In a recent ladies Bible class I was exposing various Roman Catholic practices by several things said by Jesus in Matt. 23. I mentioned particularly the practice of calling the priest "Father," and ascribing titles of Divinity to the Pope, such as "Holy Father" "Lord" "God" etc. One sister confronted her Catholic neighbor with this and had it forthrightly denied with the stock-in-trade objection, "That's just another lie invented by the Protestants." It is good to hear Catholics deny such things, because that gives us a chance to prove to them that we know what we are talking about. Here are a few quotations to substantiate our charge that Catholics look upon the Pope as God. These quotations are from official Catholic books.

"The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were GOD and the vicar of God." "Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertain only to heavenly things, to earthly things, and to things under the earth, but are even over ANGELS, than whom he is GREATER." Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary, Article, "Pope."

"We hold upon this earth the place of GOD ALMIGHTY." Pope Leo XIII, in an encyclical letter dated June 20, 1894. "The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo, XIII," page 304.

"Thou art another God on earth." "History of the Councils," by Labbe and Cossart, Vol. XIV, Column 109.

"When Pope Benedict XV died, his death was officially announced by the papal secretary of state thus: "Our LORD the Pope is dead."

"But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires together with a perfect accord in one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and the Roman Pontiff as to God Himself." (Great Encyclical Letters, p. 193.)

On pages 159 and 278 of the Decrees forbidding the possession and reading of the Bible the Pope is described as "Our Most Holy Lord."

Truly, the poor deluded Catholic people need, worse than anything, to read the Bible. Even the Catholic Bible would correct many of their glaring errors. The Confraternity version of the New Testament reads, "And call no one on earth your father; for one is your Father, who is in heaven." (Matt. 23:9)

Following I quote part of an article on this subject by Upton Sinclair, one of America's most distinguished novelists.

"It is a fancy phrase, 'Social Drinking,' very tony, and impressive to people who do not think. It does not impress me, who has been thinking on the subject for three-quarters of a century. The figure is exact, for I was at the age of three when I first awakened to the painful fact that my father was 'a drinking man.' Thereafter I watched him for 30 years or so, and strove in vain to help him until he died in delirium tremens. Also I watched three uncles, southern gentlemen all. One of them, a Confederate naval hero, died in an 'institution,' and another of the uncles at the age of 40 went into Central Park and put a bullet into his head.

"I have figured the life spans of the drinking writers, and averaged them with the life spans of all Americans. I find that the drinking writers sacrificed 15 years of their lives for the pleasure they got out of their social habits. Learn these figures and quote them at your next cocktail party.

"One of these fellows told his story in a book, 'John Barleycorn,' which you may find in the library. He closed with the proud statement that he had learned to drink properly now -- it is one of the ways the drinkers fool themselves. Poor fellow, he passed judgment a couple years later, by ending his life with poison, at the age of 40.

"So you see, to me social drinking is no pleasure and no joke. It is a social crime. All my life I have had to be the sober man at a feast, and that has hurt me, but the hurts were minor. The real hurts were the waste of genius, of vision and imagination - of the happiness we all might have had if these men had not died in anguish in the middle of their life spans." (Taken from Shreveport Times)

Recently I was invited to visit the office of the judge of the court of Domestic Relations of the county in which I live. It was heart rending to hear the judge say that "seventy-five- percent of all the cases referred to him could be attributed to liquor."

The sad thing about it is that our government allows it to be sold on every corner; sadder yet is the repulsive realization that there are some spiritual weaklings and half-converted worldlings within our own ranks who both practice and defend "social" drinking. It is strange that people who are not Christians can see this matter clearer than some who claim to be true followers of Christ, and members of his Spiritual Body. Seems that the words of Jesus in Lk. 16:8 are appropriate here: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation, than the children of light." The deceitful practice of "social drinking" comes into more favor year by year, even among some church members. But remember, when we begin to wink at "social" drinking, we begin to smile at sin! Beware!

It is much better to know something you think, than to think you know something.

Paul said he "robbed other churches" in order to preach at Corinth. We know some churches he would have to "rob" if he got any support from them!

It is not how much, or how well you think that really counts, but rather do you think correctly!

There is one difference between oratory and a gospel sermon: in an oration one sees a man, in a sermon Christ!

Trimming the sails of the ship of Zion to the winds of popularitv may cause her to move faster, but speed is not alone important; I'll decide how fast I want to travel when I've discovered where I'm going! It's possible I'll not want to go at all when the destination is determined.

People who don't believe in trying to change people ought to stop trying to change people who believe in trying to change people.

A man's eating his unkind words reminds me of a mule eating sawbriers - he has to smile to keep from getting hurt!

Truth Magazine II:2, pp. 7, 13
November 1957