Remember how Papists and Republicans hounded the former Unionist Mayor of Londonderry for what they said was misuse of his civic chain. Mr. Alderdice's friends would have a lot to say if a Protestant Mayor turned up at Drumcree or any Orange Demonstration in an official chain.

As for the Methodist woman preacher Sheelagh Livingstone, who preached the sermon at the 3.30 p.m. session on 25^th June, she would do well to read the words of John Wesley, who branded the dynasty of Popes as Anti-Christ and the Beast of Bible Prophecy.

and as for "Reconciliation", the most important reconciliation that is needed by Protestants and Roman Catholics alike, is set forth in II Corinthians 5

"COME OUT OF BABYLON" - Revelation 18 v. 4

"FROM SUCH WITHDRAW THYSELF" - Ist Timothy 6 v. 5

A newly built evangelical church was destroyed by fire in March at Quinche, twenty miles north east of Quito, in Ecuador. A large mob, allegedly led and encouraged by the local Roman Catholic priest, attacked the church. Catholic officials denied that the priest, Fr. Jose Conde Castillo, was involved in the destruction but local television reports showed him at the front of the march and the Ecuadorian press reported that the church caretakers fled as the crowd approached led by Conde. Around 120 people had been attending the church which Protestant leaders are committed to rebuilding on the same site. The church is close to a large Romanist basilica, the site of many reported healings. - (REVELATION 17:4-6)

Berean World (St. Louis MO), May-Aug 1998:

Having been missionaries for 13 years, I thought we had been through every experience possible. We are ministering in a church in Quinche, Ecuador, a town famous for its Roman Catholic influence and strong Catholic stand. A statue of the Virgin Mary supposedly works miracles - it even cries every once in a while! This is where our family and the national pastor and his wife have been working the past two years. We have never felt any real opposition, although we have received rumours of threats at certain times.

March 1, 1998, during the Sunday morning service, a group of 50 to 100 people led by the Catholic nuns showed up on the church property to warn us to stop preaching the gospel and to leave the town of Ouinche. It was a very scary time because of the yelling and the threats.

Ecuador does have freedom of religion. Monday afternoon Kevin took a letter from our lawyer to the head of the police in Quinche. The police chief refused to accept the letter. Kevin took it to the policemen on duty, who stamped it and noted when they received it. He then went to our church property to meet with the pastor and the leaders of the church. A number of believers were there, as the Catholic priest had been speaking to the town all afternoon over the sound system and riling up the community. At about 6.00 p.m. a sympathiser came to warn that a mob of 1000 had formed at the Catholic church and was headed their way in a violent state. Kevin got a truckload of people away just as the mob was getting very close. The police were leading, followed by the priest and nuns. The believers observed all that was taking place from a road further up the hill.

The mob then made a total wreck of everything. The cement-block building is still standing, but everything that had been inside was burned. The priest just stood watching everything, urging the people on. The nuns were seen tearing pages out of the Bible and throwing them into the fire (even the Catholic Bible we had). The believers were very discouraged. To us, it was just like a Martin Luther or John Hus film. We had heard of persecution but had never experienced anything like it, nor did we expect to.

Since that time, the believers are very united; some have already become stronger in their faith. We are confident of God's control. We know that we are going to see fruit from this experience and that God has a specific purpose for this. We are looking forward to seeing it!

The body of Roberto Calvi, whose death launched numerous conspiracy theories of links between the Vatican, the Italian Mafia and Freemasonry, is to be exhumed in an effort to discover whether his death was suicide or murder. Known as "God's Banker" because of his close links to the Vatican, the Italian financier was chairman of Italy's largest private bank when he died in bizarre circumstances in 1982. Calvi was found hanged under Blackfriar's Bridge in London. His pockets were full of stones in what has been construed as a ritual killing.

The order to exhume was made as a result of an appeal by the man accused of Calvi's murder. Initially a British court ruled that Calvi had committed suicide, but a second inquest delivered an open verdict. Tests on the banker's remains will try to determine whether Calvi was conscious immediately before he died.

The Belgian Chamber of Representatives recently passed a law creating a "sect oversight organisation" which will "scrutinise" the 189 religious organisations listed in the Belgian Parliamentary Sect Report published in April 1997. Among those listed are a number of Protestant churches and organisations, to which about fifty per cent of the Belgian Protestant population belongs. Minority evangelical, Pentecostal and Adventist churches not belonging to the United Protestant Church of Belgium, which is recognised by the state, are targeted in the Belgian Sect Report. Other Protestant organisations identified in the Sect Report include Youth with a Mission, YWCA, and Operation Mobilisation. This law, which must still be approved by the Senate, has alarmed observers who fear for Belgium's religious liberty.

Paedophile priest Fr. Tony Walsh has had his sentence cut by four years.

The so-called Singing Priest - who starred in Michael Cleary's All Priests Show - was jailed last December for 10 years for sex attacks on six boys in Ballyfermot, Dublin in the 1980s.

But the Court of Criminal Appeal confirmed to The Star yesterday that his sentence was reduced after his lawyers won arguments on issues of law.

Fr. Walsh appealed his case to the court on July 29, claiming he had received unfair publicity.

He also claimed that a second sentence he received should have been concurrent rather than consecutive.

He was sentenced to six years and four years and the second sentence was quashed by the appeal court.

Fr. Walsh (44) admitted 12 charges of indecently assaulting the boys from 1980 to 1988.

The priest, who was an Elvis impersonator in Michael Cleary's show, had befriended the victims' families and worked his way into their favour.

At his trial, Judge Kieran O'Connor commented: "The offences are so grave 1 am satisfied the sentence you should serve is one of 10 years. Fr. Walsh carried out five of the sex attacks in the presbytery of the Church of Assumption in Ballyfermot.

The court heard that he had convinced himself he was not harming the boys - who were aged from eight to fourteen.

One of the victims said after Fr. Walsh's original conviction: "I would have preferred if he was shot."

Detroit businessman Michael Timmis has been named chairman of Prison Fellowship International, succeeding founder Chuck Colson who remains on the board as Chairman Emeritus (8198 Moody). Timmis is a Roman Catholic who also serves on the Promise Keepers board (9/1/97 CC), and spoke at the October 4th PK assembly in Washington D.C.

VATICAN CITY - Iraqi Deputy Prime minister Tareq Aziz presented Pope John Paul II with a gift during their meeting at the Vatican May 19.

Unicoi, Tennessee, October 28, 1998—The Trinity Foundation today released the following statement on the 481st anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation on October 31, 1517. The Statement was adopted at the Conference on Christianity and Roman Catholicism held in Erwin, Tennessee, October 8-10, 1998.

"We the undersigned, having gathered together for the purpose of exposing the fundamental errors of the Roman State-Church and her superstitious and deceptive doctrines, as well as to re-affirm the Biblical doctrines of grace which alone can counter the persistent heresies of Rome, do of one mind stand together after the example of Paul the Apostle to exhort all Christians to stand boldly against those today who are not being ‘straightforward about the truth of the Gospel’ (Galatians 2:14).

"Divisive persons have risen within the ranks of those professing the Christian Faith, persons who do not cherish or do not understand the distinctive doctrines of the Bible, but rather have trampled the Gospel and the unity of the Christian Church underfoot. They have twisted the clear Biblical doctrine of justification. The Biblical truth is that justification is strictly the act of God’s grace alone in which the Lord declares legally righteous those who are His own, by the imputation to them of the perfect righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ alone, through faith alone. These persons have abandoned the Biblical phrase "imputed righteousness" and taught that justification is a transformative rather than a purely forensic act. This alteration carries with it the old lie of Satan—of conveyed, imparted, or infused righteousness (‘you shall be as God’). They have proclaimed erroneous doctrines, such as baptismal regeneration, that annul the grace of justification, to be interrelated questions yet to be resolved. These men have persisted in their divisive behavior without the benefit of Church discipline commanded by Christ in Matthew 18:15-20, and modeled for us by Paul the Apostle.

"In light of the recent proliferation and popularity of such unbiblical concordats as Evangelicals and Catholics Together (March 1994) and The Gift of Salvation (November 1997), we see that it is once again time for the Church of Jesus Christ to rise up to stand on the Bible alone so that it may be said of us what was said to the Philadelphians: You ‘have kept My Word, and have not denied My Name’ (Revelation 3:8), for His Word alone is truth (John 17:17). It is therefore strongly urged by those present at this Conference that all who read this Statement join with us and sign it. In so doing we seek to obey the command of Christ ‘in a spirit of gentleness’ so that we may receive from Him either the restoration of our transgressing brethren (Galatians 6:1), or the clarity and courage of mind necessary to excuse them from our midst in order to preserve the unity of the Church for which Christ prayed in John 17, ‘that they all may be one in Us.’

Richard Bennett

Berean Beacon

James Bordwine

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Vancouver, Washington

bordwine@pacifier.com

Timothy Kauffman

White Horse Publications

Huntsville, Alabama

Robert M. Zins

Reformed Bible Church

Rutland, Vermont

802.773.0078

John Robbins

The Trinity Foundation

Post Office Box 68

Voice: 423.743.0199

Fax: 423.743.2005

Website: trinityfoundation.org