"He in whom all iniquity has, as it were, fixed its abode" - Thayer

Editor's Preface

On the way to Jerusalem, having completed his third missionary tour, Paul's ship anchored for a period of time at Miletus. He sent for the elders of the Church at Ephesus some thirty-two miles away. Sensing that he would not see them again, he alerted them to some perils the Church would face. He said plainly that after his departure, "grievous wolves" would enter in among them, "not sparing the flock," and from among themselves men would arise, "speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30). This dark future weighed heavy on his mind. To the Thessalonians he had written about this "mystery of iniquity," and named it "the Wicked one" (KJV) who would enter the very temple of God energized by Satan himself. We have chosen that name in its Greek form for the lead article in this issue, and given the documented evidence to justify the designation, 'o anomoV.

As I study some Scripture in detail, or some facet of our Church history gives me a new concept, I make note of these insights. Two such concepts appear in this issue under "random thoughts." They are not complete, and I would hope that in your study of the same, you will enlarge on them further. The fifth "landmark" has intrigued me. How close is it to the statements: "As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here" (DA, p. 331): and "The Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of the life eternal" (ibid. p. 388). What is the difference between, "eternal life" and "life eternal." Is it "extent" and "quality"?

Things which are taking place in America before our very eyes, dare not be overlooked. Politics, yes; but also fulfilling prophecy! (See "News Note" page 7)

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'O AnomoV

This Greek name is found in Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians. In full context, this section of Paul's letter reads:

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way ["only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way" (ARV)]. And then shall that Wicked ('o anomoV ) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2:7-12).

In these verses, the word translated "iniquity" in the phrase, "mystery of iniquity" is a feminine form (anomia) derived from the word, avomos which word is translated in verse 8 as "Wicked." The word itself is the Greek word for "law" (nomoV) with an alpha primitive (a) prefixed which negates it, hence, "lawlessness," as used in the ARV, "the mystery of lawlessness" and "the lawless one." However, Thayer in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament takes the meaning a step further and renders, 'o anomoV, "he in whom all iniquity has, as it were, fixed its abode." The context justifies such a translation because this lawless one's coming "is after the working of Satan" (v. 9). The word used in the Greek for "working" (energeian) can be transliterated into the English word, "energy." Farrar Fenton in his translation, The Holy Bible in Modern English, renders this verse - "This outlaw's arrival will be accomplished by the energy of Satan with all powers and signs, and terrors of falsehood."

With this linguistic background, it is not difficult to associate other symbols of Bible prophecy as to who this power is in whom all iniquity has fixed, as it were, its abode. In Revelation 13, the first beast is described as receiving "his power, and his seat, and great authority" from the dragon (v. 2) "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan" (12:9). It is against this beast, that God raised up a people to sound the warning that "if any man worship [this] beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God" (14:9-10).

Returning to Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, we find that this "mystery of iniquity" was already working in his day, and that it would continue until Christ would come the second time. Observe also that one of the marks is "the deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish" and the reason given - "because they received not the love of the truth" (ver. 10). This should give us pause to consider what is taking place at the present time. The connecting links between II Thessalonians and Revelation 13, and the links between Daniel 7, and the same chapter lead to but one conclusion - "the mystery of iniquity," the "lawless one," the "little horn," and the "beast" are all Biblical symbols of but one and the same power, the Papacy.

The Mystery of Lawlessness

We had just completed the above, and were reviewing back issues of The Catholic World Report [CWR], a conservative Roman Catholic publication, received by the Foundation Library, so as to state accurately the lawlessness which permeates the Papacy, when the April 1, 2002 issue of US News & World Report arrived in the mails. The cover questioned - "Can the Church save its soul?" The title on the article declared "Catholics in Crisis," with a subtitle indicating that crisis to be the "continued revelations of sex-abuse scandals and cover-ups.-" (p. 51). An insert article noting the pope's annual pre-Easter letter, "which referred obliquely to a widening scandal that has cast 'a dark shadow of suspicion' over the priesthood," thus breaking the Papal silence over the crisis, asked, "But will he act?" (p. 52).

The current crisis is over child abuse by pedophile prone priests. It erupted in the Catholic diocese of Boston over the court case against a defrocked priest who "was facing 84 separate lawsuits and two criminal trials arising from complaints that he had sexually abused young boys repeatedly during his priestly career." The problem was that this priest's conduct was known at least 15 years before he was finally removed; but his ecclesiastical superiors just moved him from one parish to another, and covered up his continued abuse of

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young boys. This cover-up finally reached to the level of Cardinal Bernard Law, the American prelate with the most seniority in the College of Cardinals. (CWR, March 2002, p. 36). The report in US News & World Report documents that this behavior is widespread and ranges across the nation involving not only parish priests but also monsignors and bishops. The cover-up also involved other Cardinals than just Bernard Law.

A year and six months prior to the revelations involving the Boston diocese, CWR, had published an essay by a Catholic chaplain connected with the Marine Corps and Navy, who was then serving at Pearl Harbor. The essay was captioned, "The Gay Priest Problem." It was prefaced by a report which appeared in the Kansas City Star which noted that "AIDS has quietly caused the death of hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in the United States, although other causes may be listed on some of their death certificates." The newspaper article further claimed that "the death rate of priests from AIDS is at least four times that of the general population" The response from the Kansas City Bishop of the Roman Church, Raymond Boland, was, "The AIDS deaths show that priests are human" (CWR, Nov., 2000, p. 52).

The report in the Kansas City Star came from an Associated Press release on a series of articles by Judy L. Thomas. In her interview with Bishop Boland, he explained that he never asks a priest how he got AIDS, just as two years prior when he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon, no body asked him how he got it. To this, Chaplain Shaughnessy wrote in his Essay:

Most of us would see such a response as culpably wilful refusal to face up to a grim reality. By the same token, when we are urged to pretend that there is room for doubt as to how most priests contract AIDS, we can be sure that our gaze is being intentionally diverted from the ugly and indisputable facts: a disproportionately high percentage of priests is gay; a disproportionately high percent of gay priests routinely engages in sodomy, often tolerated, and sometimes abetted by bishops and superiors. (ibid.)

The Chaplain cites a book by a Roman priest, Donald B. Cozzens, The Changing Face of the Priesthood, in which the author asks if the Catholic priesthood is on its way to becoming a "gay profession." He writes that this "is a devilishly difficult question to ask, first because almost no one in the hierarchical ranks wants anything to do with it." Then in the essay he quotes from a letter written by South Africa's Bishop Reginold Cawcutt which was penned in response to a rumor that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was about to issue a letter prohibiting the acceptance of gay seminarians. (The part of this letter used by the Chaplain, if quoted as written would have made it unprintable. We have modified it further. Still its vulgarity comes through.) Modified, it reads:

Kill [Ratzinger]? Pray for him? Why not just (----) him??? Any volunteers-ugh!!! ... I do not see how he can possibly do this - but ... if he does, lemme repeat my statement earlier -- that I will cause lotsa (----) for him and the Vatican. And that is a promise. MY intention would be simply to ask the question what he intends doing with those priests, bishops (possibly "like me") and cardinals who are gay. That should cause (....) enough. Be assured dear reverend gentlemen, I shall let you know the day any such outrageous letter reaches the desks of the ordinaries of the world. (ibid., p. 53)

The Chaplain observed that when the report on the Catholic priesthood and AIDS appeared in the Kansas City Star, from all sides one heard the complaint "Why doesn't somebody do something?" As noted above, the US News and World Report, in comment on the pope's reaction to the problem, questioned, "But will he act?" Or perhaps the question should be asked, "Does the Roman Church have enough non-gay clergy to sustain the hierarchical structure of the Church should all the gays from cardinals to bishops be defrocked?" Shaughnessy noted that ten years ago, the liberal National Cathollc Reporter quoted a Jesuit priest as saying from his experience, "I assume priests are gay until proven otherwise." Thayer's definition of 'O AnomoV takes on new meaning as the scandal within Romanism unfolds.

The Curia

In February 1999, Kaos Editions in Italy published a book, Via col vento in Vaticano, which gave the public, Catholic and non-Catholic, its first look by direct testimony of a group of high-ranking Vatican prelates "regarding the vices, corruption, and intrigues of the Roman Curia." The authors used the pseudonym, "Millenari," to cover their revelation. Translated into English, it is published in

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Key Porter Books, Ltd. under the title of Shroud of Secrecy, the story of corruption within the Vatican.

The authors state plainly:

The power in the Vatican Church originates in and emanates from the Secretariat of State. The Curia preserves itself by training its members, who have been chosen because they are supported and favored by influential superiors. . . . The Cardinal Secretary of State, assisted by his deputy and entire internal and external service, wields the power to determine who is accepted into the Curia.

Everyone knows that the Pope is the head of the Church; however, he doesn't personally govern it. He relies on the honesty of others to fairly govern the Church, particularly his Secretary of State, who governs the rest of the Roman Curia and, at times, the Pontiff. (pp. 56-57)

A marginal footnote defines the "Curia" as the body of tribunals and offices through which the Pope governs the Roman Catholic Church (p. 14). While the footnote gives the theoretical arrangement of the power structure in the Church, the prelates who authored the book reveal the actual workings of the Curia.

Inside and connected with the Cover of the book is a summary of not only the background for its publication but its contents. This summary reads:

Centuries have passed, secularism seems to have a strong hold on our world-view, but the Vatican still rules the practices and doctrines of more than a third of the world's people - with an arguably iron fist. And yet, the all-powerful Vatican remains a mystery to those outside its wall. Until now.

Shroud of Secrecy offers an insider's account of intrigue, sex, and corruption within the Vatican. It is the first treatise of written protest from within the Church since 1517, when Martin Luther posted his historic 95 theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Written by a small group of Vatican prelates who call themselves the Millenari, its publication breaks a code of silence that has allowed impropriety and hypocrisy within the Roman Catholic Church to flourish.

The Millenari's main concerns are rampant careerism within the Vatican hierarchy, a secretive and corrupt selection process for bishops, Freemasonry within the Vatican walls, and the lack of an employee union. Their charges are supported by extensive anecdotes. Consider the priest who smuggled a suitcase of cash into Switzerland; the priest who was married by Papal sanction to the sister of a Vatican official and then boasted about his access to secure information; the priest who engaged in homosexual acts and was moved and promoted to cover up the scandal.

Published in Italy in 1999 under the title Via col vento in Valicano, the Millenari's work is now the target of a Vatican-led effort to cease publication and distribution. It has also become a runaway best-seller. The one author who has publicly acknowledged his role - 72 year-old Monsignor Luigi Marinelli - has endured incredible hardship as a result. He was ordered to appear before the court of the Vatican State. He refused, daring the Vatican to pursue him in the secular courts. Now, isolated from his friends, he suspects that his phone is tapped. ...

The publishers of Via col vento Vaticano have written an afterword specifically for this edition, bringing the readers up-to-date on the events that have occurred since the book's release.

The Millenari are a group of Vatican prelates who wish to remain anonymous due to their fear of repercussions from the book's publication. The only author to come forward is 72-year-old retired Vatican prelate Monsignor Luigi Marinelli. Marinelli worked for many years in the Vatican department of the Congregation of Eastern Churches. He was recruited to the writing team by an unnamed Vatican official who had heard Marinelli criticize the inner workings of the Vatican. Marinelli is now under investigation by the Sacra Romana Rota - court of the Vatican State. He has been honored by France's Freedom of the Church award.

An Afterword

It is difficult in the light of these revelations of the corruption in the Roman Church and the prophecy in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, to comprehend the actions of B. B. Beach at the Seventh Assembly of the WCC in Canberra, Australia. With his right as a "Delegated Representative" of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to speak at Plenary sessions of the Council, he remained silent as the discussions of the working relationships between Rome and the WCC were under consideration, until young men moved by the Spirit of God bore their witness. Then he vented his consternation on them.

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It is true that in 1991, the present data was not available. While not as overwhelming as the current revelations are, there were available, however, publications and witnesses to the corruption within the Roman hierarchy, which sustained the prophecy of God's word, that the Papacy was indeed 'O AnomoV. Observer status is one thing, and reporting that which is observed is necessary, but mingling and fellowship which leads to a rejection of truth, and a denigration of the Spirit's workings is another. Then to use the episode in Australia as the point of reference to anoint B. B. Beach as an Adventist "Statesman" reveals a corruption of editorial integrity to maintain truth as was committed under the Third Angel's Message of Revelation 14: 9-10.

While defrocking has been the recourse used in some cases in the Roman hierarchy, there needs to be a removal from official position and influence in the Adventist Church, those whose eyes are so blinded to truth, that they join in condemning the movings of the Spirit of God, and give accolades to those who publicly do so.

Random Thoughts:

The Great I AM

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word (mal'akh) translated "angel" in the KJV, also means, "messenger;" even as in the New Testament, the Greek word, aggeloV, from which we derive the word, angel, can be also translated, "messenger." In Hebrews the question is asked concerning angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (1:14). However, in the Old Testament, there is a more profound meaning to the word, than is attached to the word, "angel" in English. Gesenius in his Hebrew Lexicon notes that in various references of the Old Testament, which he cites, the Divine appearance is called, "the angel of Jehovah," and then following in the same reference is called simply, "Jehovah." He then comments - "This is to be so understood, that the angel of God is here nothing else than the invisible deity itself, which thus unveils itself to mortal eyes" (p. 570, ninth edition, 1858).

An example of this use of the expression, "the angel of the Lord" is to be found in Exodus 3 in the revelation of God to Moses at the burning bush. The text reads:

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed" (v. 2).

When Moses turned aside to see the marvel, "the Lord" (Heb. JHWH spoke to him and declared Himself to be the God (Heb. Elohe, singular) of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (vs. 4-6). In the conversation that followed between "the Lord" and Moses, the question of the "name" by which God was to be called, surfaced. The response was, "I AM THAT I AM," with the specific instruction, "Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (v. 14).

The instruction was repeated:

You shall say to the children of Israel Jehovah (JHWH), the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me to you: this is My name for ever, and this is My title from generation to generation. (Jay Green, Interlinear Hebrew Bible, Vol. I)

During the confrontation with Pharaoh, God spoke again to Moses regarding His name. Pharaoh had questioned, "Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go" (Ex. 5:2, ARV). To this response and Pharaoh's high handedness God said to Moses:

I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty (El Shaddai); but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them (6:2-3 ARV).

Soon Pharaoh and all Egypt would know who Jehovah was - God Almighty; but to the children of Israel He would be: "I am Jehovah your God, who bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians" (6:7, ARV). He would come down to deliver. From His high majestic Throne, He would condescend to deliver His people from the enslavement of sin. He would be their I AM (John 8:58).

In the revelations of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob various attributes of God are revealed which reflect His power and might but which also

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blend with His verbal name, I AM, and His purpose in regard to Israel. To Abraham when he was ninety-nine years of age, God appeared and declared:

I am the Almighty God (El Shaddai): walk before me and be thou perfect (Gen. 17:1).

With this revelation, God associated His covenant. He said, "I will make my covenant between Me and thee" (v.2). "I will establish my covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant" (v. 7). It is also of interest to observe that the placing of God's covenant ("My covenant") with Abram, there came a name change, from Abram to Abraham, thus enlarging the scope of the one to one covenant He had made with Abram previously (15:18).

When Isaac blessed Jacob before sending him to Padanaram, he blessed him in the name of "God Almighty" (Gen. 28:3). However, when God spoke to Jacob as the "Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac" (v. 13), He presented Himself as standing "above" a ladder which had been "set up on earth" and reached "to heaven" (v.12). By that "ladder" He would come down to deliver "the seed of Abraham" as "the Son of man." (John 1:51; Gal. 3:29). Yet, John in his gospel reveals the incident when Jesus, the Son of man, claimed to be the "I Am" (John 8:58). His Gospel is replete with revelations of Jesus Christ as the I AM.

The crisis in Galilee which decimated Christ's following revolved around His claim as "I AM the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51). His claim to be the I AM (John 8:58) was prefaced with the revelation of Himself as "I AM the light of the world" (8:12). His uniqueness as the only means of salvation - the true ladder - was illustrated in another parable, with the claim, "I AM the door" (10:9). He carried this a step further, stating, "I AM the good shepherd" (10:11). The crowning miracle of His ministry - the resurrection of Lazarus - followed His claim, "I AM the resurrection and the life" (11:25). To His disciples in the upper room, He summarized the whole revelation of His life - I AM the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (14:6). This Self-Existent One ("I"), Ever-Existent One (AM), "The first and the last" who set up the "ladder" by the sacrifice of Himself, declared to John, "I ... was dead" but "the Living One I am for evermore" (Rev. 1:18).

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The Fifth Landmark

If the historical data available on the 1888 General Conference Session is accurate, the discussion of the message of righteousness by faith as brought by Jones and Waggoner to the conference was more than a mere exchange of ideas. Some of the delegates rejected the light from heaven "with all the stubbornness the Jews manifested in rejecting Christ." Their minds "were fixed, sealed against the entrance of light, because they had decided it was a dangerous error removing the 'old landmarks' when it was not moving a peg of the old landmarks, but they had a perverted idea of what constituted the old landmarks" (Ms. 13, 1889).

Five landmarks are listed. The fifth one reads: "The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark" (ibid.) This is more than saying that one rejects the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. It is accepting by faith the words of Christ which span the abyss of death. Jesus promised:

"He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).

The word translated "is passed" metabebhken is the Greek perfect indicative - an accomplished fact. The phrase, "from death unto life," is more emphatic in the Greek (ek tou qanatou eiV thn zwhn) "out of the death into the life." It is ours by faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

On the other hand, "no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (I John 3:15). "The soul that sinneth it shall die" (Eze. 18:20). He that "sent" Christ is able "to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28). In the creation of man, it was the intent of God, that "the living soul" (Gen. 2:7) live forever. Man's decision thwarted God's intent. The provision of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the

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gospel" (II Tim. 1:10). Thus he who accepts the gospel - the incarnation and resurrection of Christ - "hath everlasting life" and is passed "out of death into life." The landmark stands - "The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark."

News Note:

In the March issue of Church & State, (p. 19) in a section on "People and Events," the editors quoted some recent comments by Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a Roman Catholic, who was in attendance at Rome for an event sponsored by Opus Dei. Interviewed by a reporter of the National Catholic Reporter, he blasted President John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 endorsement of church-state separation, saying that Kennedy's vow not to take orders from the Catholic hierarchy has caused "much harm in America."

"According to Santorum, Kennedy was not the nation's first Catholic president. That distinction, he said, belongs to George W. Bush, a Methodist." Continuing, he said, "From economic issues focusing on the poor and social justice, to issues of human life, George Bush is there. He has every right to say, 'I'm where you are if you're a believing Catholic."'

To understand the force and implication of what the Senator said, one must review some past history. A century ago, Leo XIII occupied the Papal throne from 1878-1903. Several of his encyclicals were devoted to social issues which involved the relationship between church and state. He considered separation of church and state as a "fatal theory." (The Liberal Illusion, p. 9) The record clearly indicates that Leo's attention was directed toward the United States. In a letter dated October 14, 1894 from Rome, it read, "The United States of America, it can be said without exaggeration, are the chief thought of Leo XIII." To a visiting American, a few days prior he had said, "But the United States are the future; we think of them incessantly." This thinking bore fruit in Catholic action from that day to the present. The proclaimed goal of its "Mission Movement" is stated as - "Our purpose is to make America dominately Catholic." They perceived that the main support of Protestantism came from the United States and England. Their intent was to make both of these nations predominately Roman Catholic believing that by so doing they will have "removed the chief obstacle to the conversion of the world to the true faith." (See Facts of Faith, pp.  239-240) Those living in England have only to recall and note the recent actions of Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the choice to be Speaker of the House of Commons. Now with Bush in the White House, the same objective of Rome is in full play in America.

The White House office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has been vacant for five months. First filled by John J. Dilulio, a Roman Catholic, Bush's appointment for a successor is also a devout Roman Catholic - Jim Towey. Criticism of the President's objective in doling out government funds to Church ministries under Dilulio came from some Religious Right Sources, but not once did one hear any adverse criticism from the American Roman hierarchy.

When Rome has accomplished its objectives, and opposition has been minimized, their blue print for action has already been printed in The Liberal Illusion. Those desiring a copy of this agenda, may write to the Foundation office for a copy. Please send a self addressed stamped #10 envelope, marked, "Liberal Illusion" in lower left hand front corner.(This service is no longer available.)

Rome never changes, only its face changes.

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Originally Published by Adventist Laymen's Foundation of Mississippi/Arkansas

Wm. H. Grotheer, Editor

Adventist Laymen's Foundation was chartered in 1971 by Elder Wm. H. Grotheer, then 29 years in the Seventh-day Adventist ministry, and associates, for the benefit of Seventh-day Adventists who were deeply concerned about the compromises of fundamental doctrines by the Church leaders in conference with those who had no right to influence them. Elder Grotheer began to publish the monthly "Thought Paper," Watchman, What of the Night? (WWN) in January, 1968, and continued the publication as Editor until the end of 2006. Elder Grotheer died on May 2, 2009.