Mandatory Clerical Celibacy
Dr. Ronald Cooke is the brother of Dr. S B Cooke, who served for many years as Deputy Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Ronald Cooke
The former Roman Catholic priest, L.H. Lehmann, after saying that the primary purposes for which the custom of celibacy has been retained are: (1) To maintain the principle of centralized power, and (2) To retain property for the church that otherwise would go to the priest’s family, says:
"It is not for spiritual reasons that the Roman Catholic Church has for so many centuries denied legitimate marriage to its priests. Those in power have always known that it is only the legality of the marriage relationship that can be denied them, and that the custom of clerical concubinage, with resultant generations of illegitimate offspring, has always taken its place. Loss of centralized power and property titles, disruption of its authoritarians system of government, would have been the result if these generations of priests’ children in the past had been legalized. Clerical concubinage has thus been tolerated in preference to this loss of undisputed power centered in Rome.
"The children of a priest in the past had the right to call him ‘Father’ only in the spiritual sense of the word. The illegitimate sons of popes, cardinals and bishops, however, were often enabled to rise to high positions in the church and state. Several popes were themselves sons and grandsons of other popes and high-church dignitaries. My researches among the collection of papal bulls reveals that concubinage among the clergy of Europe was so prevalent that it was necessary to regulate the practice by law – lest clerical concubinage itself should ever become a legal right" (Out of the Labyrinth, pp.99,100).
In the ninth century, an age in which ignorance and superstition were prevalent even among the clergy, the Emperor Charlemagne, in an attempt to suppress vice among ecclesiastics, issued this edict:
"We have been informed to our great horror that many monks are addicted to debauchery and all sorts of vile abominations, even to unnatural sins. We forbid all such practices and command the monks to cease wandering over the country" (T. Demetrius, Catholicism and Protestantism, p.26)
The Irish historian, William Lecky quotes the following form his History of European Morals:
"An Italian bishop of the tenth century described the morals of his time, saying that if he were to enforce the canons against unchaste persons administering ecclesiastical rites, no one would be left in the Church except boys. A tax was systematically levied on princes and clergymen for license to keep concubines"
Bernard of Clairvaux protested against enforcing celibacy on the clergy as contrary to human nature and Divine law, saying:
"Deprive the Church of honourable marriage, and you fill her with concubinage, incest and all manner of nameless vices and uncleanness."
Henry Bamford Parkes, in his A History of Mexico, says:
"Clerical concubinage was the rule rather than the exception, and friars openly roamed the streets of cities with women on their arms. Many of the priests were ignorant and tyrannical, whose chief interest in their parishioners was the exaction of marriage, baptism, and funeral fees, and who were apt to abuse the confessional."
Many more such testimonials might be given. The widespread looseness of domestic manners in European and Latin American countries including the United States, has been and is a disgrace to religion and a scandal to Christendom. It is extremely difficult to bring a priest into a civil court for punishment because the Roman Church forbids all Roman Catholics to testify against a priest. And most such crimes have been committed against their own people – another evidence that the R.C. people are themselves the first and primary victims of their own church. Numerous Roman Catholic historians have acknowledged that the law of celibacy for priests and the vows of chastity for monks are historical failures.
What we are most concerned to criticize is not the sins of individual men, but the system as imposed by the Roman Church which leads to and tolerates such abuses! When will the Roman Catholic people throughout the world open their eyes and see that the boasted holiness of their church and of their priests is a pure fiction?
The Demon of Celibacy
Dr. Ronald Cooke is the brother of Dr. S B Cooke, who served for many years as Deputy Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Ronald Cooke
The enemy of truth is the Devil. The Scriptures inform us that "the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (11 Corinthians 4:4).
The Devil's main task is to keep the minds of unbelievers blinded. In this task, Satan is assisted by false prophets and by the natural man. In our country during the past decade, the false system of Roman Catholicism that blinds the minds of those who follow it, to the true Gospel of Christ, has received unprecedented HELP to advance its cause by Writers and biased News coverage.
In the past few years the news media have been praising the papacy and the false religion of Rome by printing various articles on the Pope and his cardinals. Even worse, the politicians have been aiding and abetting the cause of Roman Catholicism in these United States. Twice within the past three years Congress has taken much time away from what it should have been doing to give the United States Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, to none other than Cardinal O'Connor of New York (now deceased) and to Pope John Paul, II.
Speeches were made praising these two individuals, after which votes were taken, with the Pope receiving only ONE negative vote. I would like to know the individual who had the courage to vote against such a resolution! So the politicians were fulsome in their praise of Antichristianity.
But the worst debacle of all has been the praises and statements of leading evangelicals who have gone out of their way to praise the Pope of Rome and the Roman Catholic System. Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, Jerry Falwell, Jack Van Impe with others, have all been busy praising the Pope of Rome in recent years.
However, the praises of the evil System of Rome have now been strangely muted! As each succeeding story of Roman Catholic priests and prelates involved in pedophilia unfolds, the efforts to PRAISE the papal system have noticeably been greatly diminshed.
The Bible-believer would then think that this is a great opportunity for evangelicals to get out the true Gospel of redeeming Grace to disillusioned Roman Catholics. Instead, he sees that some evangelicals are STILL trying to defend Roman Catholicism.
Recently, James Dobson, on a television talk show, June 6, 2002, said in a response to Larry King's question about the scandalous behavior of Roman Catholic Priests, that he "was tremendously concerned for the Roman Catholic Church. I grieve for my Catholic brothers and sisters," he said, "for the priesthood is the symbol of one who speaks for God." He proceeded to say that the leaders of the "Church needed to root out this terrible problem."
Here is a man who is supposed to know what Scriptural doctrine is all about. Yet he apparently thinks that if the pedophilia was "rooted out" that all would then be well. Whereas the Bible believer knows that even if every pedophile priest was removed tomorrow, the false System of Rome would remain the same as she has been for centuries.
The gross spiritual darkness of the Roman Catholic System is now having much needed light shone upon it so that the evil cage of unclean spirits can be brought into better focus. (Revelation 18:2) Poor deceived Roman Catholics should be hearing a clear cut message of justification by faith alone in the finished Work of Christ, instead of hearing from self-confessed EVANGELICAL LEADERS words that seek to patch up and repair the unclean cage of false religion. These pathetic evangelicals are trying to help the cause of false religion instead of using this great opportunity to completely repudiate it, and show the ETERNAL DIFFERENCE between the Gospel of Redeeming GRACE and the helpless and hopeless system of works-religion, which leads those toiling souls, caught up in it, to a lost eternity.
I believe that because men who should know better, and do better, refuse to do so, that God Himself has taken a hand and has brought about this devastating exposure of celibacy, which His Word lists in the "doctrines of devils" (1 Timothy 4:1.) God has reversed the course of fulsome praise which the world was giving to Rome, and has allowed the world to regard her with the utmost revulsion.
God has obviously said, Enough is enough! If even those who claim to follow the truth are going to continue to praise this ungodly and blasphemous System, then I WILL MYSELF lift the mask behind which she is hiding, and let the world see what she is really like. I AM THE HOLY GOD IN HEAVEN WHO REVEALS SECRETS! (Daniel 2:28).
So exposure has followed exposure with the Great Harlot trying to stem the tide of revelations concerning her gross immorality. Every day brings new light on the behavior of many Roman clergy. Men may pay little attention to Rome and her false doctrines, but they do get concerned when the priests and prelates break the law and engage in criminal activity. So even though some selfconfessed evangelicals may still be waffling on the merits and demerits of the Roman Catholic System, law suits are being filed all over the world seeking justice for little altar boys whom the predatory priests of Rome have violated. God is REVEALING these secrets and they are causing the "Church" to indict herself before the world, and to show the world what this "works-religion" really produces!
So while all kind of damage control is now going on at a feverish pace, the tide of iniquity rolls on in spite of every effort to stem it. God seems to be saying, the news media, the politicians, and even self-confessed evangelicals may want to praise this Mystery Babylon religion, I will overthrow all their attempts to do so. "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19b). If men, who know better, refuse to lift up the standard of truth, then the Spirit of God will step in and take over the lifting up of the standard of the truth. GOD HIMSELF WILL REVEAL THE SECRETS that evil men seek to hide. Darkness cannot stand before the blazing light of God's holiness. While the enemies of truth try to cover up the dark errors of Rome by giving her gold medals of honor, and by praising her false system, God the Holy Spirit Who is the Author of Truth and the invigorator of Truth, will ENLIGHTEN all who will listen to Him, to the TRUE NATURE of MYSTERY BABYLON RELIGION.
The Scriptures inform us that the MYSTERY of INIQUITY has been at work for a long time. This MYSTERY of INIQUITY deceives the world with all power and signs and lying wonders. The Scriptures also add that men are perishing because they received not the love of the TRUTH, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sends them a strong delusion (error) so that they should believe a lie. (11 Thessalonians 2:9-11).
Notice it is GOD WHO STEPS IN HERE AND SENDS to those who received not the love of the truth, ERROR! A bible scholar commenting on 11 Thessalonians 2:9-11, wrote:
Without any doubt we have a notable demonstration of this in the Papacy. No words can express how FOUL is the ABOMINATION of the Papists, how massive and shameful are their nonsensical superstitions, and how far removed their ravings from common sense. NONE WHO HAVE EVEN A MODERATE ACQUAINTANCE WITH SOUND DOCTRINE can think of such depravity without the utmost horror. How then, does the whole world gape in astonishment at them, unless it is because men have been ...turned into dunderheads?
Error turns men into dunderheads so that they rave away about an evil system as if it were glorious, and give gold medals to those who lead millions to damnation. Error is supposed to be demolished with the armor of heaven. So it is very sad when those who are supposed to enlighten men with the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, instead aid and abet the dissemination of error and drivel.
ALMIGHTY GOD has allowed a STRONG DELUSION to afflict those who refuse to receive the truth and He has also allowed them to believe the lie. Then in the midst of the confusion generated by the drivel of MYSTERY BABYLON religion, the Almighty Holy Spirit has uncovered the cage of demons, the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. (Rev. 18:2).
If the Lord God cannot find a man, for He looked, Isaiah tells us in chapter 59:16 for a man, and wondered that there was no intercessor, THEREFORE HIS ARM BROUGHT SALVATION unto Him, and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, it sustained him.
So when truth falls in the street and evil men flourish, it displeases the Lord, and He then steps in Himself to REVEAL the dark doings of evil false prophets. God's Word ENLIGHTENS the mind. The Gospel comes to people who sit in darkness and when they hear it and receive it, they are brought into CHRIST'S MARVELLOUS LIGHT!
So God has allowed the world to see the old Harlot of Mystery Babylon religion in her true light. Self-confessed evangelicals may paint the old Prostitute in glowing colors, but a prostitute is still a prostitute no matter how well she may be painted. God has spoken in His infallible Word about her and is now demonstrating to the world what her erroneous teachings produce.
Dr. Harry Ironside said almost a century ago, "God's call is still the same, 'Come out of her lest you be partaker of her plagues."'
Oh! Beloved reader, if you have not already done so, come out of this or any other false religion, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He only can save to the uttermost all that come unto God through HIM!
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