Hello friends, I’m glad you decided to join me today, and I hope by the time we’re through you’ll be able to say it’s been good to be here.

A few days ago, during our morning devotions, Cindy and I read the words recorded in Isaiah 51:1, and we were very comforted and encouraged by what we read. By the way, if you want to read some very important chapters in the Bible, read through the 50s chapters in Isaiah, because there’s a lot to be reminded of as we near the end of this earth’s history.  Isaiah 51:1 is not speaking to those who seek the Lord occasionally, or haphazardly, but to those who “follow after righteousness,” and I hope that’s you and me. Here’s what God says, “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.”

In other words, the rock from which every Christian is hewn is Jesus, the Rock of ages, the stone that became the head of the corner, and we are the house that was built upon the rock; and the pit from which we were digged is the pit of sin in which we were sunken before the Rock came to our rescue. And friend, if for some reason you have lost your way since you first came to the Lord, or you’re involved with some ongoing sin that so easily besets you, I encourage you to “look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you are digged,” because this is no time to give up or be distracted by the devil’s devices, and if you do look unto the rock and follow after righteousness, you will rediscover your first love which you have lost and come to know the love of God and the salvation of your soul all over again, and that’s something to praise the Lord about!

This verse in Isaiah is especially meaningful to me, because I was not raised in a Christian home, and so I can identify with that pit of sin from which I was digged, perhaps more than some, but today, praise be to God, I can identify with the holy joy I now experience because of the mercy and love of God. If you’ve never listened to my personal testimony about what the lover of my soul has done for me and how the Holy Spirit led me to the Rock, I encourage you to listen at gospel-workers.com or at one of my social media platforms on YouTube, Rumble, or BitChute. You’ll find links to these various platforms on the sermons page at gospel workers website, which are edited somewhat for the general public. Just look for the title “Personal Testimony,” and may you be blessed as you listen to what God was able to do for such a sinner as I.

Now, if you’re paying attention to what’s happening in the world today, you know at least two things; number one, Islam has been in the news a lot lately starting with what happened on 9/11 with planes flying into the Twin Towers and most recently the war going on between the United States and Iran; and number 2, whenever religious organizations are in the news it usually has to do with what the Pope is doing or saying, have you ever noticed that? Kind of like what recently happened with Pope Leo and his cancer surgery. You don’t hear that kind of news coverage when something happens to a prominent Protestant preacher, so why the attention on the Pope? I find that interesting. But what do Islam and Catholicism have in common other than they’re both in the news a lot? Well, that’s what I’d like to explore today.

First of all, I hope you enjoy history, because that’s largely what we’re going to be looking at today, but I’ll be bringing us up to date as well. It’s truly important for us to know our history, because we don’t want to repeat the bad things that happened in the past, right? Truer words were never spoken when Winston Churchhill said, “Those that fail to learn from history are (what?) doomed to repeat it.”

So, to begin with I want to go back to the founding of our country, specifically to the United States of America if you’re listening from another place. The reason our forefathers came to this land, bottom line, was because they were looking for a church without a pope, and a state without a king. That’s why the United States started out as a Protestant country, and the proof of that is that there were no Catholics that came over on the Mayflower, nor were there any Muslims, but we’ll get to Islam a little later, but what we’re going to find out is that Catholicism and Islam are both incompatible with the way America was founded, and incompatible with true Christianity.

Today Catholicism has nearly taken over in America when you consider that six of the Supreme Court justices are Catholic, and the majority of the conservative radio talk show hosts and TV personalities are Catholic, as well as the more popular Internet personalities, which goes a long way in shaping the thinking of the American public. Also, many of the healthcare institutions are run by Catholics as well as many of the colleges and universities, which just goes to show how much has changed since the Mayflower landed on the shores of Cape Cod.

Now, when you think about these things, Catholicism has made huge strides over the years in what started out to be a country that did everything it could to distance itself from Catholic influence. Does that mean then that the Catholic church has a goal to make America Catholic and not Protestant? Surely, it would seem so to anyone looking at the situation as it now stands compared to what it once was, and do you think our founding fathers would be surprised to see how things are turning out? Perhaps some would be, but there was evidently some doubt during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, because when a lady by the name of Elizabeth Powel asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government they had decided upon, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” If you can keep it! And it seems very questionable that we can keep it today, doesn’t it? Especially when we consider everything that’s happening with the rise of the democratic socialists of America. The founding of America has been called “The Great Experiment” for a reason, because it was founded on the radical idea of creating a nation based on individual freedom and capitalism, and whether or not such a society could thrive under such principles.

You see, a Republic is a form of government in which the political power rests with the people and exercised through the representatives they themselves elect, rather than being owned or inherited by a monarch or some aristocrat; a place where citizens choose their representatives to make and enforce laws on their behalf and for their benefit. That’s why I said earlier that our founding fathers were looking for a church without a pope and a state without a king, and a Republic was the only way to make that happen.

During the time of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said it best in the Gettysburg Address when he said, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” I think we can all agree that these are words of wisdom, but God has something to say about whether or not this Republic will survive or perish from the earth.

Many people are unaware of this, but Abraham Lincoln understood that the Jesuits were responsible for the civil war and that there were secessionists from the Union that wanted him dead, because they didn’t want slavery to go away, and it’s no coincidence that the majority of those who were plotting Lincoln’s death were Catholic.

There was a woman by the name of Mary Surratt that conspired with John Wilks Booth to kill the President, and she was executed for the role she played. There was also Doctor Samuel Mudd who was planning to kidnap the President before the assassination, and who provided medical assistance to Booth after he broke his leg when jumping down from the Presidents theater box down to the stage, and knowing what he had done, Doctor Mudd assisted him anyway. And then there was John Surratt, Mary Surratt’s son who managed to flee the country after the assassination, and all three were Catholics. Booth himself was Episcopalian, but definitely influenced by his Catholic associates, and really, the Episcopal church isn’t that much different from Catholicism, especially since the great religious awakening of 1844 when all major religions rejected the soon coming of Jesus and became a part of Babylon the great, the mother of harlots. Listen to my sermon titled “Babylon the Great” and you will see why I say these things. Also, you can read the book titled 50 Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Chnniquy. He was born Catholic and when he was about 25 years old he became a Catholic priest and remained so for the next 25 years, but afterward when he turned 50, he became a Protestant minister after he realized that Catholicism was a false religion. Thus the title 50 Years in the Church of Rome. And so, if there was anyone who understood the Catholic Church and what its goals were, it was Charles Chnniquy.

Charles was a good friend and confidant to Abraham Lincoln who warned the President about a plot by the Catholics to assassinate him. He told Lincoln that the Jesuits were planning revenge against him, which he communicated to the president during their meetings together, and this was not something that was a big surprise to Lincoln. There’s a chapter in 50 Years in the Church of Rome titled “A. Lincoln,” which starts on page 693, and there you can read all about the conversation he had with the President. If you go to gospel-workers.com and click on the heading “Publications” on the home page, you’ll find his book there in the list.

Now, if you would indulge me for a couple minutes, I’d like to read to you the words of our 16^th President himself as he conversed with Charles, and I’ll let you judge for yourself about Lincoln’s attitude toward the papacy. Lincoln said, “Till lately, I was in favor of the unlimited liberty of conscience, as our constitution gives it to the Roman Catholics. But now, it seems to me that, sooner or later, the people will be forced to put a restriction to that clause towards the Papists. Is it not an act of folly to give absolute liberty of conscience to a set of men who are publicly sworn to cut our throats the very day they have their opportunity for doing it? Is it right to give the privilege of citizenship to men who are the sworn and public enemies of our constitution, our laws, our liberties, and our lives? . . . Is it not an absurdity to give to a man a thing which he is sworn to hate, curse and destroy? And does not the Church of Rome hate, curse and destroy liberty of conscience, whenever she can do it safely?

“I am for liberty of conscience in its noblest, broadest, highest sense. But I cannot give liberty of conscience to the Pope and to his followers, the papists, so long as they tell me, through all their councils, theologians and canon laws, that their conscience orders them to burn my wife, strangle my children, and cut my throat when they find the opportunity!

“This does not seem to be understood by the people, to-day. (he said) But sooner or later, the light of common sense will make it clear to everyone, that no liberty of conscience can be granted to men who are sworn to obey a Pope, who pretends to have the right to put to death those who differ from him in religion.”

And here’s the other thing you’ll discover by reading more of what President Lincoln had to say. Several attempts had been made upon his life during his presidency, but they all failed, except of course the last one. However, he knew that the Jesuits would eventually succeed and was willing to die for the country, and that’s exactly what happened that fateful night at 10:20 pm in the Ford theater in Washington, D.C. when he was shot in the back of the head by John Wilks Booth.

And here’s another thing you’ll discover. Jefferson Davis, who was President of the Confederate states and leader of the army, was not a Catholic, but he was educated by Catholics at St. Thomas College, a Dominican Catholic preparatory school in Washington County, Kentucky. And they certainly did prepare him for the role he played in the civil war, because he said he loved the Catholic church so much that he wanted to become Catholic, but was discouraged to do so until he was a bit older. As far as I know he never did, but he was Catholic in his heart and had deep ties to Pope Pius IX who advised and directed him from the moment the Civil War started with the first gun shot fired at Fort Sumpter on April 12, 1861.

Now, as we think about all these things, it should be obvious to us that God had His hand in the founding of this nation and in the formation of our founding documents, in fact this nation is mentioned in Bible prophecy, did you know that? not by name, but by the characteristics mentioned in Revelation 13:11-18. The problem is, God said this new nation would start out like a gentle lamb, but end up speaking as a dragon, and we can even now see things changing here in America just as the Bible predicted. Listen to my sermon titled “America in Prophecy” and I think you will see that this is true.

It’s clear to any thinking person that’s paying attention, that the United States Constitution is being assaulted today, and President Lincoln’s words in his famous speech are being attacked as well by various front organizations for the papacy, which is doing an excellent job of hiding its true agenda. You say really? That’s right! In Revelation 17:3 John says the Spirit carried him away into (where?) “the wilderness,” or into a “lonesome” and “desolate” place, or “a place of obscurity,” and that’s where the apostle John saw the papal beast in these last days symbolized by a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy. And so, very clearly here it’s telling us that the papacy is not going to be out in the forefront, and that there are others who will be doing her bidding, and that’s just the way the devil has always worked. Right from the beginning he disguised himself as a beautiful flying serpent, didn’t he? And he has been disguising himself and those he works through ever since.

And who are these front organizations that are doing the bidding of the papacy? Well, that’s pretty easy to figure out, because Revelation 18:3 says, “the kings of the earth have committed fornication (or have had an illicit relationship) with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” A woman in Bible prophecy represents a church, a pure woman is the church of Christ, and a corrupt woman is an apostate church, that’s what it tells us in Jeremiah 6:2; Isaiah 51:16 and Revelation 17:4, 5. Check it out for yourself. And so, the kings of the earth (or the leaders of governments and political parties) and the merchants of the earth (big business people) are the entities that are complicit in furthering the aims of the papacy. Why? Because that’s where the money is! Verse 3 says, the kings and the merchants, “are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies,” or her wealth. Just as a side note, the two wealthiest churches in the world are Catholic and LDS, depending on whether we’re talking about liquid assets or aggregate wealth. But any way you cut it, the papacy is the only power that fits the bill here when it comes to Bible prophecy. The LDS church has its own set of problems, which we’re not going to get into today, but the papacy is the one spoken of in Revelation 18:3.

And so, for hundreds of years the devil, working through the papacy, has been trying to do everything in its power to undo all that Protestantism has done since the Protestant Reformation of the 16^th century, and then right here in America over the past 250 years, and we’re going to see that the old saying, “all roads lead to Rome” is a true statement in more ways than one. Let me read to you what the Catholic church herself has stated in her own writings, because I’m not just pulling all this information out of a hat like some magician, there’s documentation for all of it, if we have a mind to search it out.

First of all, the papacy hates the United States Constitution, especially the part that guarantees freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience, and that’s why it has never wanted the United States to succeed, even during the Civil War; nor does it want America to succeed today.

Notice what the papacy herself says about these things: Pope Pius IX, who was the pope in charge during the Civil War and the pope who was directing and influencing Jefferson Davis, said this in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, “The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.” This same pope, 10 years later in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, “anathematized,” (which is to condemn or curse) “those who assert liberty of conscience and of religious worship,” and “all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.” And in this same Encyclical it says, “according to Catholic canon law,” Catholics are required to give “religious submission of the intellect and will” to the teachings of any encyclical letter by the pope. That’s what it says in the Eternal Word Television Network, which is a global Catholic news organization.

In other words, if you are for liberty of conscience and for the freedom to worship whom you will and when you choose, and if you are against the idea that a religious organization can force you to believe a certain way, then you are an enemy of the papacy, and she still views you as such today.

During the mid-1800s Bishop Michael O’Connor of Pittsburgh stated that, “Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.” And that’s pretty close to what President Lincoln said to Charles Chinniquy, isn’t it? And what would the opposite of religious liberty be? Force, persecution, tyranny, and eventually the death penalty for those who refuse to go along with Catholic thinking. And don’t forget that this is exactly what happened during the dark ages, dark because the Bible was withheld from the people and replaced with a mixture of Christianity and paganism rather than the Bible and the Bible only, which was the battle cry of the Protestant Reformers. And get this, nearly all the Protestant Reformers understood and declared that the antichrist of Bible prophecy was the papacy.

Let me read you just one short quote from someone who many consider the leading figure of the Protestant reformation, Martin Luther. In the writings of the Swiss Protestant minister and historian D’Aubigne, book 6, chapter 9 he quotes Luther himself when he was being pursued by the papacy for daring to oppose Catholic falsehoods. Luther said, “I rejoice in having to bear such ills for the best of causes. Already I feel greater liberty in my heart; for at last I know that the pope is antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan himself.” Wow! You don’t hear words like that coming from any of the Protestant churches of today, do you? Even from the Lutheran church that bears his name! What does that tell us? It tells us of the great inroads the papacy has made within Protestantism, and that the Protestant churches have forgotten what they were protesting about and are now much more like the Catholics than the early Protestant reformers were, and are now clasping hands with the antichrist power through the ecumenical movement that promotes unity among all Christian denominations, regardless of the truth.

Again, back in the 1800s the archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis once said: “Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.” So, what do you suppose would happen if the Catholic religion were to become an essential part of the law of the land here in America? Heresy and unbelief would be considered crimes, and punishment would be the result. And unfortunately, this is what Revelation 13:3 means when it says, “and all the world wondered (or admiringly followed) after the beast.” And according to verse 15, all who refuse to follow “should be killed.”

In other words, if you don’t go to church every Sunday and if you do or say something that is contrary to Catholic teaching, you are a heretic and might be sent to a reeducation camp to change your mind, and if that didn’t work perhaps the rack or the threat of burning at the stake might persuade you. “O, come on Pastor Jones, that could never happen here in the land of the free and the home of the brave!” Friends, for 1260 years during the dark ages these kinds of things happened, and human nature has not changed since that time to this. People today are just as capable of religious persecution and capital punishment for not doing as you’re told as they were back then, and today there’s a new term that is used that may sound reasonable in some respects but will accomplish the same goal of world domination that the papacy has always had, and it’s called “the common good.” That sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? “The common good,” what could be wrong with that?

Notice this statement from these same Catholic bishops of the United States, because they’re all about, “forming consciences for faithful citizenship,” and they identify a “common good” principle by stating that “The common good is. . . to build that kind of society where it is easier for people to be good.” And what does “faithful citizenship” mean to the Catholic mind? It means following what they deem to be for “the common good,” and if not, you’re a heretic and worthy of being punished just like any other crime in “that kind of society.” By the way, that’s called legislating their brand of morality, and wherever that has been tried, the result has always been persecution and death, and that’s why knowing history is so important.

The problem with force is that it’s the devil’s method of bringing the world under his control, because he hates Christ for casting him and his followers out of heaven. You can read that in Revelation 12:7-9. And remember what God said about Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12-15? He said, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Satan has an “I” problem, doesn’t he? Again, why is that his attitude? Because he hates God, and he wants to take His subjects from Him! That’s you and me! But verse 15 says, “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” This will be the final punishment of Satan and his followers for rebellion against the just government of God. So needless to say, we don’t want to follow him and end up suffering the same fate.

These same Catholic bishops, and the pope himself, also speak of the earth as, “our common home” and is the reason they’re pushing a climate change narrative so as to help the earth recover from, so called, human abuses by shutting down all businesses for one day a week in order to help save the planet by reducing carbon emissions, and by the way, the United Nations is in agreement with this papal agenda and so also is the Seventh-day Adventist church as an NGO, and what day do you suppose shutting down all businesses will be? That one day of the week will be Sunday of course, or what Catholics and Protestants alike call the Chistian sabbath. Listen to the sermon titled, “The Rise of Christian Nationalism,” because the Heritage Foundation states plainly that the sabbath they’re pushing for “will naturally default to Sunday.”

However, there’s only one problem with Sunday sacredness; according to Genesis 2:1-3 God says the Sabbath is the seventh day and not the first day of the week, and Exodus 20:8-11 goes into more detail about how it’s to be observed, and Revelation 13:15 tells us what will happen to those who won’t go along with what’s for the “common good” of “our common home,” which is the death penalty. Read it friends, these are inspired words that will be fulfilled. Jesus said, “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) They will be fulfilled to the very letter, and that’s why it is so important for us to become so settled into the truth that we can’t be moved when these things come to pass.

So, what if a crisis of some kind comes along, and according to Bible prophecy it will, and by the way, Sunday is already being urged as a rest day in many places around the world such as Brazil and Argentina, check it out. And what if the society of those whose consciences have been formed the way the Catholic bishops want them to be formed, and what if that mind set encourages people that they need to get back to God to save the planet by making it obligatory to observe the Sunday sabbath because it’s for the “common good,” but certain people refuse to honor that man-made day, then what? Then persecution will inevitably result.

Sound farfetched? This is exactly what Bible prophecy says is going to happen. Daniel 7:25 tells us that there would come a beast power in the last days, which is just what Martin Luther said it was, the papal antichrist, that would “speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” This is a reference to the dark ages of papal persecution for that 1260 years, from 538 AD to 1798, and this beast power would do what? “Think to change times and laws.” According to the Greek, the word “times” means “an appointed occasion,” and the word “laws” means “commandment.”

So what is God trying to tell us here? He’s telling us that in the last days there would be an antichrist power, which is the papacy, that would think to change the commandment of God that deals with time, and there’s only one commandment of the ten that deals with time, and that’s the seventh day Sabbath, and that’s why in an editorial in the Catholic Record of London, Ontario, Sept. 1, 1923, states the following, “Sunday is our mark of authority. . . The church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.”

Even AI understands this! I typed in the following words into my computer, “who said that Sunday is the mark of its authority,” and here’s what came up: “The Roman Catholic Church has stated that its substitution of Sunday for Saturday as the holy day is the mark of its authority.” Why is it that AI understands this, or “super Intelligence” as President Trump now calls it, but the Christian world today doesn’t realize that Sunday sacredness is “the mark of the beast.”

Now, in 1798 when the pope was taken captive, it looked as though the papal power had come to an end, but Revelation 13:13 says the “deadly wound” it received at that time would be healed, and that is in the process of happening right now as we see the papacy gaining more and more power and influence here in America. And so please, it’s super important that we understand these things, and if you want more information listen to the two sermons titled “Identifying the Antichrist,” because there’s only one power that fits the prophecy exactly, and that’s the papacy.

So, right about now some of you may be thinking, “why all the hate speech against the Catholic Church.” But friends, it’s not hate speech, it’s love speech, because God wants people to be aware of these things, and He’s “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,” or that they might turn away from falsehoods that are leading multitudes down the road to perdition.

Not long ago Pope Francis wrote the following: we should “desire the common good and strive towards it as a requirement of justice and charity.” Friends, words have meaning, and very clearly here, the pope said he wants “the common good” to be “a requirement,” which is an “authoritative command” by the highest authority in the Catholic church, to “strive,” or to “fight forcefully” toward achieving the goal of making the “common good” a requirement. Do an Internet search on the Catholic idea of “the common good” and you’ll see that it is a major part of the Vatican’s agenda, and that the “common good” is not very good, in fact, it’s terrible!

In the book titled “Our Country” by historian Josiah Strong, who lived during the time when the Catholic statements I read to you earlier were written, says the following, “Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following words: ‘Heretics, schismatics, (or those who would try to cause division) and rebels to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.” And of course, these were the kinds of things that led to the inquisition, where millions of so-called heretics, schismatics, and rebels who opposed the papacy during that 1260 years of papal persecution were killed.

Now, to be fair, there was a supposed shift in the Catholic Church during Vatican II Council that met between 1962-1965 where the churches stance on freedom of religion supposedly changed. And by the way, this is the reason Ganoune Diop as head of the religious liberty department said any Seventh-day Adventist that still preaches the third angel’s message, implicating the papacy as the antichrist, is a religious terrorist, because he believes the papacy really has changed, when Sister White says they never change. Who are we going to believe?

Since Vatican II what the Catholic church now says is that “religious freedom is a fundamental, universal human right rooted in the inherent dignity of the human person.” And that, “no person, group, or civil government has the right to coerce someone into a religious belief, nor should anyone be impeded from practicing their faith according to their conscience.”

Doesn’t that now make them sound more like what Protestants used to believe? or the very group they’ve been trying to destroy for better than five centuries? Today, rather than viewing “religious liberty as a temporary concession to be endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world,” as Bishop Michael O’Connor of Pittsburgh stated, the Catholic bishops of the United States now want us to believe that religious liberty is a right and that governments have a moral duty to protect it for everyone.

But here’s the question, can the papacy be trusted to tell the truth? because what I just quoted to you is the exact opposite of what they said and believed for hundreds of years prior to Vatican II Council? Have they really changed, or are they just waiting for the opportunity to follow through with their earlier statement to “merely endure until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world?”

Well, let me tell you, change is not possible in the Catholic church, because the Catholic Bishops, and even the current pope cannot reverse their past statements and teachings or invent brand-new doctrines that contradict their history. Why? because the pope claims to be the Vicar of Christ, or one who stands in the place of Christ, or is the substitute of Christ here on earth, and by the way, that’s blasphemy, or evil speaking against God for a sinful man to make such a claim. But because they do, they are telling the world that just as Jesus could not make mistakes, neither can the pope as His substitute here on earth.

Notice what the Bible says about blasphemy. In John 10:33 it says, “The Jews answered him, (Christ) saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” It wasn’t blasphemy for Jesus to claim to be God, because He is God, but for a sinful man like the pope to claim to be Christ’s substitute on earth, is the very definition of blasphemy.

Also notice what it says in Luke 5:21. Jesus had just healed a man that was paralyzed and said he was forgiven of his sins, and the Bible says, “the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” Does the pope and his priests have power to forgive sins? Of course not, but that’s what they claim to be able to do, which shows again that they commit blasphemy every time, when hiding behind a curtain they tell those who confess to them to go to home and say so many “hail Mary’s” and “our Fathers,” and all is forgiven, even if they turn right around and do the same thing again and again and again.

You see, there is no victory over sin in the Catholic system, that’s why there’s confession available every day as needed, but that’s not God’s way. He wants us to stop sinning, and not just keep saying we’re sorry. We need to understand that the Holy Spirit has power available 24/7 in order to help us have victory over temptation, that’s why 1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not,” and why Jesus told Mary to go and sin no more, (John 8:11) and why He told the man that lay beside the pool of Bethesda to, “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (John 5:14) If it wasn’t possible to stop sinning, these statements make Jesus a liar. And we could go on and on with other examples. Sure, there is forgiveness when we blow it, but God wants us to quit blowing it, that’s the message of the Bible. One day soon, Jesus as our great and only High Priest, is going to step out of the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary, and when that happens the atonement is finished, and anyone that sins after that will not be able to find forgiveness. That’s why Hebrews 4:7 says, “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

For over 1400 years the papacy did not change its teachings or its attitude toward heretics, schismatics and rebels, and why since Vatican II do they now say that they have changed. How can they now declare that they support religious liberty and freedom of conscience when their stand has always been the opposite for centuries? Again, I pose the question: can the papacy really be trusted? If they are true to their own word, the answer is no. We must believe what they have said and done in the past, because it’s impossible for the vicar of Christ, so called, to be wrong, because the One they claim to represent has never been wrong. To do so would mean that the whole existence of the Papacy for over a thousand years has been a big sham and that the pope is an impostor, which is true, but they’re never going to say that.

And I can say that because Bible prophecy is clear that the papacy is represented as the beast of Revelation 13:1-10 that speaks great words against the Most High, persecuted the saints for 42 months, or 1260 years, until Napolean took the pope captive, dying in captivity the following year. This is all verifiable history!

When the pope was taken captive by the French General Louis Alexandre Berthier on February 20, 1798, that’s when the papacy received it’s “deadly wound” as recorded in Revelation 13:3, but remember, it also says that wound would be healed, and that healing process began on February 11, 1929 and ratified by Italy on June 7 of that same year when Benito Mussolini signed the Lateran treaty which reestablished Vatican City as an independent state and restored power back to the pope, who was Pope Pius XI at that time, and ever since then the papacy has been growing in power and influence here in America and around the world. But suffice it to say that regardless of what changes took place at the Vatican II Council, the papacy has not changed and cannot be trusted, but Bible prophecy can be trusted and will be fulfilled to the very letter. That you can count on 100%.

And let me just say this before we move on to Islam, because there are true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman Catholic church. God condemns no one until they have had the truth presented to them and they reject it. And so, it’s not the people, but the Catholic church itself that is a false system of worship, and that’s why the call is given in Revelation 14 and 18 to “come out of her” Babylonian confusion as soon as one hears and accepts the truth.

Notice what it says in the book titled The Great Controversy, page 581, and if you’d like a copy let me know and I’ll see that you get one free of charge. This was written well over a hundred years ago and is what Protestant Christians plainly understood back then, but not so much anymore, but it’s still true, nonetheless. “God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly, she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.”

Remember this one thing and never forget it. Force is the last resort of every false religion, no exceptions! First they try to attract you by telling you how great their religion is and how you will benefit from accepting their doctrines and obeying its leaders, just like king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon tried with the power of music and outward show to get people to bow down and worship his image. But if these attractions, which are invented and inspired by the devil fail, the hungry flames of the furnace will be ready to consume those that reject. This is the way it will be at the end of this earth’s history, which is rapidly approaching. The papacy has exercised her power in the past to compel men to obey, and it will do the same again the first chance it gets.

Now let’s turn our attention to Islam for a few minutes, and I’ll have much less to say about it, because the Bible has much less to say about it compared to what is says about the papacy. The word “Islam means “submission,” not only to Allah, but as they say “to those empowered to interpret and enforce His commands.” Now, what do the words “submission” and “enforce,” when used in the same sentence suggest to you? They suggest “submission” or else, don’t they? Understand, freedom of conscience is not tolerated in Islam, just as in the past it has not been tolerated in Catholicism. The word Muslim means “purity,” which is far from reality, “purity and obedience and submissiveness” to Allah and his imams, and if you afterward renounce your faith when you find out the truth, guess what? You receive the death penalty in those countries that have a totalitarian form of government, and this is one of the main reasons Islam is growing so rapidly, because who wants to die?

You see my dear friends, Islam is not a religion as we think of religion here in America. It’s an ideology and a political movement. They don’t have missionaries that go door to door to try to persuade people to accept Allah. Their aim is to take over governments and courts and educational institutions and finally the military, and this is well on its way in places like France and England if you’ve been paying attention to the news, and America is the grand prize. But even though this is all true, there’s another power that will get there first, and that’s the papacy and apostate Protestantism. That’s what Bible prophecy predicts, and this is what will come to pass no matter what current events look like.

Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, promises of liberation have yielded to theocratic control, and any and all opposition has been systematically and methodically eliminated by violence. Civilian firearms have been confiscated, a morality police force has been empowered to enforce sharia law where women face punishment and even death for minor dress violations, where gay people are thrown off tall building, and where protests have repeatedly met lethal force just like what happened recently when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp slaughtered upwards of 50,000 of their own citizens for protesting in the streets just in the past few months.

Just this past January widespread economic and freedom protests were crushed with live ammunition, mass arrests, internet blackouts, thousands of deaths, and where propaganda and surveillance maintains the regime’s control. And so, what began with revolutionary hope 50 years ago solidified into authoritarian religious rule. And this will be the result of every so-called theocracy. All through its history, Islam has used military invasion to violently conquer various lands but hasn’t been able to win hearts by reason and logic and loving persuasion, because the Holy Spirit is not working through this system of false worship, and that’s the main difference between true Christianity and both Islam and Catholicism.

Most Christians today are totally unaware of this, but Islam is also mentioned in Bible prophecy, again not by name, but by its characteristics and historical records. In Revelation 9:10, 15 there are two time prophecies that met their fulfillment over 180 years ago, and these time prophecies pinpointed when the Ottoman Empire would fall, and Islam is what was practiced in that Empire, and in the year 1840 these time prophecies excited widespread interest. Two years before, in 1838, a Methodist preacher by the name of Josiah Litch, published his account of Revelation 9:1-10, predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire. According to his calculations, using the well-established day for a year principle to calculate time prophecy, the Ottoman Empire, which was a Sunni Islamic state, was to be overthrown in 1840, sometime in the month of August, and only a few days previous to that, pastor Litch wrote the following, “Allowing the first period, 150 years, to have been exactly fulfilled before Deacozes ascended the throne by permission of the Turks, and that the 391 years, fifteen days, commenced at the close of the first period, it will end on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power in Constantinople may be expected to be broken. And this, I believe, will be found to be the case.” That was written in an article in a paper called the Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, August 1, 1840.

And guess what? At the very time specified by pastor Litch, Turkey, through her ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Europe, and placed itself under the control of nations that were Christian, which exactly fulfilled the prediction. And when this became known, tens of thousands of people were convinced that Bible prophecy was true, which gave great impetus to what became known as the great religious awakening in the 1840s. Just Google Josiah Litch and you can read all about it.

But here’s the point, as far as Bible prophecy is concerned, when the Ottoman Empire fell out of power, nothing more is said about Islam regaining that lost power and becoming a great force to fulfill Bible prophecy once again in the last days just before Jesus comes, but the Bible does have a lot to say about the papacy regaining its power with the healing of its deadly wound.

Yes, Islam has been and more than likely will continue to be a force given to terrorism, because they’re fanatics when it comes to “death to Israel” and “death to America” as has been the case in Iran, especially over the past several decades. But according to the Bible, Islam, especially when we think of Iran and all its proxy’s in the Middle East are concerned, is not, and I repeat, is not going to be the power that will fulfill the prophecies that point to the beast and its image in the book of Revelation, but rather Islam is Satan’s smoke screen to take the heat off the papacy while it’s in the “wilderness” doing things behind the scenes.

After 1840 the Muslim world with its 2 billion adherents is not the “antichrist” of Revelation 14, 16, 17, and 18, or “the king of the north” spoken of in Daniel 11:36-45 or “the man of sin” or “the son of perdition” or “that wicked” spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8, or the “mother of harlots” spoken of in Revelation 17:5, it’s the papacy! Islam may play a role in the minds of law makers and the people of the United States for fear that Islam will take over here like it’s trying to do in France and Britian and some of the other European counties with their rioting and trying to set up Sharia law and Sharia courts, but it’s the papacy, working behind the scenes that’s the real threat, and we shall soon see and shall feel what the (real) purpose of the Roman Catholicism is, and whoever will believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. (GC 581)

When the union of church and state becomes a reality, and this is already being widely agitated by many of our law makers, it will be a Catholic and an apostate Protestant union with the state that will fulfill Bible prophecy and usher in the second coming of Christ who will put an end to every earthly power, just as Daniel 2:45 says when it mentions the stone, or the kingdom of God, that “was cut out of the mountain without hands, . . (and) brake in pieces” all the kingdoms of this world. And friends, we can already see the hand writing on the wall. So we’re either going to stand tall for the truth when these things begin to happen, or like king Belshazzar, the joints of our loins will be loosed and our knees will smote one against the other for fear.

So we need to get our eyes off the Middle East and what’s going on over there and what they’re doing to conquer various countries as if Islam is yet to fulfill Bible prophecy, because their roll ended, as far as God is concerned, on August 11, 1840, with no prospects of them holding any significance in the fulfillment of future events, except as I say, as they continue to create havoc worldwide.

So let me be blunt, if you believe God wants our focus to be on Islam, and if you are proclaiming that, you are playing right into the devil’s hand. If you are trying to figure things out by looking at current events rather than what the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy plainly tells us, you are going to come up with the wrong answer and will lead people astray.  This has been the case within Adventism and with Uriah Smith in the past, and many have not yet learned their lesson regarding Islam, and are propagating falsehoods, which is doing the papacy a big favor by taking the spotlight off them.

Now, does this mean that all Muslims are bad? No, not any more than all Catholics are bad, but on both accounts it’s the religious system that is bad and breeds forced religious obedience by violence. So again, let me be clear, it’s not in the cards for Islam to take over the world. They can create havoc like they have done for centuries, but it’s the papacy that is the beast power of Revelation 13:1-10 with apostate Protestantism right here in America that’s mentioned in the following verses as “the image of the beast,” which will do the bidding of the papacy by becoming its spitting image in the way it deals with “heretics, schismatics, and rebels,” restricting religious liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience and thereby repudiating every principle of the United States Constitution.

What Islam and Catholicism have in common is that they are both false ideologies that have and will use force to gain adherents, and they both want to dominate and control the entire world, but again, it’s the papacy that will be the dominating power with help from apostate Protestantism right here in America first and then around the world until they are taken out of the way and forever destroyed when they are cast into the lake of fire according to Revelation 20:10.

So don’t be fooled, my friends, by a papacy that apologizes for all its past atrocities and persecutions and promises that they have changed. They have not, because it’s not possible for the vicar of Christ, so called, to be wrong, and besides, God’s word has already exposed these things by the prophet Daniel and by the apostle John on that lonely isle called Patmos centuries ago.

As part of the Advent movement, we have been raised up to understand and proclaim the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12, with special emphasis on the third, that is to be our focus from this point forward until human probation closes, and not allow ourselves to become sidetracked by Islam, or some fanatical idea that the Bible doesn’t support, like setting dates for the Lord to come, or anything else. And so, may God be with us during the closing hours of this earth’s history, and may we be ready to meet our soon coming King in peace when he comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory to deliver His faithful people is my prayer.

THEY DIDN’T COME OVER ON THE MAYFLOWER