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It is written:
2 Corinthians 1:13-For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end
The church which Jesus built underwent the Great Apostasy which was prophesied by the inspired Apostles of Christ (1 Timothy 4:1-4; 2 Timothy 4:1-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12) which led to the formation of the Catholic church. The apostate church then began to embrace paganism into its’ teachings. Yet, there was something else which the Catholic church did which was quite evil: it kept the Word of God away from the people!
O.C. Lambert documents:
““More than this, parts of the Bible are evidently unsuited to the very young or to the ignorant, and hence Clement XI condemned the proposition that the reading of the Scriptures is for all. These principles are fixed and invariable but the discipline of the Church with regard to the reading of the Bible in the vulgar tongue has varied with varying circumstances. In early times the Bible was read freely by the lay people … New dangers came in during the Middle Ages … To meet these evils, the Council of Toulouse (1229) and Terragona (1234) forbade the laity to read the vernacular translations of the Bible. Pius IV required bishops to refuse lay persons leave to read even Catholic versions of Scripture unless their confessors or parish priests judged that such reading was likely to prove beneficial” (Cath. Dic., 82)….Note how misleading the following statement is: “The Catholic Church has never prohibited the reading of the Bible in the original text or in the approved Latin Vulgate version.” (Question Box, 86). To many, this statement might appear to mean that they have never forbidden the reading of the Bible. But it really means just the opposite. It implies clearly they have forbidden the reading of the Bible, except in a language which they could not read! Since those who compose the clergy were the only ones, usually, who could read these languages, the clergy were the only ones who were allowed to read it. There would be little reason now for forbidding American Catholics to read the Bible in Chinese! Cardinal Gibbons admits as much in the following: “It was well for Luther that he did not come into the world until a century after the immortal discovery of Gutenberg. A hundred years earlier, his idea of directing two-hundred and fifty millions of men to read the Bible would have been received with shouts of laughter, and would have inevitably caused his removal from the pulpit of Wittenberg to a hospital for the insane” (Quoted from Martinet in Faith of our Fathers, 107). She wishes to influence men to leave the certainty of the Bible, and to become lost in a quagmire, a labyrinth of manufactured history, to turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto fables (2 Tim. 4: 1-4). One of the charges most often made against the Catholic Church is that they have forbidden the reading of the Bible. They bitterly deny it. The facts are that by the time the Catholic Church began to appear in history, the original languages were no longer used nor understood by the people. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin. Soon thereafter the people no longer understood Latin. Since it is no longer the language of the people, it is a misnomer to call it the “Vulgate,” for “Vulgate” means the language of the people. They themselves admit that the “Middle Ages” was a period of hundreds of years characterized by “great ignorance.” The ignorance was so universal that five hundred years after Christ, Emperor Leo could not read and write (General History, Darras, II, 97). If the emperor could not read and write, how appalling must have been the ignorance of the common people! There was hardly any reason for forbidding the common people to read the Bible in any language in that age, which Catholics writers are so proudly calling the “age of faith,” or “the golden age.” It was certainly the age when the Catholic Church had everything just about as she wanted it….“We have already examined statements to the effect that the Bible is not a safe book (Question Box, 67), and was forbidden for hundreds of years (Catholic Dictionary, 82; Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, 273-278), that other books are better and are preferred (Plain Facts, 154), that Bible reading has led millions away from the Catholic Church (Question Box, 131), that Bible reading does “more harm than good” (Council of Trent, Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, 274), that the Catholic Church does not need the Bible (Plain Facts, 33), that a Catholic is independent of the Bible (History of the Church of God, Spalding, 25), that the Bible is not a clear statement of the teachings of Christ (Question Box, 66), and is not conclusive (Plain Facts, 23), that it is impossible to learn the truth from it (Plain Facts, 132, 133), that it is not fit to be read (Cath. Dic., 82; 1937 Franciscan Almanac, 114), that the only thing a Catholic needs is a “confessor,” and let him be responsible, and leave his reason at the door like a lantern (Liguori’s Spouse of Christ, 93, 251, 252; Explanation of Catholic Morals, 76), but now I present quotations to the effect that the Catholic Church “opposes and contends against” those who follow the Bible only!” (O.C. Lambert, Catholicism Against Itself: Volume 1 REVISED EDITION: Their History Of Forgeries, Attitude Toward The Bible, Immorality, Lack Of ‘Unity,’ Opposition To American Constitutional Freedoms, Pagan Origins (Kindle Edition), 53-62 (Kindle Edition); Charleston, AR; Cobb Publishing)
God desires that every person know Him and His Word (Mark 16:15-16), and His Word foretells the danger of the world where His Word is not known:
Ezekiel 7:26-Disaster will come upon disaster, And rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; But the law will perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders.
Amos 8:11-“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD.
Micah 3:6-Therefore you shall have night without vision, And you shall have darkness without divination; The sun shall go down on the prophets, And the day shall be dark for them.
By keeping the Word of God out of the language of the people, the Catholic church was able to retain control of the masses. This led to the period known as the Dark Ages.
As we will learn, there were some during this period of Apostasy who tried to keep God’s Word. Indeed, His church was still in the world during this time…even though she was persecuted by the corrupt church!
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
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