FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
The Three-fold Union of Protestantism, Romanism and Spiritualism
“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation [the United States] will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she [Protestantism] shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when under influence of this threefold union our country shall repudiate every principle of the Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous workings of Satan and that the end is near.” – E.G. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 451 /Maranatha (devotional), p. 190.
“Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world. The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance given to Eve in Eden: ‘You will not surely die.’ ‘In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ Gen. 3: 4, 5, NKJV. Little by little [since the fall six thousand years ago] he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception in the development of spiritualism. He has not yet reached the full accomplishment of his designs; but it will be reached in the last remnant of time. Says the prophet: ‘and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of thedragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs [‘working miracles,’A.V], which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16: 13, 14. Except those who are kept by the power of God, through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God [in the seven last plagues].” – Ibid, Great Controversy (1911) pp. 561, 562.
See Revelation 13: 11. America is a special focus of end-time prophecy. “One nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America.” – Ibid, Great Controversy, (1911), p 640. “here is a striking figure of the rise and growth of our won nation. And the lamb-like horns, emblems of innocence and gentleness, well represent the character of our government [when founded], as pres expressed in its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism [defined also as “a church without a pope and a state without a king.’]
“The Lord has done more for the United States than for any other country upon which the sun shines. Here He provided an asylum for His people, where they could worship Him according to the dictates of conscience. Here Christianity has progressed in its purity. The life-giving doctrine of one Mediator between God and man has been freely taught. God designed that this country should ever remain free for all people to worship Him in accordance with the dictates of conscience. He designed that its civil institutions, in their expansive productions, should represent the freedom of gospel privileges. [This is the principle of Biblical freedom and liberty!]. . . .
“When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance [as they tried back in 1888], and brining oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin [not the other way around, as some aver]-7 BC 977.”/ Ibid, Maranatha, p. 103
Romanism, Protestantism, and Spiritualism are all forms of worldwide religions, the latter encompassing both ancient, paganistic witchraft and idolatry, and modern witchcraft better known as Spiritualism which is “about to ensnare the whole world.” How? We will cover this more extensively later.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian church (estimated 1.1 billion as of 2010, Pew Research Center), most wealthy (See The Vatican Billions by Avro Manhattan: Free Download. Archive.org/details/The Vatican Billions), and the most geopolitically influential religion now, through its current pope, Francis. (See Huff Post Religion). Catholic means “universal.”
Protestantism, with proper emphasis on “protest” was born in the Protest of the Princes of Germany at the Diet of Spires (Speyers) in 1529. It started earlier when Dr. Martin Luther, a faithful priest, papist, and scholar, as God’s chosen servant, at His appointed time, courageously nailed his famous 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany, in 1517, a day before the celebration of All Souls’ Day, one of the most important feasts created by the Church of Rome.
Luther’s theses exposed the abuses and evils of the traffic of the sale of Indulgences whose infamous champion was Johann Tetzel (1465-1519), a Roman Catholic German Dominican friar and preacher. He was appointed by Pope Leo X as Grand Inquisitor of Heresy in Poland in 1509 and later made Grand Commissioner for Indulgence in Germany. What a devastating combination residing in one man appointed by the pope to be both Inquisitor General and Indulgence monger!
“The official appointed to conduct the sale of indulgences in Germany—Tetzel by name—had been convicted of the basest offenses society and against the law of God [immorality, etc.] but having escaped the punishment due for his crimes, he was employed to further the mercenary and unscrupulous projects of the pope. With great effrontery he repeated the most glaring falsehoods and related marvelous tales to deceive theignorant, credulous, and superstitious people. It was to keep them under the control of the papacy, in order to swell the power and wealth of her ambitious leaders, that the Bible had been withheld from them. (See John C.L. Gieseler, A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History, per. 4., sec. 1, par. 5.)” – E.G. White, Great Controversy (1911), p. 127.
“The doctrine of Indulgences [renewed and upheld by Vatican II] has been opposed by men of learning and piety [even in] the Roman Church, and there were many who had in pretensions so contrary to both reason and revelation. [But] no prelate dared to lift his voice against this iniquitous traffic; but the minds of men were becoming disturbed and uneasy, and many eagerly inquired if God would not work through some instrumentality for the purification of the church.
“Luther, though still a papist of the straitest sort, was filled with horror at the blasphemous assumptions of the Indulgence mongers. Many of his own congregation had purchased certificates of pardon [from Tetzel and his emissaries], and they soon began to come to their pastor [Luther], confessing their various sins, not because they were penitent and wished to reform; but on the ground of indulgence!] Luther refused them absolution, and warned them that unless they should repent and reform their lives, they must perish in their sins. In great perplexity they repaired to Tetzel with the complaint that their confessor had refused his certificates; and some boldly demanded [from Tetzel] that their money be returned to them. The friar was filled with rage. He uttered the most terrible curses, cause fires to be lighted in the public squares, and declared that ‘he had received an order from the pope to burn all heretics who presumed to oppose his most holy indulgences.’—D’Aubigne, b. 3. Ch. 4.’”- Ibid, pp. 128, 129.
It was this unholy traffic of Indulgences that funded the erection of of St. Peter’s church—Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Second Vatican Council was held here, began by Pope John XXIII October 11, 1962 and ended in 1965 on the Feast of the Assumption that year, a Sunday, of course, during the pontificate of John Paul V. John Paul XIII did not see the end of the Vatican II. He died of stomach cancer June 3, 1963. Both were canonized by Pope Francis in a historic double-pope-double-saint ceremony, April 27, 2014
The Diet of Spires in 1529 (Speyer, Germany). This took place under Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.
“Quite simply, Charles V wanted to repeal the Edict of Toleration issued at Speyer in 1526 that allowed the free exercise of religion until a General Council was called. . . . At the head of the issue was an intent to enforce the Edict of Worms (May 25, 1521) that had called for the extirpation of heretics—meaning, in Germany, Lutheranism. . . .Thus the Edict of Worms was temporarily suspended at the Diet of Speyer in 1526 and an Edict of Toleration issued to bridge the gap until further consideration could be given. This itself was a ground-breaking precedent as it was the first legal act that permitted Lutheranism to exist—at least until a General Council decided otherwise; moreover it was a legal blow at the supremacy and infallibility of Rome.’ . . .
“Wylie, in his History of Protestantism describes it as: . . ‘The dawn of toleration is matters of conscience to nations; the same right had still to be extended to individuals. A mighty boon had been won. Campaigns had been fought for less blessings: the Reformers had obtained this without unsheathing a single sword.’” It was John, Elector of Saxony, who read the protest to Diet of Speyers. (See www.thereformation.info/Protest9620al%20Speyers.html.
The Edict of Worms. See The VOICE on the internet. By Dennis Bratcher, ed.
“The Edict of Worms was a decree issued by The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V banning the writings of Martin Luther and labeling him a heretic and enemy of the state (see The 95 Theses of Martin Luther). The Edict, issued on May 25, 1521, in the City of Worms in southwest Germany, was the culmination of an ongoing struggle between martin Luther and the Roman Catholic Church over reform, especially in the sales of indulgences. However, there were other deeper issues that revolved around both political and theological concerns. On the political level, Luther had challenged the absolute authority of the pope over the Church by maintaining that the sale of indulgences, authorized and promoted the pope, was wrong. On a theological level, Luther maintained that salvation was by faith alone (sola fide) not through the legal mechanisms of the church or by what the people did to earn it. He also challenged the authority of the Church by maintaining that all doctrines and dogmas of the church should be accountable to the teachings of Scripture (sola scriptura).
“To protect the authority of the pope and the Church, as well as to maintain the profitable sale of indulgence, church officials convinced Charles V that Luther was a threat and persuaded him to authorize his condemnation by the Empire. Luther escaped [by God’s miraculous intervention] and remained in seclusion as Wartburg castle several years where he continued to write and translate the Bible into German.
“While the Edict was harsh, Charles was so preoccupied with political and military concerns elsewhere that it was never enforced. Eventually Luther [by God’s will and provision, of course] was allowed to return to public life and became instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Protestant Reformation.”- Dennis Bratcher. http://www.crivoice.org/creededictworms.html
“The Roman church had made merchandise of the grace of God [“turning it into lasciviousness and licentiousness, Jude 4]. The tables of the money-changers [see Matt. 21: 2] were set up beside her altars, and the air resounded with the shouts of buyers and sellers. Under the plea of raising funds for the erection of St. Peter’s Church at Rome, indulgences for sin were publicly offered for sale by the authority of the pope. By the price of a crime a temple was built up for God’s worship—the cornerstone laid with the wages of iniquity! But the very means adopted for Rome’s aggrandizement provoked the deadliest blow to her power and greatness. [How?] It was this that aroused the most determined and successful of the enemies of popery, and led to the battle that shook the papal throne and jostled the triple crown upon the pontiff’s head.”- E.G. White, Great Controversy, (1911), p. 126.
However, the Protestant Reformation is dead, 500 years after its birth! — We will address this gripping developments in the following issues! Remember: “Those who are guided by the Word of the Lord will discern with certainty between falsehood and truth, between sin and righteousness.”- Ibid, Maranatha 192.
(To be continued next week)