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The Image & Name of the Beast
- Thread starter Protestant
- Start date
- Status
Only in RC minds.
Well, you are still my brother in Christ regardless
Same for you ! Some day, HE shall show us what's correct.
Protestant
Well-Known Member
Wicked Steward = Papal Antichrist
The papal Antichrist is prefigured by the unfaithful, wicked steward who beats, persecutes and kills the servants of God, refusing them access to the Word of Life, while he eats and drinks with the drunken (cf. Matthew 24:43-51; Luke 12:37-48).
Roman Catholic Church Code of Canon Law 1273: “By virtue of his primacy of governance, the Roman Pontiff is the supreme administrator and steward of all ecclesiastical goods.”
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
The papal Antichrist is prefigured by the unfaithful, wicked steward who beats, persecutes and kills the servants of God, refusing them access to the Word of Life, while he eats and drinks with the drunken (cf. Matthew 24:43-51; Luke 12:37-48).
Roman Catholic Church Code of Canon Law 1273: “By virtue of his primacy of governance, the Roman Pontiff is the supreme administrator and steward of all ecclesiastical goods.”
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
I'm bored so I'll answer. It is impossible for the RCC to be "mystery, Babylon" religion of Nimrod & Semiramis"., because it is the Harlot (the hierarchy that is). A Harlot is one who is unfaithful to a vow made. Nimrod nor Semiramis had no such vow made to the one true God. Talk about needing a history lesson. I do not disagree, the RCC is guilty of some horrible stuff, but I add who in the world are you? You can not from a denominational bias speak out against another when your affiliation (though it is much smaller) has its own sorted mess. If your numbers were as great and reach as vast and throne of power greater you too would be on the same page.
Your denominational sect just happens to be a small offshoot of its branch -Protestantism. What,are people suppose to leave the frying pan and jump to the fire of your denomination? Not as long lived or as great in number but for its size a heap of wood set a flame. Can not even blame celibacy for these actions. So what is the excuse?
20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms
By Robert Downen, Lise Olsen, and John Tedesco
Multimedia by Jon Shapley
Published Feb. 10, 2019
First of six parts
Thirty-five years later, Debbie Vasquez's voice trembled as she described her trauma to a group of Southern Baptist leaders.
She was 14, she said, when she was first molested by her pastor in Sanger, a tiny prairie town an hour north of Dallas. It was the first of many assaults that Vasquez said destroyed her teenage years and, at 18, left her pregnant by the Southern Baptist pastor, a married man more than a dozen years older.
In June 2008, she paid her way to Indianapolis, where she and others asked leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention and its 47,000 churches to track sexual predators and take action against congregations that harbored or concealed abusers. Vasquez, by then in her 40s, implored them to consider prevention policies like those adopted by faiths that include the Catholic Church.
In this 2007 file photo, Debbie Vasquez holds a photo of herself at age 14, when she says she was first molested by the pastor of her church in Sanger, about one hour north of Dallas. (Donna McWilliam/Associated Press)
"Listen to what God has to say," she said, according to audio of the meeting, which she recorded. "... All that evil needs is for good to do nothing. ... Please help me and others that will be hurt."
Days later, Southern Baptist leaders rejected nearly every proposed reform.
The abusers haven't stopped. They've hurt hundreds more.
20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms
Yeah I am going to post an endless stream of your sects garbage behavior too. YOU HYPOCRITES! Are people suppose to jump from the frying pan to the fire of your denomination? I would probably have some respect for you if you weren't so bias. You tell Catholics to not be Catholic yet you call yourselves baptist when your crimes are no better. As small as you are and considering your history is not as long and your power NOT as great, you have some very smutty things attached to the name Baptist. So your point? There must be some GOOD END you desire for Christian's to take away from this endless war denominations wage on one another? What's your Robycop? What's the end game here for all of you, Truth or self abased nonsense?
If your going to be Christian be Christian and DROP the affiliation TITLES and follow Christ and ADMONISH ALL. Oh and I am just getting started.
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OfLivingWaters
Active Member
In the decade since Vasquez's appeal for help, more than 250 people who worked or volunteered in Southern Baptist churches have been charged with sex crimes, an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News reveals.
It's not just a recent problem: In all, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, the newspapers found. That includes those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned. More of them worked in Texas than in any other state.
They left behind more than 700 victims, many of them shunned by their churches, left to themselves to rebuild their lives. Some were urged to forgive their abusers or to get abortions.
About 220 offenders have been convicted or took plea deals, and dozens of cases are pending. They were pastors. Ministers. Youth pastors. Sunday school teachers. Deacons. Church volunteers.
Nearly 100 are still held in prisons stretching from Sacramento County, Calif., to Hillsborough County, Fla., state and federal records show. Scores of others cut deals and served no time. More than 100 are registered sex offenders. Some still work in Southern Baptist churches today.
Journalists in the two newsrooms spent more than six months reviewing thousands of pages of court, prison and police records and conducting hundreds of interviews. They built a database of former leaders in Southern Baptist churches who have been convicted of sex crimes.
The investigation reveals that:
• At least 35 church pastors, employees and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were still able to find jobs at churches during the past two decades. In some cases, church leaders apparently failed to alert law enforcement about complaints or to warn other congregations about allegations of misconduct.
• Several past presidents and prominent leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention are among those criticized by victims for concealing or mishandling abuse complaints within their own churches or seminaries.
• Some registered sex offenders returned to the pulpit. Others remain there, including a Houston preacher who sexually assaulted a teenager and now is the principal officer of a Houston nonprofit that works with student organizations, federal records show. Its name: Touching the Future Today Inc.
• Many of the victims were adolescents who were molested, sent explicit photos or texts, exposed to pornography, photographed nude, or repeatedly raped by youth pastors. Some victims as young as 3 were molested or raped inside pastors' studies and Sunday school classrooms. A few were adults — women and men who sought pastoral guidance and instead say they were seduced or sexually assaulted.
Heather Schneider was 14 when she was molested in a choir room at Houston's Second Baptist Church, according to criminal and civil court records. Her mother, Gwen Casados, said church leaders waited months to fire the attacker, who later pleaded no contest. In response to her lawsuit, church leaders also denied responsibility.
Schneider slit her wrists the day after that attack in 1994, Casados said. She survived, but she died 14 years later from a drug overdose that her mother blames on the trauma.
Continued:
It's not just a recent problem: In all, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, the newspapers found. That includes those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned. More of them worked in Texas than in any other state.
They left behind more than 700 victims, many of them shunned by their churches, left to themselves to rebuild their lives. Some were urged to forgive their abusers or to get abortions.
About 220 offenders have been convicted or took plea deals, and dozens of cases are pending. They were pastors. Ministers. Youth pastors. Sunday school teachers. Deacons. Church volunteers.
Nearly 100 are still held in prisons stretching from Sacramento County, Calif., to Hillsborough County, Fla., state and federal records show. Scores of others cut deals and served no time. More than 100 are registered sex offenders. Some still work in Southern Baptist churches today.
Journalists in the two newsrooms spent more than six months reviewing thousands of pages of court, prison and police records and conducting hundreds of interviews. They built a database of former leaders in Southern Baptist churches who have been convicted of sex crimes.
The investigation reveals that:
• At least 35 church pastors, employees and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were still able to find jobs at churches during the past two decades. In some cases, church leaders apparently failed to alert law enforcement about complaints or to warn other congregations about allegations of misconduct.
• Several past presidents and prominent leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention are among those criticized by victims for concealing or mishandling abuse complaints within their own churches or seminaries.
• Some registered sex offenders returned to the pulpit. Others remain there, including a Houston preacher who sexually assaulted a teenager and now is the principal officer of a Houston nonprofit that works with student organizations, federal records show. Its name: Touching the Future Today Inc.
• Many of the victims were adolescents who were molested, sent explicit photos or texts, exposed to pornography, photographed nude, or repeatedly raped by youth pastors. Some victims as young as 3 were molested or raped inside pastors' studies and Sunday school classrooms. A few were adults — women and men who sought pastoral guidance and instead say they were seduced or sexually assaulted.
Heather Schneider was 14 when she was molested in a choir room at Houston's Second Baptist Church, according to criminal and civil court records. Her mother, Gwen Casados, said church leaders waited months to fire the attacker, who later pleaded no contest. In response to her lawsuit, church leaders also denied responsibility.
Schneider slit her wrists the day after that attack in 1994, Casados said. She survived, but she died 14 years later from a drug overdose that her mother blames on the trauma.
Continued:
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
"I never got her back," Casados said.
Others took decades to come forward, and only after their lives had unraveled. David Pittman was 12, he says, when a youth minister from his Georgia church first molested him in 1981. Two other former members of the man's churches said in interviews that they also were abused by him. But by the time Pittman spoke out in 2006, it was too late to press criminal charges.
The minister still works at an SBC church.
Pittman won't soon forgive those who have offered prayers but taken no action. He only recently stopped hating God.
"That is the greatest tragedy of all," he said. "So many people's faith is murdered. I mean, their faith is slaughtered by these predators."
August "Augie" Boto, interim president of the SBC's Executive Committee, helped draft the rejection of reform proposals in 2008. In an interview, he expressed "sorrow" about some of the newspapers' findings but said the convention's leadership can do only so much to stop sexual abuses.
"It would be sorrow if it were 200 or 600" cases, Boto said. "Sorrow. What we're talking about is criminal. The fact that criminal activity occurs in a church context is always the basis of grief. But it's going to happen. And that statement does not mean that we must be resigned to it."
'A porous sieve'
At the core of Southern Baptist doctrine is local church autonomy, the idea that each church is independent and self-governing. It's one of the main reasons that Boto said most of the proposals a decade ago were viewed as flawed by the executive committee because the committee doesn't have the authority to force churches to report sexual abuse to a central registry.
Because of that, Boto said, the committee "realized that lifting up a model that could not be enforced was an exercise in futility," and so instead drafted a report that "accepted the existence of the problem rather than attempting to define its magnitude."
Q&A: Investigation into sexual abuse 'shining the light of day upon crime,' Southern Baptist leader says
SBC churches and organizations share resources and materials, and together they fund missionary trips and seminaries. Most pastors are ordained locally after they've convinced a small group of church elders that they've been called to service by God. There is no central database that tracks ordinations, or sexual abuse convictions or allegations.
All of that makes Southern Baptist churches highly susceptible to predators, says Christa Brown, an activist who wrote a book about being molested as a child by a pastor at her SBC church in Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb.
"It's a perfect profession for a con artist, because all he has to do is talk a good talk and convince people that he's been called by God, and bingo, he gets to be a Southern Baptist minister," said Brown, who lives in Colorado. "Then he can infiltrate the entirety of the SBC, move from church to church, from state to state, go to bigger churches and more prominent churches where he has more influence and power, and it all starts in some small church.
"It's a porous sieve of a denomination."
To try to measure the problem, the newspapers collected and cross-checked news reports, prison records, court records, sex offender registries and other documents. Reporters also conducted hundreds of interviews with victims, church leaders, investigators and offenders.
‘So many people’s faith is murdered. I mean, their faith is slaughtered by these predators.’
David Pittman, who says he was molested by his youth minister
Several factors make it likely that the abuse is even more widespread than can be documented: Victims of sexual assault come forward at a low rate; many cases in churches are handled internally; and many Southern Baptist churches are in rural communities where media coverage is sparse.
It's clear, however, that SBC leaders have long been aware of the problem. Bowing to pressure from activists, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, one of the largest SBC state organizations, in 2007 published a list of eight sex offenders who had served in Southern Baptist churches in Texas.
CONTINUED:
Others took decades to come forward, and only after their lives had unraveled. David Pittman was 12, he says, when a youth minister from his Georgia church first molested him in 1981. Two other former members of the man's churches said in interviews that they also were abused by him. But by the time Pittman spoke out in 2006, it was too late to press criminal charges.
The minister still works at an SBC church.
Pittman won't soon forgive those who have offered prayers but taken no action. He only recently stopped hating God.
"That is the greatest tragedy of all," he said. "So many people's faith is murdered. I mean, their faith is slaughtered by these predators."
August "Augie" Boto, interim president of the SBC's Executive Committee, helped draft the rejection of reform proposals in 2008. In an interview, he expressed "sorrow" about some of the newspapers' findings but said the convention's leadership can do only so much to stop sexual abuses.
"It would be sorrow if it were 200 or 600" cases, Boto said. "Sorrow. What we're talking about is criminal. The fact that criminal activity occurs in a church context is always the basis of grief. But it's going to happen. And that statement does not mean that we must be resigned to it."
'A porous sieve'
At the core of Southern Baptist doctrine is local church autonomy, the idea that each church is independent and self-governing. It's one of the main reasons that Boto said most of the proposals a decade ago were viewed as flawed by the executive committee because the committee doesn't have the authority to force churches to report sexual abuse to a central registry.
Because of that, Boto said, the committee "realized that lifting up a model that could not be enforced was an exercise in futility," and so instead drafted a report that "accepted the existence of the problem rather than attempting to define its magnitude."
Q&A: Investigation into sexual abuse 'shining the light of day upon crime,' Southern Baptist leader says
SBC churches and organizations share resources and materials, and together they fund missionary trips and seminaries. Most pastors are ordained locally after they've convinced a small group of church elders that they've been called to service by God. There is no central database that tracks ordinations, or sexual abuse convictions or allegations.
All of that makes Southern Baptist churches highly susceptible to predators, says Christa Brown, an activist who wrote a book about being molested as a child by a pastor at her SBC church in Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb.
"It's a perfect profession for a con artist, because all he has to do is talk a good talk and convince people that he's been called by God, and bingo, he gets to be a Southern Baptist minister," said Brown, who lives in Colorado. "Then he can infiltrate the entirety of the SBC, move from church to church, from state to state, go to bigger churches and more prominent churches where he has more influence and power, and it all starts in some small church.
"It's a porous sieve of a denomination."
To try to measure the problem, the newspapers collected and cross-checked news reports, prison records, court records, sex offender registries and other documents. Reporters also conducted hundreds of interviews with victims, church leaders, investigators and offenders.
‘So many people’s faith is murdered. I mean, their faith is slaughtered by these predators.’
David Pittman, who says he was molested by his youth minister
Several factors make it likely that the abuse is even more widespread than can be documented: Victims of sexual assault come forward at a low rate; many cases in churches are handled internally; and many Southern Baptist churches are in rural communities where media coverage is sparse.
It's clear, however, that SBC leaders have long been aware of the problem. Bowing to pressure from activists, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, one of the largest SBC state organizations, in 2007 published a list of eight sex offenders who had served in Southern Baptist churches in Texas.
CONTINUED:
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
LET ME GUESS only the RCC has bad Stewards? What a farce . None of this you post in here against the RCC has anything to do with upholding true Christianity. It is simply the blind leading the blind, bashing the blind while turning a blind eye to the name you uphold. You can not , from within ,correct the tent you sojourn in. You must shake off the garb of the denomination, walk and talk like a TRUE Christian and correct ALL. NO PARTIALITY or you all are just hypocrites before the Lord.
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
EXPLAINER: What is the Southern Baptist Convention?
Around the same time, the Rev. Thomas Doyle wrote to SBC leaders, imploring them to act. A priest and former high-ranking lawyer for the Catholic Church, Doyle in the 1980s was one of the earliest to blow the whistle on child sexual abuse in the church. But Catholic leaders "lied about it ... covered it up and ignored the victims," said Doyle, now retired and living in northern Virginia.
Doyle turned to activism because of his experiences, work that brought him closer to those abused in Southern Baptist churches. Their stories — and how the SBC handled them — felt hauntingly familiar, he said.
"I saw the same type of behavior going on with the Southern Baptists," he said.
The responses were predictable, Doyle said. In one, Frank Page, then the SBC president, wrote that they were "taking this issue seriously" but that local church autonomy presented "serious limitations." In March, Page resigned as president and CEO of the SBC's Executive Committee for "a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past," according to the executive committee.
Details have not been disclosed, but SBC officials said they had "no reason to suspect any legal impropriety." Page declined to be interviewed.
Other leaders have acknowledged that Baptist churches are troubled by predators but that they could not interfere in local church affairs. Even so, the SBC has ended its affiliation with at least four churches in the past 10 years for affirming or endorsing homosexual behavior. The SBC governing documents ban gay or female pastors, but they do not outlaw convicted sex offenders from working in churches.
In one email to Debbie Vasquez, Augie Boto assured her that "no Baptist I know of is pretending that 'the problem does not exist.'"
"There is no question that some Southern Baptist ministers have done criminal things, including sexual abuse of children," he wrote in a May 2007 email. "It is a sad and tragic truth. Hopefully, the harm emanating from such occurrences will cause the local churches to be more aggressively vigilant."
Gwen Casados sits in her daughter's room in Houston. Her daughter, Heather Schneider, was sexually abused inside Second Baptist Church in Houston in 1994 and later died of a drug overdose.
(Jon Shapley/Staff Photographer | Houston Chronicle)Offenders return to preach
The SBC Executive Committee also wrote in 2008 that it "would certainly be justified" to end affiliations with churches that "intentionally employed a known sexual offender or knowingly placed one in a position of leadership over children or other vulnerable participants in its ministries."
Current SBC President J.D. Greear reaffirmed that stance in an email to the Chronicle, writing that any church that "proves a pattern of sinful neglect — regarding abuse or any other matter — should absolutely be removed from fellowship from the broader denomination."
"The Bible calls for pastors to be people of integrity, known for their self-control and kindness," Greear wrote. "A convicted sex offender would certainly not meet those qualifications. Churches that ignore that are out of line with both Scripture and Baptist principles of cooperation."
But the newspapers found at least 10 SBC churches that welcomed pastors, ministers and volunteers since 1998 who had previously faced charges of sexual misconduct. In some cases, they were registered sex offenders.
SEARCH OUR DATABASE: See the Southern Baptist church officials who were convicted or pleaded guilty
Around the same time, the Rev. Thomas Doyle wrote to SBC leaders, imploring them to act. A priest and former high-ranking lawyer for the Catholic Church, Doyle in the 1980s was one of the earliest to blow the whistle on child sexual abuse in the church. But Catholic leaders "lied about it ... covered it up and ignored the victims," said Doyle, now retired and living in northern Virginia.
Doyle turned to activism because of his experiences, work that brought him closer to those abused in Southern Baptist churches. Their stories — and how the SBC handled them — felt hauntingly familiar, he said.
"I saw the same type of behavior going on with the Southern Baptists," he said.
The responses were predictable, Doyle said. In one, Frank Page, then the SBC president, wrote that they were "taking this issue seriously" but that local church autonomy presented "serious limitations." In March, Page resigned as president and CEO of the SBC's Executive Committee for "a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past," according to the executive committee.
Details have not been disclosed, but SBC officials said they had "no reason to suspect any legal impropriety." Page declined to be interviewed.
Other leaders have acknowledged that Baptist churches are troubled by predators but that they could not interfere in local church affairs. Even so, the SBC has ended its affiliation with at least four churches in the past 10 years for affirming or endorsing homosexual behavior. The SBC governing documents ban gay or female pastors, but they do not outlaw convicted sex offenders from working in churches.
In one email to Debbie Vasquez, Augie Boto assured her that "no Baptist I know of is pretending that 'the problem does not exist.'"
"There is no question that some Southern Baptist ministers have done criminal things, including sexual abuse of children," he wrote in a May 2007 email. "It is a sad and tragic truth. Hopefully, the harm emanating from such occurrences will cause the local churches to be more aggressively vigilant."
Gwen Casados sits in her daughter's room in Houston. Her daughter, Heather Schneider, was sexually abused inside Second Baptist Church in Houston in 1994 and later died of a drug overdose.
(Jon Shapley/Staff Photographer | Houston Chronicle)Offenders return to preach
The SBC Executive Committee also wrote in 2008 that it "would certainly be justified" to end affiliations with churches that "intentionally employed a known sexual offender or knowingly placed one in a position of leadership over children or other vulnerable participants in its ministries."
Current SBC President J.D. Greear reaffirmed that stance in an email to the Chronicle, writing that any church that "proves a pattern of sinful neglect — regarding abuse or any other matter — should absolutely be removed from fellowship from the broader denomination."
"The Bible calls for pastors to be people of integrity, known for their self-control and kindness," Greear wrote. "A convicted sex offender would certainly not meet those qualifications. Churches that ignore that are out of line with both Scripture and Baptist principles of cooperation."
But the newspapers found at least 10 SBC churches that welcomed pastors, ministers and volunteers since 1998 who had previously faced charges of sexual misconduct. In some cases, they were registered sex offenders.
SEARCH OUR DATABASE: See the Southern Baptist church officials who were convicted or pleaded guilty
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
In Illinois, Leslie Mason returned to the pulpit a few years after he was convicted in 2003 on two counts of criminal sexual assault. Mason had been a rising star in local Southern Baptist circles until the charges were publicized by Michael Leathers, who was then editor of the state's Baptist newspaper.
Letters from angry readers poured in. Among those upset by Leathers' decision to publish the story was Glenn Akins, the interim executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association.
"To have singled Les out in such a sensationalistic manner ignores many others who have done the same thing," Akins wrote in a memo, a copy of which Leathers provided. "You could have asked nearly any staff member and gotten the names of several other prominent churches where the same sort of sexual misconduct has occurred recently in our state."
Akins, now the assistant executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, declined an interview request.
Leathers resigned after state Baptist convention leaders told him he might be fired and lose his severance pay, he said. Mason, meanwhile, admitted to investigators that he had relationships with four different girls, records show.
Mason received a seven-year prison sentence under a plea deal in which investigators dropped all but two of his charges. After his release, he returned to the pulpit of a different SBC church a few miles away.
"That just appalled me," Leathers said. "They had to have known they put a convicted sex offender behind the pulpit. ... If a church calls a woman to pastor their church, there are a lot of Southern Baptist organizations that, sadly, would disassociate with them immediately. Why wouldn't they do the same for convicted sex offenders?"
Mason has since preached at multiple SBC churches in central Illinois. He said in an interview that those churches "absolutely know about my past," and said churches and other institutions need "to be better at handling" sexual abuse.
Mason said that "nobody is above reproach in all things" and that church leaders — particularly those who work with children — "desperately need accountability."
In Houston, Michael Lee Jones started a Southern Baptist church, Cathedral of Faith, after his 1998 conviction for having sex with a teenage female congregant at a different SBC church nearby. Jones, also leader of a nonprofit called Touching the Future Today, was included on the list of convicted ministers released by the Baptist General Convention of Texas a decade ago.
Dr. Joe Ratliff, the pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, is pictured in this 2013 file photo. (Houston Chronicle file)
In December, Cathedral of Faith celebrated its 20th anniversary at a downtown Houston hotel, according to the church's website. A flyer for the event touted sermons from Jones, another pastor and Joseph S. Ratliff, the longtime pastor of Houston's Brentwood Baptist Church.
Ratliff was sued in 2003 for sexual misconduct with a man he was counseling. The lawsuit was settled and dismissed by agreement of the parties, according to Harris County court records and interviews. The settlement is subject to a confidentiality agreement. Ratliff has been sued two other times, one involving another person who had come in for counseling; the other involved his handling of allegations against another church official, Harris County records show. The disposition of those two cases was not available.
Jones, Ratliff and Ratliff's attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
'A known problem'
Wade Burleson, a former president of Oklahoma's Southern Baptist convention, says it has long been clear that Southern Baptist churches face a crisis. In 2007 and 2018, he asked SBC leaders to study sexual abuse in churches and bring prevention measures to a vote at the SBC's annual meeting.
Leaders pushed back both times, he said. Some cited local church autonomy; others feared lawsuits if the reforms didn't prevent abuse.
Burleson couldn't help but wonder if there have been "ulterior motives" at play.
"There's a known problem, but it's too messy to deal with," he said in a recent interview. "It's not that we can't do it as much as we don't want to do it. ... To me, that's a problem. You must want to do it, to do it."
Doyle, the Catholic whistleblower, was similarly suspicious, if more blunt: "I understand the fear, because it's going to make the leadership look bad," he said. "Well, they are bad, and they should look bad. Because they have ignored this issue. They have demonized the victims."
Several Southern Baptist leaders and their churches have been criticized for ignoring the abused or covering for alleged predators, including at Houston's Second Baptist, where former SBC President Ed Young has been pastor since 1978. Young built the church into one of the largest and most important in the SBC; today, it counts more than 60,000 members who attend at multiple campuses.
Before she was molested in the choir room at Second Baptist in 1994, Heather Schneider filled a black notebook with poems. The seventh-grader, with long white-blond hair and sparkling green eyes, had begun to work as a model. She soon attracted attention from John Forse, who coordinated church pageants and programs at Second Baptist.
He also used his position to recruit girls for private acting lessons, according to Harris County court documents.
A day after she was attacked, Schneider told her mother, Casados, that Forse had touched her inappropriately and tried to force her to do "horrendous things." Casados called police.
John Neal Forse is a registered sex offender. He attacked a fourteen-year-old inside Second Baptist Church in 1994. (Texas DPS)
Casados, who was raised a Baptist, said she received a call from Young, who initially offered to do whatever he could to help her daughter. But after she told Young she already had called police, he hung up and "we never heard from him again," she said in an interview.
It took months — and the threat of criminal charges — before Forse left his position at the church, according to statements made by Forse's attorney at the time and Schneider's responses to questions in a related civil lawsuit.
In August 1994, Forse received deferred adjudication and 10 years' probation after pleading no contest to two counts of indecency with a child by contact. He remains a registered sex offender and was later convicted of a pornography charge. He is listed in the sex offender registry as transient; he could not be reached for comment.
Letters from angry readers poured in. Among those upset by Leathers' decision to publish the story was Glenn Akins, the interim executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association.
"To have singled Les out in such a sensationalistic manner ignores many others who have done the same thing," Akins wrote in a memo, a copy of which Leathers provided. "You could have asked nearly any staff member and gotten the names of several other prominent churches where the same sort of sexual misconduct has occurred recently in our state."
Akins, now the assistant executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, declined an interview request.
Leathers resigned after state Baptist convention leaders told him he might be fired and lose his severance pay, he said. Mason, meanwhile, admitted to investigators that he had relationships with four different girls, records show.
Mason received a seven-year prison sentence under a plea deal in which investigators dropped all but two of his charges. After his release, he returned to the pulpit of a different SBC church a few miles away.
"That just appalled me," Leathers said. "They had to have known they put a convicted sex offender behind the pulpit. ... If a church calls a woman to pastor their church, there are a lot of Southern Baptist organizations that, sadly, would disassociate with them immediately. Why wouldn't they do the same for convicted sex offenders?"
Mason has since preached at multiple SBC churches in central Illinois. He said in an interview that those churches "absolutely know about my past," and said churches and other institutions need "to be better at handling" sexual abuse.
Mason said that "nobody is above reproach in all things" and that church leaders — particularly those who work with children — "desperately need accountability."
In Houston, Michael Lee Jones started a Southern Baptist church, Cathedral of Faith, after his 1998 conviction for having sex with a teenage female congregant at a different SBC church nearby. Jones, also leader of a nonprofit called Touching the Future Today, was included on the list of convicted ministers released by the Baptist General Convention of Texas a decade ago.
Dr. Joe Ratliff, the pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, is pictured in this 2013 file photo. (Houston Chronicle file)
In December, Cathedral of Faith celebrated its 20th anniversary at a downtown Houston hotel, according to the church's website. A flyer for the event touted sermons from Jones, another pastor and Joseph S. Ratliff, the longtime pastor of Houston's Brentwood Baptist Church.
Ratliff was sued in 2003 for sexual misconduct with a man he was counseling. The lawsuit was settled and dismissed by agreement of the parties, according to Harris County court records and interviews. The settlement is subject to a confidentiality agreement. Ratliff has been sued two other times, one involving another person who had come in for counseling; the other involved his handling of allegations against another church official, Harris County records show. The disposition of those two cases was not available.
Jones, Ratliff and Ratliff's attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
'A known problem'
Wade Burleson, a former president of Oklahoma's Southern Baptist convention, says it has long been clear that Southern Baptist churches face a crisis. In 2007 and 2018, he asked SBC leaders to study sexual abuse in churches and bring prevention measures to a vote at the SBC's annual meeting.
Leaders pushed back both times, he said. Some cited local church autonomy; others feared lawsuits if the reforms didn't prevent abuse.
Burleson couldn't help but wonder if there have been "ulterior motives" at play.
"There's a known problem, but it's too messy to deal with," he said in a recent interview. "It's not that we can't do it as much as we don't want to do it. ... To me, that's a problem. You must want to do it, to do it."
Doyle, the Catholic whistleblower, was similarly suspicious, if more blunt: "I understand the fear, because it's going to make the leadership look bad," he said. "Well, they are bad, and they should look bad. Because they have ignored this issue. They have demonized the victims."
Several Southern Baptist leaders and their churches have been criticized for ignoring the abused or covering for alleged predators, including at Houston's Second Baptist, where former SBC President Ed Young has been pastor since 1978. Young built the church into one of the largest and most important in the SBC; today, it counts more than 60,000 members who attend at multiple campuses.
Before she was molested in the choir room at Second Baptist in 1994, Heather Schneider filled a black notebook with poems. The seventh-grader, with long white-blond hair and sparkling green eyes, had begun to work as a model. She soon attracted attention from John Forse, who coordinated church pageants and programs at Second Baptist.
He also used his position to recruit girls for private acting lessons, according to Harris County court documents.
A day after she was attacked, Schneider told her mother, Casados, that Forse had touched her inappropriately and tried to force her to do "horrendous things." Casados called police.
John Neal Forse is a registered sex offender. He attacked a fourteen-year-old inside Second Baptist Church in 1994. (Texas DPS)
Casados, who was raised a Baptist, said she received a call from Young, who initially offered to do whatever he could to help her daughter. But after she told Young she already had called police, he hung up and "we never heard from him again," she said in an interview.
It took months — and the threat of criminal charges — before Forse left his position at the church, according to statements made by Forse's attorney at the time and Schneider's responses to questions in a related civil lawsuit.
In August 1994, Forse received deferred adjudication and 10 years' probation after pleading no contest to two counts of indecency with a child by contact. He remains a registered sex offender and was later convicted of a pornography charge. He is listed in the sex offender registry as transient; he could not be reached for comment.
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
Church officials declined interview requests. In a statement to the Chronicle, Second Baptist stated that it takes "allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse very seriously and constantly strives to provide and maintain a safe, Christian environment for all employees, church members and guests."
IN THEIR WORDS: Victims, families and law enforcement explain the devastation that occurs when a child is abused by a religious leader
The church declined to release its employment policies but described Forse as a "short-term contract worker" when he was accused of sex abuse. "After Second Baptist became aware of the allegations made against Forse his contract was terminated," the statement says. "Upon notification, Second Baptist Church cooperated fully with law enforcement in this matter."
Schneider's parents filed a civil lawsuit against the church, Forse and a modeling agency. The case against the church was dismissed; its lawyers argued that Forse was not acting as a church employee. Second Baptist was not part of an eventual settlement.
In 1992, before Schneider was molested, a lawyer for the Southern Baptist Convention wrote in a court filing that the SBC did not distribute instructions to its member churches on handling sexual abuse claims. He said Second Baptist had no written procedures on the topic.
The lawyer, Neil Martin, was writing in response to a lawsuit that accused First Baptist Church of Conroe of continuing to employ Riley Edward Cox Jr. as a youth pastor after a family said that he had molested their child. In a court filing, Cox admitted to molesting three boys in the late 1980s.
Young, SBC president at the time of the lawsuit, was asked to outline the organization's policies on child sexual abuse as part of the lawsuit. He declined to testify, citing "local church autonomy" and saying in an affidavit that he had "no educational training in the area of sexual abuse or the investigation of sexual abuse claims."
Young also said he feared testifying could jeopardize his blossoming TV ministry.
NEED I G
ON AND ON AND ON.......
NOW IF THIS WAS SIMPLY CALLED a CHRISTIAN FORUM - one that seeks to expose the LIES of all denominations without bias or showing partiality then maybe a soul could actually profit here. But since you are all wanna be back room preachers who devise their OWN brand of truth (Therefore not truth), one can only gather straw here.
IN THEIR WORDS: Victims, families and law enforcement explain the devastation that occurs when a child is abused by a religious leader
The church declined to release its employment policies but described Forse as a "short-term contract worker" when he was accused of sex abuse. "After Second Baptist became aware of the allegations made against Forse his contract was terminated," the statement says. "Upon notification, Second Baptist Church cooperated fully with law enforcement in this matter."
Schneider's parents filed a civil lawsuit against the church, Forse and a modeling agency. The case against the church was dismissed; its lawyers argued that Forse was not acting as a church employee. Second Baptist was not part of an eventual settlement.
In 1992, before Schneider was molested, a lawyer for the Southern Baptist Convention wrote in a court filing that the SBC did not distribute instructions to its member churches on handling sexual abuse claims. He said Second Baptist had no written procedures on the topic.
The lawyer, Neil Martin, was writing in response to a lawsuit that accused First Baptist Church of Conroe of continuing to employ Riley Edward Cox Jr. as a youth pastor after a family said that he had molested their child. In a court filing, Cox admitted to molesting three boys in the late 1980s.
Young, SBC president at the time of the lawsuit, was asked to outline the organization's policies on child sexual abuse as part of the lawsuit. He declined to testify, citing "local church autonomy" and saying in an affidavit that he had "no educational training in the area of sexual abuse or the investigation of sexual abuse claims."
Young also said he feared testifying could jeopardize his blossoming TV ministry.
NEED I G
ON AND ON AND ON.......NOW IF THIS WAS SIMPLY CALLED a CHRISTIAN FORUM - one that seeks to expose the LIES of all denominations without bias or showing partiality then maybe a soul could actually profit here. But since you are all wanna be back room preachers who devise their OWN brand of truth (Therefore not truth), one can only gather straw here.
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
At the end of the Day, none of the garbage of denominations has anything to do with what Christ taught and has been handed down to us through the apostles and PRESERVED BY GOD. For no man can preserve anything of God outside of God. That is directed toward anyone who thinks the RCC is the author and interpreter of the scriptures, God is!
And before you were, the scriptures were, you simply compiled them from other assemblies who were before you. Though smaller they preserved the scriptures in assemblies which only went by the name Christian, whether that was Jewish, Greek , Coptic ,Syrian, Roman before the relabeling of ORTHODOX or CATHOLIC etc.....
And before you were, the scriptures were, you simply compiled them from other assemblies who were before you. Though smaller they preserved the scriptures in assemblies which only went by the name Christian, whether that was Jewish, Greek , Coptic ,Syrian, Roman before the relabeling of ORTHODOX or CATHOLIC etc.....
Protestant
Well-Known Member
Judas Iscariot Foreshadows the Papal Antichrist
Judas was a professed disciple of Christ.
The Pope is a professed disciple of Christ.
Judas held the office of Bishop (Acts 1:20 KJV).
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome.
Judas was a wolf in sheep’s clothing (i.e., claiming to be with Christ, yet in words and action was against Christ).
The Pope is a wolf in sheep’s clothing (claiming to be with Christ, yet in words and action is against Christ).
Judas was empowered by Satan (John 13:26-27).
The Pope, the Lawless One, is empowered by Satan (2 Thess. 2:8-9).
Judas performed miracles (Luke 10:17-19).
The Pope, that Wicked, performs false miracles (2 Thess. 2:8-9).
Judas was a liar, pretending to care for the poor.
The Pope is a liar pretending to care for souls, yet preaches a false Christ and a false Gospel.
Though Judas was in charge of the moneybag, he had no concern whatsoever for the poor (John 12:4-6).
Though the Pope professes to care for the poor, he is in charge of the Roman Catholic Church’s priceless art treasures and vast real estate holdings, yet he refuses to sell them, giving the proceeds to the poor.
Judas betrayed the One he professed to love and obey.
The Pope betrays the One he professes to love and obey by opposing and defying the commandments of Christ.
Judas was a professed disciple of Christ.
The Pope is a professed disciple of Christ.
Judas held the office of Bishop (Acts 1:20 KJV).
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome.
Judas was a wolf in sheep’s clothing (i.e., claiming to be with Christ, yet in words and action was against Christ).
The Pope is a wolf in sheep’s clothing (claiming to be with Christ, yet in words and action is against Christ).
Judas was empowered by Satan (John 13:26-27).
The Pope, the Lawless One, is empowered by Satan (2 Thess. 2:8-9).
Judas performed miracles (Luke 10:17-19).
The Pope, that Wicked, performs false miracles (2 Thess. 2:8-9).
Judas was a liar, pretending to care for the poor.
The Pope is a liar pretending to care for souls, yet preaches a false Christ and a false Gospel.
Though Judas was in charge of the moneybag, he had no concern whatsoever for the poor (John 12:4-6).
Though the Pope professes to care for the poor, he is in charge of the Roman Catholic Church’s priceless art treasures and vast real estate holdings, yet he refuses to sell them, giving the proceeds to the poor.
Judas betrayed the One he professed to love and obey.
The Pope betrays the One he professes to love and obey by opposing and defying the commandments of Christ.
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
Most shepherds today are in it for the money and power. That goes across the board tell us something we do not know. That is why I do not publish anything I am inspired by God to write for gain. Freely I have received and so freely I give just as the (First to Know).
All you post STILL makes no difference to your partiality (WHICH IS A SIN).
"Protestant" it is clear......you are NOT an appointed judge by God. A man must be impartial when dealing with assemblies and that means ALL assemblies . There is no such thing as a one sided coin. This is how you know who is and is not approved- One who speaks from concern for all and does not preach from ones own agenda.
Deuteronomy 1:17
Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it."
AS I DO in respect of My God's teachings.
Acts 10:34
Then Peter began to speak: "I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,
In this Peter is saying that God shows mercy to all who seek it. Mercy includes admonishment and esteem. It would seem you do not accept your own admonishment yet feel BIG enough to admonish others while turning a blind eye to your own denominations faults.
Matthew 7:5
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
James 2:8-10
A Warning against Favoritism
…8If you really keep the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the Law as transgressors. 10Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.…
HALF A TRUTH IS THE GREATEST LIE OF ALL FOR IT IS MEANT TO DECEIVE.
All you post STILL makes no difference to your partiality (WHICH IS A SIN).
"Protestant" it is clear......you are NOT an appointed judge by God. A man must be impartial when dealing with assemblies and that means ALL assemblies . There is no such thing as a one sided coin. This is how you know who is and is not approved- One who speaks from concern for all and does not preach from ones own agenda.
Deuteronomy 1:17
Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it."
AS I DO in respect of My God's teachings.
Acts 10:34
Then Peter began to speak: "I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,
In this Peter is saying that God shows mercy to all who seek it. Mercy includes admonishment and esteem. It would seem you do not accept your own admonishment yet feel BIG enough to admonish others while turning a blind eye to your own denominations faults.
Matthew 7:5
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
James 2:8-10
A Warning against Favoritism
…8If you really keep the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the Law as transgressors. 10Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.…
HALF A TRUTH IS THE GREATEST LIE OF ALL FOR IT IS MEANT TO DECEIVE.
OfLivingWaters
Active Member
Time for me to hear some praise of Christ . I like songs from both the Queens and concubines which praise My Messiah.
Got to reach out in love (Admonishment and esteem ) for all.
Psalm 141 :4-6
Come Quickly to Me
…4Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies. 5Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked. 6When their rulers are thrown from the cliffs, the people will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.…
If you were actually Righteous "Protestant" then you would not burn from your blind judgement.
YOU HAVE TO BE IMPARTIAL......
If you truly believed in the Bible you would clean house from your own shortcomings. But Alas , you only seek to be Lord over men, a replacement for the heads of the Vatican over men. You fancy yourself too above the WORD.
What a shame.
Got to reach out in love (Admonishment and esteem ) for all.
Psalm 141 :4-6
Come Quickly to Me
…4Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies. 5Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked. 6When their rulers are thrown from the cliffs, the people will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.…
If you were actually Righteous "Protestant" then you would not burn from your blind judgement.
YOU HAVE TO BE IMPARTIAL......
If you truly believed in the Bible you would clean house from your own shortcomings. But Alas , you only seek to be Lord over men, a replacement for the heads of the Vatican over men. You fancy yourself too above the WORD.
What a shame.OfLivingWaters
Active Member
See , TRUTH is not difficult to find .Even your denomination "Protestant" has traps and pitfalls. That is why I encourage men to be simply CHRISTIAN not call themselves "Protestant" , "Catholic" "Orthodox ". Christians should be NOBLE not bias. The Christian assembly should walk like a Noble Lady.
Learn the scriptures from the Holy Spirit encourage fellowship and Communion with all. Then you will be thoroughly equipped . You all want to indoctrinate men and OWN THEIR SOULS . You want them to walk and talk just like you, NOT CHRIST. You have Partiality PERIOD. You therefore are as phony as a 3$ bill.
If you where speaking from the 3 -Father , Son and Holy Spirit, you would not be getting corrected PERIOD!
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE GOD! Not lower case in Him BUT HIM! I do not tell people to STOP fellowship with what they are akin to, but to take the Truths that are Revealed in what I share. You promote HATE only.
You stand convicted just as in the Confronting of Peter by Paul. Peter too was guilty of partiality. He was for the Jews only, just as you "Protestant " are for, well.... Protestants.
It is one thing to admonish your brother and another to do so without accepting your own. You cannot be impartial when CLEARLY your stance is SOLELY from that which is the perspective of Protestantism, DUH!
In that you suggest you are coming from a perfect doctrine perspective. NOT! I have proven many things wrong concerning that perspective. So how are you not liable to judgement?:
adj. referring to a debt or a judgment for negligence (On your part of partiality shown), in which each debtor (one who owes) or each judgment defendant (one who has a judgment against him/her) is responsible (liable) for the entire amount of the debt or judgment.
See by NOT being ordered or commissioned by the Holy Spirit to CORRECT a QUEEN you are subject to the same end she is sentenced to, because you are party to lies as well. You are seeing in her what is in yourself, UNFAITHFULNESS TO CHRIST. Impartiality admonishes and esteems what is to be and does not neglect what it is akin to. To be set free of a bond one must be in the Bondsman (Christ). Using His name does not mean in His name. BIG DIFFERENCE.
Now by what authority do you preach, by Christ's or your own? Does a servant of Christ cling to a lie, while pointing out the lies of another?Is your denomination PERFECT?
Learn the scriptures from the Holy Spirit encourage fellowship and Communion with all. Then you will be thoroughly equipped . You all want to indoctrinate men and OWN THEIR SOULS . You want them to walk and talk just like you, NOT CHRIST. You have Partiality PERIOD. You therefore are as phony as a 3$ bill.
If you where speaking from the 3 -Father , Son and Holy Spirit, you would not be getting corrected PERIOD!
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE GOD! Not lower case in Him BUT HIM! I do not tell people to STOP fellowship with what they are akin to, but to take the Truths that are Revealed in what I share. You promote HATE only.
You stand convicted just as in the Confronting of Peter by Paul. Peter too was guilty of partiality. He was for the Jews only, just as you "Protestant " are for, well.... Protestants.
It is one thing to admonish your brother and another to do so without accepting your own. You cannot be impartial when CLEARLY your stance is SOLELY from that which is the perspective of Protestantism, DUH!
In that you suggest you are coming from a perfect doctrine perspective. NOT! I have proven many things wrong concerning that perspective. So how are you not liable to judgement?:
adj. referring to a debt or a judgment for negligence (On your part of partiality shown), in which each debtor (one who owes) or each judgment defendant (one who has a judgment against him/her) is responsible (liable) for the entire amount of the debt or judgment.
See by NOT being ordered or commissioned by the Holy Spirit to CORRECT a QUEEN you are subject to the same end she is sentenced to, because you are party to lies as well. You are seeing in her what is in yourself, UNFAITHFULNESS TO CHRIST. Impartiality admonishes and esteems what is to be and does not neglect what it is akin to. To be set free of a bond one must be in the Bondsman (Christ). Using His name does not mean in His name. BIG DIFFERENCE.
Now by what authority do you preach, by Christ's or your own? Does a servant of Christ cling to a lie, while pointing out the lies of another?Is your denomination PERFECT?
If you're talking to me, first, I AM NOT A SOUTHERN BAPTIST. My church is indy fundy Baptist, & does not believe nor follow ANY man-made doctrines of faith/worship. We are Sola Scriptura.
I dunno what gang you belong to, but it appears to have its share of non-Scriptural hooey as well.
Protestant
Well-Known Member
The Modern-Day Roman Catholic Temple of Diana
“Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:34).
The Ephesians did not hide the fact they were proud and eager worshippers of the great goddess Diana and of her image, unlike Roman Catholics who pretend to limit their ‘veneration’ of the Blessed Virgin Mary to that of ‘hyperdulia.’
To prove their devotion to the great goddess Diana, a magnificent Temple was constructed in her name, considered one of the seven wonders of the world.
Not to be outdone by the pagan Ephesians, the Roman Catholic Church has their version of the Temple of Diana: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Translation: The Temple of the Blessed Virgin Goddess Mary.
According to a press release promoting tourist visitors, the Basilica is “the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America, and the 10th largest in the world. With its dozens of chapels devoted to the Virgin Mary, an upper church that can accommodate 10,000 worshippers and soaring central dome, it’s a site inspiring both faith and awe.”
The Virgin Goddess Mary is very accommodating, no matter the cult of preference. She is always ready, willing and able to answer the prayers of those who earnestly and passionately seek her help.
The Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes. One of dozens of Marian shrines available at the Basilica for the needs of the faithful, whatever and whoever they may be.
By no strange coincidence both the city of Ephesus and Mystery Babylon are considered ‘confused.’
And the whole city was filled with confusion (Acts 19:29).
‘Babylon’ is defined as ‘to confuse’ (Etymology).
Would it not be improper to address a visitor who praises the majestic, awe-inspiring grandeur of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with a curt, “How Babylonian of you!”
“Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:34).
The Ephesians did not hide the fact they were proud and eager worshippers of the great goddess Diana and of her image, unlike Roman Catholics who pretend to limit their ‘veneration’ of the Blessed Virgin Mary to that of ‘hyperdulia.’
To prove their devotion to the great goddess Diana, a magnificent Temple was constructed in her name, considered one of the seven wonders of the world.
Not to be outdone by the pagan Ephesians, the Roman Catholic Church has their version of the Temple of Diana: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Translation: The Temple of the Blessed Virgin Goddess Mary.
According to a press release promoting tourist visitors, the Basilica is “the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America, and the 10th largest in the world. With its dozens of chapels devoted to the Virgin Mary, an upper church that can accommodate 10,000 worshippers and soaring central dome, it’s a site inspiring both faith and awe.”
The Virgin Goddess Mary is very accommodating, no matter the cult of preference. She is always ready, willing and able to answer the prayers of those who earnestly and passionately seek her help.
The Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes. One of dozens of Marian shrines available at the Basilica for the needs of the faithful, whatever and whoever they may be.
By no strange coincidence both the city of Ephesus and Mystery Babylon are considered ‘confused.’
And the whole city was filled with confusion (Acts 19:29).
‘Babylon’ is defined as ‘to confuse’ (Etymology).
Would it not be improper to address a visitor who praises the majestic, awe-inspiring grandeur of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with a curt, “How Babylonian of you!”
- Status