Last November the results of an investigation into child abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin was published. It is called the Murphy Report which investigated 46 allegations of sexual abuse on children in the diocese of Dublin. Although there were 102 priests alleged to have committed abuses, only 46 were investigated and reviewed in this report.
The details of the abuse suffered by children at the hands of these priests is sickening. Some people literally threw up on reading the details. Others were moved to tears. Some of the descriptions were so vile that it would be improper to recall them here. However there was one instance of a priest using a crucifix on a young girl while abusing here. This is evil personified and beyond my comprehension.
I write the following article which I sent to several newspapers and radio stations. Of course, because I am an evangelical Christian, I was ignored and the article was not published. It is written for non Christians (as most Irish Catholics are). At its conclusion I want to add some more comments for those of you who are mature Christian believers.
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THE MINISTERY OF LIES
by Patrick Heron
There is something strangely missing in the debate presently raging about the Murphy Report. We hear legal debates based on Civic Law, Canon Law and Moral Law. But no one is referring back to the Law of God or the simple words of Jesus himself in trying to put a context on all of this repulsive abuse that children have suffered at the hands of these so called Christian leaders.
I was raised a strict Catholic during the ‘50’s. I was an alter boy and attended the Christian Brothers. I knew all the Latin prayers by heart. By my teens I had decided that the Catholic Church was full of hypocrisy and I wanted no part in it. At age 24 I had a Damascene epiphany which changed me into what has been derogatorily termed a ‘born-again Christian’. So I can speak as both a Catholic who became a Biblical student.
A cursory reading of the four Gospels shows that the people who constantly hassled Jesus, who tricked him, who challenged him, who organised his betrayal, his arrest, his torture, his kangaroo court and ultimate murder, were the chief priests, the Pharisees and the doctors of Theology. That is, it was the religious leaders of the day. Those who got up in the pulpit in the synagogue every week to preach. It was they who crucified Jesus.
I always wondered why Catholics, as supposed Christians, were never encouraged to read the Bible. But when I became a student of said Bible, I learned why. Listen now to some of the direct words of the man himself and compare these with the stories we have been hearing about.
“Call no one on this earth father; for one is your father and He is in heaven.” (Matt 23:9)
Is it any wonder why we have never heard this preached from the alter of a Catholic church? Here is another interesting quote from the man priests are supposed to represent:
“Beware of the scribes. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the market-places and have the most important seats in the synagogue and places of honour at banquets. They devour widows houses and love the praise of men and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.” (Mark 12:38-40)
Or this one; “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matt 7:15) What are the fruits of the Catholic church?
Speaking of children, and this has direct relevance to the current situation, Jesus said:
“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt 18:6)
Surely this form of punishment is not acceptable in our modern pc world? Yet these are the words of the same Christ, Roman Catholic priests purport to serve. Has anyone heard a Bishop or a Cardinal or the Pope quote this saying? No.
In another of the many confrontations Jesus had with the clergy, they said to him, “We be of our father Abraham.” The inference here was that they had a father but he did not. For they believed that he was ‘illegitimate’ as they knew Mary was pregnant before her marriage. This was a sly intimation that he was a bastard child. But he replied:
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the works of your father you will do”. And at yet another debate he had with the hierarchy he told them, “You are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch”.
Bottom line here is that the Roman Catholic church is not a Christian church. At best it is nominal Christianity. It does not teach or adhere to the plain teachings of the New Testament. In fact it has gone out of its way to keep the laity away from scripture and instead reverts to the teachings of traditions and doctrines of the Church which are diametrically and diabolically opposite to the teachings of Christ. Saying that Catholics are Christians is akin to me saying I am a mechanic, but I have no idea how to change the oil in your car! Catholics have beet treated like mushrooms; keep them in the dark and feed them manure.
“Thou are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” (Matt 16:18)
It is upon this short sentence that the Church of Rome derives its authority categorically stating that Peter was the first Pope. (Yet just five verses later Jesus said to this same Peter, “Get thee behind me Satan”. But we never hear this taught). However, we need to look at the original Greek to ferret out the truth of the above quote. For ‘Peter’ in Greek here is petros, which literally means a small stone or a pebble. But the Greek for ‘rock’ is petra which means a big, immovable rock.
What Jesus was saying here was, “You are a pebble. You blow hot and cold. One day you stand for me, the next you deny me three times. You are unreliable. But upon THIS rock, I will build MY church”. Jesus was speaking of himself being the rock. Several times in the New and Old Testament it speaks of Jesus being the rock. Peter was a great leader but he was not ‘the rock’. In fact the apostle Paul was a far greater leader in the first century church than Peter ever was.
This next passage will demonstrate what is now happening to the Church of Rome.
“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock. The rain came down, the stream rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words and does not put them into practice, is like a foolish man who built his house on sand . The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matt 7:24-27)
The Church of Rome has built its house on sand, in the form of Peter, and has abandoned and neglected the teachings of Jesus, who is the rock. As a consequence it is anti-Christian and the fruits of the Catholic Church are plain to be seen by all. Just as the chief priests, the Pharisees and the Doctors of Theology were the plotters of the murder of Jesus, so the Bishops, the Cardinals and priests of today are their counterparts. Plus ca change. Paul summed it up very well in 2 Corinthians 11: 13,14 where, speaking of the religious of his day he said: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light”.
Roman Catholicism only came into Ireland with the backing of the then King of England, circa 1,000AD. Prior to that there was a different form of Christianity practised here which began with the preaching and teaching of Saint Patrick, who was an evangelical Christian, about 425AD. This is evidenced by his writings which are peppered with scripture quotes from Genesis to Revelation. Patrick knew his Bible. For 600 years this was the Golden Age of Ireland and we became the centre of Christian study in Europe and the Land of Saints and Scholars. Missionaries went all over Europe from Ireland preaching “the Gospel of Christ”. But all this changed after the Church of Rome came in. Historians tell us it took about 100 years to change the Irish from their form of Christianity to Catholicism. And it has been all downhill ever since.
There are many good, honest Irish Catholic folk. But sincerity is no guarantee for truth. It pains me to state this, but the following passage refers, in my opinion, to Roman Catholics and especially their Cardinals, Bishops and priests (as well as other so called Christian denominations) :
“Not every one that saith unto me ‘Lord, lord’, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?’
And then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me ye who work iniquity’.
As a former Catholic who found Christ through the scriptures, I feel there is only one hope for the Catholic Church in Ireland. Forget about the traditions and doctrines of Rome and get back to the simple teachings of Christ. Bring your Bibles into the church and open them and read them in order to find the narrow path of truth. If priests do not lead on this, they will remain “blind leaders of the blind”. And if the congregations do not insist on a return to the study of the scriptures, they will remain in the dark and “both shall fall into the ditch”. But if people do search out the truths of the Word, “then you shall know the truth; and the truth shall set you free”. This is the promise of Jesus Christ to each of you. (John 8:32)
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Because this article was composed for consumption by ordinary Catholic folk, I could not include scriptures which are more weighty and would only be understood by people who have the Spirit of God and who are well versed in spiritual matters. For instance, when Jesus said to the Pharisees and chief priests, “You are of your father, the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning…” (John 8:44), was Jesus speaking the literal truth here? I believe he was. Therefore these so called religious leaders who love to go around in flowing robes and love the praise of men and the chief seats at banquets, were (and are), the children of the Devil. By the way, the word ‘lusts’ here means ‘strong desires of all kinds’. Do you think this might include the sexual abuse of children?
Jesus repeated this accusation to these same religious leaders throughout the Gospels when he crossed swords with them. Look at Matt 23:15:
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than you yourselves.”
It cannot be very nice to have Jesus Christ accuse you of being a ‘child of hell’. Again the inference here is that religious leaders are associated with the activities of hell rather than the righteous works of heaven. In verse 33 of the same chapter, Jesus attacks these same hypocrites and he doesn’t mince His words:
“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”
This is King James Version English. But the literal and truer translation of this and similar quotes in Matt: 3:7 and 12:34, according to EW Bullinger is:
“Ye offspring of serpents.”
Now this throws up some interesting possibilities. For all Biblical truth has a literal meaning. Even parables have a literal meaning. Remember the parable of the tares and the wheat? A man sowed wheat in his field and an enemy came during the night and sowed tares among the wheat. These tares resemble and can be mistaken for the real wheat. Thus these religious leaders who purport to present the masses with truth, are mere impostors and offspring of serpents.
These serpents have a precedent. The serpent of Genesis 3 is the Devil and Satan. ‘Serpent’ is a metaphor for Satan in the same was as ‘lamb of God’ and ‘lion of the tribe of Judah’ are metaphors referring to Jesus Christ. Thus ‘serpent’ and ‘dragon’ are metaphors for Satan and the Devil. When God confronted the serpent and Adam and Eve, He said “I will put enmity between your seed and her seed…” Two different seeds here. The seed of the Devil and the seed of the woman. Tares and wheat.
So when Jesus accused the scribes and Pharisees of being ‘the offspring of serpents’, he was speaking literally. When he said these people were wolves in sheep’s clothing, and that they would exhibit strong desires of all kinds, and that we would recognise them by their fruit, He was speaking the literal truth. Again I ask, what is the fruit of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and everywhere else they have gone? To sexually abuse little girls and boys in unspeakable acts of depravity and evil that are diabolically opposite to any form of Christian belief. This is the work of Satan and the fruit thereof. Plus ca change. When we look at the leaders of these so called Christian churches today, parading around in their flowing robes of scarlet and gold, wearing their wizard hats and lording it over their blind flock, what are we witnessing? We are looking at the same offspring of serpents that Jesus warned us of. The more things change, the more they stay the same. What else did our Teacher tell us of these brood of vipers? Matt 7:15 -20
“ Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.”
There is an interesting usage of metaphors again here. For the Lord is referring to two types of people here and he likens them to trees. This occurs throughout scripture in various places. When Jesus rubbed mud on the blind mans’ eyes, he said, “I see men as trees walking”. Psalm 1 speaks of a righteous man being like a tree planted by the rivers of water who brings forth his fruit in due season. Could it be that the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ in Genesis 3 is a metaphor also? When John speaks of Cain as ‘being of that wicked one and slew his brother’, what is this inferring? And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1 John 3:12)
Cain was the first murderer. His works were evil. By his fruit he is known. Was he the offspring of the serpent?
(Patrick Heron is best-selling author of The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse. You can read the introduction to his new e-Book, The Return of the Antichrist and the New World Order at www.neph.ie)
ROYAL HEIR
Feel free to email me at: creyner@yahoo.com
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