Pages

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI -- and, personally, I couldn't be happier!

Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI -- and, personally, I couldn't be happier!

The announcement has just been made. Cardinal Ratzinger is the successor to Pope John Paul II. Personally, I could not be happier about it. Although the New Age Movement was apparently running rampant in the Catholic Church in the earlier 1980s, things started to change in about 1988. That was the year Matthew Fox was "silenced" for one year. Cardinal Ratzinger played a most direct role in the entire change of direction of the Catholic Church from one of toleration to one of opposition to New Age doctrinal heresies.

Cardinal Ratzinger headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican. When I started my research on the New Age Movement in 1981, the Archdiocese of Detroit bookstore probably had as many New Age books as the local New Age book dealer. Points south such as Grailville in Loveland, Ohio were strictly New Age. The last I checked, they still were.

I remember that as a conscientious member of Highland Park Baptist Church in Southfield, Michigan, I thought I needed to educate people on the disturbing theological and political developments vis a vis the New Age Movement I was witnessing which could well have prophetic implications. My pastor then was Joseph M. Stowell who later became President of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Hoping he would carry the ball, I would buy duplicate sets of the evidence and hand then to Pastor Stowell. My recollection of those times was that he thereafter preached about 16 sermons on Jonah, looking disturbed as he did. We heard so many sermons on Jonah, various members of the congregation joked that if they heard one more, they would plan on wearing their bathing suits to church! Then one Sunday, the New Year of 1982, he reversed course, brightened and said, "well, everything's going to get better and better." My then young son said, "Mom, it looks like he considered everything you said and has now rejected it." I will tell you now the word on the New Age Movement got out with little or no thanks to Pastor Stowell. I requested my materials back and disturbed by his telling me he had not quite finished reading a book that he had obviously never opened, we had a meeting at his request in April 1982 just maybe two weeks before the New Agers ran their March 25, 1982 ads reading "The Christ is now here.” I was astounded when he told me that like me, he was very busy and had to delegate. He had asked a number of members of his staff and professional colleagues if they had heard of the New Age Movement. He said they had not and therefore he had to conclude it did not exist.

I told Pastor Stowell of a number of New Agers I knew of personally who had repented and broke from their involvement in the movement after seeing my collected materials. At that point, he said, "Connie, there must be something wrong with your message." I said, "why is that, Joe?" (We were on a first name basis!) He said, "too many Catholics and New Agers are responding to it." I was astounded. I said, "Joe, when Jesus was here, what was his pet peeve?" He said, "the hypocrites and the pharisees, why?" I said, "it's still his pet peeve." He said, "oh, no, that applied only to the Jews of Jesus' day -- why they were much more apostate than we are. I'm a child of God -- I've been transferred to the Kingdom of God." I said, "Were they? Are you? Have you? If you want my opinion, that's a pharisaical attitude right there." He said, "well, I don't agree." That night David Bryant treated the congregation to a shameless display of what I consider New Age proselytizing. I mentioned it in my first book, THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF THE RAINBOW. I will tell you right now that I got the word out on the New Age Movement with precious little help from Pastor Stowell.

Given the lack of evangelical concern at that point in time, I decided it would be more profitable to educate my client base -- those who respected me enough to pay for advice -- on the New Age Movement and its subtle threats both to their souls and to society in general. One day in September, 1981, , I had a call from a young local priest, Fr. Eduard Perrone (not to be confused with the published Italian Theosophist of the same name) wanting to know just what I had shown a former lapsed Catholic, a childhood friend of the priest, who came back to church after many years away, and then sought him out, telling him what he saw in my office. I invited that priest to come take a look. He came in early October of 1981, reviewed my materials and then said, "I can hardly believe I'm holding this in my hand." He finally said, "I have to accept the truth of what you have told me -- I saw too much of this going through the seminary to ignore it." He said something I will never forget: "We have a terrible job facing us -- how to wake people up without scaring them to death." I have tried never to forget that wise advice!

To make a long story very short, Fr. Perrone brought MANY people to see me at the office all with their own collections of prophetic fulfillment they were seeing. He and the fine ladies of his parish eventually organized regular Saturday afternoon speaking sessions for me at his church school’s library. They taped my speeches and disseminated those tapes. After a Detroit Free Press reporter converted of her own New Age involvement and wrote a very picture essay story about my work, my work became international.

There was then the disturbing aspect of tremendous infiltration of the Roman Catholic Church which still exists on some levels. (There was tremendous Protestant infilitration as well -- much of it coming from Jeremy Rifkin.)

In the fall of 1983, I spoke in Seattle. Afterwards, at the request of some who contacted me in Detroit, I furnished Seattle Catholic activists materials proving a Catholic priest, Fr. Matthew Fox (excommunicated as of 1993) was giving seminars with self-confessed witches, with headlines of “Starhawk teaches at Holy Names.” A Seattle banker who was present said he thought the Vatican should be notified. I said imprudently “save your breath – I’m sure they must know.” Nevertheless he sent the materials to Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome who according to Kitty Muggeridge’s book, YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT DESOLATE, as well as Matthew Fox's very bitter autobiography (incidentally which also assigns some blame to yours truly for his woes)thereafter opened a file on Matthew Fox and began his long investigation.Cardinal Ratzinger wrote beautiful detailed papers on the spiritual evils of the New Age Movement, carefully citing the Alice Bailey references, that others giving probable disinformation (e.g, Fr. Pacwa) were saying to disregard. I was told that teaching about the New Age Movement was now mandatory in the Italian seminaries, at least. I had a priest walk up to me in southern California when I was speaking at a Human Life International Conference in the early 1990s and ask me, “how does it feel to be the first Protestant to start a serious in-house Roman Catholic reformation.”

Just as the New Agers were 'ecumenical,' in short time we had our own ecumenical movement of sorts going -- we had regular meetings at the church school library of that priest with local pastors from many local denominations joining the discussion and warning their respective congregations about just what the New Age M. I had support from out everywhere and opposition from about everywhere. and had long discussions of the threats this movement posed both to Christianity and to the world at large. A local newspaper reporter converted out of the New Age Movement, running from it as though she had seen the devil. She wrote a major article on my work complete with pictures which ran on May 5, 1982, just a few days after the April 25th ads ran from New Agers proclaiming their "Christ is now here". From then on, I was called by Southwest Radio Church, Trinity Broadcasting and spent close to seven full years on the national lecture circuit, returning to my law practice in December 1988.

Along the way, I had encounters with Matthew Fox, who was successfully working Catholic circles, both liturgical and educational with his New Age agenda. I sent materials to Catholics who attended my lectures at Seattle University in November, 1983. The materials were copies of Circle Network News headlined "Starhawk teaches at Holy Names." It was about her work with Matthew Fox's Institute for Creation Centered Spirituality. She wrote "we danced the spiral, jumped the cauldron and found other new and innovative ways to express ourselves. Isn't it wonderful to find such a sympathetic spirit to paganism in the Christian world?"

The Seattle Catholics United for the Faith people sent the materials to Cardinal Ratzinger against my advice. (I was convinced everybody had to know and nobody would do anything about it.) Cardinal Ratzinger, I later learned both from Kitty Muggeridge's book about the crisis of faith in the Catholic Church, Your House is Left Desolate, and Matthew Fox's autobiography that this was when the Catholic Church began to investigate and then clamp down on the New Age Movement. Cardinal Ratzinger has taken, at least in the past, a firm stand against the New Age Movement and its denials of the exclusive divinity in Christ in "whom we alone have salvation." I have no reason to suspect he has backed away from these truths.

For those and many more reasons, I am happy that he, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is the new Pope Benedict XVI. My prayers are with him and the church he will now be heading in what increasingly appears more and more to be apocalyptic times.

Thank you and good night.

Constance E. Cumbey
April 19, 2005

24 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:27 PM

    http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/SiSiNoNo/1998_January/Cardinal_Ratzinger.htm
    THE RETURN OF PAGANISM, OR "NEW AGE"
    Card. Ratzinger has also described remarkably well the neo-paganism of the "New Age," which "seeks to put forth a completely anti-rationalist model of religion - a modern 'mystique': Man cannot believe in the absolute but he may experience. God is not a Person...but consists in the spiritual energy which propagates itself in the Whole…Man's redemption consists in ridding himself of his I...and returning to the Whole. The (pagan) 'gods' are back. They now appear more believable than God. We must bring up to date those primordial [pre-Christian] rites by which the I is initiated into the mystery of the Whole and liberated of itself." In brief, the New Age says: "Let us now give up the adventure of Christianity which has proven to be a failure, so let us now return to our pagan gods." Further on, Card. Ratzinger notes the influence that the "New Age" is having on some Catholic "liturgies": "Nowadays, we have grown weary of wordy liturgies, [but how can one simply reduce Catholic liturgy to words?] approaching New Age orientations: people are now looking for noisy and ecstatic experiences."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:39 PM

    It is interesting to me that the new pope was selected from a country where most of the anti-christian liberal thought has orginated, such as Marx, Hegel, and Tillich. And he is from a country that may be key in the development of the EU.

    It is also interesting to note that it is usually a consevative who has the best chance to reform an organizatioin to liberalism becasue no one expects it and considers him to be the "conservative watchdog."

    Finally, it seems that he appeared more as a victorious politician than a humble servant.

    In summary, I think he is a good choice for endtimes fulfillment, but a bad choice for continuation of catholic traditions.

    Time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My personal research is that the New Age and neo-paganism have had few more dedicated enemies than Cardinal Ratzinger.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My personal experience and research has so far shown me that Cardinal Ratzinger is a dedicated opponent of the New Age threats to Christianity.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Jerry:

    I pray you are wrong -- if you read New Age literature carefully, you will clearly see that they have declared war on all of Christianity and Judaism. I have many references I can cite you on this.

    Constance

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5:47 PM

    Reply to "Stephen" . . .

    I am one of those "ridiculous end timers" that you speak about and I have probably given more money to help the poor than you will ever make in your entire life.

    And the reason that I am a "ridiculous end timer" is because I have seen so much prophecy fulfilled in Jesus' FIRST coming http://www.messiahrevealed.org/ for example, that only a fool would close his eyes to the prophecies about his SECOND coming.

    Personally, I am quite thankful for the weathermen who warn me about tornadoes headed my way ... Contance is doing this very thing ... except it is a SPIRITUAL tornado, which is far more REAL and IMPORTANT than a physical tornado.

    ReplyDelete
  7. In response to stephen,

    As Christian we have seen the proof of the 100% accuracy of the Word of God. And as anonymous said in the last comments posting, since the prophecies concerning Christ's first coming came to pass,why SHOULD we doubt the one's of His second coming.

    So, since I know that Christ is coming again and also because I know that God is calling out to every human being to repent and follow His Son, Christians (like myself) must warn everybody to repent now while there is still time.

    Now,here is a warning to those who would rather scoff and say "where is your Christ?", and then walk off. My reply to this kind of attitude is that people who would rather see shut Christians up or would like to see them DISAPPEAR will, unfortunately for them, get their wish. I am a believer in the pre-tribulational rapture--yes I said it pre-tribulational for those who gasped--and my Lord is coming for his blessed Church BEFORE, the tribulation that is to come on all the world. Plain and simple.

    So, are you rapture ready?

    Accept Christ today, right now. He loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. www.blessedhopewatch.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous7:17 PM

    Stephen, you wrote: "It is people like you who propogate hate" and "Christianity can find some good to do in the world rather than create such amounts of hate"

    Could you explain what you mean by the word "hate"?

    I'm trusting that you are trying to say something specifid and not just using buzz words such as the word OOuuuutrrragggiioouuusss which people on the left used for a couple of years.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous7:32 PM

    It would be great if the pope was aware of the New Age movement. It seems to me that the catholic church has more problems. Their biggest one is that they don't even teach the TRUTH in the first place. They don't teach that one has to be born again to receive salvation. They have deceived billions of people over the years by teaching false doctrine. Even sadder is the fact that the "Evangelical" Christians are supporting this. Check out this article to see what our leaders had to say about John Paul 2. http://www.biblebasedministries.co.uk/indexRomeUpdate.htm It is very scary when those who are supposedly teaching the TRUTH support a system that is so deceptive. Catholicism and the New Age movemnet go hand in hand in massive deception and it won't change. It will just get worse.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous7:50 PM

    The Roman Catholic institution is not a Christian Church, and never has been. It is a pagan religio-political system pretending to be Christian. Tragically, the Roman Catholic people are lost, serving a false "christ" (the Antichrist) and a false "church" (the Great Whore). It is IMPOSSIBLE for a person to be both Roman Catholic and Christian. Their only hope is to come to Christ; and those who truly come to him, drawn by God the Father, will leave the Roman Catholic system, in obedience to his Word (Rev.18:4,5).

    The Roman Catholic institution "sits upon" (controls) peoples, nations, multitudes and tongues (Rev.17:1,15). Today, there are over one billion Roman Catholics worldwide.

    ReplyDelete
  11. well, i didn't like what stephen said.

    Look people, I don't want to turn this into a beat up Stephen session, but I must add something else. Stephen described the Christians (I'm assuming that he is really referring to the evangelicals on the right)as "intolerant" and "hate-mongerers". If believing that Christ is the only way to the Father, and that delivering Christ's message of salvation is intolerant and hateful, then I have a question: Why are you intolerant of my "intolerance"? Why can't I live my religion and yet everyone else can. The Muslims are exclusive, Hindus and Buddhist's are exclusive, believe it or not, and the those who claim that they don't like religions that exclude others don't seem to realize they are EXCLUDING the EXCLUSIVISTS. People come on and think.

    The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of hope. Ms. Constance Cumbey is simply glorifying God as far as I can see thus far by letting New Agers, the body of Christ, and everyone else know that Christ is the only way to heaven.

    Anybody who wants to call themselves rejecting that any religion, ideology, or worldview is not superior to the rest will find that relativism is completely unlivable.

    The more one tries to pound the exclusivity of Christ the more they get pounded back by it. This is the nature of truth--Truth excludes that which is not, is false, or just does not exist. Even if a person makes a statement of truth, but is actually false, it will eventually come to not.

    Christ's words stand to this day.

    Christ has said, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

    We know two things from Christ's words above:

    1. Truth is knowable.

    2. And truth is absolute.

    To quote my favorite Christian radio show Key Life: "You think about that. Amen"


    Maranatha (Which means, "Our Lord, Come")

    P.S. I believe that there are true believers in Christ in the Roman Catholic Church INSPITE of its heretical doctrines. Just because a person calls his or herself a Catholic does not mean that they are not saved. Whether a person is saved or not is none of our business until the person chooses to share it with us. We are to be good servants and make sure that the everlasting Gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4) is delivered to the ends of the earth--every true believer in Christ alone for salvation has the authority (Matt. 28:18-20).

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous10:12 PM

    REPLY TO STEPHEN:

    So we can sound nice and loving, just like you, huh???? What about the population reduction agendas of the New Age? Is that LOVE?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Reply/Question to SQUEAKBOX: If the excellent Cardinal Maradiaga had been named pople, would you have given up worshipping Haile Selassie in favor of Jesus? Just wondering?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Correction on Squeakbox -- wish they would put a spell checker on here -- if the excellent Cardinal Maradiaga had been named POPE would you have renounced your worship of Haile Selassie (or is it Solana?) in favor of Jesus?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Well, SqueakBox, I'm sure the good Cardinal will continue to do good for your island -- I'm further sure that he would tell you that Jesus was the only name given under heaven whereby we might be saved -- NOT Selassie! Why don't you ask him some time?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous3:17 PM

    I will start by saying I truly love this site. It has sooo much great info. Second I truly hate Satan and his freakin lies. Its ALL about JESUS! simple people. True Christianity is By grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone! Thats it. Lastly, I will pray for haters like Stephen. You have the wrong Jesus. You have him confused with the MANY False Christs that Satan sends out into the world to confuse sinful man! Later dudes!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous7:57 PM

    OK C. Ratzinger may have spoken against the New Age Movement but what about that...Twisted Cross he carries, that Obliesk, Mary Worship, Salvation by Works...then we have that Nazi background...uh o

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:06 PM

    I agree with you Constance, that Ratzinger will probably be much better than any of the other candidates/cardinals with regard to the moral/social issues of the day.

    Nevertheless, The Roman Catholic Religion or Church is, without a doubt, the epitomy/essence of FALSE Doctrine.

    1. Praying to "Our Lady," Mary is nothing more than pure 100% paganism. Jesus said, "No man comes to the Father except through/by me." Mary was a sinner just like the rest of us. She had not one ounce of divnity in her flesh. In order that she be saved (Born Again) she was required to accept Jesus Christ as Her Saviour just as the entire world is required if they are to be saved. God chose her (He could have chosen any virgin of the time) because He Is God. Yes, there is a statement in the Bible that says she is to remembered throughout the ages. Of course, she carried Jesus (The Son Of The Living God) in her womb. But to pray to her? Pure PAGANISM/FALSE DOCTRINE.

    2. Salvation comes by FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST--not by works--lest any man should boast. The Roman Catholic Religion teaches otherwise.

    3. In the book of Matthew, Chapter 23, Jesus is explaining/warning the multitude and his disciples of the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees (Church Leaders Of That Day.) The most striking verse that exposes the Roman Catholic Religion as false doctrine is verse 9: Jesus states, "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." Isn't it striking that within the context of teaching against heretical practices and those (False Teachers) who do the teaching, that Jesus forsaw the rise of the Romish Church (He Is God Afterall) and their deceptive practice of referring to their leaders as "fathers?" And to think that the Pope is referred to as HOLY FATHER!

    Now unlike some, I do believe there shall be Born Again Christians from each and every denomination, including the Catholic denomination/church. However, the further along a particular denomination/church is in teaching heretical doctrine, then there will be fewer from that particular denomination/church who shall be saved.

    I would recommend everyone read the entire chapter of Matthew 23.

    We are most definitely living in the End Of Time.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I guess time and events will tell on the former Cardinal Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict XVI. I personally believe that any changes he might make to the Catholic Church will be in the direction of biblical integrity. A close reading of his 1996 Mexico speech shows his stern defense of the Bible. The test of anti-christ, biblically, is a denial that Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Time and events will come -- but for now, I think he is one of the good guys.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous6:05 PM

    This blog Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI -- and, personally, I couldn't be happier! is a great place for Full Moon. Thanks Blogger.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous9:02 PM

    Hi Blogger, I just dropped in on my way back to my Muslim site. I liked what I
    found and thought that I would leave you a note for your efforts in creating Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI -- and, personally, I couldn't be happier!.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous6:17 PM

    I'm researching matthew fox and the new age and modern mysticism and having read his autobiography and this article have three questions

    1) has ms cumbey actually read any of his books ALL the way through?

    2) Has she had any direct contact with Matthew Fox in person face to face or by mail?

    3) Why do people label mystics NEW AGERS? The New Age movement and Christian mysticism are not the same thing?

    I'm tired of seeing Christians with a interest in the mystical traditions and tolerance of other traditions labelled heretics!

    ReplyDelete
  23. All's for the best in the best of all possible worlds! I have not see post good enough like yours here. You can learn more: China tours videos, Beijing attraction and Xian tour guide

    ReplyDelete