THEOCRACY, OPUS DEI
AND RICK SANTORUM

INTRODUCTION:

The emergence of Opus Dei on the American political scene detailed in our last "main article," "Rick Santorum and the Continued Drift of the GOP into the Grip of Radical, Right-Wing Christianity," reveals our growing proximity to the "end of the age." WE ARE A LOT CLOSER THAN MOST PEOPLE THINK, and if we are not careful, the same trap of complacency and incredulity that caught the Jews of Germany in the 1930s and '40s regarding the danger they faced will catch us.

The massive nature of Opus Dei's headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City (a twenty story building in the heart of Manhattan - a HQ larger by far than all the HQs of the evangelical churches taken together) gives some evidence as to the enormous influence this secretive, right-wing, Catholic organization has in the United States - an influence that most Protestant evangelicals have little inkling of.

A vicious beast

Opus Dei is no normal "Christian" institution. It is essentially an extremely right-wing, politically-oriented and very taciturn Catholic organization that historically has been linked with fascist and neo-fascist organizations around the world. It was the underpinning of the regimes of Benito Mussolini in Italy; of Francisco Franco in Spain; of the Parti Rexiste of Léon Degrelle in Belgium; of the Irish Blueshirts; the Croatian Ustaše (the murderous Nazi puppet government in Croatia during World War II), etc. In addition, Opus Dei was linked to the relatively recent neo-fascist regime of Alberto Fujimora of Peru and the homicidal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile. It also participated in the CIA's failed attempt to overthrow the popularly elected socialist government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 2002.

In the light of all this, the appearance of Opus Dei on the American political scene - specifically, in the candidacy of Rick Santorum - should be enough to send shivers up the spine of anyone willing to look into the matter; after all, Opus Dei hasn't changed its stripes - it's the same vicious beast that brutalized all the countries listed above, and many more besides.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT beginning in top row: Mussolini in Italy; Franco of Spain, Léon Degrelle of Belgium; BOTTOM: the Blueshirts of Ireland and the Ustaše of Croatia.

But very few evangelical Christians seem willing to look deeply into such matters. We seem impervious to things that would have shocked previous generations of evangelical Christians - things such as the increasing power of right-wing Catholicism in U.S. political circles and its growing association with mainline evangelicals - and would have caused them to desert the churches of any and all those who advocated such an alliance, which is just about all the "leading lights" of today's evangelical church. [We URGE you to see APPENDIX 2 for a discussion as to just how far evangelicals have deserted their historical attitude regarding Roman Catholicism."]

SANTORUM - UNLIKE BUSH II - IS A GENUINE THEOCRAT

In a theocracy, church and state rule together, with the state in a subservient position

The touchstone of Roman Catholicism was (and still is) the integration of the church with the state. This is the view that both Opus Dei and Rick Santorum have adopted, although both are very careful to obfuscate this fact. This makes Santorum a real FIRST on the American political scene; in fact, a real FIRST insofar as the Republican Party is concerned. Amy Sullivan, who has examined the differences between the worldviews of Bush II and Rick Santorum, writes:

"Bush II wasn't a theocrat—he was just happy to accept the label if it helped to generate enthusiasm among his conservative religious supporters. Rick Santorum, on the other hand, is a real theocrat who does not believe in the separation of church and state. His rise from the presidential wannabe positioned out of camera range on the debate stage to potential Republican nominee has been so rapid that few people have noticed that his beliefs about religion and politics are not just run-of-the-mill conservatism. If the fear of theocracy during the Bush era was overwrought, Santorum's candidacy has made it very real." [Again, please see our article "Rick Santorum and the Continued Drift of the GOP into the Grip of Radical, Right-Wing Christianity" for a discussion of just how much difference there is between the worldview of Rick Santorum over and against the worldview of Bush II.]

Sullivan continues:

"Bush employed religious language and engaged religious leaders for two simple reasons. He came from an evangelical milieu and naturally used phrases like "being called" or having "God speak through me." And he relied on the support of religious conservatives for his political victories. Once they had returned him to the White House in 2004, Bush's attention to the gay-marriage issue disappeared, and his religious rhetoric subsided as well."

Rick Santorum and Bush II - two very different "Christians"

Sullivan goes on to say:

"Compare that with Santorum's statements about religion and the state. In 2008, after he had lost his Senate seat and his political fortunes were close to bankrupt, Santorum spoke to the students at Ave Maria University in Florida. The Catholic institution was created by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, who has sought to make the town where it is located a self-governing Christian locality:

'This is not a political war at all. This is not a cultural war. This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies [Satan] has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country—the United States of America' ..."

And, according to Santorum, if it is indeed a "spiritual war," the church should seize control of the state so that the war can be successfully prosecuted -- and secularists should be very careful here in dismissing such thoughts as nothing more than excessive rhetoric; Sullivan reminds us,

"Santorum's faith isn't for show, nor is his association with ultraconservative religious leaders purely a matter of building a political constituency."

As if to confirm all this, Santorum said recently on ABC's This Week that every time he reads President Kennedy's speech in 1960 affirming separation of church and state, he wants to "THROW UP."

TOM MONAGHAN

As indicated above, one of Santorum's biggest supporters is Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, who - as Sullivan suggested - attempted several years ago to establish a town in Florida as an exclusively Catholic town (conservative evangelicals welcome) named Ave Maria; the town was to be dedicated to those who wanted to live lives in consort with the rigid, right-wing Catholicism embraced by Opus Dei's founder Josemaria Escrivá. [Once again, please see our article, "Rick Santorum and the Continued Drift of the GOP into the Grip of Radical, Right-Wing Christianity."]

Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan is one of Rick Santorum's biggest supporters; Monaghan is a right-wing Catholic with deep ties to Opus Dei.

Annika Carlson of Hope College explains what happened in connection with Monaghan's attempt to "found" a conservative Catholic University in opposition to more liberal Catholic institutions such as Notre Dame:

"The most remarkable thing about the school may be its location in the town of Ave Maria [in Florida]. After Ann Arbor [Michigan] declined to grant Monaghan the necessary zoning exceptions to build the college at the Domino's Pizza headquarters, complete with a 250-foot crucifix featuring a 40-foot Jesus, he took his business to a patch of Florida land offered by developer Barron Collier. The two forged an agreement, with Collier developing most of the city in return for lots more of Monaghan's money. Monaghan envisioned Ave Maria as a Catholic refuge from the rest of the world. In 2005, he told the Boston Catholic Men's Association that he planned to -

'... control all of the commercial real estate, so there's not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We're controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives'."

Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida

Carlson continues:

"Unfortunately for Monaghan, free speech advocates everywhere shot down his original vision of a new Catholic Eden by pointing out its obvious breaches of separation of church and state. Monaghan seemed surprised that he didn't have complete control over his new city:

'I thought we owned the real estate, so we can lease to whoever we want and put things in the contract, but there are laws ...'"

Carlson goes on to say that as a result -

"The [present religious] exclusivity of Ave Maria rests only on its extremely expensive homes and, Monaghan hopes, peer pressure ... Monaghan told The New Yorker, 'I don't know how many gay couples are going to want to live in the town'. Neighbors like Monaghan virtually guarantee uniformity—what progressive in her right mind would want to join his flock?"

NOTE: In addition to his domestic endeavors, Monaghan took special interest in combating Central American Liberation Theology in the 1980s, which emphasized the Christian mission to help the impoverished and oppressed. In the process, he "wholly endorsed" the cause of the Nicaraguan Contras, armed groups—also famously supported by the Reagan Administration—who were infamous for their human rights abuses. In supporting the Contras, Monaghan made "common cause" with evangelical leaders such as Pat Robertson and others of his ilk. [For information on the Vatican's effort to suppress Liberation Theology, we urge you to see our article, "Liberation Theology, the Vatican, and the CIA: Ghosts and Phantoms;" please also see our articles, "Pat Robertson, Roberto D'Aubuisson and the Death Squads" and "The Death Squads: Bringing in the Kingdom of God through Terror, Torture and Death."] In 1990, when violence calmed in Nicaragua, Monaghan was summoned by a cardinal to help rebuild a cathedral in Managua. He scrapped the initial plans (which were modest), saying, "If you're going to build a cathedral, build a cathedral." He then designed and financed most of a $4.5 million structure—despite the fact that at the time most Nicaraguans didn't have enough food to eat. (Carlson) THE MURDEROUS WORK OF THE CONTRA REBELS THAT MONAGHAN SUPPORTED DURING THE CONTRA WARS Human rights activist Reed Brody has written: "There was a distinct pattern of abuses by the death squads Monaghan supported including: attacks on purely civilian targets resulting in the killing of unarmed men, woman, children and the elderly; premeditated acts of brutality including rapes, beatings, mutilations and torture; individual and mass kidnappings of civilians for the purpose of forced recruitment into the Contra forces and the creation of a hostage refugee population in Honduras; assaults on economic and social targets such as farms, co-operatives and on vehicles carrying volunteer coffee harvesters; intimidation of civilians who participated or cooperated in government or community programs such as distribution of subsidized food products, education and local self-defense militias; and kidnapping, intimidation, and even murder of religious leaders who supported the government, including priests and clergy-trained lay pastors."

WHAT'S PARTICULARLY FRIGHTENING ...

What's particularly frightening in all of this is that the candidacy of Rick Santorum is coming at a time when the 500-year old breach between Catholicism and Protestantism (especially the conservative, politically-oriented elements in both religious groups) is coming to an end - which can only serve to magnify the horror these right-wing groups (when acting in consort with one another) are capable of generating. And, as if to give evidence regarding the growing unity between them, 150 of the most prominent leaders in evangelical Christianity agreed on January 14 of this year to endorse Santorum for president, including Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Pastor Jim Garlow, head of the giant Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego and leader of California's anti-gay campaign, Richard Land, past president of the largest Protestant domination in the country, the Southern Baptist Convention, etc. WHAT THIS CLEARLY INDICATES - ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF JAMES DOBSON'S AND RICHARD LAND'S PARTICIPATION - IS JUST HOW FAR THE LEADERS OF TODAY'S EVANGELICAL CHURCH HAVE STRAYED FROM THE PLAIN TEACHINGS OF THE SCRIPTURE IN THEIR PURSUIT TO "SAVE AMERICA FOR CHRIST." [We URGE you to see APPENDIX 1 for more information on this subject; in addition, we again URGE you to see APPENDIX 2 for a discussion as to just how far evangelicals have retreated from their historical attitude regarding Roman Catholicism."]

CATHOLIC BISHOPS NATIONAL ASSOC. OF EVANGELICALS Most secularists have very little idea how close Catholics and Protestants have moved towards each other in recent years; it's an alliance forged out of their common belief that secularist forces want to drive Christianity out of "public spaces" in the United States.

Catholic churches around Ohio said they would not obey a mandate to offer free birth control to employees of many church-owned institutions. The mandate covers hospitals, universities, and other institutions whose purpose is not expressly religious.

Naturally enough, most secularists discount this new and fast-developing alliance; they see Catholics as being rather insipid insofar as their Catholicism is concerned; not very much given to the tenets of their faith. It's precisely here, however, that many secularists are making a huge mistake. It's a mistake that they have made before regarding Catholics.

While it's true that most Catholics are indeed quite wishy-washy regarding the doctrines of their faith, when these very same Catholics come to believe that their church - i.e., the church itself, the church as an institution - is under attack, MOST OF THEM RESPOND VERY MILITANTLY. And isn't this exactly what secularists are doing insofar as their effort to force Catholic institutions to embrace contraception? Attacking the Catholic Church itself?

What are the secularists who are "calling the shots" for the Obama Administration thinking here as they attempt to force contraception as part of the church's in-house health plans down the throats of the Catholic clergy?

And what's more, what are these silly Obama sycophants going to do if the clergy refuses to cave in on this issue? - refuse federal economic assistance to Catholic hospitals and schools?

And if they go that far, what will happen if the Catholic clergy still refuses to go along with the government's dictates, forcing the closure of these institutions for lack of funds: that's almost one-third of America's hospitals and a huge number of our country's most prestigious institutions of higher learning? CATHOLICS COULD NOT HELP BUT SEE THIS AS A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST THEIR CHURCH - and while it's true that most Catholics embrace contraception and birth-control on a PERSONAL basis, the great majority of Catholics will not see things in these terms, but rather that Obama is making war on their church; moreover, great numbers of non-Catholics who avail themselves of the services of these institutions will be likewise enraged.

Over the years, there have been many who have attempted to attack the Catholic Church, believing, erroneously, that it was a dying institution. That's what the last Communist government of Poland thought, and it is clear enough what happened to them. ONE MAKES WAR AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AT HIS OR HER PERIL.

There are no enemies in a foxhole

In addition to all this, it's not just the Catholic Church per se with which Obama and his cronies are going to have to contend, but also most of the conservative evangelical Christian community as well - a community which will, no doubt, rush to the defense of their "Catholic brethren."

The fact is, most evangelicals will view what's happening to Catholics as not simply an attack on the Catholic Church, but on the wider Church of God. This is the kind of thing that makes friends out of erstwhile enemies. And here one should take note of the fact that the Prophetic Scriptures predict just that: the union of Western Christendom as the "end of the age" draws closer - a Christendom that has been united behind the false pretensions of the antichrist - AN ANTICHRIST THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SECULARISM AND "NEW AGE" THINKING OF SO-CALLED "PROGRESSIVES," BUT AN ANTICHRIST THAT IS POSING AS THE CHAMPION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. [Please see Chapter XI of the New Antipas Papers, "AntiChrist, King of Babylon."]

THE UNION OF CHURCH & STATE IS THE
ANTITHESIS OF REAL CHRISTIANITY

The union of church and state - which not only is what right-wing Catholics such as Rick Santorum, Chuck Hagel and Sam Brownback embrace, but what the leaders of NAR such as C. Peter Wagner, Rick Joyner and countless other similar evangelicals hold as well - is the antithesis to all that the church was meant to be - a HEAVENLY reality, not something of this world (kosmos). [For information on NAR, please see our article, "Meet the Christian Dominionist 'Prayer Warriors' Who Have Chosen Rick Perry as Their Vehicle to Power;" in addition, we urge you to see Chapter VI of the New Antipas Papers, "The Distinction between Israel and the Church," which distinguishes between the HEAVENLY calling of the church over and against Israel's role as God's testimony on the earth.]

Whether right-wing Christians - both Catholics and evangelicals - want to believe it or not, THIS is the kind of Jesus they worship.

But Jesus said,

"My kingdom [reign (basileia)] is not of this world [kosmos]: if my kingdom were of this world [kosmos], then would my servants fight ... but ... my kingdom [comes] not from hence." (John 18:36)

And the reason for this? - because the present earth is under the control of Satan. The Apostle John put it quite bluntly when he said,

"The whole world [kosmos] lieth in the evil one" (I John 5:19)

- and the earth is not destined to be released from that control until Jesus comes again. It's for this cause that the Apostle John goes on to warn us -

"Do not love the world, or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world ... comes not from the Father ..." (I John 2:15-16)

[We urge you to see Part 5 of Chapter VIII of the New Antipas Papers, "The World," for a discussion of how implacably opposed the world [kosmos] is to Christ."]

SATAN AS THE GREAT KOSMOKRATER

Satan is the great KOSMOKRATER (world-ruler) of this earth, and he has directed all his strength and ingenuity into causing it to flourish. To what end? - to capture man's allegiance and draw him to himself. He has one object: to establish his own dominion in human hearts worldwide. Still, many Christians - especially those who are being drawn into the effort to save the nation for "Christ and the church" - apparently have an extremely difficult time in understanding this.

They seem unable to fathom exactly who really is in charge here. True, they will acknowledge that Satan has an "influence" in the world and among the nations, but that is all that they will ever ascribe to him - influence, not control. But that is not what the Bible says; the Word of God clearly states that Satan CONTROLS the world. Satan controls the entire world:

"And the devil, took him [i.e., Christ] up into an high mountain, and shewed unto him ALL the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

"And the devil said unto him ... [ALL THIS] IS DELIVERED UNTO ME..." (Luke 4:5-6)

"And the devil, taking him [i.e., Christ] up into an high mountain and shewed unto him ALL the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him ... [ALL THIS] IS DELIVERED UNTO ME AND TO WHOMEVER I WILL GIVE IT." (Luke 4:5-6)

The church is to have nothing to do with the world. Why? - because it belongs to Satan; therefore, it is beyond remedy; there is nothing that can be done to "reform" it - it is fit only for judgment.

The Scriptures compare "love of the world" to harlotry. Why? - because as Christians we have been espoused to Christ and are no longer to be connected in any way to our former "lover:" the world.

We are no longer citizens of this world, but rather we are now subjects of a heavenly kingdom -

"... which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10)!

REAL Christians are those who look for a city "... which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10)!

We are to consider ourselves as nothing more than strangers and pilgrims in this world - people with no permanent abode.

As Christians, we are now to think of ourselves as only "pilgrims and strangers" to this world - to its politics and all such things; we are to have none of it - it no longer is of concern to us. Once it was of great and legitimate concern to us; but no longer, for our allegiance has been transferred from this world to the kingdom of God's dear Son.

Paul says,

"... for people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking [another] homeland ... that is a HEAVENLY one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city [another country - a HEAVENLY one]." [Heb. 11:13-16]

And again, Paul writes:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in HEAVENLY places in Christ ...

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace ...

"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will ...

"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints ...

"And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the HEAVENLY places,

"Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

"And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

"Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.(Eph. 1:3, 7, 11, 18, 19-23)

Where is our inheritance, then? - clearly, it's in the HEAVENS with Christ Jesus our Lord.

To renew our relationship with the world, to once again fall into the world's embrace - despite the vow of single-heartedness we made to Christ when we were born-again - is to reveal ourselves as a harlot.

The Bible says Christians who love the world are nothing more than harlots insofar as God is concerned.

HALF-HEARTED

To be half-hearted (i.e., to "go slow") is, of course, the last thing we can afford as the "end of the age" advances on us.

In the light of these Scriptural realities, and in the light of the dangerous situation the candidacy of Rick Santorum is placing the true church of God in (i.e., the Church that refuses to be tainted with the world that Satan plainly controls) - for us to take a half-hearted view of the support Rick Santorum is gleaning from the leaders of today's evangelical church is to reveal how much we, like the Jews of Germany, have been spiritually compromised in order to hold on to the "good life" (La Dolce Vita) that we as American evangelicals presently enjoy - AND ALL THIS AT A TIME WHEN WE CAN LEAST AFFORD TO MAKE SUCH COMPROMISES.

This is a time that demands extreme measures; there is no room now for luke-warm responses to the danger that is quickly engulfing us; no room for so-called "moderate" solutions and temperate action. The time for that is gone!

To embrace "moderation" in view of what Rick Santorum's candidacy portends is unbelievably STUPID and DULL-WITTED. It's akin to someone who is stuck in a car on a railroad track with a locomotive bearing down on him: RADICALISM is surely right at that point; abandoning one's car, even if one's insurance has lapsed on his $65,000 BMW with $250,000 in cash in the trunk (all destined to be

Sometimes it's best to abandon our expensive cars and "things" if we are to save ourselves from the locomotive that is barreling down on us.

burned up in any kind of crash) is surely appropriate. To hesitate then in order to save the car and the cash will cost one his life. [Again, we URGE you to see APPENDIX 1 for more information on this subject; in addition, we URGE you to see APPENDIX 2 for a discussion as to just how far evangelicals have deserted their historical attitude regarding Roman Catholicism."]

Our inability to fathom the "emergency situation" with which we are confronted - i.e., the candidacy of Rick Santorum - reveals just how far advanced we are as Americans of ceding control of the country to a religio-fascist dictatorship; in speaking of people like us, Jesus said:

"This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matthew 13:13) [Once again, we urge you to see our article, "Rick Santorum and the Continued Drift of the GOP into the Grip of Radical, Right-Wing Christianity."]

REMEMBER WHAT PROPHECY IS ALL ABOUT

It is exactly here that we must remember what prophecy is all about: Prophecy is like a road sign saying: "Slow down, sharp, right-hand turn ahead!" But if we fail to heed the sign, if we fail to slow down BEFORE we get to the turn and see danger with our own eyes, it will be too late to brake, and we will surely slide off the road and crash.

Prophecy is like a road sign saying: "Slow down, sharp right hand turn ahead!" But if we fail to heed the sign, if we fail to slow down before we get to the turn, it will be too late to brake once we finally get there, and we will surely slide off the road and crash. Like a road sign, the Scriptures tell us things before they happen so that we can take evasive action before events catch up with us. If we wait until they finally overtake us, it will be too late to do anything - we will crash!

I repeat! - prophecy is like a roadsign that tells us things BEFORE they happen so that we can mitigate the danger we face; AND LET THERE BE NO DOUBT ABOUT IT: The re-integration of Western Christianity under the banner of dominionism is foretold to us in the Prophetic Scriptures because of the danger it poses to all REAL Christians - and isn't that exactly what the candidacy of Rick Santorum portends? - the re-integration of Protestantism and Catholicism.

"... When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matt. 16:2-3)

The fact is, if one links the candidacy of Rick Santorum with the Prophetic Scriptures, one can easily come away with the view that the dice has already been cast regarding the re-integration of Christianity's various parts; and that this prophetic imperative is now too far advanced to be stopped on any kind of permanent basis even if Santorum's present effort to be nominated as the Republican Candidate for the presidency ultimately fails.

Jesus said,

"... When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matt. 16:2-3)

And Paul warns us,

"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (I Thess. 5:4-6)

RADICALISM IS NOW A CONCEPT
THAT ALL CHRISTIAN MUST EMBRACE

In the Antipas Papers, I wrote:

"As evangelicals, we say that we believe we are living in the "Last Days;" but we live as though they will never come - as if ignoring it all will make it go away and give us time to relax and enjoy the "Good Life" that we - as citizens of the richest and most powerful nation on earth - think accrues to us as a result of 'divine right'.

"Of course, insofar as God is concerned, it doesn't really matter what we think. His plans do not exist for our convenience - they will come to pass whether we approve of them or not. In the long run, it only matters to us - AND TIME FOR RECOGNIZING THIS FACT IS RUNNING OUT! To continue to ignore God's Word with regard to the "end of days" is as stupid as what the Jews did with regard to Hitler on the eve of the Second World War."

TAKING RADICAL ACTION Jews abandoning their possessions in Europe and fleeing to the Holy Land

I continued:

"L.S. Dawidowics, a Jewish writer, wrote in her authoritative account of the Holocaust, War Against the Jews, 1933-1945:

'The Jews, whose dazzling success in business blinded them to the encroaching blackness of National Socialism [Nazism], were caught unaware by the onslaught of Hitler. The model German Jew was metropolitan, a businessman or professional, [moderate] ... in his practice of Judaism ... [and] in his politics, with a more passionate attachment to Germany than to his Jewishness [a fact which strangely parallels the seemingly stronger attachment of American Christians to America than to their own Christianity - editor]. Most German Jews regarded Zionism [the longing of certain Jews to return to their ancient homeland] as an alien doctrine; the son who left Judaism for Communism was less likely to be rejected than the one who chose Zionism'."

MONEY HOLDS US BACK; IT HINDERS
US FROM TAKING RADICAL ACTION

THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH MONEY!! - especially as it pertains to us in these "Last Days." MONEY HOLDS US BACK! Just as it did with the Jews, MONEY HAMPERS US FROM EMBRACING THE RADICALISM SO NECESSARY TO THE "EMERGENCY" THAT PRESENTLY CONFRONTS US.

MONEY HOLDS US BACK! Just as it did with the Jews, MONEY HAMPERS US FROM EMBRACING THE RADICALISM SO NECESSARY TO THE "EMERGENCY" THAT PRESENTLY CONFRONTS US

The danger - indeed, the MASSIVE peril - that wealth presents to the believer lies not so much in the threat that one will immediately descend into sin, as it does in the fact that IT RENDERS ONE'S CHRISTIAN LIFE HALF-HEARTED, causing it to be nothing more than a series of little compromises between Mammon and God; a life that is neither cold nor hot, just LUKEWARM - a condition that Christ loathes to see in His so-called followers:

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

"So then because thou art LUKEWARM, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue [VOMIT] thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16)

God forbid that we should be VOMITED out of Christ's mouth - but that is surely what will happen if we do not take the Prophetic Scriptures seriously; if we are like those who say,

"Where is the promise of his coming ...?" (2 Peter 3:3)

- and begin to settle down into the pleasures of this life -- and this despite all the evidence of His soon return that are all about us.

Yes! - it's true that we cannot know the exact day nor hour of His coming again, but we can certainly know the "times and the seasons;" and those who are unable to do so Christ calls "HYPOCRITES:"

"O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matt. 16:3)

"... as travail upon a woman with child"

Why a "Hypocrite?" A hypocrite is a fraud - someone who is unable to see what is plainly before his or her eyes; for instance, a woman who is nine months pregnant, but who has denied her pregnancy despite all the signs of her pregnancy - even, as improbable as it might seem, up to the ninth month. This is how the Apostle Paul describes the idiocy of our "inability to see" in 1 Thess. 5:3: THIS IS DENIAL WRIT LARGE; but no matter how much one denies it, childbirth is coming with all the pain and anguish connected to it. Paul puts it this way:

"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." (1 Thess 5:3)

As absurd as this example might seem, this is the kind of spiritual DENIAL that worldly wealth creates in the believer's heart. THAT'S WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS; this is not my example, this is the example the Bible gives.

Jesus said,

"Lay NOT up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt. 6:19-21)

I tell you the truth when I say, IN A FEW SHORT YEARS - maybe in less than TEN - JESUS WILL RETURN; AND WHEN HE DOES, HE WILL -

"... send THE RICH ... EMPTY AWAY." (Luke 1:51-53)

- and not just those who are rich, but those who are found "overcharged with the cares of this life." Jesus said:

"Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with ... the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

"For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:34-36)

________________________________________

We Urge you to see our article, "The Kingdom of God Is at Hand: Part 1 - Building the 'Commune of God."]

God bless you all!

S.R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries

***

IN ADDITION, WE URGE YOU TO DOWNLOAD THE NEW ANTIPAS PAPERS, PRINT THEM OUT YOURSELF, AND STUDY THEM CAREFULLY; SHARE THEM WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

***

FINALLY, WE URGE YOU TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT OUT THE FLYER WE SENT TO YOU RECENTLY.

Then make copies and take these copies out to the campuses where you live; pass them out; OR if that seems too "daring" for you right now, post them on telephone poles, the sides of buildings, on campus bulletin boards; post them in union halls, in the neighborhoods of the poor and downtrodden, near employment offices, wherever you can.

Once again, we URGE you to read (or re-read):

• The Good News of the Coming Kingdom.

• The Kingdom of God Is at Hand.

• The Principles of the Kingdom.

• The American New World Order System Must Give Way to the Kingdom of Heaven.

__________________________________________

APPENDIX 1 THE RAPPROCHEMENT BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS AND WHAT IT ALL PORTENDS The 500-year old breach between Protestantism and Catholicism is coming to an end - not so much on a doctrinal basis, but as a result of the relentless attacks by secularists against Christianity over the last fifty years, to say nothing of the siege that Islam has undertaken against Western Christendom - a "faith-community" which, when seen as a whole (Protestants and Catholics together), accounts for almost one-half of the earth's population. It's here that we must pause and take into account the fact that every so-called "Christian" in "Western Christendom" (both Protestants and Catholics) have historically had two loyalties: one to the "spiritual" church and one to the "temporal" state, i.e., those twin powers of Regnum and Sacerdotium, that have governed the lives of "Western Man" - most especially during the Middle Ages, but also, more than most committed secularists would care to admit, even today. To the Caesars of the state one must render certain honors, and to the church of God other honors. THE TWO SWORDS THE CHURCH THE STATE Hildebrand [Gregory VII (pope from 1073 to 1085)] put it this way: "... the spiritual (i.e., churchly) and temporal (i.e., civil) powers are entrusted to two different orders, each drawing its authority from God, each supreme in its own sphere, and independent, within its own sphere, of the other ... the king is subject to the bishop in spiritual matters, the bishop is to the king in temporal matters." This doctrine became known as the "Doctrine of the Two Swords" (i.e., the "temporal sword" and the "spiritual sword"). Ultimately, however, the spiritual power was held to be supreme. The church insisted that there could be no end to the validity of God's law, and where conflict arose between the power of the state over and against the power of the church, the state must give way. Why? - because the church held that spiritual laws were fixed and immutable, and as a result, "All customs and all written laws (i.e., all man-made laws and customs) which were adverse to natural (i.e., spiritual) law were to be accounted null and void." There was to be no gainsaying the voice of the church: Si Roma locuta sit, cause finita sit. Secularists tend to believe that such thinking is dead and gone - but for them to think so is very naive. Indeed, most sincere Christians - even today - if given the choice between obeying the "Law of God" as opposed to the "Law of Man" (i.e., the state) would not hesitate to choose the "Law of God." One has only to look at the Culture War which is raging in the United States for confirmation of this fact - especially insofar as it pertains to abortion and homosexuality. Henry IV of Germany submitting himself to the authority of Hildebrand [Gregory VII (pope from 1073 to 1085)] Secularists are making a big mistake in underestimating the power of the "spiritual sword" - i.e., the primacy of "God's Law" over and against "Man's Law" in most people today - in doing so, they may be digging their own graves in the ever intensifying Culture War.

__________________________________________

APPENDIX 2 THE EXTENT TO WHICH EVANGELICALS HAVE DRIFTED AWAY FROM THEIR HISTORIC STAND REGARDING CATHOLICISM The plunge of the church into the affairs of this world after it was made the "state religion" by Constantine could not help but leave its smell on Roman Catholicism, and it was against this stench, which had over the centuries attached itself to the "Church of Rome," that the Protestant Reformers revolted during the Reformation; to a person, they found little difficulty in identifying the woman on the beast in Revelation 17 as the Church of Rome. Alexander Hislop and the Two Babylons Indeed, as late as the early Twentieth Century, the Rev. Alexander Hislop of England found little trouble in receiving widespread acceptance for his book, The Two Babylons, in which he wrote: "There never has been any difficulty in the mind of any enlightened Protestant in identifying the woman (of Revelation 17) 'sitting on seven mountains', and having on her forehead the name written, 'Mystery, Babylon the Great', with Roman apostasy. No other city in the world has ever been celebrated, as the city of Rome has, for its situation on seven hills ... To call Rome the city 'of seven hills' was by its citizens held to be as descriptive as to call it by its own proper name. Hence Horace speaks of it by reference to its seven hills alone, when he addresses, 'Thy gods who have set their affections on the seven hills'. Martial, in like manner, speaks of '... the seven dominating mountains' ... Now while this characteristic of Rome has ever been well marked and defined, it has always been easy to show, that the church which has its seat and headquarters on the seven hills of Rome might most appropriately be called 'Babylon', inasmuch as it is the chief seat of idolatry under the New Testament, as the ancient Babylon was the chief seat of idolatry under the Old." Most evangelicals today would consider such a statement extreme. But until the latter half of this century, such thinking was considered well within the evangelical mainstream. The fact is, Hislop's view here is the historic position of the Protestant / evangelical church: it was the view held by Luther, Zwingle, Huss, Calvin, Whitefield, Finney, Mueller, Moody, Ironside, Barnhouse, Gaebelein, Torrey, Warfield, Pentecost, Walvoord, etc., etc., etc. (for instance, Barnhouse, Ironside, and Gaebelein specifically endorsed the above passage) - and if there has in recent years been a softening of the evangelical / Protestant attitude towards the Catholic Church, it certainly hasn't been because the Catholic Church itself has changed - it's evangelicals who have changed! The fact that many of the leaders of today's evangelical church - people like the late John Wimber, Paul and Jan Crouch, and even Chuck Swindall, the current president of Dallas Theological Seminary - find it difficult to continue in the vein of their Protestant and evangelical forefathers insofar as their attitude toward Catholicism is concerned only indicates the kind of craven duplicity that some of our present-day leaders are engaged in - hypocrites who present themselves as evangelicals and as the heirs of our evangelical faith, and who cavalierly trade upon the godly reputation of yesterday's evangelicalism, while all the while denying the very doctrines which empowered that church and made it what it was; it may be an indication of how close to the end we really are. But it isn't as if "old-line" evangelicals (men like Barnhouse, Gaebelein, Ironside, etc.) had not anticipated such a change. Most of them - if they were alive today - would have had little trouble in believing that the reference to the "whore" of Revelation 17 as "the mother of harlots" [Rev. 17:5] was a clear reference to these so-called "new-evangelicals" - men like Gary DeMar, Ed McAteer, James Kennedy, Ray Sutton, Duane Gish, Pat Robertson, Morris Cerullo, etc. - who seem to be hell bent on racing one another to embrace Roman Catholicism as a "sister church," especially as the exigencies of political warfare press themselves ever more heavily on them as they jam forward with their program to "take the nation back for Christ and the church" - a program which they have come to believe cannot succeed without Catholic support. To the men and women involved in this kind of political activity, heresy and doctrinal differences cannot be allowed to stand in the way of their politics. But in doing so - in placing more emphasis on political aggrandizement than on spiritual growth, these men - and the denominations they lead - are acquiring the same stench to themselves that has historically attached itself to Roman Catholicism. Political activity requires compromise, and compromise leads ultimately to apostasy - the process is inexorable and is as sure as the proposition that the sun rises in the east. And when apostasy has done its work, heresy and idolatry are the inevitable result. That is what happened to Roman Catholicism, and this is what will happen to those who follow in Catholicism's wake.

__________________________________________

APPENDIX 3 THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF "END TIMES." So - again - what is apostasy? It is the turning back of Christians from faith in the heavenly kingdom of Jesus Christ to the worldly kingdom from which we came. And more - and at its subtle best - it is the seeking of Christians to advance the Kingdom of Christ through worldly means. How far and to what extent the development of this synthesis has proceeded in the Catholic world (and in those Protestant bodies which have embraced post-millennialism) can best be seen in a study of Catholic eschatology (doctrine of "end times") - because eschatology is the summation of a faith's theology: it defines the goals of that theology, what it is ultimately aiming at. Catholic eschatology points unwaveringly to an earthly kingdom; there is little hint as to anything "heavenly" in its doctrine of "end times." Its aims are totally directed at earthly domination. And the twists and turns of this eschatology are mind boggling, especially in its manifestation as it relates to the re-unification of the Western World under Vatican domination. The Catholic tradition of "end times" pictures an era filled with great war and turmoil which will lead finally to the emergence of two breathtaking and towering personalities: (1) the "Great Monarch" (or "King of the West"), and (2) the "Angelic Pastor." The "Great Monarch" will emerge out of the wars and revolutions of the "end times," assuming control over the Roman World (Western Civilization), eventually triumphing over the forces of the "godless East," and finally seizing control of the entire world. Under his rule, mankind will enjoy a great worldwide peace. THE GREAT MONARCH THE ANGELIC PASTOR During this time, there will reign on the Throne of Peter a saintly pope who will be known as the "Angelic Pastor." The "Angelic Pastor" will assist the "Great Monarch" in the destruction of Protestantism, Islam, and Jewry, and the conversion of the entire world to the Catholic faith. CATHOLIC "PROPHETIC UTTERANCES" AS TO THE GREAT MONARCH & THE ANGELIC PASTOR The prophecies of the "Great Monarch" (or "King of the West") and the "Angelic Pastor" find their origin in Catholic "prophetic utterances" dating from Hippolytus (died 235) to the present. The following are examples of but a few of these "utterances:" Hippolytus: "The Great Monarch who shall subject all the east, shall come around the end of the world." Caesar of Arles (469-543): "The Great Monarch shall extend his dominion over the entire earth. At the same time there will be a great Pope (the Angelic Pastor), who will be most eminent in sanctity and most perfect in every quality. This Pope shall have with him the Great Monarch ... This Great Monarch will assist the Pope in the reformation of the whole earth." Chronicles of Magdeburg (12th Century): "There shall arise an emperor (the Great Monarch) ... who shall rule ... and by whom the decayed estate of the church shall be reformed and the ancient glory of the empire (the Roman) restored." Abbot Joachim (died, 1202): "After many prolonged sufferings endured by Christians, and after a too great effusion of innocent blood ... a remarkable pope will be seated on the pontifical throne, under the special protection of the angels. Holy and full of gentleness, he shall undo all wrong ... and recover the kingdom of Jerusalem ... In order to obtain these happy results, having need of a powerful assistance, this holy Pontiff will ask the cooperation of the King of the West (the Great Monarch)." Holzhauser (died, 1658): "When everything has been ruined by war, when Catholics are hard pressed by traitorous co-religionists and heretics ... then the hand of Almighty God will work a marvelous change, something apparently impossible according to human understanding. There will rise a valiant monarch (the Great Monarch) anointed by God. He will rule supreme in temporal (i.e., in civil) matters. The Pope will rule supreme in spiritual matters at the same time. Persecution will cease and justice shall reign. He will root out false doctrines and destroy the rule of Moslemism. His dominions will extend from the east to the west. All nations will adore God their Lord according to Catholic teaching. The reign of the Great Monarch maybe compared with that of Caesar Augustus, who became emperor after his victory over his enemies, thereby giving peace to the world - also with the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great, who was sent by God, after sever persecutions, to deliver both the church and state. By his victories on water and land, he brought the Roman Empire under subjugation, which he then ruled in peace ... The Great Monarch will have the special help of God and be unconquerable." [AND HERE IS SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT - TO THOSE EVANGELICALS WHO HAVE AT LEAST A MODICUM OF KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING THE "END OF DAYS" - THEY SHOULD ASK THEMSELVES WHETHER OR NOT THE "GREAT MONARCH" AND THE "ANGELIC PASTOR" DO NOT BEAR A STRIKING RESEMBLANCE TO THE BIBLICAL PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE ANTICHRIST AND THE FALSE PROPHET!] The battle, then, which the Catholic faith pictures for the church is not one which is waged against "principalities and powers in heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12), but one which is totally earthly and is carried on by means of the arms of the flesh. It's a battle for the earth, not the heaven