Religious Leadership
 
When Corruption Plagues Your Religious Leadership Should Its Members Challenge Their Faith?
Leadership is vital in any organization. Especially in the Church, the Lord wants everything done decently and in order (I Cor. 14:40).
Should any of the following people be involved in the leadership of a local Church body?
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Cor. 6:9-10
No, they should not. Any person involved in these ungodly acts will not inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore, they must not be qualified to be ordained or appointed to any Spiritual leadership whatsoever.
What are the qualifications of a Spiritual leader such as a Bishop, Pastor, or Priest?
According to the Bible we see this clearly defined.
Qualifications of a Bishop, Pastor, or a Deacon:
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy
of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
1 Tim. 3:1-16
Clearly defined definitions, according to Apostle Paul, one of the greatest church planters.
This position must be filled by someone who is blameless, husband of one wife, (no man is capable of giving any advice on marriage or the family unless he has one). Sober, not given to wine, meaning that he does not drink alcohol. No striker, covetous, or greedy person, meaning that they would hurt anyone physically or otherwise. And capable of all other duties involved in the ministry.
We must ask the question, “Would we put ourselves under the Spiritual authority of any individual that does not fit these qualifications?” This may be a hard saying, but if you belong to the Roman Catholic Church, this is exactly what you are doing.
You are placing yourself under the authority of non-biblical leadership.
There are too many unmistakable facts that prove this is what is happening. There are groups of young people making the statement that they had been to teen fellowships where alcohol was involved while under the supervision of their church leadership.
There have been cases where the law has had to intercede with situations concerning public drunkenness and disturbing the public.
The news is filled with examples of other ungodly types of behavior that has gone on for several years, homosexuality, rape, sexual abuse, and even involvement in child pornography rings.
It has been noted that many have been involved with known drug traffickers and have been guilty of receiving stolen property. And that’s only a small portion of the situations that have been publicly exposed.
Also, our history is filled with the facts of the Roman Catholic church being wholly responsible for the cruel murders of millions of Christians during the start of the organized church of Rome, through the ‘dark ages’, and the leading of the crusades, to the Inquisitions.
The following Biblical truths will further confirm that drunkenness, perversion, and any other questionable behavior has no part in
religious leadership. Yet, Roman Catholic theology states that a priest currently involved in Mortal Sins may still forgive sins? Does
your salvation depend on the leadership of your church? Can only a priest forgive your sins? In true Christian churches, the leadership
is responsible for their own salvation and my salvation depends upon my own relationship to Jesus Christ ALONE.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1 Tim. 2:5
Timothy’s salvation did not depend upon Paul, Peter, or Mary. Men are not capable of forgiving sins, Luke 5:21says,
“And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
 
They were speaking of Jesus, he could forgive sins because He was God, in the flesh.
Will you be honest enough to question their leadership with the Bible?
Did you not know that you must look into the Bible alone, and to Jesus Christ alone to find out how to be saved? You are very capable of learning and reading the Bible for yourself. No man or leadership has the sole responsibility or power to interpret the Bible for you.
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
 
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:20-21
 
Corruption of Religious Leaders
Jehovah’s Witnesses- According to NBC Dateline, like the Catholic Church have hidden, un-prosecuted child molesters for years.  It appears that over 23,000 of them are on file in the Watchtower’s legal department, that could possibly equal up to two per congregation, (see silentlambs.org). When confronted with the matter, they said that if a sex offender appears to be repentant, he would be able to resume his duties. However, in most cases, the victim, if they refused to be quiet, and insisted on reporting the individual, the victim became disfellowshipped and never able to return.
(Reward the predator and incriminate the victim?)
Brigham Young- LDS Leader. Splinter groups, called Fundamentalist Mormons, hold to and practice a number of doctrines taught by early Mormon leaders including polygamy and individual blood atonement. In the name of the blood atonement doctrine, taught by Brigham Young and others, these groups have committed scores of brutal murders. In a front page story in the Dallas Times Herald last year: “In the name of his peculiar god, he splattered blood across the deserts of Mexico and the mountains of Utah and most of the territory in between. He ordered the killing of one of his wives, his brother, his pregnant teenage daughter, rival cultists and non-believers, and anyone else he felt like snuffing out,” (July 3, 1988, p. 1). Brigham Young, who on a number of occasions gave recommendations like this: “Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God. “…There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt; The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it,” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 247). Police have linked over 25 killings during the past 20 years to this “blood atonement” doctrine (Ibid). A task force on ritualistic abuse: (Salt Lake Tribune 21 May 1992 p. C3). The memo along with follow-up television news reports and stories in the Salt Lake Tribune and Mormon-owned Deseret News revealed that the LDS Church was embroiled in an ongoing internal study into satanic child abuse and ritualistic molestation involving 60 Mormon victims in at least five states. The alleged rituals included human sacrifice, sexual rites, psychological abuse and child molestation. Ceremonies were reported to often occur in Church owned meeting houses and, in at least one case, inside a Mormon temple. Rituals included baptism in blood, animal sacrifice, placing children in near-death situations, and brainwashing with drugs and hypnosis.
 
Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 -1944) Aimee was a 20th Century superstar evangelist who managed to find and retain followers even as scandal after scandal rocked her life, which became national news. Yet, amazingly, survived, in part by positioning herself as a repentant sinner. Aimee, later indulged in a series of somewhat more discrete affairs in an out-of-the-way apartment. She die from an accidental overdose.
A. A. Allen- Allen, who is extolled today by Benny Hinn as a “great man of God”, was arrested for drunk driving during a Tennessee revival in 1955, the first of many alcohol-related experiences for Allen, the leadership of the Assemblies of God had reached its limit. Allen was eventually kicked out of the Assemblies of God denomination when he jumped ail after being arrested for drunk driving. At
the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, police had to remove A. A. Allen’s body from a room strewn with pills and empty liquor bottles. Dead at 59 from what was said to be a heart attack but was in reality liver failure brought about by acute alcoholism.
Jimmy Swaggart- In 1987, an evangelical who preached to millions over the airwaves was found in a motel with a prostitute. Jimmy Swaggart’s prime time, during which he led and inspired the faithful on television and at his Family Life Center, soon yielded to shame and disgrace. In 1991 he was stopped by police in Indio, California, while driving with a woman who claimed to be a prostitute.
Jim Bakker– In 1987, scandal rocked the Bakker household and the PTL empire. It became public that seven years earlier, while at a Florida fund-raiser, Jim Bakker had left his daughter on the beach while he went to a motel room and had sex with secretary Jessica Hahn. Soon after the affair became public, his father became besieged by legal troubles. Jim Bakker was convicted of fraudulently selling time shares and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Jay, then 13 years old, watched the trial on television and saw his father have a mental breakdown.
John Calvin- the founder of Calvinism, on October 27, 1553, had Michael Servetus, the Spanish physician, burned at the stake just outside of Geneva for his doctrinal heresies! Hence, the originator of the popular doctrine of “once saved, always saved” (known in certain circles as “the perseverance of the saints”) violated the cry of the Reformation — “Sola Scriptura” — by murdering a doctrinal heretic without Scriptural justification.
Ulrich Zwingli- Reformer, (1500’s) while in Zurich, he had a ‘house church’ there where he congregated with several bright young men. Zwingli was wanting to rid Zurich of Catholicism, his followers wanted to take it further and abolish infant baptism. Balthasar Hubmaier, an Anabaptist Theologen, convinced him that baptizing infant had to go. But he later changed his mind, Zwingli left the group, and the group was banned from meeting. Later, the Austrian Army captured the city and Hubmaier fled back to Zurich hoping that his friend Zwingli would help him, but when Zwingli read one of his tracts concerning infant baptism, he had him seized on the spot. They tortured him, and by a partial recantation, he was freed, (but many others killed), only to convert many and write many other
tracts that were circulated throughout Europe and fueled the Anabaptist reformation before being recaptured. (Henry C. Vedder, A Short Story of the Baptists and Balthasar Hubmaier, The Leader of the Anabaptists) Marks of Corrupt Leadership Drunkenness. To cite one example of personal knowledge about drunkenness, the Archdiocese of Detroit, MI maintains a home for alcoholic priests
and when I left Detroit in 1974 there was a waiting list for priests to get treatment.
 
“But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.”
Isaiah 28:7
“Alcohol drinkers are deceived. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
Proverbs 20:1
Anyone involved in spiritual leadership that claims it’s all right to drink alcohol is a liar.
 
“If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.”
Micah 2:11
A spiritual leader is never to drink especially when involved in the church.
 
“Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:”
Lev. 10:9
Corrupt leadership okay’s drinking, and encourages others not to oppose it, even though God said not to.
 
“But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not”
Amos 2:12
People who drink are living in, and led by the flesh, not the Spirit.
 
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Gal. 5:19-21
Even if you don’t drink, but sell it, or give it to another to take advantage of them, you are cursed.
 
“Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD’S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.”
Habakkuk 2:15-16
Drinking only brings sorrow and leads to perversion.
 
“Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold
strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. Proverbs 23:29-35
More proof that alcohol is linked to perversion.
 
“And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.”
Gen. 9:20-24
“Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.”
Gen. 19:32-33
Perversion
In light of the open, and clearly known facts of perversion within the Roman Catholic church, we will look at the non-biblical reasons that may have contributed to these un-godly and un-holy acts. God made the woman for the man, and his intention was for man and woman to be together intimately, and to raise godly children. Celibacy, which was declared in 1079 A.D. is only for certain people who God gave the grace to receive it. It was not to be forced upon any individual.
 
“But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”
Matt. 19:11-12
To prevent a man or woman from marriage may lead to fornication, which is sin.
 
“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”
1 Cor. 7:2
“But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.” 1 Cor. 7:9
This is one reason why the Roman Catholic Church is knowingly responsible for the sexual abuse and other sexual behavior within it’s priesthood, because of the false teachings.
 
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”
1 Tim. 4:1-3
One publication insists that Roman Catholics admitting to their “sin” should have absolution, even if they “sin” repeatedly.
One stipulation is that upon confession there must be a commitment “not to fall again into sin”. In the light of the sexual misconduct of many of her clergy it is blatantly hypocritical for the Mother of Harlots to say anything about morality. It seems that because of increased disillusionment amongst her adherents over the misbehavior of priests, and because of falling church attendance, Rome is prepared to do anything to claw back lost ground. What is the ordinary individual to think about a system which on the one hand reaffirms a ‘principle’ and on the other hand prostitutes this ‘principle’ by promising forgiveness to those who continually flout it? The Scarlet Woman stands self-condemned, and all her claims to inerrancy are proved a farce. She has nothing to offer her people but that which will “make empty the soul of the hungry” (Isa. 32:6).
Satisfaction and salvation are in the Lord Jesus alone, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and satisfaction and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30). Faith in an unfailing Christ, not in a destitute Church, brings peace. So the message is given, “Come out of her my people!”
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Rev. 18:4
Murders-
[The following is the text of the Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction as recorded in the Journals of the 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, of the United States Congressional Record (House Calendar No. 397, Report No. 1523, 15 February, 1913, pp. 3215-3216), from which it was subsequently torn out. The Oath is also quoted by Charles Didier in his book Subterranean Rome (New York, 1843), translated from the French original. Dr. Alberto Rivera, who escaped from the Jesuit Order in 1967, confirms that the induction ceremony and the text of the Jesuit Oath which he took were identical to what we have cited below. – A. N.]
[only a portion of the oath is listed]
I do further declare the doctrine of the Churches of England and Scotland of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and others of the name of Protestants or Masons to be damnable, and they themselves to be damned who will not forsake the same. I do further declare that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of His Holiness’s agents, in any place where I should be …. and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestant or Masonic doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, legal or otherwise. …..even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ. That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, … and will be submissive in all things, whatsoever is communicated to me. I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex nor condition, and that will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants’ heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honour, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.
 
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The Pope’s ‘Apology’
Professor Arthur Noble
The Pope has made what Vatican propagandists and the Ecumenical spin-doctors are calling an historic request for pardon for the past sins of the Roman Catholic Church, including its treatment of Jews, ‘heretics’ and women. He has sought forgiveness for “violence in the service of truth”
– a reference to the Inquisition, the Crusades and the forced conversion of “native peoples”.
During the “Day of Pardon” Mass at St. Peter’s on March 12, however, the Pope failed to mention specifically such infamous crimes as burnings at the stake, the slaughter of Muslims, and the silence of the Church during the Holocaust. Nor did he cite any names. It is particularly interesting to note that the statement contains no specific reference to the slaughter of the Protestant martyrs, and no mention or condemnation of the atrocities perpetrated by Pius XII, whose Nazi sympathies and associated actions were recently exposed in Cornwell’s book Hitler’s Pope. It is also striking that the false basis of this so-called apology is still that the Roman Church was acting on the premise that it is the only true Church (“in the service of truth”), for this excuse is carefully followed by asking pardon “for the divisions among Christians”. In fact, this ‘apology’ is no apology at all: it contains no statement of wrongdoing by the Roman Catholic Church as such, but only for the excesses committed by “some”. The wrongs and evils instigated, authorised and committed by Popes themselves receives no mention whatsoever. NBC News put it well: “The Church […] is not admitting guilt – the sweeping apology is for human sins by the Church’s sons and daughters, not by the Church itself.”
Those who worship a leader, whether he be Hitler, the Pope, or the Watchtower, no longer have the ability to recognize when they have been deceived.
If the Pope were truly to repent of Rome’s sins, the Bible would require him to renounce his blasphemous position, change his title from “Holy Father” to “Lowly Sinner”, reject all the heretical dogma of his Church, and confess with joy that salvation is the free gift of God to every one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Using such an incidence as a backdrop for his “apology” to non-Catholics, the pope draws the attention away from Rome’s dominant role of being “drunk with the blood of the saints” (Rev.17:6).
In 2000 …In Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law apologized for Catholic failings including American slavery and modern-day sexual abuse by priests. He addressed a cathedral packed with parishioners, Jews, blacks, and Muslims. “Let us kneel before God and acknowledge with sorrow the failures of the past and implore forgiveness for our own sins and shortcomings,” he said.
…Also, The pope promised to cleanse and reinvigorate Catholicism. The special Mass was a highlight of his campaign for a collective examination of conscience as the new millennium begins….
John Paul appears to be “trying to reconfigure the Church’s thinking to confront a global reality” that Catholicism will, for the foreseeable future, “remain one faith among many, Christian and non-Christian, with which it must coexist,” Time magazine said. Now, in 2002, we find that nothing has changed, the same corrupt leadership was left in their positions and more victims fell prey to their ungodly lusts. Nothing was cleansed, or reinvigorated. One reason is that only the Blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us, and deliver us out of sin. The ‘infallible’ pope has failed, and once again, he’s having to apologize.
 
 
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