"Viral" is the word. Mr. Obama's comments recently, comparing Islam's atrocities to Christianity's. The comments have gone viral. And in nearly unanimous voice, Christians everywhere are condemning his statement, and even trying to justify the hideous acts of an Apostate Church. It is frustrating at the least, for those who have studied Romanist history in detail, to hear all this pandering to Rome, another entity in our world that people seem so afraid to counter.

Obama is very wrong in his assessment, but not at all for the reasons being given. In fact, one could easily say he is correct to say that awful deeds have been done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. More than awful. Has anyone read recently the stories of the Crusades from an unbiased author?

Some want to refer to the Crusades as a "just war." Let the Catholics and Muslims figure that one out, the fact remains that there has never been a mandate from Jesus Himself to His Church to shed blood in His Name. Innocent or otherwise. Nations, families, individuals will have to go before God and ask what is to be their role in physical warfare. But for the church, the matter is settled. The church is to advance and defend itself, on its knees, and by the word of its testimony, and by the blood of Jesus Christ.

That is not cowardice. We pray that it will never be fear. But the weapons of our warfare still are not carnal. The armor and the weaponry are spelled out clearly and they do not include physical swords, tanks, bullets. We are a different people.

And the Inquisition! I quote from a Mr. Henry Halley, the famed author/editor of the Halley's Bible Handbook. Maybe you own one. Chances are, if you bought it recently, you will not be able to find this quote. All negative comments regarding the Roman Catholic System have been erased from modern issues, by Halley's family via Zondervan Press. These are days of political correctness, after all. We are so afraid to offend!

Someone will object to all of this negativity, telling me of wonderful Catholic people they know. I promise you, my words have nothing at all to do with Catholic people. I speak of the Catholic System, a political power that hijacked the early Church and kept her in darkness for many centuries until the light of the Word of God was allowed to come to God's people once more.

But we were speaking of the Inquisition, and Halley's words:

"The Inquisition, called the 'Holy Office, ' was instituted by Pope Innocent III, and perfected under the second following Pope, Gregory IX. It was the Church Court for detection and punishment of heretics. Under it, everyone was required to inform against heretics. Anyone suspected was liable to torture, without knowing the name of the accuser. The proceedings were secret. The Inquisitor pronounced sentence, and the victim was turned over to civil authorities to be imprisoned for life, or to be burned. The victim's property was confiscated, and divided between the church and the state.

"In the period immediately following Pope Innocent III the Inquisition did its most deadly work against the Albigenses, but also claimed vast multitudes of victims in Spain, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.

"Later on the Inquisition was the main agency in the Papacy's effort to crush the Reformation. It is stated that in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were put to death in the Pope's war for the extermination of the Waldenses.

"Think of monks and priests in holy garments, directing, with heartless cruelty and inhuman brutality, the work of torturing and burning alive innocent men and women, and doing it in the name of Christ, by the direct order of the 'Vicar of Christ.'

"The Inquisition was the most infamous and devilish thing in human history. It was devised by Popes, and used by them for 500 years to maintain their power. For its record none of the subsequent line of 'holy' and 'infallible' Popes have ever apologized."

That last statement may need an update, as some modern Popes have indeed mentioned their sadness about these events, and also of attitudes of theirs toward the Jews, that helped bring about the Holocaust. But that is another story...

Rome has blood on its hands. Obama is right. But where he is dead wrong is to say that because something is done in the name of Christ it is done in Christ and is therefore Christian. Men who mercilessly slaughter other men are not Christian men and they are not carrying out Christ's work on earth.

To be Christian is to be born again, from above. Saved. Filled with God. The people who engineered these slaughters were most certainly not born from above.

Remember Jesus' words to John when John wanted to bring fire down from heaven to kill those who rejected Jesus? "You don't know what spirit you are of." You don't seem to understand, John, that we're living in a different day. The church is not Israel. Yes, Israel, and its prophets, were armed with physical and supernatural powers to destroy their enemies, body and soul! Entire nations were wiped out by the people of God. Men, women, and "innocent" children all died at the hands of God's vengeance, especially on the people of Canaan, a people cursed of God.

Difficult to swallow? Try this. When Jesus returns, it is with vengeance on all His enemies from every generation. Bloodbath. Judgment. The awful day of the Lord!

Sandwiched in between these two periods, the first and second comings of the Lord, is the age in which we live, when God has given His people a different marching order altogether, though the coming judgment tells us His attitude toward sin has not changed one whit: Preach the Gospel. Good News. Invite people into the Kingdom. Stay of execution, for now. Grace. Mercy. I'll wait. You go. But hurry! Judgment is still coming.

Those who don't believe will be damned, Jesus says, but not by you personally. "I will repay" says the Lord.

As for you, they will hate and imprison, and torture, and even kill, you. If you love your life and try to save it , you'll lose it anyway. It's a new world, Christian! God's calling us to prosper, but not in these physical bodies. These bodies are forfeit, expendable.

This concept of the Christian church, that does not fight in the flesh but in the Spirit, whose agenda is spiritual, not physical, has totally bypassed the Romanist organization, most Protestants, and our Mister President. This is where his comments were wrong, not in saying that Rome (for that is who he was really referencing!) committed terribly violent acts, but in making the world believe the myth that Rome speaks in the name of Jesus Christ and does His works on the earth.