THE TRINITY REVIEW

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare [are] not

fleshly but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts

itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And they will

be ready to punish all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Number 343       © 2017 The Trinity Foundation         Post Office Box 68, Unicoi, Tennessee 37692               August 2017 Email: tjtrinityfound@aol.com    Website: www.trinityfoundation.org      Telephone: 423.743.0199       Fax: 423.743.2005

THE TRINITY REVIEW

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare [are] not

fleshly but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts

itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And they will

be ready to punish all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Number 343       © 2017 The Trinity Foundation         Post Office Box 68, Unicoi, Tennessee 37692               August 2017 Email: tjtrinityfound@aol.com    Website: www.trinityfoundation.org      Telephone: 423.743.0199       Fax: 423.743.2005

Pope Francis, the Fox

By Richard Bennett

In Pope Francis’ first encyclical, “Laudato Si’, mi’ Signore” (“Praise be to you, my Lord”): On the Common Care of Our Home,[1] the Pope identifies himself as “the Holy Father,” and as a Christian. Nevertheless, Francis teaches the following in this encyclical,

In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs.”

Is Francis endorsing the idea that the Earth “governs us” rather than the LORD? Nowhere in the Bible is the Earth called “Mother” or “sister.” This is demonic theology rooted in the “mystery religion” of Babylon. Anthropomorphizing the Earth, especially as female, has always been a mark of pagan and Satanic worship. As Alexander Hislop points out, “It has been known all along that Popery was baptized Paganism; but God is now making it manifest, that the Paganism which Rome has baptized is, in all its essential elements, the very Paganism which prevailed in the ancient literal Babylon....”[2]

Pope Francis is first and foremost a Jesuit. As a Jesuit, he is known to be cunning as a fox. This, his first encyclical, is addressed to “all people about our common home.”[3] It remains to be seen, then, to what end he has opened his reign as pope with a statement of gross paganism as part of his supposedly Christian world view.

Biblical Truth

The truth is that in the beginning God created the heaven and the Earth. As the Bible states, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1, 2). Nevertheless, Francis has cleverly chosen to quote twelfth century Catholic St. Francis’ pagan understanding of the issue. Therefore, it cannot be by accident that Pope Francis chose to cover his papacy in the supposedly benign robes of St. Francis of Assisi.

Basic Untruth

A major fact to be considered is that Pope Francis believes in his absolute authority. As his own Roman Church teaching proclaims, “the Supreme Pontiff, in virtue of his office possesses infallible teaching authority”[4] However, the reality is that Jesus Christ alone possesses all power and teaching authority, as Christ Himself proclaimed, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Thus, does Jesuit Francis, having first covered himself in the pagan mantel of St. Francis of Assisi, attempt to usurp divine authority in a claim that is totally counterfeit. Another example of this Roman Catholic counterfeited authority by Pope Francis is seen in the following: Francis professes to impart Christ by Masses and the Holy Spirit by Sacraments, including his current idea that “As Christians, we are also called ‘to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and our neighbors on a global scale.’”[5] Where is any evidence of Scriptural truth and the Gospel in this spiritually blind papal teaching? The Scripture commands each man to repent and believe the Gospel, but no man can do this without the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Apparently unaware of these elementary facts, Pope Francis expands his argument by stating that the Papacy’s worldview is relevant for today. His teaching ends up in totalitarianism. Thus, the encyclical states,

“This sister” (the Earth) now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.

Francis’ stated view is utterly pantheistic. The Bible states,

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1, 2)

The Bible states the facts. Contrarily, Francis teaches the heaven and earth are parts of God—in a word, pagan philosophy.

Pope Francis’s Cunning Conjectures

What must be understood is that Francis’ encyclical, with its elevated and inspiring tone in pursuit of ethical excellence, is heavily laden with all the classical assumptions of the Papacy. Principally, what is being presented in the encyclical is an idealized plan for the world. It is based on the Vatican’s view of both what the world presently is, and what it could be, as if the Pope were the temporal “lord-director” of all things spiritual, political, and economic. The whole argument of the encyclical hangs upon the veracity of its alleged self-evident axioms. The assumptions are false, however. If Pope Francis wants to be a prophetic voice in the modern world, allegedly speaking on Christ’s behalf, then his assumptions must be evaluated according to the measure given in the Word of God, namely, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). The Lord Jesus Christ was emphatic that Scripture is absolute truth, that it cannot be refuted. As Scripture states, “Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.’” (Matthew 28:18). Thus, from the outset, it becomes clear that Pope Francis is an impostor with an objective.

What Francis does not make explicit in this encyclical is that since the Council of Trent in the mid-sixteenth century, the Roman Church has held that there is no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church-State, and formally denied the Gospel. Rome formally went apostate at the Council of Trent. It has never revoked the Council of Trent. Thus, rather than the Gospel to declare one right before Holy God, Rome has only sacraments to offer. These do not deliver salvation, for it is only “the Gospel of Christ that is the power unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Romans 1:16). Therefore, the Papacy must take in hand another tool, it must find another route by which to snare people into the folds of Modern Babylon. Dialogue on environmental issues is the current mode. Near the end of the encyclical, there is much religious talk about God and the duty of Christians. But this is only a postscript to the encyclical.

In face of this the Lord Jesus Christ’s message to those who are His own is totally different. He proclaims, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Following this message is the assurance that those who by grace alone believe on Christ alone through faith alone, i.e., the true spiritual family of God made up of people across the globe. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 13). As presented in the Gospel, those who by God’s grace alone through faith alone believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone, have been declared “sons of God” through the Lord Jesus Christ’s perfect life and sacrifice. As the Apostle Paul proclaimed, “you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:15, 16).

Pope Francis’ Agenda

Throughout the encyclical Francis’s environmental theme cannot be ignored. With over 170 references to global warming, climate change, environment and environmental issues, it is clear this is the means to his end. While we are rightly concerned with what Francis is saying, it is also imperative to grasp why he is saying it. Francis’ encyclical is not in any sense a labor of original thought. Both his analytical style and argumentative form are firmly grounded in the Vatican’s preeminent sense of its own self-importance and presumed lordship over every aspect of human life.

Francis exhaustively demonstrates that his views truly represent the historical essence of Rome’s religious and social teaching. However, that teaching is not the teaching of the Bible. Thus, Francis shows himself again to be a cunning fox. His objective is to firmly ground his institution’s own welfare and future in terms of an “integral human development” that acknowledges his primacy as the sole arbiter of ethics and moral order. It is quite clear that Francis is writing his encyclical to again assert the Papacy’s autocratic claims. The aim of Francis in this encyclical is to propound and promote a type of world government. Specifically, he envisions a renewed and rejuvenated “globalized society” within which the Roman Church-State subsists as the principal ethical entity. And what better way to gain moral authority than by weaving together environmental activism based upon global warming and climate change synthesized by modern “science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20). Truly it is a cunning plan to solidify a political base with the non-religious left, thereby creating a harmonious Church and Global State. The ecumenical activity since the early days of Vatican II has been extremely successful in unifying the religious right under Papal dominance. If this continues, it is just a matter of time before all are ushered in to another chapter of the Dark Ages.

The term “globalize” is used fifty-three times in his document. In the terms of the argument, it is meant to reinforce not merely the concept of an inevitable necessary global synthesis but to generate in his words a “just and sustainable economic order.” Part of Francis’s agenda is the development of an increasingly globalized society by the nations seeking for “the common good” of all. Thus, in section 7, concerning “the common good,” he states, “It is the good of ‘all of us,’ made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society.” In the Bible, the ultimate end of man is to glorify God through the appreciation and adoration of His Son Jesus Christ to the complete satisfaction of our souls. In the Bible, it is through the commitment to the whole counsel of God that we come to delight more fully in who He is as the One Sovereign God to His glory and our good. There is no such thing as “the sovereign good” that can be conceived of as existing externally to God as sovereign. Therefore, His revealed will in His Word is the only standard of good for rational creatures. “There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2).

The emphasis on economics is such that Pope Francis mentions the concept one hundred thirty-three times. This same Francis and his Vatican system teach that private property is not personal as such, but belongs to all people. A Vatican Council II document upholds the same principle of the “universal ownership of all goods” and emphatically teaches, “If one is in extreme necessity, he has the right to procure for himself what he needs out of the riches of others.”[6] Pope Francis’ philosophy is simply a justification for theft, whether on an individual level or a governmental level. The Bible states, “Thou shall not steal…. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:15, 17). Instead, people should be looking to the Father in heaven and His Word to learn Biblical stewardship of their money and property. Catholics, and now nations across the world, are being exhorted to look to Pope Francis and his encyclical as a sure path for resuscitation of the international economy. Biblical principles of divine justice, creaturely property rights, and equivalent value exchange economics needed for stability and well-being of nations, are negated by Francis’ economic policies.

Real Legal Power to Implement the Pope’s Agenda

Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, called for “a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.”[7] Social and religious dominance, upheld and maintained by means of civil law throughout the European nations, is what the Roman Catholic Church-State enjoyed and thrived on throughout the Dark Ages and Middle Ages. It is to that same end which Francis now moves. Listing global warming, pollution, poverty, global inequality, over-consumption by first world nations and like issues, he states,

These situations have caused sister earth, along with all the abandoned of our world, to cry out, pleading that we take another course. Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Yet we are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness. The problem is that we still lack the culture needed to confront this crisis.

After personifying the Earth, Francis moves smoothly to state, “[To commit] crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God.”[8] He then calls for “[t]he establishment of a legal framework[,] which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems[, which] has become indispensable….”[9] His solution of changing the culture by his enforced legal prescriptions rather than evangelizing the world with the true Gospel of grace is absolutely wrong headed, but it fits seamlessly into the ongoing papal agenda.

Moreover, the Roman Catholic Church-State has much influence in the formulation and implementation of national and international laws, particularly in the nations in which she has papal nuncios as ambassadors. At present, she maintains diplomatic relations with 174 countries at embassy level. Expediency, deceit, and cunning have always been defining elements of the Roman Church-State’s geo-political pronouncements. Pope Francis and his Vatican desire to maintain official diplomatic intercourse. Their understanding is that political, civil power is subordinate to the spiritual control of apostate Rome. Now Pope Francis, its necessary instrument, is used to fulfill its aspirations and objectives.

Conclusion

Francis and his encyclical on directing religious, political, and economic activities worldwide should not be surprising. Papal arrogance tallies well with Scripture’s prediction for such claims, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14). There can be but one Vicar of Christ who is infinite, supreme, omnipotent, and all sufficient; namely, the Holy Spirit. The Papacy is a demonically energized apostate system that will be judged and utterly condemned by the Lord.[10] Biblical insight apprehends that “the whole world lies in wickedness” (1 John 5:19), and “the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand” (Daniel 12:10). The Papal program is wicked and willful, and its genius in means and method, satanic (see 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4). From the beginning, the Lord God purposed to glorify Himself “in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end” (Ephesians 3:21). He created the world and formed man for this purpose. His all-wise design was not defeated when Adam and mankind fell, for Jesus Christ the LORD was the Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Almighty God’s will is from eternity, and reigns supreme in time. He orders, directs, and controls all events. He it is “who works all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11). Satan and his present neo-Babylonian empire cannot resist Him. It is written, “The LORD reigns; let the people tremble” (Psalm 99:1).

Please join us in prayer that many people will understand this, and that they also would be drawn by God’s Spirit to seek His grace. Grace is unmerited, divine favor. By grace alone, He saves hell-deserving sinners, and so all the glory of redeeming power is His alone. Since God works all things after the counsel of His own will, Pope Francis’ manipulation of civil power, false ecumenism, and unbiblical economic policies are mere instruments that God for His purposes has allowed. We can be sincerely thankful that Almighty God in His supreme wisdom has set limits to the intrigues of Rome. Pope Francis and the Roman Church will be punished for their willful rejection of the Lordship of Christ. The Lord’s people will not be deceived by the powerful delusion that has descended on the world.[11] Rather they “should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). True believers are those who adhere only to God and His written Word: these know that they are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and that to God solely is due all glory and praise.

New Speaker Added for Conference

Christian J. Pinto of Adullam Films has been added as a speaker on Friday evening, October 27, 2017 for our Reformation at 500 Conference.

Notes

[←1]

See http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/ documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html, Paragraph 1. May 24, 2015. April 20, 2017. See also Paragraph 87 where a hymn of Francis of Assisi is quoted mentioning Sir Brother Sun, Brother Wind, Sister Moon, Sister Water, etc.

[←2]

Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Delmarva Publications, 2013 First Printing) Introduction.

[←3]

“Laudato Si,” Paragraph 3.

[←4]

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 891.

[←5]

“Laudato Si,” Paragraph 9.

[←6]

Vatican Council II, No. 64, “Gaudium et Spes,” Paragraph 69. Austin Flannery, General Editor (Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Doocuments).

[←7]

See http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/ documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate.html Section 67. June 29, 2009.  April 28, 2017.

[←8]

“Laudato Si,” Paragraph 8.

[←9]

“Laudato Si,” Paragraph 53.

[←10]

Revelation 18:8 “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.”

[←11]

2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, Mark 13:22: “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.” In context, “If it were possible,” means that it is not possible because they have received a love of the truth, which the world has not.

Table of Contents

Notes