The Papacy’s Exploitation of Pentecostalism

Dear Brother,
The Papacy is ever looking for ways to implement its ecumenical agenda. Its goal is to draw all Evangelicals into the folds of the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican Council II officially pro-claimed this objective in its documents in the mid 1960’s. However, the Papacy’s problem was how to find entry points into Evangelical circles to begin implementing their new ecumenical policy. In 1967, a major event occurred among some of the Catholic students of Duquesne Uni-versity as they attended a retreat. That event was dubbed by some of the professors as “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” The news of such a “move of God” quickly spread to the Notre Dame Uni-versity in nearby Indiana. Cardinal Suenens was sent by the Papacy to estimate the rapidly growing movement. With Cardinal Suenens’ favorable report, the Papacy had a major entry point into Evangelical circles, which they exploited.
This newsletter documents the sinister power behind the Papal outreach to the Evangelicals of the modern Pentecostal movement. It also shows that what the Catholics mean by “baptism in the Holy Spirit” is utterly different from what the Evangelical Pentecostals mean by that same term. Factual knowledge of the power behind the Catholic experiences shows the snare that is hidden in the Catholic ecumenical outreach to the Evangelical Pentecostals.
Please make the article below known to others, and kindly link to it from your website or email, if possible.

Yours for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel,
Richard Bennett



By Richard Bennett


The modern Pentecostal movement was derived from the holiness movement of the late 19th century. As part of that movement, there was an outbreak of what was called the “baptism in the Spirit” at Charles Parham’s Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas on January 1, 1901. In 1906, similar events began occurring at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles. The Pentecostal movement generated great excitement from those claiming that God was moving in the signs and wonders that were taking place at these gatherings. As news of these hap-penings spread, the excitement of all this increasingly drew people out of various settled denominations to join with those who desired “baptism in the Spirit” and the signs and won-ders that were associated with the movement.
Nearly simultaneously, in 1897, Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical on the Holy Spirit. The occasion was to dedicate the work of his pontificate to the Holy Spirit, “that He [the Holy Spirit] may bring it to maturity and fruitfulness.” In his encyclical, the Pope stated that the two chief goals of his pontificate had been,
“…in the first place, towards the restoration, both in rulers and peoples, of the principles of the Christian life in civil and domestic society…and, secondly, to promote the reunion of those who have fallen away from the Catholic Church either by heresy or by schism, since it is most undoubtedly the will of Christ that all should be united in one flock under one Shep-herd.”
Here then, in 1897, Pope Leo XIII has stated officially the ecumenical agenda behind what would become the policy of Vatican Council II of 1963-1965. Pope Leo’s conclusion was,
“We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church, this year and in every subsequent year, a Novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday, in all parish churches…[to] duly pray for Our intention.”
Thus, the main thrust of the Pope’s encyclical was his decree that an annual series of Novena rote prayers were to be recited for nine days straight in all Catholic churches. The intention of these novena rote prayers was to pray to Mary that the Holy Spirit would unify Christen-dom under the Catholic Church in a new outpouring of His power. Consequently, the encyc-lical finished with this call,
“Unite, then, Venerable Brethren, your prayers with Ours, and at your exhortation let all Christian peoples add their prayers also, invoking the powerful and ever-acceptable intercession of the Blessed Virgin….”

While purporting to call upon the Holy Spirit to unite all Christendom under the Catholic Church, the Pope was in fact commanding Catholics to invoke through novena rote prayers the one they call “the Queen of Heaven,” in order to obtain the success of his ecumenical agenda.

The Vatican’s 20th Century Ecumenical Agenda
The objective of Pope Leo XIII’s ecumenical agenda of 1897 was officially and more fully degreed in the documents of Vatican Council II in 1964. At the time, implementation of the Papacy’s agenda meant finding the necessary entry points into the Evangelical world. A major one soon presented itself.
In 1967, two years after the close of Vatican Council II, an event occurred at Du-quesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, initiating claimed Pentecostal happenings within the Catholic Church. These claimed “baptisms in the Holy Spirit” at Duquesne caused a great stir in Catholic circles. News of that event quickly spread to students and professors at Notre Dame University in Lansing, Michigan, where similar spiritually powered events occurred in rapid succession. The Vatican then sent Cardinal Leon Suenens to the U.S. to analyze the movement. The Cardinal approved and enthusiastically advocated the U.S. Renewal movement, as it was called. With the advent of the Catholic Renewal movement, the Papacy found that it had been given a major entry point by which to implement its ecu-menical agenda within a growing group of non-Catholics. The organization and infrastruc-ture of these non-Catholic groups were nothing compared to that of the Papacy. Thus, it was seen by the Papacy that the Pentecostals could easily be used as a liaison to make the Catho-lic Church more acceptable to Evangelicals in general. The spiritually powered events at the universities of Duquesne and Notre Dame were apparently the beginning of such events happening in many countries across the world. Different Popes authenticated the movement. For example, in 1975, as Pope Paul VI greeted 10,000 Catholics at the 9th International Re-newal Conference, he stated, “The Church and the world need more than ever that ‘the mira-cle of Pentecost should continue in history’...How could this ‘spiritual renewal’ not be ‘good fortune’ for the Church and the world?” And soon after becoming Pope, John Paul II de-clared, “I am convinced that this movement is a sign of the Spirit’s action…a very important component in the total renewal of the Church.” Later, in 1984, he stated, “Because of the Spirit, the church preserves a continual youthful vitality, and the Charismatic Renewal is an eloquent manifestation of this vitality today, a bold statement of what ‘the Spirit is saying to the churches’ (Rev. 2:7) as we approach the close of the second millennium.”

An Analysis of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Experience
In 1967, there is a first-hand description of the events at Duquesne given by Catholic Patti Gallagher Mansfield in her book, As By A New Pentecost. The book is quite unique because it is endorsed by Cardinal Leon Suenens in the Foreword and by Catholic Bishop Sam Jacobs in the Epilogue. Ms. Mansfield, like others in the book, participated in the activities of that February weekend in Duquesne. In her book, she outlines in detail what happened and what the participants perceived was the meaning of the events. She also outlines many of the basic traditions of the Papacy and includes the testimonies of seventeen Charismatic Catholics. Of her own experience, she recounts,
“Before each presentation we sang “Veni Creator Spiritus in English, using the Gregor-ian chant melody. One of our professors told us…it was a prayer. He wanted us to sing it repeatedly as an invocation to the Holy Spirit. It was as if he were saying, ‘We’re going to keep on praying this until the Holy Spirit comes.’
“Friday night in the chapel, our other faculty advisor held up a statue of Our Lady which depicted her with her hands lifted up in prayer…In God’s plan, it was necessary for Mary to be ‘with us’ in an explicit way as we experienced a sovereign move of the Holy Spirit that Weekend. The Fathers of the Church call Mary ‘the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.’ How can she fail to be present when the Holy Spirit is at work? ...After the meditation on Mary I experienced my first communal Penance Service, and I was quite moved… (p. 35)
“[Later] with expectations high, I wrote on a sheet of paper: ‘I WANT A MIRACLE!’ and tacked it up for everyone to see. I didn’t know exactly what the miracle would be; I just wanted God to act with power.” (p. 38)
Thus Ms. Mansfield testifies that she was thoroughly engaged in Catholic religious ritual and seeking a demonstration of spiritual power. However, without seeking truth primarily, one is not in a position to discern the source of the desired demonstration of spiritual power. This is precisely what Ms. Mansfield’s testimony shows,
“When I entered the chapel I saw a few people sitting on the floor praying…I’d always believed by the gift of faith that Jesus is really present in the Blessed Sacrament, but I had never experienced His glory before… As I knelt there before the Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for the first time in my life, I prayed what I would call ‘a prayer of unconditional surrender.’…When I prayed that prayer, I was kneeling before the altar. The next moment I found myself prostrate, flat on my face, stretched out be-fore the tabernacle. No one had laid hands on me. I had never seen such a thing hap-pen before. I don’t know exactly what took place….” (p. 39)

Ms. Mansfield had bowed down before an idol and prayed “a prayer of unconditional surren-der.” She sincerely thought her surrender was to the Lord Jesus Christ, who she thinks is in the communion bread. However, the message to which her book plainly testifies is that she surrendered to a strange spirit, which answered by showing its power in laying her out pros-trate before the communion bread that she worshipped as God. Of this experience, she says,
“Although I just wanted to remain and bask in the presence of the Lord, I knew that I needed to share this experience with others. Like the apostles after Pentecost, I wanted to ‘proclaim His marvelous deeds,’ to give witness to the Living God…[o]ne of the professors entered the chapel and commented, ‘What’s the bishop going to say when he finds out that all these kids have been baptized in the Holy Spirit?’”

Fruits of Desiring to See Power Rather than to Seek Truth
Ms. Mansfield states that she “wanted to ‘proclaim His marvelous deeds,’ to give witness to the Living God.” But in fact, she did the exact opposite. While she does give an historically valuable first-hand account of the Duquesne Weekend, the book simply teaches traditional Catholic doctrine. For instance, it teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the communion bread, which is gross idolatry. How does such idolatry align with her desire to “proclaim His marvelous deeds?” Then how could one of the professors conclude that the event regarding her prostration before the communion bread be deemed “baptism in the Holy Spirit?” What is missing in all this is the love of the truth and the desire for it at all costs – which in this case would mean giving up the apostate Catholic Church with its false gospel and unbiblical doctrines. Instead, Ms. Mansfield states,
“Immediately after the Weekend Fran told me she didn’t like ‘the whole operation,’ and was afraid that we were leaving the Church. Quite the contrary, I felt that I was discovering the Church in a wonderful new way. One of the first things I did after the Weekend was to take The Documents of Vatican II and look up every reference to ‘Holy Spirit,’ ‘charisms’ and ‘spiritual gifts.’ As intense as my experience of the Holy Sprit on the Weekend was, if the Church tells me this is not authentic, I would rather renounce my own experience than ever leave the Catholic Church.”

Sadly, twenty-five years later Ms. Mansfield still did not know what happened to her in the recounted experience nor did she know the source of the power by which she was struck. Rather than turning to the Bible as her sole authority to interpret this event, she bowed with-out question to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. And the whole sordid event is labeled by the Papacy as “baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

Catholic Charismatic Activity Invested with Papal Dogma
The interpretation, of what the book endorsed by the Papacy, described as “Baptism in the Spirit” is poles apart from what Pentecostals believe is the interpretation of such events. Ms. Mansfield explains, “The most common understanding of the Baptism in the Spirit among Catholics is that it is ‘a release’ of the graces already received in Baptism and Confirmation.” Such an interpretation of the “Baptism in the Spirit” works nicely with traditional Catholic doctrine and has readily been accepted as such, according to Ms. Mansfield and the other Catholics whose testimonies are in the book.

Another major Catholic doctrinal teaching from the account of the Duquesne Weekend falls under the heading, “Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit.” That section of the book states,
“Mary has a continuing role as Mother of all God’s children, Mother of the Church. And her spiritual motherhood is intimately linked to the work of the Holy Spirit….As we entrust ourselves to the heart of Mary, she will lead us faithfully to the heart of Je-sus her Son.”
Jesus Himself, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, are in essence one God, the trinity of Persons in one nature. The nature of God is totally separate from all persons and things that He has created. Thus, the teaching that the person of Mary has an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit as His spouse is utter blasphemy. It is a sacrilegious deception of Satan. While the Scriptures states, “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light,” it still comes as a shock to see the Prince of Darkness, the one most alien to the light, misuse Mary until he has her appearing like a goddess married to the Holy Spirit. In fact, the book mani-fests what Scripture calls “another spirit,” a spirit that is utterly opposed to God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads lost sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ; it is “another spirit” that leads souls to hell. It is the same demonic deception that is seen in the official Papal adora-tion of Mary as, “the All Holy One, and worship of the communion bread with “the worship which is due to the true God.” Indeed, these facts demonstrate that a demonic spirit trans-mits these neo-pagan doctrines. In this scenario, true believers must “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Satan is the chief deceiver, and the Papacy’s ecumenical ploy to use Pentecostal-ism as a vehicle into the broader Evangelical camp is sinisterly evil and, yet sadly, has been highly successful.

Acceptance of the Catholic Charismatic Movement
From the late 1960’s, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal was presented as a movement that from the outside looked like Evangelical Pentecostal spiritual power events. The terminol-ogy, “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” used by the Catholic authorities to describe these new power events in the Catholic Church was borrowed directly from the Evangelical Pentecos-tals. However, the interpretation of those same events was advanced by the Catholic Church with a very different message than that which the same terminology carried within Evangeli-cal Pentecostal circles. The Catholic Pope, cardinals and bishops who before Vatican Coun-cil II arrogantly disdained Evangelicals as heretics, after the Council spoke softly concerning them. Evangelicals were no longer called “heretics” but rather “separated brethren.” Further, after Vatican Council II, Catholics were allowed to go to Evangelical Bible studies, churches, and other events. Most of these people had no understanding other than what the Catholic Church had taught them. Consequently, many Catholics, suffering under dead religious rituals, were excited to take part in a movement that seemed to be from God through the gatherings held outside Catholic authorized places.

David du Plessis, known as “Mr. Pentecost,” was a key figure in ecumenizing with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and played a leading role in developing ecumenical ties with the Roman Catholic Church. Dennis Bennett, an Episcopal priest, was a leading advocate for the charismatic renewal within the Episcopal Church and also with accepting Catholics who were believed to be “filled with the Spirit.” The movement had great influence through “The Positive Confession” teachings propagated by Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, and others. More Charismatics surfaced in the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, outside the Catholic Church the “Latter Rain” movement saw itself as a returning to the “full gospel” of the early days of the Christian church. However, what was being taught was the falsehood that a person could directly experience God. Scripture states, “for there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” This means that there is no person who can directly experience God. Nevertheless, pious experiences that looked and felt so mysteriously spiritual were like a net cast over the unwary and the unbiblical. In this sce-nario of feelings, the Papal ecumenical overture was quite successful with some “Word of Faith” leaders, among whom were Paul Crouch, David Mainse, John Arnott, C. Peter Wag-ner, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and Benny Hinn.



Papal Ecumenical Participation Documented
An example of a Pentecostal leader reaching out to the Catholic Church happened on May 25, 2011. The headline, “Pelle, Pentecost and the Pope,” on the front page of the May 25, 2011 edition of the Swedish newspaper Dagen was followed by this report,
“The director of the Swedish Pentecostal Churches was one of the selected to shake hands with the Pope during a Pentecostal delegation study tour to Rome and the Vatican together with a delegation from the Catholic Church in Sweden. The visit was part of the dialogue between the two churches which started in 2003. During the audience, which gathered up to 50,000 persons, the Pope talked about prayer and delivered a special salutation to Sweden, a gesture which gives expression to the interest in the ecumenical process in Sweden by the highest leader of the Catholic Church.”

The Word of Faith leaders in the Pentecostal movement also continually endorse the Catholic Church. The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is one of the most powerful and persistent of the TV ministries in the USA. It promotes almost exclusively the Word of Faith Pentecos-tal leaders. Paul Crouch, the director of TBN, has been closely associated with the Papacy for many years. On his Website, one finds such announcements as,
“Pope Honors Fr. Michael Manning of ‘The Word in the World’ on TBN” and “Cele-brate Easter with TBN’s Premiere of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.”
His Website explicitly states that its programs have an appeal to those in the Catholic Church. TBN, in fact, promotes Catholic doctrine and offers a wide range of Catholic books and other literature for sale. Furthermore, in Canada, the radical Pentecostal David Mainse welcomes Catholics on his “100 Huntley Street” television show. Also, John Arnott of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship shared with his followers the news that videos of the Toronto Blessing meetings have been taken to the Vatican. Moreover, C. Peter Wagner, a self-proclaimed founder of the New Apostolic Church and the New Apostolic Reformation, is a key figure in Word of Faith circles. He was at one time a close associate of Vineyard founder, John Wimber. Wagner and Wimber created a course called “Signs and Wonders and Church Growth,” which has impacted churches all over the world. Wagner endorsed the Catholic charismatic movement when he wrote,
“Traditionally, the message of the Gospel in Latin America has appealed to the work-ing class. But changes have begun to take place, and many middle and upper-class people are now opening their hearts to Jesus Christ. Some of this is happening through the Catholic charismatic movement.”
Wagner does not differentiate between the false gospel of Catholic Charismatic movement and the true biblical Gospel.

Another Pentecostal, Benny Hinn, is a well-known Word of Faith leader. In Christianity Today magazine, he emphasized his Catholic state of mind saying,
“My upbringing, of course, was Catholic in that I attended the Catholic school in Jaffa, Israel. And so my mentality basically is a Catholic mentality. When I was born again, I was Catholic in my ways. I was very Catholic in my ideas, in my behavior.”

Papal Difficulties Arise within Catholic Ecumenical Outreach
In 1967, the Papacy began to implement their ecumenical agenda through the Catholic Char-ismatic Renewal; however, ecumenism with Evangelicals had its problems. In the opening years, a number of the Renewal’s Catholic Charismatics accepted the Evangelical teaching on the supremacy of Scripture as the only source for Christian faith and practice. This was noticeable to some former Catholic priests, including the author of this article. Bob Bush, also a former Catholic priest, wrote in his testimony,
“It was August 1970 when God’s grace truly touched me. I began working in the char-ismatic movement, which was a fresh movement in the Catholic Church. While there were all kinds of decrees and dogmas coming out of Rome, the movement at the be-ginning tried to have just one manual, the Bible…We were stressing praise and wor-shiping and glorifying God.
At the time, as priests we did not fully realize that this position directly challenged the Catho-lic Church on the basis of truth. Papal Rome’s position is that,
“The Church does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”
Thus, quite soon in the opening years, the Papacy imposed its strict dogma that,
“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture then are bound closely together and communi-cate one with the other.”

Thus, while some Catholic Charismatics had a correct biblical position in the opening years, most did not. The Papacy vigorously upheld its traditions, and those of us who were priests and leaders within the Renewal were told to remain faithful to the Church and to avoid expo-sure to non-Catholic teachers and evangelists. Nonetheless, some of us who were ardent Catholic Charismatics discovered that the teachings of the Catholic Church were unbiblical when we had the opportunity to hear the teachings of Evangelical Pentecostals. While we realized that there were some difficulties in doctrine within Pentecostalism, by the Lord’s truth and grace, each of us came to biblical faith; and while several of us have gone to be with the Lord, most of us are alive today rejoicing in our salvation.

Unsuccessful Attempts to Stem Catholic Exodus
The Papacy has tried to overturn this exodus out of the Roman Church by different means. For example, eighteen years ago the Vatican set up the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Thus, its website states,
“September 14th is a milestone for the life of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the world. Eighteen years ago the Pontifical Council for the Laity of the Holy See enacted the recognition of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service (ICCRS) as an entity for the promotion of CCR.”
While the Institute is supposed to be a liaison between Charismatic affairs and the Vatican, in fact it is but one more level of dictatorial Papal authority. It is mostly a disenfranchised movement not having any meaningful influence in the Catholic Church’s hierarchical system. Consequently, some Catholic Charismatics are beginning to wake up.

Conclusion
Every person’s greatest problem is that he is dead in trespasses and sin. This is the reason we need to be in right standing before God on the terms He prescribes. We have a spiritual debt of infinite proportions that we are unable to repay. The Gospel, however, is that by His grace we can turn to Him in faith alone for the salvation that He alone gives, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, based on Christ’s death and resurrection for His own, and believe on Him alone. As the Scripture states, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Therefore, the Catholic Charismatic or otherwise, must recognize that the Papacy’s sacramental system is “another gospel,” which is no gospel at all. Rather, a person must have personal faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. This faith is given to him by God’s grace alone. Thus, while the Papacy has attempted to exploit Pentecostalism, it has in many cases backfired. Quite a few Catho-lics, who have awakened to some things biblical and met genuine Christians, have prayed and sought the Lord and have come to Him—by grace and faith alone.
We are all as human beings are initially cut off from God and are spiritually dead, as a con-demned malefactor is said to be a dead man. Water cannot flow uphill, nor can the natural man act contrary to his corrupt nature. What then can you do, just how can you be made right with God? You must first acknowledge that you are spiritually, “dead in trespasses and sins” and cry out to the Lord God for help. It is the Holy Spirit that awakens within the human heart a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that overcomes the pride of the natural man, so that one is ready to come to the Lord Jesus Christ to receive life. In the Lord’s own words, “the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” As the Lord also explained, “It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” ♦

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Occupy wall street is starting to resemble the FRENCH REVOLUTION. Its time to fully cooperate with Christ.

The French Revolution was a period of RADICAL,SOCIAL and POLITICAL upheaval in French and European history that saw a series of major CHANGES IN POWER and POLITICAL SYSTEMS as well as Revolutionary Wars. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as FEUDAL, ARISTOCRATIC and RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES evaporated under a SUSTAINED ASSULT from RADICAL LEFT WING POLITICAL groups and the masses on the streets. Old ideas about tradition and hierarchy - of monarchy, aristocracy and religious authority - were abruptly overthrown by new Enlightenment principles of equality, citizenship, inalienable rights, as well as nationalism and (briefly) democracy.

Apologies in place

Sorry folks .. I apologise for the change in look and feel of the blog that did not go well.. As you can see the old look is back..
Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

A prophet for this time must be accurate 100% of the times.

PSYCHIC WONDERLAND

 Psychics have "Prophetic Accuracy Quotients.”

 These are the percentages when their hunches turn out right. Jeane Dixon, Daniel Logan, David Bubar, and the others try to score high. But most of the time they don't.

Prophets, have certainty; the certainty of God backing them. Every prediction given, by a prophet will always come true unless, because men have repented of their sins and returned to God—or because they have decided to leave Him, —the predicted out­come must be changed. If men will sincerely repent, God will give them another opportunity. With but this one exception, the predictions of the prophet will always come to pass.

There are prophets and there are psychics. We can clearly know the origin and message of both. The one follows the blueprint given in Scripture; the other finds its origin and messages in spiritualism.

 Prophets will reprove sin and exalt the Bible; they will lead men to Christ and warn them of coming crises.

The psychics derive their information from the dark world. They tell us that their powers to predict come from crystal balls and "spirits of dead men" who visit them.

And what of their predictions?

Every year there seem to be more psychics than the year before. And they are predicting all kinds of events–engagements of movie starlets, political results, TV star contracts, the births of new "messiahs,"  next year's fashions, spiritualistic phenomena, and airplane crashes.

We need information. But sources are important. We dare not go to the wrong ones. Are the psychics and their fellow travelers (the astrologers, clairvoyants, mediums and Satanists) safe? Are they reliable? There are ways we can know.

Whereas the prophets of God received visions from heaven, warning men to repent of their sins and return to God; the psychics obtain their information from contacts that are far different.

They tell us that their powers to predict come from crystal balls, light bulbs, electronic boxes, and "spirits of dead men" who visit them. Ouija boards and séances are other means of information. And, as we shall find, guesswork is yet another helpful source.

If you ask for details of the predicted tragedies, they will tell you that it is all but a cluster of unrelated accidents and events, and that these incidents have no connection or reason for occurrence. Oddly enough, the events themselves seem generally to be focused on celebrities: movie stars, singers, politicians, and so forth. But more often than not, the occurrence predicted will be a marriage or some such affair.

But not so with the ancient prophets sent to men with messages from Heaven. They received their directions directly from God through visions and dreams. And they warned men everywhere to flee from sin and return to the Lord while there was still time. And they predicted judgments upon the land. They clearly declared that these judgments would come because of disobedience to the Laws of God. And–unlike the psychics of our day,–their predictions could be counted on to come true unless men repented of those sins.

The psychics are very much different than the prophets: different in source, purpose and message. Many people fear the contacts, which supply the information to the psychics. Such have good reason to fear, for the Bible has warned against such manifestations.

"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?”

"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 8:19-20.

At the beginning of 1978, Ralph Blodgett decided it was time to settle this matter of "psychics”. So he did what other people have thought of doing but have never done. He went from one magazine vending counter to another, buying up the first-of­the-year sensational and gossip tabloids; Then he took his loot home and carefully compiled a list of 250 definite predictions for the year 1978.

As the year passed, he kept close tab on the news stories as they broke in the newspapers, as well as the major news, science, gossip and sports magazines–and kept watching for fulfillments of those 250 predictions.

Then he sat down at the end of the year and put it all together. Out of 250 specific prognostications by the thirty leading psychics of the world, less than 3 percent (i.e. 6 out. of 250) could be listed as reasonably fulfilled. 97 percent missed the mark entirely. (The six correct ones had been stated in such general terms that it was not difficult for them to find someone someplace that could fulfill them.)

"What kind of predictions are we talking about? Here are a few for 1978 that flopped: U.S. space shuttle disaster sets program back 10 years; another major power failure to hit New York City in early 1978; a fire ravages the White House; the price of gas to reach $1.50 a gallon in U.S.; Quebec to split from rest of Canada; Carter to impose mandatory nationwide four-day workweek in January; Cuba to apply to become fifty-first state; nationwide postal strike to halt all Christmas mail; Carter to reintroduce the draft in September; discovery of a cancer cure; Red China and the Soviet Union to go to war; CIA and FBI merge into a super spy agency; and remains of Atlantis discovered in Mediterranean off Turkey."—Ralph Blodgett, "Supermarket Psychics Spin the Roulette Wheel Again," in "These Times," March 1979, page 8.

Not only predictions of major news events, but also many that were little better than ridiculous: Five different psychics predicted that "Charlie's Angels" TV show would be cancelled; Burt Reynolds would marry Sally Field; Lindsay Wagner would become a TV superstar rage, replacing Farrah Fawcett-Majors; "Big-foot" would be captured. (None of which came true.) Such are not the messages of God to this world at such a perilous time in history as we are in today.

Where does all this come from? It is well known that there are only two supernatural powers in our world. Rene Noorbergen, in his excellent book, "Prophet of Destiny,” draws back the curtain and reveals what is behind all this:.

"James Bjornstad, author of the paperback, 'Twentieth Century Prophecy,' a small yet powerful book dealing with the prophetic phenomena as displayed by Edgar Cayce and Jeane Dixon, has made a number of interesting comparisons between the abilities of these two great psychics and the Biblical requirements for a true prophet. His conclusion, based strictly on Biblical references, is for them truly devastating.

"Comparing all those who profess to have the extrasensory psychic gift (astrologers, mediums, clairvoyants, clairaudients, palmists, crystal gazers, telepathists etc.) and submitting their abilities to the same basic set of Biblical standards, one arrives at the mind-shattering conclusion that all psychic mediums–and this includes such greats as Edgar Cayce, Jeane Dixon, Daniel Logan, Gerard Croiset, Peter Hurkos, Arthur Forti, etc.–without exception not only violate many basic Biblical principles, but also more often than not act in stark contradiction to the Biblical norms for a true prophet.

"The occult covers such a vast field of activities, and expecting to find one single Bible text applicable to all psychic phenomena would be asking too much. Yet there are ten very fundamental tests that beg for attention.

"At a time when 10,000 professional astrologers control the daily activities of 40 million people in the United States through 1,200 daily astrology columns and 2,350 horoscope computers; when roughly140,000 fortune-tellers, mediums, clairvoyants and psychic seers have created a 42-million-dollar-a-year business; and when three major universities offer credit courses in witchcraft, magic, astrology and sorcery, a fool-proof method to separate the psychics from the prophets has become essential!

"The tests for a true prophet, all found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, pointedly indicate that those prognosticators not measuring up to these stringent qualifications cannot lay claim to the rare distinction of being true prophets of God.

"They can be summarized as follows:

"1. A true prophet does not lie. His predictions will be fulfilled (Jeremiah 28:9).

 "2. A true prophet prophesies in the name of the Lord, not in his own name (2 Peter 1 :21).

"3. A true prophet does not give his own private interpretation of prophecy (2 Peter 1:20).

"4. A true prophet points out the sins and transgressions of the people of God (Isaiah 58:1)..

"5. A true prophet is to warn the people of God's coming judgment (Isaiah 24:20-21; Revelation 14:6-7).

 "These first five tests alone are already sufficient to damage the reputation of most of the so-called prophets, but crowned with the second group of five, they are truly devastating.

"6. A true prophet edifies the church, counsels and advises it in religious matters (1 Corinthians 14:34).

"7. A true prophet's words will be in absolute harmony with the words of the prophets that have preceded him (Isaiah 8:20).

"8. He recognizes the incarnation of Jesus Christ (1 John 4:1-3).

 "9. He can be recognized by the results of his work (Matthew 7:16-20).

"10. Finally  he must be able to meet the requirements listed in Deuteronomy 18:9-12: A true prophet acts in accordance with the will and approval of God.

“ .. Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone, . . that useth divination [fortune-teller], or an observer of times [astrologer], or an enchanter [magician], or a witch, or a consulter with familiar spirits [medium possessed with a spirit or a 'guide'] , or a wizard [clairvoyant or psychic] , or a necromancer [medium who consults the dead]. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.' [Deuteronomy 18:9-12]

"Based on these texts, it becomes obvious that not everyone who prophesies is a prophet of God .. To be even more precise, the actions of a true prophet are not in contradiction to basic Biblical doctrines, but rather support and strengthen precepts already outlined." -Rene Noorbergen, "Prophet of Destiny," pages 20-23.

Noorbergen's book is an excellent one. If you have opportunity, purchase a copy and read it for yourself. .

There is more than mere fakery in the psychics: There is a superhuman power at work. This power has been known all through ancient times, and although condemned in the Bible, it has existed in heathenism down to our own time.

"Shall we . . come down to the plain simple truth that the phenomenal aspects of Modern Spiritualism reproduce all the essential principles of the Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery of the past? The same powers are involved. . the same intelligences are operating."—J.J. Morse, a leading Spiritualist, 'in his book, "Practical Occultism."

And yet present-day Psychics recognize that their ability is the same power that controlled psychics in earlier ages. Sometimes they will say that their predictions of the marriages of movie stars comes from God. Jeane Dixon is in this category. Others, such as David Bubar, another well-known psychic, believes that his "power" to foretell the future comes from abilities within himself. Yet another leading psychic, Daniel Logan, declares that the power comes from communication with spirit beings through séances. Logan says the psychics are occult and receive their knowledge through a contact with unseen shadows. "

But it was not until the year 1848 that it began its powerful surge into the western world. And that entrance came about in a very strange way. Taking time to learn its modern origins will greatly help us to understand it.

"By common acceptance March 31, 1848, is the date, that has officially been celebrated as the day when the raps at Hydesville, N.Y., in the home of the Fox family, heralded to the world the stupendous message: There is no death; there are no dead. March 31 is the day when Spiritualists celebrate the dawn of a new era which has changed the thought of the world. . March 31, 1848, ushered in a new era for the human race, an era which had its beginning with the tiny raps at Hydesville and will culminate only in the distant cycles of the future. . We are spirit here and now, a part of God."-M.E. Cadwallader, co-founder of the National Spiritualist Association, in "There is No Death—There are No Dead." in Centennial Book( p. 68-69 (1948).

The first great lie was spoken by Satan, the father of lies, to Eve in the Garden of Eden: "Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4.5) Beware of those two lies: You shall be God; you shall not die. These are two basic beliefs and operating principles of all spiritualists, clairvoyants and psychics. Beware of them.

In the spring of 1848 in a little cabin in Hydesville, New York, strange "rappings" were heard, but always where Margaretta (fifteen, also called "Margaret") and Katie (twelve, also called "Kate") happened to be. And it generally occurred only in a darkened room. On the evening of March 3l, the two girls reported loud "rappings" in their room. Katie would laughingly cry out, "Mr. Splitfoot [Satan], do as I do," and then clap her hands several times. The "rappings" would reply the same number of times. When their frightened mother came, in, she asked the ages of each of her six children (including one who had earlier died), and the rappings counted off their ages correctly. In a matter of days the house became thronged with curious people who were convinced that "the departed dead " were communicating with the girls. People were willing to believe that they could communicate with "dead spirits,"—and through this belief they opened a door for devils to enter,–for within several weeks rappings were heard by hopeful communicants all over New England. By the early 1850s more than a million people in the United States and England had accepted the strange sounds as proof that the spirits of the dead are floating around, waiting to speak with them.

When the Fox sisters, Margaretta and Katie, were sent away to live with relatives, the rappings followed them when they were in darkened rooms. They thoroughly enjoyed the publicity of it all and in 1849 the first of many public demonstrations in darkened rooms was arranged in Rochester, New York. From then on the phenomena was known as the "Rochester rappings.".

Still later, Katie and Margaretta held spiritualist seances, and something would appear which said it was "departed friends:" Spiritualist organizations and "churches" were formed as a result of their efforts. And with them, a strong interest in astrology and so­called "psychic predictions." The Fox sisters are today considered to be the founders of modem Spiritualism—an occult communicating with demons.

Something deeply bothered Margaretta, and in 1858 she stopped her work as a Spiritualist medium and joined the Roman Catholic Church. As the years passed, both sisters gradually became confirmed alcoholics, and kept sinking deeper in loss of self-control, immorality, poverty, and alcoholism. "Pressed by, the spirits," Margaretta again became a spirit medium in 1867, again with full "powers" to bring spirits out of the air to appear as "departed loved ones from the presence of God." And this, in spite of her gross immorality in both standards and practice. Of this time in her life, the English Spiritualist, James Burns, editor of "The Medium", wrote after her tragic death:

"We have [here] a woman giving spiritual manifestations to others, while within herself she is spiritually lost and misdirected. All moral sense, and control of mind and desire were gone. . But when the medium makes a trade of it and puffs the thing up as a commodity for sale, then farewell to all that might elevate or instruct in the subject."—James Burns, "The Medium and Daybreak," April 28, 1893, p. 258.

Her husband, Dr. Elisha Kane, an Arctic explorer, saw more clearly the causes behind her moral collapse: It was the deception of the "rappings" that she had kept hidden in her heart all those years, for only to a few intimates did she disclose their origin.

" 'Oh, Maggie, are you never tired of this weary, weary sameness of continual deceit? Are you doomed thus to spend your days, doomed never to rise to better things?' "

" 'Do avoid "spirits," I cannot bear to think of you as engaged in a course of wickedness and deception. Maggie, you have no friend but me whose interest in you is disconnected from this cursed rapping. Pardon my saying so; but is it not deceit even to listen [silently] when others are deceived?" —Letter from Dr. Elisha Kane to his wife Margaretta, quoted in C.E. Bechhofer Roberts, 'The Truth About Spiritualism', pp. 47,48.

Finally, in 1888, Margaretta Fox Kane could no longer withstand the accusings of her conscience. Millions looked to her, in sincerity, as one of the co­founders of a great new psychic movement that was supposed to lead humanity to a great new age of better living,—yet which was only demon worship. She called in newspaper reporters and told them that the satanic guidance called "Modern Spiritualism" and "psychic research "—had really sprung out of her and Katie's childhood deceptions. She said that she had tried to drown it all in drink, but to, no avail. She said that to those who, over the years, had been urging her to conduct séances with departed spirits, she replied, "You are driving me to hell!" Within a few days, her sister Katie Fox Jencken returned from a trip to Europe and told reporters that she would join her sister in the exposure.

"I regard Spiritualism as one of the greatest curses that the world has ever known."—Katie Fox Jencken, "New York Herald," October 9, 1888.

Then, on October 21, before a large assembly gathered in the New York Academy of Music for this purpose, after a Dr. Richmond had, by sleight of hand, successfully imitated the slate writing and thought reading of the séance room, Margaretta arose and, in her sister's presence, read a statement repudiating their "powers" as a fake.

"That I have been chiefly instrumental in perpetrating the fraud of Spiritualism upon a too-confiding public, most of you doubtless know. The greatest sorrow in my life has been that this is true, and though it has come late in my day, I am now prepared to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God! . . I am here tonight as one of the founders of Spiritualism to denounce it as an absolute falsehood from beginning to end, as the flimsiest of superstitions, the most wicked blasphemy known to the world' "—Margaretta Fox Kane, quoted in A.B. Davenport, The Death­blow to Spiritualism, p. 76. (Also see "New York World," for October 21, 1888; and "New York Herald" and "New York Daily Tribune," for October 22, 1888.)

That evening, Margaretta revealed that it all began because she had a big toe that was unusually double-jointed. At will, she could bend it and make surprisingly loud clicks, or "rappings." She and her sister Katie had decided to play a joke on their mother and pretend they were talking to the devil or a spirit. But they had no idea that what they had started would turn into such a gargantuan monster that denied basic principles of morality and Christianity—and brought people under satanic control.

"By throwing life, and enthusiasm into her big toe Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane produced loud spirit-rapping in the Academy of Music last night which dealt a death-blow to Spiritualism, that huge and world-wide fraud which she and her sister Katie founded in 1848. Both sisters were present and both denounced Spiritualism as a monstrous imposition and a cheat.

"The great building was crowded and the wildest excitement prevailed at times. Hundreds of spiritualists had come to see the originators of their faith destroy it at one stroke. They were greatly agitated at times and hissed fiercely. Take it all in all, it was a most remarkable and dramatic spectacle."—New York Herald, October 22, 1888.

Under great pressure from spiritualists, both sisters later signed statements repudiating their earlier repudiation. With this agreement to return to deception, both gradually sunk into deeper gloom, and eventually died as alcoholics. Katie in June 1892, and Margaretta in March 1893.

Here is Margaretta's final outcome, as recorded by one of New York City's largest daily newspapers: "The tenement house of No. 456 West 57th Street, New York, is deserted now, except one room, from cellar to roof. The room is occupied by a woman nearly 60 years of age, an object of charity, a mental and physical wreck, whose appetite is only for intoxicating liquors. The face, though marked by age and dissipation, shows unmistakably that the woman was once beautiful. This wreck of womankind has been a guest in palaces and courts. The powers of mind, now almost imbecile, were the wonder and study of scientific men in America, Europe, and Australia. Her name was eulogized, sung, and ridiculed in a dozen languages. The lips that utter little else now than profanity once promulgated the doctrine of a new religion which still numbers its tens of thousands of enthusiastic believers."—Washington Daily Star, March 7, 1893.

It is generally recognized that both modem Spiritualism and the astrologers and psychics that ply their trade in private audiences and through the major newspapers of the world today-trace their modem reappearance to the strange "rappings" in the children's bedroom of John Fox's home in Hydesville, New York, on the night of March 31,1848.