The Trumpet Herald

Giving the trumpet a certain sound

July 2001

Pope Calls for Reunion at Kiev Mass

The Washington Post reported on June 25 (p. A8) on the Pope's visit to the Ukraine. Despite the intentional absence of the head of the largest Orthodox church there, the Pope is reported to have said that the "Ukraine was the perfect place for him to preach reunion since its roots in the church predate the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches of 1054."

The visit and the message of the Pope is one of several efforts by the Pope in recent years to apologize for past wrongs committed by or for the Roman Catholic Church. While Christian reconciliation may be seen by many as the primary motivation for these efforts, students of Bible prophecy offer additional insights.

Inspired Commentary

Inspiration draws back the curtain to reveal (as we have quoted before):

"The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. . . . She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High" (The Great Controversy, p. 571).

Will the Papal power continue to grow to resemble that of the Dark Ages with its religious persecution?

"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast" (Rev 13:3).

32 East Ohio Clerics to Defy Rule on Gays

The Cleveland, Ohio, The Plain Dealer reported on June 21 (www.cleveland.com/ news/plaindealer) that "Thirty-two United Methodists [sic] ministers put their jobs in jeopardy yesterday, vowing to preach from their pulpits and teach children in their Sunday schools that homosexuality is compatible with Christianity."

The paper noted that the statement at an East Ohio general conference meeting contradicts Methodist church law. The church's position was recently reaffirmed in May 2000 at another general conference meeting.

Inspired Commentary

Are we still shocked when people trained to be ministers for Christ see homosexuality as "compatible with Christianity"? The seemingly escalating in-your-face arrogance of some in the "homosexual movement" brings to mind a few passages from the Bible, not the least of which are the following:

"Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" Luke 17:28-30).

"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 1:22-25).

Faith-based Initiative Still Promoted

The Washington Post reported on June 25 that U.S. President Bush's "faith-based initiative" will be pitched at a U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Detroit. Reportedly Bush intends to tell the mayors that "under his plan, federal money that goes to religious organizations 'must be spent on social services, not worship services'" (p.A1). The Post reported that this initiative was one of the earliest of Bush's six top goals and "is the one to which he is most personally attached."

Apparently opposition to the measure has significantly damaged its chances of passage. The Post noted that Republican lawmakers have privately told the Administration that the legislation in its current form is "dead." President Bush, however, is not giving up.

Inspired Commentary

Certain members of the U.S. Congress are rightly concerned about some aspects of the President's proposals. The Post quoted a senior Democratic Senate aide as saying: "There is a lot of discomfort over here with the civil rights protections and also the constitutional safeguards-where they would draw the church-state line" (p. A5).

Inspiration points to the ultimate goal of those who seek government money for ultimately religious purposes:

"Here [in the U.S.A.] the temperance work, one of the most prominent and important of moral reforms, is often combined with the Sunday movement, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest interest of society; and those who refuse to unite with them are denounced as the enemies of temperance and reform. But the fact that a movement to establish error is connected with a work which is in itself good, is not an argument in favor of the error. We may disguise poison by mingling it with wholesome food, but we do not change its nature. On the contrary, it is rendered more dangerous, as it is more likely to be taken unawares. It is one of Satan's devices to combine with falsehood just enough truth to give it plausibility. The leaders of the Sunday movement may advocate reforms which the people need, principles which are in harmony with the Bible; yet while there is with these a requirement which is contrary to God's law, His servants cannot unite with them" (The Great Controversy, pp 587, 588).