Is This True?

JonathanSDA living word said:

Claim nothing be naive like sheep to the slaughter. Ellen white is a nobody donot revere her too much to lose focus on the real thing. Prophets and wizards will deceive many claiming they have seen the Christ.

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catlover said:

Jonothan, Adventism was founded by Ellen White, no?

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SassySDA said:

Ellen and James White, yes.

I am in the process of reading the Great Controversy, but I do believe that another Adventist told me about this Jesuit infiltration into the church. I just haven't read it for myself yet.

Jon is one of my favorite people, but I don't believe he belongs to, what I guess we have termed, the "traditional" Adventist church.

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catlover said:

Jonathan is a character.

I am reading "Steps To Christ". The free book I got. I think it's interesting.

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ThreeAM said:

I have read the Great Controversy but I don't remember the quote you mentioned. I'm not suggesting it is not there though, I just don't remember seeing it. I would not really be surprised though the Jesuits have had a very long history of involment in politics governments. If they feel they needed to infiltrate the SDA church I doubt they would hesitate given their rather aggresive history. What do you think?

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catlover said:

Jonathan is a character.

I am reading "Steps To Christ". The free book I got. I think it's interesting.

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JonathanSDA living word said:

thanks alot Sassy Long time no speak.. I seem to have a knack for losing people in my life. {:-( But anyways Jesus died for our Sins aint that super exciting King of the universe and Satan offers him his puny realm. Jesus now thats my kind of character GOD bless all thats HIs AMEN

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catlover said:

While CF was down, I went to a few other web sites. On one Adventist sight, there was a thread about something in "The Great Controversy".

Is it true that Ellen White wrote that Jesuits would infiltrate The Adventist Church?

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catlover said:

While CF was down, I went to a few other web sites. On one Adventist sight, there was a thread about something in "The Great Controversy".

Is it true that Ellen White wrote that Jesuits would infiltrate The Adventist Church?

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catlover said:

I think it's a little far fetched. I need to find that web site again and post the link. It was an interesting lively discussion amoung Adventists.

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The city had already declared for the Reformation when Calvin, after various wanderings and vicissitudes, entered its gates. Returning from a last visit to his birthplace, he was on his way to Basel, when, finding the direct road occupied by the armies of Charles V, he was forced to take the circuitous route by Geneva. {GC 233.1}

In this visit Farel recognized the hand of God. Though Geneva had accepted the reformed faith, yet a great work remained to be accomplished here. It is not as communities but as individuals that men are converted to God; the work of regeneration must be wrought in the heart and conscience by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by the decrees of councils. While the people of Geneva had cast off the authority of Rome, they were not so ready to renounce the vices that had flourished under her rule. To establish here the pure principles of the gospel and to prepare this people to fill worthily the position to which Providence seemed calling them were not light tasks. {GC 233.2}

Farel was confident that he had found in Calvin one whom he could unite with himself in this work. In the name of God he solemnly adjured the young evangelist to remain and labor here. Calvin drew back in alarm. Timid and peace-loving, he shrank from contact with the bold, independent, and even violent spirit of the Genevese. The feebleness of his health, together with his studious habits, led him to seek retirement. Believing that by his pen he could best serve the cause of reform, he desired to find a quiet retreat for study, and there, through the press, instruct and build up the churches. But Farel's solemn admonition came to him as a call from Heaven, and he dared not refuse. It seemed to him, he said, "that the hand of God was stretched down from heaven, that it lay hold of him, and fixed him irrevocably to the place he was so impatient to leave."-- D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, b. 9, ch. 17. {GC 233.3}

At this time great perils surrounded the Protestant cause. The anathemas of the pope thundered against Geneva, and mighty nations threatened it with destruction. How was this little city to resist the powerful hierarchy that had so often forced kings and emperors to submission? How could it stand against the armies of the world's great conquerors? {GC 234.1}

Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from earthly ties and human interests, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. (See Appendix.) The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy. {GC 234.2}

When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed. It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination, and thus the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of popery. {GC 235.1}

To give them greater power, a bull was issued re-establishing the inquisition. (See Appendix.) Notwithstanding the general abhorrence with which it was regarded, even in Catholic countries, this terrible tribunal was again set up by popish rulers, and atrocities too terrible to bear the light of day were repeated in its secret dungeons. In many countries, thousands upon thousands of the very flower of the nation, the purest and noblest, the most intellectual and highly educated, pious and devoted pastors, industrious and patriotic citizens, brilliant scholars, talented artists, skillful artisans, were slain or forced to flee to other lands. {GC 235.2}

Such were the means which Rome had invoked to quench the light of the Reformation, to withdraw from men the Bible, and to restore the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages. But under God's blessing and the labors of those noble men whom He had raised up to succeed Luther, Protestantism was not overthrown. Not to the favor or arms of princes was it to owe its strength. The smallest countries, the humblest and least powerful nations, became its strongholds. It was little Geneva in the midst of mighty foes plotting her destruction; it was Holland on her sandbanks by the northern sea, wrestling against the tyranny of Spain, then the greatest and most opulent of kingdoms; it was bleak, sterile Sweden, that gained victories for the Reformation. {GC 235.3}

For nearly thirty years Calvin labored at Geneva, first to establish there a church adhering to the morality of the Bible, and then for the advancement of the Reformation throughout Europe. His course as a public leader was not faultless, nor were his doctrines free from error. But he was instrumental in promulgating truths that were of special importance in his time, in maintaining the principles of Protestantism against the fast-returning tide of popery, and in promoting in the reformed churches simplicity and purity of life, in place of the pride and corruption fostered under the Romish teaching. {GC 236.1}

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The spirit of liberty went with the Bible. Wherever the gospel was received, the minds of the people were awakened. They began to cast off the shackles that had held them bondslaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition. They began to think and act as men. Monarchs saw it and trembled for their despotism. {GC 277.1}

Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. Said the pope to the regent of France in 1525: "This mania [Protestantism] will not only confound and destroy religion, but all principalities, nobility, laws, orders, and ranks besides."-- G. de Felice, History of the Protestants of France, b. 1, ch. 2, par. 8. A few years later a papal nuncio warned the king: "Sire, be not deceived. The Protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order. . . . The throne is in as much danger as the altar. . . . The introduction of a new religion must necessarily introduce a new government."--D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, b. 2, ch. 36. And theologians appealed to the prejudices of the people by declaring that the Protestant doctrine "entices men away to novelties and folly; it robs the king of the devoted affection of his subjects, and devastates both church and state." Thus Rome succeeded in arraying France against the Reformation. "It was to uphold the throne, preserve the nobles, and maintain the laws, that the sword of persecution was first unsheathed in France."--Wylie, b. 13, ch. 4. {GC 277.2}

Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that fateful policy. The teaching of the Bible would have implanted in the minds and hearts of the people those principles of justice, temperance, truth, equity, and benevolence which are the very cornerstone of a nation's prosperity. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." Thereby "the throne is established." Proverbs 14:34; 16:12. "The work of righteousness shall be peace;" and the effect, "quietness and assurance forever." Isaiah 32:17. He who obeys the divine law will most truly respect and obey the laws of his country. He who fears God will honor the king in the exercise of all just and legitimate authority. But unhappy France prohibited the Bible and banned its disciples. Century after century, men of principle and integrity, men of intellectual acuteness and moral strength, who had the courage to avow their convictions and the faith to suffer for the truth--for centuries these men toiled as slaves in the galleys, perished at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. Thousands upon thousands found safety in flight; and this continued for two hundred and fifty years after the opening of the Reformation. {GC 277.3}

"Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during the long period that did not witness the disciples of the gospel fleeing before the insane fury of the persecutor, and carrying with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the order, in which, as a rule, they pre-eminently excelled, to enrich the lands in which they found an asylum. And in proportion as they replenished other countries with these good gifts, did they empty their own of them. If all that was now driven away had been retained in France; if, during these three hundred years, the industrial skill of the exiles had been cultivating her soil; if, during these three hundred years, their artistic bent had been improving her manufactures; if, during these three hundred years, their creative genius and analytic power had been enriching her literature and cultivating her science; if their wisdom had been guiding her councils, their bravery fighting her battles, their equity framing her laws, and the religion of the Bible strengthening the intellect and governing the conscience of her people, what a glory would at this day have encompassed France! What a great, prosperous, and happy country--a pattern to the nations--would she have been! {GC 278.1}

"But a blind and inexorable bigotry chased from her soil every teacher of virtue, every champion of order, every honest defender of the throne; it said to the men who would have made their country a 'renown and glory' in the earth, Choose which you will have, a stake or exile. At last the ruin of the state was complete; there remained no more conscience to be proscribed; no more religion to be dragged to the stake; no more patriotism to be chased into banishment."--Wylie, b. 13, ch. 20. And the Revolution, with all its horrors, was the dire result. {GC 279.1}

"With the flight of the Huguenots a general decline settled upon France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wildness; intellectual dullness and moral declension succeeded a period of unwonted progress. Paris became one vast almshouse, and it is estimated that, at the breaking out of the Revolution, two hundred thousand paupers claimed charity from the hands of the king. The Jesuits alone flourished in the decaying nation, and ruled with dreadful tyranny over churches and schools, the prisons and the galleys." {GC 279.2}

The gospel would have brought to France the solution of those political and social problems that baffled the skill of her clergy, her king, and her legislators, and finally plunged the nation into anarchy and ruin. But under the domination of Rome the people had lost the Saviour's blessed lessons of self-sacrifice and unselfish love. They had been led away from the practice of self-denial for the good of others. The rich had found no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, the poor no help for their servitude and degradation. The selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and more apparent and oppressive. For centuries the greed and profligacy of the noble resulted in grinding extortion toward the peasant. The rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated the rich. {GC 279.3}

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NOTE 10. PAGE 565.--THERE IS NO MORE REMARKABLE MOVEMENT OF THE PRESENT DAY, AND NO ONE FRAUGHT WITH MORE VITAL CONSEQUENCES TO MEN AND NATIONS, THAN THE RAPIDLY REVIVING INFLUENCE OF THE PAPACY IN NATIONAL AFFAIRS. THE PAPACY IS FAST MOVING INTO THE PLACE OF THE GREATEST INFLUENCE OF ANY EARTHLY ORGANIZATION. IN EUROPE, TO SAY NOTHING OF CATHOLIC COUNTRIES, WHICH, AS A MATTER OF COURSE, ARE SUBJECT TO THE POPE, CHANCELLOR BISMARCK HAS MADE GERMANY VIRTUALLY SUBJECT TO THE DICTATION OF THE PAPACY; ENGLAND HAS INVITED THE INTERFERENCE OF THE POPE IN HER POLITICAL AFFAIRS IN THE CONTEST WITH IRELAND; AND EVEN THE CZAR OF RUSSIA HAS SHOWN HIMSELF WILLING TO MAKE OVERTURES TO THE PAPACY. ON THE OCCASION OF THE GOLDEN JUBILEE OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF LEO XIII., IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT, EXCEPT THE KINGDOM OF ITALY AND THE UNITED KINGDOMS OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY, EVERY NATION, PROTESTANT AS WELL AS CATHOLIC, PAID GRATEFUL RESPECT TO ROME. {GC88 686.3}

IF ANY NATION MIGHT JUSTLY BE EXPECTED TO KEEP CLEAR OF ROMISH INFLUENCES, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SHOULD BE THE ONE ABOVE ALL OTHERS, AS IT IS CONSTITUTIONALLY PLEDGED TO HAVE NOTHING AT ALL TO DO TOWARD "AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF." YET THIS NATION IS IN NOWISE BEHIND THE OTHERS IN PAYING ASSIDUOUS COURT TO ROME. WHEN THE PAPAL DELEGATES CAME TO AMERICA BEARING TO CARDINAL GIBBONS THE TRAPPINGS OF HIS ROMISH DIGNITY, A GOVERNMENT VESSEL WAS DISPATCHED DOWN NEW YORK HARBOR TO MEET THEM, WITH THE PAPAL FLAG, INSTEAD OF THE STARS AND STRIPES, FLYING FROM THE PLACE OF HONOR. AND AT THE INVESTITURE OF CARDINAL GIBBONS WITH THE PURPLE OF A PAPAL PRINCE, PRESIDENT CLEVELAND SENT HIM A LETTER OF CONGRATULATION. THE CONVERTED CATHOLIC SAYS THAT A LARGER NUMBER OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES SEND THEIR SONS TO THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT GEORGETOWN--ONE OF THE SUBURBS OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL--THAN TO ALL THE OTHER INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING AT WASHINGTON, WHICH PROVES EITHER THAT THE LARGER NUMBER OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES ARE CATHOLICS, OR THAT ROME HAS MORE INFLUENCE WITH SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES THAN HAVE ALL THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN WASHINGTON PUT TOGETHER. IN VIEW OF THIS FACT, IT IS NOT TO BE WONDERED AT THAT ROME DECIDED TO BUILD HER NATIONAL UNIVERSITY AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. {GC88 687.1}

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