Quote of the day – Michael de Semlyen


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“According to the French writer Adolphe Michel, Voltaire estimated the number of books written about the Jesuits over the years to be around 6000 at the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century books and sermons countering the Jesuits and their activities were published in profusion. Nowadays they are few and far between. It seems that innumerable such works have gone out of print and disappeared from the bookshelves. In theological colleges and public libraries, it is now hard to find any history of the Jesuits beyond the beginning of the 17th century. Most books on the counter-reformation are written by Roman Catholics, many by the Jesuits themselves. Given that the Society of Jesus, today possibly more than ever, is the leading wing of the Roman Church, all of this needs explanation and attention. Protestant watchmen believe that the Jesuits have accomplished a remarkable feat in a relatively short time span in ridding schools, universities and theological colleges of almost all historical literature written from a Protestant viewpoint…

“Many Protestant ‘watchmen’ see the Jesuits as just as powerful and active as ever today. Writing in 1965 Avro Manhattan, an authority on Roman Catholicism in politics, described them as ‘the ecclesiastical storm-troopers of the Catholic Church’ and remarked that ‘it is most significant that in two traditionally English speaking Protestant countries, Great Britain and the USA, they have their largest contingents.'” (Vatican Imperialism in the Twentieth Century: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.)

Michael de Semlyen

All Roads Lead to Rome? The Ecumenical Movement, Dorchester House Publications, 1993, pp. 130, 135

Books referenced in quote:

I cannot find a link to an English language version of Adolphe Michel’s book on the Jesuits, and it doesn’t appear on a list of suppressed books about the Jesuits. Here is the original version:

Les Jésuites: par Adolphe Michel

Vatican Imperialism in the Twentieth Century by Avro Manhattan – Archive.org

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Ignatius of Loyola with his foot on the back of a ‘heretic’ .

30 thoughts on “Quote of the day – Michael de Semlyen”

  1. Thanks, Maria. I studied Polish and Polish-American history quite a bit for many years. Few people are aware of this but the Protestant Reformation had a huge impact on the Polish nobility (not the peasantry) and many accepted Christ. As part of the counter-Reformation, the Jesuits established several schools throughout Poland which catered to the wealthy. The Protestant nobility sent their children to the Jesuit schools for lack of an alternative and the Reformation was squelched in Poland after only a couple of generations. Most of my information came from “Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-Reformation Era” by Magda Teter.

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      • I’m 50% Polish from my Father and 37/13% German/Irish from my Mother. As part of my very long “season” away from the Lord I tried to fill the vacuum by immersing myself into my Polish heritage. I eventually became especially interested in Jewish-Polish “relations,” or, more accurately, “antagonisms,” which led me to Teter’s book. The hatred between Poles and Jews continues to this day although there are now few Jews currently living in Poland due to the Holocaust. I’ll write about my “detour” into Polish studies in a future post.

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        • Tom, I look forward to you blogging about your time of studying this. So, you are a true American then? A Heinz 57! We are too.

          So you’ve seen that this hatred is still alive? I’m not current with these things anymore but do see the world’s enmity against the Jews in their God-given homeland. It brings joy to remember that the Lord broke down the middle wall of partition, creating one new man of Jewish and Gentile believers.

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          • Thanks to the Lord for grafting the wild branches onto the Vine!!!

            Immediately prior to WWII, one-third of Europe’s 10 million Jews lived in Poland. The Polish nobility had invited the Jews expelled from Western Europe to Poland in the 14th century. Poland didn’t have much in the way of mercantile/banking and the Jews filled the bill nicely. Of course, the peasantry resented them deeply and this hatred was fueled by the clergy. Jews in interwar Poland (1918-1939) were in an increasingly perilous position. Immediately prior to the German-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the right-wing Polish government was actively considering deporting the Jewish population to Africa. Conservative Poles admired Hitler’s anti-Semitic policies. The Polish ambassador even met with Hitler for his advice on how Poland could handle its “Jewish Question.” The Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust and emigrated to Israel never forgot how they were treated in interwar Poland. Things were never as bad for Jews in Poland as it was in Hitler’s Germany but things were headed in that direction. Sorry for rambling…I could write for hours on this.

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            • Tom, yes, praise God that we have been grafted into the Lord’s beautiful cultivated olive tree!

              You’re not rambling but are making things known that have impressed you and are important. That the Jesuits created or seized opportunities to achieve their plan for world domination under the administration of Rome played a part in many events once the Counter-Reformation began. Some maintain that the World Wars were incited to change the religious map of Europe.

              Glad you rambled!

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              • Thanks, Maria! The part of the story that I left out is Polish Catholics take GREAT offense to any insinuation that they were anti-Semitic because the Polish mythos is they were noble victims of Germany and Russia for 200 years but NEVER victimizers themselves. The Catholic church, including St. Maximilian Kolbe’s publishing company played a huge part in the persecution of Jews in interwar Poland.

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              • Tom, as you know, the human tendency is to rationalize sin and to believe our rationalizations. People even rationalized the death camps. By the way, my husband asked me to tell you that if you want to write for hours , he will read.
                Just watched the film Is Paris Burning? So I’ve been reading up on this.

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              • Thanks, Maria. Yes, we can all rationalize away our sin and plead our innocence even while our hand is still in the cookie jar. Thanks to you and your husband for your willingness to read my information on Poland! I’ll write a post down the line sometime and try to keep it under 2000 words. Have a blessed Sunday!

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  2. A few years ago, or maybe even less than that, I would have thought the Jesuits were the stuff of conspiracy theories! They probably created most of them themselves. Lately, I picture them as stealth enforcers of the Roman Catholic religion, even in creating false teachings among the Protestants.

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    • Hi, Pastor Jim! That’s true – it’s no longer an issue to most people, and so many admire and respect Jesuit education. Take a look at interesting facts you find, such as, our Vice-President Biden was educated at Jesuit Saint Joseph’s, two Speakers of the House (Pelosi and Boehner) in a row were educated by them, and Boehner nominated a Jesuit as Chaplain, Fr. Patrick J. Conroy S.J. Whn I was a young adult the Jesuit Daniel Berrigan changed the political landscape. It is truly astounding, their influence. Some non-Catholics probably send their children to Jesuit schools (Hal Lindsey did – Gonzaga, I believe) because of the great education they’ll receive – just as it was done in Poland.

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  5. the harder it is to sow on rock. all christianity denominations are hardrock. “I’m the Shepard and i know my sheeps and they know my voice”. Your thoughts are true but nowdays are the lastdays. is no time for pointing who’s bad or not. time to spread pure Believes to be the Light of the world. for us the Church of Jesus Christ is time to take our cross and folow the Lord. God still love homosexuals, pedophils, criminals atheists… more then that, love catholics, ortodox baptists,lutherans… . pope also have a chance to be forgiven.

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    • Now are the last days – this is true! But at all times, we need to point out the wolves so they don’t harm Jesus’ sheep.

      Yes, we must take our cross and follow the Lord and love sinners – like we once were but He has cleansed us. We must love them enough to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, even though it offends them.

      Pray for the pope then, dear reader, that is fine, but we should be cautious. Please read this!
      1 John 5:15-17
      New King James Versiion
      15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
      16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

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