FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
DENIAL DEBUNKED BY THE TRUTH, FACTS, AND THEIR OWN WORDS
Jesus Christ, God Creator in the flesh, declared, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”(John 8:32,36). John said: “No lie is of the truth” (1 John 2: 21).
Uriah Smith wrote: “The false claims of some Catholics that their church has never killed dissenters, have been flatly denied by one of their own standard writers, Cardinal Belarmine, who was born in Tuscany in 1542, and who, after his death in 1621, came being near being placed in the calendar of saints on account of his great services in behalf of the church. This man, on one occasion, under the spur of controversy, betrayed himself to an ADMISSION of the REAL FACTS of the case.
“Martin Luther having said that the church (meaning the true church) NEVER BURNED HERETICS, Bellarmine understanding it of the Roman Catholic Church, made answer:
‘This argument proves not the sentiment, but the ignorance or impudence of Luther; for as ALMOST AN INFINITE NUMBER were either burned or put to death, Luther either did not know it, and was therefore ignorant; or if he knew it, he is convicted of impudence and FALSEHOOD —-for that heretics were often burned BY THE CHURCH, may be PROVED by adducing a few from MANY examples.’- John Dowling, ‘The History of Romanism,’ p. 547. (D&R 133,134.
“John Lothrop Motley, speaking of the papal persecution in the Netherlands [one of the three countries of the Lowlands; Belgium and Luxembourg are the others], says:
‘Upon Feb. 16, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office (The Inquisition) condemned ALL THE INHABITANTS in the Netherlands TO DEATH AS HERETICS……A proclamation of the king ten days later, confirmed this decree of the Inquisition, and ordered it be carried into instant execution…..This is probably THE MOST CONCISE DEATH WARRANT that was ever framed. Three millions of people, men, women, and CHILDREN, were sentenced to the SCAFFOLD IN THREE LINES.’- ‘The Rise of the Dutch Republic,(2-vol. ed.) Vol. I, p. 626. New York.
“Many Roman Catholic authors today tried to prove that their church does not sanction persecution, but FACTS of history are too plain to be denied. Eternity alone will reveal what God’s dear children suffered during the Dark Ages. Accordingly as the Papacy attained to power, the common people became more oppressed until ‘THE NOON OF PAPACY WAS THE MIDNIGHT OF THE WORLD.’ – ‘History of Protestantism,’ J. A. Wylie, L. L. D., Vol. I, p. 16. London.”- C. Edwardson, ‘Facts of Faith,’ p. 67. Southern Publishing Asso. TN. 1943.
Prophecy reveals what is coming; history is prophecy fulfilled. Bless all, NMF.