Psalms 8:1 and 16:2

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Matthew. The Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind in verse 28:

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

It struck me last night while writing my Brain Masage® radio/podcast episode No. 1089 (go to brainmssage.net),  that tyrants cannot rule a dead man.

Along the still waters, I reflected on the truth that no tyrant can rule a dead man!

A fearful or covetous people cannot be free. To the fearful, Jesus put it this way, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

As for the covetous, who sell their freedom for government freebies, Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). And what the Spirit said to us through Paul: “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (1 Timothy 6:8).

This is the reason 1,200 years of torture and murder at the hands of the Catholic whore could not extinguish the true Christians.

Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius was a leading Polish cardinal, bishop of Warmia (VAHR-My-Ah), a papal legate, and president of the Council of Trent in the AD 1500s. He “Acknowledges the long history of persecution against Anabaptist groups who opposed certain Catholic doctrines and practices”: like infant baptism, and the Nicolaitan doctrine of interjecting the Pope and priests between the saint and the Saviour, a doctrine Jesus expressly declared that He hated (Revelation 2:15). This hateful doctrine is contradicted by His Spirit through the inspiration of Paul’s letter to Timothy: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all” (2 Timothy 2:5-6a).

Here is what this cardinal wrote in his letters: “Were it not that the Baptists have been grievously tormented and cut off with the knife during the past twelve hundred years, they would swarm in greater number than all the Reformers.”*

Don’t make the mistake of thinking this “doctrine devils” (1 Timothy 4:1-4), exalting the Pope above the scrutiny of the so-called Laity, is no longer part of that system. The first American Pope fabricated quotations of Jesus and when we noticed and called him out on that a Defender of the Catholic Faith, Cardinal Ludwig Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (from 2012-2017) came out and said, right in front of God and everybody: “It must be clearly stated that no one has the right to criticize the Pope when he faithfully follows the mission he received from Christ to bear witness to the Gospel of peace.”**

Really? Does the Apostle Paul have at least equal authority as the Pope? Did I hear one of my Catholic friends (I have many) say Paul was under Peter? Really? Nobody told Paul. The Apostle Paul said, by the Spirit, “When Peter was come to Antioch, I [Paul] withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed” (Galatians 2:11).

Most American Catholics will agree that Paul had the power to rebuke the first Pope, but that’s because he was an Apostle. Well, no one told the Berean Christians that when they checked Paul’s preaching by looking up what he taught in their Bibles. I’m serious, check it out in Acts 17:10-11:

Acts 17:10, “The brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:10-11).

What the Roman church would call laity were examining Paul’s teaching to verify what he taught. Paul congratulated them. He said they were “more noble” than those in Thessalonica.

Anyway, back to Hosius, the Cardinal I told you about earlier, who said: “Were it not that the Baptists have been grievously tormented and cut off with the knife during the past twelve hundred years, they would swarm in greater number than all the Reformers.” He further observed that “No other group had been ‘more cruelly punished’ or had more steadfastly endured death for their beliefs over ‘these thousand and two hundred years.’” [IBID.]

He said this in about AD 1550, which means he affirmed the existence of Baptists 1200 years earlier, or before AD 350, about the time of the marriage between Jezebel’s branch of the Thyatira Church and the great whore of Rome, as in the Edict of Milan.

Hosius went on to become known as the “Hammer of the Heretics” for the repressive measures he used against the Protestants. He used “Inquisitorial authority” in 1550, and served as “Inquisitor of heretical perversity.” He expelled “heretics” from their homes and country, confiscated their publications, vigorously opposed “toleration,” and praised the role of persecution in suppressing Baptist Christians.

Anyway, in case you are interested, this guy did his thing in the 1500s and acknowledged that the Baptists existed 1200 years before the Reformation, which started in 1517. This shows that Baptists were in opposition to the doctrines of the whore right from the start. They were already called Baptists about four years before the Edict of Milan, the formal beginning of the union between Rome and a version of Christianity that had already drifted significantly toward pagan forms and beliefs.

The influence of the Baptists in the colonies cannot be recounted here, but if you study it out, you’ll read historical witness to the Spirit of liberty at work among them as they stood against the oppression of the Protestant churches. All Protestants came out of the Roman communion, and they looked a lot like “Mother,” and shared her inclination toward persecution and retribution against those who challenged their authority.

Go see The Awakening, and take with you this little bit of history skipped over in that excellent representation of the influence of the Gospel upon the founding of our nation. Many Baptists embraced Whitefield, and Whitefield, an Anglican to the end, tolerated them. Whitefield regarded his ministry as calling for a purification of the Anglican priesthood, and as calling all God’s “chickens” to gather under the wings of God and into the fellowship of a reformed Anglican church.

When he returned to America from England and learned that virtually all his converts had joined the Baptists, it is reported that he quipped, “All my chickens have become ducks.” They went into the water for believers’ baptism.

Whether or not Whitefield made the comment attributed to him, the facts underpinning the rumor are true: the converts of The Awakening found Whitefield’s message and mission had more in common with the Baptist churches than they could find in the “King’s Church.” Anglicans suppose the king to be the “Supreme Governor of the church of England.” It’s a Catholic thing!

The attraction of colonists to identify with the Baptists grew stronger as the tensions between the Colonists and the Anglican “King” increased. The Baptist doctrine of soul liberty (freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and of the press), and the authority of Scripture as the only absolute rule for faith and practice, and Christ the only “Head” of the Church, and other Baptist Distinctives, like the Cromwell declaration, “No king, but Christ,” appealed to the American converts of the Great Awakening, making the Baptist churches the populist choice, the church of the people.

In the valley, in the shadow of His Cross, I thought about the many thousands of Baptists who refused to bow to the antichrist spirit of tyranny, religious or humanist, who bow now in glory with their Savior, Who refused to kneel to Satan long before.

God is moving in America, turning hearts back to our founding principles and to our roots in the Christian faith. When God moves, Satan always works his way into the movement to plant himself right in the middle of it, if he can. Like the sorceress who attempted to connect herself with the Apostle Paul, following him through town, crying out to everyone, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation (Acts 16:17). Paul tolerated this until finally he turned and cast out the evil spirit of divination that possessed her.

Jesus encouraged me to keep on in the tradition of the brave Baptists before me who heard and heeded His call: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The truth shall make you free, we are already dead to sin, but alive to GOD, and no tyrant can rule a dead man.

At the table, my Shepherd anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed as we headed into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live later this afternoon.

I’ll text the link when it’s ready.

[*1089.12.1-The Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius Quote on Baptist Succession https://kentbrandenburg.com/2022/02/25/the-cardinal-stanislaus-hosius-baptist-succession-quote-is-it-legitimate/ See also: 1089.12.2-BAPTIST HISTORY HOMEPAGE: baptisthistoryhomepage.com_perpetuity.statements.ministry127.html.pdf ]

[** 1089.12.3-(2) Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1572580884440447&set=a.397492538615960&id=100050656501804 See also 1089.12.3-(2) The Shroud of Turin _ Cardinal Muller claims that no one has the authority to criticize the Pope _ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1189776852310606/posts/1639655093989444/ ]