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Pope Francis Defends Top Vatican Official Cardinal George Pell Who Is Accused Of Child Sex Crimes

Charges of sexual offenses against Cardinal George Pell have placed new pressure on Pope Francis to make good on pledges to root out abuses in the church.

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Charges of sexual offenses against one of the Vatican’s top-ranking prelates have placed new pressure on Pope Francis to make good on pledges to root out, punish and prevent abuses that have shaken the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pope Francis has vowed to hold all Catholic priests responsible who have sexually abused children in thier various parishes around the world. Now comes the shocking news that a top Vatican cardinal, George Pell, has been charged with pedophilia. Pell is also the Pope’s senior advisor and confidant. Will Francis do the right thing, or will he continue to cover for pedophile priests while promising reform? To date, over 4,400 Catholic priests have been charged with pedophilia. 

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:” Revelation 17:4 (KJB)

Cardinal George Pell, the most senior church official to be implicated in a far-flung scandal of decades’ standing, said Thursday that he would return to his native Australia to face the charges against him. He dismissed the charges as “relentless character assassination.”

The cardinal, who is a senior advisor to Francis, told reporters in Vatican City that the pontiff had granted him a leave of absence to contest the charges, which bring the globe-spanning abuse allegations directly to the gates of the Vatican.

Although cases of priest-committed pedophilia and their wrenchingly long-lasting repercussions remain an open wound in dozens of dioceses across the United States and other countries, it is rare for direct allegations of abuse to reach the level of a cardinal, each of whom is known as a “prince of the church.”

Hear Cardinal George Pell’s response to child sex assault charges:

Australian authorities described the charges against Pell as centering on sex offenses committed decades ago in Australia — “historical” crimes, in police language. Pell had already come under withering scrutiny in his homeland for allegedly helping to cover up sexual predation by others while he held senior church positions in Australia.

From his humble beginnings as a parish priest, Pell, 76, rose to become the Vatican’s powerful finance czar, tasked by Francis with untangling the convoluted accounting practices of the church’s worldwide empire. The cardinal’s sidelining could significantly hamper that ambitious reform effort, which has drawn significant hostility from elements of the Vatican bureaucracy.

The abuse scandal, which has colored successive papacies, is a far more visible public battle.

Cardinal George Pell charged with historical sex abuse offences:

Pope Francis has pledgedzero tolerance” for sexual abuse within the clerical ranks and has offered personal apologies to victims for past sexual predation and the church’s attempts to diminish and deny it. Yet he has also come under criticism for alleged foot-dragging and failure to forcefully confront institutional resistance to transparency and accountability.

“Clearly, this case is going to turn up the heat on this pope’s record on examination of sexual abuse,” said John Allen, the editor of Crux, an independent website covering the Vatican and the church. But he predicted that Pell, who in his youth excelled at the rough-and-tumble sport of Australian rules football, would aggressively fight the charges.

The cardinal, who did not take questions during his Vatican City appearance, has been ordered to appear before a court in Melbourne on July 18. “I am looking forward finally to having my day in court,” Pell told reporters. “I repeat that I am innocent of these charges. They are false.… The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.”

The charges originated in the Australian state of Victoria, where police said, without providing details, that there were multiple charges from multiple complainants lodged against Pell.

For many victims in the U.S. and elsewhere, the cardinal’s case revives painful memories of being disbelieved and dismissed after suffering abuses in childhood at the hands of priests who were respected, even beloved, in their communities.

In one of the most notorious U.S. cases, in the Archdiocese of Boston, abuse and cover-ups involving hundreds of clergy and thousands of victims, many dating back decades, were documented in a 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning series by the Boston Globe and the 2015 movie “Spotlight.” But new accusations, of abuse and systematic attempts to conceal it, continue to surface.

During his visit to the United States in 2015, Francis disappointed and surprised many victims and advocates when he appeared to praise American bishops for their handling of abuse cases. Although the pope has since expressed sympathy for those who suffered abuse, Vatican follow-up has been inadequate, said Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer and priest who has worked with victims of pedophile priests in the U.S. for more than three decades.

Pope Francis vows to hold clergy accountable for child sex abuse:

Pope Francis vowed to end the long history of Catholic priests sexually abusing young children, most of them boys. Will he keep his promise or sweep it under the rug like all the others?

“Hopefully, this will get the pope’s attention, not only about Pell but about the problem in general,” he said. “The pope has done nothing so far. There’s a lot of disappointment among victims.”

With the Pell case throwing into sharp relief a long-standing sense of alienation and anger, the case could have grave ramifications for Francis’ papacy, some Vatican watchers said.

“It poses an enormous credibility challenge,” said Cristina Traina, a religion professor at Northwestern University. “It needs to be taken quite seriously. Statements of regret and distress and promises to do better in the future at this point are inadequate.”

Critics point to an enormous backlog of sexual abuse cases that have gone unacted upon. In 2014, Francis created a commission including two abuse victims to advise on the weeding out of predator priests, but the two victims — Peter Saunders and Marie Collins — left the commission amid frustrations over its inaction.

Collins said in an online post that though she was reserving judgment on whether Pell was guilty of committing abuse, he should have been made to answer to allegations he took part in cover-ups and should never have attained the prominent post he was given by Francis.

Pope Benedict resigned as child sex abuse allegations swirled around him:

“He should never have been allowed to hide out in the Vatican to avoid having to face those in his home country who needed answers,” Collins wrote on her website. The case will take time to wend its way through Australian courts, and the outcome could ultimately color Francis’ overall legacy, some observers said.

“His very image as a bold reformer hangs in the balance here, depending on what measures he takes in the aftermath of the Pell case,” said Andrew Chesnut, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Sex abuse cases are the Achilles’ heel of his papacy.”

Previously, Pell said he was ill and declined to return to Australia to testify in a government inquiry, answering questions instead in February 2016 by video link from a Rome hotel.

The cardinal has acknowledged “catastrophic” errors on the church’s part in its handling of abuse complaints, but denied any personal wrongdoing.

So far, the Vatican has been largely supportive of Pell. Last year, when police confirmed that the cardinal was under investigation for sex offenses, Francis said it was important not to rush to judgment.

“It’s in the hands of the justice system, and one cannot judge before the justice system,” the pontiff said then. “After the justice system speaks, I will speak.”

Some Vatican watchers, however, pointed to a degree of papal distancing from Pell. A Vatican spokesman said Thursday that effective immediately the cardinal would not be taking place in liturgical celebrations.

The Vatican, which is a sovereign city-state in the middle of Rome, has sometimes sheltered church officials from criminal allegations.

Under previous popes, it sheltered officials wanted by other countries. That included even Italy, which was rebuffed when it sought the handover of Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the then-head of the Vatican bank who was wanted for questioning about the fraudulent bankruptcy of a private Italian bank.

But Francis took a tougher line toward Jozef Wesolowski, a former archbishop who was accused of paying shoeshine boys for sex while serving as papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic. He was recalled and defrocked but was found dead of natural causes in 2015 in his Vatican quarters before he could face a judge. source

 


 

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I Am Watching In Shock As Baptist Churches Are Now ‘Observing The Season Of Lent’ That Comes Directly From The Roman Catholic Counterfeit Church

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There is no doctrine of Lent found anywhere in the Bible, it is purely a creation of the Roman Catholic counterfeit church

Every year, as winter fades into spring, millions of professing Roman Catholics line up to receive ashes on their foreheads and begin a 40-day religious observance called Lent. They fast, they abstain, they “give something up,” and they prepare for Easter through ritual and self-denial. But here is the question every Bible believer must ask: Where is Lent found in the King James Bible?

“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,” Colossians 2:18 (KJB)

Historically, Lent developed centuries after the apostles were dead. It grew within the Roman Catholic system as biblical Christianity was merged with imperial power and pagan culture. The 40-day structure was patterned after Christ’s temptation in the wilderness — yet that event occurred before His earthly ministry began, not as preparation for celebrating His resurrection.

There is no biblical instruction to imitate Christ’s 40-day fast annually. Furthermore, Ash Wednesday — the ceremonial marking of foreheads — is nowhere commanded in the New Testament. It is ritualized symbolism borrowed from Old Testament mourning practices and institutionalized by Rome. The Roman Catholic Church would have you to believe that Lent is about fasting and repentance, but is really the pagan rite of Weeping for Tammuz.

Bible believers do not borrow doctrine from a system that:

  • Teaches sacramental salvation
  • Maintains a priesthood distinct from the believer
  • Claims authority equal to Scripture
  • Persecutes Bible believers throughout history

We are not Protestants protesting Rome. We are Bible believers standing on the Book. At least, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing, but it’s not stopping Baptist churches like First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, from jumping on the Lent bandwagon. In a recent YouTube video entitled ‘Why Lent Matters’, they had this to say about Lent.

Lent is a season that invites us to slow down and recalibrate our hearts before Easter. It reminds us of a hard but necessary truth—we are dust: finite, sinful, and deeply in need of God’s grace. Yet this season does not leave us in sorrow; it leads us to the cross, where we see both the seriousness of our sin and the overwhelming love of Christ, who bore judgment so we could receive mercy. As we reflect, repent, and turn back to God, Lent trains us to live in hope, fixing our eyes on the resurrection. From dust to glory, it tells the whole gospel story and prepares us to rejoice in the victory of Jesus.” 

First of all, Christians should not be celebrating the pagan Easter holiday, another Roman Catholic invention plucked from ancient Babylon. Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the third day according to the scripture, that’s our focus. Secondly, to say that “Lent is a season that invites us to…” is pure surrender to the Roman Catholic Church, the inventors of Lent. I am not accepting any invitations to pray to the saints, eat the Eucharist, burn incense, put an ash cross on my forehead or get in the box with a priest. Please have me excused from all of it.

On the surface to the average person, Lent appears harmless. It feels ‘spiritual’. It creates community, and it carries emotional weight. But so does every religious tradition that replaces Bible authority with institutional custom. The early Church did not observe Lent, the apostles did not command Lent, Paul did not teach Lent. Rome developed it at the Council of Nicea, their tradition preserved it, Pope Gregory I added the ashes, and many evangelicals and Baptists now imitate it. Bible believers should reject it across the board.

If a Christian chooses to fast privately before the Lord, that is between them and God, as it should be. But submitting to a Roman system of seasonal ritual complete with ashes, imposed abstinence, and church calendar obligation is not New Testament Christianity. We are not called to ritual, we are called to a risen Saviour, Jesus the Christ.

“And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” Colossians 2:10 (KJB)

Complete means complete, and Bible believers do not need a Roman Catholic Lent to finish what Jesus Christ has already finished.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

nteb-free-king-james-bible-program-750-550

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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Chaplain Farwell Of The Elmira Correctional Facility In Upstate New York Writes To Tell Us Of The ‘Desperate Need’ Of Their Inmates For Copies Of The Word Of God

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The Elmira Correctional Facility in update New York has an urgent need for hundreds of copies of God’s preserved word

Elmira Correctional is a maximum ‘A facility’ in upstate NY, writes Chap Farwell. He says “We house between 1500 – 1600 incarcerated men. Approximately 600 are in our Reception Center either as parole violators, recidivists, or first time offenders awaiting classification that will send them to another correctional facility to serve their sentences and to be enrolled into a program designed to correct their behavior. Most don’t have any faith life at all even though their families may have. However, when the reality of being incarcerated hits them they reach out in desperation, which is where we as chaplains come in.” Chaplain Farwell is serving on the front lines, and Bibles Behind Bars is keeping his supply lines open.

“But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” Genesis 39:21 (KJB)

Chap went on to say “Most ask for Bibles and for many it is their first one. As chaplains, we direct them to scripture and let them know that God loves them and quite possibly this is God’s plan for them. This is where they can encounter God, but they have to come to know God and the Bible helps them to do their part. We give these Bibles freely in the hope that they will give God a chance to speak to them and they can speak to God. We are constantly seeking Bibles and if you can be a source to provide them we would be most grateful. We especially need large print. Whatever you can do would be most appreciated. God bless you for your work.” Christian, God has called us to stand in the gap for the ‘least of these’ and to give them a copy of God’s preserved word. Come help us to do that, we need you!

If God has prospered you, please take a moment to click on the donate button to help us in this monumental task of providing King James Bibles, New Testaments, scripture portions, gospel tracts as well as Spanish Bibles to inmates in jails and prisons from Florida to Alaska, and every state in between. We need your prayers, we need your generous financial support, and we need you to stand with us in the closing days of the Church Age. Thank you so very much, TO THE FIGHT!!!


NOTE: If you need a 501 C3 Letter of Donation for tax purposes, please send your donation to:

NTEB Ministries
1340 N Great Neck Rd.
Ste. 1272-129
Virginia Beach, VA 23454.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

nteb-free-king-james-bible-program-750-550

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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Cryptocurrency

World Liberty Financial, Owned By The Trump Family, Unveils USD1 Cryptocurrency That They Say Will Give The US Dollar An Upgrade, Why Are They Doing It?

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World Liberty Financial owned by the Trump family looks to cash in big time with launch of their USD1 stablecoin they say will ‘upgrade the dollar’

There is nothing ‘accidental’ about the timing of this. A Trump family–backed venture unveiling a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency called USD1 and branding it as an “upgrade” to the U.S. dollar is not simply a fintech headline — it is a prophetic red flag. And Bible believers should not shrug this off as harmless innovation. This is not about “modernizing money.” It is about accelerating the migration of financial control from physical, decentralized cash into programmable, trackable, controllable digital infrastructure. And once that infrastructure is normalized, it will not matter who built it.

“Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” James 5:3 (KJB)

In the entire 250-year history of the United States, no presidential family has profited off the office of the president to the degree that President Donald Trump and his family are doing right now. Remember the $30 million the Biden family is claimed to have made for selling access to the office? Ha! That amount is so small that to compare the two would be laughable. The Trump family, so far, has made nearly $4,000,000,000.00 to date, and that figure could easily quadruple itself by 2028. But this is more than just a huuuuge  payday for Trump INC., this is the foundational system for the Mark of the Beast that will ultimately control all buying and selling. You called them the Biden Crime Family when they profited, but you’re loving it when ‘Daddy’ Trump is the one doing the plundering. Isn’t ‘America First’ great?

Trump family says U.S. dollar needs an USD1 upgrade and they are the ones to do it

FROM CNBC: The Trumps’ company, World Liberty Financial, touts USD1 as an improvement on official U.S. currency. The firm’s website brands its stablecoin as “The Dollar. Upgraded.” And it calls the coin “still the US dollar, but for a new era.” On Wednesday, the firm held the World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago, the club owned by the president and operated as his winter White House.

The event, coming just before the first anniversary of the release of USD1, brought together financiers, technologists, television personalities, the president of the world soccer organization FIFA and the artist Nicki Minaj. From a Mar-a-Lago ballroom stage beneath an enormous stylized golden eagle sculpture, the message to attendees was that the old U.S. dollar needs to be modernized, that the private sector is the place to drive that innovation, and that stablecoins will help taxpayers by creating structural demand for U.S. government debt.

In fact, World Liberty backers argue, the new cryptocurrency they are building is not a threat to the dollar at all, but will help ensure the dollar remains dominant in global crypto finance — because USD1′s value is pegged to it.

But one big question is why, if the dollar needs modernizing, should that be done by the private sector? READ MORE

Trump’s Crypto Empire: The Truth About USD1 & World Liberty Financial

World Liberty Financials’ USD1 isn’t just another stablecoin — it’s a digital dollar with direct ties to President Trump. But what could the President being involved with his sons to launch a new digital dollar mean for America? But could a digital dollar that draws inspiration from Trump continue to divide an already divided country? Coinage took this episode up with no motives to arrive at an answer for you. We just wanted to connect the dots so you can decide the answer to that question yourselves.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

nteb-free-king-james-bible-program-750-550

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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