love being a Catholic (applause).
" ' Now because I love being a Catholic, my job, my role, our role in evangelization is not just to make Christians. Our job is to make people as richly and as fully Christians as we can make them by bringing them into the Catholic Church.'
" He then quotes Paul VI: ' The commitment of someone newly evangelized cannot remain abstract and left without flesh. It must be given concrete and visible form through entry into...the church, our visible sacrament of salvation...we have to be evangelizing into the church (applause)...why should this be so important? ...first of all, there are 7 sacraments, and the Catholic Church has all 7 (applause). And we can add to this the full deposit of faith, protected and perfected in its expression by 2000 years of tradition...
" ' As Catholics we have Mary (applause). And that mom of ours, Queen of Paradise, is praying for us...We have purgatory. It's the only way to go...If you don't get it all done here, that's where you leave it behind, in Purgatory. Thank God, we know that! (applause)...Our job is to use this remaining decade evangelizing everyone we can into the Catholic Church, into the Body of Christ, and into the third millennium of Catholic history. It will be the greatest if you do your job in Christ. Amen. Hallelujah! Praise God! . ' "
My heart is sick at such statements. The errors are obvious. Oh may we stop following everyone who has a glib "Hallelujah" or "Praise the Lord" on his lips! And when a man says he is filled with the Holy Ghost, let us be discerning enough to examine his fruit, both in life and doctrine.
