My good friend Aaron shared this article with me.

A modern guillotine

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”-Revelation 20:4

As we see in Revelation 20, the prophecy declares that some of the children of God that do NOT go along with the Papacy’s mark will find themselves at the business end of a guillotine. All too often the argument arises. How can we as a modern and more civilized people, use guillotines. Would this not be barbaric as well as insane in today’s age? After all, we are civilized now, and execution methods of the dark ages are just plain outdated! Therefore, this must prove the prophecy of Revelation chapter 20 to be absolutely false, right? Well, you may want to suggest to those that speak such words regarding prophetic facts, that they should hold on to their hats. LITERALLY!

The prophecy declares that some WILL be killed by guillotine, and that is what must occur. So, the enemy will eventually figure out ways to get this done. NOT because they believe the prophecy, and want to do as the Almighty declares in that prophecy. Not at all! The fact is, the Lord SAW this end result from the beginning and decided to tell us in advance in His prophetic Word. The wicked are merely doing what the Almighty already saw them do long ago. In other words, They WILL do it! Because our Lord SAW them do it!

Not long after the movie “The green mile”, many state officials including the governor started a massive campaign to stop executions by electrocution. What was their decided choice for execution you ask? A no brainer eh? THE GUILLOTINE!
The states known of so far are GEORGIA & MONTANA as the recipients of these guillotines. The information I had received was that 15,000 guillotines had been shipped to Georgia as well as Montana for safe keeping until such a time as they are needed.

Some of you may be asking, why in this modern age we would have government officials lobbying for laws that would require guillotines as a way to kill those they deem worthy of death? With all our technology, with all our civilized ways, with all our “humane” laws, what would drive men to kill with such a thing as a guillotine? MONEY! That’s right folks! It’s the exact same thing that moves the beast in Rome to do the things it does. The almighty dollar bill is what they worship, and the almighty dollar bill is what directs their paths. They truly serve the god of mammon.

Think of it… You can get over $40,000 for one kidney now. Imagine what an entire human body is worth with TWO kidney’s, two eyeballs, a heart, a liver, lungs, skin, gall bladders, bone marrow, blood, etc etc etc. The hospitals of the world have become literal body snatchers right before our eyes! Keep in mind as well, the governing officials of the world also see a cash cow in the executioners cage because they know what they can get for those “fresh” organs. And the Almighty Creator knew of this long before ANY of our transplant surgeons were even born. Isn’t that awesome how His prophecy works out? He doesn’t have to give us the morbid details as to WHY they will be using guillotines. He just tells us they will be using them!

So… let’s cut to the chase!

Why would guillotines represent the better option? I am sure most of you have figured it out already. Why don’t they choose “lethal injection” as an alternative? That is a VERY humane way to break the sixth commandment isn’t it? Or what about cyanide gas? The same gas used on the Jews that was manufactured by the family business of Pope John Paul II’s parents, in fact, John Paul himself was a salesman of the gas. I never heard of anyone igniting or screaming or writhing for 2 or 3 minutes in a gas chamber in excruciating pain, or on a lethal injection table. Have you? So why don’t they use those already in use “so called” humane methods to kill the Christians they will eventually have in their jails? BECAUSE THE ORGANS WOULD BE POISONED AND NOT WORTHY OF HARVESTING!

An excerpt from Bill #1274 in the Georgia House of Representatives. (I highlighted for obvious reasons…) Notice how the bill lets the cat out of the bag as to WHY they want guillotines. It’s not as they said in the first place is it?

Georgia House of Representatives – 1995/1996 Sessions
HB 1274 – Death penalty; guillotine provisions
Code Sections – 17-10-38/ 17-10-44

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

1- 1 To amend Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 17 of the Official
1- 2 Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the death penalty
1- 3 generally, so as to provide a statement of legislative
1- 4 policy; to provide for death by guillotine; to provide for
1- 5 applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
1- 6 purposes.

SECTION 1.

1- 8 The General Assembly finds that while prisoners condemned to
1- 9 death may wish to donate one or more of their organs for
1-10 transplant, any such desire is thwarted by the fact that
1-11 electrocution makes all such organs unsuitable for
1-12 transplant. The intent of the General Assembly in enacting
1-13 this legislation is to provide for a method of execution
1-14 which is compatible with the donation of organs by a
1-15 condemned prisoner.

The “Green mile” that was released of the man in the electric chair declared quite boldly, “THIS IS INHUMANE” did it not? Yet we see here in the wording of Georgia House Bill #1274, their main concern is NOT whether or not it’s inhumane to do so. The Bill states plainly that, “electrocution makes all such organs unsuitable for transplant. ”

NATIONAL ISSUE: One Court For All The World?

———————————————————-
A United Nations meeting in Rome is wrapping up five weeks of work on a proposed international criminal court. The new court would have worldwide jurisdiction and could investigate, indict, hold, try, and punish, those who committed certain crimes. The proposed international court would subject Americans to a new world authority… “Were talking about creating here something that exercises genuine power, real put-people-in-jail power, but that is responsible to no one but itself.” said Lee Casey, a constitutional lawyer with the Washington firm of Hunton & Williams. [Investment Business Daily, Thursday July 16, 1998 Los Angeles, California]

Why are they so vague about the “certain crimes” ? What do you suppose a “certain crime” would be for Rome? How would they define it?

The archbishop of St. Louis said: “Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all people are Catholics, and where the catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as crimes.” … “Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following words” “Heretic, schismatic’s, and rebels to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.” -Josiah Strong, “Our Country,” ch. 5, pars 2-4.

The Vatican has the one world court. It has the one world church. And as soon as we have the global financial disaster James speaks of in Chapter 5, the Vatican will hold the Euro, or “one world currency” that is already backed by it’s treasury as well. The wound will be 100% healed, and the people of God will be arrested for “certain crimes.” And the United States of America will do exactly as prophecy said it would. It will HELP ROME kill the Christians, and enforce the mark of the beast. And of course many of us will choose death over denying the Truth we know in Christ.

US Army Staff Sergeant Admits:” MILITARY GUILLOTINES ARE REAL!”

Check out this confirming article http://consciousshift2012.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/us-army-staff-sergeant-admits-military-guillotines-are-real/

Also see Bring Back the Guillotine – Lethal injection is the wrong way to do capital punishment. Severing the head is the better way to go.

This book has key pieces to the puzzle of how the Vatican has taken over the world through the Knight Templars, Illuminati, Jesuits, Freemasons, Knights of Malta, Rosicrucians and other secret groups. Yes folks, these groups are all connected with the center being Rome, the Vatican. “All roads lead to Rome” is true today as it ever was.

I deem the author Frederick Tupper Saussy to be a good honest researcher because he is a Christian who has pointed consistently throughout his book that the “Rulers of Evil” have sought to negate doctrines from the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Scriptures in favor of doctrines of paganism, with humanism being the number one doctrine they want to instill in the minds and hearts of the public.

Here’s a quote from page 20.

New information I have learned so far

• The founder of the Jesuit Order, Ignatius Loyola, was initiated into the Illuminati. The Illuminati existed long before Adam Weishaupt founded the Bavarian branch on May 1st. 1776.
• It was in Spain and Portugal that the Knights Templars began to call themselves “Illuminati.”
• The basic doctrines of the Illuminati are based on Gnosticism.
• The Illuminati, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Jesuits and Knights of Malta are groups that evolved from the Knights Templars
• The Knights Templars invented modern banking because of the invention of paper money by the Chinese. The banking financial systems of today would not be possible without paper money which has now advanced further into digital money.
• Though the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was blamed on the Jesuits, and 8 Jesuit priests were executed, King James who “discovered” the plot was in reality a collaborator! The Plot gave James his best opportunity to separate loyal and moderate Catholics from the extremists of the Plot which secured England for loyal and moderate Roman Catholicism. The sacrifice of 8 Jesuits was a small price for the Vatican to pay to achieve what they have achieved in England!
• Shakespearean plays teach pagan Gnosticism much more than Biblical truth.
• The United States of America and its constitution was founded by Freemasons with a hidden agenda. This is exactly what author Ralph Epperson teaches in his video, “America’s Secret Destiny”.
• Some Jesuit priests wear plain clothes or the garb of something other than a Catholic priest. They do this for the purpose of infiltration. Some may even become ministers of Protestant churches! Alberto Rivero was one such Jesuit priest who wore plain clothes and was trained to be an infiltrator.

Journalist Greg Anthony highlights the work of Tupper Saussy and his book Rulers of Evil, going back to a lost but now found June 20 2006 radio interview he did with Tupper two years prior to his passing.

Some of the conclusions and statements in “Rulers of Evil” are in direct contradiction the what Eric Jon Phelps says in his book, “Vatican Assassins”. Phelps says the writer of Shakesperian plays was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Masonic author Manly P. Hall says Freemason Francis Bacon was the real author of Shakespeare. After reading Hamlet last year, I am inclined to agree that de Vere did not write the plays attributed to William Shakespeare but more likely Francis Bacon and perhaps some of his associates did.

I do not recommend anyone to listen to Eric Jon Phelps or read his book Vatican Assassins anymore. Though he calls Charles Chiniquy one of his heroes, he contradicts him when he says that the civil war was caused by the North, and not the South. Chiniquy quotes Abraham Lincoln when he points the finger at the Jesuits and the Roman Catholic church for inciting the South to rebel against the North. Phelps also called George Washington a good Baptist when he was really an Episcopalian. He called him a godly man though Washington was a Freemason who did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ! Either Phelps gets his facts mixed up or he has a secret agenda.

Read chapter one of Rulers of Evil on this website.

Read the entire book on this website.

Or download the PDF format version of the book.

February 28, Day 1

It’s the first day of a one week adventure traveling mainly by hitchhiking! I’m on my way to Kansai of which the principle cities are Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. Today’s destination was Osaka.

Mr. Washio, the Subaru Car Company worker who previously picked me up two weeks before.

I hitchhiked again from Niigata City to Osaka. This time I made it in record time arriving directly at my friend’s house at 4:50 P.M.! And it was totally void of any cost for transportation.

The first driver was a young man, Mr. Washio. I met him three weeks before during my last trip to Osaka. He took me to the same place as before on Route 8.

In less than a minute waiting on Route 8 a driver stopped and took me close to the Sanjo-Tsubame Interchange of the Hokuriku Expressway. Normally from that point I would take a highway bus 6 kilometers further up to the Sakae parking area, but this time I felt led to hitchhike at the interchange, a practice I used to do. This was probably the main reason I arrived to Osaka so quickly, for at 9:15 a.m. a man going all the way to Kanazawa picked me up! Kanazawa is just over half the distance to Osaka, about 300 kilometers from home. Catching a ride at the interhchange saved time waiting for the bus and the time I probably would have waited at Sakae.

The driver’s name was Mr. Shimada. He has a rather dangerous job of repairing the surface of the insides of underground gasoline tanks at gas stations. Sometimes they explode sending the worker flying in the air.

Mr. Shimada took me to Oyabegawa Service area in Toyama Prefecture. I choose to get off there rather than go all the way to Kanazawa before it’s always best to hitchhike at major service areas of the expressway rather than get off the expressway and hitchhike at the interchange entrance.

Young man from Fukuoka who has been hitchhiking for the past 40 days in Hokkaido and Tohoku

At Oyabegawa, lo and behold, I saw another hitchhiker was standing waiting for cars! He was a young man from Fukuoka City in Kyushu. His signboard says, “Ishikawa” the next prefecture past Toyama. As I talked with him two other men approached us. One asked me how old I am, “I’m 63,” I replied. He put his hands on my shoulders and said, “You’re really healthy and going strong!” The second man offered to take both me and the young man hitchhiker to Tokumitsu Service Area in Ishikawa which is just past Kanazawa.

At Tokumitsu I parted with the young man saying it was best we stand in different places. The place where he stood gave him the first opportunity to meet people while I stood near the exit of the service area just before cars reenter the expressway. An older couple on their way to Fukui stopped. They said they saw the young man which meant I caught the first ride.

Mr. Sakamoto who took me to my very destination in Osaka.

The final Car, driver #8, took me from Taga Service Area in Shiga Prefecture all the way to my very destination in Osaka! He name is Mr Sakamoto and he was very friendly and talkative.

March 1st. Day 2

Today my goal was to hitchhike to Kainan City in Wakayama Prefecture to meet up with a Facebook friend, Naomi, who I had never met face to face before. We have been in touch for at least a couple years. She’s an English teacher. I first came in contact with her after she saw my web page about fixing Japanese paper shoji doors and wrote me an email about it.

I had never tried to hitchhike to Wakayama Prefecture before and didn’t know the roads well. Mr. Sakamoto from the day before advised me to stand at the Chou Kanjo bypass entrance which is just a 10 minute walk from where I was. In only a few minutes a man in a light truck stopped. He said he would take me to entrance of the Kinki Expressway which connects to an expressway going to Wakayama.

The spot where I ended up was too dangerous to hitchhike. There was a great amount of traffic. Cars were whizzing by past me too fast. I left the Chou Kanjo bypass and searched for a safer place on the regular road that would run into the Kinki Expressway entrance.

After walking a considerable distance getting lost and walking even the wrong direction, two people gave me guidance and I found a good road to hitchhike on. I held out to the drivers a paper sign that says “To Kinki Expressway” but everybody ignored me. I realized then that most of those drivers would probably not be entering the Kinki Expressway.

Mr. Aoki, the Nichirenshu truck driver who took me to the Kinki Expressway entrance.

It was still 9:00 a.m. and my appointment in Kainan was not until 2:p.m. I was pacing myself. If I could not get a ride in an hour, I would take the train so as not to be late for the appointment.

About 30 minutes later a truck driver offered to take me further up the road which would bring me to the very enterance of the Kinki. He name is Mr. Aoki and he was driving a large truck, the kind that normally does not stop for me. Mr. Aoki is a member of the Nichirenshu Buddhist sect. He zealously explained the doctrines of Nichiren, but they made no sense to me at all. However Mr. Aoki is such a friendly guy, and we became Facebook friends.

Mr. Tatebayashi who took me to Kainan city in Wakayama Prefecture. Behind him is his friend who will accompany him to see the other friend in the hospital.

The final ride was a total miracle! After about 30 minutes, a man on his way home to another part of Osaka stopped for me. His name is Mr. Tatebayashi and he seemed surprised to learn I was on my way to Kainan city. Kainan is his home town and he was thinking of going there to see a friend in the hospital who just had a serious automobile accident. Though Mr. Tatebayashi was on his way back home without intending to go to Kainan that day, he decided to go there for my sake and because he needed to make the trip eventually anyway!

He told me a Japanese proverb I had often heard from drivers while traveling, “Tabi wa michizure, yo wa nasake” which means, “No road is long with good company”. I arrived at Kainan City a little before 11 a.m. – 3 hours before my appointment to see Naomi.

March 2st. Day 3

Today I successfully hitchhiked from the Suita Service Area in Osaka to Otsu City in Shiga. This is going back the direction I came from Niigata. But it’s not far and was a piece of cake to get to.

The first car were 3 ladies. The driver said they were on their way to Kyoto and could not take me to Otsu. I asked if she would take me only as far as the Katsuragawa Service area just before Kyoto. No problem she said.

The driver of the first car which took me close to Kyoto.

They were on their way to a concert. All were friendly and talkative. Most Japanese find it interesting that a man of my age travels by hitchhiking.

The second car was a young couple married only two years. When I told them I do Christian wedding ceremonies, they asked me if I could do the wedding vows for them. I replied the vows first to the husband and then his wife. The both repolied, “Hai, chikaimasu!” “I affirm.”

The married couple who took me to Otsu.

March 9, Day 10

I hitchhiked back to Niigata from Osaka in 5 cars. The last car was a nice couple who asked to photograph me. I subsequently photographed them!

A couple who took me from Nadachitanihama SA to Mitsuke station which is only a short train ride home.

Route 345 and the Sea of Japan near Majima Station, Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture.

Today was partially overcast with dark snow clouds. It snowed from time to time. Nevertheless I made it as far as Odate City in 8 vehicles.

Car #2 was Mr. Kawahara who works with Honda motor company selling car parts. I may see him again at the local Home Center in March. He took me to Tsuruoka city. From there a lady took me a bit further to the Route 7 bypass in Tsuruoka.

Car #4 was Mr. Masayuki Morita who took me from Tsuruoka City to exactly where I wanted to go in Sakata City, about 20 kilometers up the road. His destination was actually only part way to Sakata. Mr. Morita understands hitchhikers well because he himself is an experienced hitchhiker who traveled 10 years ago all the way to the southern end of Kyushu island to the city of Kanoshima! It took him 5 days!

It was snowing rather heavily when I got to Ikura Sakura just past Akita City. A lady, driver #7, offered me a ride. She saw my sign that said “Noshiro” which is the next major town up the road. Before getting in the car, the lady confessed to me she suffers from panic attacks. After sitting next to her in the front seat, I immediately laid my hand on her shoulder and prayed for her healing in the Name of Jesus Christ! She smiled and seemed to appreciate it. She’s on medicine. I told her panic attacks is a spiritual problem that can only be solved though spiritual – good counseling and reading wholesome books, especially the Bible.

Ishikawa in HIrosaki City, a scene on my way walking to the Tohoku expressway IC.

Truck that took me to Chojahara SA in Miyagi Prefecture.

The next day on the way back I successfully hitchhiked all the way home on the Tohoku Expressway! The very first vehicle was a truck on the way to Sendai. It’s very rare for long distance truck drivers to pick me up
these days.

The second car was two ladies on their way to Murata city just past Sendai. I was thankful to go with them to get past Sendai. They took me to Sugo parking area.

Tourist Bus to Adatara SA

The 3rd vehicle was a tourist bus with two ladies, the driver and the guide! I think this is only the 3rd or 4th time ever to get picked up by a bus! They took me to Adatara SA which is just before the Banetsu Junction in Fukushima Prefecture. It was getting dark by the time we arrived which made a blurry photo.

Route 345 near Majima station, Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture

February 15, 2014 According to yesterday’s weather forecast, I expected it to snow all day and was prepared to take a train from Niigata City to Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. But at 7:30 a.m. because the weather was fair, I decided to get off the train at Majima station and hitchhike.

The traffic was sparse. After 30 minutes waiting at the spot on the road which you see in the photo, I decided to walk. This way I would stay warmer. I hoped drivers would take pity on me seeing me in a more isolated spot away from the town. Today was the longest walk I had up Route 345 — a full hour. A man in a fine car offered to take me 10 kilometers further. Later he decided to take me as far as Route 7 which was much better for me. Route 7 is the main highway going to Hirosaki.

Couple who took me 190 kilometers to Akita Station

After a relatively short wait near the intersection of Routh 7 and Route 345, a couple on their way to Akita City pulled up and offered me a ride. Going all the way to Akita city in a single ride is outstanding! It has taken me as many as 6 cars to get that distance! The ride was a good 3 hours. They were interested in why I hitchhike and all the various experiences I’ve had hitchhiking.

From Akita station I took a train to Ikawa Sakura station, 400 yen distance, and hitchhiked again. Three vehicles with two drivers who were ladies took me to Odate Station from where I got a train the rest of the way. It started to snow and was getting dark by the time I got to Odate.

Route 7 Nagamine, Akita Prefecture. Home is 400 kilometers ahead.

After my business the next day, I took a train to Nagamine Station and hitchhiked on the road you see in the photo above. The driver, a young man, took me to the desolate area you see in the photo which was about 15 kilometers further up the road.

Part way from Nagamine to Odate.

I didn’t exactly relish getting off there because I knew traffic would be sparse, but the first driver who saw me stopped! It was a light truck. The driver was on his way to Odate City. He took me to the enterance of the bypass which would take me to the other side of Odate.

Miss Ako who took me to Akita Station from Odate, about 100 kilometers distance.

My last experience at that location was a long wait of over an hour. I decided to now show my sign showing the destination of Akita City and held out my thumb instead. I learned there is a time to use a sign, and not to use one. It bore fruit and I got a ride to the other side of Odate from an older gentleman only a few minutes later. He took me to a convenience store and advised me to wait for cars from customers who stop at the store. He also advised me to show drivers my Akita sign. I heeded his advice. Only a few minutes a young lady pulled up, smiled and offered me a ride!

Her name is Ako Yoshida, 36, single and works as a personnel director at a shopping center in Odate. It was very pleasant to talk to her the next hour. I hope to see her again.

On a snowy morning of January 17, after a 5 minute bike ride to the local train station where I park my bicycle and from where I walk to the highway, just a few meters away from the station my right foot slipped on the snow, hit a rock in the road, and my ankle twisted badly with excruciating pain! January 17th was to be the first long hitchhike trip this year. I was headed to Tokyo which is about 300 kilometers or 188 miles from home.

I hobbled back to the train station to inspect the damage. My ankle was visibly swollen as you see in the photo. I thought I might still be OK to travel. There was a train coming soon that would take me as far as the Hokuriku Expressway interchange. But upon further reflection and increasing pain, I decided to abort the trip. Thankfully I didn’t have to limp in pain back home. I had the bicycle to ride back with.

Medical equipment consultants from Sendai. They took me from Yoneyama SA to Kureha parking area in Toyama Prefecture.

After praying for healing in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and applying a liberal amount of God’s natural peppermint oil from the Young Living Essential Oils company thanks to the good advice of my friend Jonas who lives in Satama, by February 7th the ankle healed to the point I could walk without a limp again! There was no urgent need to travel to Tokyo at this time, and because my friends in Kyoto and Otsu city in the Kansai area wanted to see me, so I decided to travel to Kansai which includes Osaka and Kobe.

The first destination was Osaka, 606 kilometers or 379 miles from where I live in Niigata City. It’s only 40 some minutes drive past Kyoto. This time I hitchhiked it in 9 vehicles in 13 hours. This includes time walking from home to the local highway, and taking a short bus ride in Osaka. The total cost of transportation was 210 yen or about $2.00 US.

It took me two rides to get to the Hokuriku expressway in Sanjo city, about 27 kilometers from home. The second car was a man in his 70s. He stopped about 100 meters up Route 8. I wasn’t sure he was stopping for me but sure enough, he was! The man was on his way to Nagaoka City. He graciously took me to Sakae parking area which saved me the usual 180 yen bus fare from Sanjo where most people drop me off.

The weather was mostly fair. It snowed a little bit at Yoneyama service area. In this part of Japan sprinklers are used to melt the snow. I had to be careful where I walked not to get my feet or legs wet.

I got stuck for about an hour at Fudojo parking area just before Kanazawa. A van with 4 ladies and 2 men took me just past Kanazawa to Tokumitsu SA, a much larger service area. This is the halfway mark and it was only 2 p.m.! I knew I would make it to Osaka that day.

Driver #8: Man from Noda City who took me from Onagatani parking just before Fukui City to Shizugataka Service Area in Shiga Prefecture.

The final car, #9, was the most fun. A lady with 4 young children on her way to Kobe saw my Osaka sign and pulled over. She spoke in English and asked me what I was doing. I told her I am a missionary who shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Japanese. She asked me for an ID and I handed her my alien registration card. Normally people do not interorgate me before boarding their vehicle, but I could understand her concern seeing that the ages of her four children ranged from 14 to only 11 months old! Her name is Kanako and she became convinced I am who I say I am and told me to get in the back with her 3 younger children.

It was fun because I was able to help car for the 11 month old baby. I fed him small pieces of bread. When he began to cry Kanako asked me to sing him, “Amazing Grace”. The baby stopped crying immediately! And I had a lively conversation with Kanako who lived 4 years in Kentucky studying at a university. First we spoke mostly in English but then for some reason toward the end she switched to Japanese. Was it to test me? If so, I passed.

After visiting friends in Osaka, Kyoto and Otsu city in Shiga Prefecture which is the neigboring city to Kyoto, I hitchhiked back to Niigata from Otsu Service area in only 4 vehicles.

American Sherry and Japanese Takashi

Takashi’s and Sherry’s 3 legged dog.

The drivers of car #2 who took me to Toyama Prefecture from Shiga were the most interesting. It was a Japanese / American couple, Takashi and Sherry who were on their way home. They had 3 little dogs with them, and one of the dogs only has 3 legs! It was born that way. They rescued it from an animal shelter.

I love dogs and showed her the photos of the 3 dogs I’ve cared for so far since living in Niigata. Sherry is from Sacramento where I used to live when an Airman stationed at McClellan AFB in 1971. I was very impressed at how well Takashi spoke English and the amount of his vocabulary. He even knows words like “oxymoron”. Probably 99% of Japanese people who speak English do not know that word.

The last driver, car number 4 was on his way to Noda City in Chiba. At first he said he would take me to Nadachitanihama which is just before Joetsu City but then changed his mind and took me all the way to Ozumi Parking area just before Nagaoka.

The man is a mountain climber who climbed most of the famous mountains in Japan. He also climbed mountains in the USA, and hitchhiked with two other men from Yosemite Park in California to Yellowstone park in Wyoming. It took them four days!

It was dark when I arrived at Ozumi parking area near Nagaoka. The parking area is small and the cars few. But this parking area had a convienent highway bus stop which many parking areas do not have, and it was only 10 minutes wait till the next bus. I took it to Tsubame Sanjo. From there I walked about an hour to Higashi Sanjo station, and then took a train home. The total cost of transportation that day was 1070 yen, about $11.00.

Colossians 2:16  ¶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

I admire my Seventh Day Adventist friends for their love for God’s Word and obedience to what they believe God’s Word is telling them to do, but as far as Sabbath day observance goes, the bottom line for me is the New Testament does not teach it! In Acts chapter 15 when the Apostles desputed whether the Gentiles need to keep the Laws of Moses or not, the conclusion was they need to keep only 4 precepts:

Acts 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from
(1) pollutions of idols,
(2) and from fornication,
(3) and from things strangled,
(4) and from blood.

Notice Sabbath day observance is not one of them!

I don’t judge my SDA friends for feeling it necessary to observe the Sabbath, and I do think it is important to take at least one day a week off to rest, pray, and have more time study God’s Word, but the New Testament does not tell me that day of rest must Saturday.

The story of Shin Dong-Hyuk who was born on November 19, 1982 into slavery as a political prisoner in a North Korean concentration camp. He never knew love or affection from his parents. He barely had enough to eat. He was tortured by prison guards when 14 years old after his mother and brother tried to escape. He eventually managed to escape and is now living in South Korea.

Dennis Rodman visits a country whose oppressive and tyrannical government is starving its own people in the countryside and abusing them in concentration camps. He goes there to play basketball and fraternize with the “Great Leader”? Dennis, shame on you!

Charles Chiniquy

This is from chapter 5 of Charles Chiniquy’s book “Fifty Years in the Church of Rome.” I enjoy sharing my favorite stories from that book with my wife to help her learn English and for the pure inspiration of learning lessons from one of the most godly Christian authors I have ever read.

The Priest, Purgatory, and the Poor Widow’s Cow

I arrived at home on the 17th of July, 1821, and spent the afternoon and evening till late by my father’s side. With what pleasure did he see me working difficult problems in algebra, and even in geometry! for under my teacher, Mr. Jones, I had really made rapid progress in those branches. More than once I noticed tears of joy in my father’s eyes when, taking my slate, he saw that my calculations were correct. He also examined me in grammar. “What an admirable teacher this Mr. Jones must be,” he would say, “to have advanced a child so much in the short space of fourteen months!”

How sweet to me, but how short, were those hours of happiness passed between my good mother and my father! We had family worship. I read the fifteenth chapter of Luke, the return of the prodigal son. My mother then sang a hymn of joy and gratitude, and I went to bed with my heart full of happiness to take the sweetest sleep of my life. But, O God! what an awful awakening Thou hadst prepared for me!

About four o’clock in the morning heartrending screams fell upon my ear. I recognized my mother’s voice.

“What is the matter, dear mother?”

“Oh, my dear child, you have no more a father! He is dead!”

In saying these words she lost consciousness and fell on the floor!

While a friend who had passed the night with us gave her proper care, I hastened to my father’s bed. I pressed him to my heart, I kissed him, I covered him with my tears, I moved his head, I pressed his hands, I tried to lift him up on his pillow: I could not believe that he was dead! It seemed to me that even if dead he would come back to life that God could not thus take my father away from me at the very moment when I had come back to him after so long an absence! I knelt to pray to God for the life of my father. But my tears and cries were useless. He was dead! He was already cold as ice!

Two days after he was buried. My mother was so overwhelmed with grief that she could not follow the funeral procession. I remained with her as her only earthly support. Poor mother! How many tears thou hast shed! What sobs came from thine afflicted heart in those days of supreme grief!

Though I was very young, I could understand the greatness of our loss, and I mingled my tears with those of my mother.

What pen can portray what takes place in the heart of a woman when God takes suddenly her husband away in the prime of his life, and leaves her alone, plunged in misery, with three small children, two of whom are even too young to know their loss! How long are the hours of the day for the poor widow who is left alone, and without means, among strangers! How painful the sleepless night to the heart which has lost everything! How empty a house is left by the eternal absence of him who was its master, support, and father! Every object in the house and every step she takes remind her of her loss and sinks the sword deeper which pierces her heart. Oh, how bitter are the tears which flow from her eyes when her youngest child, who as yet does not understand the mystery of death, throws himself into her arms and says: “Mamma, where is papa? Why does he not come back? I am lonely!”

My poor mother passed through those heartrending trials. I heard her sobs during the long hours of the day, and also during the longer hours of the night. Many times I have seen her fall upon her knees to implore God to be merciful to her and to her three unhappy orphans. I could do nothing then to comfort her, but love her, pray and weep with her!

Only a few days had elapsed after the burial of my father when I saw Mr. Courtois, the parish priest, coming to our house (he who had tried to take away our Bible from us). He had the reputation of being rich, and as we were poor and unhappy since my father’s death, my first thought was that he had come to comfort and to help us. I could see that my mother had the same hopes. She welcomed him as an angel from heaven. The least gleam of hope is so sweet to one who is unhappy!

From his very first words, however, I could see that our hopes were not to be realized. He tried to be sympathetic, and even said something about the confidence that we should have in God, especially in times of trial; but his words were cold and dry.

Turning to me, he said:

“Do you continue to read the Bible, my little boy?”

“Yes, sir,” answered I, with a voice trembling with anxiety, for I feared that he would make another effort to take away that treasure, and I had no longer a father to defend it.

Then, addressing my mother, he said:

“Madam, I told you that it was not right for you or your child to read that book.”

My mother cast down her eyes, and answered only by the tears which ran down her cheeks.

That question was followed by a long silence, and the priest then continued:

“Madam, there is something due for the prayers which have been sung, and the services which you requested to be offered for the repose of your husband’s soul. I will be very much obliged to you if you pay me that little debt.”

“Mr. Courtis,” answered my mother, “my husband left me nothing but debts. I have only the work of my own hands to procure a living for my three children, the eldest of whom is before you. For these little orphans’ sake, if not for mine, do not take from us the little that is left.”

“But, madam, you do not reflect. Your husband died suddenly and without any preparation; he is therefore in the flames of purgatory. If you want him to be delivered, you must necessarily unite your personal sacrifices to the prayers of the Church and the masses which we offer.”

“As I said, my husband has left me absolutely without means, and it is impossible for me to give you any money,” replied my mother.

“But, madam, your husband was for a long time the only notary of Mal Bay. He surely must have made much money. I can scarcely think that he has left you without any means to help him now that his desolation and sufferings are far greater than yours.”

“My husband did indeed coin much money, but he spent still more. Thanks to God, we have not been in want while he lived. But lately he got this house built, and what is still due on it makes me fear that I will lose it. He also bought a piece of land not long ago, only half of which is paid and I will, therefore, probably not be able to keep it. Hence I may soon, with my poor orphans, be deprived of everything that is left us. In the meantime I hope, sir, that you are not a man to take away from us our last piece of bread.”

“But, madam, the masses offered for the rest of your husband’s soul must be paid for,” answered the priest.

My mother covered her face with her handkerchief and wept.

As for me, I did not mingle my tears with hers this time. My feelings were not those of grief, but of anger and unspeakable horror. My eyes were fixed on the face of that man who tortured my mother’s heart. I looked with tearless eyes upon the man who added to my mother’s anguish, and made her weep more bitterly than ever. My hands were clenched, as if ready to strike. All my muscles trembled; my teeth chattered as if from intense cold. My greatest sorrow was my weakness in the presence of that big man, and my not being able to send him away from our house, and driving him far away from my mother.

I felt inclined to say to him: “Are you not ashamed, you who are so rich, to come to take away the last piece of bread from our mouths?” But my physical and moral strength were not sufficient to accomplish the task before me, and I was filled with regret and disappointment.

After a long silence, my mother raised her eyes, reddened with tears, towards the priest and said:

“Sir, you see that cow in the meadow, not far from our house? Her milk and the butter made from it form the principal part of my children’s food. I hope you will not take her away from us. If, however, such a sacrifice must be made to deliver my poor husband’s soul from purgatory, take her as payment of the masses to be offered to extinguish those devouring flames.”

The priest instantly arose, saying, “Very well, madam,” and went out.

Our eyes anxiously followed him; but instead of walking towards the little gate which was in front of the house, he directed his steps towards the meadow, and drove the cow before him in the direction of his home.

At that sight I screamed with despair: “Oh, my mother! he is taking our cow away! What will become of us?”

Lord Nairn had given us that splendid cow when it was three months old. Her mother had been brought from Scotland, and belonged to one of the best breeds of that country. I fed her with my own hands, and had often shared my bread with her. I loved her as a child always loves an animal which he has brought up himself. She seemed to understand and love me also. From whatever distance she could see me, she would run to me to receive my caresses, and whatever else I might have to give her. My mother herself milked her; and her rich milk was such delicious and substantial food for us.

My mother also cried out with grief as she saw the priest taking away the only means heaven had left her to feed her children.

Throwing myself into her arms, I asked her: “Why have you given away our cow? What will become of us? We shall surely die of hunger?”

“Dear child,” she answered. “I did not think the priest would be so cruel as to take away the last resource which God had left us. Ah! if I had believed him to be so unmerciful I would never have spoken to him as I did. As you say, my dear child, what will become of us? But have you not often read to me in your Bible that God is the Father of the widow and the orphan? We shall pray to that God who is willing to be your father and mine: He will listen to us, and see our tears. Let us kneel down and ask Him to be merciful to us, and to give us back the support which the priest deprived us.”

We both knelt down. She took my right hand with her left, and, lifting the other hand towards heaven, she offered a prayer to the God of mercies for her poor children such as I have never since heard. Her words were often choked by her sobs. But when she could not speak with her voice, she spoke with her burning eyes raised to heaven, and with her hand uplifted. I also prayed to God with her, and repeated her words, which were broken by my sobs.

When her prayer was ended she remained for a long time pale and trembling. Cold sweat was flowing on her face, and she fell on the floor. I thought she was going to die. I ran for cold water, which I gave her, saying: “Dear mother! Oh, do not leave me alone upon earth!” After drinking a few drops she felt better, and taking my hand, she put it to her trembling lips; then drawing me near her, and pressing me to her bosom, she said: “Dear child, if ever you become a priest, I ask of you never to be so hard-hearted towards poor widows as are the priests of today.” When she said these words, I felt her burning tears falling upon my cheek.

The memory of these tears has never left me. I felt them constantly during the twenty-five years I spent in preaching the inconceivable superstitions of Rome.

I was not better, naturally, than many of the other priests. I believed, as they did, the impious fables of purgatory; and as well as they (I confess it to my shame), if I refused to take, or if I gave back the money of the poor, I accepted the money which the rich gave me for the masses I said to extinguish the flames of that fabulous place. But the remembrance of my mother’s words and tears has kept me from being so cruel and unmerciful towards the poor widows as Romish priests are, for the most part, obliged to be.

When my heart, depraved by the false and impious doctrines of Rome, was tempted to take money from widows and orphans, under pretense of my long prayers, I then heard the voice of my mother, from the depth of her sepulchre, saying, “My dear child, do not be cruel towards poor widows and orphans, as are the priests of today.” If, during the days of my priesthood at Quebec, at Beauport, and Kamarouska, I have given almost all that I had to feed and clothe the poor, especially the widows and orphans, it was not owing to my being better than others, but it was because my mother had spoken to me with words never to be forgotten. The Lord, I believe, had put into my mother’s mouth those words, so simple but so full of eloquence and beauty, as one of His great mercies towards me. Those tears the hand of Rome has never been able to wipe off: those words of my mother the sophisms of Popery could not make me forget.

How long, O Lord, shall that insolent enemy of the gospel, the Church of Rome, be permitted to fatten herself upon the tears of the widow and of the orphan by means of that cruel and impious invention of paganism purgatory? Wilt Thou not be merciful unto so many nations which are still the victims of that great imposture? Oh, do remove the veil which covers the eyes of the priests and people of Rome, as Thou hast removed it from mine! Make them to understand that their hopes of purification must not rest on these fabulous fires, but only on the blood of the Lamb shed on Calvary to save the world.

Ignatius of Loyola, the first Superior General.

I took from Wikipedia a list of Superior Generals of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and made a chart showing which Popes reigned during that particular Jesuit General’s rule. A Jesuit General is also known as the “Black Pope” and the existing Pope is called the “White Pope.” As you see there have been more Popes, 50 totaled, compared to only 30 Jesuit Generals! What does that imply? Does it mean the Jesuit General gets rid of any Pope he doesn’t like? Their favorite method of assassination is poisoning. Pope John Paul I lived only 33 days!

Only one Pope in history, Innocent X, spans the reign of 3 Jesuit Generals. He reigned toward the end of the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) in Europe when millions of people were killed. Pope Innocent X objected to the final peace treaty of that war!

“One of the most devastating wars in European history. The Thirty Years War began as a conflict between German Protestants and German Catholics, that slowly expanded to include most of the rest of Europe, with first the Protestant powers joining in to protect their co-religionists in Germany, and then Catholic France supporting the protestant cause as part of the long running Bourbon-Hapsburg rivalry (and before that the Valois-Hapsburg rivalry). The war caused massive destruction in Germany, and may have reduced the population of the area by half, in part because much of the fighting was carried out by mercenary armies that plundered every area they crossed.” From http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_thirtyyears.html

The Knights of Malta is the lay branch of the Jesuit Order!

“The Knights of Malta is a world organization with its threads weaving through business, banking, politics, the CIA, other intelligence organizations, P2, religion, education, law, military, think tanks, foundations, the United States Information Agency, the United Nations, and numerous other organizations. The world head of the Knights of Malta is elected for a life term, with the approval of the Pope. The Knights of Malta have their own Constitution and are sworn to work toward the establishment of a New World Order with the Pope at its head. Knights of Malta members are also powerful members of the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) and the Trilateral Commission.” – Quoted from “Behold a Pale Horse” by William Cooper

I got the list of Knights of Malta members from http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/kmlst1.htm. I limited the first section to only show Americans and only those who are not members of the Roman Catholic clergy. I got the identity of the less famous ones from Wikipedia. I figured everybody should know the more famous names and so I didn’t include a description for them.

Some of these people are known as Jews (Alan Greenspan) or as members of a Protestant church (the Bush family)! Most people would not associate them with a Roman Catholic organization.

• George W. Anderson – Admiral in the United States Navy
• James Jesus Angelton – Chief of the CIA’s Counterintelligence Staff from 1954 to 1975
• Samuel Alito – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
• Joe M. Allbaugh – President George W. Bush’s Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Michael Bloomberg – 108th Mayor of New York City
• John Robert Bolton – 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• Charles Joseph Bonaparte – 37th United States Secretary of the Navy and father of the FBI.
• Pat Buchanan – Senior advisor to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan
• William F. Buckley, Jr. – American conservative author[2] and commentator.
• George H.W Bush
• George W. Bush
• Jeb Bush
• Prescott Bush, Jr.
• Frank Capra – American film director
• Frank Charles Carlucci III – 16th United States Secretary of Defense
• William Casey – 13th Director of Central Intelligence
• Michael Chertoff – 2nd Secretary of Homeland Security
• Noam Chomsky – MIT professor
• Bill Clinton
• (Senator) John Danforth – 24th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• John J. DeGioia – President of Georgetown University
• Cartha DeLoach – Deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Allen Dulles – 5th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• Edwin J. Feulner – President of the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation
• Raymond Flynn – 52nd Mayor of Boston
• Rudy Giuliani – 107th Mayor of New York City
• Alan Greenspan – 13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Alexander Haig – Army General, 7th Supreme Allied Commander Europe
• William Randolph Hearst – American newspaper publisher
• Richard Holbrooke – United States Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan
• J. Edgar Hoover – Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Lee Iococca – Former Chrysler Chairman
• William J. Donovan – Father of the CIA
• Joseph Kennedy – 44th United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
• (Senator) Ted Kennedy
• Henry A. Kissinger
• Henry Luce – A magazine magnate, was called “the most influential private citizen in the America of his day”
• Robert James “Jim” Nicholson – 5th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Oliver North – National Security Council staff member during the Iran–Contra affair
• Francis (Frank) V. Ortiz – United States Ambassador to Argentina
• Thomas ‘Tip’ O’Neill – 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• George Pataki – 53rd Governor of New York
• Peter G. Peterson – Chair of the Council on Foreign Relations
• John Francis Queeny – Founded the Monsanto Company (GMO, poisoning the world)
• John J. Raskob – Financial executive and businessman for DuPont and General Motors, and the builder of the Empire State Building
• (President) Ronald W. Reagan
• Nelson Rockefeller
• David Rockefeller
• Francis Rooney – United States Ambassador to the Holy See
• Rick Santorum – Senate’s third-ranking Republican from 2001 until 2007
• Antonin Scalia – Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
• Joseph Edward Schmitz (Blackwater) – Defense Department Inspector General
• Frank Shakespeare – United States Ambassador to Portugal, United States Ambassador to the Holy See,
• Clay Shaw – Head of the International Trade Mart; charged for being part of a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.
• Frank Sinatra
• Frederick W. Smith – Founder of FedEx
• Myron Taylor – American industrialist, and later a diplomatic figure involved in many of the most important geopolitical events during and after World War II.
• George Tenet – 18th Director of Central Intelligence
• Ted Turner – founder of TBS and CNN
• Thomas Von Essen – Fire department Commissioner of the City of New York. He quit 4 months after 911.
• Robert Ferdinand Wagner, Jr – 102nd Mayor of New York City
• Vernon A. Walters – 17th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• Gen. William Westmoreland – Commander of U.S. military operations in the Vietnam War
• Gen. Charles A. Willoughby – General Douglas MacArthur’s Chief of Intelligence during most of World War II and the Korean War.
• Robert Zoellick – 11th President of the World Bank Group
• Gen. Anthony Zinni – Nickname “The Godfather” Special envoy for the United States to Israel and the Palestinian Authority

Famous non-American Knights of Malta

• Amschel Mayer von Rothschild
• Kurt Waldheim – 4th Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Silvio Berlusconi – 50th Prime Minister of Italy
• Tony Blair
• King Juan Carlos of Spain
• Heinrich Himmler – Hitler’s Chief of German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior
• Nelson Mandela
• Rupert Murdoch
• Juan Perón – 29th & 40th President of Argentina

For more information about the Knights of Malta, see http://www.whale.to/b/knights_q.html

Charles Chiniquy

This is one of my favorite stories from Charles Chiniquy’s book, “Fifty Years in the Church of Rome” taken from chapter 35. I think Chiniquy had an amazing amount of courage and conviction to not compromise his stand against drinking considering the crowd of people he was with which included the Archbishop!

Charles P. Chiniquy (30 July 1809 – 16 January 1899) was a Canadian Catholic priest who was twice suspended from his priestly ministry (because he stood up from his convictions based on the Bible) and finally excommunicated as a schismatic. He then became a Presbyterian pastor and led his entire flock (a thousand families) of St. Anne Illinois away from the darkness of Romanism into the glorious light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He is known for his lurid accusations against the Roman Catholic Church. In the period between 1885 and 1899 he was the focus of a great deal of discussion in the United States of America. During the 1880s his conspiracy theories included his claim to have exposed the Jesuits as the assassins of President Abraham Lincoln, and that, if unchecked, the Jesuits could eventually politically rule the United States! (Edited from the Wikipedia article about him.)

If you or anybody you know has a problem with alcohol, I recommend reading “The Easy Way to Stop Drinking” by Allen Carr. It gives great insights can save an alcoholic to the point he will stop drinking and won’t need further support from anybody.

Some days later, the Bishop of Nancy was in Quebec, the guest of the Seminary, and a grand dinner was given in his honour, to which more than one hundred priests were invited, with the Archbishop of Quebec, his coadjutor, N. G. Turgeon, and the Bishop of Montreal, M.Q.R. Bourget.

As one of the youngest curates, I had taken the last seat, which was just opposite the four bishops, from whom I was separated only by the breadth of the table. When the rich and rare viands had been well disposed of, and the more delicate fruits had replaced them, bottles of the choicest wines were brought on the table in incredible numbers. Then the superior of the college, the Rev. Mr. Demars, knocked on the table to command silence, and rising on his feet, he said, at the top of his voice, “Please, my lord bishops, and all of you, reverend gentlemen, let us drink to the health of my Lord Count de Forbin Janson, Primate of Lorraine and Bishop of Nancy.

The bottles passing around were briskly emptied into the large glasses put before everyone of the guests. But when the wine was handed to me I passed it to my neighbour without taking a drop, and filled my glass with water. My hope was that nobody had paid any attention to what I had done; but I was mistaken. The eyes of my bishop, my Lord Signaie, were upon me. With a stern voice, he said: “Mr. Chiniquy, what are you doing there? Put wine in your glass, to drink with us the health of Mgr. de Nancy.”

These unexpected words fell upon me as a thunderbolt, and really paralyzed me with terror. I felt the approach of the most terrible tempest I had ever experienced. My blood ran cold in my veins; I could not utter a word. For what could I say there, without compromising myself for ever. To openly resist my bishop, in the presence of such an august assembly, seemed impossible; but to obey him was also impossible; for I had promised God and my country never to drink any wine. I thought, at first, that I could disarm my superior by my modesty and my humble silence. However, I felt that all eyes were upon me. A real chill of terror and unspeakable anxiety was running through my whole frame. My heart began to beat so violently that I could not breathe. I wished then I had followed my first impression, which was not to come to that dinner. I think I would have suffocated had not a few tears rolled down from my eyes, and help the circulation of my blood. The Rev. Mr. Lafrance, who was by me, nudged me, and said, “Do you not hear the order of my Lord Signaie? Why do you not answer by doing what you are requested to do?” I still remained mute, just as if nobody had spoken to me. My eyes were cast down; I wished then I were dead. The silence of death reigning around the tables told me that everyone was waiting for my answer; but my lips were sealed. After a minute of that silence, which seemed as long as a whole year, the bishop, with a loud and angry voice, which filled the large room, repeated: “Why do you not put wine in your glass, and drink to the health of my Lord Forbin Janson, as the rest of us are doing?”

I felt I could not be silent any longer. “My lord,” I said, with a subdued and trembling voice, “I have put in my glass what I want to drink. I have promised God and my country that I would never drink any more wine.”

The bishop, forgetting the respect he owed to himself and to those around him, answered me in the most insulting manner: “You are nothing but a fanatic, and you want to reform us.”

These words struck me as the shock of a galvanic battery, and transformed me into a new man. It seemed as if they had added ten feet to my stature and a thousand pounds to my weight. I forgot that I was the subject of that bishop, and remembered that I was a man, in the presence of another man. I raised my head and opened my eyes, and as quick as lightning I rose to my feet, and addressing the Grand Vicar Demars, superior of the seminary, I said, with calmness, “Sir, was it that I might be insulted at your table that you have invited me here? Is it not your duty to defend my honour when I am here, your guest? But, as you seem to forget what you owe to your guests, I will make my own defense against my unjust aggressor.” Then, turning towards the Bishop de Nancy, I said: “My Lord de Nancy, I appeal to your lordship from the unjust sentence of my own bishop. In the name of God, and of His Son, Jesus Christ, I request you tell us here if a priest cannot, for His Saviour’s sake, and for the good of his fellow-men, as well as for his own self-denial, give up for ever the use of wine and other intoxicating drinks, without being abused, slandered, and insulted, as I am here, in your presence?”

It was evident that my words had made a deep impression on the whole company. A solemn silence followed for a few seconds, which was interrupted by my bishop, who said to the Bishop de Nancy, “Yes, yes, my lord; give us your sentence.”

No words can give an idea of the excitement of everyone in that multitude of priests, who, accustomed from their infancy abjectly to submit to their bishop, were, for the first time, in the presence of such a hand-to-hand conflict between a powerless, humble, unprotected, young curate, and his all-powerful, proud, and haughty archbishop.

The Bishop of Nancy at first refused to grant my request. He felt the difficulty of his position; but after Bishop Signaie had united his voice to mine, to press him to give his verdict, he rose and said:

“My Lord Archbishop of Quebec, and you, Mr. Chiniquy, please withdraw your request. Do not press me to give my views on such a new, but important subject. It is only a few days since I came in your midst. It will not do that I should so soon become your judge. The responsibility of a judgment in such a momentous matter is too great. I cannot accept it.”

But when the same pressing request was repeated by nine-tenths of that vast assembly of priests, and that the archbishop pressed him more and more to pronounce his sentence, he raised his eyes and hands to heaven, and made a silent but ardent prayer to God. His countenance took an air of dignity, which I might call majesty, which gave him more the appearance of an old prophet than of a man of our day. Then casting his eyes upon his audience, he remained a considerable time meditating. All eyes were upon him, anxiously waiting for the sentence. There was an air of grandeur in him at that moment, which seemed to tell us that the priest blood of the great kings of France was flowing in his veins. At last, he opened his lips, but it was again pressingly to request me to settle the difficulty with the archbishop among ourselves, and to discharge him of that responsibility. But we both refused again to grant him his request, and pressed him to give his judgment. All this time I was standing, having publicly said that I would never sit again at that table unless that insult was wiped away.

Then he said with unspeakable dignity: “My Lord of Quebec! Here, before us, is our young priest, Mr. Chiniquy, who, once on his knees, in the presence of God and his angels, for the love of Jesus Christ, the good of his own soul and the good of his country, has promised never to drink! We are the witnesses that he is faithful to his promise, though he has been pressed to break it by your lordship. And because he keeps his pledge with such heroism, your lordship has called him a fanatic! Now, I am requested by everyone here to pronounce my verdict on that painful occurrence. Here it is. Mr. Chiniquy drinks no wine! But, if I look through the past ages, when God Himself was ruling His own people, through His prophets, I see Samson, who, by the special order of God, never drank wine or any other intoxicating drink. If from the Old Testament I pass to the New, I see John the Baptist, the precursor of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who, to obey the command of God, never drank any wine! When I look at Mr. Chiniquy, and see Samson at his right hand to protect him, and John the Baptist at his left to bless him, I find his position so strong and impregnable, that I would not dare attack or condemn him!” These words were pronounced in the most eloquent and dignified manner, and were listened to with a most respectful and breathless attention.

Bishop de Nancy, keeping his gravity, sat down, emptied his wine glass into a tumbler, filled it with water and drank to my health.

The poor archbishop was so completely confounded and humiliated that everyone felt for him. The few minutes spent at the table, after this extraordinary act of justice, seemed oppressive to everyone. Scarcely anyone dared look at his neighbour, or speak, except in a low and subdued tone, as when a great calamity has just occurred. Nobody thought of drinking his wine; and the health of the Bishop de Nancy was left undrunk. But a good number of priests filled their glasses with water, and giving me a silent sign of approbation, drank to my health. The society of temperance had been dragged by her enemies to the battle-field, to be destroyed; but she bravely fought, and gained the victory. Now, she was called to begin her triumphant march through Canada.

Rev. J.A. Wylie, LL.D.

I got this from http://www.biblebelievers.com/wylie/papacy/index.html which is already in HTML text. I’m posting only the preface and first chapter on my blog so I can find it easier.

The following quote on J.A. Wylie is taken from a Publisher’s Preface by Mourne Missionary Press: "The Rev. James Aitken Wylie was for many years a leading Protestant spokesman. Born in Scotland in 1808, he was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen and at St. Andrews; he entered the Original Seccession Divinity Hall, Edinburgh in 1827, and was ordained in 1831. Dr. Wylie became sub-editor of the Edinburgh Witness in 1846, and, after joining the Free Church of Scotland in 1852, edited the Free Church Record from 1852 until 1860. In 1860 he was appointed Lecturer on Popery at the Protestant Institute, a position he held until the year of his death. Aberdeen University awarded him the LL.D. in 1856.

"Dr. Wylie was a prolific writer on Protestant themes. In 1851 the Evangelical Alliance awarded him first prize for his writing The Papacy, which he submitted as his entry for a competition for the best essay on Popery. "The writing for which Wylie is best known is his History of Protestantism which extends to nearly 2,000 pages and was first published in 1878."

Preface to People’s Edition

The compilation of a Synopsis and classified Index, has made it necessary for the author to re-read his work after an interval of thirty years. The perusal has fully satisfied him that the book is every whit as adapted to the present position of the popish controversy, the whole extent of which it covers, as it was when first published. Since then, it is true, two important dogmas have been promulgated from the papal chair; the Immaculate Conception of Mary (1854), and the Infallibility of the Pope (1870) ; but these decrees are rather the official ratification of what had been for centuries the teaching of Popes and popish doctors, than the importation of new elements into the question calling for a readjustment of the argument.

The loss of the temporal sovereignty, which has also befallen the Papacy since the first publication of this volume, is an event of graver consequence. But let it be borne in mind that it is the temporal sovereignty, not the temporal power, which the Papacy has lost; it is its paltry Italian kingship of which it has been stripped; not the temporal and spiritual supremacy of Christendom. Temporal power is a root-prerogative of the Papacy. With or without his crown, the Pope, so long as he exists, will be a Great Temporal Power. What signifies it that a small branch of this tree has been lopped off, while the trunk still stands erect, nay, is even stronger than before? Freed as it now is from the scandals, political and moral, which were attendant on its government of the Papal States, the Papacy is now in a better position for prosecuting its cherished aim, which is to be the supreme arbiter in all international disputes. It seeks, in short, to become President of a great European Council, in which kings and nations shall await its decisions, and be pledged to carry out its behests, peaceably if possible, by arms if necessary. From being the moral dictator of Christendom, it is but a little step to being, as the Papacy was once before, its armed ruler and head.

Will the reader pardon a word about the history of the book, and its Continental experiences? When the German translation appeared (Elberfeld, 1853), the Romanists of the Continent welcomed it with a chorus of anathemas. L’Univers of Paris cursed it energetically. The journalists of the Rhine were equally wroth. Without naming either the book or its author, they made their readers aware that a crime of fearful atrocity had been committed, which called loudly for punishment by the sword. We give a specimen: —

• "A very shameful book has lately been printed and published in Elberfeld by William Hassell, consisting of thirty-six sheets, and in which Popery and the Catholic religion are exposed as a work of Satan and a restoration of old heathenish idolatry, and a cunning delusive invention of the Pope and the Catholic priesthood as the mother of revolutions and communism. >From beginning to end, with the same cool deliberation, it consists of lies, injuries, and abuses, which have from time to time been brought against the Pope and the Catholic religion, heaped together, and made into one compact whole. The most unheard-of violence offered; and the holiest of the Catholics scorned and derided. The rulers of the country are exhorted throughout to observe how the Catholic religion causes the destruction of every State, and how the Catholic priesthood are even now endeavouring to exercise unbearable tyranny and cruelty over princes and people. . . . The Catholic Church in Prussia is a lawful safeguard against such calumnies, and the abuse of the Catholic religion is provided for in its penal laws." Rheimsches Kirchenblatt, Cologne.

In an article on the above in the Witness of Nov. 20, 1853, we find Hugh Miller saying: —

• "The editor of this paper gave expression long ago in its columns to his admiration of Mr. Wylie’s masterly work on the Papacy –a work which has since been extensively spread over Protestant Europe. . . . Still, however, his decision was that of a personal friend of the author, and the various favourable critiques which bore out his estimate of its merits were at least Protestant critiques. Our present testimony respecting it must be recognised as above suspicion; it comes from Popery itself, and we find that Popery regards it as a dangerous work, suited to do the Catholic religion great injury, and that penal laws furnish the only effectual instruments for dealing with and answering it."

Dr. Graham, in his volume, The Jordan and the Rhine, says: —

• "This work has at last made its appearance in the German language. . . .The Papists are up on all sides, not to reply but to denounce, not to reason and answer, but to invoke the civil power. They never name the book lest an inquiring Papist should be inclined to purchase it. In Cologne no bookseller would take charge of it –Papist or Protestant. The argument is very sharp and severe, but the reason is led captive, and the infinite superstition dissected with a master’s hand. It will confirm the wavering and strengthen the weak. May the Lord grant His blessing to it as a means of counteracting the idolatries and idolatrous tendencies of the age."

Enormous recent Papal Advances.

Since the first publication of this work the Papacy has made enormous strides to temporal dominion and spiritual supremacy in our country.

1. The public administration of the empire, which up till 1850 was almost purely Protestant, has since been largely Romanized.

2. The Papal Hierarchy has been established in both England and Scotland, and the ordinary machinery of Rome’s government is in full operation over the whole kingdom.

3. The empire has been divided into dioceses, with the ordinary equipment of chapters and provincial synods in each, for bringing canon law to the door of every Romanist, and governing him in his social relations, his political acts, and his religious duties.

4. The staff of the Romish Church has been trebled.

5. In Scotland alone there has been an increase of 216 priests, 250 chapels, 15 monasteries, and 34 convents.

6. The priests of Rome have been introduced into our army and navy, into our prisons and poor-houses, reformatories and hospitals, thus converting these departments of the State into a ministration of Romanism.

7. The annual sum paid as salaries, etc., to the Popish priesthood approaches a million and a half, making Popery one of the endowed faiths of the nation.

8. Considerable progress has been made in the work of breaking down the national system of education, and replacing the board schools with denominational schools in which the teaching shall be Romish.

9. The annual grants to such schools in England and Scotland have now risen to £200,000. Thousands of Protestant children attend them, and are being instructed in the tenets of Popery, and familiarized with Romish rites.

10. Two-thirds of the youth of Ireland are being educated by monks and nuns, at a cost to the country of £700,000 yearly.

11. Ritualism has grown into a power in England. In many of the national churches the ceremonial of the Mass is openly celebrated, crucifixes and Madonnas are frequent, auricular confession is practised, the dead are supplicated, and new-constructed cathedrals are arranged on the foregone conclusion that Popery is to be the future religion of Great Britain.

12. All the great offices of State (the English wool-sack and the throne excepted), closed against Romanists in the Catholic Emancipation Act, have been opened to them.

13. The oath of the Royal Supremacy has been abolished.

14. The words "being Protestant" have been dropped from the oath of allegiance.

15. The most brilliant post under the Crown, the viceroyalty of India, has been held by a Papist, and may be so again.

16. An avowed Romanist sits in the Cabinet, with more, it may be, to follow.

17. Cardinal Manning has had precedence given him next to the Royal family, a step towards the like precedence being given to Popish over Anglican Protestant bishops.

18. A special Envoy has been sent with congratulations to the Pope on occasion of his jubilee, and a nuncio has in return been received at Court from Leo XIII.

19. There is a serious talk of re-establishing diplomatic relations with the Vatican;

20. And, mirabile dictu! the project has been broached of restoring the Pope’s temporal sovereignty: and the idea is being agitated, although it must be plain to all that it cannot be carried out without overthrowing the kingdom of Italy and plunging the nations of Europe into war.

These are great strides towards grasping the government of the British empire. And all this has been done despite the warning testimony of the nations around us which Popery has destroyed, and in disregard of the unanswered demonstration of a modern statesman —

That to become a subject of the Pope is to surrender one’s "moral and mental freedom;"

And incapacitate one’s self for yielding "loyalty" to the Queen, and "civil duty" to the State.

If the end of this policy shall be good, HISTORY is a senile babbler, and PROPHECY is but the Sibyl, with her books, over again.

Continue to chapter I Origin of the Papacy

Fedora 20 with Mate DE and Mint Menu

For those of you who have been following my Linux posts, you know that I have been a Fedora user since February of 2005 with Fedora Core 3. I tried Ubuntu from time to time but always had problems. However in the middle of last year 2013 I moved to Ubuntu based Linux Mint 15 preferring it over Fedora 19. For some reason I couldn’t figure out the Fedora 19 installer correctly. When it did install Fedora 19, my files on my user account were inaccesable. I didn’t get the home partition correct. I tried Linux Mint 15 instead and it installed without a hitch.

Linux Mint 15 worked very well for me. But after I upgraded to version 16, suddenly I had problems. I couldn’t install any 32 bit apps on my 64 bit system! They worked fine on Linux 15! Specifically those apps were Wine and Skype. Without Wine I cannot run two Windows programs I need that have no Linux counterpart. I could live without Skype on my PC because I can use it on my Google Android tablet, but I wanted Wine back. The Linux Mint application installer (apt-get) kept giving me error messages of unmet dependencies. None of the advice on the Linux Mint forum about how to fix the problem worked. And I couldn’t even get Acrobat Reader on Linux Mint 16! It aborted in a error message

The Fedora Linux 20 installer worked well, and all my favorite applications are now back including Acrobat Reader! Fedora always seemed more complete, more polished, and more stable.

I tried to use the Mate DE in Fedora 18, but it was buggy. This version of Mate works well now and I could even install the useful Mint Menu in it as you can see from the photograph. I had to use a camera to take the screenshot showing the Mint Menu because the screenshot application does not work with the menu open.

Move to Gnome 3 from Mate!

Update on Feb. 2, 2014: The Mate desktop environment GUI stopped loading for some reason. I logged into the standard Gnome 3, began to use it and started to like it! When Gnome 3 first came out I absolutely hated it. Either the Gnome developers improved it, or perhaps because I’ve been also using a Google Android tablet for the past half year, I now understand better the reasoning behind the now Gnome interface. I think its simpler and cleaner looking than Mate having no Desktop icons or complicated menus. And I can switch between open windows faster than I could before. I feel comfortable with it and can actually do some real work using it.

I found the original document BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY OF THE CHURCH on the Internet and converted it to HTML to make it more readable and indexable by search engines. Martin Luther had something to say that most modern day Lutherans have probably never read! How can they even call themselves “Lutherans” when they don’t know the doctrines he taught, let alone follow them? And why do most Protestant denominations compromise with Rome in ecumenicism and with Vatican controlled modern Bible translations though the founders of the Protestant Reformation called the Pope the Antichrist and urged people to come out of Rome’s whorish Babylonian System? Answer: Because they are ignorant of what Martin Luther and other leaders of the Protestant Reformation had to say about Rome and the Pope. And they are even ignorant of what Charles Spurgeon, Charles Chiniquy, Samuel B. Morse, and other Protestant authors from the 19th century had to say. My hope and prayer is to educate them by posting these classic works in HTML format to make them more accessible to the world.

Martin Luther, of the Order of St. Augustine, salutes his friend Hermann Tulichius.

Whether I will or not, I am compelled to become more learned day by day, since so many great masters vie with each other in urging me on and giving me practice. I wrote about indulgences two years ago, but now I extremely regret having published that book. At that time I was still involved in a great and superstitious respect for the tyranny of Rome, which led me to judge that indulgences were not to be totally rejected, seeing them, as I did, to be approved by so general a consent among men. And no wonder, for at that time it was I alone who was rolling this stone. Afterwards, however, with the kind aid of Sylvester and the friars, who supported indulgences so strenuously, I perceived that they were nothing but mere impostures of the flatterers of Rome, whereby to make away with the faith of God and the money of men. And I wish I could prevail upon the booksellers, and persuade all who have read them, to burn the whole of my writings on indulgences, and in place of all I have written about them to adopt this proposition: Indulgences are wicked devices of the flatterers of Rome.

After this, Eccius and Emser, with their fellow-conspirators, began to instruct me concerning the primacy of the Pope. Here too, not to be ungrateful to such learned men, I must confess that their works helped me on greatly; for, while I had denied that the Papacy had any divine right, I still admitted that it had a human right. But after hearing and reading the super-subtle subtleties of those coxcombs, by which they so ingeniously set up their idol—my mind being not entirely unteachable in such matters—I now know and am sure that the Papacy is the kingdom of Babylon, and the power of Nimrod the mighty hunter. Here moreover, that all may go prosperously with my friends, I entreat the booksellers, and entreat my readers, to burn all that I have published on this subject, and to hold to the following proposition:

The Papacy is the mighty hunting of the Bishop of Rome.

This is proved from the reasonings of Eccius, of Emser, and of the Leipzig lecturer on the Bible.

At the present time they are playing at schooling me concerning communion in both kinds, and some other subjects of the greatest importance. I must take pains not to listen in vain to these philosophical guides of mine. A certain Italian friar of Cremona has written a “Revocation of Martin Luther to the Holy See”—that is to say, not that I revoke, as the words imply, but that he revokes me. This is the sort of Latin that the Italians nowadays are beginning to write. Another friar, a German of Leipzig, Lecturer, as you know, on the whole canon of the Bible, has written against me concerning the Sacrament in both kinds, and is about, as I hear, to do still greater and wonderful wonders. The Italian indeed has cautiously concealed his name; perhaps alarmed by the examples of Cajetan and Sylvester. The man of Leipzig, however, as befits a vigorous and fierce German, has set forth in a number of verses on his title-page, his name, his life, his sanctity, his learning, his office, his glory, his honour, almost his very shoe-lasts. From him no doubt I shall learn not a little, since he writes a letter of dedication to the very Son of God; so familiar are these saints with Christ, who reigns in heaven. In short, three magpies seem to be addressing me, one, a Latin one, well; another, a Greek one, still better; the third, a Hebrew one, best of all. What do you think I have to do now, my dear Hermann, but to prick up my ears? The matter is handled at Leipzig by the Observants of the Holy Cross.

Hitherto I have foolishly thought that it would be an excellent thing, if it were determined by a General Council, that both kinds in the Sacrament should be administered to the laity. To correct this opinion, this more than most learned friar says that it was neither commanded nor decreed, whether by Christ or by the Apostles, that both kinds should be administered to the laity; and that it has therefore been left to the judgment of the Church, which we are bound to obey, what should be done or left undone on this point. Thus speaks he. You ask, perhaps, what craze has possession of the man, or against whom he is writing; since I did not condemn the use of one kind, and did leave it to the judgment of the Church to ordain the use of both kinds. And this he himself endeavours to assert, with the object of combating me by this very argument. I reply, that this kind of argument is a familiar one with all who write against Luther; namely, either to assert the very thing which they attack, or to set up a figment that they may attack it. Thus did Sylvester, Eccius, Emser, the men of Cologne too, and those of Louvain. If this friar had gone back from their spirit, he would not have written against Luther.

A greater piece of good fortune, however, has befallen this man than any of the others. Whereas he intended to prove that the use of one kind had neither been commanded nor decreed, but left to the decision of the Church, he brings forward Scriptures to prove that, by the command of Christ, the use of one kind was ordained for the laity. Thus it is true, according to this new interpreter of Scripture, that the use of one kind was not commanded, and at the same time was commanded, by Christ. You know how specially those logicians of Leipzig employ this new kind of argument. Does not Emser also, after having professed in his former book to speak fairly about me, and after having been convicted by me of the foulest envy and of base falsehoods, confess, when about to confute me in his later book, that both were true, and that he had written of me in both an unfair and a fair spirit? A good man indeed, as you know!

But listen to our specious advocate of one species, in whose mind the decision of the Church and the command of Christ are the same thing; and again the command of Christ and the absence of his command are the same thing. With what dexterity he proves that only one kind should be granted to the laity, by the command of Christ, that is, by the decision of the Church! He marks it with capital letters in this way, “AN INFALLIBLE FOUNDATION.” Next he handles with incredible wisdom the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, in which Christ speaks of the bread of heaven and the bread of life, which is Himself. These words this most learned man not only misapplies to the Sacrament of the Altar, but goes farther, and, because Christ said: “I am the living bread,” and not: “I am the living cup,” he concludes that in that passage the sacrament in only one kind was appointed for the laity. But the words that follow: “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed;” and again, “Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood”—since it was evident to this friar’s brains that they tell irrefutably in favour of reception in both kinds, and against that in one kind—he evades very happily and learnedly in this way: “That Christ meant nothing else by these words, than that he who should receive one kind, should receive under this both the body and the blood.” This he lays down as his infallible foundation of a structure so worthy of holy and heavenly reverence.

Learn now, along with me, from this man, that in the sixth chapter of St. John Christ commands reception in one kind, but in such a manner that this commanding means leaving the matter to the decision of the Church; and further, that Christ in the same chapter speaks of the laity only, not of the presbyters. For to us this living bread from heaven, that is, the sacrament in one kind, does not belong, but perchance the bread of death from hell. Now what is to be done with the deacons and sub-deacons? As they are neither laymen nor priests, they ought, on this distinguished authority, to use neither one nor both kinds. You understand, my dear Tulichius, this new and observant manner of handling Scripture. But you must also learn this, that Christ, in the sixth chapter of St. John, is speaking of the sacrament of the Eucharist; though He Himself teaches us that He is speaking of faith in the incarnate word, by saying: “This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom He hath sent.” But this Leipzig professor of the Bible must be permitted to prove whatever he pleases out of any passage of Scripture he pleases. For he is an Anaxagorean, nay, an Aristotelian theologian, to whom names and words when transposed mean the same things and everything. Throughout his whole book he so fits together the testimonies of Scripture, that, if he wishes to prove that Christ is in the sacrament, he ventures to begin thus: “The Lesson of the book of the Revelation of the blessed John.” And as suitably as this would be said, so suitably does he say everything, and thinks, like a wise man, to adorn his ravings by the number of passages he brings forward.

I pass over the rest, that I may not quite kill you with the dregs of this most offensive drain. Lastly he adduces Paul (1 Cor. xi.), who says that he had received from the Lord and had delivered to the Corinthians the use both of the bread and of the cup. Here again, as everywhere else, our advocate of one species handles the Scriptures admirably, and teaches that in that passage Paul permitted—not “delivered”—the use of both kinds. Do you ask how he proves it? Out of his own head, as in the case of the sixth chapter of John; for it does not become this lecturer to give a reason for what he says, since he is one of those whose proofs and teachings all come from their own visions. Here then we are taught that the Apostle in that passage did not write to the whole church of Corinth, but only to the laity, and that therefore he gave no permission to the priests, but that they were deprived of the whole sacrament; and next, that, by a new rule of grammar, “I have received from the Lord” means the same thing as “It has been permitted by the Lord;” and “I delivered to you” the same thing as “I permitted to you.” I beg you especially to note this. For it follows hence that not only the Church, but every worthless fellow anywhere will be at liberty, under the teaching of this master, to turn into permissions the whole body of the commandments, institutions, and ordinances of Christ and the Apostles.

I see that this man is possessed by an angel of Satan, and that those who act in collusion with him are seeking to obtain a name in the world through me, as being worthy to contend with Luther. But this hope of theirs shall be disappointed, and, in my contempt for them, I shall leave them for ever unnamed, and shall content myself with this one answer to the whole of their books. If they are worthy that Christ should bring them back to a sound mind, I pray him to do so in his mercy. If they are not worthy of this, then I pray that they may never cease to write such books, and that the enemies of the truth may not be permitted to read any others. It is a common and true saying: “This I know for certain, that if I fight with filth, whether I conquer or am conquered, I am sure to be defiled.” In the next place, as I see that they have plenty of leisure and of paper, I will take care that they shall have abundant matter for writing, and will keep in advance of them, so that while they, in the boastfulness of victory, are triumphing over some one heresy of mine, as it seems to them, I shall meanwhile be setting up a new one. For I too am desirous that these illustrious leaders in war should be adorned with many titles of honour. And so, while they are murmuring that I approve of communion in both kinds, and are most successfully engaged on this very important subject, so worthy of themselves, I shall go farther, and shall now endeavour to show that all who deny to the laity communion in both kinds are acting impiously. To do this the more conveniently, I shall make a first essay on the bondage of the Church of Rome; with the intention of saying very much more in its own proper time, when those most learned papists shall have got the better of this book.

This, moreover, I do in order that no pious reader who may meet with my book may be disgusted at the dross I have handled, and have reason to complain that he finds nothing to read which can cultivate or instruct his mind, or at least give occasion for instructive reflection. You know how dissatisfied my friends are that I should occupy myself with the paltry twistings of these men. They say that the very reading of their books is an ample confutation of them, but that from me they look for better things, which Satan is trying to hinder by means of these men. I have determined to follow the advice of my friends, and to leave the business of wrangling and inveighing to those hornets.

Of the Italian friar of Cremona I shall say nothing. He is a simple and unlearned man, who is endeavouring to bring me back by some thongs of rhetoric to the Holy See, from which I am not conscious of having ever withdrawn, nor has any one proved that I have. His principal argument in some ridiculous passages is, that I ought to be moved for the sake of my profession, and of the transfer of the imperial power to the Germans. He seems indeed altogether to have meant not so much to urge my return as to write the praises of the French and of the Roman pontiff, and he must be allowed to testify his obsequiousness to them by this little work, such as it is. He neither deserves to be handled severely, since he does not seem to be actuated by any malice, nor to be learnedly confuted, since through pure ignorance and inexperience he trifles with the whole subject.

To begin. I must deny that there are seven Sacraments, and must lay it down, for the time being, that there are only three, baptism, penance, and the bread, and that by the Court of Rome all these have been brought into miserable bondage, and the Church despoiled of all her liberty. And yet, if I were to speak according to the usage of Scripture, I should hold that there was only one sacrament, and three sacramental signs. I shall speak on this point more at length at the proper time; but now I speak of the sacrament of the bread, the first of all sacraments.

I shall say then what advance I have made as the result of my meditations in the ministry of this sacrament. For at the time when I published a discourse on the Eucharist I was still involved in the common custom, and did not trouble myself either about the rightful or the wrongful power of the Pope. But now that I have been called forth and become practised in argument, nay, have been dragged by force into this arena, I shall speak out freely what I think. Let all the papists laugh or lament against me alone.

In the first place, the sixth chapter of John must be set aside altogether, as not saying a single syllable about the sacrament; not only because the sacrament had not yet been instituted, but much more because the very sequence of the discourse and of its statements shows clearly that Christ was speaking—as I have said before—of faith in the incarnate Word. For He says: “My words, they are spirit and they are life;” showing that He was speaking of that spiritual eating, wherewith he who eats, lives; while the Jews understood Him to speak of a carnal eating, and therefore raised a dispute. But no eating gives life, except the eating of faith, for this is the really spiritual and living eating; as Augustine says: “Why dost thou get ready thy stomach and thy teeth? Believe, and thou hast eaten.” A sacramental eating does not give life, for many eat unworthily, so that Christ cannot be understood to have spoken of the sacrament in this passage. There are certainly some who have misapplied these words to the sacrament, as did the writer of the decretals some time ago, and many others. It is one thing, however, to misapply the Scriptures, and another to take them in their legitimate sense; otherwise when Christ says: “Except ye eat my flesh, and drink my blood, ye have no life in you,” He would be condemning all infants, all the sick, all the absent, and all who were hindered in whatever manner from a sacramental eating, however eminent their faith, if in these words He had meant to enjoin a sacramental eating. Thus Augustine, in his second book against Julianus, proves from Innocentius that even infants, without receiving the sacrament, eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ; that is, partake in the same faith as the Church. Let this then be considered as settled, that the sixth chapter of John has nothing to do with the matter. For which reason I have written elsewhere that the Bohemians could not rightfully depend upon this passage in their defence of reception in both kinds.

[ Next chapter: Concerning the Lord’s Supper ]

In spite of the fact there are a lot of tips on the Internet about how to protect your PC privacy and security, after you watch this terrific presentation from tech researcher and journalist Jacob Appelbaum, you might want to change your policy to either not care who knows anything about what you do, or not touching a PC, cell phone, or ANY kind of electronic means of communication again! Don’t even use the postal system. Just stick to passing paper and ink messages only to trusted friends and family.

At December’s Chaos Computer Congress in Hamburg, Mr. Appelbaum presented the latest documented revelations about how deep the NSA spying rabbit hole really goes. How do you know that the NSA has not hacked the BIOS of your motherboard? Or hacked the firmware of your hard-disk? You don’t. There is no way you can even find out.