The Simple Proof That the Vicar Binds on Earth
1st Millennium — continues to follow for liturgical use the old Roman reckoning of time.
This is known as the “Julian” calendar, named after, of course, the emperor Julius Caesar.
Before we continue our story that will easily prove that the Vicar of Christ — the head of the Roman Catholic Church — has the keys that Jesus handed to His chief Apostle Peter (Matthew 16:19) and can bind and loose on Earth as well as in Heaven, we wish to extend our deepest love, admiration and wishes for a great Christmas to our Orthodox brothers and sisters.
We also ask God to bestow upon them, in the Name of our Lord, a healthy, happy, safe, and blessed New Year! And we plead for a return to a union of faith, as we so desperately need each other, whether we all know it or not.
It is extremely critical that those who read this article understand our deep respect for the Orthodox Church and its continued miraculous ability to maintain the 2,000-year-old liturgical traditions handed down by the Apostles. It is something that is sorely lacking today in the Latin Church: the Western half, or Roman Catholic branch, of the Universal Church that was broken in two by the Great Schism in 1054 between the East and West.
We find it a pleasure to go into an Orthodox Church and see deep respect for the Eucharist, Mary and the Saints. We believe there is no scandal today in this Church, not because they are perfect or better than the Latin Church, but because they have kept their respect for God and His Holy Ones. They still unabashedly seek the protection of St. Michael, the Archangel. As such, the Lord has not removed His Hand of liturgical Protection.
While this may be so, historically the tougher reality is that the Orthodox Church, unfortunately, has split from the one true and only Vicar of Christ. Although there are many reasons for the Schism of 1054 — some justified, some not — the reality is, the vicar [which is Latin for “deputy”] of the Lord does not sit in the East. He sits in the West, in a city called Rome. A city in which the Apostles Peter and Paul were martyred in. A city in which Jesus ensured Christianity would flourish and conquer the world from when He converted the emperor of the pagan empire, Constantine the Great in 312, through the power of a miracle.
While we could go on with other historical events — as ignorant as we are — that is not the point of this article. It simply is, as they say, background for the point. It is the setup.
The point of this story is the temporal proof that what Christ said to Peter is as true today as it was then, despite the objections of the Orthodox, and especially OVER the objections of today’s protest-ants who have no sense of history whatsoever. For protest-ants to justify their incorrect and heretical beliefs of today, every Christian in the 1st Millennium and until the “reformers” has to be classified as “corrupted.”
This type of protest-ant thinking ignores, of course, basic facts that both the Orthodox and Latins — which formed the original Church that Jesus founded — both agree on; critical dogmatic points such as the total belief in the Presence of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist.
And this is the importance difference we are trying to spell out here. That is why we love our separated brethren in the Orthodox Church who are truly our brothers in Christ, while we chastise our sick cousins in the evangelical world. Since they do not believe in the same God expect in Name only and refuse to accept their Mother, how can they be our brothers? Protest-ants are more like an embarrassing mentally ill family member one might want to send away for treatment. These protest-ants have the audacity to believe that early Christianity is not to be found in today’s Catholic rites, which liturgically run parallel with so many of the Eastern rites.
In reality, it is as if, as we say so often, for protest-ants to be correct or even biblically right, then the Holy Spirit made a mistake until the “reformers” came along when it came to the Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. That means that for 1,500 years God misled His people. Who are these protest-ants kidding? Only themselves.
And that, finally, brings us to our major point.
The whole world today is kidding itself if it believes that the Vicar of Christ — whether good, bad, ugly or indifferent — does NOT have the Keys to the Kingdom. It is apparent that even in the split of the Church since 1054, the Lord has continued to ensure that His Promise to Peter is borne out not in the East, but in the West, from the very place where caesar once held his throne.
How can we be so assured about this? Our dear friends, we must stop looking at everything in such complex ways and remember, over and over again, God works in such simplistic fashion (when it comes to us feeble-minded humans, that is).
When did the world celebrate Christmas? Does the world recognize the Orthodox date as the day to mark the Birth of Christ?
We all know that December 25 is not the real date that Jesus was born. But neither is January 7 or whatever day it may fall on in the Julian calendar.
What we do know is that the world no longer follows caesar’s calendar. Instead the world follows the Gregorian calendar.
How did the Gregorian calendar come about?
It was promulgated by a man who took the name of Gregory when he became the VICAR OF CHRIST! Gregory XIII to be exact, who ruled from 1572-1585.
And while the calendar that bears his name was done to correct the lagging dates and problems with the Julian calendar, an interesting thing occurred. At first, because this change took place in 1582, many of the protest-ant countries refused to go along. In their idiotic zeal not to embrace anything that came from the pope in Rome, they tried to ignore the new calendar.
But there was a small problem for the world.
“Jesus saith to them, ‘But who do you say I AM?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God!’
And Jesus answering, said to him, ‘Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is in Heaven!
And I say to thee that thou art Peter; and upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven. …’ ” Matthew 16:15-19.
What time is it?
I don’t know about your calendar, but ours clearly indicates it is 2003 Anno Domini [Latin for “in the Year of Our Lord”].
It is 2003 because the Vicar of Christ has decreed it so.
The world celebrated Christmas on December 25, 2002 because the Vicar of Christ decreed it so.
The world will celebrate Christmas on December 25, 2003 because the Vicar of Christ decreed it so. And so on and so on.
There are those who will deny this. In order not to appear to be following the pope, others are celebrating Christmas according to the calendar of the worst enemy of Christ: caesar. In this stubbornness, they ignore the fact that the Julian calendar is just plain wrong from an astronomical point of view.
Then there are those who are trying to change the Church’s spiritual tag to every year since the Birth of Christ — Anno Domini — to the generic C.E. which eliminates Jesus as the Lord and stands for the ridiculous and unhistorical “Common Era.”
They are modern-day versions of those, protest-ants of course, who, in earlier times, held out against the vicar’s decree. Historically, or hysterically, England refused to convert its calendar until 1752. Russia, believe it or not, did not change its calendar due to its aversion to anything smacking of “popery” until 1917.
But something happened. Something governments, people, scholars, anti-Catholics can’t control. Ask the people of England what year is it today. Ask the people of Russia. Ask a moslem; a buddhist; an Indian.
Sure these other religious groups we have just mentioned have their own calendars, but do you think any of them will make a business appointment with you by it? “I’ll meet you for lunch a day after ramadan!”
No. When it comes to the world, the dates we all agree to have been BOUND by none other than the Vicar of Christ.
In fact, ask anyone in Heaven what year it is on the Earth and even the Lord will tell you it is 2003 Anno Domini.
Does this mean He loves and approves of every pope who ever ruled?
As always, the answer is, “Of course not!”
But does that mean we have the right to judge them?
Again, of course not! Judge not lest ye be judged. Only He has won the right to be the Just Judge.
Were some popes involved in activities — like today’s priests — that are anything but godly? Of course there were and, unfortunately, in the future, if we don’t ask for a change from Him, there will be others.
Please remember, though, that there is nothing unique about finding corruption in those who hold positions of authority, especially in spiritual matters. Even King David, whom the Lord set as ruler over all His Chosen People, committed murder and adultery before the Eyes of God.
And Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, brought foreign idols into Jerusalem bringing the Wrath of God upon Israel.
But God is God and He cannot break His Promises.
He has promised, by building His Church on the Rock, that the successor to St. Peter — all 264 of them, whether good or bad — have had the power to bind on Earth and in Heaven.
And Jesus has kept that Promise. Just look at your calendar.
© 2003 Agnus Dei Presents!