<TITLE>09. Par 82-89</TITLE>L-82 And let me speak here, my dear Christian friends, both Protestant and Catholic. And now, I suppose I've got Catholic friends setting here; I'm not saying this to hurt your feelings. So just hold on just a few minutes, and we'll get the Branham Tabernacle in it also (See?), just a minute. We only have to preach the Gospel as It's laid here. No matter where... John said, "The axe was laid to the root of the tree." Let the chips fly wherever they wish to. That's right. He must cut the trees and things.

L-83 But look, in there they organized the first church. And they got together and organized the first church, which was called the universal church, or the Catholic church in Rome. And the Catholic says that he is the "mother church." And that's exactly the truth. It's the mother church of organization. Correctly. It's the first time in all the world's history that ever there was a church organized; never was, from the dawn of time.
Through the days of Israel, they were not a--they were not a organization. They were a race not an organization. And they... Jesus Christ never did organize a church. None of the apostles ever organized a church. And no time down through, after three or four generations after them, did they ever organize a church. I want you to bring the history and put your finger on the... Show me where it's at. I've read Josephus and all the most outstanding historians we have in the world today, that I know of, 'cause I must be sure. I make this statements before thousands of people; you've got to be able to back up and prove what you're talking about. That's right. There never was an organization. And not...

L-85 And Saint Peter never founded the Catholic church. I want one history or one bit of Scripture. Saint Peter was a married man. You said he was a pope. He couldn't have been a pope. Peter was a married man. The Bible said, "His wife's mother laid sick of a--of a fever, and Jesus healed her." And as far as I know, Saint Peter was never in Rome. And there's no history that ever shows he was in Rome. And that's a error.
But they organized and set together a church called the universal church. There they made a universal prayer. They had perfect harmony; everybody had to be together, everybody say the same thing. The same prayer was said.
And they made up a bunch of Scripture, taking them from the Bible, many of them, and making others. There is not purgatory mentioned one time in all the sacred Books of the Bible; no "Hail Marys," nothing like that. It's always contrary, against it, everywhere in the Scripture. Never was it at any time. And if you find any place, you've got the privilege of coming tomorrow night and correcting me. It's not there, nowhere; bring your priest or pastor. There is no place in the Scripture where it's ever mentioned.
The only little book of the Maccabees that was added into This, which is not inspired; the things that was put in This, or took out of This. This Bible is the only One. The... It's been recognized by the early founders, or any of the early church historians, or any time of the Orthodox Jew, and never recognized nothing but this Bible that we have today.

L-89 Now then, in that, listen close now. Now, you think the Catholics is getting a thrashing? Just a moment. See?
Now, then they organized the Catholic church, and it started a persecution, that they would... You had to make everyone, everywhere, the church and state united together, and brought in from pagan Rome to papal Rome. In other words, from a pagan superstition they adopted Christianity in their own form. See? They couldn't understand why that man would stand and pray to nothing. They were pagan, so they just took down Venus and put up Mary; they took down Jupiter, put up Peter, some kind of a statue to worship. Now, and they worshipped before that. And they made a universal prayer, said it in Latin so it would never fail, and so forth. They always say the same.


<A HREF="P10">Next Page</A>