The Papacy Unchanged

TimeWatch Editorial
November 8, 2015

In the November 8, 2001 publication of the Adventist Review, Roy Adams describes Bert B. Beach as An Adventist Statesman, who for more than five decades was a part of delegations to religious and government conferences and councils. The article was an interview conducted by Mr. Adams with Bert Beach, concerning his long history of ecumenical associations. Midway through the interview Mr. Beach informed us that,

“We should be especially careful when we speak about the Catholic Church. We should deal with Catholic theology and teaching as they have emerged from the Second Vatican Council and from other contemporary church documents. We shouldn’t just use “quotations from the nineteenth century” or even go way back to the days of the Council of Trent. We ought to make sure that what we say they’re teaching is really so.”

Since Mr. Beach was as involved as he was in his associations with these churches and “what they were really teaching”, it might be that he would not have been very acquainted with many of the nineteenth century writers who might have spoken concerning the teaching, and intentions of Catholicism, except perhaps for the writings of Ellen G. White. It is not at all surprising that, given the depth of his associations, he should warn us concerning her work. What is surprising is the complete lack of challenge from any of the editors of the magazine, or anyone else for that matter, concerning his statement. Perhaps they missed it? Or maybe they did challenge the statement but their reply was never published?

I searched to find a ‘quotation’ that would fall under the warning that Mr. Beach sounded. Here it is:

“The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.” Ellen G. White: The Great Controversy, Page 571.

Both Mr. Beach’s and Ellen White’s statements cannot be correct. Which then should we trust? Has the Jesuit Oath been repudiated? Does it no longer stand? If it does, then here is what the opening instruction from the Superior says:

“My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant, and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope.” The Jesuit Oath

I must confess, that the risk is much too great to follow the counsel of Mr. Beach, or for that matter any other person who is willing to trust that the Church of Rome has changed. A careful analysis will reveal that her objectives have not, merely her methods, for now. Ultimately, I will trust her own words, as is stated further in that same Jesuit Oath:

“I do further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his Holiness' agents in any place wherever I shall be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland or America, or in any other Kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my uttermost to extirpate the heretical Protestants or Liberals' doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise.” The Jesuit Oath

Thanks Mr. Beach, but no thanks.

Cameron A. Bowen