Chapter 2

Money means power, and no one is more aware of it than the Vatican. This institution is after both money and power, and plays one against the other. As the fraudulent business with relics, and the sale of indulgence proved to be rather successful for the treasury of the Vatican, they were promoted with great vigor for hundreds of years and they have not slackened right into our more "modern" times. (Think of bingo games.) In order to keep business going, the most blatant forms of superstition were applied in the most unscrupulous manner, and planted into the hearts of the unsuspecting parishioner, and then shamelessly exploited.

The priesthood understood how to use human weakness and idiosyncrasies to the best of their advantage, and Catholics can thank the priests for the wealth and power of the Roman Catholic church. We have a saying in this part of the world that goes like this, “There is a sucker born every minute”, and the Vatican has found enough people who are only too willing to believe a lie, for they worship relics, which provide a handsome source of income for the R.C. church.

I am convinced that almost all Catholics have a relic of some sort in their houses. It may be the lock of someone they loved dearly, or a dried flower as a good luck charm, or an amulet they wear on their body, etc.; in short, things that will remind them of the person, of the good times they have experienced with them, and this is even more intensified when the object of interest has a historical significance.

Romans and Greeks had their relics, and some of them have found their way into the R.C. church; for instance, the "egg of Leda" from the Greek mythology, or the "holy shield" that has supposedly have fallen from heaven. Buddhists in East India fought bloody battles over the oversized tooth of Buddha. Muslims keep two teeth, a flag, and pieces of wardrobe of Mohammed, and so we find relics in every heathen religion regardless of their nationality. (This is very important to understand.)

There was not a trace of a relic found in the body of CHRIST prior to emperor Constantine I becoming a friend of Christianity. He had a flag showing the symbol of the cross, and all his troops were told to follow it as a symbol of victory in battle. However, since the time the cross had become the symbol of Christianity, it wasn’t long before Helena, the emperors mother, actually "found" the cross on which JESUS was crucified. Mind you, it was now 300 plus years later. Not one of the historical writers ever mentioned this discovery, and even the storyteller, Eusebius, who gave a minute by minute account of her travel through the land of Palestine, made no mention of it at all. Yet, by some strange way the story found its way into the R.C. church and since that time she is celebrating her own "cross discovery day" around the world. Not only did the mother of Constantine find the cross according to the R.C. church's report, but also the other two crosses on which the thieves had perished. How was it possible to identify the cross on which JESUS had died? After all, years had gone by.

Catholic priests are known to be an inventive lot when it comes to things like this. They laid a sick person on one of the crosses, but his sickness got worse. They came to the conclusion that this cross must have been the one on which the thief who spoke blasphemy had died. The sick was then laid on the other cross, and behold, he showed signs of recovery. When he was laid on the third cross, he got up forthwith and walked away as a healthy man. So the mystery was solved.

Over the years since, all the burial places of the Apostles have been found with the bodies inside still intact. If a burial place was unknown, visions helped to find them, and so the graves of martyrs and "saints" have been found one after the other, resulting in the people’s believing in the signs and wonders of the priests in those days. Mind you, such findings were the privilege of monks and priests. The story goes that if they wished, very devoted people could have contact with them, for a price, of course.

Legend has it that there was a pious woman who had chosen John the Baptist as her favorite saint. She prayed over three years to give her the part of his body he no longer had need of. Stiff-necked John however, did not answer, so one day she got mad and promised not to eat until the part was delivered. Seven days later a thumb of this very saint was found on the altar, and three bishops laid the relic on a cloth and three drops of blood fell out of the thumb, one for each bishop.

It should not be too hard for even the most stout skeptics to see the trickery behind the whole story. Although, nothing is impossible for GOD, the preservation of the bodies of the saints borders on the ridiculous. How wonderful it was when Catholic priests found whole section of them intact. However, when they were delivered and assembled it was found that they often had more of the same body parts than there were originally. For instance, the holy Dionisius was found in two locations at approximately the same time, one in St Denis, France, and the other in St. Eumeran, Germany. On top of that, in Prague, Czech Republic, and Bamberg, Germany, heads of the same person were found, giving this saint two bodies, five hands, and four heads. It borders on pure absurdity. Christians in the early part of Christianity knew nothing about such things as worshipping Mary, the mother of JESUS, or any saints, but laughed at the heathen for doing so to their gods. However, the R.C. church under emperor Louis XIV. and his successors, did worse for many years.

The worship of Mary, although it was known at a very early time, did not become known as a doctrine until later, but to worship her made more sense than the lunatic who sat himself on a 30 feet pole, on top of an anthill for many years. At one time, Mary was accused of heresy. The theologian Tertullian spoke against her saying, “She never believed in JESUS being the MESSIAH”. Origen and St. Basil both accused her of having had unholy thoughts about her Son's true sufferings. Chrysostom, the patriarch of Constantinople, expressed thoughts that she was inclined toward suicide by saying, “The angel Gabriel who told her that she was going to be with child did not tell her ahead of time of her true condition, and because out of shame, she thought of committing suicide.”

Worshipping Mary, as the mother of JESUS, began in the 5th century and not too long after she had every saint that appeared on the horizon outdone in glory, including her SON, JESUS. Whosoever does not worship Mary, so it is preached from the pulpit by the priests, has no forgiveness of sin. To give pet names to someone you love very dearly is a common practice. The pet names that were given to Mary makes one wonder how it is possible to keep a straight face, and here are some of them:

You spiritual vessel

You exceptional vessel of devotion

You spiritual rose

You tower of David

You ivory tower

Golden house

Ark of covenant

Throne of Solomon (page 14)

Burning bush of thorns

Samson's honeycomb

Temple of the Trinity

Sacred earth

Sea port

Sun deck

Window of heaven, and many more.

The title, “mother” of our JESUS, which is rather common today, was an annoyance to one of the patriarchs of Constantinople, Nestorius. He wanted to have the title changed to mother of CHRIST, but the Ephesian Council stuck to the old title. Someone even called her grandmother of GOD, but pope Clement XI put a stop to it all. Without it the Catholics would most likely worship a grandmother of GOD, plus uncles and aunts to boot. JESUS is the SON of GOD, says the Bible, and so it is taught in the true Church. HE came as a man, but HE is the ONE who is with the FATHER and represented by the HOLY SPIRIT.

Mary has also been the subject of disagreements between scientists and the R.C. clergy. It was all about the immaculate conception and her virginity. It was not about whether Mary had lost her virginity at the time of conception, but whether Mary's mother has been a sinless person. The Dominicans said that she was a sinful being. The Franciscans said that she was a sinless being, and the feud was on for over one hundred years, during which all kinds of weapons were used. In the year 1740 A.D., some Catholic scholars made an attempt to clarify the dispute, resulting in pope Pius VII declaring it a dogma that was added to the Canon Law in favor of the Franciscan Order.

The way in which Mary had conceived was another subject causing many headaches and discontentments. Some said she had conceived through her ear, while others said that it was done through her side. The whole discussion ended in a stalemate. Then, they argued whether or not Mary remained a virgin after the birth of JESUS, until St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, said. “JESUS had made the statement, ‘I will make everything new’, saying that her virginity was restored after the birth of the MESSIAH.” (This is why Catholics vehemently insist that Mary had no more children and that the mentioning of the brothers and sisters of JESUS were no brothers and sisters, but cousins.) Furthermore, he quoted Luke 1:57 where it says, "For with GOD nothing is impossible."

Later on Mary was singled out by those who wanted celibacy, when they were preaching to suppress the sex drive, as an example for young women to follow, and because of this, Mary received higher honors, and was worshipped more than JESUS.

Helvitius wrote an apologetic on behalf of Mary, in which he maintained that she had many more children by Joseph. This upset St. Hieronymus when he read about it, and he wrote to Helvitius the following letter:

“I am calling on the Holy Spirit that he would protect the holy womb from the suspicion of fornication, and I call up on the name of God the Father that he may declare the virginity of the mother of his Son.”

Similar teachings of Helvitius came from a monk named Jovinian, and the fight was on over the virginity of Mary. As a result, Jovinian was eventually excommunicated by the R.C. church, and all his teachings were condemned as heresies.

It sure boggles the mind, and it is hard to keep a straight face when reading about brilliant and educated men who are supposed to be GOD's people, having so little wisdom and intelligence to dispute over such things that have nothing to do with one’s salvation. A Roman Catholic priest named Suarez once raised the question, “Was the birth of JESUS a birth with, or without a placenta?” He concluded that many of the invited guests may have eaten the after birth at dinner. Even though it sounds unbelievable to a sober mind, Jewish Rabbis have been known to have argued over things like, “Did Adam have the knowledge of steel and stone to make sparks to start a fire”, or, “Is an egg laid on a Sabbath fit for consumption?” If such arguments would have been conducted in the spirit of finding out the truth, one could somehow accept them as being logical, but all too often they led to fights, bitterness, bloodshed and years of unforgiveness, which was not what JESUS had taught HIS disciples.

Here are some classical examples that have led to much friction among so-called educated people. Did Adam have a navel? What kind of swallow was it that dropped its droppings into Tobia's eye? Did Pilate wash his hands with soap after he had spoken judgement? Would it be alright to baptize a child on his buttocks when he was born as breech birth? What kind of tree was it that little Zaccheus had climbed up into to see JESUS? What kind of ointment was it that Mary Magdalene used to anoint the feet of JESUS? How much wine was consumed at the wedding of Cana? What did JESUS write in the sand when the Pharisees brought the adulteress to be judged?

Does GOD sit or stand? Can GOD make a mountain without a valley? Can GOD make a child without a father?

Can GOD change a woman who has known a man to be a virgin again? What kind of voices do angels have?

What will it be like in hell, and to what degree will the heat rise? The teachings of the LORD's Supper and baptism gave more fuel for disagreements and arguments. Has the devil the right to baptize? Is it right to baptize with wine or beer when there is no water? If a rodent drinks of the holy water, can the rodent be considered as having been baptized? What should be done if a child defiles (urinates) the holy water at baptism? This actually happened at the baptismal service of emperor Wenzel, and a bleak future was predicted over him. Some bishops earnestly devoted most of their lives to study Mary, the mother of JESUS, and one of them was Albert Magnus of Regensburg, Germany. His studies were devoted to such subjects of what color her hair had been. Was she blue, or brown eyed, fat or slim, small in stature or tall? What he found out about it is not known to me, for I refused to read such nonsense. As far as I know she must have been checkered, for there are all kinds of hair of hers around the world on display. Believe it or not, there were 800 volumes written about her on this subject alone. Was she beautiful? St. Daminia tells Catholics around the world that she was so beautiful, that GOD fell in love with her. A council was called by GOD in heaven, and HE outlined before HIS astonished angels a plan of redemption in which this beautiful girl was to play the key role. A letter was drafted and given to the archangel Gabriel to convey a message to her, which included a detailed outline of a redemption process. Gabriel went to Mary to deliver the message, and forthwith she felt the presence of GOD in her bowels. This is one of many stories ascribed to her.

Hagiology, e.g. the study of legends of the saints, tells us that the whole house where JESUS was born and lived in was carried by angels to a place called Tersatto, Italy, and later to a place called Loretto. The strange part of this story was that the house in question looked like all other houses around the region, while the house JESUS used to live in should have looked a little different, due to the different style and building material common to the region of Galilee. Millions made their pilgrimage to see this house and many millions went into the coffers of the treasure of the Vatican fraudulently. The fact was that the people were so well trained to believe the priests that it never entered their minds that it was all a fraud.

The R.C. monks, together with all the priests, used those relics to commit the most horrible frauds imaginable. Every church altar had to have at least one or more of them, and the bigger and more powerful the churches were, the more relics could be found in their possession. No one could see these relics without a charge. On top of it, dealings in relics was very profitable, and since old bones and rags could be found on every garbage heap, there was no need for a working capital, to acquire any of these "relics" was almost out of reach for most, except the very rich. As the bishops of Rome became popes the whole business with relics was to be their domain only. Every relic needed to be approved by the pope for its genuineness, and without such approval no relic was considered a relic. For the many monasteries, relic had become their bread and butter, their source of revenue, but not every monastery handled them wisely as we see in this story about the nuns of Macon. This monastery had a relic that was supposed to be the hide of St Dorothens. It was told that Simon the Tanner had worked the hide, which was filled with cotton and made to look like the saint was alive. Soon the nuns developed an unhealthy infatuation for him, which led to some strange behavior amongst the nuns. It led them away from their chastity, so the abbess had to remove it and it was given to the Jesuits. However, those Jesuits soon found out the true value of this relic, and established a brotherhood of leather. Then the nuns got wise and complained to the pope resulting in the relics return, but with a slight change. The Jesuits had mutilated him and he had now the appearance of St. Bernard, or Origen. Of course, the nuns were very indignant, and wrote a letter to the pope in order to get the missing piece back. The pope however, did not think that this part was essential for a monastery of nuns, so he sent them a couple of "holy walnuts." During the times of the crusades, the whole of Europe was flooded with relics that were brought back from the Holy land. When the crusaders entered into a city or town, their first agenda of business was to find relics, for they were worth more than silver or gold. Louis XI, king of France, made two unsuccessful crusades, but he found much consolation as he was able to secure some fragments from the cross, a few nails, the sponge, the purple gown that was worn by JESUS on the day of his trial, and the crown of thorns, which he had bought for a large sum of money. When those relics finally arrived the people went out barefoot to meet them. Henry the lionhearted brought a great number of relics back to Brunswick, Germany. The jewel was a thumb of St. Mark for which the Venecians offered 100,000 ducats, which in those days was a lot of money, but Henry didn't sell.

The belief in these relics, their wonder working powers, was beyond any ones imagination and so were the price tags. Every item mentioned in the Bible was found somewhere, by some one, and often times many times over. Some one found the diapers of Jesus. Someone else found the rod on which the rooster had been sitting. Others found the slippers of Mary, or the chair on which Eli had been sitting the day he fell and broke his neck. They found items that Moses had used during the time in the wilderness, and so on. The belief in these relics was so strong that the R.C. priesthood got even more encouraged to show even more things that went far beyond the possibilities, and if you people believe I am joking just listen to this. Someone found a feather that had come out of the wing of the archangel Gabriel. A dagger and shield were found that used to belong to the archangel Michael after he had fought with Satan. There was a beam of light that had come from the star of Bethlehem and was now neatly bottled up. Another found the thorn in the flesh of Paul, and many more such absurdities. The people believed them to be real, which led the priesthood to shamelessly exploit them to the limits, for the stupidity of the people had no limits. To make all this even more detestable, battles and wars were fought over these relics and pictures over many centuries. Bishop Claudius of Turin had said at one time that if you worship the cross you must also worship the donkey, and so it was. The battles ended when emperor Constantine V declared all pictures and relics, used in worship as idols. He swept the land clean of them and turned the monasteries into army barracks, and the monks and nuns were put on public display to be ridiculed and laughed at.

During the first few hundred years of Christianity, it was custom to disfellowship with those who had grossly sinned and would not submit themselves to Church discipline as it is outlined in the Bible. If they wanted to be reinstated at a later day, they had to show fruits of the spirit and repentance publicly, which was called confession. As the priesthood grew bolder and more powerful, many things underwent changes, and confession was one of them. The R.C. church had found out what power they had in their hands, and public confession was changed to secret confession. In order to enforce it, pope Innocent III, a year before his death, gave order that every faithful Catholic had to confess secretly at least once a year and accept the penalty of the church. Whosoever did not confess was excommunicated and was disqualified from a church funeral. Every clear thinking person should be able to see what power was placed into the hands of the priesthood by this institution. Who was to hinder this information given to the priest would not be used for ungodly purposes? This is shown in the practice to forgive sins according to the money paid to the church.

Purgatory was the brainchild of an R.C. bishop named Gregory I who became pope in 590 A.D. Purgatory is supposed to be a place where souls go after death to get cleansed from their sins. This Laundromat for souls is to be half way between heaven and hell, and fully in the hands of the Vatican, and the R.C. priesthood, who are working hand in hand with the devil to get tormented souls out of such an awful place, according to the money that has been paid for their release, which they use to barter with the devil to release them. (Man wanted to be God already in Gen. 3:5 and here he is acting it out.) How purgatory works is only known to the R.C. clergy, for they alone are to judge how many masses are necessary to pray a soul from purgatory, and each mass is connected to money. King Frederick I once asked a priest how long it would take for a soul to be released from purgatory, and the priest answered, “We are not sure, your majesty, but as soon as we get confirmation from heaven we'll let you know.” The crusaders were nothing more than a bunch of armed pilgrims for the pope, for he was very much in favor of extending his influence and power eastward where so much was lost through the invasion of Islam. What made people follow those power hungry R.C. leaders was the promise of indulgence, which was to forgive sins without commitment to become a better person. This tool in their hands was to be preached by order of the pope, and it turned out to be a gold mine for Rome with an inexhaustible cash flow given to them by the gullible and stupid people.

However, there were those who did not believe in the power of the popes and the priesthood to forgive sins, but pope Clement VI came up with this explanation that was written in a papal bull and it goes like this: "The human race could have been saved with one drop of the blood of JESUS, but HE lost so much that it would have been vain to waste it, and it is in the treasury of the Vatican now, and it is dispersed by the clergies and replenished by the martyrs. The pope has the key to this treasure, and he can free mankind from their sin and release as much blood as he wishes at any time, never running into danger to exhaust the supply. Another source of revenue are those pilgrimages. It is even better when the two are combined, relics and pilgrimages, which are only displayed once in a while because of economic measures. It is a smart move to get more money out of the people, for if the relics would be on display all the time the people would lose interest, but now the interest is only available at certain times and the people fall for it.

To see the dress of Mary, the diapers of Jesus, the platter on which the head of John the Baptist had been presented brought in a harvest of 142,000 pilgrims many years ago. In the city of Trier, Germany, one million people made their pilgrimage to kiss "the garment of Jesus", which was supposed to be the one that the Roman soldiers had cast the lot over. This showing was an embarrassment for the R.C. church, for some level headed scholars found out that there were 20 other garments around in various European locations, and this triggered the accusations of wholesale fraud against the Vatican.

The pope is in the truest sense of the word a shepherd, for he is involved in sheep ranching. The wool that comes from these sheep has a special price tag attached to it. Out of the wool the pallium is made. The pallium is a Roman garment that was given to kings and emperors, and it was purple and covered with gold embroidery. The pope went straight over the kings and emperors heads by sending this garment to his archbishops, sometimes as a sign of their achievements, sometimes as a confirmation of their office. In this usurping way, the pope outdid all other leading authorities, and their power structure of today is resting on it. Soon the pallium was not sent to them anymore, but the archbishops had to go to Rome to receive it with the money they had to pay for it, 30,000 Gulden, which was an enormous sum of money in those days. Where did the money come from? It was extracted from the common folks by trickery. Many millions went into the treasury of the Vatican, because the practice to rotate bishops was very common. Popes are very stingy when it comes to things concerning others, and soon the pallium began to shrink in size, but not in price. Archbishop Arnold of Trier flew into a rage when he was ordered by two popes at the same time to pay for his pallium. It is not known how the bishop handled the situation, but knowing a little about their cunning, it stands to reason that he found a way out of this small inconvenience. The pallium had shrunk from a large, rectangular mantle to a narrow band about four fingers wide about the size of a pair of suspenders that is worn over the shoulders, hanging down both sides of the priests shoulders.

All popes had money like dirt, and most of them knew how to spend it, too. Some of the meals of pope Sixtus VI had a price tag attached to it that would be, by today’s standard, about 40,000 shillings, but he did not care, for it was only the sin money of the people. However, to increase their income throughout the summer months some cardinals allowed sodomy amongst the priests in return for a handsome sum of money. Popes had started and maintained brothels throughout Rome that brought in much money, which was called "milk money", but we will learn about much holier popes later on. A "golden" idea came to pope Boniface III. When he invented the year of jubilee for the R.C. church. The Roman of those days celebrated the beginning of each century with great festivity, which was equal to the Hebrew observation of the year of jubilee every 50 years. The pope had the idea to arrange something like it to "bless" Christianity, but with a twist. The difference was that whosoever undertook a pilgrimage to Rome during such time would receive full indulgence for every sin he had ever committed, and he would be like a child in innocence, starting fresh all over.

A little murder could spoil a man's life, but this could be taken care of through a pilgrimage to Rome and the little bagatelle would be overlooked on judgement day, so it was told to the Catholic people by their priesthood. Enormous sums of money began to flow into the treasury of the Vatican. Alas, soon another pope, this time Clement VI said, “100 years is too long” , and it was reduced to 50 years. On the second year of jubilee under his reign he charged the angels of paradise to release those from purgatory that had died on their annual pilgrimage to Rome, and to lead them into the happiness of paradise.

Then came pope Urban VI. who shortened the time between jubilees to 33 years and justified it by saying, it was done in remembrance of the life span of Jesus here on earth. Sixtus IV changed it to 25 years because of the shortness of human life. Pope Boniface IX reasoned that many faithful would not come to Rome, for the journey was becoming to costly for them, or they may be held back because of business commitments; he sent authorized agents across the lands to tell them the good news that for one third of the total cost of a pilgrimage to Rome they could get full indulgence. The stubborn people refused to stay home, even in the light of their burden being eased somewhat. They came in such multitudes that the bridge over the river Tiber collapsed, and 200 souls perished in the floods. Pope Alexander VI. came up with a "brilliant" idea. He built a golden gate at St. Peters Cathedral and at the beginning of each year of jubilee, he would take a golden hammer and hit the gates three times, and the door was opened. It was proclaimed that whosoever passes through this gate would be free from sin and for a certain sum of money he could get indulgence for someone else with the same result. It is needless to say that the Vatican made a lot of money this way. The popes, because of their string of success, got greedier and greedier and the time span of 25 years was considered too long, which led to another invention called "the extra year of jubilee." This time there was resistance, however, many who were sent out to collect were beaten and chased away with the local priest often leading the mob and using the whip.

Then came the reformation, which really put a dent into the fraudulent business of indulgence, as well as other schemes of extraction. The kings, dukes, earls, barons and other known noblemen did not like to see the money leave the country, for many had projects of their own and needed money, too. Is it possible to put an estimate on the sums that Rome had taken in? It is estimated that by 1850 A.D. the Vatican had collected 150 million dollars during these jubilee years alone, not counting all other sources of income available to them. However, the fraudulent schemes did not stop there. The indulgence swindle did reach its peak during the reign of pope Leo IX. Even though huge amounts of money went into the treasury of the Vatican, it was not enough. The next source of income was the first years salary of a bishop and since there were over 2,000 bishops connected to the Vatican the income amounted to 36 million. There were dispensation moneys to be paid to the R.C. church, and it was extracted in the following manner.

The Vatican had decreed that no marriages between blood relatives were to be allowed. The ceiling was set to 14 generations, and someone had made the calculation that came up with a number of how many people that would involve, and the figure was somewhat like 16,000 people who had to pay dispensation money in order to get one couple married. At $50.00 a head, this would easily amount to a large sum, and so you see, this is not a small matter. Leo X was always hard pressed for money, and to stop the chronic shortage he decreed to set up a system of blackmail. It was implemented through a surtax that was to finance a war against the Turks, and for a new building project, namely St. Peter’s Cathedral. A plan was drawn up to divide the Holy Roman Empire into ten districts, and church agents were sent out as legates of the pope to sell more indulgence, of which Tetzel was the most infamous" one. The indulgence letter read like this:

“In the name of our most holy father, the pope, the deputy of Christ, I do release you from all church censorship of which you maybe guilty of, as well as all wrong-doings and criminal acts you have committed thus far no matter how severe and far reaching they may have been, and even those that the pope alone can forgive. I release you from all punishment which you are subjected to in purgatory, and I install you again to partake in the sacraments and fellowship of the mother church, and I renew you back to the condition of innocence, which you had at the time of your baptism so that, should you die tonight, the gates of hell, which lead to suffering and punishment, shall be closed to you so you can go straight into paradise.”

The taxation office of the Vatican had made up a list of how various crimes and sinful acts were to be evaluated, like murder of mother or father, brother or sister, abortion and murder of children. There was a price list for sexual immorality of all kinds, lasciviousness and perjury, and many others. The letter went on to say that such "mercy" could not be obtained by the poor, because they have no money to pay the asking price. I, the author of this book, would like to call this outrageous document an attempt by the enemies against the whole see, to slander and defame the pope, if this document could not be traced back beyond doubt. This monk Tetzel was the "jewel" of all those that went out to do likewise. It is documented that he resorted to the most shameless methods anyone can imagine. The boldness of this "jewel" was topped by the gullibility and stupidity of the people who wanted to live a godless life and would rather sin and pay great sums of money, than turn from their wicked ways and save the money. Tetzel was really the last of his breed that sucked the people dry by order of the Vatican. However, even he found his master one day in the person of a merchant who wanted to buy indulgence for a crime not yet committed. Tetzel sold him the letter took the money and went happily on his way. A few days later, as he was traveling through a heavily forested part of Germany, he was attacked, and all the money he had was taken away from him. The monk did not behave very godly in his choice of words, and he even demanded justice, of all things. The merchant held up a piece of paper saying, "Either this letter is worthless, and you are a swindler that ought to be taken to court, or you be on your way before I do more harm to you." The answer was, he left things the way they were.

Martin Luther's 95 theses brought an end to this kind of swindle for a while, but as we find, it is back in full swing, defrauding the people with anything the Vatican can dream up. It is impossible to ever really put an estimate on the sums of money taken through the sale of indulgence and its counterpart of today, the bingo halls across the world. The sum is an astronomical sum that may have reached many billions of dollars, and this does not include "traveling expenses". (It is sad to say, but the Vatican is still in need of money, and the people are still gullible and stupid and this will continue until the LORD will put a stop to it at the Rapture.)