EXAMINING
the TOUGH ISSUES
FACING CHRISTIANS TODAY!
Issue #23 // December
22, 2005 // Editor: Darryl Eberhart
(Updated through: July 26, 2007) (www.toughissues.org)
(An Important Topic for Both Roman Catholics and Non-Roman Catholics)
NOTE: All “emphasis” throughout this newsletter, unless otherwise noted, is by the editor of “Examining the Tough Issues (ETI)”.
WARNING: This ETI newsletter may
seriously “disturb” some folks’ “comfort zones”; however, TRUTH is far
more important than any of our “comfort zones”.
NOTE: Numerous “new” quotations from Loraine Boettner’s
excellent book Roman Catholicism (1962) (not used in previous ETI
newsletters) have been added to this updated and expanded version of “The Confessional”.
DEFINITIONS (hopefully listed in alphabetical order):
“Absolution” (One of the meanings from Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language): “In the canon law, a remission of sins pronounced by a priest in favor of a penitent.” ((Ed. Comment: See definition of “penitent” in this section.))
“Auricular”
(Meaning #1 per Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language):
“Pertaining to the ear; within the sense of hearing; told in the ear,
as auricular confession.”
“Babylon” (per Webster’s
New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition; 2006): “Ancient city on
the lower Euphrates River (in what is now central Iraq), the capital of
Babylonia: noted for wealth, luxury, and wickedness.”
“Babylonia” (per Webster’s
New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition; 2006): “Ancient empire in
southwestern Asia, in the lower valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers: it
flourished c.2100-689 B.C. and again, as Chaldea or ‘New Babylonia’, c.625-538
B.C.”
((Ed.
Comment to the two preceding definitions: Alexander Hislop, in his book The
Two Babylons, reveals the remarkable similarities between the
pagan Babylonian priesthood and the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church,
e.g., “auricular confession to an authorized priest”.))
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definition: Loraine Boettner, in Roman Catholicism (1962) on page 298, tells us: “By celibacy…is meant the sectarian requirement of the Roman Catholic Church that its priests, monks, and nuns abstain from marriage. It is not to be confused with the vow of chastity, which is also taken by the members of these groups, and which means abstention from sexual relations. According to Canon Law the vow of celibacy is broken if the priest marries, but not if he engages in sexual relations.” Boettner then adds this comment: “The requirement for celibacy…is entirely without Scriptural warrant, and was not generally enforced in the Roman [Catholic] Church until more than 1000 years after the time of Christ.”))
“Chaste” (per Webster’s
New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition; 2006; adjective: first two
meanings): “1. Not indulging in unlawful sexual activity; virtuous. 2.
Sexually abstinent; celibate.”
“Chastity” (per Webster’s
New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition; 2006): “The quality or
state of being chaste; specifically, a) virtuousness b) sexual abstinence;
celibacy; c) decency or modesty d) simplicity of style.”
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definition: Loraine Boettner, in Roman Catholicism (1962) on page 298, tells us: “By celibacy…is meant the sectarian requirement of the Roman Catholic Church that its priests, monks, and nuns abstain from marriage. It is not to be confused with the vow of chastity, which is also taken by the members of these groups, and which means abstention from sexual relations. According to Canon Law the vow of celibacy is broken if the priest marries, but not if he engages in sexual relations.”))
“Confession” (per
the Roman Catholic Baltimore Catechism): “Confession is the telling
of our sins to an authorized priest for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness.”
“Confession” (Meaning #3 per Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language): “The act of disclosing sins or faults to a priest; the disburdening of the conscience privately to a confessor; sometimes called auricular confession.”
“Confessional” (per Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language): “The seat where a priest or confessor sits to hear confessions; a confession-chair.” ((Ed. Comment: Author and former Roman Catholic priest Charles Chiniquy at times referred to the “confessional” as the “confessional-box”. A more modern term would be the “confessional booth”.))
“Confessor” (per Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language): (#3): “A priest; one who hears the confessions of others, and has power to grant them absolution.”
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definition: The Jesuit Order, more than any other Roman Catholic religious order over the past 400+
years, made sure that it was Jesuit priests who were the “father-confessors” to emperors, kings, emperors’ and kings’
mistresses, queens, princes, princesses, revolutionary leaders, top military
generals, and the rest of the “higher levels of society”.))
“Jesuit Order” (per
Darryl Eberhart, Editor of ETI): “The Jesuit Order is a religious order of
the Roman Catholic Church, officially approved by Pope Paul III in 1540. The
primary goals of this order are (1) to roll back the Protestant Reformation and
the freedoms that it brought to many of the inhabitants of this planet; (2) to
enhance the power and prestige of the Papacy; and (3) to rule despotically over
the governments of the world through the Papacy. The head of the Jesuit Order is the Jesuit
Superior General – the ‘Black Pope’ – the real power behind the Papal
throne. The Jesuit Order is infamous for fomenting revolutions and wars,
assassinating heads of State, and subverting nations.”
“Mortal [sin]” (per Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second College Edition; 1974; 10th meaning): “[Sin] that can cause death of the soul…” (Ed. Note: Compare this definition with the definition of “venial sin”.)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definition: The Holy Bible does not tell us which sins are “mortal” and which sins are “venial”. This “division” of sin into two major categories for the purposes of “auricular confession” is another Roman Catholic doctrinal “invention” that contradicts the clear teachings of Holy Scripture. As author Lorraine Boettner points out in his book Roman Catholicism, no pope has ever produced a “list” of which sins are “mortal” and which sins are “venial”. Obviously, “not-repented-of” sins that are not “covered” by the Blood of Jesus Christ will, at the time of physical death, lead to “spiritual death”. And, according to the Holy Bible, only GOD can forgive our sins against Him!))
“Papal Rome” (per Darryl Eberhart, Editor of ETI): “The government of the Roman Catholic Church, whose headquarters is presently in Rome, Italy.”
“Penance” (per Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language): (a.) “The suffering, labor or pain to which a person voluntarily subjects himself, or which is imposed on him by authority [Ed. Note: such as a “father-confessor” in the Roman Catholic Church] as a punishment for his faults, or as an expression of penitence: such as fasting, flagellation, wearing chains, etc. ‘Penance’ is one of the seven sacraments of the Romish church.” (b.) “Repentance.”
“Penance” (per Webster’s
New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition; 2006): “1. Roman Catholic
Church, Eastern Orthodox Church: a) A sacrament involving the confession of
sin, repentance, and acceptance of the satisfaction imposed, followed by
absolution by a priest; b) the satisfaction imposed, as the recital of certain
prayers. 2. Any act of reparation, self-punishment, etc., done in repentance
for a sin or wrongdoing.”
“Penance” (per
Wilson Ewin – author of numerous books on Roman Catholicism): “Penance is
the sacrament in which sins committed after baptism are forgiven. [Roman] Catholics also refer to it as
‘confession’.”
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definitions: For Roman Catholics, “penance” involves the requirement that they make “auricular confession” to an authorized Roman Catholic priest at least once a year.))
“Penitent” (Two meanings from Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language):
(a.) “One that repents of sin; one
sorrowful on account of his transgressions.”
(b.) “One under the direction of a confessor.”
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definition: Meaning “b.” above most often refers to a Roman Catholic under the direction of a “father-confessor” – in other words, under the direction of a Roman Catholic priest who hears confession.))
“Sacrament” (per Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition; 2006; first two meanings): “1. Christianity: Any of certain rites instituted by Jesus [Christ] and believed to be means of grace: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, holy orders, matrimony, and Anointing of the Sick are the seven recognized by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches; Protestants generally recognize only baptism and the Lord’s Supper (the Eucharist). 2. The Eucharist, or Holy Communion; also, the consecrated bread and wine, or sometimes the bread alone, used in the Eucharist.”
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definition: Please see the definitions for “penance”. For Roman Catholics, “penance” involves the requirement that they make “auricular confession” to an authorized Roman Catholic priest at least once a year.))
“Venial [sin]” (per Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second College Edition; 1974;
3rd meaning): “[Sin] not causing death of the soul;
committed without awareness of its seriousness or without full consent and
hence not totally depriving the soul of sanctifying grace…” (Ed. Note: Compare this
definition with the definition of “mortal
sin”.)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding definition: The Holy Bible does not tell us which sins are “mortal” and which sins are “venial”. This “division” of sin into two major categories for the purposes of “auricular confession” is another Roman Catholic doctrinal “invention” that contradicts the clear teachings of Holy Scripture. As author Lorraine Boettner points out in his book Roman Catholicism, no pope has ever produced a “list” of which sins are “mortal” and which sins are “venial”. Obviously, “not-repented-of” sins that are not “covered” by the Blood of Jesus Christ will, at the time of physical death, lead to “spiritual death”. And, according to the Holy Bible, only GOD can forgive our sins against Him!))
1st IMPORTANT NOTE: When this newsletter speaks of “[sacramental] confession” of sin, it is dealing with what Roman Catholics call “mortal sins” – i.e., those sins that must be confessed to an authorized priest. ((According to the Roman Catholic Church, there is a “lesser” category of sin that she calls “venial”. Roman Catholics are encouraged to make sacramental confession of “venial sins” to a Roman Catholic priest, but are not “required” to do so.))
2nd IMPORTANT NOTE: I (the editor of the ETI & TTT newsletters) am not a Roman Catholic; I also most definitely am not anti-Roman Catholic as far as individual Roman Catholics go. My dad and 90% of my relatives are Roman Catholic; and the majority of my friends are Roman Catholic. I am, however, against the top levels of secret societies (from the hierarchy of the Jesuit Order to the hierarchy of Freemasonry). This is because these secret societies control the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church (through the Jesuit Order and P2 Masonry), and have often used this hierarchical system for evil purposes, such as “holy” Inquisition, “holy” crusades, “holy” wars, and religious genocide. The hierarchical system of the Roman Catholic Church is used quite efficiently by secret societies not only to keep over one billion Roman Catholics “in line”, but also to gather intelligence, and to infiltrate (through its Knights of Malta, Jesuit “temporal coadjutors”, etc.) governments and various Christian denominations. I am also against any religious hierarchy that tries to place itself equal to, or above, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God – or equal to, or above, God’s Holy Word (i.e., the Holy Bible) and His Ten Commandments!
This editor of the ETI and TTT newsletters has been writing more on the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy, and especially the Jesuit Order, in recent newsletters because I keep uncovering more and more about the deep hatred that the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has for independent Bible-believing Christians, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and Jews. We Americans have, for the most part, been largely ignorant of the well-documented history of the Roman Catholic Church in conducting brutal religious genocide (via Inquisition, “holy” wars, and “holy” crusades) against all the afore-mentioned groups. Sadly, many Americans believe the “ecumenical rhetoric” of the Roman Catholic prelates – i.e., that Papal Rome has “changed her ways” and now loves all the “separated brethren”. However, my study of the Papacy shows me that this is just a RUSE [i.e., a “stratagem” – per Webster’s Dictionary: “any trick or scheme for achieving some purpose”]. The “purpose” is to bring all Christian denominations under the “umbrella” [i.e., the control] of the Papacy!
Yes, the Papacy [i.e., Papal Rome], despite its “ecumenical rhetoric”, has not changed a bit over the many centuries in the following categories:
Indeed, power – absolute power – has long been the pursuit of Papal Rome. History has recorded Papal Rome’s deep hatred for religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The U.S. Constitution, with its “Bill of Rights” guaranteeing such liberties, has long been hated by Papal Rome. (For a good example of this hatred, please read the Syllabus of Errors issued in 1864 by Pope Pius IX.) I have heard that there is an acronym in use by some Knights of Columbus in America. This acronym is “M.A.C.”: “Make America Catholic”. America is the last “roadblock” in the way of Papal Rome and her globalist rich and power elite lackeys in their quest for one-world government and one-world religion. Is America scheduled for a religious genocide – an Inquisition – as occurred in the 1940s in Croatia? I believe the danger is very real and possibly quite imminent – and that is why I have been writing more and more about the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy (i.e., Papal Rome), its long-held dreams of world domination, its love of Fascist regimes, and its well-documented history of torture and religious genocide!
I. HERE ARE SOME
RELEVANT BIBLE VERSES:
“Jesus saith unto him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by [i.e., except through] Me.’” (John 14:6)
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5) (NOTE: The Apostle Paul wrote this epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God.)
((Ed. Comment to the two preceding Bible verses: The Holy Bible clearly teaches that no one can come to God the Father except through the Son of God (i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ – the one and only mediator between God and mankind!))
(The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking): “After [i.e., according to] this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.” (Matthew 6:9)
(The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking): “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified [i.e., honored] in the Son.” (John 14:13)
“Give unto the LORD the glory due
unto His name…” (Psalm 29:2 a.)
“I am the LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise [i.e., the praise due to the LORD] to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8)
((Ed. Comments to the preceding four Bible verses:
(1) The Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., in the name of the Son of God – so that God the Father would be honored through the name of the Son of God! This is the clear Biblical “guideline” for prayer: through Jesus Christ to God the Father.
(2) GOD does not share the honor due to Him with anyone else – not with Mary, not with popes, not with saints, and certainly not with sinful men (e.g., confessor priests in the confessional booth). Placing the priest as a mediator between God and man, such as occurs in the confessional, “steals honor and glory due to Jesus Christ” alone – for Jesus Christ taught us how to pray (for forgiveness of our sins, etc.), saying that we were to pray to God the Father in the name of JESUS CHRIST, the Son of God! (See John 14:13, 14) The confessional attempts to place ANOTHER “mediator” between mankind and the ONE TRUE MEDIATOR (the Lord Jesus Christ)!))
(The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking): “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9)
((Ed. Comments to the preceding Bible verse:
(1) Please see Matthew 23:8-10; the Lord Jesus Christ is talking in these verses about the scribes and Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of His day. Jesus Christ is clearly telling us here that we are not to call our “religious” leaders on planet Earth “father”, and that the title of “Father” (in a “religious” context) is to be reserved only for GOD the FATHER!
(2) Roman Catholicism, by having its adherents call its priests “father”, once again places its tradition in the place of (i.e., equal to, or sometimes even superior in authority to) the clear teaching of the Holy Bible.))
“(Verse 20): And when He [i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ] saw their faith, He said unto him [i.e., the paralyzed man brought to Christ for healing], ‘Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.’ (Verse 21): And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’” (Luke 5:20, 21)
((Ed Comments to the preceding Bible passage:
1. Read Luke 5:17-26 for the entire story surrounding the preceding Bible passage. A number of folks had brought a paralyzed man for healing, but because of the crowd, they could not get through to Christ. So they lowered the paralyzed man down through the roof to where Christ was sitting. The Lord Jesus Christ, seeing their great faith, healed the paralyzed man; however, first He told the paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven.
2. The scribes and Pharisees (the pompous, know-it-all religious leaders of Christ’s day) had replaced much of God’s Holy Word (His laws and commandments) with their oral and written TRADITION. The Lord Jesus Christ frequently and openly castigated these pompous religious leaders concerning their TRADITION. We still have today amongst us pompous, know-it-all religious leaders who have replaced much of God’s Holy Word with their TRADITION!
3. The scribes and Pharisees did get one thing right: Only GOD can forgive sins against Him and His holy law. While we sinners may forgive other sinners of those sins committed directly against us (as we are commanded to do – see Luke 17:3, 4), we (and this includes Roman Catholic priests) do not have the authority to forgive sins against God and against other individuals. The major mistake made in the preceding passage by these pompous religious leaders is that they did not recognize Jesus Christ for who He really was – the Son of the Living God. Thus Jesus Christ, one with God the Father, could forgive this man of his sins – but no one else on planet Earth has such authority!))
(King David wrote): “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee [i.e., the LORD], and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD’; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5)
((Ed Comment to the preceding Bible verse: King David did NOT confess his sins to any member of the Jewish priesthood, or even to a Levite; rather, he confessed his sins directly to the LORD God Almighty!))
(Ezra the priest is speaking): “Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers…” (Ezra 10:11 a.)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding Bible verse: Ezra the priest says nothing here about making confession to a priest, but rather to the LORD God Almighty.))
(The Lord Jesus Christ tells us): “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.” (Luke 17:3)
II. HERE ARE SOME
RELEVANT QUOTATIONS:
A. General
Description of Confession by the Roman Catholic Church:
“Confession is the telling of our sins to an authorized
priest for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness.” – The Baltimore
Catechism
“According to the [Roman Catholic] Church’s command, ‘after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year [to an authorized priest].’”
1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church (Page 365; #1457)
B. Some Comments
by Early Church Fathers about Confession:
((Ed. Note: These quotations by early church fathers concerning “confession” are taken from Charles Chiniquy’s book, The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional. Chiniquy [1809-1899] was an ex-Roman Catholic priest and a friend of President Lincoln. This book is available from Chick Publications for $10.45 postpaid. To order it by credit card, please call 1-909-987-0771.))
“What have I to do with men that they should hear my confessions, as if they were able to heal my infirmities?”
Augustine (Known as Saint Augustine of Hippo; 354-430) (This quote was taken from Chapter III of his tenth book of Confessions.)
“We do not request you to go to confess your sins to any of your fellow-men, but only to God. …We do not ask you to go and confess your iniquities to a sinful man for pardon – but only to God.”
John
Chrysostom (Known as Saint John Chrysostom; 350-407) (This quote was taken from
his homily on the 50th Psalm.)
“Therefore, I beseech you, always confess your sins to God! I, in no way, ask you to confess them to me. To God alone should you expose the wounds of your soul, and from Him alone expect the cure. Go to Him, then, and you shall not be cast off, but healed. For, before you utter a single word, God knows your prayer.” – John Chrysostom (From his homily V., De incomprehensibili De natura, vol. I.)
“What we should most admire is not that God forgives our sins, but that He does not disclose them to anyone, nor wishes us to do so. What He demands of us is to confess our transgressions to Him alone to obtain pardon.”
John Chrysostom (From Catethesis ad illuminandos, vol. II, p. 210)
“You need no witnesses of your confession. Secretly acknowledge your sins, and let God alone hear you.” – John Chrysostom (From his homily De Paenitentia, vol. IV., col. 901)
“Confess your sins every day in prayer. Why should you hesitate to do so? I do not tell you to go and confess to a man, [who is a] sinner as you are, and who might despise you if he knew your faults. But confess them to God, who can forgive them to you.” – John Chrysostom (His homily on Psalm 1, vol. V., p. 589)
“I have not come before the world to make a confession with my lips. But I close my eyes, and confess my sins in the secret of my heart. Before Thee, O God, I pour out my sighs, and Thou alone art the witness. My groans are within my soul. There is no need of many words to confess: sorrow and regret are the best confession. Yes, the lamentations of the soul, which Thou art pleased to hear, are the best confession.” – Saint Basil (His commentary on Psalm 37)
C. General
Description of Confession by Ex-Roman Catholics and Non-Roman Catholics:
“Every
loyal Roman Catholic is required under pain of mortal sin to go
to confession at least once a year. The Fourth Lateran Council, 1215,
decreed that every adult, man or woman, should confess all his or her
sins to a priest at least once a year. This decree was ratified at the Council of
Trent, 1546, and remains in force today.” – Loraine Boettner (Roman
Catholicism; 1962; Page 198)
“It is a public fact, which no learned Roman Catholic has ever denied, that auricular confession became a dogma and obligatory practice of the church only at the Council of Lateran in the year 1215, under Pope Innocent III. Not a single trace of auricular confession, as a dogma, can be found before that year.”
Charles Chiniquy (1809-1899; Ex-Roman Catholic priest; a friend of President Lincoln; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 117)
“All mortal sins must be confessed to the priest in detail or they cannot be forgiven. The theory is that the priest must have all the facts in order to know how to deal with the case and what penance to assign. The real reason, of course, is to place the penitent more fully in the hands of the priest.”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism;
1962; Page 200)
“Thus the [Roman Catholic] priest in the confessional
claims not merely a declarative power through which the penitent’s sins are
pronounced forgiven, but a judicial power through which he assigns penances. …The
Roman [Catholic] priest actually claims power as a minister of God to
forgive sin. Though a mere human being,
he exalts himself to a position as a necessary mediator between God and man,
and insists that in his office as confessor he be considered as Christ
Himself. Auricular confession
therefore becomes a public act of idolatry in that the penitent bows
down before a man…and asks from him that which God alone can
give. And on the part of the Roman
Church it is the height of sinful pride and folly thus to put in the place of
God a priest who himself is only a man and guilty of sin.” – Loraine
Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 202)
“When it [i.e., the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchical system] had once succeeded in dimming the light of the Gospel, obscuring the fullness and freeness of the grace of God, and drawing away the souls of men from direct and immediate dealings with the One Grand Prophet and High Priest [i.e., the Son of God, Jesus Christ] of our profession, a ‘mysterious’ power was attributed to the [Roman Catholic] clergy, which gave them ‘dominion [i.e., rule] over the faith’ of the people – a dominion [i.e., rule] directly disclaimed by apostolic men (2 Corinthians 1:24), but which, in connection with the confessional, has become at least as absolute and complete as was ever possessed by [the] Babylonian priest over those initiated in the ancient Mysteries. The clerical power of the Roman [Catholic] priesthood culminated in the erection of the confessional. That confessional was itself borrowed from Babylon [i.e., the pagan Babylonian priesthood]. The confession [that is] required of the votaries [i.e., devotees of a particular religion] of Rome [i.e., the papal system] is entirely different from the confession prescribed in the Word of God. The dictate of Scripture in regard to confession is, ‘Confess your faults one to another’ (James 5:16), which implies that the priest should confess to the people, as well as the people to the priest, if either should sin against the other. ((Ed. Comment: And only in this instance, since we Christians are both commanded to, and authorized to, forgive only those sins directly committed against us by someone else. None of us can forgive sins committed against other folks (than ourselves) or against God and His law.)) This [type of confession – one to another] could never have served any purpose of spiritual despotism; and therefore, Rome [i.e., the papal system], leaving the Word of God, has had recourse to the Babylonian system. In that [pagan Babylonian] system, secret confession to the priest, according to a prescribed form, was required of all who were admitted to the ‘Mysteries’, and till such confession had been made, no complete initiation could take place.”
Alexander Hislop (The Two Babylons; Page 9)
“…The grand object in requiring the candidate for initiation [into the pagan mysteries] to make confession to the priest of all their secret faults and shortcomings and sins, was just to put them entirely in the power of those to whom the inmost feelings of their souls and their most important secrets were confided. Now, exactly in the same way, and for the very same purposes, has [Papal] Rome [i.e., the Roman Catholic hierarchy] erected the confessional. Instead of requiring priests and people alike, as the Scripture does, to ‘confess their faults one to another’, when either have offended the other, it commands all, on pain of perdition, to confess to the priest, whether they have transgressed against him or not, while the priest is under no obligation to confess to the people at all. Without such confession [to a priest], in the Church of Rome, there can be no admission to the Sacraments, any more than in the days of Paganism there could be admission without confession to the benefit of the Mysteries.”
Alexander Hislop
(The Two Babylons; Page 10)
“Our short article upon the Confessional has gone the round of the [news]-papers, and we are glad it should. The more that detestable matter is looked into the better – it is so filthy a business that no decent person could write the whole of what he knows about it: it ought not to be tolerated in civilized society. The questions, fastened up inside the confessional boxes in Italy [Ed. Note: used by the priests to ask questions during confession], which we have read with our own eyes, were so loathsome that we would not like to give a hint as to their subjects.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892; famous English Baptist preacher)
“My indignation was stirred beyond measure when, upon looking into the confessional boxes [in Italy], I read the directions to the priest as to the questions he should ask the penitents. These were printed in Latin, and referred to those unmentionable crimes which brought fire upon Sodom, and are the curse of heathendom. To see young maidens kneel down to be asked such questions as these, made me wish that every priest could be cut off from the face of the earth as unfit to live, and I most deliberately invoked upon them all the righteous vengeance of an insulted God!” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
D. Comments
Contrasting Biblical and Roman Catholic Views of Confession:
“[Roman] Catholicism orders [its] members to confess their sins to a [Ed. Note: sinful] man [i.e., to their “father-confessor” – a Roman Catholic priest], but the Bible reveals that those who have been born into God’s family can go straight to God’s throne to receive forgiveness for their sins…”
Rick
Jones (Understanding Roman Catholicism; 1995; Page 156)
“Auricular confession is a
public act of idolatry. It is
asking from a man [i.e., the priest] what God alone,
through His Son Jesus, can grant: forgiveness of sins.” – Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic
priest; The Priest, The Woman,
and The Confessional;
Page 81)
“Millions of faithful Catholics blindly file into confessional booths, believing that the priest has the power to forgive their sins.
What about you? Where will you [Ed. Note:
emphasis in the original quote] go to have your sins forgiven? [Will you go] to a sinful
priest, as the man-made traditions of the [Roman] Catholic
Church demand? Or will you go straight to God Almighty, as the
[Holy] Bible teaches?”
Rick Jones (Understanding Roman Catholicism; 1995; Page 160)
“[Roman] Catholic doctrines [Ed. Note: such as “auricular confession”] steal honor and glory due to Jesus Christ and give it to Mary, popes, wafers, saints, statutes, etc.”
Rick Jones (Understanding Roman Catholicism; 1995; Page 181)
((Ed. Comment to preceding quote: Placing the priest as a mediator between God and man, such as occurs in the confessional, “steals honor and glory due to Jesus Christ” alone – for Jesus Christ taught us how to pray (for forgiveness of our sins, etc.), saying that we were to pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God! (See John 14:13, 14) Nowhere in the Holy Bible are we commanded to go to God through a priest for the forgiveness of our sins!))
“Where my doubts
were really tormenting me was inside the confessional box. People were coming to me, kneeling before me,
confessing their sins to me.
And I, with a sign of the cross, was promising that I had the power to
forgive their sins. I, a sinner,
a man, was taking God’s place, God’s right, and that
terrible voice was penetrating me, saying:
‘You are
depriving God of His glory. If sinners want to obtain forgiveness of
their sins, they must go to God and not to you. It is God’s
law they have broken. To God,
therefore, they must make confession; to God alone they
must pray for forgiveness. No man
can forgive sins [i.e., against God and against other individuals], but Jesus
[Christ] can, and does forgive sins.’”
Joseph Zachello
(Ex-Roman Catholic priest; Quote was taken from the book Far from Rome,
Near to God; 1994; Page 202.)
“When King David repented of his adultery, he confessed
his sin directly to God.
No priest. No ritual. No sacrament.
Just a broken man owning up to his sin before his Maker…
Confession directly to God was also the experience of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:4-11), Daniel (Daniel 9:3-19), and Ezra (Ezra 9:5-10). Ezra, though a Levitical priest himself, taught God’s people to ‘make confession to the Lord God of your fathers’ (Ezra 10:11).”
James G. McCarthy (The Gospel According to Rome; 1995; Page 80)
“And nowhere in the New Testament is there any record of forgiveness having been obtained from a priest.”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 205)
“Indeed, why should anyone confess his sins to a priest when the Scriptures declare so plainly: ‘There is one God, one mediator also between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus’ (I Timothy 2:5). And yet the [Roman Catholic] priest presumes to say, ‘I absolve you’, ‘I forgive your sins’.”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 206)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding quote: The 1611 King James Bible renders the above Bible verse as follows: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”))
“[The Apostle] Paul wrote thirteen of the New Testament epistles, and in them he often speaks of the duties and practices of Christians. But never once does he mention auricular confession. Peter, John, and Jude wrote six epistles [of the New Testament] in which they have much to say about the matter of salvation. But not one of them ever mentions auricular confession. And certainly [Jesus] Christ never told anyone to go to a priest for forgiveness. Nowhere do the Scriptures tell us that God appointed a special class of men to hear confessions and to forgive sins.” – Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 206)
“…There is no biblical example of sacramental confession to a priest in the entire New Testament.”
James G. McCarthy (The Gospel According to Rome; 1995; Page 81)
E. Effects of the
Confessional on Celibate Priests:
“To say that auricular confession purifies the
soul, is not less ridiculous and silly than to say that the white robe of the
virgin…will become whiter by being dipped into…black ink.
Has not the Pope’s celibate [priest], by studying his books [e.g., Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Kenrick, etc.] before he goes to the confessional-box, corrupted his own heart, and plunged his mind, memory, and soul into an atmosphere of impurity which would have been intolerable even to the people of Sodom?” – Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 80)
“The doctrine of forbidding priests to marry
met with other difficulties over the centuries because of the confessional. It is plain to see that the
practice of girls and women confessing their moral weaknesses and desires to unmarried priests could easily result in many abuses. A former priest, Charles
Chiniquy, who lived at the time of Abraham Lincoln and was personally
acquainted with him, gives a full account of these abuses in his book The
Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional.” – Ralph Edward Woodrow (Babylon Mystery Religion: Ancient and Modern; 1966; Page 111)
F. General Effects
of the Confessional on Roman Catholics:
“We have seen men tremble, women faint and children cry when the time to confess their sins to us [Roman Catholic priests] had come. A priest cannot hear confessions for many months before he realizes that this ordeal cannot be requested by the kind and merciful Lord. On the other hand, we have seen priests laugh and joke in referring to their embarrassed penitents. Confession is a usurpation of authority by priests who investigate the minds and souls of human beings. When an organization such as the Roman [Catholic] system can control not only the education, the family and policies of civil government of its members, but [also] even their very thoughts and desires, we do not wonder that it can prosper and succeed. Roman Catholics, whether they feel that they ought to admit it or not, are forced into submission to Romanism [i.e., Roman Catholicism] through the process of torturing auricular confession.”
Lucien Vinet (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; I Was a Priest)
“The assertion of the [Roman Catholic] priests that the confessional brings peace to the soul is cruel sarcasm. In most cases the result is exactly the opposite, and the penitents remain a certain period of time…in a distressed state of mind. For the honest, conscientious person, young or old, the fear of not making ‘a good confession’, of omitting or inaccurately reporting the various experiences, and so making the entire confession null and void, is in itself a tormenting worry. Believing that their salvation depends, as the priest tells them that it does, on a full and truthful recounting of all their sinful actions, those honest souls fear that they have not been sufficiently contrite, or that they have withheld some necessary details.”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 215)
“A consequence of easy absolution [via auricular confession] is that many [Roman Catholics] take the moral law more lightly and sin more freely just because they know absolution is easy to obtain.”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 205)
“The confessional is contaminating alike to the penitent and to the priest.” – Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 213)
“The peace of families can never be maintained while the confessional exists; the word ‘home’ may as well be left out from the Englishman’s vocabulary when the women of the household have other confidants for their most secret thoughts besides their natural guardians.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892; famous English Baptist preacher)
“There
is literally and in truth no area of life that is exempt from the scrutiny
and supervision of the [Roman Catholic]
priest. ‘Knowledge is power’, and that power can be wielded in many
ways, to direct people along lines that will promote the church program,
or for the personal benefit of the priest himself. It is perfectly evident that the priest, to
whom a person has confessed his thoughts, desires, and every sinful
action just as it occurred, has placed that person [i.e., the penitent] largely under his control. For some
that means little less than slavery.
This is particularly true of women and girls who have even destroyed
their self-respect in so surrendering themselves to the priest [in the confessional]. The result is a sense
of shame, worry, and of being at the mercy of the priest. Through the confessional, [Papal] Rome has been able to exercise an effective
control not only over the family, but over political officials of every
grade, teachers, doctors, lawyers, employers and employees, and indeed over all
who submit to that discipline [of auricular
confession].”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Pages 201, 202)
G. Effects of the
Confessional on Roman Catholic Women and Girls – And Also to the Priest Who
Hears Confession from Women and Girls (Plus Warnings to Husbands and Fathers):
(Chiniquy is here speaking about what the voice of his conscience was telling him as he took confession from women and girls): “Is it not a shame that you, an unmarried man [as a celibate priest], dare to speak on these matters with a woman? Do you not blush to put such questions to a young girl? Where is your self-respect? Where is your fear of God? Do you not promote the ruin of that girl by forcing her to speak with a man on such matters?”
Charles Chiniquy
(Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The
Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 17)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding quote: And would not these practices of interrogating women and girls in the confessional booth also promote the “ruin” of many of these celibate “father-confessor” priests?))
“There
are two [categories of] women who ought to be constant objects of the
compassion of the disciples of Christ, and for whom daily prayers ought to be
offered at the mercy-seat [of God] – the Brahmin woman [of India], who
deceived by her priests, burns herself on the corpse of her husband to
appease the wrath of her wooden gods; and the Roman Catholic woman, who, not
less deceived by her priests, suffers a torture far more cruel and
ignominious in the confessional-box to appease the wrath of her
wafer-god.
For I do not exaggerate when I say, that for many noble-hearted, well-educated, high-minded women, to be forced to unveil their hearts before the eyes [Ed. Note: and to the ears] of a man [i.e., her priest-confessor], to open to him all the most secret recesses of their souls, all the most secret mysteries of their single or married life, to allow him to put to them questions which the most depraved woman would never consent to hear from her vilest seducer, is often more horrible and intolerable than to be tied on burning coals.”
Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 13)
“A married [Roman Catholic] woman enters the confessional.
She will tell a strange man secrets which she probably would not dare to reveal
to her husband. She is even bound to reveal certain secrets of her
husband. …[The] Roman Catholic wife will have to disclose
to the [celibate] priest the most intimate relations of [her
and her husband’s] marital life. The
priest will know more about the wife than the husband. There are no
family secrets because [Papal] Rome has required that
hearts and souls shall be fully explored by [her celibate]
priests. In this manner Romanism controls
the whole intimate lives of married couples.
A married [Roman Catholic] woman, who has any
amount of natural discretion and honesty, will enter the confessional
with apprehension – and often despair. She fears that
terrible ‘infallible’ questionnaire. It is impossible to describe the mental
inconvenience she now experiences by the specter of compulsory
confession…
Poor Roman Catholic women! We know well that your kind souls are tortured to death by this terrible [Papal] Roman obligation of telling not only your sins, but also the most intimate secrets of your married life. As an ex-priest [I] can tell you that these mental tortures imposed upon your souls are not a prescription of the Savior of mankind to obtain forgiveness of your sins, but are pure inventions of men to keep your minds and hearts under the control of a system – the torturous Roman [Catholic] religious organization.”
Lucien Vinet (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; I Was a Priest)
“With a blush on my face, and regret in my heart, I [i.e.,
Ex-Roman Catholic priest Charles Chiniquy] confess before God and man, that
I…through the confessional, plunged for twenty-five years in that
bottomless sea of iniquity [Ed. Note: the confessional],
in which the blind priests of [Papal] Rome have to swim day and night.
I had to learn by heart…the infamous questions
which the Church of Rome forces every priest to learn. I had to put those impure, immoral
questions to old and young females, who were confessing their sins
to me. These questions…are of such a nature that no prostitute would
dare to put them to another. Those
questions, and the answers they elicit, are so debasing that no man in
London…except a priest of [Papal] Rome, is sufficiently lost to
every sense of shame, as to put them to any woman.
Yes, I [as a Roman Catholic priest] was bound, in
conscience…to put into the ears, the mind, the imagination, the memory,
the heart and soul of [Roman Catholic] females, questions of such a
nature, the direct and immediate tendency of which…is to fill the minds
and the hearts of both priests and female penitents with thoughts,
phantoms, and temptations of such a degrading nature, that I do not know
any words adequate to express them. Pagan antiquity has never seen any
institution more polluting than the confessional. I know nothing
more corrupting than the law which forces a female to tell her
thoughts, desires, and most secret feelings and actions to an unmarried [i.e.,
celibate] priest. The confessional is a school of perdition.
…I was degraded and polluted by the confessional just as…all the priests of [Papal] Rome are.” – Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Pages 67, 68)
Declaration to his lordship
Bourget, Bishop of Montreal (Written by 49 Canadian ladies, including Julien
Herbert, J. Rochon, Francoise Diringer, Marie Rogers, Louise Picard, and
Eugenie Martin):
“Sir,
Since God has, in His
infinite mercy, been pleased to show us the errors of Rome [Ed. Note: i.e., the Vatican, the Papacy],
and has given us strength to abandon them to follow Christ, we deem it our duty
to say a word on the abominations of the confessional. You well know that these abominations are of such a nature that it is impossible for a woman to speak of them
without a blush. How is it that among
civilized Christian men, one has so far forgotten the rule of common decency,
as to force women to reveal to unmarried [Ed. Comment: and sinful] men, under the
pains of eternal damnation, their most secret thoughts, their most
sinful desires, and their most private actions?
How, unless there be a
brazen mask on your priest’s face, dare they go out into the world having heard
the tales of misery which cannot but defile the hearer, and which the
woman cannot relate without having laid aside modesty, and all sense of
shame? The harm would not be so great
should the Church allow no one but the woman to accuse herself. But what shall we say of the abominable questions that are put to them and which they must answer?
Here, the laws of common decency strictly
forbid us to enter into details. Suffice
it to say, were husbands cognizant of one-tenth of what is going on between
the confessor and their wives, they would rather see them dead than degraded to such a degree.
As for us, daughters and
wives of Montreal, who have known by experience the filth of the confessional, we cannot sufficiently bless God for having
shown us the error of our ways in teaching us that it is not at the feet of a man as
weak and as sinful as ourselves,
but at the feet of Christ alone, that we must seek salvation.”
(The preceding declaration was taken from the book, The Priest, The
Woman, and The Confessional, by Charles Chiniquy; Page 10.)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding quote: These Canadian ladies, who had
experienced the “filth of the confessional”, courageously and boldly sent the above
declaration to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal, Canada.))
“It takes many years of the most ingenious (I do not hesitate to call it ‘diabolical’) efforts on the part of the [Roman Catholic] priests to persuade the majority of their female penitents to speak [in the confessional booth] on these questions [Ed. Note: of a sexual nature], which even pagan savages would blush to mention among themselves.” – Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 15)
“Perhaps the world has never seen a more terrible, desperate, solemn struggle than the one which is going on in the soul of a poor trembling young woman, who, at the feet of that man [i.e., the Roman Catholic priest during confession], has to decide whether or not she will open her lips on those things which the infallible voice of God…tells her never to reveal to any man!”
Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 16)
“No human act of folly,
moral depravity, and want
[i.e., lack] of common sense can equal the permission by a man to his wife [Ed.
Note: or, to his daughter] to go and confess to the priest.” – Charles
Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 60)
H. Effects of the Confessional on Roman Catholic Children:
“Confession of a child: The child may be only seven years of age. He has been told that he must tell all his
sins to the priest. If he does not, he
will commit a sacrilege and should he die, he cannot go to heaven. He is naturally very confused as to what
really constitutes sin. He is naturally
shy and reluctant to tell what he has done or thought. The result is that he omits to declare
certain things that are really not sinful – but he thinks they are. His conscience will reproach him for having
hidden a sin in confession, and he cannot make peace with his God. Confession has ruined the soul of many a
child. How different is all this from
the words of [Jesus] Christ
who said, ‘Suffer [i.e., allow] the little children to come unto Me’!” – Lucien Vinet (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; I Was a Priest)
“Confession of a young girl: We now have a shy Roman Catholic young girl,
passing through the state of childhood to puberty, who is about to enter the confessional. She is naturally embarrassed and her state of mind is just what a
sordid confessor wishes to explore. The [celibate Roman Catholic] priest will now hear from a young woman [or,
girl] the most secret thoughts and desires of her soul. Her mind and soul
are sacrificed on the altar of Romanism [i.e., Roman Catholicism]. Many
embarrassing questions are asked according to the sins accused.” – Lucien
Vinet (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; I Was a Priest)
I. The Confessional – The Means for Recruiting Nuns for
the Service of the Roman Catholic Church:
“In the setup of the Roman Catholic Church it is the confessional
box that feeds the nunneries [and closed convents]. The groundwork
is done on the [Roman] Catholic girl in the parochial school, where the
nun is made an object of holy glamour…
The institution of the confessional makes it easy for the [Roman
Catholic] priests to find the ones [i.e., girls] they want, and of
course they try to select the very choicest ones. That, in brief, is the reason
the young nuns, as a rule, are above average in beauty, personality, and
ability.
Ordinarily confessions begin at the age of seven. Through this means the priests come to know the very hearts and souls of those [girls] who confess before them, which [girls] would be desirable in the service of the [Roman Catholic] Church and which would not, which [girls] can be persuaded and which cannot.”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 319)
J. The Confessional – An Ingenious and Efficient System of Espionage
and of Slavery & Bondage:
“The confessional is a system of espionage
– a system of slavery. The priest is the spy in every home. Many [Roman] Catholics are shocked by
the character of the questions put to them [by the priest in the
confessional]. A [Roman] Catholic woman said to a Protestant friend,
‘I would rather take a whipping any day than go to confession’. One can readily understand why most [Roman]
Catholics are timid and afraid of the priest and are obedient to the letter
of his wishes because they know that through the confessional the priest
has secured a knowledge of their habits and life that no one else knows
anything about.” – Joseph Carrara (Romanism under the Searchlight;
Page 70)
“The confessional enormously increased the power of the pope and the [Roman Catholic] clergy. The [Roman Catholic] priests came to know the secrets of men from the emperor down to the humblest peasant, and all classes of society were thus placed in the power of their religious leaders, whom they did not dare to disobey or offend. Not only were the sins and scandals of each individual’s life and that of families laid bare, but all the intrigues of State, the political schemes of the rulers of Europe, were in the possession of the confessor [priest], who could use his knowledge for the advancement of the [Roman Catholic] Church, or to help a political party in which he was interested. What greater intellectual and moral bondage for human beings could be imagined, or what more dangerous power could be possessed, than that of the Roman [Catholic] confessional? History furnishes many impressive warnings: see Charles IX [King of France, 1560-1574] and the massacre of St. Bartholomew [in 1572]; or of [King] Louis XIV [king of France: 1643-1715] and the cruel revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685.” – Dr. Henry M. Woods (Our Priceless Heritage; 1941; Page 129)
“Can a man be free in his own house, so long as there is another
[i.e., the Roman Catholic priest] who has the legal right to spy
on all his actions, and direct not only every step, but every thought of his
wife and children? Can that man boast of a home whose wife and children are
under the control of another [i.e., the priest who hears
their confession]? Is not that
unfortunate man really the slave of the ruler and master of his
household? And when a whole nation is
comprised of such husbands and fathers, is it not a nation of abject, degraded slaves?”
– Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 85)
“The [Roman Catholic] priest of every parish in this country is the kingpin in this web of spying, and reports regularly to his bishop every item of interest, directly or indirectly and in turn, the bishop to the archbishop, the archbishop to the cardinal and the cardinal to the pope. The confessional box is the Roman [Catholic] clearinghouse, whereby the pope keeps his finger on the pulse of the world.” – Burke McCarty (The Suppressed Truth about the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln)
((Ed. Comment: My studies of the Vatican hierarchy, the Jesuit Order (with its Knights of Malta), and of “the confessional” have shown me that the Vatican-Papacy-Jesuit-Knights of Malta cabal clearly possesses the largest, most powerful, and most efficient intelligence-gathering system in the world – especially in those countries where they freely operate and/or have a significant number of Roman Catholics within the population of a particular country.))
“The
[Roman Catholic] Church fathers created another tradition [i.e., the
confessional] which keeps people in bondage to the [Roman]
Catholic Church.
What a powerful weapon [i.e., the confessional]
to use against [Roman] Catholics around the world. In essence, this doctrine proclaims that if
you leave the [Roman] Catholic Church, you cannot obtain forgiveness for
your sins, which means you won’t go to heaven.
Please
remember, none of this came from God!
These are all man-made threats.”
– Rick Jones (Understanding Roman Catholicism; 1995; Page 159)
K. The
Confessional – A Threat to Liberty:
“Have not the popes [e.g., Pope Pius IX in his Syllabus of Errors] publicly and repeatedly anathematized the sacred principle of Liberty of Conscience? Have they not boldly said, in the teeth of the nations of Europe, that Liberty of Conscience must be destroyed – killed at any cost? Has not the whole world heard the sentence of death to liberty coming from the lips of the old man of the Vatican [i.e., the pope]? But where is the scaffold on which the doomed Liberty must perish? That scaffold is the confessional-box. Yes, in the confessional, the Pope has his 100,000 high executioners! There they are, day and night, with sharp daggers in hand, stabbing Liberty to the heart.”
Charles Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 85)
“And free America, too, will see all her so dearly-bought liberty destroyed, the day that the confessional-box is universally reared in her midst.
Auricular Confession and Liberty cannot
stand together on the same ground; either one or the other must fall.
Liberty must sweep away the confessional, as she has swept away the demon of slavery, or she is doomed to perish.”
Charles
Chiniquy (Ex-Roman Catholic priest; The Priest, The Woman, and The Confessional; Page 85)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding two quotes: The fact that a number of popes have spoken out strongly against freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, and the fact that so few Americans are aware of this, is a clear indication of how tightly America’s mainstream media and her public school system are controlled and manipulated! Many history textbooks and encyclopedias here in America have been meticulously “sanitized” of a great deal of the “negative” history of Papal Rome, such as her bloody history of religious genocide against Jews, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and other Christian groups. (For example, Papal Rome actually launched bloody “crusades” against Bible-believing Christians, such as the Albigenses and Waldenses!) This, of course, begs the question: What organization or institution is so powerful, working most often “behind the scenes”, that it has been able, for the most part, to keep this type of information from most of the American people? If “the Jews”, as some people erroneously charge and allege, totally control America’s mainstream press and media, then why don’t they expose a lot more about the bloody history, the power, the wealth, and the influence of the greatest enemy “the Jews” have ever known – the Roman Catholic Church?))
L. The Jesuits as
“Father-Confessors”:
“Above all things, Jesuits are ‘confessors’. Their services unto the royalty were urged as
a ‘need’, as they became assigned to hear the confessions of the
aristocrats, emperors, kings, queens, princes, princesses, [“royal”]
mistresses, those in every level of government – they all revealed their secret
plans, their intimate sins, their inner-most thoughts, as their lives became
virtually an open book to the Jesuits.
…Through various means of diplomacy, Jesuits
worked their way into offices of State, climbing up to be the counselors
of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. But it was ‘religion’ and
its sacred duties of hearing the confessions of their penitents, and
being their religious ‘wise’ guides, that was the key to their success. Without
the ‘need’ of a religious confessor, the history of the Jesuits
may have been quite different. And the Jesuits made very sure that it
was they who filled that need as confessors [Ed. Note:
especially to the rich and power elite] instead of the other orders of
priests, by providing a most attractive policy of leniency as an
enticement for their penitents.”
John Daniel (The Grand Design Exposed; 1999; Pages 67, 68)
“All accretions [Ed. Note: Here indicating increases in the
growth of doctrines in the Catholic Church], such as purgatory, the
authority of tradition, the priesthood, the papacy, the worship of the Virgin
Mary and the saints, the veneration of relics, auricular confession…penance, etc., are totally without
Scriptural basis and should
be branded as false.”
Loraine Boettner (Roman Catholicism; 1962; Page 13)
((Ed. Comment to the preceding quote: Shouldn’t real Christians “brand” this papal doctrine of “auricular confession” – that steals glory due to GOD alone – that contaminates both the penitent and the confessor – “as false”?))
We have seen from an earlier quotation that “auricular confession” did not become official Roman Catholic Church dogma UNTIL 1215 A.D. (at the Fourth Lateran Council under Pope Innocent III). For over a thousand years the Church had gotten along fine without “auricular confession” being declared official church dogma.
Dr. Loraine Boettner, in his excellent (and well researched) book Roman Catholicism, states the following:
“We search in vain in the Bible for any word supporting the doctrine of auricular confession. It is equally impossible to find any authorization or general practice of it during the first one thousand years of the Christian era. Not a word is found in the writings of the early church fathers about confessing sins to a priest or to anyone except God alone. Auricular confession is not mentioned in the writings of Augustine, Origen, Nestorius, Tertullian, Jerome, Chrysostom, or Athanasius – all of these and many others apparently lived and died without ever thinking of going to confession. Those writers gave many rules concerning the practice and duties of Christian living; but they never say a word about going to [auricular] confession [to a priest]. Never were penitents forced to kneel to a priest and reveal to him the secret history of all their evil thoughts, desires, and human frailties. No one other than God was thought to be worthy to hear confessions and to grant forgiveness.
…But gradually as the church gained power the practice of seeking spiritual counsel and advice from the priest was turned into the confessional. Confession was first introduced into the church on a voluntary basis in the fifth century, by the authority of [Pope] Leo the Great. But it was not until the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215, under Pope Innocent III, that private auricular confession was made compulsory and all Roman Catholic people were required to confess and to seek absolution from a priest at least once in a year.