They're seen just about everywhere, but they are often ignored--posters,pamphlets or scraps of paper from some religious or political group that forecasts the end of the world or pleads for your sympathy towards some political movement. In this new section, we intend to reproduce the manifestos of the revolutionary and the religious rantings of preacher.
We invite our readership to contribute to this section. Submissions shouldn't be too long or explicitly copyrighted (most of the time, the organisation distributing this stuff did not write it), and they should be printed works and not electronic texts. If you have access to a scanner and OCR software, save yourself some time and digitise the text rather than typing it. Always proofread carefully. Please feel free to write any personal commentary.
This four page pamphlet was found in College Street subway station in Toronto, Canada on New Year's Eve, 1996.
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The Pope's Blessing
A Curse
History is full to overflowing of instances of disasters which have fallen upon both individuals and nations who have been foolish enough to seek or to accept the Pope's blessings. Here are just a few:--
1851 -- Pope Pius IX sent the Golden Rose to the King of the Two Sicilies. In a short time he lost both his crown and his kingdom.
1866 -- This same Pope sent his blessing to the Austrian Emperor who a year later lost the province of Venetia, and was defeated at the Battleof Sadowa. His son committed suicide, his estranged wife Elizabeth was assassinated and the murder of his heir at Sarajevo in 1914 led to the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire.
1867 -- The Pope blessed Emperor Maximillian of Mexico -- he was dethroned and shot, whilst his wife Carlotta died insane in exile.
1868 -- This same Pope sent the Golden Rose to Queen Isabella of Spain; within three years she lost her throne and died in exile.
1895 -- Pope Leo sent the Apostolic Blessing to the fleets and armies of Spain, within a few years they were defeated by U.S.A. and Spain lost Cuba and the Phillipines.
1906 -- British Princess Ena (Queen Eugene) renounced her Protestant faith to marry King Alphonso of Spain. At her wedding some thirteen people died and almost one hundred were injured by an anarchist bomb,her wedding dress was stained in blood. Subsequently awarded the Golden Rose by the Pope, she and her husband were driven from the throne of Spain in 1931 to die exile.
1924 -- The Pope blessed the "Italia" airship and gave it a cross to place at the North Pole. It broke in half in mid-air killing half the crew.
1936 -- The Pope blessed the forces of Mussolini who used planes to drop mustard gas on the helpless Ethiopians. The Italians were ignominiously defeated in World War II, Mussolini being shot and hung upside down with his mistress.
1964 -- Pope Paul VI paid a historic visit to Palestine and the Middle East
-- since then there have been two major wars, terrorism, the Lebanese conflict and the Palestinian uprising.
1980's -- Have been the decade of Papal globe trotting by Pope John PaulII who has made a habit of kissing the ground upon disembarking from his aircraft. His visits to Mexico City and San Francisco were both followed by earthquakes.
The Curse on Britain
1982 -- To our shame Protestant Britain including the Queen, Prince of Wales, Prime Minister and Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed the Pope to our island home, and the blasphemous mass was offered up in our major cities. The Pope's kiss of blessing to the soil of Britain has resulted in the following disasters:-
1985 -- 55 passengers killed as fire sweeps a British Airways jet at Manchester Airport.
1986 -- 45 die in the Chinook helicopter crash in Shetland.
1987 -- 193 killed in the Zeebrugge Ferry disaster.
1987 -- 31 die in King's Cross Underground disaster.
1988 -- 167 perish in Piper Alpha North Sea Oil platform fire.
1988 -- 35 die in Clapham rail crash.
1988 -- 270 killed in Lockerbie disaster.
1989 -- 46 die in British Midland M1 air crash.
1989 -- 95 die in Hillsborough Stadium disaster.
In addition to these open disasters, Britain's economy is in ruins,whilst personal scandals have touched various members of the Royal Family.
GOD ALWAYS CURSES WHAT THE POPE BLESSES
"If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name . . . I will curse your blessings." -- Malachi 2:2
The only true source of blessing is Almighty God who promises the individual:-
"A fruitful man shall abound with blessings." -- Proverbs 29:20
and to the nation:-
"All these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shalt harken unto the voice of the Lord thy God." -- Deuteronomy 28:2
OPEN BIBLE MINISTRIES -- P.O. Box 92
Belfast, N. Ireland
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