The Rock and the Keys SERIES: We are Living Stones

"The matter is made very plain in the following beautiful passage by
the apostle Peter himself: 

1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 

2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby; 

3 If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 

4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 

5 You also, 

--as lively stones, 

---are built up a spiritual house, 

----a holy priesthood, 

-----to offer up spiritual sacrifices, 

acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 

6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious; and he that believes on Him shall not be confounded. 

Compare this with Ephesians 2:19-22, and it will be seen that the very same testimony is borne by both Peter and Paul. 

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore you are no more strangers and

foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 

20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord: 

22 In whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. 

Peter made no pretensions to being the head over the church. 

He wrote to the elders as one of them, and referred to Christ as… 

1 Peter 2:6 ...the chief corner stone, –upon which the church is built. 

Each individual, as he comes to Christ, the living stone, is made into a living stone, so that the whole superstructure is of the same nature as the foundation." 

E.J. Waggoner

Age Old Questions Answered by Scripture

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Romans 8:22

"Now the Bible gives us an account of the major events of history concerning the past to enable us to understand the present.

Q: Why do we die? 

A: Because man rebelled against God (Genesis 3)-we are all sinners. 

Q: Why are there fossil layers all over the earth? 

A: Because there was a global Flood-Noah’s Flood. 

Q: Why are there different languages and cultures? 

A: Because of the Tower of Babel and the subsequent judgment. 

The Bible gives us an account of the origin of sin and death and thus

that we are living in a fallen world. 

This is not the world as God originally created it. 

Thus the Bible’s history connects to death, fossils, the dirt, plants, animals-to everything. 

It is not just a book of moral and spiritual matters, but a book of history that connects to every aspect of reality and explains what we observe in this present world. 

As Christians, we should not be trying to fit death and suffering into the Bible, but using the history God has revealed to us, build the right way of thinking (worldview) to correctly understand the origin of death and suffering." 

Ken Ham

IN the NEWS - Signs of the Times in Church

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. Romans 1:29 ESV

"A Sunday morning church service in Pennsylvania was abruptly halted when authorities say a man pulled a gun on the pastor and allegedly attempted to shoot him in front of worshippers.

Police have also since found a body inside the suspect’s home, ABC News reports.
The incident happened at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church in North Braddock, Pennsylvania.
The ABC report sets out the suspected gunman, who police identified as 26-year-old Bernard Junior Polite, entered the church and allegedly attempted to shoot the pastor, Glenn Germany, as he was livestreaming the morning of worship.
Polite told authorities that he tried to shoot Germany because "God told him to do it." He also said he wanted to go to jail to clear his mind, the outlet reported.

After Polite's arrest, police discovered the body of a man who was shot to death inside his home, per WTAE.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office identified the man as Derek Polite, 56, on Monday, May 6, PEOPLE can confirm. So far, no charges have been filed in connection with the body that was found."

Breitbart

Creation Moment 5/8/2024 - We can enter into the act of Creation

And Adam called his wife's name Eve; 

because she was the mother of all living.

Genesis 3:20

"God made a difference, because you and I can do something that angels cannot. 

We can literally enter into the act of creation. 

That act becomes a perversion, however, when one deliberately engages with someone of the same sex in actions that he or she knows are totally unnatural and contrary to the instructions of Him who made the plan for the creation of life." 

MinistryMagazine

The Rock and the Keys SERIES: How to Build on the Rock

"In this connection it is interesting and profitable to note the words of Christ in closing the sermon on the mount. 

Having given His instruction, He said: 

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise men, which built his

house upon a rock; 

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. 

26 And everyone that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; 

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it. 

Here we learn how it is that we may build upon Christ,

 the Rock. 

It is by obeying His words. 

John 6:63 The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 

His words are divine, like Himself, whether uttered with His own voice, or by the mouth of a prophet. 

In fact, Christ dwells in the word; Romans 10:17 ...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

---By receiving the words of Christ, therefore, we receive Christ Himself; and so, by building upon those words, we build upon Christ. 

Matthew 16:16 You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Christ in saying, 18 You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, –puts Himself, as the Rock of Ages, in direct contrast with Peter." 

E.J. Waggoner

Hezekiah's So-called "problem of the 12 year gap" Resolved

"Hezekiah reversed the servitude to the Assyrian kings that his father Ahaz had begun (2 Kings 18:7). 

This alone was reason for retribution from Assyria, but Hezekiah went further and attacked the Philistines (2 Kings 18:8). 

Now, in this matter, we are led to believe that the Philistine rulers attacked were particularly vassals appointed by the Assyrians, no doubt by Sargon when he attacked Ashdod (Isaiah 20:1), whose ruler Azuri he removed and appointed Ahimiti his brother as a vassal, who then was soon deposed by the people for a man called Iamani (Luckenbill 1968, 31, §62). This latter fled to the Sudan (Meluhha-Ethiopia), but, according to the Tang-i-var Inscription, was surrendered up by Shebitku (707–705 B.C.) to Sargon just before 706 B.C.

*Sennacherib then informs us that Hezekiah had taken captive his pro-Assyrian vassal Padi of Ekron (Luckenbill 1968, 119–121, §240), no doubt as part of his attacks against the Philistines. 

*Sennacherib attacked (his third campaign; Hezekiah’s fourteenth year—701 B.C.), first conflicting with an Egyptian (no doubt Kushite) army near Eltekeh, which was most likely led by Shabaka (704–691 B.C.). 

*He then attacked Timnah and Ekron, as well as other Judean cities, causing Hezekiah to prepare for a siege. 

*When Sennacherib reached Lachish, Hezekiah conceded and “sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying I have offended; return from me: that which you put on me I will bear” (2 Kings 18:14). 

This was Sennacherib’s first attack on Judah. 

*Hezekiah then paid tribute. According to the Bible, this tribute was 300 talents of silver, 30 talents of gold, and all the gold found in the Temple and in the King’s house (2 Kings 18:14–16).

Now, Hezekiah had been warned by God of this coming storm in two oracles: “The Burden of the Desert of the Sea” (Isaiah 21) and “The Burden of the Valley of Vision” (Isaiah 22). 

Assyria was God’s instrument to discipline His people: “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation” (Isaiah 10:5, KJV). 

This rod of anger was on the move: “A grievous vision is declared unto me; The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media” (Isaiah 21:2).

Merodach-baladan, son of Baladan, a Chaldean descendant of the

house of Jakin (Joktan, Bit Iakin), apparently had retaken the city of Babylon on Sargon’s death and called the Elamites to help against the coming attack from Sennacherib in 704/3 B.C., Sennacherib’s first campaign. 

All however was in vain, as Sennacherib retook Babylon (Luckenbill 1968, 116, §234). Isaiah 21:9 depicts this fall of Babylon: “And behold here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen”.

On his way back, Sennacherib attacked Arab and Aramaic tribes: Isaiah 21:11 describes “the burden of Dumah” (an Arab descendant of Ishmael); 21:13 foretells “the burden upon Arabia”; v. 14 states that “the inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty” (a descendant of Ishmael); and v. 16 prophecies that “all the glory of Kedar shall fail” (another descendant of Ishmael). Sennacherib also mentions his attack upon the Arabs: Tu’muna (Tema), Damunu (Dumah), Hagarânu (descendants of Hagar), Nabatu (Arab descendants of Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn) (Luckenbill 1968, 116, §234).

Now, however, in 701 B.C., after attacks across the Tigris, Sennacherib turned his attention to Palestine. God warned Hezekiah: “And it shall come to pass that thy choice valleys shall be full of

chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate” (Isaiah 22:7). In response, Hezekiah prepared for the attack: He “stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land”; he “built up the wall that was broken”; he “set captains of war over the people”; and famously, “This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David” (2 Chronicles 32:1–8, 30).

So, Isaiah stated:
On that day you looked to the weapons (stored) in the house of the Forest; and you filled the pools in the city of David, many as they were, diverting the waters which (once) flowed into the Lower Pool; and you surveyed the houses in Jerusalem and demolished the houses (condemned) to keep the wall clear; and you made a reservoir between the two walls for the water (brought) from the Old Pool. (Isaiah 22:8–11, as translated by Sir Godfrey Driver [1970])

But God pointed out a fatal flaw in Hezekiah’s actions: “But you have not looked to the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto Him who fashioned it long ago” (Isaiah 22:11). 

---This was all Hezekiah’s action without fully trusting God. The

result, as stated above, was capitulation and tribute to Sennacherib. 

---In the same year, 701 B.C., Hezekiah fell sick, and was warned of God to set his house in order. But in mercy after Hezekiah’s prayer, God gave him 15 more years (Isaiah 38:5). 

---But God stated clearly to Hezekiah: “And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city” (Isaiah 38:6). This was God’s battle, and Hezekiah was to trust Him!

The same year Merodach-baladan, now a Babylonian king in exile, with eyes still on the throne of Babylon sent his ambassadors.

So, 15 more years came to Hezekiah, but all was not well: “But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was lifted up” (2 Chronicles 32:25). 

Following God’s favor, Hezekiah became proud and backslidden. God responded: “Therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 32:25). 

Q: What was that wrath? 

A: Sennacherib’s second attack! 

Twelve years after the first attack, Sennacherib returned in 689 B.C., a year after a further destructive attack on Babylon the year before (Shea 1985, 401–418). This time, Sennacherib conquered and destroyed Lachish and other cities while an Egyptian/Sudanese army under Taharqah (690–664 B.C.) also began to mobilize; although, it never engaged. Sennacherib then arrogantly defied the God of Israel.

This time, Hezekiah humbled himself, and the story of God’s

miraculous delivery and the decimation of the Assyrian army is well known. As God several years before had said of His “rod of mine anger” (Isaiah 10:5): “Behold, the LORD, the LORD of Hosts shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled” (Isaiah 10:33).

Sennacherib returned home in shame, and, several years later in 681 B.C., two of his sons assassinated him (2 Chronicles 32:21). This is also recorded by Esarhaddon (Luckenbill 1968, 200–201, §502).

As a further note, in 701 B.C. with little time for preparation, Hezekiah diverted the pools of the city of David, down to a reservoir “between the two walls” (Isaiah 22:8–11). This was a quick action to keep the water from the Assyrians; but, over the next three years, he made the tunnel which brought the waters to the Siloam pool, a job which would have taken a considerably longer time. This has been confirmed by recent inscriptions (Eames 2022), indicating that the tunnel was completed in Hezekiah’s seventeenth year; whereas the first attack by Sennacherib was earlier, in Hezekiah’s fourteenth year (Isaiah 36:1).

Conclusion

The problem of the 12 year gap between the known chronology of the Assyrian kings with the Biblical chronology of the life of Hezekiah can be easily resolved using Theile’s (1983) solution modified by the proposals of McFall (2008). 

The accession of Hezekiah to the throne of Judah was thus in 715/16

BC during the reign of Sargon II of Assyria, several years after the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. 

The details of Hezekiah’s life follow seamlessly, from his good start through the first attack by Sennacherib in 701 B.C., his falling sick and God adding 15 years to his life, the second attack by Sennacherib in 689 B.C. whom God defeated miraculously, to Hezekiah’s death."
John M. Osgood/AIG

Creation Moment 5/7/2024 - Evolutionary thinking makes a mockery of our humanness

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:27,28

"The original paper is entitled, “Changes in women’s sexual interests and their partners’ mate-retention tactics across the menstrual cycle: evidence for shifting conflicts of interest” by Gangestad, Thornhill and Garver.
Q: Conflicts of interest by whom? 

A: Your selfish genes, of course. 

Q: How does this junk science get published? 

---Reductionist evolutionary science has made humans the pawns of selfish genes that are playing games with us. 

The Darwinists have dehumanized people and made them nothing but gene propagators. 

Art, music, architecture, scholarship, literature, philosophy, religion, compassion, relationships are all incidental artifacts of this unending struggle to cheat others to get our own genes propagated endlessly. 

Q: Why would genes want to do this anyway? 

Evolutionary thinking is a pervasive acid that cheapens life and makes a mockery of our humanness." 

CEH

The Rock and the Keys SERIES: Who Is the Rock?

"First, as to the rock upon which the church of Christ is built. 

Q: Is that rock the apostle Peter? 

Q: Or is it something else? 

---That it is not Peter, may be proved both by the text itself, and by the concurrent testimony of Scripture. 

It is doubtless well known that the proper name Peter signifies a stone. When Jesus first saw Simon, He said to him:
John 1:42 

You are Simon the son of Jona; you shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone, [or Peter]. 

But perhaps it is not so generally known that the Greek word for Peter is entirely different from that which in Matthew 16:18 is translated rock. 

Of the former, petra, Liddell and Scott’s Greek English Lexicon says: A piece of rock, a stone, and thus distinguished from petra. 

This latter word, petra, is the word rendered “rock,” and of this Liddell and Scott say, A rock generally, whether peaked or ridged, Latin, petra, which is defined as a crag. A passage in Pindar is there referred to, where the word occurs in the plural, petrai, where loose stones (petros) are not meant, but “masses of living rock torn up.” 

Q: Now with these facts before us, who can say that Peter is the rock on which the church is built?

A:  He is a stone; but the church is not built on so unstable a foundation. Peter was a man of power and was a mighty instrument in the hands of God to help build up the church; but it would never do to build that church upon a foundation which could waver in the least; and Peter at one time, long after this, wavered so greatly that Paul was obliged to rebuke him to the face. 

A fearless man of God was Peter, yet only a fallible mortal. 

The church is built on a rock, a crag, on something that is fixed. 

The difference in the terms is alone sufficient to show that the apostle Peter is not the foundation of the church. 

Let us now see upon what, according to the inspired word, the church of Christ is actually built. 

In 1 Corinthians 10:4, we are told that the Israelites in the wilderness all drank the same spiritual drink ...for they drank of

that spiritual Rock that followed went with them; and that Rock [petra] was Christ.

In Ephesians 2:20 we are taken a step farther. There the converted Gentiles are told that being now fellow-citizens with the saints, they are......built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. 

This shows that Christ is the Rock upon which the church is built, as. 

If it be imagined from the wording of Ephesians 2:20, that the apostles are a part of the foundation, even then Peter is deprived of the position which the Catholic Church would give him as the sole foundation, the “apostles and prophets” being all included. 

**But we shall see that the apostle does not mean that the apostles and prophets are a part of the foundation, but that the church is built upon the foundations upon which the apostles and prophets built, and which they, in a sense, laid. 

**Thus, we read: 1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of

God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. 

11 But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. 

12 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

13 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest. 

Christ then, and not Peter, 

is the foundation upon which the church is built. 

This will be seen more plainly still when it is remembered that the church existed in the wilderness of Sinai hundreds of years before the day of Peter.

When Moses identified himself with this church, he incurred the reproach of Christ. 

The Rock from which they drank 

was the Rock upon which they were built."

E.J. Waggoner

Health Notes - Rain

Beloved,

I wish above all things that thou mayest...be in health...

3 John 1:2

"There are so many benefits of rain, and not just for crops and gardens, but for people too.
Calming scent – rainy day aromatherapy
Don’t you just love the smell of rain? 

Well, it turns out that this blissful scent, known as petrichor, can have a calming effect on your body and mind.
That wonderfully nostalgic smell is created when compounds from plant oils are mixed into moisture droplets and released into the air.
Next time you find yourself outside in the rain, take in a big deep breath and take in that soothing scent; it’ll do you a world of good.
Cleaner air – the best time for a walk
When it rains, a natural phenomenon occurs. 

The rain droplets attract tens to hundreds of air pollution particles caused by the likes of traffic.
In turn, this means the air you breathe in when it’s raining is cleaner and clearer than any other time." 

TellMeTheGoodNews

Cahokia-- Pitfalls of the Darkened Heart: Human Sacrifice

Because that, when they knew God, 

they glorified Him not as God, 

neither were thankful; 

but became vain in their imaginations, 

and their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 1:21

"The practice of human sacrifice in America's largest prehistoric city was more subtle and complex than experts once thought, new research suggests.

Recent studies into the remains of sacrificial victims at the ancient city of Cahokia reveal that those who were killed were not captives taken from outlying regions, as many archaeologists had believed.
Instead, they may have been residents of the same community that killed them.

When Cahokia was at its peak 900 years ago, it was the largest city in what's now the United States, a metropolis of about 15,000 people in southwestern Illinois.

But one of the many mysteries lingering among the city's ruins, just outside modern-day St. Louis, is a burial mound excavated in the 1960s and found to contain more than 270 bodies - almost all of them young women killed as victims of human sacrifice.
Dated to between 1000 and 1100 A.D., their remains were mostly buried in large pits, laid out in neat rows, and bearing few signs of physical trauma, perhaps killed by strangulation or blood-letting.

But the mound also contained a striking group of outliers: a separate deposit of some 39 men and women, ranging in age from 15 to 45, who - unlike the rest - had been subjected to all manner of physical violence: brutal fractures, shot with stone points still embedded in their bones, even decapitation.

For more than 50 years, archaeologists have puzzled over the grisly scenes found in the mound, known as Mound 72.
"It is the significant site in this region and foundational to our understanding of Mississippian culture within this region and beyond," said Dr. Phil Slater.
"One of the big questions raised by the finds at Mound 72 focused on the mass burial events. Those appear to be unique, certainly unique to have so many such features within a single small mound."
"Our analysis provide[s] … evidence that suggests the young women may have come from within the region, if not from Cahokia itself."

What's more, the research done by Slater and his colleagues finds

that the same is true for the 39 victims of the more violent, traumatic deaths in the mound.
They're not only local, the results show; they also turn out to be the most biologically different from the rest of the dead found in the mound. And yet, they're also the most similar to each other, suggesting that they may have been members of a unique, and perhaps isolated, population within Cahokia.

Among them: a grave known as Feature 214, thought to be one of the earliest mass burials in the mound, featuring 24 bodies arranged in two layers and dated to around the year 1000;
and also Feature 105, dated to around 1050, where more than 50 were buried in two layers of two rows, aligned shoulder to shoulder;
and finally Feature 229, which included two layers of human remains - an upper layer of 15 men and women, whose remains were gently laid to rest on cedar litters, and 229-lower - the mass grave of 39 men and women whose mutilated bodies appear to have been dumped, rather than peacefully interred.

And the results showed that, based on their chemical traces, the dead

were largely, but not exclusively, local to the floodplain where Cahokia was built, known as the American Bottom.
Of those buried in Feature 105, for instance, about 7 percent of the teeth revealed levels of strontium that were not consistent with the immediate Cahokia area.
In Feature 214, 36 percent of the teeth turned out to have non-local signatures.
And for those who had been carefully buried in the upper layer of Feature 229, 17 percent of the teeth contained non-local levels of strontium.

But for the people buried below them, who had been violently killed

and dumped, their teeth were all exclusively within the range of Cahokia's strontium ratios - and they also displayed the smallest degree of variation in their chemistry.
What's more, Slater said, the physical measurements of their teeth revealed even more surprising results.
The shapes and sizes of the mutilated victims' teeth were uniquely similar to each other and were also different from the morphologies of the teeth of the other victims.

"The 229-lower feature stood out among the four [features], because it seems to have been composed of a distinct sub-population within Cahokia," he said.
"Both the strontium and dental data of the group show that they separate themselves from the rest of Mound 72." 

Ancient Pages

***It would seem likely that the slaughtered people who faced a violent death were likely from a nearby village---captives of war.

Somewhat related to the people of the city---but more distant yet closely related to each other.

***Those neatly buried in mass graves who suffered a kinder, gentler death were likely locals sacrificed during crises times to the gods such as during a famine or plague. For example, their mass graves seem to be at times with long gaps of time between. That would indicate something was happening at that point and time that was considered by them to be dire when the sacrifices were offered en mass. 

***But all this Human Sacrifice, to likely appease False gods, stems from the Heart that was Darkened.

Creation Moment 5/6/2024 - For those "puzzled" by "mysterious" JuMBOs

"Many "rogue" planets, which lack a parent star, lurk in the cosmos.

These free-floating planets (FFPs), including pairs of Jupiter-size worlds that orbit each other, are mysterious to scientists. 

But a new study likely rules out one way these so-called Jupiter-mass binary objects (JuMBOs) could have formed.

These enigmatic entities have puzzled the astronomy community. For one thing, exactly how JuMBOs — and more generally, FFPs — form is a mystery.

One idea is that such planets, paired or otherwise, form when clouds of gas and dust collapse under their own gravity.
Another hypothesis is that such planets are pulled away from their closely packed parent planetary systems by the gravitational force of a particularly large object, like a passing star." LiveScience

Here's Another "hypothesis " to Consider: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God... Hebrews 11:3.....just thought I'd add that to the mix for those "puzzled" at this "mysterious" JuMBOs topic....

The Rock and the Keys SERIES: Intro

"He said unto them, but whom say you that I am? 

And Simon Peter answered and said, 

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 

And Jesus answered and said unto him, 

Blessed are you, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. 

And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

Matthew 16:15-19

TWO expressions in this passage, namely, 

--“on this rock I will build my church,” 

--and, “I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” have been the object of a great deal of controversy, and they often seriously trouble those who take no stock in the arguments for papal authority, which the Catholics try to draw from them. 

It is the object of this little study 

--to focus the light of inspiration upon them, 

--that they may be explained, 

1 Corinthians 2:13 ...not in the words which man’s wisdom, teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches."
E.J. Waggoner

Papal Notes - Anglicans were asked to Bend the Knee

These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. Revelation 17:13

"For the first time in history, the senior leaders of the Anglican Communion held their Primates’ Meeting in Rome. 

This is the most important assembly in the Anglican Church and is attended by the archbishops and presiding bishops from throughout the world to discuss and vote on important business. The top leaders also made time to visit Pope Francis in the Vatican, where the Pope called for greater cooperation between the two religions.

Pope Francis also declared His primacy over all of Christianity during His meetings with the Anglicans, reminding them that as “Bishop of Rome,” the Pope is fulfilling His “Petrine Ministry.” 

---This is the Catholic doctrine in which the Pope claims to be the true successor of Peter and is considered to have supreme and universal jurisdiction over all of Christianity.

On May 2, 2024, the Vatican Press Office published the following words spoken by Pope Francis during his meeting with top Anglican clergy:
• “The Lord calls each of us to be a builder of unity and, even if we

are not yet one, our imperfect communion must not prevent us from walking together. In fact, relations between Christians … presuppose and from now on call for every possible form of practical cooperation at all levels: pastoral, cultural and social, as well as that of witnessing to the Gospel message. Our differences do not diminish the importance of the things that unite us: they cannot prevent us from recognizing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ by reason of our common baptism. In this regard, I express my gratitude for the work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission over the past fifty years, which has made great efforts to overcome various obstacles that stand in the way of unity.”
• “Dear Primates of the Anglican Communion, thank you for

choosing to meet this year in the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul. It is a gift for me to feel close to the communities that you represent. I realize that the role of the Bishop of Rome is still a controversial and divisive issue among Christians. Yet, in the splendid phrase of Pope Gregory the Great, who sent Saint Augustine as a missionary to England, the Bishop of Rome is servus servorum Dei, the servant of the servants of God. Again, in the words of John Paul II, “this designation is the best possible safeguard against the risk of separating power, and in particular the primacy, from ministry. Such a separation would contradict the very meaning of power according to the Gospel: ‘I am among you as one who serves’ (Luke 22:27)”.

For this reason, it is necessary to engage in a patient and fraternal dialogue on this subject, a dialogue in which, leaving useless controversies behind, strives to understand how the Petrine ministry can develops as a service of love for all.”

---On the one hand, Rome tells us not to focus on doctrine but rather on the common ground we share, but on the other hand, Rome is attempting to resurrect the doctrine of Papal supremacy. Pope Francis has just slapped the Christian world in the face by declaring the office of the Papacy supreme over all other churches.

The Pope just affirmed the medieval doctrine of his primacy based

on the Petrine ministry. This is based on the Catholic belief that Jesus Christ conferred a special role of leadership and jurisdiction upon the Apostle Peter, whom Catholics consider the first Bishop of Rome and the first Pope. Catholicism holds that this authority was passed down to Peter’s successors, the bishops of Rome, who are the Popes.
Papal supremacy is the belief that the Pope possesses not only religious authority but also the authority to govern and rule over secular or temporal affairs. This is what Pope Francis just declared on May 2, 2024. Rome wants to regain control over the world and use its position of power to shape society into an image of its own likeness." 

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