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I invite the reader to consider carefully what is written in the following words of the apostle Paul. This servant of Yahshua was testifying of what would occur at the end of the age preceding the appearing of Christ. He was speaking of the hour in which we now live. Speaking prophetically, the apostle declared that one of the major characteristics of this hour would be a pervasive deception that would cause the church at large to fall away from the truth.
II Thessalonians 2:1-12
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Yahshua Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the apostasy (the falling away from truth) comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not obey the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
In this brief passage, the apostle states the following:
• Christians need to beware of deception.
• Christ’s return will be preceded by a great apostasy, a general falling away from truth by the church.
• A lawless one will come who will be worshiped by humanity, including those in the church.
• This lawless one will perform signs and wonders, as he manifests great power that has been given to him by Satan.
• The lawless one will have great power to deceive.
• Christians who do not obey/love the truth will be given over to a spirit of delusion.
• Christians who take pleasure in unrighteousness will fall to delusion and experience the condemnation of God.
As I survey the church of this hour, I see that everything Paul prophesied is occurring. The church at large is turning away from truth. I observed a profound example of this two days ago as I listened to an audio message that a brother in Christ informed me about. Rick Wiles of the TruNews Radio program was interviewing Anglican/Episcopalian Bishop Tony Palmer. Tony Palmer is the man who recently carried a message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland, and the hundreds of ministers gathered together at one of the Kenneth Copeland Ministry events.
Anglican Bishop Tony Palmer
Tony Palmer, in a private meeting with the Pope, made a video with his cell phone of Pope Francis speaking a word of reconciliation and entreaty to Kenneth Copeland, inviting the Protestants to lay aside their rejection of Roman Catholicism, and to be united with the Harlot of Rome in one communion. The message was eagerly, ecstatically, received by Kenneth Copeland, who responded by leading the hundreds of gathered ministers in prayer for the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehFpeVGLyxs
Rick Wiles was just as embracing of Bishop Tony Palmer’s message. Throughout the hour long broadcast Rick Wiles expressed agreement, and spoke openly of the common experiences and beliefs that he shared with Palmer.
Rick Wiles of TruNews
Ephesians 6:11
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
The broadcast was a masterpiece of deception. You can listen to it at the following link:
http://www.trunews.com/wednesday-may-21-2014-bishop-anthony-palmer/
Rick Wiles begins the broadcast by asking Tony Palmer to describe the time when he came to know the Lord. He shares how he was saved through the testimony of a carpenter and invited to attend a mega-church in South Africa. The staff at the mega-church recognized that Tony had a call on his life to be a minister, and after just a few months of being saved he quit his job in the medical field and took a full-time position as a neighborhood evangelist with the church. After he had been a Christian for about a year, the church staff agreed that he had a call on his life to be a minister. Consequently he was sent off to a Bible college to receive ministry training.
I have written before of the incongruity between the ways churches prepare men for ministry, and Yahshua’s method of preparing men for ministry. Being sent off to attend Bible college is NOT Christ’s method for preparing His servants. Christ demonstrated an apprenticeship model of preparing disciples. Key to the success of this method is that the journeyman discipler be a godly individual who walks with God, being directed and empowered by the Spirit of Christ. In this way, the apprentice is able to have modeled before him the entire life of a disciple, rather than simply having ideas and doctrines delivered to him in the sterile environment of the classroom.
After two and a half years of Bible college, Tony Palmer was asked to take over the office management for Kenneth Copeland Ministries in South Africa. Tony married an Italian woman from a Roman Catholic family, and his trips to Italy to visit his wife’s family began introducing him to Roman Catholicism. From there, he began to develop a dialogue with Catholics, and rather than seeing them as members of an idolatrous religion that professed to follow Christ while praying to Mary and a pantheon of saints, he began to admire the liturgy and sacramental theology of the early Roman Catholic church fathers. Seeking out a Protestant church with a liturgical and sacramental bent, Tony Palmer found what he was desiring in the Episcopalian/Anglican communion.
The Anglican and Episcopalian denominations are about as close to being Roman Catholic as any Protestant denominations. They are considered “high church,” having a liturgical form of service where both the clergy and laity have scripted parts to play. The Anglican/Episcopalian churches also teach a sacramental theology. They recognize seven sacraments, including baptism, the Eucharist (Holy Communion), confession and absolution, matrimony, confirmation, holy orders (also called Ordination) and anointing of the sick (also called Unction). They believe that the sacraments are a means of grace, sanctification, and salvation. In recent years, the Anglican and Episcopalian churches have been drawing closer to Roman Catholicism, and are on track to experience a merging of their communions.
Tony Palmer began to seek a common ground of fellowship between Catholics and Reformation church denominations. He joined with a Catholic minister to form an ecumenical ministry whose goal was to bring Catholics and Protestants together, while also working to re-introduce liturgy and sacramental theology to Protestant churches in what is known as the Convergence Movement. Tony Palmer shared that in the years after he resigned his ministry position with Kenneth Copeland Ministries to pursue this ecumenical work of uniting Catholics and Protestants, that Kenneth Copeland encoruaged him in his work and supported him financially.
In truth, Tony Palmer is a Roman Catholic. He has stated that he has been employed by the Roman Catholic Church for the past four years, and his wife and children are Catholic. On his personal website called The Ark Community, he makes the following statement in an address before a group of Catholics.
Because of our close relationship with the Charismatic Catholic Church, my wife has returned to her Catholic faith and even our Children desire to be Catholic. I am the only one in my own family that is not Catholic. This is something I have to suffer for the sake of my Mission. As an Anglican I represent a bridge between the Protestant and Catholic worlds, becoming a Catholic myself would mean losing my ability to be a bridge, therefore I suffer being outside the 'Mother Church' for the sake of the Kingdom of God. God knows how I suffer internally when I am unable to partake of the Communion that I feel so part of. I am reminded of the Samaritan Women who asked Jesus healing, He told her that He had not come for the Dogs but for the Jews... And she answered...'but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table'... I have become worst (sic) than a dog for the sake of God's calling, remember us when you eat?
[Source: http://thearkcommunity.org/download/http://www.thearkcommunity.org/Download/WD/Fraternity%20Speech.doc]
I would suggest that the true Catholic view toward those outside of the “mother church” is revealed in Tony Palmer’s statement that “I have become worst (sic) than a dog.” Brothers and sisters, the true agenda of the Roman Catholic Church is NOT to reform her errors, nor to benefit from the corrective influence of reformation Christians. Her goal is to lure the Protestant denominations, and all those outside of the “mother church,” back into her embrace. The way she is seeking to accomplish this is by promoting the lie that doctrinal unity and fidelity is less important than fraternity (brotherhood). This message is present throughout Tony Palmer’s writings and speeches. In the interview with Rick Wiles, Tony Palmer shared the following.
The real essence of diversity must be celebrated. Because diversity is a gift. Diversity is divine. Its division that is diabolic. And if we look at it, and if we are honest, and humble enough, we will find that diversity actually completes us. It should not make us compete against each other.
The diversity that Tony Palmer has in mind is all the varied, conflicting, and often heretical doctrines contained in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. He says THIS diversity is divine, and to separate over doctrine, even heretical beliefs, is diabolical (a work of Satan). Nothing could be further from the truth. At the beginning of this post I quoted the apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy where he declared that in the last days there would be a great apostasy before Christ returned. The word apostasy literally means “to be divorced from truth.” It is this very thing that Tony Palmer, and others, are facilitating through their message of fellowship without doctrinal fidelity or agreement.
Toward the end of the interview, Rick Wiles speaks the following to Tony Palmer.
I am not a Roman Catholic Church basher. I consider my Catholic friends as my brothers and sisters in Christ. I can fellowship with them in love. Yet, at the same time, we have profound theological differences. For example, sacerdotal priesthood, the doctrine of In Persona Christi (where the priest claims to operate as Christ’s personal representative on earth and makes intercession for men), the veneration of Mary as a co-redeemer, the immaculate conception and the assumption of Mary (that the Virgin Mary “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”), prayers for the dead, veneration of relics, papal superiority..., if there is going to be unity between Roman Catholics and Protestants, Tony how do we get past these differences?
Tony Palmer’s answer is filled with the cunning of Satan.
Well, I think you are going about it the wrong way. We are not trying to get unity. The reality is, if you are a Christian and I am a Christian, we are already united in Christ. The problem is that we need to demonstrate it visibly, and we think that we can only become one visibly when we sort out all these issues, and that’s not the case. We need to begin with friendship, and forgiveness above all. If we do not forgive the past, we’ll have no hope for the future. You will never be able to question me on my doctrines and beliefs with the right attitude, if you do not first love me...
We are going to have to allow one another a diversity of expression. But we need to sit and talk about the issues that are of importance to salvation... Remember, your listeners need to recognize this Biblical fact, if it is Christ’s body that makes all mankind one, anything else that we use to separate that which God has united, we are effectively elevating that something, whatever it might be, higher than the cross of Christ itself. Everything is trumped, all our doctrines, all our expressions, no matter how erroneous some of them may be, are trumped by the cross of Christ. If you are in Christ and I am in Christ, you and I are together in Christ. We just need to learn how to offer one another the grace of diversity and learn to work out the issues.
When I heard Tony Palmer state, “You will never be able to question me on my doctrines and beliefs with the right attitude, if you do not first love me...,” I knew then that he identified himself as a Roman Catholic and the doctrinal beliefs Rick Wiles had enumerated were the very doctrines that he claimed as his own. Brothers and sisters, the Bible states that there is only ONE WAY to be reconciled to God, and that is through the sacrifice and resurrection of Yahshua, the Son of God. The Roman Catholics would like you to accept them as brothers and sisters while they pray to Mary and view her as co-redemptrix with Christ. In practice, Mary, the Queen of Heaven, holds a higher position of honor in the minds of Roman Catholics, than does her Son. I observed this personally when I toured a number of Roman Catholic Churches in Manhattan some years back when I was on a speaking trip. In the front center of each sanctuary was a large statue of Mary, while the statue of Christ was off to the side of the sanctuary. Following are the words of some Roman Pope’s regarding Mary’s role.
What will it cost you, oh Mary, to hear our prayer? What will it cost you to save us? Has not Jesus placed in your hands all the treasures of His grace and mercy? You sit crowned Queen at the right hand of your son: your dominion reaches as far as the heavens and to you are subject the earth and all creatures dwelling thereon. Your dominion reaches even down into the abyss of hell, and you alone, oh Mary, save us from the hands of Satan.
[Pope Pius XI]
Mary, not one of thy devout servants has ever perished: may I, too, Be saved!
[Pope Benedict XV]
Do thou, who art the Seat of Wisdom, enlighten the minds wretchedly enfolded in the darkness of ignorance and sin, that they may clearly recognize the Holy, Catholic, Roman Church to be the only true Church of Jesus Christ, outside of which neither sanctity nor salvation can be found. Call them to the unity of the one fold, granting them the grace to believe every truth of our holy faith and to submit themselves to the Supreme Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, that, thus being united with us by the sweet chains of charity, there may soon be but one fold under one and the same Shepherd; and may we all thus, O Glorious Virgin, exultantly sing forever: ‘Rejoice, O Virgin Mary! Thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world!’ Amen.
[Pope Pius XII, The Raccolta, Benzinger Brothers, Boston, 1957, No. 626]
Pope John Paul II dedicated his general audience to “the Virgin Mary” and urged all Christians to accept Mary as their mother. He noted the words spoken by Jesus on the cross to Mary and to John–”Woman, behold thy son!” and “Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26,27), and he claimed that in this statement “It is possible to understand the authentic meaning of Marian worship in the ecclesial community … which furthermore is based on the will of Christ...”
The history of Christian piety teaches that Mary is the path that leads to Christ, and that filial devotion to her does not at all diminish intimacy with Jesus, but rather, it increases it and leads it to very high levels of perfection.” He concluded by asking all Christians “to make room (for Mary) in their daily lives, acknowledging her providential role in the path of salvation.”
[Source: Vatican Information Service, May 7, 1997]
The false doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church portrays Mary as the gateway through which all mankind must gain access to her Son. Catholics are therefore in the habit of praying to Mary, in hope that she will in turn present their petition to her Son so that He might act on their behalf.
"Have recourse to that dear Mary who is the Mother of Mercy. She will take you into her Son's presence and use her Motherly intercession with Him on your behalf, so that He will be merciful toward you."
[St. Catherine of Siena]
The many false doctrines of the Roman church that have arisen to venerate Mary and to cause a billion souls to worship her are NOT an example of divine diversity that needs to be celebrated. They are an example of diabolical deception that needs to be firmly resisted. The same is true of the Roman Catholic belief in Papal superiority and infallibility; the practice of confessing one’s sins to a priest and doing penance; and the myriad interjections of paganism into Catholic rites through the age old practice of syncretism.
http://www.heart4god.ws/index_htm_files/Syncretism.pdf
Satan first sought to elevate Mary to a place of worship when Yahshua was still walking the earth in the days of His ministry. The Son of God immediately rebuked the speaker, giving no place to this false spirit of idolatry.
Luke 11:27-28
And it came about while He said these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice, and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts at which You nursed." But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it."
Rick Wiles did not argue with Tony Palmer when he interviewed him. He spoke no disagreement with the answers he gave. Throughout the interview he gave the impression of one who found great agreement with what was being spoken, and supported the aims of the man being interviewed. Many of the TruNews listeners, however, were surprised, disappointed, and many were angry. A deluge of online comments were posted and e-mails were sent to Rick Wiles, resulting in his giving a defense of his actions in another broadcast two days later.
http://www.trunews.com/friday-may-23-2014-rick-chris-steinle/
I agree that there is much fleshliness and many failures of love among the body of Christ. Nevertheless, Rick Wiles response to the concerns and protests of his listeners fell short of honoring the Lord he professes to serve. His reply was self-serving. Rather than examining the concerns of listeners, and addressing their arguments against embracing Roman Catholicism, he characterized himself as misunderstood while demonizing those who expressed alarm. In doing so, he moved from deception to delusion. These two words are defined in the following manner.
Deception: the act of deceiving (to mislead or falsely persuade others.)
Synonyms: trick, stratagem, ruse, wile, hoax, imposture
Delusion: a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.
In the interview with Tony Palmer, deception was present, while in the follow-up broadcast where Rick Wiles defends the broadcast delusion is present.
Brothers and sisters, Satan is using the word diversity to promote much perversity in this hour. Diversity is the buzz word of the homosexuals, and they proclaim that we should celebrate diversity. In the spiritual realm Satan is using the same tactic. He would declare that all religious views are merely manifestations of the wonderful diversity of humanity, and this diversity should be embraced and celebrated. It is suggested that it is enough simply to be a “spiritual person,” and that specific beliefs and doctrines should not separate spiritual men and women. Tony Palmer goes so far as to state that an embrace of diversity is needed in order to be “Christ-like.” In the writing from The Ark Community that I cited earlier, Palmer declares the following.
So to be Christ-like we as believers need to have two things: We need diversity and we need diversity to be together. Being united does not mean being the same, being united means being together.
The unification of diversity must be manifested on a personal and on a corporate level. Individually we need to embrace all the charismas of Christ in order to be transformed into His image and as His Body Corporately we need to embrace each other's diversity and stand together to be the image of Christ Universally as ONE Holy catholic universal eternal glorious victorious Church...!
[Ibid]
Do we actually need to celebrate diversity to be Christ-like? Is division over doctrinal beliefs of the Devil? Yahshua answered these questions in His own statements.
Matthew 10:34-39
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.”
Christ is called “the Truth,” and truth divides and separates. This is why the Son of God is figured in the book of Revelation with a double edged sword coming out of His mouth, and why in the passage above He states that He came to bring a sword. Yahshua has also spoken to us through His apostles.
II Corinthians 6:14-18
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. ‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
Brothers and sisters, the practice of Roman Catholicism is to embrace all religions, and to celebrate the diversity of all idolatrous worship. The Spirit of Christ speaks plainly that this is not of God, and those who do such things are NOT His people. They will stand before the Lord one day and hear Him say, “Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness. I never knew you.”
Tony Palmer is a deceiver, and a worker of Satan. I watched the video where this man presented the Pope’s message to those gathered at the Kenneth Copeland meeting. I listened to his interview with Rick Wiles. In neither of these did he identify himself as a Roman Catholic, or state that the only reason he has not joined the Roman Catholic Church is so that he can act as a bridge between Catholics and Protestants. He confessed his true affiliation only when he was speaking to a gathering of Roman Catholics. This is the behavior of a deceiver.
How deceitful and serpent-like it is for the Pope and Tony Palmer to say that Christians need to forgive the errors of the past. These errors include the Roman Catholic Church’s martyrdom of hundreds of thousands of Christians, including women and children. These errors include tortures, and forms of death that were of the most cruel and unusual forms including burning people alive over green wood, disemboweling men to suffer cruelly as their intestines spilled out, and ripping open the stomachs of pregnant women after repeatedly raping them. The history of Roman Catholic persecution is truly Satanic. Very well has this Harlot fulfilled the words that the apostle John wrote about her.
Revelation 17:4-6
And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Yahshua.
The present Pope is a Jesuit, the most cunning, treacherous, and dishonest of all groups among the Roman Catholics. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is a serpent along the path. He would ask the disciples of Christ to come and enter into communion with him. He postures, and appears meek and mild, but inwardly he is full of the scheming of Satan, the father of liars and murderers.
Will you be swayed by the words of men like Rick Wiles and Tony Palmer? Will you declare as Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries of a recent Pope that he was a champion of Christianity and a righteous man? Will you agree with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, and pastor of Saddleback Church that “Pope Francis is doing everything right”? (See the video at link below)
http://apprising.org/2014/05/20/rick-warren-on-roman-catholic-ewtn-network/
Rick Warren is on record as stating the following.
“I see absolutely zero reason in separating my fellowship from anybody,” he declared. Noting he has theological differences with many of the diverse denominations that invite him to speak (Including Catholics), Warren added, “That doesn’t stop me from fellowshipping with them.”
[http://www.baptiststandard.com/resources/archives/45-2005-archives/3871-warren-calls-sbc-withdrawal-from-bwa-a-silly-mistake]
In this same article, Rick Warren trumpets the celebration of diversity message.
“God has called us to enjoy and fellowship with each other and work together. We’re all in this together,” he said, adding Baptists can “celebrate our diversity and celebrate our unity.”
[Ibid]
Brothers and sisters, this message that we should not allow doctrinal differences, even heresy and idolatry, to enter into our decisions to have fellowship and communion with others, is antithetical to the commandment of God who has said, “Come out from among them, and do not touch that which is unclean.” There are many evil workers among the church today. The pressure to lay aside differences and to embrace all beliefs will only increase. The agenda is clear. The message is going forth. The great apostasy is occurring at this present hour. If you would remain true to Yahshua, you must stand in the truth.
John 4:23-24
"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
End Note: After posting this blog this morning I came across a couple of posts by a brother in Christ that I have had some correspondence with in the past. This brother is Kevin Kleint. He is a refugee from the prophetic movement, and was formerly the webmaster for The Elijah List. Kevin's association with The Elijah List ended some years back when God showed him the errors of this organization and the prophetic movement in general. Kevin has a valuable insider's perspective on the inner workings of the prophetic movement, and he continues to keep a check on what is going on with major players in this area.
Kevin recently posted two blogs on Kim Clement's prophecy regarding Pope Francis. I believe reader's of this blog will find what he has written valuable, and I am providing the links below.
http://www.honorofkings.org/kim-clement-pope-francis/
http://www.honorofkings.org/elijah-list-supports-kim-clements-pope-francis-prophecy/
Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com
Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063
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