Zach Uram's Blog

 

Christianity in the United States predates the arrival of Christopher Columbus!

Archaeological research shows that Ogam was widely used in many parts of the ancient world. It also occurs on Celtic coins issued in Gaul in the second century before Christ, some hundreds of years before the earliest known Irish Ogam inscriptions. The Irish Ogam has symbol called by scholars “The Incarnation Initial,” Irish monastic records state that during the reign of Pope Pelagius (555—561), an Irish ecclesiastic named St. Brendan (Brennain) made two voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, discovering a land far to the west, identified by some historians as North America. Apparently in pursuit of converts.
In Monroe County in West Virginia we find Ogam texts from the 500’s that to this day are the longest Ogam inscriptions recorded from anywhere in the world. They exhibit the grammar and vocabulary of Old Irish in a manner previously unknown in such early rock-cut inscriptions in any Celtic language.
 

These texts include:

“At the time of sunrise, a ray grazes the notch on the left side on Christmas Day, a Feast day of the church the first season of the year, the season of the blessed advent of the savior Lord Christ. Behold he is born of Mary, a woman.”

Also we find:

“A happy season is Christmas a time of joy and goodwill to all people. Behold the Virgin is with child, God ordained her to conceive and be fruitful. Ah behold a miracle. She gave birth in a cave, the name of the cave was the Cave of Bethlehem, His foster father gave Him the name Jesus the Christ, Alpha and Omega, The Festive season of prayer.”

Other Ogam inscriptions have been found in Mingo County, West Virginia which date back to the eighth to twelfth centuries.

Does Calvinism kill missions? 

It is often asserted that Calvinism creates a barrier to evangelism and missions. The accusation usually comes in the form of questions. How could those who believe the Scriptures teach predestination and election truly have a heart for missions? If God has determined who shall be saved, why would there be any need to engage in evangelism or missions? And yet, we can safely say that this is an argument lacking historical proof (and theological basis).

It must be acknowledged that Calvinists have not only robustly encouraged, engaged, and propagated missions, but have led some of the great mission’s and evangelistic movements in the history of the church. Even a cursory glance at the history of missions and missionaries produces a hall of fame filled with Calvinists. It could rightly be argued that Calvinism is not only not a barrier to missions and evangelism, but has actually proven to be a spur to missions and evangelism. In fact, it has often been the driving force in missions. This is just a sampling of the history of missions and some notable Calvinists, who have led the way into foreign fields. One doesn’t have to be a thorough going Calvinist to be struck by the impact of Calvinism upon missions.
 

    * John Calvin: Calvin sent missionaries from Geneva into France and as far away as Brazil. Most of these young men sent to France died a martyr’s death, but the church of Geneva continued to send them.

    * John Eliot: A missionary sent to the American Indians in the 1600’s. He is believed to be the first missionary among this people group. As many have said, if William Carey is the father of the modern mission’s movement, then John Eliot is its grandfather.

    * David Brainerd: A missionary to the American Indians in the 1700’s. Many historians believe that he has sent more individuals into the mission field than any other person in the history of the church via his diary, An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend David Brainerd.

    * Theodorus Frelinghuysen: The great evangelist and preacher, who set the stage for the First Great Awakening in the middle colonies.

    * Jonathan Edwards: The great theologian, writer, and preacher of the First Great Awakening. He was also a missionary to the Indians.

    * George Whitfield: The great voice and preacher of the First Great Awakening. He journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean thirteen times and scholars believe he preached over 18,000 sermons.

    * William Tennent: He founded the Log College, which later became Princeton University. This college trained pastors and provided many of the revivalist preachers of the First Great Awakening.

    * Samuel Davies: The famous President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University), preacher of the First Great Awakening, and evangelist to the slaves of Virginia. It is believed that hundreds of slaves came to saving faith through his evangelism efforts.

    * William Carey: He is the famous missionary to India and is considered the father of the modern mission’s movement.

    * Robert Moffat: The first missionary to reach the interior of Africa with the Gospel. He translated the entire Bible and Pilgrim’s Progess into Setswana.

    * David Livingstone: Arguably, the most famous missionary to the continent of Africa.

    * Robert Morrison: The first Protestant missionary to China and the first to translate the Bible into Chinese.

    * Peter Parker: An American physician and missionary to China who first introduced Western medical techniques to the Chinese. He also served as the president of the Medical Missionary Society of China.

    * Adoniram Judson: The famous missionary to Burma, translated the Bible into Burmese, and established multiple Baptist Churches in Burma. His mission work led many to enter the mission field and was foundational for forming the first Baptist association in America.

    * Charles Simeon: The vicar of Holy Trinity Church and the founding figure of the Church Missionary Society. This organization was instrumental in leading many students to the mission field. The Society itself has sent more than 9,000 missionaries into the world.

    * Henry Martyn: The renowned missionary to India and Persia. He preached in the face of opposition and translated the New Testament into a number of languages.

    * Samuel Zwemer: He is affectionately known as “The Apostle to Islam.” His legacy includes efforts in Bahrain, Arabia, Egypt, and Asia Minor. His writing was used by the Lord to encourage and mobilize an entire generation of missionaries to labor in Islamic countries.

    * John Stott: Scholar, preacher, pastor, and evangelist of the twentieth century. He was one of the principle authors and the influential leader in establishing the Lausanne Covenant, which promoted world-wide evangelism.

    * Francis Schaeffer: Pastor and found of L’Abri, which has been used by the Lord to draw many to saving faith as they intellectually wrestled with the tenants of Christianity.

    * D. James Kennedy: The founder of Evangelism Explosion, which many believe is the most widely used evangelistic training curriculum in church history.

    * John Piper: Pastor, writer, and theologian, who has been used by the Lord to define missions and send many young people into the mission field.

Does Calvinism kill missions? The evidence suggests something wholly other. This is just a small sampling of some of the influential Calvinist missionaries and mission’s leaders in the history of the church. Biblical Calvinists understand that God uses means to call His elect to salvation. Therefore, we don’t shy away from missions or evangelism. As history shows, Calvinism actually encourages missions and evangelism. In fact, many of the greatest missionaries and leaders in missions throughout the history of the church have been Calvinists!

Critical Race Theory (CRT) originated in academia in the 1990s, yet it’s now embraced by the business world, by politicians, and it is even being taught in public schools and universities here in America.

CRT is an explicitly racist ideology. It teaches many untruths. Such as:

• All white people are racist. It doesn’t matter what they do or say, they are forever a racist.
• That systemic racism exists in America. That is racism codified in our laws. This is simply false. Slavery ended over 155 years ago! We’ve made enormous progress in race relations. Yet to hear the way CRT proponents talk you’d think it was 1821 not 2021!
• CRT teaches Marxism. This is vehemently denied by CRT supporters, yet if you read books written by CR proponents it is clearly Marxist talking points.

Can you name any public school that isn’t teaching CRT, intersectionality, that systemic racism is still endemic in the US, that police brutality against minorities is chronic and widespread, that white supremacy is the bedrock of the US constitution, history, and current status, and that there needs to be widespread reform to balance the scales? Move into higher education and the rhetoric becomes much more militant. Teachers were at the forefront of many BLM protests last year. Teachers are overwhelmingly left-wing from top to bottom in academia. This isn’t a new development.

Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility is one long kafkatrap (def: A sophistical rhetorical device in which any denial by an accused person serves as evidence of guilt). Take a look at these resources about DiAngelo, white fragility, critical race theory, and Marxism (which is designed to lead to communism every single time). Here is an excellent article on the background of White Fragility as expressed by DiAngelo in her book.

Below is a list of 10 resources which thoroughly critique DiAngelo’s theories and the concepts that underpin them. 

1. Exploring White Fragility: Debating the Effects of Whiteness Studies on America’s Schools, Rowman & Littlefield Publications, by Christopher Paslay. This book, which came out in April of 2021, uses both existing research and anecdotal classroom observations to examine the effects whiteness studies is having on America’s schools. (Click here to pre-order.) 

2. The Flaws in White Fragility Theory: A Primer, New Discourses, by Helen Pluckrose and Jonathan Church. The title is self-explanatory: it’s a primer for understanding the major flaws in white fragility theory. Specifically, it analyses DiAngelo’s concept of “whiteness,” “white fragility,” and the shaky underlying concept of “implicit bias.” The article closes by illustrating how DiAngelo has constructed a house of cards full of logical fallacies.

3. White Fragility Theory Is a Bullying Rhetorical Tactic, The Agonist, by Jonathan Church. Robin DiAngelo believes that whites must shut up and listen. This article highlights how she uses white fragility theory to shut down whites — and any and all conversation — when they try to question or offer alternative viewpoints.  

4. How ‘White Fragility’ Theory Turns Classrooms Into Race-Charged Power Struggles, The Federalist, by Jonathan Church and Christopher Paslay, (discussed further on the Dan Proft radio show). This article, co-authored by Jonathan Church and myself, highlights the flaws in methodology in white fragility, as well as how the approach can provoke resentment among classroom teachers. 

5.  Psychology’s Favorite Tool for Measuring Racism Isn’t Up to the Job, The Cut, by Jesse Singal. This article exposes the fundamental flaws of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), and Harvard’s Project Implicit website, and how the IAT has both validity and reliability issues. Implicit bias, of course, is a concept that heavily underpins DiAngelo’s white fragility theory, as well as most approaches in the schools of whiteness studies and anti-racism.

6. Diversity Training Shouldn’t Be Based On Flawed Implicit Bias Research, Philadelphia Inquirer, by Christopher Paslay. This article highlights the problems with implicit bias research, and how mandatory implicit bias trainings can have unintended negative consequences on education and business, such as hurting teacher/manager morale and provoking resentment among faculty/colleagues.

7. The Theory of White Fragility: Scholarship or Proselytization? , Areo Magazine, by Jonathan Church. This article exposes the cult-like atmosphere surrounding DiAngelo and white fragility trainings, and how the workshops are based more in religious indoctrination than in education and rational inquiry. 

8. The Intellectual Fraud of Robin DiAngelo’s ‘White Fragility,’ The Logical Liberal, by David Edward Burke. Liberal activist and attorney David Edward Burke’s criticism of DiAngelo’s white fragility proves her questionable use of research and science is not simply a partisan issue. His article exposes how “Robin DiAngelo’s white fragility is snake oil masquerading as insight.” 

9. Are Micro-Aggressions Really A Thing ?, The Good Men Project, by Jonathan Church. This article analyzes the scientific legitimacy of “microaggressions,” which like implicit bias, underpins much of whiteness studies, anti-racism, and white fragility theory.  

10. Whiteness Studies and the Theory of White Fragility Are Based on a Logical Fallacy, Areo Magazine, (discussed further in an interview and podcast with Benjamin Boyce), by Jonathan Church. This articles exposes DiAngelo’s flawed reasoning and the logical fallacies at the heart of white fragility theory and whiteness studies in general.

Marxist scholars in the West simply adapted their revolutionary theory to the social and racial unrest of the 1960s. Abandoning Marx’s economic dialectic of capitalists and workers, they substituted race for class and sought to create a revolutionary coalition of the dispossessed based on racial and ethnic categories.

In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA Law Professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines. Critical race guru Ibram X. Kendi, who directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, has proposed the creation of a federal Department of Antiracism. This department would be independent of (i.e., unaccountable to) the elected branches of government, and would have the power to nullify, veto, or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others who are deemed insufficiently “antiracist.” 

One practical result of the creation of such a department would be the overthrow of capitalism, since according to Kendi, “In order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anti-capitalist.” In other words, identity is the means and Marxism is the end.

An equity-based form of government would mean the end not only of private property, but also of individual rights, equality under the law, federalism, and freedom of speech. These would be replaced by race-based redistribution of wealth, group-based rights, active discrimination, and omnipotent bureaucratic authority. Historically, the accusation of “anti-Americanism” has been overused. But in this case, it’s not a matter of interpretation—critical race theory prescribes a revolutionary program that would overturn the principles of the Declaration and destroy the remaining structure of the Constitution.

Although promoted as “anti-racist” civil rights education, CRT actively encourages discrimination. At its core, CRT segregates people into two main categories: oppressors or victims. The calculation is based solely on skin color. The tenets of CRT stretch far beyond the humanities. In some classrooms in Oregon and California, students operate under the understanding that “finding the right answer” in mathematics is racist. “Right” and “wrong” answers are deemed a product of white supremacy. The woke gymnastics required to reach such a conclusion would be amusing if this destructive ideology didn’t pose such a danger to education in America.

We must unite and fight against CRT! We must vote out politicians and judges who are pro-CRT. We must make sure we pass laws at the state level forbidding CRT in our K-12 classrooms. We must police university professors and what exactly they’re teaching related to CRT. We must boycott businesses which fund CRT and organizations which push CRT such as BLM (Black Lives Matter). We must have anti-CRT teachers and administrators in our schools and school boards. The time to fight back is now, before it’s too late for our children and grandchildren!

The fool says in his heart, there is no God! This is what Scripture says about atheists. They trust in their own deficient reason and convince themselves that God doesn’t exist. Yet as Scripture says, we know that deep down they know that God exists! 

The arguments atheists use to deny God’s existence are usually really immature and not very well developed. 

 Here are some famous atheists last words before they died. You will see that apart from faith in Christ they are utterly lost and hopeless and enter death full of fear and dread!

1. CAESAR BORGIA—Italian nobleman, politician, and cardinal: “While I lived, I provided for everything but death; now I must die, and am unprepared to die.”
 

2. THOMAS HOBBS—Political philosopher: “I say again, if I had the whole world at my disposal, I would give it to live one day. I am about to take a leap into the dark.”
 

3. THOMAS PAYNE—The leading atheistic writer in American colonies: “Stay with me, for God’s sake; I cannot bear to be left alone , O Lord, help me! O God, what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter? I would give worlds if I had them, that The Age of Reason had never been published. 0 Lord, help me! Christ, help me! No, don’t leave; stay with me! Send even a child to stay with me; for I am on the edge of hell here alone. If ever the Devil had an agent, I have been that one.”
 

4. SIR THOMAS SCOTT—Chancellor of England: “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.”
 

5. VOLTAIRE—famous anti-christian atheist: “I have swallowed nothing but smoke. I have intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head. I am abandoned by God and man.” He said to his physician, Dr. Fochin: “I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life.” When he was told this was not possible, he said “Then I shall die and go to hell!” His nurse said: “For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever die! All night long he cried for forgiveness.”
 

6. ROBERT INGERSOLL—American writer and orator during the Golden Age of Free Thought: “O God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul!” Some say it was said this way: “Oh God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul, from hell, if there be a hell!
 

7. DAVID HUME—Atheist philosopher famous for his philosophy of empiricism and skepticism of religion: He cried loud on his death bed “I am in flames!” It is said his desperation was a horrible scene.
 

8. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE—French emperor who, like Adolf Hitler, brought death to millions to satisfy his greedy, power-mad, selfish ambitions for world conquest: “I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ!”
 

9. SIR FRANCIS NEWPORT—Head of an English Atheist club, to those gathered around his deathbed: “You need not tell me there is no God, for I know there is one, and that I am in his presence! You need not tell me there is no hell. I feel myself already slipping. Wretches, cease your idle talk about there being hope for me! I know I am lost forever! Oh, that fire! Oh, the insufferable pangs of hell! Oh, that I could lie for a thousand years upon the fire that is never quenched, to purchase the favor of God and be united to Him again. But it is a fruitless wish. Millions and millions of years will bring me no nearer the end of my torments than one poor hour. Oh, eternity, eternity forever and forever! Oh, the insufferable pangs of Hell!”
 

10. CHARLES IX—The French king. Urged on by his mother, he gave the order for the massacre of the French Huguenots, in which 15,000 souls were slaughtered in Paris alone and 100,000 in other sections of France, for no other reason than that they loved Christ. The guilty king suffered miserably for years after that event. He finally died, bathed in blood bursting from his veins. To his physicians, he said in his last hours: “Asleep or awake, I see the mangled forms of the Huguenots passing before me. They drop with blood. They point at their open wounds. Oh! That I had spared at least the little infants at the bosom! What blood! I know not where I am. How will all this end? What shall I do? I am lost forever! I know it. Oh, I have done wrong.”
 

11. DAVID STRAUSS—Leading representative of German rationalism, after spending a lifetime erasing belief in God from the minds of others: “My philosophy leaves me utterly forlorn! I feel like one caught in the merciless jaws of an automatic machine, not knowing at what time one of its great hammers may crush me!”
 

12. JOSEF STALIN—Soviet Georgian revolutionary and politician. In a Newsweek interview with Svetlana Stalin, the daughter of Josef Stalin, she told of her father’s death: “My father died a difficult and terrible death. . .God grants an easy death only to the just. At what seemed the very last moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and cast a glance over everyone in the room. It was a terrible glance, insane or perhaps angry. His left hand was raised, as though he were pointing to something above and bringing down a curse on us all. The gesture was full of menace. . .the next moment he was dead.”
 

13. ANTON LEVEY—Author of the Satanic Bible and high priest of the religion dedicated to the worship of Satan. One of his famous quotes was: “There is a beast in man that needs to be exercised, not exorcised”. His dying words were: “Oh my, oh my, what have I done, there is something very wrong. . . there is something very wrong.”
 

14. GANDHI—At his death, he said, “For the first time in 50 years, I find myself in the slough of despond. All about me is darkness. . .I am praying for light.”
 

AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY (1710-1778)
He will ever be famous as the author of one of the most evangelical hymns of the eighteenth century, “Rock of Ages,” which was first published in 1776. During the final illness, Toplady was greatly supported by the consolations of the gospel: “The consolations of God, to so unworthy a wretch, are so abundant that he leaves me nothing to pray for but their continuance.” Near his last, awaking from a sleep, he said: “Oh, what delights! Who can fathom the joy of the third heaven? The sky is clear, there is no cloud; come Lord Jesus, come quickly!” He died saying:”No mortal man can live after the glories which God has manifested to my soul.”

Only fools never learn from history, and it’s amazing that even in our days, with all these facts on our fingertips, someone with a mind can devote his entire life to a delusion, and want everyone to know that there is no God. No wonder the bible says, “Only fools say in their hearts, there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546)
Knowing the end was near, he wrote his last will and testament. It began with the words, “I am well known in heaven, on earth, and in hell,” a true statement of the result of his bold stance throughout his life. In his last moments, Luther was asked by his friend Justus Jonas, “Do you want to die standing firm on Christ and the doctrine you have taught?” He answered emphatically, “Yes!” Luther’s last words were: “We are beggars. This is true.”

He died in Eisleben on February 18, 1546, within sight of the font where he was baptized as an infant. Luther’s body was carried to Wittenberg as thousands of mourners lined the route. Church bells tolled for their fallen leader.

Luther was buried, appropriately, in the Castle Church of Wittenberg. This was the very church where, twenty-nine years earlier, he had nailed his Ninety-five Theses. His final resting place was immediately below the pulpit, where he had so often stood to preach the Word

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564)
During the last few months of his life, he slowed down but refused to give up. He was carried to the church to preach his last sermon on February 6, 1564. Two months later, on April 25, 1564, feeling it was time to make his will, he called Peter Chenalat, notary of Geneva, to his home and dictated to him:

In the name of the Lord, Amen. I, John Calvin, minister of the Word of God in this Church of Geneva, being afflicted and oppressed with various diseases…give thanks to God, that taking mercy on me, whom He had created and placed in this world…And I testify and declare, that it is my intention to spend what yet remains of my life in the same faith and religion which He has delivered to me by His gospel…With my whole soul I embrace the mercy which He has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins…that under His shadow I may be able to stand at the judgment seat. I likewise declare, that…I have endeavored, both in my sermons and also in my writings and commentaries, to preach His Word purely and chastely, and faithfully to interpret His sacred Scriptures…I also testify and declare, that…with the enemies of the gospel, I have acted candidly and sincerely in defending the truth. But woe is me!…I confess I have failed innumerable times to execute my office properly, and had not He, of His boundless goodness, assisted me, all that zeal had been fleeting and vain…As God is the Father of mercy, He will show Himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner.

The second half of the will is devoted to distribution of the “slender patrimony which God has bestowed upon me” to various family members and friends. In the next month he quickly declined and died on May 27, 1564, shortly before his fifty-fifth birthday.

John Calvin worked tirelessly, almost up to his death, literally using up his life in the service of his Savior. May we all do so to His glory!

 

 

Macro evolution from one species into another has never been observed in the fossil record. There is absolutely zero empirical evidence for evolution. Further it is impossible for to make organic life from inorganice life. Eolutionists don’t want to acknowledge the authority of God so they invent a fantasy universe where everything pops into existence from a quantum vacuum into a Big Bang and that after billions of  years the earth forms and single celled organisms develop in the oceans and eventually make up a goo which evolves into animals, eventually into apes who we share a common ancestor with according to evolutionists! It’s all such an absurd farce.

 

Evolution is the favored tool of scientism. The belief that science can explain everything in the universe.

The process of general evolution could theoretically be reproduced through experimentation, but it never has been. Though speciation has been demonstrated in laboratories, no event beyond speciation has ever been demonstrated. Charles Darwin clearly delineated the differences between speciation and general evolution, and noted that the support for general evolution would have to come from the fossil record.

In ”The Origin of Species,” Darwin noted that without the appropriate fossil evidence (which did not exist in his day) his general theory would hold no weight. He and others tenaciously clung to the hope that the unfolding of the fossil record would show all of the intermediate forms necessary to support his claims. Today, however, with more than 100,000 species represented in fossils, the lack of intermediate forms is even greater than it was in Darwin’s day.

Not only has the fossil record failed, but findings of modern scientists have made general evolutionary theory even less tenable. In ”Evolution: A Theory in Crisis,” for example, Michael Denton methodically analyzes a wealth of evidence that challenges this theory. His subjects include the failure of homology (homologous structures not being represented by homologous genes nor embryonic development); the typological nature of microbiology, and problems associated with chance as a directive force, in addition to the lack of a supportive fossil record.

Contrary to popular belief, many people disagree with the theory of general evolution, and the idea that all opponents base their views on religious belief is groundless. Michael Denton is neither a creationist nor an evangelical Christian, and his book is one of several to challenge evolution on scientific terms. Moreover, having religious beliefs does not preclude the ability to reason scientifically. Many great scientists – Isaac Newton, Carolus Linnaeus, Georges Cuvier and Louis Pasteur, to name a few -were devoutly religious.

Even in Darwin’s day, scientists who opposed evolution were charged with irrationality and religiosity. But they did not attack evolution on religious grounds; rather, they protested its lack of scientific proof and pointed to the evidence that supported a typological nature. The creationists were attacked as scientific heretics, while supporters of evolution – refusing to admit the lack of evidence – became the true heretics, replacing scientific foundations with metaphysics. 

Science is supposed to be an unbiased quest to understand the world by searching for truth through inquiry and experimentation. Evolutionists, however, have yet to provide solid evidence, while they ignore all the evidence against them (demonstrating the real issue, I think: the exclusion of God from an active role in nature). All the while, they preach their gospel as fact and force-feed it to America’s students, who swallow it in ignorance. That they have such a strong grip on the educational system is distressing.

Adolf Hitler, the mastermind of Nazi Germany believed in evolution and used it for his own grotesque justifications for eliminating the undesirables such as Jews. Hitler believed in evolution and not in creationism. He stated this not only in Mein Kampf but also in his second book, Zweites Buch. Here are quotes from him:

“There are only two possibilities as to how life arose; one is spontaneous generation arising to evolution, the other is a supernatural creative act of God, there is no third possibility. Spontaneous generation that life arose from non-living matter was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others. That leaves us with only one possible conclusion, that life arose as a creative act of God. I will not accept that philosophically because I do not want to believe in God, therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution.” — Dr. George Wald, evolutionist, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University at Harvard, Nobel Prize winner in Biology.
 

“Most modern biologists, having reviewed with satisfaction the downfall of the spontaneous generation hypothesis, yet unwilling to accept the alternative belief in special creation, are left with nothing.”
Dr. George Wald, evolutionist, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University at Harvard, Nobel Prize winner in Biology.

“Evolution [is] a theory universally accepted not because it can be proven by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible.”
Professor D.M.S. Watson, leading biologist and science writer of his day.
 

“My attempts to demonstrate evolution by an experiment carried on for more than 40 years have completely failed…..It is not even possible to make a caricature of an evolution out of paleobiological facts…The idea of an evolution rests on pure belief.”
Dr. Nils Heribert-Nilsson, noted Swedish botanist and geneticist, of Lund University. 

“Scientists who go about teaching that evolution is a fact of life are great con-men, and the story they are telling may be the greatest hoax ever! In explaining evolution we do not have one iota of fact.”
Dr. Newton Tahmisian, Atomic Energy Commission.

“When you realize that the laws of nature must be incredibly finely tuned to produce the universe we see, that conspires to plant the idea that the universe did not just happen, but that there must be a purpose behind it.”
John Polkinghorne, Cambridge University physicist, “Science Finds God,” Newsweek, 20 July, 1998
 

“Many have a feeling that somehow intelligence must have been involved in the laws of the universe.”
Charles Townes, 1964 Nobel Prize winner in physics, “Science Finds God,” Newsweek, 20 July, 1998

“250,000 species of plants and animals recorded and deposited in museums throughout the world did not support the gradual unfolding hoped for by Darwin.”
Dr. David Raup, curator of geology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, “Conflicts Between Darwinism and Paleontology”

“The pathetic thing about it is that many scientists are trying to prove the doctrine of evolution, which no science can do.”
Dr. Robert A. Milikan, physicist and Nobel Prize winner, speech before the American Chemical Society.
 

“The miracles required to make evolution feasible are far greater in number and far harder to believe than the miracle of creation.”
Dr. Richard Bliss, former professor of biology and science education as Christian Heritage College, “It Takes A Miracle For Evolution.”
 

“Scientists at the forefront of inquiry have put the knife to classical Darwinism. They have not gone public with this news, but have kept it in their technical papers and inner counsels.”
Dr. William Fix, in his book, “The Bone Peddlers.”

“In the meantime, the educated public continues to believe that Darwin has provided all the relevant answers by the magic formula of random mutations plus natural selection—quite unaware of the fact that random mutations turned out to be irrelevant and natural selection tautology.”
Dr. Arthur Koestler
 

“The only competing explanation for the order we all see in the biological world is the notion of special creation.”
Dr. Colin Patterson, evolutionist and senior Paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, which houses 60 million fossils
 

“A growing number of respectable scientists are defecting from the evolutionist camp…..moreover, for the most part these “experts” have abandoned Darwinism, not on the basis of religious faith or biblical persuasions, but on strictly scientific grounds, and in some instances, regretfully.”
Dr. Wolfgang Smith, physicist and mathematician

“It must be significant that nearly all the evolutionary stories I learned as a student….have now been debunked.”
Dr. Derek V. Ager, Department of Geology, Imperial College, London
 

“One must conclude that, contrary to the established and current wisdom, a scenario describing the genesis of life on earth by chance and natural causes which can be accepted on the basis of fact and not faith has not been written.”
Dr. Hubert P. Yockey
 

“Darwin’s evolutionary explanation of the origins of man has been transformed into a modern myth, to the detriment of scientific and social progress…..The secular myths of evolution have had a damaging effect on scientific research, leading to distortion, to needless controversy, and to gross misuse of science….I mean the stories, the narratives about change over time. How the dinosaurs became extinct, how the mammals evolved, where man came from. These seem to me to be little more than story-telling.”
Dr. Colin Patterson, evolutionist and senior Paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, which houses 60 million fossils
 

 “The probability of life originating from accident is comparable to the probability of the unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop.”
Dr. Edwin Conklin, evolutionist and professor of biology at Princeton University.)
 

“One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. Yet here we are-as a result, I believe, of spontaneous generation.”
Dr. George Wald Evolutionist, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University at Harvard, Nobel Prize winner in Biology.
 

“The explanation value of the evolutionary hypothesis of common origin is nil! Evolution not only conveys no knowledge, it seems to convey anti-knowledge. How could I work on evolution ten years and learn nothing from it? Most of you in this room will have to admit that in the last ten years we have seen the basis of evolution go from fact to faith! It does seem that the level of knowledge about evolution is remarkably shallow. We know it ought not be taught in high school, and that’s all we know about it.”
Dr. Colin Patterson, evolutionist and senior Paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, which houses 60 million fossils
 

“Hypothesis [evolution] based on no evidence and irreconcilable with the facts….These classical evolutionary theories are a gross over-simplification of an immensely complex and intricate mass of facts, and it amazes me that they are swallowed so uncritically and readily, and for such a long time, by so many scientists without a murmur of protest.”
Sir Ernst Chan, Nobel Prize winner for developing penicillin
 

“There is the theory that all the living forms in the world have arisen from a single source which itself came from an inorganic form. This theory can be called the “general theory of evolution,” and the evidence which supports this is not sufficiently strong to allow us to consider it as anything more than a working hypothesis.”
Dr. G. A. Kerkut evolutionist
 

“All of us who study the origin of life find that the more we look into it, the more we feel it is too complex to have evolved anywhere. We all believe as an article of faith that life evolved from dead matter on this planet. It is just that life’s complexity is so great, it is hard for us to imagine that it did.”
Dr. Harold Urey, Nobel Prize winner
 

“The deceit is sometimes unconscious, but not always, since some people, owing to their sectarianism, purposely overlook reality and refuse to acknowledge the inadequacies and the falsity of their beliefs.”
Dr. Pierre-Paul Grasse of the University of Paris and past-president of the French Academy of Science
 

“Meanwhile, their [evolutionists] unproven theories will continue to be accepted by the learned and the illiterate alike as absolute truth, and will be defended with a frantic intolerance that has a parallel only in the bigotry of the darkest Middle Ages. If one does not accept evolution as an infallible dogma, implicitly and without question, one is regarded as an unenlightened ignoramus or is merely ignored as an obscurantist or a naive, uncritical fundamentalist.”
Dr. Alfred Rehwinkel
 

“It is my conviction that if any professional biologist will take adequate time to examine carefully the assumptions upon which the macro-evolution doctrine rests, and the observational and laboratory evidence that bears on the problem of origins, he/she will conclude that there are substantial reasons for doubting the truth of this doctrine. Moreover, I believe that a scientifically sound creationist view of origins is not only possible, but it is to be preferred over the evolutionary one.”
Dean H. Kenyon, professor of biology at San Francisco State University
 

“If I knew of any Evolutionary transitional’s, fossil or living, I would certainly have included them in my book, ‘Evolution’ “
Dr. Colin Patterson, evolutionist and senior Paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, which houses 60 million fossils
 

“The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualist accounts of evolution.”
Stephen Jay Gould, Professor of Geology and Paleontology, Harvard University.
 

“I shall discuss the broad patterns of hominoid evolution, an exercise made enjoyable by the need to integrate diverse kinds of information, and use that as a vehicle to speculate about hominoid origins, an event for which there is no recognized fossil record. Hence, an opportunity to exercise some imagination.”
Dr. David Pilbeam
 

“To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree possible.”
Charles Darwin, “The origin of species by means of natural selection”
 

“The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as a trade secret of Paleontology. Evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however reasonable, not the evidence of fossils.” Dr. Stephan J Gould, Harvard Paleontologist, “Evolution, Erratic Pace”

“Within the period of human history we do not know of a single instance of the transformation of one species into another one. It may be claimed that the theory of descent is lacking, therefore, in the most essential feature that it needs to place the theory on a scientific basis, this must be admitted.”
Dr. T.H Morgan
 

“The facts of paleontology seem to support creation and the flood rather than evolution. For instance, all the major groups of invertebrates appear “suddenly” in the first fossil ferrous strata (Cambrian) of the earth with their distinct specializations indicating that they were all created almost at the same time.”
Professor Enoch, University of Madras
 

“It remains true, as every paleontologist knows, that most new species, genera, and families, and that nearly all categories above the level of families, appear in the record suddenly and are not led up to by known, gradual completely continuous transitional sequences.”
Dr. George Gaylord Simpson of Harvard
 

“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”
Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species” 

“I can envision observations and experiments that would disprove any evolutionary theory I know.”
Dr. Stephen Jay Gould, “Evolution as Fact and Theory,” Discover 2(5):34-37 (1981) 

“Darwinism is a creed not only with scientists committed to document the all-purpose role of natural selection. It is a creed with masses of people who have at best a vague notion of the mechanism of evolution as proposed by Darwin, let alone as further complicated by his successors. Clearly, the appeal cannot be that of a scientific truth but of a philosophical belief which is not difficult to identify. Darwinism is a belief in the meaninglessness of existence.”
Dr. R. Kirk, “The Rediscovery of Creation,” in National Review, (May 27, 1983), p. 641.

“It is not the duty of science to defend the theory of evolution, and stick by it to the bitter end no matter which illogical and unsupported conclusions it offers. On the contrary, it is expected that scientists recognize the patently obvious impossibility of Darwin’s pronouncements and predictions . . Let’s cut the umbilical cord that tied us down to Darwin for such a long time. It is choking us and holding us back.”
Dr. I.L. Cohen, “Darwin Was Wrong:” A Study in Probabilities (1985)
 

“The theories of evolution, with which our studious youth have been deceived, constitute actually a dogma that all the world continues to teach; but each, in his specialty, the zoologist or the botanist, ascertains that none of the explanations furnished is adequate . . It results from this summary, that the theory of evolution is impossible.”
Dr. P. Lemoine, “Introduction: De L’ Evolution?” Encyclopedie Francaise, Vol. 5 (1937)
 

“Paleontologists [fossil experts] have paid an exorbitant price for Darwin’s argument. We fancy ourselves as the only true students of life’s history, yet to preserve our favored account of evolution by natural selection we view our data as so bad that we almost never see the very process we profess to study.”
Dr. Steven Jay Gould, The Panda’s Thumb (1982), pp. 181-182 [Harvard professor and the leading evolutionary spokesman of the latter half of the twentieth century].
 

“Often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself whether I may have not devoted myself to a fantasy.”
Charles Darwin, Life and Letters, 1887, Vol. 2, p. 229)
 

“I have often thought how little I should like to have to prove organic evolution in a court of law.”
Dr. Errol White, Proceedings of the Linnean Society, London (1966) [an ichthyologist (expert on fish) in a 1988 address before a meeting of the Linnean Society in London]
 

“The universe and the Laws of Physics seem to have been specifically designed for us. If any one of about 40 physical qualities had more than slightly different values, life as we know it could not exist: Either atoms would not be stable, or they wouldn’t combine into molecules, or the stars wouldn’t form heavier elements, or the universe would collapse before life could develop, and so on…”
Stephen Hawking, considered the best known scientist since Albert Einstein, Austin American-Statesmen, October 19, 1997
 

“Facts do not ‘speak for themselves’ they are read in light of theory.”
Evolutionist, Steven J Gould, Professor. Harvard University
 

“Why then is not every Geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against the theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record.”
Charles Darwin
 

“If nature does not wish that weaker individuals should mate with stronger, she wishes even less that a superior race should intermingle with an inferior one; because in such cases all her efforts, throughout hundreds of thousands of years, to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being, may thus be rendered futile”
Adolph Hitler, “Mein Kampf” 1924
 

“The German Fuhrer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consistently sought to make the practices of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.”
Sir Arthur Keith, a militant anti-Christian physical anthropologist
 

“The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilized races throughout the world.”
Charles Darwin, 1881, 3 July, “Life and Letters of Darwin, vol. 1, 316”

“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world.”
Charles Darwin, The descent of Man, Chap. vi
 

“The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by mans attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than the woman. Whether deep thought, reason, or imagination or merely the use of the senses and hands…..We may also infer…..The average mental power in man must be above that of woman.”
Charles Darwin, “The descent of Man, pg. 566”
 

 “No rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average Negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the white man…..it is simply incredible to think that…..he will be able to compete successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller-jawed rival, in a contest which is to be carried on by thoughts and not by bites.”
Thomas Huxley, 1871, Lay Sermons, addresses and reviews
 

“The Negroid stock is even more ancient than the Caucasian and the Mongolian, as may be proved by an examination not only of the brain, of the hair, of the bodily characters, such as the teeth, the genitalia, the sense organs, but of the instincts, the intelligence. The standard intelligence of the average adult Negro is similar to that of the 11 year old youth of the species homo-sapiens.”
Dr. H.F. Osborn, Director of the Museum of National History
 

“Recapitulation provided a convenient focus for the persuasive racism of white scientists; they looked to the activities of their own children for comparison with normal adult behavior in lower races.”
Dr. Stephen J Gould, “Dr. Downs Syndrome” natural history, 1980
 

“Evolution can be thought of as sort of a magical religion. Magic is simply an effect without a cause, or at least a competent cause. ‘Chance,’ ‘time,’ and ‘nature,’ are the small gods enshrined at evolutionary temples. Yet these gods cannot explain the origin of life. These gods are impotent. Thus, evolution is left without competent cause and is, therefore, only a magical explanation for the existence of life…”
Dr. Randy L. Wysong, instructor of human anatomy and physiology, The Creation-Evolution Controversy, pg. 418.
 

“After chiding the theologian for his reliance on myth and miracle, science found itself in the unenviable position of having to create mythology of its own: namely, the assumption that what, after long effort, could not be proved to take place today had, in truth, taken place in the primeval past.”
Dr. Loren Eiseley, anthropologist, The Immense Journey, pg. 144.
 

“Evolution is a fairy tale for grown-ups.”
Dr. Duane Gish, Biochemist.
 

“Evolution is a fairy tale for adults.”
Dr. Paul LeMoine, one of the most prestigious scientists in the world
 

“Evolution is a fairy tale for grown-ups. This theory has helped nothing in the progress of science. It is useless.”
Prof. Louis Bounoure, Director of Research, National Center of Scientific Research.
 

“The evolution theory is purely the product of the imagination.”
Dr. Ambrose Flemming, Pres. Philosophical Society of Great Britain
 

“The Darwinian theory of descent has not a single fact to confirm it in the realm of nature. It is not the result of scientific research but purely the product of the imagination.”
Albert Fleishman, professor of zoology & comparative anatomy at Erlangen University
 

“We have had enough of the Darwinian fallacy. It is time we cry, “The emperor has no clothes.”
Dr. Hsu, geologist at the Geological Institute in Zurich.
 

“The great cosmologic myth of the twentieth century.”
Dr. Michael Denton, molecular biochemist, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
 

“9/10 of the talk of evolution is sheer nonsense not founded on observation and wholly unsupported by fact. This Museum is full of proof of the utter falsity of their view.”
Dr. Ethredge, British Museum of Science.
 

“We have now the remarkable spectacle that just when many scientific men are agreed that there is no part of the Darwinian system that is of any great influence, and that, as a whole, the theory is not only unproved, but impossible, the ignorant, half-educated masses have acquired the idea that it is to be accepted as a fundamental fact.”
Dr. Thomas Dwight, famed professor at Harvard University
 

“I believe that one day the Darwinian myth will be ranked the greatest deceit in the history of science. When this happens, many people will pose the question, “How did this ever happen?”
Dr. Sorren Luthrip, Swedish Embryologist
 

“The more one studies paleontology, the more certain one becomes that evolution is based upon faith alone; exactly the same sort of faith which is necessary to have when one encounters the great mysteries of religion….The only alternative is the doctrine of special creation, which may be true, but irrational.” Dr. Louis T. More, professor of paleontology at Princeton University

“Evolution is faith, a religion.”
Dr. Louist T. More, professor of paleontology at Princeton University

 

Atheists love evolution because it gives them justification in their puny minds for rejecting God!

 

 

Handel – The Messiah (HWV 56, 1754 Foundling Hospital version)  

Handel’s Messiah is one of my most favorite sacred vocal works. Here is my favorite recording of it featuring my all time favorite soprano, the incomparable Emma Kirkby. Recorded with the Academy of Ancient Music – Christopher Hogwood conducting. This performance used historically informed performance practices. So the tempi are faster than in most performances of the modern era and authentic instruments are used, that sound as they would have in the 17th century.

This is authentic performance of Handel’s Messiah, recorded in 1982 in Westminster Abbey for television.  The musical interpretation is extremely compelling, and the well-known soloists are superb, true to the style of the music (no excess vibrato here, by pumped up divas), and add their own sparkling embellishments.  

Set against this, the video quality and camerawork is poor by modern TV standards, and it is hard not to be distracted and amused by some wonderfully 80s hairstyles (and David Thomas’ rather manic gurning!).  Nevertheless, having the video element adds greatly to the music.

Handel is my second favorite Baroque composer, the first being majestic and divine J.S. Bach! Christoper  Hogwood died over 7 years from a long unspecified illness. The world of music is much poorer in his absence.

Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Christopher Hogwood
Choir of Westminster Abbey

• Emma Kirkby (soprano)
• Judith Nelson (soprano)
• Carolyn Watkinson (mezzo soprano)
• Paul Elliott (tenor)
• David Thomas (bass)

The original video was:
Audio: Dolby 2.0 (AC3) 448kbps
Video: Interlaced MPEG2, 720×480 (NTSC)

Please enjoy this brilliant performance of this wonderful piece!

 

Historically the Reformers of the great Protestant Reformation believed the office of the pope to be the Antichrist.The Bible doesn’t say anything exactly about where the Antichrist will come from. Many Bible scholars speculate that he will come from a confederacy of ten nations and/or a reborn Roman empire (Daniel 7:24-25; Revelation 17:7). Others see him as having to be a Jew in order to claim to be the Messiah. Some say he will be Muslim. It is all just speculation since the Bible does not specifically say where the Antichrist will come from or what ethnicity he will be. We can be sure that one day, the Antichrist will be revealed. Second Thessalonians 2:3-4 tells us how we will recognize the Antichrist: “don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

 Revelation 13:5-8 says, “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

I believe the Antichrist won’t be revealed until after the Rapture of the Church. He will be a charismatic figure, he’ll do many amazing things and bring about apparent world peace. But it’s all a deception.

 MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546)
“We are convinced that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist.” Luther’s Werke, v. 2, p. 167
“We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist…personally I declare that I owe the Pope no other obedience than that to Antichrist.” L. Froom, Prophetic Faith of our Fathers Volume 2 (Washington D.C: Review and Herald, 1948): 121
“You should know that the pope is the real, true, final Antichrist, of whom the entire Scripture speaks, whom the Lord is beginning to consume with the spirit of His mouth and will very soon destroy and slay with the brightness of His coming.” Luther’s Werke, vol. 8, p. 554
“nothing else than the kingdom of Babylon and of very Antichrist…. For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the church; while he yet sits in the church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny.” Martin Luther, First Principles, pp. 196-197
“I am practically cornered, and can hardly doubt any more, that the Pope is really the Antichrist… because everything so exactly corresponds to the way of his life, actions, words and commandments.” Martin Luther, Schriften volume 21a, column 234, as translated in George Waddington, A History of the Reformation on the continent volume 1 (1841)
“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.” Martin Luther, as quoted in D’Aubigné, book 6 chapter 9
“We are not the first who interpret the Papacy as the kingdom of Antichrist…He (John Purvey in 1390 AD) rightly and truly pronounces the Pope “Antichrist” as he is…a witness indeed, foreordained by God to confirm our doctrine.” Martin Luther, Commentarius in Apocalypsin (reprint)

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564)
“Daniel and Paul had predicted that Anti-Christ would sit in the temple of God. The head of that cursed and abominable kingdom, in the Western church, we affirm to be the Pope.” Institutes of the Christian Religion, bk. 4, ch. 2, sec. 12
“Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt…I shall briefly show that (Pauls words in 2 Thessalonians 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy” John Calvin, Tracts, Vol. 1, pp. 219,220. John Calvin, Institutes
“I shall briefly show that (Paul’s words in II Thess. 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy.” John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
 

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791)
“He is in an emphatical sense, the Man of Sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly styled the Son of Perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his opposers and followers… He it is…that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped… claiming the highest power, and highest honor… claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone.” Albert Close, Antichrist and His Ten Kingdoms, London: Thynne and Co., 1917, p. 110
 

KING JAMES (1566-1625) AUTHORIZED THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE BIBLE
“The faithfull praiseth God for the Popes destruction, and their deliverance,” and for “the plagues which are to light on him and his followers.” “The Pope by his Pardons makes merchandise of the soules of men: Heaven and the Saints reioyce at his destruction, albiet the earth and the worldlings lament for the same” James I, Paraphrase, in Workes, pp. 47, 57
 

JOHN WYCLIF (1324-1384) COMPLETED THE 1ST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE
“Why is it necessary in unbelief to look for another Antichrist? Hence in the seventh chapter of Daniel Antichrist is forcefully described by a horn arising in the time of the 4th kingdom. For it grew from [among] our powerful ones, more horrible, more cruel, and more greedy, because by reckoning the pagans and our Christians by name, a lesser [greater?] struggle for the temporals is not recorded in any preceding time. Therefore the ten horns are the whole of our temporal rulers, and the horn has arisen from the ten horns, having eyes and a mouth speaking great things against the Lofty One, and wearing out the saints of the Most High, and thinking that he is able to change times and laws.” (Daniel 7:8, 25 quoted) …”For so our clergy foresee the lord pope, as it is said of the eighth blaspheming little head.” Translated from Wyclif’s, De Veritate Sacrae Scripturae, vol. 3 pp. 262, 263
 

WILLIAM TYNDALE (1484-1536) 1ST TRANSLATOR OF THE BIBLE FROM THE GREEK
“The pope’s forbidding matrimony, and to eat of meats created of God for man’s use, which is devilish doctrine by Paul’s prophecy,… are tokens good enough that he is the right antichrist, and his doctrine sprung of the devil.” 1 Timothy 4:1-3 Tyndale, An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue, in Works, vol. 3, p. 171
 

JOHN KNOX (1505-1572)
“He preached that Romish traditions and ceremonies should be abolished along with “that tyranny which the Pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church” and that he should be acknowledged as “the son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks.” In a public challenge he declared: “As for your Roman Church, as it is now corrupted… I no more doubt but that it is the synagogue of Satan, and the head therof, called the Pope, to be the man of sin of whom the apostle speaketh.”” Knox, The Zurich Letters, p.199
 

PHILIPP MELANCHTHON (1497-1560)
“Since it is certain that the pontiffs and the monks have forbidden marriage, it is most manifest, and true without any doubt, that the Roman Pontiff, with his whole order and kingdom, is very Antichrist. Likewise in 2 Thess. II, Paul clearly says that the man of sin will rule in the church exalting himself above the worship of God, etc.” Translated from Melanchthon, Disputationes, No. 56, “De Matrimonio”, in Opera ‘Corpus Reformatorum’, vol. 12 col. 535
 

THOMAS CRANMER (1489 – 1556)
“Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of Antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons.” Works by Cranmer, vol.1, pp.6-7
 

HULDREICH ZWINGLI (1484-1531)
“I know that in it works the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist… the Papacy has to be abolished… But by no other means can it be more thoroughly routed than by the word of God (2 Thessalonians 2), because as soon as the world receives this in the right way, it will turn away from the Pope without compulsion.” Principle Works of Zwingli, Vol. 7, p. 135
 

THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646)
“There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalts himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God.” 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith
 

THE BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH (1689)
“The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ.” 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith
 

CHARLES SPURGEON (1834 – 1892)
“Popery is contrary to Christ’s Gospel, and is the Antichrist, and we ought to pray against it. It should be the daily prayer of every believer that Antichrist might be hurled like a millstone into the flood and for Christ, because it wounds Christ, because it robs Christ of His glory, because it puts sacramental efficacy in the place of His atonement, and lifts a piece of bread into the place of the Saviour, and a few drops of water into the place of the Holy Ghost, and puts a mere fallible man like ourselves up as the vicar of Christ on earth; if we pray against it, because it is against Him, we shall love the persons though we hate their errors: we shall love their souls though we loath and detest their dogmas, and so the breath of our prayers will be sweetened, because we turn our faces towards Christ when we pray.” Michael de Semlyen, All Roads Lead to Rome
 

NICOLAUS VON AMSDORF (1483 – 1565)
“He (the antichrist) will be revealed and come to naught before the last day, so that every man shall comprehend and recognize that the pope is the real, true antichrist and not the vicar of Christ … Therefore those who consider the pope and his bishops as Christian shepherds and bishops are deeply in error, but even more are those who believe the the Turk (ISLAM) is the antichrist. Because the Turk (ISLAM) rules outside of the church and does not sit in the holy place, nor does he seek to bear the name of Christ, but is an open antagonist of Christ and His church. This does not need to be revealed, but it is clear and evident because he persecutes Christians openly and not as the pope does, secretly under the form of Godliness.” Nicolaus Von Amsdorf, Furnemliche und gewisse Zeichen, sig.A2r.,v.
 

FLACIUS (1570)
“The sixth and last reason for our separation from the pope and his followers be this; By many writings of our church, by the Divinely inspired Word, by prophecies concerning the future and by the special characteristics of the Papacy, it has been profusely and thoroughly proved that the pope with his prelates and clergy is the real true great antichrist, that his kingdom is the real Babylon, a never ceasing fountain and a mother of all abominable idolatry.” Flacius, Etliche Hochwichtige Ursachen und Grunde, warum das siche alle Christen von dem Antichrist … absondern sollen
 

ROGER WILLIAMS (1603 – 1683)
“Pastor Williams spoke of the Pope as “the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God himself…speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition.”” The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers by Froom, Vol. 3, pg. 52

The Doctrine of Papal Infallibility teaches that the Pope, when he teaches on matters that concern faith or morals to the whole Church with the intent that the faithful follow the opinion, is teaching infallibly. One of the biggest practical problems with this doctrine is the issue of earlier Popes contradicting later Popes. Whenever this occurs, the Catholic apologist is forced to come up with all sorts of excuses as to how the earlier pope was not speaking Ex Cathedra.

Papal infallibility is a myth created by Rome!

Academic historians tend toward the view -echoed also by many Roman Catholic scholars that there is not so much as a trace of papal infallibility in the entire first millennium of Christianity.

Papal infallibility wasn’t an official doctrine until the First Vatican Council of 1870. Prior to that, the Roman Catholic church considered itself to be infallible in matters pertaining to doctrine, but it had not defined where the infallibility lay. Some believed it was vested in the Pope alone as the successor of Peter, and others in the Bishops in Council under the leadership of the Pope (the Magisterium). Subsequent to Vatican I, although the Magisterium acting in council was still considered infallible, the Pope now also had authority to proclaim infallible teachings of his own will, without the formal approval of the Bishops. Anathema was pronounced on all that would not submit to this decree. Although there were many Bishops at Vatican I who opposed the new doctrine, and who voted against, or abstained, most of them subsequently accepted it rather than be excommunicated. Their accomplished historian Döllinger refused to accept the dogma of papal infallibility, having found that the early church Fathers and Councils were utterly silent on the doctrine of infallibility.[1] His excommunication inevitably followed and, despite many subsequent attempts to persuade him, he refused to recant.

Dominican Cardinal Yyves Congar said there was not even a *germ* of what developed into papal infallibility until the 1200s. The notion seems to have originated first on the lips of “dissident Franciscans” (cf. Tierney, Origins of Papal Infallibility, cited below)

Fr. Hans Kung observes: “”[before the Orthodox/Latin Schism]The Eastern patriarchs and metropolitans certainly still regarded the pope as bishop of the old imperial capital and sole patriarch of the West. But as such he was first among equals. And this was not, say because of a special biblical promise or a legal authority. Of course, no one at that time, even in Rome would have thought that the bishops of Rome were infallible…
“Historical research, notably that of Yves Congar, has shown that down to the twelfth century, outside Rome, the significance of the Roman church was not understood as a real teaching authority in the legal sense (magisterium)… No one in the whole of the first millennium regarded decisions of the pope as infallible.
‘But historical research has also shown that the popes, particularly from the fifth century on, decisively extended their power with explicit forgeries. The freely invented legend of the holy Pope Silvester comes from the fifth/sixth centuries. In the eighth century it led to a highly influential forgery, the Donation of Constantine (shown to be a forgery in the fifteenth century), according to which Constantine left Rome and the Western half of the empire to Pope Silvester, allowed him the imperial insignia and garments (purple) and a court to match; and bestowed on him the primacy over all other churches, especially Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. In fact Constantine had left him only the Lateran palace and the new basilicas of the Lateran and St. Peter’s” Fr. Hans Kung, The Catholic Church: A Short History (2001), pp. 60-61.

Brian Tierney, Origins of Papal Infallibility, 1150-1350: A Study on the Concepts of Infallibility, Sovereignty and Tradition in the Middle Ages, affirms
“There is no convincing evidence that papal infallibility formed any part of the theological or canonical tradition of the church before the thirteenth century; the doctrine was invented in the first place by a few dissident Franciscans because it suited their convenience to invent it; eventually, but only after much initial reluctance, it was accepted by the papacy because it suited the convenience of the popes to accept it” (p. 281).
cf. also Bernhard Hasler, (Roman Catholic priest) How the Pope Became Infallible: Pius IX and the Politics of Persuasion( (1981).
 

Vatican I had said it was a part of the faith of the Latin church from the beginning. The adamant denial that this is so by academic historians including Roman Catholic academics is sometimes explained theologically with reference to the paradigm of development defended by Cardinal John Henry Newman (cf. Hegelian dialectic) which became a prominent factor in Vatican II according to Pope John Paul who called it “Newman’s Council.” Arguments to the contrary notwithstanding it seems reasonable to suggest if there is no trace of papal infallibility for the first thousand years of the Church as many scholars argue.

Catholic theologians agree that both Pope Pius IX‘s 1854 definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and Pope Pius XII‘s 1950 definition of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary are instances of papal infallibility. Both followed wide consultation with the bishops, as to whether these doctrines were already believed worldwide.^[12] However, theologians disagree about what other documents qualify.

Regarding historical papal documents, Catholic theologian and church historian Klaus Schatz made a thorough study, published in 1985, that identified the following list of ex cathedra documents:^[68]

1. Tome to Flavian, Pope Leo I, 449, on the two natures in Christ, received by the Council of Chalcedon;
2. Letter of Pope Agatho, 680, on the two wills of Christ, received by the Third Council of Constantinople;
3. Benedictus Deus, Pope Benedict XII, 1336, on the beatific vision of the just after death rather than only just prior to final judgment;
4. Cum occasione, Pope Innocent X, 1653, condemning five propositions of Jansen as heretical;
5. Auctorem fidei, Pope Pius VI, 1794, condemning several Jansenist propositions of the Synod of Pistoia as heretical;
6. Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX, 1854, defining the Immaculate Conception;
7. Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII, 1950, defining the Assumption of Mary.

So Rome can’t even agree on what pronouncements were infallible. It’s interesting to note that the last 2 infallible doctrine made by popes, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary, are wholly lacking in Scriptural support. The Immaculate Conception was unheard of until the 4th century. And many in the Roman Catholic church opposed it such as learned Doctor of the Roman Catholic church and theologian Thomas Aquinas. We know from Scripture that all have sinned, except Christ. We inherit the original sin of Adam. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary rests on a biased and fatuous translation of Luke 1:28 (the “full of grace” passage) that the original Greek doesn’t support! Scripture is crystal clear that all of us are sinners. That includes Mary. It is an assault on the unique nature of Christ to assert that someone else was also without any sin. Those who believe Mary was conceived without sin use tortured logic. They say that a sinless Christ could only come from a sinless Mary. Yet they concede the point that a sinless Mary came from sinful parents. 

Here is a good debate on papal infallibility between Robert Sungenis (Roman Catholic) and James White (Protestant).

 

 

We’ve been living with the threat of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 for the past 2 years. And even after over 5 million dead globally, and  nearly 800,000 dead here in the United States, there are still millions of people in America who either believe the coronavirus is a hoax, believe in some crazy QAnon conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccines are deadly, preachers telling their church members that COVID-19 vaccines are  the Satanic Mark of the Beast, or those who refuse to be vaccinated. Many don’t even want to wear a mask to help stop spread the deadly virus! 

It sickens me to see how Republicans have politicized the virus. Had President Trump, Republicans in Congress and in state legislature, and Republican governors taken different actions and had they encouraged their followers to wear masks, social distance, and to, most importantly, be vaccinated then millions of American lives could have been saved. As a Conservative Christian this is outrageous and despicable behavior!

On social media,  talk radio, and cable news there are numerous voices who claim taking the vaccine is somehow an assault on their freedoms and is unpatriotic! This is nonsense. They make ridiculous assertions such as “The coronavirus is no deadlier than the flu.” and “The coronavirus vaccinated death rates are the same as the unvaccinated death rates.” Even though research has shown the coronavirus to be at least 10 times deadlier than the flu they persist in their delusions.

As the data from this paper shows, those who are unvaccinated have a significantly higher death rate, as well as having a more severe case of COVID-19 even if they don’t die.

In this past August, unvaccinated people had a 6.1 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 compare to the fully vaccinated and a 11.3 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19!

 

The risk of infection, hospitalization, and death are all much lower in vaccinated compared to unvaccinated people.People who are vaccinated have dramatically lower rates of hospitization compared to the unvaccinated.

The consensus of the scientific and medical communities is overwhelmingly in favor of people being vaccinated. The real science is clear that:

• The coronavirus is deadly and even if it doesn’t kill you can result in very serious and persistent medical problems known as Long COVID.
• That those vaccinated compared to unvaccinated have much fewer hospitalizations.
• That those vaccinated compared to unvaccinated have significantly fewer deaths.

Please encourage your friends and family to wear masks, practice social distancing, and most importantly to get vaccinated! And contrary to what some anti-vaxxers say, getting the coronavirus vaccines doesn’t mean we have given in to fear. God gave us science for the benefit of mankind. As a Christian it truly infuriates and disgusts me to see some preachers weaponizing theology to discourage their congregations from being vaccinated. Jesus said what you do the least of the brethren you do to Him. And His command to love our neighbor as we love ourselves would translate to us getting vaccinated and wearing masks for the sake of our neighbors! Jesus is pro-vaccines. If the people in America in the 1950s had resisted the Polio vaccine the way Americans now are resisting the coronavirus vaccine then Polio in America would never have been wiped out and would to this very day still be a problem. 

 

 IN THE TIME OF ANY COMMON PLAGUE OR SICKNESS

O Almighty God, who in your wrath sent a plague upon your own people in the wilderness for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and also in the time of King David, sent a plague of pestilence which killed seventy thousand, but remembering your mercy spared the rest: have pity upon us miserable sinners, who now are visited with great sickness and mortality; and in the same way that you then accepted an atonement and commanded the destroying Angel to cease from punishing: so it may now please you to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. – BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, 1662 (ENGLAND)

The papal line of succession is riddled with political appointees, Borgias, adulterers, murderers, and power-hungry wretches who cared far more for themselves than for Christ or His flock the church. For decades there were 2 popes at the same time, and for a while even 3 popes. All of them frantically excommunicating each other and sending thousands of men to die in battle to further their own cause. Any talk of “Apostolic Succession” giving the Roman Catholic church an elevated status, much less the “One and only true Church” is rot and bunk of the highest order.. Here is a list of popes and some of their sins for you:

 

Fathered illegitimate children before Holy Orders:

Pope Pius II (1458–1464) He had at least two illegitimate children, one in Strasbourg and one in Scotland, both born before he entered the clergy. Delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.

Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492) He had two illegitimate children during his youth, both born before he entered the clergy. Nepotism described as “lavish as it was shameless.” Married elder son Franceschetto Cybo to the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, who in return obtained the cardinal’s hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X.

Pope Clement VII (1523–1534) He had a relationship with a Nubian slave girl – possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio He had ad one illegitimate son before he took holy orders, identified as Alessandro de’ Medici, Duke of Florence.

Known to, or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving Holy Orders:

Pope Julius II (1503–1513) He had three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was Felice della Rovere (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, but twelve years after his enthronement as Bishop of Lausanne). The schismatic Conciliabulum of Pisa, which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a “sodomite”. 

Pope Paul III (1534–1549) He had Silvia Ruffini as mistress Yes held off ordination in order to continue a promiscuous lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first Duke of Parma.

Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585) He had an affair with Maddalena Fulchini Yes received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, but subsequently had an affair which resulted in the birth of Giacomo Boncompagni in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate but Gregory later appointed him Gonfalonier of the Church, governor of the Castel Sant’Angelo, as well as governor of Fermo.

Pope Leo XII (1823–1829) He was allegedly, as a young prelate, suspected of having had a liaison with the wife of a soldier of Swiss Guard and as nuncio in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.

Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate:

Pope Sergius III (904–911) He was accused by opponents of being the illegitimate father of Pope John XI by Marozia. Such accusations found in Liutprand of Cremona’s Antapodosis, as well as the Liber Pontificalis. The accusations are disputed by another early source, the annalist Flodoard (c. 894–966): John XI was brother of Alberic II, the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband Alberic I, so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I. Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being “prone to exaggeration” while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of Pope Formosus.

Pope John X (914–928) He had romantic affairs with both Theodora and her daughter Marozia, according to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis.
 

Pope John XII (955–963) He was accused by adversaries of adultery and incest. Benedict of Soracte noted that he had “a collection of women”. According to Liutprand of Cremona, “they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father’s concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse.” According to Chamberlin, John was “a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held”. Some sources report that he died 8 days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery, others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.

Pope Benedict IX (1032– became pope in 1044, again in 1045 and finally 1047–1048). He was accused by Bishop Benno of Piacenza of “many vile adulteries.” Pope Victor III referred in his third book of Dialogues to “his rapes… and other unspeakable acts.” His life prompted Peter Damian to write an extended treatise against illicit sex in general, and homosexuality in particular. In his Liber Gomorrhianus, Damian accused Benedict IX of routine sodomy and bestiality and sponsoring orgies. In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.

Pope Paul II (1464–1471) He was thought to have died of indigestion arising from eating melon, though detractors insisted that he died while engaging in sodomy with a page.
 

Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) Sixtus was a “lover of boys and sodomites” – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks. However, Infessura had partisan allegiances to the Colonna family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.

Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503) He had a long affair with Vannozza dei Cattanei while still a priest, but before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, Gioffre Borgia, and Lucrezia. A later mistress, Giulia Farnese, was the sister of Alessandro Farnese, and she gave birth to a daughter (Laura) while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope. Alexander fathered at least seven, and possibly as many as ten illegitimate children, and did much to promote his family’s interests – using his offspring to build alliances with a number of important dynasties. He appointed Giovanni Borgia as Captain General of the Church, and made Cesare a Cardinal of the Church – also creating independent duchies for each of them out of papal lands.
 

Pope Leo X (1513–1521) He was accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by Francesco Guicciardini and Paolo Giovio). It has been suggested he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to Marcantonio Flaminio.
 

Pope Julius III (1550–1555) He was alleged to have had a long love affair with Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte which was a cause of public scandal. The Venetian ambassador at that time reported that Innocenzo shared the pope’s bed.

The Inquisitions Pope Innocent IV’s papal bull Ad extirpanda of 1252, which explicitly authorized (and defined the appropriate circumstances for) the use of torture by the Inquisition for eliciting confessions from heretics. By 1256 inquisitors were given absolution if they used instruments of torture.Thousand of people were tortured to murdered in horrendously gruesome ways by the Roman Catholic church in Europe. Asia, and the Americas. With full support and blessing from the popes of the day. To claim that this line of wretched, evil, and often politically appointed men somehow makes the Roman Catholic church better than any other Church is a terrible error.

As we can see, the notion of apostolic succession in the Roman Catholic church is a joke. What  matters is fidelity to sound doctrine, not apostolic succession. These wicked popes were treated with much respect and reverence. And according to Roman Catholic theology, they were the  very Vicar of Christ, Christ’s one and only representative on earth! Can you imagine these wicked men representing Christ? It makes me nauseous!