Participants:
Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190019B
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00:01 Let me say kindly
00:02 but clearly what Babylon really is. 00:05 It's really the papacy joined by the Protestants 00:09 who have abandoned Sola Scriptura 00:12 or the authority of Scripture. 00:14 How does it become so popular though? 00:17 Well, it's the temptation of the centuries. 00:20 If you look down through the centuries, 00:22 you'll find that the devil has had one successful strategy 00:26 to try to woo the church away from the Savior, 00:29 and that strategy is to love the world. 00:33 You can hear the warning by the apostles on this, 00:37 and it's been Satan's most successful strategy 00:40 down through the centuries. 00:42 It worked with ancient Israel, 00:44 it worked with the early church, 00:46 and now it's working in the end of time. 00:49 You know nothing really changes, 00:50 history keeps repeating itself, doesn't it? 00:52 So what pagan Rome did to the early church 00:55 through compromise, the devil using it, 00:58 now pagan Rome does to the Protestant churches. 01:01 So how has pagan Rome done this? 01:03 Well, let's let the Bible answer, 01:05 how did pagan Rome do it? 01:06 Let's let the Bible answer. 01:08 Here's James 4:4-5, 01:12 "Adulterers and adulteresses, 01:15 do you not know that friendship with the world 01:17 is enmity with God? 01:20 Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world 01:23 makes himself an enemy to God? 01:26 Or do you think that the scripture says 01:28 in vain the spirit who dwells in us 01:31 yearns, jealousy." 01:32 In other words, God is a jealous God. 01:34 I explained that earlier. 01:36 There's a good jealousy, 01:37 a husband should be jealous for his wife appropriately. 01:41 We should be jealous for the love of our children 01:44 in a good way. 01:45 So God is jealous for His church, 01:48 He's not going to share her. 01:51 And when she shares herself, she apostatize, 01:55 then it brings great trouble to the world. 01:58 Now, the thing that 02:00 has happened down through the centuries 02:02 is that the church was attracted to the world 02:05 and wanted worldly power, 02:07 power and wealth. 02:10 But in the United States of America, 02:12 we've separated the church and the state. 02:16 So the church has freedom 02:17 not to be controlled by the state 02:19 and the state has freedom 02:21 not to be controlled by the church. 02:23 If the church does its duty, 02:26 and converts and works in the hearts of men and women, 02:29 America will continue to be a great nation. 02:32 In fact, there was a Frenchman, many, many years ago 02:35 that said this and he was right. 02:37 He said, "America is great, because America is good." 02:42 And let me add that America has been good, 02:45 because America has had a population 02:47 that trusted this book and allowed the Bible 02:50 to direct its ways, 02:52 but now with the evolutionists and the atheists, 02:55 and all of these other things, 02:56 they're overthrowing this 02:58 and even the Church of Rome now 03:00 basically has councils 03:03 and its own authority and its own opinions, 03:06 has authority greater than the Bible. 03:08 So the philosophies of the world now 03:12 superintend or supersede, 03:15 I should say, the Bible. 03:16 Protestantism is becoming the same way. 03:20 As people are abandoning, 03:21 yes, they give lip service to Scripture, 03:23 but do they really go by Scripture? 03:26 Do they let Scripture test thing? 03:29 Now, of course, 03:30 when you have this kind of amalgamation 03:32 between the church and state, 03:33 then you get the persecution of the Dark Ages. 03:36 And that's exactly what's going to happen again. 03:39 The United States of America was given to overthrow that, 03:42 but now religious freedom, 03:45 I believe is under a sincere threat, 03:47 most people don't see it, 03:48 they don't understand where it's going, 03:50 they don't see how this power 03:52 that's developing such a great power 03:54 to control the state, 03:55 they don't understand where that's going, 03:57 but it's going. 03:59 Now let's just look at Rome's attitude 04:00 towards religious liberty. 04:02 I know some people are going to say, 04:03 "What about Vatican II?" 04:05 I'm going to address that in just a moment. 04:07 Josiah Strong in Our Country, he said, 04:09 "The pacific tone of Rome in the United States 04:12 does not imply a change of heart." 04:14 She's tolerant, where she is helpless, 04:17 says Bishop O'Connor, 04:19 "Religious liberty is merely endured 04:22 until the opposite can be carried into effect 04:25 without peril to the Catholic world." 04:29 But what about Vatican II? 04:31 People have just been mesmerized 04:33 of the Vatican, do they? 04:34 Everybody thinks that Vatican II changed everything. 04:36 The Roman Catholic Church actually changed its position 04:39 on religious liberty 04:40 and that now it believes in religious liberty. 04:43 But let me tell you, it's a sly as a fox. 04:46 You got to read a little bit between the lines 04:48 and I'm going to share something with you 04:50 that it's just really amazing. 04:52 So although Vatican II's council decree, 04:57 the dignity of humanity and emphasized 05:01 that people should not be coerced 05:03 in matters of religion. 05:06 He goes on to say, "It leaves untouched, 05:09 untouched, 05:11 the traditional Catholic doctrine 05:13 on the moral duty of men and societies 05:18 to the true religion 05:20 and toward the one true church, 05:23 i.e that in an ideal society, 05:26 the Catholic Church would be recognized 05:28 as the official religion of the state." 05:34 It's just a recent quote, 05:36 some Catholic scholars now are saying this. 05:41 They began analyzing this and they said, 05:42 "Well, now wait a minute, wait a minute. 05:44 We got Vatican II, does that mean that Vatican II, 05:47 actually the Catholic Church actually changed its doctrine, 05:52 its teaching, 05:55 and they come to a very interesting conclusion, 05:59 very interesting. 06:00 These are Catholic theologians now. 06:03 Vatican II's teaching on religious freedom 06:06 changed policy, 06:09 not doctrine. 06:11 What? 06:13 Changed policy. 06:14 In other words, the way you implement something, 06:18 but it didn't change the doctrine. 06:21 There's another source that I know of that 06:22 was right on that said Rome, 06:24 talking about the papacy, never changes, 06:28 never changes. 06:31 Here's another, another Catholic scholar, 06:33 he says, "We can see how this dignity of humanity 06:36 does not change the doctrine after all, 06:40 religious coercion..." 06:42 Now listen carefully, you've to catch this. 06:44 The scholar goes on to say, Catholic scholar, 06:47 "Religious coercion by the state is now," 06:52 underline the word, 06:54 "now, morally wrong 06:58 and a violation of people's rights." 07:01 And then he goes on to add, 07:03 "Not because religious coercion 07:08 by any authority is wrong. 07:11 But because the church," 07:13 Roman Catholic Church, the popes, 07:15 "no longer authorize it." 07:19 So that is pretty slick. 07:22 They tell everybody, 07:23 "Okay, we believe in the dignity of humanity." 07:26 They didn't change the doctrine. 07:28 They just said, 07:30 "We don't authorize the state to do it anymore." 07:33 But you have to listen, it goes on. 07:36 "The church is now refusing to license the state 07:40 to act as her coercive," 07:43 or persecuting agent you might say, 07:46 "and it is from that policy change, 07:49 and not from any change an underlying doctrine 07:53 that the wrongfulness, 07:55 a religious coercion by the state follows." 07:59 Now they go on, these scholars go on to say, 08:01 talking about religious liberty from Vatican II. 08:04 "We believe..." 08:05 this is fascinating, 08:07 "We believe that this one true religion," 08:09 talking about the papacy, of course, 08:12 "continues to exist in the Catholic Church." 08:16 Now listen carefully. 08:18 So while the religious freedom 08:24 which men demand," 08:27 underline it, 08:28 "which men demand has to do with freedom 08:32 from coercion in civil society. 08:38 It leaves intact, 08:40 the traditional Catholic teaching 08:43 on the moral duty of individuals and society 08:47 toward the true religion 08:49 and the one Church of Christ." 08:51 They didn't change a thing. 08:54 All they did is say, 08:56 "Well, we're not going to authorize 08:58 the state to enforce." 09:00 Because the truth is they couldn't, 09:03 not with the Constitution of the United States, 09:06 but they are forming alliances. 09:09 And you're seeing a great move. 09:12 I've been shocked to hear and I understand that 09:16 the separation of church and state 09:18 sometimes can take on a different context. 09:21 And I don't have time to get into that. 09:23 But I'm talking about 09:24 going back into the traditional stand, 09:27 where the state is neutral in the Constitution, 09:31 where it does not empower religion, 09:33 nor does it prevent the practice of religion. 09:37 And that's a wonderful place 09:38 and it's brought so much happiness 09:40 and peace to all of us, 09:41 I mean, look, go back to the Dark Ages, 09:43 go back to the terrible persecution. 09:45 You can see all of Europe just drenched in blood 09:49 because of this. 09:50 What does Catholic Church mean? 09:52 What does Vatican II really mean? 09:53 It means the religious freedom 09:55 which men demand versus religious freedom as a right. 10:01 In other words, 10:02 when popular opinion no longer demands 10:05 religious freedom, it will be taken away. 10:08 Now that's different than the American Constitution. 10:10 The genius of the American thinking 10:13 is that liberty of conscience is guaranteed 10:15 as a minority right. 10:18 In other words, the majority can't take it away 10:20 because it's protected by the Constitution. 10:25 The Vatican II still demands that individuals and societies 10:29 give them allegiance, 10:33 and they owe the Catholic Church 10:35 a moral duty. 10:37 This means that when the Catholic Church 10:38 and her allies become popular enough, 10:43 they can and will take religious freedom 10:47 away from the minority. 10:50 In other words, the only reason the minority have it 10:53 is because the majority is willing, 10:55 but when you change the opinion of the majority, 10:59 the Roman Church is ready to change the freedoms 11:03 that the minority should have. 11:06 Well, this alliance, of course, is now forming, 11:09 and we can see it happening. 11:12 Dr. Falwell, late Dr. Falwell some years ago passed away. 11:16 He told a whole group not even to consider 11:19 trying to affect public policy 11:21 with only the narrow evangelical 11:24 Protestant coalition. 11:26 He said, "Such an effort must include the Catholics 11:29 and in counsel with a great Cardinal Law and O'Connor." 11:33 And then he says, 11:35 "Accepting their help 11:36 is the step towards unity." 11:42 We must be aware, of course, 11:44 that Pope Francis is really headed down this road 11:49 just as fast as he can go. 11:52 This is another quote from Pastor I think, Robinson, 11:55 if I'm not mistaken, 11:57 "Aware that a meeting with Pope Francis 11:58 will be troublesome among staunch Protestants." 12:01 Mr. Robinson said, 12:03 "He and other visiting evangelical Christian leaders 12:06 talked about diversity 12:07 and their belief that the Roman Catholics 12:10 and Protestants could work together 12:12 without compromising their beliefs." 12:14 So this is an alliance, not a merger. 12:17 "So if Protestant America 12:19 abroad began seeing Pope Francis 12:21 as the trusted leader and voice, 12:24 it could revolutionize." 12:25 He goes on to say, 12:27 "Relations between the two spiritual entities 12:30 that have been estranged 12:31 for nearly a half a millennium." 12:34 So Rome's principles are simply this, 12:37 Rome's principles is that worldly power... 12:41 They want worldly power 12:43 and the church controls the state, 12:45 and that miracles are proof of truth, 12:50 not scripture. 12:52 And that's how it seduces the world, 12:56 seduces the world and it's going to look like 12:58 they're going to solve so many problems 13:00 with this new alliance, 13:02 Catholics and Protestants together, 13:04 everybody getting along, 13:05 having powerful influence on the state to do its will. 13:10 But with that will come an abandonment 13:13 of religious liberty, 13:14 the freedom to worship God 13:16 according to the dictates of your conscience, 13:19 with it will come the imposition 13:21 of the mark of the beast 13:24 and the adulterous betrayal of the Lord Jesus. |
Revised 2019-08-27