As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. Proverbs:27:8, The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Revelation:17:8
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8 September 2022
It was a good call when Western Civilisation decided to erect a wall between religion and politics, protecting both spheres of human interest from each other’s ambition.
In the modern century, we might have to think about adding some fresh protections for science – not only from politicians, who have proved themselves wholly unworthy – but also from church leaders.
While there is a genuine danger that self-interested scientific exploration, that answers to nothing but physical possibility, could lead humanity into danger, more frightening is a future where science is leashed as a guard dog to those who believe they are pursuing the ‘greater good’.
There are a few groups keen to use the authority of science to further their interests, not least among them international socialist bureaucracies such as the United Nations that perceive themselves to be the de facto inheritors of human civilisation.
The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns shall cause “the earth and them which dwell therein” to worship the papacy—there symbolized by the beast “like unto a leopard.” The beast with two horns is also to say “to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast;” and, furthermore, it is to command all, “both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond,” to receive the mark of the beast. Revelation 13:11-16. It has been shown that the United States is the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns, and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. But in this homage to the papacy the United States will not be alone. The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed. And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Verse 3. The infliction of the deadly wound points to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, “his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Paul states plainly that the “man of sin” will continue until the second advent. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. To the very close of time he will carry forward the work of deception. And the revelator declares, also referring to the papacy: “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.” Revelation 13:8. In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church.
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of prophecy in the United States have presented this testimony to the world. In the events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for Sundaykeeping, and the same lack of Scriptural evidence, as with the papal leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God’s judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground.
Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Roman Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false sabbath and that they are preparing to enforce it by the very means which she herself employed in bygone days. Those who reject the light of truth will yet seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power to exalt an institution that originated with her. How readily she will come to the help of Protestants in this work it is not difficult to conjecture. Who understands better than the papal leaders how to deal with those who are disobedient to the church?
The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.
History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. In the year 1204, Pope Innocent III extracted from Peter II, king of Arragon, the following extraordinary oath: “I, Peter, king of Arragonians, profess and promise to be ever faithful and obedient to my lord, Pope Innocent, to his Catholic successors, and the Roman Church, and faithfully to preserve my kingdom in his obedience, defending the Catholic faith, and persecuting heretical pravity.”—John Dowling, The History of Romanism, b. 5, ch. 6, sec. 55. This is in harmony with the claims regarding the power of the Roman pontiff “that it is lawful for him to depose emperors” and “that he can absolve subjects from their allegiance to unrighteous rulers.”—Mosheim, b. 3, cent. 11, pt. 2, ch. 2, sec. 9, note 17. (See also Appendix note for page 447.)
And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III are still the principles of the Roman Catholic Church. And had she but the power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured.
God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. GC 578.3 – GC 581.2
Perhaps seeking relevance in a world rapidly falling under the spell of godless Marxism, the Pope has inserted himself into the conversation.
But those who fear and reverence God meet this heaven-daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Luke 4:8. God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ’s church except by usurpation. GC 51.1
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
The Pope’s AI adviser (yes, he has one of those), Franciscan monk Paolo Benanti, has taken an interest in ensuring that the world of rapidly evolving AI algorithms ‘respect human dignity’.
He has conducted courses on sexual morality and bioethics, neuroethics, technology ethics, artificial intelligence, and post-human intelligence. Benanti’s work includes developing an ethical framework for ‘algocracy’ – which is the idea of ‘government by algorithm’. It is a proposed form of government, similar to that of 1984, where those in power rule via the use of information collected about society. This is processed by intelligent algorithms that transform us into a ‘social machine’. Think social media except that it follows you home.
During his collaboration with political philosopher Sebastiano Maffettone, Benanti delved into the future of humanity depicted as a hybrid reality ‘between utopia and dystopia’ that he called paraferno, no doubt inspired by Dante’s Inferno.
To quote the Italian journals published in Corriere della sera, paraferno explores, ‘The vital, relational, social and communicative, labour and economic dimension, seen as a result of an interaction, with complex ethical implications, between the resources offered by the vital and interactive reality and social and individual existence.’
Satan’s policy in this final conflict with God’s people is the same that he employed in the opening of the great controversy in heaven. He professed to be seeking to promote the stability of the divine government, while secretly bending every effort to secure its overthrow. And the very work which he was thus endeavoring to accomplish he charged upon the loyal angels. The same policy of deception has marked the history of the Roman Church. It has professed to act as the vicegerent of Heaven, while seeking to exalt itself above God and to change His law. Under the rule of Rome, those who suffered death for their fidelity to the gospel were denounced as evildoers; they were declared to be in league with Satan; and every possible means was employed to cover them with reproach, to cause them to appear in the eyes of the people and even to themselves as the vilest of criminals. So it will be now. While Satan seeks to destroy those who honor God’s law, he will cause them to be accused as lawbreakers, as men who are dishonoring God and bringing judgments upon the world. GC 591.1
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
Under the Pope’s guidance, Benanti is responsible for a project called ‘Rome Call’ which is an ethics-based observer framework that seeks to keep the Catholic Church engaged in the spiritual evolution of the digital world.
As a marketing ploy, it’s not a half-bad idea. Whether or not the church has any genuine power over the technological arms race is a different question.
Rome Call was founded in 2020 via a partnership with signatories IBM, Microsoft, the Pontifical Academy for Life, FAO, and the Italian Ministry of Innovation. Essentially it is a document that ‘calls for AI ethics’ – like Asimov’s Three Laws of Robots, but less practical.
There’s nothing wrong with the concept of ethical technology, although it really does depend on whose ethics we are talking about. As many science fiction novelists have warned, some of the most terrifying AI technology imaginable was based on ‘the greater good’.
Stated in its digital manifesto, Rome Call highlights ethics, education, and rights as its three major concerns, with six subcategories consisting of transparency, inclusion, accountability, impartiality, reliability, and security and privacy.
It all sounds great until you pick through the detail and find a few of those alarming buzz words more common to international socialists and big-business lobbying groups addicted to climate money…
While many perceive the Catholic Church as either entrenched in its ancient stone cathedrals or bowing down to the increasingly powerful new gods of ‘Woke’ – the Pope has taken a particular interest in the world’s largest tech lobbying groups as a way to prove that religion can comfortably sit on the right hand of power.
A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favorable to the success of the papacy. It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for its success. In past ages, when men were without God’s word and without the knowledge of the truth, their eyes were blindfolded, and thousands were ensnared, not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation there are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of human speculations, “science falsely so called;” they discern not the net, and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded. God designed that man’s intellectual powers should be held as a gift from his Maker and should be employed in the service of truth and righteousness; but when pride and ambition are cherished, and men exalt their own theories above the word of God, then intelligence can accomplish greater harm than ignorance. Thus the false science of the present day, which undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful in preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with its pleasing forms, as did the withholding of knowledge in opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages.
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance—a custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of the papacy—the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God—that is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them.
If the reader would understand the agencies to be employed in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the record of the means which Rome employed for the same object in ages past. If he would know how papists and Protestants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas, let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the Sabbath and its defenders.
Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sustained by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world. The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was the law enacted by Constantine. (A.D. 321; see Appendix note for page 53.) This edict required townspeople to rest on “the venerable day of the sun,” but permitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits. Though virtually a heathen statute, it was enforced by the emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity. GC 572.3 – GC 574.1
Pope Francis is a contributor to the World Economic Forum and has made several addresses to Davos. Without seeming to recognise the hypocrisy, he said:
‘Together with this, we encounter certain rather selfish lifestyles, marked by an opulence which is no longer sustainable and frequently indifferent to the world around us … so too artificial intelligence, robotics, and other technological innovations must be so employed that they contribute to the service of humanity and to the protection of our common home.’
The Pope also asked Catholics to pray that AI technology ‘serves humanity’.
He is a man wholly onboard with The Great Reset and was heard saying that he wanted to see an end to the ‘dogma of neoliberal faith’ because ‘the fragility of world systems in the face of the [Covid] pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom’ and that we needed ‘alternative social structures’. He even asked for a ‘better kind of politics’ that serves the ‘common good’ – whatever that looks like.
The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet’s words: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. GC 592.3
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
No one seems to notice that the world’s largest communist nation remains in the grip of Covid insanity while the West, with its ‘evil market economy’, is beginning to recover. This comes with the truth slowly being acknowledged that the West wouldn’t have skipped a beat if it had been left to its own devices rather than suffocated under the momentary socialism of panicked leaders.
Now that the dust of Covid has settled, Rome Call is re-awakening.
We find speeches in its honour imploring society to be ‘more trustful’ of an AI future to make a more ‘inclusive’ and ‘equal’ world. If the Pope wants to ensure an ethical technological future, the first thing he should do is cease interacting with the World Economic Forum, whose policies currently represent the greatest threat to global human liberty history has ever seen.
But if we are going to talk about specifics, Rome Call insists:
‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. […] This must be done by safeguarding the rights and freedom of individuals so that they are not discriminated against by algorithms due to their “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political, or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.’
In the words of Pauline Hanson, please explain why the Vatican happily employed AI vaccine passport systems on their grounds with the specific purpose of segregation and discrimination…
The Vatican talked their way around the violation of rights by insisting it was ‘affirmed that it is necessary to ensure the health and wellness of the work Community in respect of the dignity, rights, and fundamental liberty of every member’.
So-called public health immediately overrode their ethical concerns regarding technology, just as ‘environmental concerns’ will override human rights when we get into the nitty gritty of Climate Change algorithms.
Not only were vaccine passports a violation of medical privacy and human rights, but they were also completely and utterly useless in stopping the spread of Covid. They serve as the perfect example of profitable, politically coercive technology being regulated through law in the name of ‘the public good’. It is exactly how organisations make the ethical argument for abuse.
‘As we recover from the Covid pandemic, the Rome Call will be even more important as we think more broadly and ethically about the future of technology. The Rome Call helps put us on this path to promote thoughtful, respectful, and inclusive conversation about the intersection of artificial intelligence technology and society,’ said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft.
‘In order for technological advancement to align with true progress for the human race and respect for the planet, it must meet three requirements. It must include every human being, discriminating against no one; it must have the good of humankind and the good of every human being at its heart; finally, it must be mindful of the complex reality of our ecosystem and be characterised by the way in which it cares for and protects the planet (our “common and shared home”) with a highly sustainable approach, which also includes the use of artificial intelligence in ensuring sustainable food systems in the future.’ – Rome Call declaration.
Aside from the scary environmental stuff buried in there, the idea that technology will ‘exclude no one’ by default means it will be an all-inclusive digital system – that you cannot opt-out of. This sounds awfully like the World Economic Forum’s global digital identity system.
You’ve got to be careful with ‘inclusivity’ if it comes as a threat rather than an offer.
Most technology is market-driven and consumer-based. It is benign in that the products created by companies have no interest in the ‘greater social issues’. They exist for a confined purpose. No one stands over you and beats you into submission until you buy an iPhone. Well… China might. Smart phones are required for citizens to interact with their ‘inclusive’ social credit surveillance system. It is an example of state-coerced digital inclusivity.
‘At FAO, we use ethical AI in our work for Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better life,’ said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, speaking for Rome Call.
The only thing they left out was ‘Build Back Better’.
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