“From the rising of the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the Gentiles,” says Yahweh Sabaoth.
(Malachi 1: 11)
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The Institutional Catholic Church is Not Trustworthy
The picture below shows the front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. I’ll say a few words about it, but before I do, I want to say something about the institutional Catholic Church.
The Institutional Catholic Church has Serious Problems
About a month ago, I read this article: “80 percent of priests in the Vatican are gay: new book”.
I was preoccupied at the time, so I didn’t say anything about it. Today, I’m catching up.
The title of the book discussed in the article is In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy. It was written by Frédéric Martel and Shaun Whiteside.
Almost every day, I read an article or two about problems in the institutional Catholic Church. Some of them are about the church’s long history of anti-Semitism. Lately, the articles have tended to focus on the homosexuality or pedophilia of Catholic Priests.
You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to know that those are serious problems. I have no doubt about the veracity of the allegations people have made against the Catholic Church.
The Boston Archdiocese
A few years ago, I watched the movie Spotlight. It’s based on a true story about how the Boston Globe uncovered a child molestation and cover-up scandal in the Boston archdiocese that reached all the way to the Vatican. After watching the movie, I did enough research to discover that the movie’s portrayal is accurate.
In the Boston area alone, hundreds of homosexual and pedophile priests were involved in the scandal over decades of time. The priests’ Boston area victims numbered in the thousands.
The Catholic Church in Boston shamelessly tried to hide the truth:
- It relocated priests when they were about to be exposed.
- It did not warn potential victims in the priests’ new archdioceses that they had problems on their hands.
- It cut deals with the parents of abused kids always trying to minimize payouts.
- It mercilessly attacked anyone who threatened to reveal the problem to the public at large.
The coverup in Boston was massive. It was orchestrated by Cardinal Bernard Law. Hundreds of people knew about it, but they remained silent. When the truth finally got out, the Catholic Church denied it.
Down South, we are simple folk. We call that lying.
Pope John Paul II knew about the problem in Boston. Rather than fire Cardinal Law, the pope transferred him to the Vatican.
Nothing can be Hidden
The vast majority of people worldwide who claim to be Christians are Catholics. The pope is seen by most people as the person who speaks for all Christians. That’s not true, but people believe it anyway.
Pope Francis and the Catholic hierarchy should consider carefully what the Messiah said. It’s in the Bible:
- “For nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” (Matthew 10: 26)
- “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3: 16)
“Spit you out of My mouth” is a metaphor. It means He will send you to hell.
Back to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
In Israel, most of the so-called “Christian sites” are owned and operated by the Catholic Church. They typify what the Catholic Church is. It’s an icon-ridden relic or our regrettable past.
The Catholic Church’s connection with “the faith of Abraham” is negligible. To understand the importance of “the faith of Abraham”, see The Trilogy.
Cutting to the chase, the Catholic Church was created by Roman Emperor Constantine in the 300s AD to solidify his hold on the Roman Empire. Constantine was not a believer. Popes represented him, not Yahweh. Today, popes represent the institutional Catholic Church, not Yahweh.
In the picture of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the top of this editorial, you will notice two windows over the entrance. Beneath the window on the right, you can see a ladder. It has been there for more than 300 years.
In the early-1700s, someone, probably a priest, was working on the window, and he left the ladder. The reason it’s still there today requires an explanation.
Ridiculous but True
This is a long story. I’ll make it short.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is divided into sections. Each section is the responsibility of a specific Christian group.
The following Christian groups are responsible for running the Church of the Holy Sepulchre:
- Roman Catholic
- Greek Orthodox
- Armenian Apostolic
- Coptic Orthodox
- Syriac Orthodox
- Ethiopian Orthodox.
All of them derived from the Roman Catholic Church. They call themselves by different names, but they are Catholic to the core.
Each church group is notoriously possessive of its section. Fist fights have broken out when a priest from one group accidentally swept over a boundary line.
Imagine a priest sweeping the floor. He’s thinking about something and not paying careful attention to the task at hand. Accidentally, he sweeps a small area that belongs to another group.
Unbeknownst to the sweeper, a priest from the other group is watching him like a hawk. When he crosses the line, the priest from the other group physically attacks him.
Other priests standing around see what happened and join the fight. Suddenly, there is a brawl. Priests are fighting other priests, and it started when someone accidentally crossed the line with a broom.
That’s not an exaggeration. Over the years, it has happened many times.
Relations Among Priests are Terrible
Relations among the church groups are so bad that they don’t trust each other enough to allow any one of them to keep the key to the front door. The key to Church of the Holy Sepulchre is maintained by a Muslim family. It’s been in that family’s hands for generations.
To avoid brawls like the one I mentioned, long ago the church groups decided that no changes would be made to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre unless there was unanimous consent. To date, there has not been enough support to remove the ladder, so there it sits.
That’s not an exaggeration, either. It’s the truth.
The Catholic Church isn’t trustworthy. The pope, cardinals, and priests know it and try to hide the reality from people who pay “tithes”.
Yahweh knows it, too. Those “tithes” are His. The Catholic Church stole them from Him.
The Safety of Believers takes a Backseat to Petty Squabbles among Priests
Below is a video of the structure over the Messiah’s tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I took it several years ago.
In the video, you will notice that there is a steel structure supporting the edifice that was built around the tomb. The support was required, because the edifice was not safe.
Israeli officials made the priests rebuild the edifice to prevent it from collapsing on pilgrims visiting the tomb. The priests couldn’t agree to fix the problem. They had to be told.
Since I took the video, the edifice over the Messiah’s tomb has been rebuilt. If you visit the site today, you don’t need to worry about it collapsing on you while you are inside. You can thank the Israeli authorities for that.
The Parable of the Talents
Below is the Messiah’s parable about the talents:
“For it [the kingdom of heaven] is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.
Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless servant into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25: 14-30)
The Institutional Catholic Church is Like the Wicked, Lazy Servant
The institutional Catholic Church has failed miserably. Any group that would try to cover up the criminal acts of priests can’t be trusted.
Forcible sodomy and pedophilia are serious offenses, but the Catholic Church can’t be counted on to handle little things, not even the key to the front door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Obviously, the safety and security of believers is not high on the Catholic Church’s list of priorities. Israeli authorities had to make them repair an edifice that could have fallen and crushed pilgrims visiting the Messiah’s tomb inside the church.
Abuses by the Catholic Church are not new. They started in the 300s AD and have continued since then unabated.
The Bottom Line
The Catholic Church’s agenda is not Yahweh’s agenda.
The Catholic Church’s agenda never has been Yahweh’s agenda.
Yahweh used the Catholic Church to accomplish some of His objectives. He did not bestow His authority on the Catholic Church, and He did not make the pope His mediator. The Messiah alone is our Mediator.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
