Is there Idolatry in the Catholic Church?

Did you know that the Roman Catholic Church have their own version of the Ten Commandments, and not only changed the fourth Commandment, which is why most Churches now worship on Sunday, but they also deleted the second Commandment on idolatry? For detailed information see the Roman Catholic Version of the Ten Commandments. Can man change the Ten Commandments of God that define what sin is? (1 John 3:4) Not a chance! If God really allowed this, then man could abolish all the Ten Commandments and then we would have no need for a Saviour! Despite this, many Roman Catholics are very quick to tell us that their Church does have the authority to change the law of God and so their change of the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday was allowed. Note the following blasphemous quote from the Catholic Church that makes God obsolete.
“The Pope is of great authority and power, that he is able to modify, declare, or interpret even divine laws. The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth...” — Lucius Ferraris, in “Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica”, Volume V, article on “Papa, Article II”, titled “Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility”, #30, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
If this were really possible then the Papal Church should have no problem in changing any of the Ten Commandments to whatever they want and whenever they want and just exhorting that they had the authority. I would have expected Catholics to have said the same thing in regards to the second Commandment but when it comes to idolatry, instead of stating they deleted the second Commandment and they were allowed to do this, some Catholics tend to get upset and say that there is no idolatry in the Catholic Church. Like most people, it seems easy to sweep the fourth Commandment under the carpet but not so easy when it comes to something like idolatry.
When it comes to the fourth Commandment, there seems to be 3 groups. Group 1 knows the truth and keep all Ten Commandments and state that the fourth Commandment is a blessing and their favourite day of the week. (Isaiah 58:13-14) Group 2, which is comprised of most Churches have one of a million and one different excuses. Group 3 is the Catholic Church and they have only one excuse. We can change the law of God. The crazy thing is that group 2 with all their different excuses very rarely know that group 3 changed the Commandment and is why they worship on Sunday and some are even denying this truth on their web sites just to avoid obedience to this one Commandment. Satan really has this one all wrapped up and claps his hands with glee with the victory he has achieved over this one very special Commandment that is not just about resting but defines who we worship and give our allegiance to. What did Jesus say about keeping the traditions of man in place of His Ten Commandment law?
Mark 7:6-9 “Jesus answered them, “How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: 'These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!' “You put aside God's command and obey human teachings.” And Jesus continued, “You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching.”
 So how do you argue with something as absurd as we can change the Ten Commandments? At least there seems to be more conviction with some Roman Catholics and most other denominations when it comes to the other nine Commandments such as idolatry. Despite what many Catholics believe, there is more idolatry in the Roman Catholic Church than one could even begin to imagine. It is possible that in some cases this may not be apparent in ones own Church but it does exist in a huge way in the Papal Catholic system and is especially obvious in South America and in Rome. For example, the Catholic Church originally changed the Sabbath to Sunday in favour of Sun Worship as the Catholic Church was entrenched in Sun Worship especially in the early days. Another such example, as paganism was brought into the Catholic Church the pagan statues had to be given Christian names, eg: the Statue of St Peter in St Peters Cathedral was originally the statue of the pagan god Jupiter. This statue has had its foot kissed away and replaced because of the multitude of Catholics that have bowed down to this statue and kissed its foot. There can be no other name for this other than idolatry, especially when this was originally a pagan god. There are many more such examples that could be given of where the Catholic Church is involved in worshiping other gods. Many people don't realise that the biggest sun dial in the world is the eight-rayed sun wheel, which was symbolic of the god Ishtar and is located in St Peters Square in the Vatican seen in the picture to the left.
Some dispute that Church leaders incorporated pagan religious practices from Babylon into the Catholic Church but even Catholic historians admit it. Cardinal Newman in his Development of Christian Doctrine, pages 372, 373 says that they incorporated many pagan religious practices into the Church. He claims that the Church sanctified them and that made it safe to bring these practices into the Church. The Catholic Council of Trent also declared that: “It is lawful to have images in the Church and to give honour and worship to them ... Images are put in Churches that they may be worshipped.”
The Oxford dictionary defines an idol as: “An image used as an object of worship. A person or thing that is the object of excessive devotion.” If you hail Mary, then you are committing IDOLATRY. If you line the streets with millions of others to lay eyes on a dead Pope as with John Paul II, then you are committing IDOLATRY.
So an Idolater is a devoted admirer of idols but what does the Bible say about images and idols?
1. Exodus 20:4-5
“Thou shalt not MAKE unto thee ANY graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not BOW DOWN thyself to them Nor SERVE them.”

Do Catholics MAKE graven images? Yes.
Do Catholics KNEEL down to statues of Mary or Jesus? Yes.
Do Catholics SERVE Mary? Yes, as in “Legion of Mary.”
Do Catholics BOW DOWN and kiss the foot of the pagan god Jupiter which was renamed St Peter? Yes.
2. Leviticus 26:1
“You shall make you NO IDOLS nor GRAVEN IMAGE. Neither rear you up a STANDING IMAGE. Neither shall ye set up any IMAGE OF STONE in your land to bow down unto it.”

Do Catholics rear up STANDING IMAGES? Yes.
Do Catholics set up any IMAGE OF STONE? Yes.
3. Deuteronomy 4:16
“Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and MAKE you a GRAVEN IMAGE, the similitude of ANY FIGURE, the likeness of MALE or FEMALE.”

Do Catholics make graven images of MALE or FEMALE? Yes. Mary is a female. Jesus and the apostles are males.
4. Deuteronomy 16:22
“Neither shalt thou SET thee UP ANY IMAGE: which the Lord thy God HATES.”

Do Catholics SET UP ANY IMAGES? Yes.
Does God HATE IMAGES? Yes.
5. 1 Thessalonians 1:9
“How ye turned to God FROM IDOLS to serve the living and true God.”

Did the early Christians turn FROM IDOLS? Yes.
6. Deuteronomy 27:15
“CURSED be the man that MAKES ANY GRAVEN or MOLTEN IMAGE, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.”

Does God put a curse on any person that makes any image? Yes.
Why does God call an image an ABOMINATION? Because He hates it.
7. The early Christians had NO IMAGES
Early Christian writers such as Irenaeus, Clement, Cyprian, Athanasius and Jerome wrote strongly AGAINST images, statues and any manner of prayer or veneration regarding them. The Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. voted unanimously to remove all images from the Churches.
8. The Catholic Church removes the second Commandment against MAKING graven images from the list of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17. This presents them with the problem of only having 9 Commandments. They resolve this problem by splitting Commandment number 10 into 9 and 10. That is: 9. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods. The following is seen in the book “A brief summary of the Ten Commandments” by the Daughters of St. Paul, p.12, 13:
WHAT ARE THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD?
The Commandments of God are these ten:
“I am the Lord your God:
1. You shall not have strange Gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
9. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods.” Exodus 20:1-17
The number Two Commandment should be “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” Exodus 20:4. Check your Catechism to see if they have left it out.
Question: Why do you think they left it out?
9. Every Catholic institution has images of Mary, Jesus and male and female figures. An example of this are two statues at the French Papal Palace of Avignon, one of Jesus about 20 metres above ground level, and the other is an enormous statue of Mary, much larger, grander and higher up than that of Jesus. This gives the greater honour to Mary than Jesus. It also clearly breaks the second Commandment forbidding making images of things in heaven.
Who do we believe, the Word of God or the Catholic Church? “We ought to obey God, rather than men.” Acts 5:29
Our humble apologies to all Roman Catholics but genuine love demands preaching of Bible truth so that no honest person will be deceived for eternity is at stake. While identifying the Roman Catholic Church as Mystery Babylon, we hasten to remind all sincere Christians that many of Christ's true followers are still members of this Church. They are unaware of the deception under which they worship. The Saviour died for them as well as people of all other faiths. The present is surely the time for love to be expressed in sincere action as these precious saints are called out of apostasy into the light of God's saving truth.
When Israel committed spiritual adultery, God called His Church a “WHORISH WOMAN”, a “HARLOT” and a “WHORE” and accused her of “ADULTERY” and “FORNICATION.” See Ezekiel 16:26-32, Jeremiah 3:1-25. The Catholic Church is in fact guilty of much worse than Israel as you will soon see from the passage below from our Lord and Saviour Himself. In a recent address to the nations, Pope Benedict caused a major uproar among many Churches as he referred to the Catholic Church as being the “MOTHER” Church and called for all the daughter Churches to come back to HER. Many Churches today are called daughter Churches because they originally came from the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, many of these daughter Churches have also ignorantly inherited her various false doctrines and this is why SHE is called the “MOTHER OF HARLOTS” and is mystery Babylon. Whether you believe that the Roman Catholic Church is guilty of idolatry or not, the fact is that there can be no doubt on the truth of the passage below and God says the Catholic Church is guilty of idolatry and much worse. There is no mistaking that symbolically a woman represents a Church in the Bible as the Church is the bride of Christ as even the Catholic Church knows and there is only one Church that matches these criteria such as these colours and has the blood of millions on her hands.
Revelation 17:1-6 http://www.The-Ten-Commandments.org “I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore [God calls an idolatrous Church a HARLOT and a WHORE and guilty of adultery and fornication:Ezekiel 16:26-32, Jeremiah 3:1-25] that sitteth upon many waters [symbolic of how literal Babylon was built over water:Revelation 17:15]: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication [false doctrines]. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman [Church:Scriptures] sit upon a scarlet [Sin:Isaiah 1:18 sinful because she changed God's law that defines sin] coloured beast [Kingdom:Daniel 7:17; 7:23], full of names of blasphemy [she has many blasphemous practices], having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman [Church] was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold [official Vatican colours, OT Priest robes ALSO had blue which represents God's law:Exodus 28:4-6; Numbers 15:38-40] and precious stones and pearls, [Vatican is filthy rich] having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, [very few understand what originated from this mystery Babylonian religion and where many of the traditions of the Catholic religion really started] BABYLON [God calls her Babylon because her paganism that has affected His true Church originated from literal Babylon] THE GREAT, THE MOTHER [Catholic Church calls herself the Mother Church] OF HARLOTS [many Churches came from her and ignorantly took on her pagan idolatrous practices] AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH [she is guilty of the most abominable crimes]. 6 And I saw the woman [Church] drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: [The Catholic Church murdered and tortured over 68,000,000 Christian saints].”
See the mark of the beast and the origins of 666 to find more on why God calls the Catholic Church Babylon and to discover how so much idolatry ended up in the Catholic Church. See also paganism in the Catholic Church and the origin of Babylon and sun worship. Below are a few more quotes that also leave no doubt that the Papal Catholic Church has taken on many pagan traditions from the mystery Babylonian religion.
“The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.” — An Essay on The Development of the Christian Doctrine John Henry “Cardinal Newman” p.373.
“It has often been charged… that Catholicism is overlaid with many pagan incrustations. Catholicism is ready to accept that accusation and even to make it her boast… the great god Pan is not really dead, he is baptized” — The Story of Catholicism p 37.

“It is interesting to note how often our Church has availed herself of practices which were in common use among pagans … Thus it is true, in a certain sense, that some Catholic rites and ceremonies are a reproduction of those of pagan creeds…” — (The Externals of the Catholic Church, Her Government, Ceremonies, Festivals, Sacramentals and Devotions, by John F. Sullivan, p 156, published by P.J. Kennedy, NY, 1942).

BY: http://www.The-Ten-Commandments.org

#Occupy Reborn – The role of labor unions in prophecy

Mon, Apr 30, 2012

       If you are reading this, I consider you a dear friend that I believe will care about current events in light of Bible Prophecy. I have an urgency to have our hearts and lives in a place where God is our refuge and strength.
I remember the day my dad called while in New York helping an Adventist gentlemen open a vegetarian restaurant last year. He had “stumbled” upon a small group of organizers planning something called “The Occupy Movement”. I have pics and videos on my computer of this small group with a few influential older gentlemen that would not acknowledge their involvement in the movement. My dad found it interesting and was in the midst of the fever pitch of Occupy Wall Street for 2 weeks. He shared with me all his pics which I still have and will cherish.
I say all this to say that as my dad and I discussed these things, we saw in them the fulfillment of prophecy right before our very eyes. My dad told me that day that there was deep pocketed union money behind this thing and the language at the organizing event was that they would take care of the details and funding.
Don’t think for a second this movement will die. Written over 100 years ago, the statements below are chillingly accurate to the warring classes of rich and poor as described as the 1% vs the 99%.
Study, Pray and Share as if we have entered the final months of earth’s history. Yes God may be merciful and hold the winds of strife another 20 years. I pray He continues to be merciful, but the reality is that the climax of the ages is at our doorstep. How will we treat this day differently than any before or after? My dad was working with haste to get all things ready for the crisis.
May God show each of us what to do and how to do it with efficiency and urgency so that the world may see that we like Noah are preparing for the coming storm and that we truly believe this earth is not our home.
Here are the statements and news links to consider in light of Tuesdays planned events around the world:
The trade unions will be the cause of the most terrible violence that has ever been seen among human beings.—Letter 99, 1904, p. 3. (To J. E. White and wife, February 23, 1904.) – {4MR 23
In New York, Occupy Wall Street will join scores of labor organizations observing May 1, traditionally recognized as International Workers’ Day.
-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-30/occupy-wall-street-plans-global-disruption-of-status-quo-may-1.html
At least 83 groups are listed as endorsing the general strike, many of them unions. Those include several locals from the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Service Employees International and International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.
-http://cnsnews.com/blog/dan-gainor/occupy-promises-biggest-shut-down-city-new-york-has-ever-seen-blockade-san-fran
The forming of these unions is one of Satan’s last efforts. God calls upon His people to get out of the cities, isolating themselves from the world. The time will come when they will have to do this. God will care for those who love Him and keep His commandments.—Letter 26, 1903, pp. 2, 3. (To Brother and Sister J. A. Burden, December 10, 1902.) – {3MR 43
The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began…. – {LDE 116.3}
A few men will combine to grasp all the means to be obtained in certain lines of business. Trades unions will be formed, and those who refuse to join these unions will be marked men…. – {LDE 117.1}
Read Last Day Events CHAPTER 2. All of it
The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force. In the world gigantic monopolies will be formed. Men will bind themselves together in unions that will wrap them in the folds of the enemy. A few men will combine to grasp all the means to be obtained in certain lines of business. Trades unions will be formed, and those who refuse to join these unions will be marked men.—Letter 26, 1903. – {CL 10
The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began.—Letter 200, 1903. – {CL 10.2}
The time is fast coming when the controlling power of the labor unions will be very oppressive. Again and again the Lord has instructed that our people are to take their families away from the cities, into the country, where they can raise their own provisions; for in the future the problem of buying and selling will be a very serious one. We should now begin to heed the instruction given us over and over again: Get out of the cities into rural districts, where the houses are not crowded closely together, and where you will be free from the interference of enemies.—Letter 5, 1904. – {CL 9

The eurozone's religious faultline

Dan 2:43   And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
(KJV)
Again God is right and when ever He says something,that is what happens!!!

Discussion among eurozone leaders about the future of their single currency has become an increasingly divisive affair. On the surface, religion has nothing to do with it - but could Protestant and Catholic leaders have deep-seated instincts that lead them to pull the eurozone in different directions, until it breaks?

Following the last European summit in Brussels there was much talk of defeat for Chancellor Merkel by what was described as a "new Latin Alliance" of Italy and Spain backed by France.
Many Germans protested that too much had been conceded by their government - and it might not be too far-fetched to see this as just the latest Protestant criticism of the Latin approach to matters monetary, which has deep roots in German culture, shaped by religious belief.
Churchgoing has been in decline in Germany as elsewhere as secularisation has spread, but religious ideas still shape the way Germans talk and think about money. The German word for debt - schuld - is the same as the word for "guilt" or "sin".

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The 19th Century Latin Currency Union struggled to survive after a number of countries minted and printed more money than they were meant to”

Talk of thrift and responsible budgeting comes instinctively to Angela Merkel, daughter of a Protestant pastor.

Merkel's frequent assertion that "there is no alternative" to austerity policies (while reminiscent to Britons of Margaret Thatcher) has been likened to the famous stubborn statement by German Reformation leader Martin Luther: "Here I stand. I can do no other".
The new German president, Joachim Gauck, who might play an important role in constitutional arguments about the single currency, is also from the Protestant fold - he is a former Lutheran pastor.
The country's population is fairly evenly divided between Protestants and Catholics - as well as those of other faiths, or none - and Merkel's and Gauck's ascent symbolises changes in Germany since reunification in 1990.

Former West German Chancellor - and Catholic - Konrad Adenauer signed the unifying Treaty of Rome in 1957

Both lived in East Germany, a historically Protestant territory, while West Germany had several influential Catholic political leaders, who, in earlier post-war decades, had joined in broad Catholic enthusiasm for European integration.
Former West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, a Rhineland Catholic highly distrustful of Protestant Prussian traditions to the German east, led West Germany into the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957.
This created the European Economic Community, forerunner of today's EU. And there was a clear geographical fit between the six countries which signed and the territory of Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire.
Charlemagne, claimed by modern European unifiers as a kind of patron saint, had created a new currency for his territories - the livre carolienne.
Helmut Kohl, who took Germany into economic and monetary union in the 1990s, was another Catholic Rhinelander constantly visiting cathedrals and speaking of the ancient spiritual roots of a united Europe.
There was much talk of the Germans sacrificing their beloved Deutsche Mark currency "on the altar of European unity".
But German reunification at that time also meant the capital moving back to Berlin, away from closer Catholic connections felt in the west and south of the country.
And the eurozone crisis has intensified a deep-rooted debate about whether Germans, shaped by Protestantism, are fundamentally different from Catholic "Latin" countries and their allies.

German banking has, from medieval times, been more cautious than that in Italy and Spain. And sceptical Germans looking at the history of previous currency union troubles point to the 19th Century Latin Currency Union.
Germany, unifying under Prussian leadership through its own customs union, did not join. The Latin Union struggled to survive after a number of countries, notably the Papal States, minted and printed more money than they were meant to.
Politicians or states undermining money have diabolical overtones for angst-filled Germans.

An illustration from the 1800s shows Faust in his study with Mephistopheles

In Goethe's Faust, one of the most famous works in German culture, Mephistopheles persuades the Holy Roman Emperor to issue a new paper currency - despite one of his advisers warning that this is the counsel of Satan.
Order duly breaks down as the Emperors' subjects go on a binge bearing no relation to their real wealth.
Weimar Republic hyperinflation in the early 1920s - when "money went mad" and all moral as well as economic order was seen as collapsing - seemed a diabolical vision made real.

Continue reading the main story

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Too much Catholicism is detrimental to a nation's fiscal health, even today in the 21st Century”

Stephan Richter The Globalist

Some in Germany suggest today's eurozone would be better dividing, with some kind of Latin Union on one side, and on the other a German-led group of like-minded countries including perhaps the (Calvinist) Dutch and the (Lutheran) Finns.

The former head of the German industry association, Hans-Olaf Henkel, has said that "the euro is dividing Europe".
He wants the Germans, Dutch and Finns to "seize the initiative and leave the euro", creating a separate northern euro.
A new split along ancient lines? The government in Berlin has begun to plan for what it sees as a hugely significant anniversary in 2017 - 500 years since Luther began The Reformation.
He was protesting against indulgences, a controversial attempt by the Papacy to solve its fiscal problems by persuading Europeans to buy absolution from their sins.
One German commentator, Stephan Richter, has suggested mischievously that the eurozone's problems would have been prevented if only Luther had been one of the negotiators of the Maastricht treaty, deciding which countries could join the euro.

Continue reading the main story

"'Read my lips: No unreformed Catholic countries,' he would have chanted. The euro, as a result, would have been far more cohesive," says Richter.

Richter is himself a Catholic, but an admirer of thrifty economics. "Too much Catholicism" he suggests, "is detrimental to a nation's fiscal health, even today in the 21st Century".
But he believes some historically Catholic countries, such as Austria and Poland, may have come under more Germanic influence due to their geographical proximity. They are "Catholics perhaps, but with a healthy dose of fiscal Protestantism," he reasons.
Commemorations in 2017 will doubtless try to stress that Reformation divisions between Protestants and other reformers and Catholicism were not too great.
But the usually thrifty government under Chancellor Merkel has already promised 35 million euros to mark this birth of Protestantism.
And where will the eurozone be in 2017?
Still intact? Or coming to terms with a new historic divide between the Latins and the preachers of Protestant thrift?

by By Chris Bowlby BBC Radio 4