Working on the Chapel Audio Today

I had some fun working on the chapel configuration for audio and other details. More hardware is coming on Thursday and Friday. The idea is to get a sound that comes through best with the equipment, almost all new.

Eighth "Conservative Lutheran" - Jesuit PhD - Erik Ankerberg

Erik Ankerberg, PhD - Marquette University, Jesuit to its core. Will he hire back Gregory Schulz, a fellow Jesuit PhD?

John F. Johnson, got his PhD from the Jesuit St. Louis University, because he thought his Concordia St. Louis ThD was useless outside of the Missouri Synod. He sports the lopsided smile so familiar in the Olde Synodical Conference.

I visited Johnson in his office at Concordia, St. Louis, and got him to start raving about how great the adulterous Karl Barth (Swiss theologian) was. He saw I was not on his adulatory wavelength and immediately switched to another topic. He discussed having a ThD from the LCMS was worthless outside of the LCMS, so he earned a PhD at St. Louis University to be more marketable in academics. No wonder Missouri was so eager to make Johnson a higher education leader.

Guided by our enduring Jesuit mission, we offer our nearly 13,000 students a highly rigorous and deeply transformative education that helps them develop into bold, confident leaders. Rated among the nation’s top research universities, SLU boasts 15 graduate and undergraduate programs ranked among the top 50 in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

I could not find David Luy on LinkedIn so I just googled his name + Lutheran. That brought up the page from his previous job at Trinity Divinity. He got his PhD from the Jesuits - Marquette! All roads do lead from Rome nowadays. I need to build a gallery of Jesuit PhDs:

1. John Sparky Brenner - WELS professor at Mordor, Dean of GA Hazing Rites.
2. Jack Kilcrease - Our Lady of Sorrows Convent School (a nominal LCMS guy trained in ELCA but born in a WELS parsonage).
3. Gregory Schulz - LCMS ex-professor, C.U. Mequon.
4. Karl Fabrezius - LCMS pastor.
5. David Luy - NALC Seminary.
6. Charles Cortright - Wisconsin Lutheran College, WELS.
7. John F. Johnson and.......drum roll
8. Erik Ankerberg, Marquette U. PhD

Not one of these Lutherans would admit knowing that I exist, and I know four of them one way or another (fewer is better).

Maybe if I wore all black and always played word games with the truth...

The Criminal and Occultist Napoleon Hill Is the Spirit of the Church Growth Fanatics

"The School has Masters who can disembody themselves and travel instantly to any place they choose in order to acquire essential knowledge, or to give knowledge directly, by voice, to anyone else. Now I knew that one of these Masters had come across thousands of miles, through the night, into my study."
Napoleon Hill, Grow Rich With Peace of Mind, New York: Fawcett Crest, 1967, p. 159.

 

 "But...we ran out of Germans."

"That is the school of wisdom which has persisted secretly in the Himalayas for ten thousand years...From the remotest days of antiquity, the Masters of the Great School have communicated with each other by telepathy."
Napoleon Hill, Grow Rich With Peace of Mind, New York: Fawcett Crest, 1967, p. 158f.

Some Reflections about Seminex - The Faux-Exit from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

The Seminexers did not "walk out." They just walked around and came back.

Nobody died. Seminexers either got back into the LCMS or joined the LCA/ALC as pastors. Some of them took their parishes out of the LCMC and into the LCA or ALC.

This is far too funny - histrionics from insincere actors. They risked nothing and their big drama was a flop, a lump of lead that poisoned the future ELCA - 1987 and 2009. ELCA made John Tietjen the Chicago bishop. He quit immediately because he demanded a female Seminex assistant. Hmm.

Watch the numbers collapse at all the seminaries, Lutheran included.

The hyped Seminex break was the result of John Tietjen (new St. Louis president) using his media contacts to make the so-called exile a national religious news story.

I am three out of four here, having met Jack Preus, Robert Marshall, and David Preus, a cousin to Jack and Robert.

Jack Preus was the new LCMS president, and he played the conservative knight on a white horse, even though he had much in common with the LCMS liberals.

The Objective Justification that  Jungkuntz (WELS, then LCMS, then ALC) taught was no different from the Universalism that ELCA taught. Jungkuntz was kicked out of WELS for revealing his love for the apostate historical-critical method (ditto Gehrke, WELS, kicked out first). But WELS was already promoting the NIV, which is based on rejecting the KJV and Majority Text in favor of the historical-critical method in editing the Greek text. (Example - Westcott-Hort erased "Son of God" from Mark 1:1, in their secretly published Greek New Testament. I own a copy, if you care to deny Mark 1:1.)

Jack Preus promoted Martin Chemnitz and let the liberals tangle themselves up about Jonah and the whale, JEDP, and Barth/Bultmann. His brother Robert Preus was a fanatic Objective Justification advocate until he published his book Justification and Rome, a posthumous repudiation of OJ.

 WELS-ELS-LCMS got this completely wrong, by teaching justification is the same as the Atonement.

If we look seriously at all these who taught and jousted during their peak years, they were no more Lutheran than any Calvinist. They simply argued the liberal versus conservative sides of the Geneva hoodwinker. They did NOT teach Justification by Faith, but - in the Preus, Gehrke,  and Jungkuntz cases - a pathetic Pietist pot of Universalism, 

• World absolution without faith in Jesus Christ, called
• General Justification
• Justification of the World
• Objective Justification, and
• Universal Objective Justification. 

No Lutheran entity can last long without falling prey to Calvinistic rationalism, denial of the efficacy of the Word, and rejection of the Means of Grace. That is why WELS-ELS-LCMS-CLC(sic) are no less apostate than ELCA, and also why they all work together through Thrivent Insurance and Abortion Promotions.

PS - The Lutheran patriarchs I knew and spoke with were:

1. Conrad Bergendoff, Augustana College and Seminary President,
2. Robert Marshall, LCA President
3. James Crumley, LCA President
4. Herb Chilstrom, ELCA Bishop
5. Robert Preus, Ft. Wayne President
6. Jack Preus, LCMS President
7. Kurt Marquart, Ft. Wayne Professor
8. David Scaer, Ft. Wayne Professor
9. Pastors Peter Preus and Klemet Preus
10. Waldo Werning, LCMS-WELS-ELS
11. Jack Cascione, Cascione Synod nee LCMS
12. WAM II, Ft. Wayne Professor [character assassination and slander from the Preus brothers and David Scaer because he taught Justification by Faith!]
13. David Valleskey, WELS Seminary President and Fuller student
14. Wayne Mueller, WELS CG denier
15. Father John Neuhaus, one of the few on this list making fun of Church Growth - but not exactly a Lutheran
16. Pastor Herman Otten, who played both sides of Church Growth and Objective Justification
17. John Johnson, President, Concordia St. Louis

Signs of the Time

What a Wonderful World! - Long-Standing Favorite

 

Everyone is remarking about the beautiful graphics created by Norma A. Boeckler. Below is from Christina's sister Maria and her family.

Your book came today!!   Just in time for All Saints Day.  It looks great and I saw Chris' picture and caption.  It is one if the best pictures of her.  

Norma's illustrations are beautiful as always.  I will read the book as soon as possible.  

Take care.  Hi to Sassy!

Love, The Ways and fur babies

All Saints Sunday 2022.

All Saints Sunday, 2022

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

The Link to the All Saints Service Is Here.

The Hymn #656     Behold a Host Arrayed in White          

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

O almighty God, who hast knit together Thine elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, grant us grace so to follow Thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which Thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

O almighty God, who hast knit together Thine elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, grant us grace so to follow Thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which Thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual    

 Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints: 

for there is no want to them that fear Him.

V. They that seek the Lord: 

shall not want any good thing. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden: 

and I will give you rest. Hallelujah!

 

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn # 463            For All the Saints                   

Believers Are the Saints

The Communion Hymn #657            Beautiful Savior

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn  #341          Crown Him with Many Crowns

 By Norma A. Boeckler

Today we remember - Walter Boeckler, who supported Luther's doctrine and independent congregations; Gary Meyer, who participated in our first Ustream services; Brenda Kielher, who with her parents Cliff and Cleo Kiehler, helped start Bethany in New Ulm, Minnesota; and Gladys Jackson Meyer, who supported Bethany from the beginning and enjoyed helping out. Carl Roper supported independent congregations from the beginning. Carol Olsen, Lori Howell's mother, who worshiped with us, passed into eternal life on October 8th. 2021. Christina Jackson met her Savior August 22nd. Besides these, we have many others we name in our hearts, beloved, deeply missed, children, relatives, friends. 

In Our Prayers

• Pastor Jim Shrader has been doing better. Randy Anderson is doing well with his therapy. Callie just had surgery to help with her seizures. 

 Epistle

KJV Revelation 7:2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundredand forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. 5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. 9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Gospel

KJV Matthew 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Believers Are the Saints

Introduction

Whatever is true in the Bible, the so-called experts deny. They are the ones who love the fake documents (Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) while attacking the 5,000 items of evidence, which are called the Majority Text, the Apostolic witness. Sinaiticus is a forgery and Vaticanus is the Greek version of the Latin Vulgate, so it clearly much later than the New Testament era. Vaticanus was known and rejected in the creation of the first Greek New Testament (Erasmus). Sinaiticus did not see the light of day until Count Tischendorf claimed he rescued leather pages destined to be burnt to keep the library warm, an image or smell too powerful to overlook from the glory-seeking liar.

The fake New Testament in Greek is the basis for all modern translations - NIV, RSV, ESV, TEV, NRSV, Beck Bible. However, they do not agree with each other or even with the previous "scientific" text. Moreover, they change the English or German every few months.

This genius army of scholars considers the Sermon on the Mount to be patched together, a gathering of sayings. How do they know this? They simply declare it to be true. However, these three chapters are clearly the introduction and the substance of Jesus' entire ministry. 

KJV Matthew 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

This is an actual event in His ministry where Jesus taught His established disciples and the crowd that was with Him. There are two ways to address a crowd. One is to be higher than the rest, for the voice to carry and people to hear accurately. The other is to use a watery pulpit, a fisherman's boat, near the shore, with people seated on the shore rising up, so they can see and hear. 

Verse 2 emphasizes the importance and solemnity of the occasion. We see many examples of this today. The main speaker may be talking to others or greeting them in some way. When he goes up to the podium, the audience settles down and begins to listen.

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

There are many who practice the arts of bullying, menacing, undercutting others. Bookstores are full of advice about these people and their victims. The unbelieving world admires them until they fail - and they often do so in a spectacular way. 

This is not about management but how we respect and honor God. Blessings are not about having material things, power, privilege, and all those things that lead to haughtiness.

KJV 66:66 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

If we rely on God's Word and will, the necessary things come to be and show what God can do. As Ephesians 3 teaches us - He answers us before we even begin to ask. This is a faith passage - 

KJV Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Lenski points out two categories of mourning. One is the pain we feel at the loss of a loved one. We experience that all our lives - parents, children, relatives, friends, people we loved and respected. This separation is profound and we experience that loss. But we have this from Ephesians to give us hope and confidence:

• We know the love of Christ, which is so great and undeserved that it remains beyond all knowledge - grace only through faith in Him, not because of our virtue but because of His death and resurrection. Ephesians 3:19
• According to the power [efficacy of the Word], through the Spirit, He gives more than we can ask or think. 3:20. This is literally through the faith of Him (3:12) which is more powerful - not our faith in Him, which is the result of the Gospel Promises. The KJV is precise, but most of the other translations change the actual wording of power from Him (the priority, also in Romans 3 and other places) the faith of Jesus.
• Thus eternal life comes to us from the Holy Trinity, the One God, and nothing can keep us from that singular blessing. Note that false teachers always end up talking about our works being the cause of salvation. 

The other sorrow is that which energizes our contrition. This is a mourning of our sinful nature, which makes us thirst for righteousness. 

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

This is an age of opposing and rejecting the Law. Often the lawless mourn only their suffering from the results of their hedonism and self-centeredness. There is much howling  and gnashing of teeth repentance in this world (either self-centered or showing off for others) but godly sorrow for sin is true repentance (his pun - without repentance). King David is our stellar example in his Psalms of repentance. 

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Meek and lowly are two attributes of Jesus. See Matthew 11:29f. The public ministry of Jesus took place in a land where the Roman Empire ruled, charged taxes for being ruled, and would spend plenty of time destroying Jerusalem and the Temple only 40 years after His death and resurrection. We can safely say that the Christian religion which lost Jesus Christ, His Apostles, and so many leaders have inherited the world, especially in contrast to Rome, which was the empire of the world and is now a tourist spot.

Many church leaders are bullies who have power but little faith. They rule for a few years and are soon forgotten -- or else they are remembered for their destructive actions and dogmas. They serve to wake up the meek and lowly to honor, respect, and love the Word of God. Without the bad and faithless leaders (denominations, professors, famous pastors) we would lack the energy and the will to stay with the true Word of God.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

This is such a beautiful and comforting verse. Growing up in a bakery, after a side-gig at Dairy Queen, I learned that one can be surrounded by desserts and still be hungry. Working shifts where I could eat anything I wanted, we were happy to go out and enjoy a real meal, or buy sausage from a nearby grill. 

This righteousness is the righteousness of faith. The contrite long for forgiveness, and this reminds us of the great mercy and love of God, who pours out His love and grace on all those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, dying for our sins and rising from death, ascending into heaven.

The parallel between the Feedings of the Multitudes and Holy Communion are impossible to ignore. Just as Jesus mulitplied the loaves and fish, so He gives us His body and blood miraculously with the elements, for forgiveness of sin, suporting our faith, and preparing us for eternal life. Just as food is received individually, so is this Means of Grace received one by one.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Mercy multiplies mercy, and evil multiplies evil. The only way to stop the bad cycle is our own contrition for sin. There is too much bullying, slander, and coldness in our society. 

Lenski, Matthew, p. 191

The first four beatitudes look toward God, the next three toward men. These treat of three virtues which mark the godly as blessed. “The merciful” are, of course, the same persons as those referred to in the previous beatitudes. Luther well says that in all the beatitudes faith is presupposed as the tree on which all the fruit of blessedness grows. This, then, is not mere natural mercy as it is occasionally found among men generally but the mercy growing out of our personal experience of the mercy of God.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

There are many Biblical references to this, which we might call "sincerity." The Latin of sincerity means "without wax" because broken clay pots were patched with wax and melted in the sun. They looked good on the outside but fell apart in the sun. The Greek word was "tested by the sun," which is another way of looking at the same deception. Some who pretends to care and then is the opposite - that person is not sincere and may fall into all kinds of trouble and godly wrath.

God's will is that we believe in Jesus Christ and His Word, following in His steps. There is no loss in keeping His commandments and teaching, no matter what others say and do.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Life is paradoxical, a seeming contradiction. Those who advance themselves with deception and guile are called good company men and women. Those who establish peace through sound (healthy) doctrine from God are called trouble-makers, disturbers of Zion, heretics, and suitable for expulsion. The Reformation began with pastors and laity cruelly imprisoned and killed for teaching the Scriptures. In England, it was against the law (Henry VIII) and men were executed for that time. 

The Bible seldom uses peace in relation to murder or warfare. The main reason to use peace is to express the result of forgiveness through Christ and fidelity to God's Word. People can use the Law all day long, and many do that with man-made laws, but the only true peace comes from access to the grace of Christ through faith in Him, knowing the good news is from the faith of Jesus first of all.

God's Word establishes and enlightens believers while hardening the unbelievers.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

I have often heard that questioning Church Growth is "slander" and worse. I never realized that the Eighth Commandment was intended to support and protect Calvinism, marketing, and lawlessness. That is always a shock, to realize that those who swore allegiance to the Scriptures were so hardened against the Scriptures and the Reformation. Mockery of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation was a clear sign that the leaders had no use for the historical watershed. Now they must endure the bitter taste of institutional failure, since they have set up this scenario in the last 50 years (or more).

I hear what the Fuller Lutherans are saying (so much like the other denominations, the most vocal, the Church of Rome -

1. Institutional success.
2. Good managers.
3. Borrowing business methods.
4. Looking for things that appeal to people.
5. Ancestor worship - the ultimate test (yes, even in Rome, where cousins, nephews, and other relatives are automatic leaders).

Second Try Out with Broadway Mike Lone, Logitech White Camera, Logitech Wireless Mouse, More Sound Dampening

From a Reader - Why Are Lutheran Pastors using the Angel Pose? - AKA Orans

Pope Saint Paul VI - This papal tiara is nicknamed "the artillery shell," his sanctified and sanctifying hands are in the orans (silent praying) pose.

A reader wondered about the "angel pose" among the ELDONUTs. Decades ago, a Lutheran layman came back from an Episcopal wedding, complaining that the groomsmen had to walk in and stand using the angel pose. He hated how prissy it looked.

How did this get into Lutherdom? The Ft. Wayne and St. Louis seminary graduates are brainwashed in Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. They despise Luther's Biblical doctrine and fuss over how to barbeque the incense. Most of all, they love to parade in their expensive costumes. Their services, as Chemnitz wrote in Examination of the Council of Trent, is either a tragedy or a comedy.

Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, Article 10, Adiaphora -

Likewise, the article concerning Christian liberty also is here at stake, which the Holy Ghost through the mouth of the holy apostle so earnestly charged His Church to preserve, as we have just heard. For as soon as this is weakened and the ordinances of men [human traditions] are forced upon the Church with coercion, as though it were wrong and a sin to omit them, the way is already prepared for idolatry, and by this means ordinances of men [human traditions] are afterwards multiplied and regarded as a divine worship, not only equal to the ordinances of God, but are even placed above them.

 Who stole my stole? Pope Francis, SJ, was photographed wearing Pope Paul VI's stole.

 ELDONUTs - note the bishop's mitre (fish-hat).
No tiara? Not yet.

16 Moreover, by such [untimely] yielding and conformity in external things, where there has not been previously Christian union in doctrine, idolaters are confirmed in their idolatry; on the other hand, the true believers are grieved, offended, and weakened in their faith [their faith is grievously shaken, and made to totter as though by a battering-ram]; both of which every Christian for the sake of his soul’s welfare and salvation is bound to avoid, as it is written: Woe unto the world because of offenses! Also: Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea [Matt. 18:6, 7 .

Clergy Deception - Even Before WELS

 

The Keys were supposedly given to the Pope, the locking key for punishment and the absolution key for forgiveness. The shiny, bright locking key is favored, used constantly,  and ideal for extracting money. Ask Marvin Schwan.

§ 37. — To return to the origin of these lying wonders, Mosheim remarks (vol. i., p. 371), that “the interests of virtue and true religion suffered grievously by two monstrous errors which were almost universally adopted in the fourth century, and became a source of innumerable calamities and mischiefs in the succeeding ages. The first of these maxims was, that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by that means the interests of the church might be promoted; and the second equally horrible, though in another point of view, was that errors in religion, when maintained and adhered to, after proper admonition, were punishable with civil penalties and corporal tortures. The former of these erroneous maxims was now of a long standing; it had been adopted for some ages past, and had produced an incredible number of ridiculous fables, fictitious prodigies, and pious frauds, to the unspeakable detriment of that glorious cause in which they were employed. The other maxim, relating to the justice and expediency of punishing error, was introduced with those serene and peaceful times which the accession of Constantine to the imperial throne procured to the church. It was from that period approved by many, enforced by several examples during the contests that arose with the priscillianists and donatists, confirmed and established by the authority of Augustine, and thus transmitted to the following ages.”

From Dowling, John. History of Romanism: From The Earliest Corruptions of Christianity. New York: Lutheran Library. 1871/2023. Part II, chapter 5: “Origin Of Romish Errors Continued — Worship Of Saints And Relics, Etc.”

Ridiculous Rites and Ceremonies

 

"The charges on the shield itself have been changed to bear the coat of arms of Pope Francis. It is nice to see some things are still being done. It is also odd to see the arms of Pope Francis topped by the tiara!" The two tiaras look like gold acorns.

 Pope Paul VI also wore the beehive, the papal beehive. It looks very silly.

In the sixth century, the public teachers seemed to aim at nothing else than to sink the multitude into the most opprobrious ignorance and superstition, to efface in their minds all sense of the beauty and excellence of genuine piety, and to substitute, in the place of religious principles, a blind veneration for the clergy, and a stupid zeal for a senseless round of ridiculous rites and ceremonies.

 Pope Benedict XVI admired the crown but did not wear it in public. Here is a good history of the tiara.

From Dowling, John. History of Romanism: From The Earliest Corruptions of Christianity. New York: Lutheran Library. 1871/2023. Part II, chapter 5: “Origin Of Romish Errors Continued — Worship Of Saints And Relics, Etc.”

Pope John XXIII - a closeup - the shoes of the fisherman, not exactly.