Tag: Jesuits

Our Priceless Treasure

“The Bible is the most priceless possession of the human race.”

Halley’s Bible Handbook (1965)

For the most part, prior to the time of the Reformation, lay people were not allowed to read the Bible and, in most cases, were not even allowed to have a Bible. The Popes of the Roman Catholic Church of that day decided who could read and have the Bible.

For example:

Pope “Hildebrand ordered Bohemians not to read the Bible. Innocent III forbade the people reading the Bible in their own language. Gregory IX forbade laymen possessing the Bible and suppressed translations. Paul IV prohibited the possession of translations without permission of the Inquisition. The Jesuits induced Clement XI to condemn the reading of the Bible by the laity. Leo XII, Pius VIII, Gregory XVI, and Pius IX all condemned Bible Societies.” Halley’s Bible Handbook

Some groups, such as the Albigenses (1208 AD) and Waldenses, who were fortunate enough to have the Bible, believed it, lived it, and preached it. For this, the Albigenses people group was murdered by the order of Pope Innocent III and the Waldenses were murdered and severely persecuted by the Catholic Inquisition, surviving only in the alpine valleys southwest of Turin, Italy. The authorities burned their Bibles and the people who had them.

With the advent of the printing press, it was impossible for the Popes and civil authorities to suppress the Bible. Men read it and their eyes were opened.

“There was study of the Scriptures in their original languages. Renewed knowledge of the sources of Christian doctrine revealed the vast difference between the native simplicity of the Gospel and the ecclesiastical fabric that professed to be founded on it. The Reformation owed its being to the direct contact of the mind with the Scriptures, and it resulted in the emancipation of the human mind from priestly and Papal authority. ” (Halley’s Bible Handbook)

Out of this revelation of Biblical Truth, men like Luther, a Catholic priest, and millions more threw off the traditions and commandments of men that had kept them enslaved and, for the first time in probably 1100 years, a multitude of people begin to walk in biblical truth as the Savior intended. As a result, the Western nations were changed forever.

Some may say “Why are you writing about something that happened 500 years ago?” It is because I find among the Protestant Church today, especially among the young, an almost total ignorance about the Reformation. If the Protestant Church is to remain free, it must understand the issues that brought about the Reformation. Issues that made millions of people endure being tortured and burned at the stake or drowned instead of expressing loyalty to the Pope and his church.

May you find your Priceless Possession today and begin to let its Light overcome any darkness in your life. May its Truth set you free from the enslaving teachings and commandments of men.

May God richly bless you,

Carl

Bread of Life Once Baked in Loaf of Bread

While doing research for a family book, I ran across an old article I had saved concerning a story about a 16th-century Bible that had once been baked in a loaf of bread.

The odd event occurred during the 30-Years War from 1618 -48. A family named Stepan lived in what is now Czechoslovakia. One of their prized possessions was a Bohemian-language Bible printed in 1541. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church at that time had prohibited anyone from having a Bible in his possession. If you were found with one you were labeled a “heretic” and the Roman Catholic Inquisition could have the owner tortured, burned alive at the stake or murdered by some other means. In other words, just owning a Bible could cost you your life.

The oral history of the Stepan family states it occurred as follows: “the dough was ready and just about to be placed in the oven when “the searchers” appeared at the door. Without hesitation, the mother stuffed the Bible into the raw dough and put it in the oven.” The priest never thought to check the interior of the hot oven. After the priest left and the bread was done, the precious Bible came out unscathed! And they preserved their lives!

“Another time the family says the Bible was placed in a metal box and buried in the owner’s yard until a Bible-burning fervor has passed the Catholics in the area. It was hidden in the chimney at another time. “

In 1893 the descendants of the Stepan family immigrated to the United States settling in Pawnee County, Nebraska. In 1915 the eldest son, Joseph Stepan, who was entrusted with the family’s most precious possession, would move to Libuse, Louisiana.

Later due to lack of male heirs in the Stepan family, the Bible became joint property of all the Stepan descendants. It was exhibited in the Nebraska Historical Society museum in Lincoln, Nebraska for a time. As of this writing, the last place I know it was exhibited is an historical museum in or near Table Rock, Nebraska.

Ironically, that museum is in an old Roman Catholic Church!

Please Read Your Bible,

Carl

Note: The Bible has been banned numerous times by the popes of the Roman Catholic Church. It started after pope Innocent III had the Albigensians murdered in southern France in the early 1200s. One historical book I have read said after these innocent people were killed, the pope banned the Bible because he realized the reason these noble people would rather die than become Catholics was because they read and believed the Bible.

Here lies the reason the popes wanted it banned. If you read it under the leadership of the Holy Spirit and not the Roman Catholic Church, you will learn the truth and you will be set free from the tradition and commandment of men which is what the Roman Catholic Church is built on.

This is why millions of people over the centuries have chosen to die than bow to the popes and their corrupt doctrine. Credible historians say that 50 million people died at the hands of the Dominicans and the Jesuits during the 600-year Inquisition. Some were Jews and Muslims, but most were born again believers in Jesus Christ who rejected the pope and his doctrine. Why? Because they had read and believed the revelation that God had given in Holy Scripture.

Religion

“Oh religion, what crimes have been committed in thy name.

– M.F. Cusack, The Black Pope – A History of The Jesuits (Marshall, Russell & Co., London, 1896) p. 42

It is sobering to think of all the people who over the centuries, looking at the evil, murderous, wicked acts done in the name of religion, have said in their heart, that if this is “god” I do not want anything to do with him. It has been the making of many atheists.