October 03, 2015:
Francis asks forgiveness for Waldensian persecutions, killings
Joshua J. McElwee
Jun. 22, 2015
|
COMMENT: Listen to a description of who the Waldenses are: Of those who resisted the encroachments of the papal power, the Waldenses stood foremost. In the very land where popery had fixed its seat, there its falsehood and corruption were most steadfastly resisted….The faith which for centuries was held and taught by the Waldensian Christians was in marked contrast to the false doctrines put forth from Rome. Their religious belief was founded upon the written word of God, the true system of Christianity. The Great Controversy, Page 64 |
Pope Francis has movingly asked forgiveness for historic persecutions and killings the Catholic church perpetrated against Waldensian Christians, a European evangelical movement and church that one pope more than 830 years ago excommunicated and another 430 years ago ordered exterminated.
Becoming the first pontiff to visit one of the denomination's communities Monday morning in Turin, Francis directly asked pardon on behalf of all Catholicism.
"Reflecting on the story of our relations we cannot but grieve in front of the ... violence committed in the name of our faith, and ask the Lord to give us the grace to recognize all sins and to know to ask forgiveness between each other," the pope said.
Then, speaking precisely, Francis continued: "On the part of the Catholic church, I ask you forgiveness for the non-Christian, even non-human, attitudes and behaviors that, in history, we have had against you."
"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us!" he asked.
Francis' request for pardon caps a long period of history, as the Waldensians were brutally persecuted by the Catholic Church for some seven centuries.
Beginning as a spiritual movement in the 1170s under the Frenchman Peter Waldo, they originally sought recognition under the Catholic Church but were firmly rebuked by a succession of popes.
In the year 1487, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull for the extermination of members of the church, one of several such orders issued by pontiffs and Catholic political sovereigns over centuries.
Click on Link:
Controversy about the “Great Controversy,”
by Nic Samojluk
Posted by: adventlife
March 7, 2012
|
COMMENT: This is quite a revealing article! Based upon what ‘Nic” is saying, prophecy varies, depending upon who’s interpreting, and what time in history we live. So nothing is really “set in concrete.” I would suggest that “Nic” re-read the prophecies? |
Most Adventists are aware that there is currently a great controversy taking place regarding Ellen White’s the “Great Controversy” book. Our new General Conference [GC] president, Ted Wilson, decided to distribute said book by the millions, and many zealous Adventist members donated millions of dollars for this unprecedented project apparently unawares that what was being published was an abridged version of the original one written by the author.
A Sanitized Version of Ellen White’s Book
A careful inspection of the book being distributed by the millions reveals that it actually is a sanitized version of the “Great Controversy” in which a large number of chapters dealing with the role of the Catholic Church and offensive to Rome were deleted in order to make the content of the book more palatable to the Catholic Church. The argument is that the Catholic organization no longer resembles the one which persecuted, tortured, and killed the saints during the Inquisition centuries ago.
It is evident that our traditional Adventist eschatology is being questioned at the highest levels of our church organization. Personally, I would offer the following humble solution to this serious dilemma facing the church:
1. Prophetic predictions are not set in concrete , but are rather subject to human response to the divine warnings. When a father tells his unruly son, “Johnny, you’ll get a spanking,” I doubt that he is more concerned about the accuracy of his prediction than about a hoped-for change in his behavior.
2. The original application of the predictions found in Revelation had to do with Imperial Rome, and its eventual application by Luther to the Vatican was a secondary one. At that time, the Catholic Church represented both Caesar and God; today the Pope holds only religious authority over his subjects.
3. It is unfair to hold the present Pope responsible for the sins committed by the church during the Inquisition many centuries ago. Besides, he already apologized for this numerous times.
4. The Lord holds us responsible for our current actions, instead of the actions of our predecessors.
Click on Link:
https://adventlife.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/controversy-about-the-great-controversy-by-nic-samojluk-6/
Who Were The Waldenses?
|
|
“Pope Francis asked forgiveness on Monday for the Roman Catholic Church’s ‘non-Christian and inhumane’ treatment in the past of the Waldensians, a tiny Protestant movement the Vatican tried to exterminate in the 15th century. Francis made his plea during the first ever visit by a pope to a Waldensian temple on the second day of a trip to Italy’s northern Piedmont region, the centre of the Waldensian Church, which has only 30, 000 followers worldwide.
“While the movement is miniscule compared to the 1.2 billion Roman Catholic Church, the gesture is part of Francis’ drive to promote Christian unity and it has taken on added significance ahead of the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017. ‘On behalf of the Catholic Church, I ask forgiveness for the un-Christian and even inhumane positions and actions taken against you historically, he said. ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us!’
“Today the Waldensians are part of the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the World Council of Churches. They have only two sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper [so do the Seventh-day Adventists]—as opposed to seven in the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the Italian branch said.
“During a visit to Jerusalem in 2000, Francis’ predecessor Pope John Paul II asked forgiveness from Jews for their persecution by Catholics over the centuries.
“In 2017, Christians will mark the 500th anniversary of the launching of the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther, who nailed his 95 Theses to a church door [Church of All Saints, Wittenburg] in Germany to denounce corruption in the Catholic Church, such as nepotism, simony, usury, pluralism, especially sale of Indulgences.
Click on Link:
http://wholegospelministries.com/biblical-numerology-number-three-part-xv-who-were-the-waldenses/
Oklahoma Man Granted Last-Minute Delay in Execution
By ABC NEWS
A man on death row in Oklahoma who was scheduled to be executed today received a last-minute stay of execution by Gov. Mary Fallin. Fallin issued a 37-day stay of his execution to give the state's Department of Corrections and its attorneys the opportunity to determine whether potassium acetate is compliant with the state's court-approved execution procedures, the governor's office said in a statement. The new execution date is Nov. 6. Shortly before Glossip's scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a stay of execution with only Justice Stephen Breyer dissenting.
Glossip has received also support from Pope Francis. The personal representative of Pope Francis wrote a letter to Gov. Mary Fallin dated Sept. 19 asking her to commute Glossip's death sentence.
"Together with Pope Francis, I believe that a commutation of Mr. Glossip's sentence would give clearer witness to the value and dignity of every person's life, and would contribute to a society more cognizant of the mercy that God has bestowed upon us all," wrote Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the "personal representative of His Holiness Pope Francis to the United States of America."
Glossip has received support from well-known figures including actress Susan Sarandon and Sister Helen Prejean, who is an ardent opponent of the death penalty. A spokesman for Oklahoma Department of Corrections told ABC News that the execution was scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.
Glossip's execution at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary would be the first in the state since the Supreme Court upheld the state's three-drug lethal injection formula of Midazolam this summer.
In 1998, Glossip was sentenced to death, but in 2001 the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction, saying that the evidence to support Sneed's testimony was "extremely weak," the Associated Press reported. However, in 2004, a second jury convicted Glossip and sentenced him to death. After his attorneys appealed that decision, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his conviction in 2008.
Click on Link:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-mans-execution-continue-today-innocence-claim/story?id=34147311
Georgia Executes Woman on Death Row despite Clemency Bid and Pope’s Plea
ATLANTA — Georgia executed the only woman on its death row on Wednesday, hours after the State Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected her final plea for clemency and nearly seven months after her execution was postponed because a lethal injection drug had become “cloudy.”
A Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman said the inmate, Kelly Renee Gissendaner, who was convicted of orchestrating her husband’s 1997 murder, died at a state prison in Jackson, southeast of Atlanta, at 12:21 a.m.
Ms. Gissendaner, 47, was the fifth woman to be executed in the nation in the past decade, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Two more executions are scheduled this week, including Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma prisoner. He is among the inmates who this year lost a United States Supreme Court case that challenged the use of a particular sedative, midazolam, in executions.
In Georgia, Ms. Gissendaner was put to death after the federal courts refused to intercede and the state panel turned down an application for clemency that drew the support of Pope Francis. Visiting the United States last week, Francis had urged Congress to abolish the death penalty.
Click on Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/us/kelly-gissendaner-execution-georgia.html?_r=0
Pope Francis met privately with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, Vatican confirms
Abby Ohlheiser Sarah Pulliam Bailey Justin Wm. Moyer
September 30, 2015
Pope Francis met with Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis during the pope’s visit to the United States, the Vatican confirmed.
“I do not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no comments to add,” Rev. Manuel Dorantes, a spokesman for the Vatican, told The Washington Post on Wednesday.
The meeting between Davis, who went to jail for six days after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and the pope was announced late Tuesday by Liberty Counsel, a religious freedom nonprofit that is representing the elected Rowan County clerk in her ongoing legal struggles.
The pair chatted about bravery, then hugged and exchanged promises of prayer, according to the Liberty Counsel.
“He held out his hand and she clasped his hands and held them,” said Staver, who did not attend the meeting between Davis and the pope.
Davis, Staver said, told Francis “she would pray for him. She asked the pope to pray for her, and he said he would pray. He said to ‘stay strong.'”
The pope “spoke in English the entire time,” Staver said. A Liberty Counsel news release said Francis thanked Davis for her “courage.”
