MARCH 1999

ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF WALES DENIES "CHILD RAPE" CHARGE

A CATHOLIC archbishop - one of the most senior figures in the church - last night denied astonishing claims that he repeatedly raped a girl of six. The Most Reverend John Ward, 69, Archbishop of Cardiff, to have assaulted the youngster three times in a chapel.

He is to be interviewed by police following complaints from his alleged victim, now 45. Last night Archbishop Ward insisted:

"I deny what she says completely. I am really baffled and bewildered. I will be meeting up with the police over the next weeks. But I can say before God that there was no action by me against her. I have never touched a woman sexually."

The woman who claimed she was assaulted in 1960 when the archbishop was the parish priest in Peckham, south London, and chairman of governors at a local school is now living in Ireland.

The Most Reverend Ward - who has an address in Cardiff and Gwynedd, North Wales - is one of the most respected figures in the Catholic Church.

WAS POPE JOHN PAUL I MURDERED ?

SUSPICIONS REVIVED AFTER 20 YEARS

(Conspiracy theorists believe that Pope John Paul I was murdered to stop his enquires into the alleged links between the Mafia and Vatican bankers including Bishop Paul Marcinkus and Roberto Calvi.)

ON THE eve of the twentieth anniversary of the short-lived reign of John Paul I, the "smiling Pope", senior Vatican officials have acknowledged that the ill-fated pontiff's death was suspicious.

The admission has revived theories that John Paul I  was murdered because of his investigations into corruption at the Vatican Bank, which had become entangled with the Mafia. Pope John Paul I, formerly Cardinal Albino Luciani, was elected on August 26, 1978. He was acclaimed for his refreshing candour, spontaneity and wit. He was described by Cardinal Basil Hume as "God's candidate". But he died only 33 days later, on September 28, allegedly of a heart attack.

Official accounts put out after his death suggested he had a history of illness, including a weak heart, and said the strain of high office had proved too much for a "quiet and holy man". The present Pope, who took the name John Paul II in tribute to his predecessor, was elected on October 16, 1978.

But according to some investigators, John Paul I  was murdered not only because he was planning to purge the Vatican Bank - since reformed - but also because he was planning to demote or dismiss powerful figures in the Curia, the Vatican bureaucracy. Cardinal Aloisio Lorscheider of Brazil, a strong supporter of John Paul I, said he had decided to speak out 20 years on. He had to "record with sorrow" that the official version of John Paul I's death was open to question.

The cardinal noted that Cardinal Jean Villot, the then Secretary of State - in effect, the Pope's Prime Minister - had refused to allow a post mortem examination.

"I have to say that a suspicion remains in our hearts," Cardinal Lorscheider said. He said that he did not want to become involved in debating the merits of "literature" published after John Paul I's death - an apparent reference to David Yallop's In God's Name, published in 1984, which suggested the "smiling Pope" had been poisoned.

But Cardinal Lorscheider who together with other Latin American cardinals was instrumental in securing John Paul I's election , said suggestions that the Pope had been in poor health were nonsense.

"I never heard anything negative about his health," he told the Catholic magazine Trenta Giomi.

"The case is clearly not closed," said L'Espresso, the weekly magazine.

Vatican-watchers said it was becoming clear, 20 years on, "even to Vatican insiders", that John Paul's apparently naive opposition to corrupt Vatican practices had deeply alarmed entrenched bureaucrats.

"Luciani was an other worldly type with a whimsical streak and a fondness for Dickens," one said. "He hated pomp, urged priests to sell church valuables to help the poor, and wanted the West's wealthy churches to give 1 per cent of their income to the Third World. He was like a Martian".

John Paul I  was found dead at 5.30 on the morning of September 29, 1978. But he had apparently died around 11pm. TheVatican at first refused to admit that he had been found by the nun who brought him his morning coffee, pretending instead that he had been found by his private secretary. The dead Pope's medicines - for low blood pressure - were mysteriously removed, along with his glasses, his slippers and his last will and testament.

According to the "conspiracy theorists", John Paul I  was the victim of a plot involving powerful men linked to the Mafia, the Vatican Bank, and P2, an illegal Masonic lodge whose membership included senior Italian politicians and industrialists. Those made "uncomfortable" by the new Pope's inquiries included Bishop Paul Marcinkus, then head of the Vatican Bank; Roberto Calvi, head of the Banco Ambrosiano of Milan, which was closely linked to the Vatican and the Mafia; and Licio Gelli, the head of P2.

Mgr Marcinkus is now living quietly in retirement in the United States. Gelli was convicted of heading P2, but fled the country two months ago while awaiting the result of italy's endless appeals process. Calvi was found dead,under Blackfriars Bridge in London in June, 1982 apparently after committing suicide.

But in June of last year a Rome judge ordered the exhumation of Calvi's body in the autumn, after prosecutors had agreed that Calvi was murdered by Mafia associates who plotted his death at a meeting "at which a high ranking Vatican representative was also present".

   Bishop Paul Marcinkus - 'God's Banker'                    

L'Espresso said the truth might never be: known, "any more than we will know the truth about the murder of Colonel Alois Estermann," the Swiss Guard commander who was shot dead last May, allegedly by one of his disgruntled guardsmen.

In that case, too, the Vatican put out contradictory accounts, giving rise to suspicion of a cover-up. Mr Yallop noted that the mysterious death of John Paul and the killing of Colonel Estermann both showed that "when you cross the Tiber to the Vatican, you have to turn the clock back to the time of Lucrezia Borgia".                                                                                                                                                         Roberto Calvi

IRISH PRESIDENT AND THE POPE DISCUSS ULSTER'S FUTURE AT THE VATICAN

Irish President Mary McAleese was due to discuss the Northern Ireland peace process with Pope John Paul II during a private audience at the Vatican today.

President Mary McAleese

Vatican sources said they were also expected to focus on ecumenical matters and international affairs.

The meeting with the Pope is the highlight of the President's five-day visit to Italy.

President McAleese met a number of religious communities in Rome yesterday including colleagues of the Dominican sisters, who were responsible for her education when she attended St. Dominic's High School, on the Fall's Road in Belfast.

She paid tribute to the nuns who taught her, describing them as "very, very strong women" and great role models for the girls passing through their hands.

ISRAEL URGES 50-YEAR WAIT BEFORE CONSIDERING PIUS XII BEATIFICATION

Israel's ambassador to the Holy See has urged the Vatican to wait 50 years before moving ahead with any plan to beatify Pope Pius XII, the controversial World War II - era pontiff.

'A moratorium should be welcome,' Ambassador Aharen Lopez said on Tuesday, arguing a 50-year waiting period would give time for all relevant documents in the Vatican archives to be made public and allow the healing of "wounds still open" from the Holocaust.

Controversy has surrounded the role of Pius XII, pope from 1939-1958, during the war years. Some have accused him of remaining silent about the Nazi Holocaust while others, including the current pontiff, John Paul II, have defended him.

The case for possible beatification - the step before being made a saint - is under study at the Vatican, but the Vatican has recently denied reports that it had already decided to beatify him in 2000 as the Roman Catholic Church enters its third millennium.

Lopez also acknowledged that beatification was the church's business and said he was not passing judgement on Pius, the associated Press reported.

The envoy made his comments at a news conference after deflecting questions about Israel's reaction to statements made in Jerusalem last week by Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran. Tauran said east Jerusalem was being "illegally occupied" by the Israelis.

HOW MANY BONES HAS SAINT VALENTINE?

Two R.C. Chapels, one in Dublin and one in the gorbals area of Glasgow, both exhibited the "genuine bones" of St. Valentine on 14th February????

DUBLIN COURT TO HEAR NUN ABUSE CASES

MORE than 100 cases against an order of nuns are to be brought before the High Court in Dublin.

And they could lead to IR£3m compensation to orphans alleged to have suffered decades of severe abuse.

The cases are being taken against the Sisters of Mercy Order following allegations of severe mental and physical abuse inflicted upon residents at the Goldenbridge Orphanage in Dublin.

"The cases range from straight-forward abuse to hospitalisation and serious psychological damage," orphanage survivor and campaigner Christine Buckley said.

Ms Buckley was responsible for highlighting the claims two years ago in an RTE documentary, and had long campaigned for justice and support for victims of the abuse.

Lay persons and nuns working at the orphanage over 30 years, until the 1970's, were accused of the abuse, which included repeated beatings, humiliating and degrading treatment, starvation and forced child labour.

The civil actions could cost the Catholic Order up to IR£3m in compensation if the claims are substantiated and accepted by the High Court, where the cases are scheduled to be heard in the next few months.

The cases being brought before the Court are not about vindictiveness, but about 'justice and fairness and Christianity' Bernadette Fahy of the Goldenbridge Support Group said.

Two years ago Gardai questioned the elderly nun at the centre of the allegations, Sister Mary Xavier, but no charges were brought.

ROMANIST PREACHES AT THE CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL

Robert Schuller's Institute for Successful Church Leadership at the Crystal Cathedral, January 25-28, features 'Father' Hank Albietz as a workshop speaker. In reply to our query to the Crystal Cathedral, Holy Lovas wrote. 'Father Hank is a Roman Catholic priest from St. Patrick Church, Bellefontaine, OH ..... we we lucky to have him speak this year on goal setting in the ministry.'

PRIEST JAILED FOR ABUSING BOYS

A CATHOLIC priest was jailed for nine years today for a string of sex attacks on young boys. Bradford crown court heard how David Crowley plied boys with drink before getting them to take part in orgies at the presbytery where he lived. Crowley (44), who was most recently a chaplain at hospitals in Bradford, pleaded guilty to 12 indecent assaults on boys under 16 and three charges of indecency with a child.

The court heard how Crowley systematically abused children, many of them altar boys, at his home and in hotel rooms over an 11-year period. Although concerns were raised with church authorities on two separate occasions, and Crowley was sent away for counselling he was allowed to continue working on condition he restricted his access to young people.

Mr Peter Benson, prosecuting said:

'The abuse was systematically contrived and the Crown say the accused cleverly exploited his position of trust and authority as a Catholic priest to seduce impressionable young boys.'

"He would set about winning their trust by allowing them to smoke and plying them with alcohol as a prelude to seducing them."

Mr Benson said Crowley formed a gang of boys from one school which he visited as a chaplain and set himself up as gang leader. He would encourage the boys to engage in sexual acts. He would just watch or at other times join in.

''He would often target the emotionally vulnerable young men who he came into contact with as suitable candidates for his attentions."

Mr Benson added; "The defendant ingratiated himself with the boys by throwing parties at his presbytery. He would play relaxing music and introduce the boys to what he called 'The Treatment'".

He said Crowley would sometimes get the boys to spend the night with him, winning over the trust of not just the boys but heir parents as well. On one occasion Crowley watched as he encouraged a nine-year old boy to perform an indecent act on a 13-year old.

Mr Benson said the boys in the gang felt too guilty and ashamed to discuss the abuse, even amongst themselves.

A draft code of conduct recently drawn up for Roman Catholic priests in Australia would forbid them to be alone with children as a means of preventing sexual-abuse scandals. The Catholic Church has admitted their priests have abused hundreds of children. According to the Religious Information Service an official report released in New SouthWales in August said there was a significant occurrence of sexual abuse in Australian churches, which protected paedophile clergy.

"Sexual abuse has often been regarded by churches as a problem of 'moral failure,' rather than a criminal offense, calling for help rather than punishment," said the report. "Spiritualising the problem is dangerous because it involves the assumption that once confessed ... the problem has been resolved. This response is inappropriate because many such offenders have simply continued to abuse over the years" (Religious Information Service, Sept. 25, 1997).

The report noted that many clergy thought their celibacy vow concerned only heterosexual relations and did not address indecent acts with boys or adolescent males!

THE POPE AND HIS BISHOPS CONDEMN THE DEATH PENALTY

WASHINGTON - The U.S. bishops praised the definitive Latin edition of the "Catechism of the Catholic Church," pro- mulgated by the Pope September 8, for its stronger emphasis on catholic teaching against the death penalty.

"For over 25 years, bishops in the United States have called into question the necessity for capital punishment in the context of respect for all life," wrote Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., in a statement.

Bishop Skylstad, chariman of the U.S. Catholic Conference Committee for Domestic Policy said the Pope has "spoken out repeatedly against violence in all its forms" and that the definitive edition of the catechism is "entirely consistent with these teachings."

The most notable change to the catechism text, first published in 1992, was the section on capital punishment, which was changed to reflect Pope John Paul's arguments against the death penalty in his 1995 encyclical, "Evangelium Vitae."

The 1992 catechism said: "The traditional teaching of the Church has acknowledged as well founded the right and duty of legitmate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty"

At the same time, it said "bloodless means" that could protect human life should be used when possible.

(DANIEL 7 v 25 says that AntiChrist will try to change the Law of God.)

MASSING PAPISTS AND IRISH PRESBYTERIANS UNITE FOR ALPHA COURSE

St. Bridgid's Catholic Church and Fisherwick Presbyterian church in south Belfast are to launch their second joint 'Alpha Course' - a practical introduction to Christianity. Course organisers said it was open to all participants from all denominations. Further information is available from telephone number 01232 666683.

VATICAN SEEKS TIES WITH HINDUS

The Vatican last month called for a closer dialogue between Christian and Hindu world communities. Dialogue leader Cardinal Francis Arinze said while following separate spiritual paths, both could work together to offer hope to humanity. He said increased friendly ties between Christians and Hindus, especially in India, should facilitate a dialogue based on mutual respect for religious traditions (10/3 Houston Chronicle). The Catholicism claim to be Christian is again revealed to be false. Christians cannot have "mutual respect" for a pantheistic religion (II CORINTHIANS 6:14-17).

UPDATE: POPE WILLING TO VISIT VIETNAM

Pope John Paul II is willing to make a historic visit to Vietnam if invited by the communist government, a Vatican news agency said Tuesday (November 10).

Fides, the agency of the Vatican's missionary arm, said John Paul had been "moved" by an invitation last week to visit the country made to him by Vietnam's Catholic bishops.

The bishops had also asked the government to extend the invitation.

"He (John Paul) said that without a doubt he was willing to go if it is possible," Fides said, quoting Bishop Etiehne Nguyen Nhu The, who had relayed the Vietnamese bishops' invitation to the pope.

'VATICAN COVER-UP' OVER NAZI ART THEFTS

LORD Janner voiced suspicion yesterday that the Vatican may be covering up details of its involvement in the plundering of Jewish owned art by the Nazis during the Holocaust. He said in Washington that the Roman Catholic authorities in Rome were refusing to open up archives from the era.

As chairman of the Holocaust Education Trust, he had made a series of requests to the Vatican but received no reply.

"If the Vatican has nothing to hide, they should open the archives," he said.

Lord Janner was speaking at an international conference discussing how to reclaim stolen works of art for Holocaust survivors. He said:

"We are certain that into the Vatican came not only human beings, SS people on their way out, but property, art, assets. We have no idea what; and we're saying to them, as we do to every other country and authority, please tell us what happened. Please tell us the truth."

DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU - ROME HAS NOT CHANGED

The Mass is Identical to the sacrifice of Calvary

by

Father Richard J. Rego, S.T.L

Often there is a tendency to view the Eucharist exclusively as sacrament. The second Vatican Council, however. reminded the faithful that the Eucharist is both sacrifice and sacrament. The Navarra Commentary on the code of Canon Law, in fidelity to the Council's teachings, explains that the law "wishes to reflect more clearly that the Eucharist is, at the same time, sacrifice and sacrament." It adds, moreover, that the Code "clearly reveals the triple dimension of the Holy Eucharist as sacramental sacrifice, sacramental conimunion and sacramental presence!" (p.578).

Despite these doctrines, many Catholics have been saddened by the absurd, nonsensical liberties that often occur at Mass. Their 'sense of catholic faith' has been deeply disturbed. So-called liturgists, who have had no more training than several week-end work-shops, have imposed dreadful adventures on parish liturgies. The range of abuses fluctuates from the irritating and absurd to the utterly blasphemous. The violence done to Catholic faith is indeed distressing.

The Mass Is the Sacrifice of Our Redemption

Every Holy Thursday, Pope John Paul II issues a letter to his priests of the world. His letter of 1980, Dominicae Cenae, was a heart to heart talk with priests and was extraordinarily inspiring. The Holy Father also cautioned against many of the grave abuses prevalent in our time.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass cannot he presented as some form of entertainment. It is not the vehicle by which we 'feel good about ourselves' in a secular pop-psychology sense. The Mass is neither a social gathering nor a meal or Communion Service, as Martin Luther and his modern followers insist (See Council of Trent, Session 22, Canon 1).

Yes, our Lord, through His church solemnly invites the faithful to partake of the 'Paschal Banquet'. Yet, as Dominicae Cenae teaches: "The Eucharist is above all else a sacrifice. It is the sacrifice of the Redemption and also the sacrifice of the New Covenant, as we believe and as the Eastern Churches clearly profess." The Greek Church stated centuries ago:

"Today's sacrifice is like that offered once by the only begotten incarnate Word, it is offered by Him now as then since it is one and the same sacrifice;(N.9). Thc Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is one with and identical to the Sacrifice of Calvary!"

"The sacredness of the Mass is not a sacralization, that is to say, something that man adds to Christ's action in the Upper Room, for the Holy Thursday supper was a sacred rite, a primary and constitutive liturgy, through which Christ, by pledging to give His life for us, Himself celebrated sacramentally the mystery of His passion and resurrection, the heart of every Mass"(N.B.).

The night before He died, our Blessed Lord sacramentally offered the identical sacrifice that He would offer on the Cross. In anticipation of His Sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary, He offered the first Mass in an unbloody manner. The next day, the Great High Priest offered the sacrifice of Himself in a bloody manner. In atonement to the Father for the sins of the world, our Divine Saviour shed the last drop of His Blood. Jesus Christ made reparation for your sins and mine and the sins of every person who ever walked the face of the earth.

In Union With the Saints

At the Sacrifice of the Mass, we offer up our prayers 'in union with the whole church.' We unite with the entire Mystical Body of Christ, the Church Militant (we on earth), the Church Suffering (the poor souls being purifiied in purgatory) and the Church Triumphant (our Blessed Mother and the saints in heaven).

... March 19 is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, the Foster Father of our Lord and the Church's Universal Patron. May the great Saint Joseph guide us to a deeper understanding and a profound appreciation of this great memorial of our Redemption, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

From the July 31, 1995 THE REMNANT, 2539 Morrison Ave., St. Paul, MN, a Roman Catholic bi-weekly.

AND JUST FOR THE RECORD.....

THE ORIGIN OF THE 'FUTURIST THEORY '

THE Protestant Testimony of the Reformation exposed the Papacy as "that man of sin", the AntiChrist foretold by Paul in II Thessalonians 2:3-12. This identification is based upon abundant Scriptural and historical proof, and was still strongly upheld by Crown and Church in Britain in the reign of James I. The following extracts from the Dedication of the Authorised Version of the Bible of 1611, addressed to James I, illustrates this point. The translators upheld "the zeal of Your Majesty towards the house of God ... manifesting itself abroad in the farthest parts of Christendom, by writing in defence of the truth, (which hath given such a blow unto that Man of Sin as will not be healed)." They further referred to "Popish persons at home or abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are poor instruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and more known unto the people."

Previously, in 1558, a Jesuit, Ribera, attempting to sidetrack this Scriptural teaching, had claimed that AntiChrist was not the Papacy (so clearly foretold in Daniel 7:8, 20-26, 11:36-39, Revelation 11:7, chapters 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, etc), but an individual infidel who would appear at the end of the world and rule for 1,260 days. Ribera's theory was discredited as Papal iniquity was unmasked, and in consequence it became lost for over two hundred years.

Between 1826-30, Dr. S. R. Maitiand, Librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury, revived and published the Jesuit's misinterpretation. It was taken up by a number of Ministers, and became known as the Futurist interpretation of prophecy. At the same time J. N. Darby, the founder of a nonconformist sect in Dublin and Plymouth, accepted the Futurist theory, and it has spread amongst Evangelical circles since then. How quickly was forgotten the warning of the Apostles, and the Prophets of Old and New Testaments, concerning the long-continued intrigues and despotism of the Papal system. Fox, Gratten-Guinness, and other reliable historians, show that, during 1,260 years of aggression and inquisition upwards of 50,000,000 fell as martyrs to this AntiChrist system.

The Papal Apostacy from the faith of Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the great "falling away first", which the Apostle Paul revealed would precede Christ's Second Advent (II Thessalonians 2:1-3) and would follow the fall of the Pagan Roman Empire. The apostacy, he said, could not come "until he (Pagan Rome) be taken out of the way" (verses 6-8).

In spite of the warnings in the New Testament concerning everything coming from Papal sources, Darby's followers added to the Jesuit's theory by teaching that there would be a "secret" return of Christ prior to AntiChrist's appearance. At this supposed event, (known as "The Rapture") our Lord is secretly to take the Church up into heaven for the 1,260 days of AntiChrist's world-wide despotic rule. After this, they say, He will return publicly to set up His Millennial Kingdom.

We do indeed rejoice in the blessed hope of Christ's personal Second Advent, so clearly foretold in the Bible (Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:16-17, etc.). But it is certain that all theories concerning this world-shattering event which bear no relation to past or present history in the unveiled light of God's Word must fail.

Let us now consider the following questions, and, like the Bereans, who were "more noble", search the Scriptures and history to see whether these things are so. (Acts 17:11).

First of all, it is a little difficult to reconcile the picture given in Daniel, chapter 7, verses 21 and 25, (when the "little horn", or AntiChrist "made war with" and "shall wear out the saints of the most High"), with the Futurist theory of the saints being first "raptured" into heaven.

Secondly, why should AntiChrist's rule be limited to 1,260 days of 24 hours? There are two other timescales given in Scripture for the interpretation of prophecy -

"I have appointed thee each day for a year (Ezekiel 4:6, Numbers 14:34);

"One day with the Lord is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years as one day" (II Peter 3:8).

The second scale of interpretation would give AntChrist a reign of over a million years. Even the first timescale cannot be accepted by the Futurists as it would make the public return of Christ a matter of 1,260 years after his "secret" return, which would not fit in with their theory of when the Millennium is to start. Because they will not accept the identity of the Papacy with the "Man of Sin" but maintain that he has yet to be revealed, they have to choose the shortest of all the timescales, which is seldom used in interpreting prophecy. On the other hand, it is a fact of history that for 1,260 years (from the days of the Emperor Phocas in 606 A.D., until 1866) Popes dominated Europe. The noble list of millions of martyrs are ample proof that the Papacy did in fact make war with and wear out the Saints of the Most High. Even Britain was not freed from their power until 1588. In Europe, however, it was not until 1860-70 that the political power of the Papal system was broken, and the Papal States and Rome annexed to the Italian Kingdom.

Then, how can AntiChrist be an individual? Our Futurist brethren agree that the "little horn" of Daniel, chapter 7, is identical with the "Man of Sin", or AntiChrist, yet this little horn was in the head of the fourth beast of Daniel's vision of Gentile world-powers. All are agreed that these four beasts were symbolic of systems of government. The first three were Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. The fourth, contemporary with our Lord and the early Church, was Imperial Pagan Rome, which, when it was broken in the fourth century A.D., was divided into ten kingdoms, the ten horns of Daniel 7: 20. During this time the Apostolic faith prevailed in Europe, so that it was said, "Now is come . . . the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ" (Rev. 12: 10). However, Daniel foretold that after this there would come up another horn, which would devour three of the others, which was abundantly fulfilled in 607 A.D. when Boniface III became first Pope of Rome. Henceforth the Popes "walked in the imperial shoes of the Caesars". This merging of Pagan Imperial Rome into Ecclesiastical Papal Rome was wonderfully foretold by the Apostle Paul in II Thessalonians 2:3-8. Having proved that the one who was to "be revealed" was Papal Rome, we ask ourselves who was the one who was "letting", or hindering his revelation - one in whom "the mystery of iniquity doth already work"? Who but Pagan Rome, which was in power in the Apostle's own day, and could not therefore be referred to more openly! Thus the apostacy from the true faith to "Christianised" paganism was complete, and the Papal system dominated the Western hemisphere spiritually and politically as no "Individual" could.

Further, how can AntiChrist be an infidel? The thought contained in this term, AntiChrist, is not that he denies Christ's existence, but that he is a false Christ, an enemy or rival of Christ. This thought fits in with II Thessalonians 2:4, which describes the Man of Sin thus,

"he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

So he would counterfeit or usurp the office of God's only-begotten Son. This the Papal system has done down the ages, the Popes being called the "Vicar of Christ" and worshipped as "our Lord God the Pope." Out of their own mouths they are identified and condemned.

Through upholding the Jesuit Futurist theory the churches have lost much spiritual vision and armour. In place of the manifestation of Christ in the gifts, miracles and offices of the Holy Spirit - all clearly demonstrated in our Lord's ministry and in the early Church - we find in the different denominations signs of worldliness, on the one hand (plays, dances and card-playing used to attract people) and the return of Romish practices on the other. Mass, Confession, "holy" water, incense, vestments, altars, shrines and images to saints and the dead are rapidly increasing - truly a "form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."

But let us take heart from Scriptures showing that this confusion, or spirit of Babylon, which has deceived many to this day, is to end. Revelation 18:21 declares,

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