Church of God News

COGwriter

The notice the following:

September 19, 2023

The blood of the martyr St. Januarius again liquefied in Naples on Tuesday.

“We have just taken from the safe the reliquary with the blood of our patron saint, which immediately completely liquefied,” the abbot of the chapel of the treasury of the Naples Cathedral announced on Sept. 19.

The declaration that the miracle had again taken place was made at the start of Mass by Abbot Vincenzo De Gregorio. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255410/blood-of-st-januarius-completely-liquefied-on-feast-day

September 19, 2023

Januarius is ever preaching the Gospel to every creature; for his miraculous blood perpetuates the testimony he bore to Christ. Let those who say they cannot believe unless they see, go to Naples; there they will behold the martyr’s blood, when placed near his head which was cut off seventeen hundred years ago, to liquefy and boil as at the moment it escaped from his sacred veins. …

During the persecution of the Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, Januarius, bishop of Beneventum, was brought before Timothy, president of Campania, at Nola … he ordered the holy bishop and his companions to be beheaded. https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/st-januarius-liquefying-blood-is-an-enduring-legacy-of-his-matryrdom-for-jesus/?utm_source=most_recent&utm_campaign=canada

No, changes in blood are not proclamation of the gospel. That was not the type of sign that would accompany true Christian leaders. This not a miracle from God. Yet, it is because of such signs and lying wonders that many have accepted the authority of the Church of Rome to change many doctrines.

Let me add that the Lifesite News article also showed a c. 1610 painting supposedly of Januarius by Louis Finson. The painting has Januarius wearing a Dagan/Mithra style hat (Cooper JD. Mithras: Mysteries and initiation rediscovered. Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1996) like modern Roman Catholic bishops do. However, they did not start to that until after Emperor Constantine. Januarius, himself, would not have worn such a hat.

Distinctive clothing for the ministry was not employed by early Christians—they dressed the same as their congregants. Original catholic clergy did not have special sacerdotal vestments. It was after influence of Emperor Constantine, the Greco-Roman clergy adopted versions of many of the clothing styles that sun-god priests and other members of his court had worn (including versions of the Phrygian cap). It is known that special clerical clothing came from pagans and was adopted because of Emperor Constantine (e.g. Newman, pp. 358-360; De Rosa, Peter. Vicars of Christ. Poolberg Press, Dublin, 2000, pp. 34,45).

As far as signs and lying wonders go, false ones appeared during the Book of Acts (8:9, 16:16-18). There are also reports that suggest that even after meeting the apostles, Simon Magus had various signs.

Let me add that some now considered to be early supporters of the Roman Catholic Church condemned him and his followers for as using religious statues, revering a woman, the doctrine of the immortal soul, incantations, mysteries, mystic priests, claiming divine titles for leaders, accepting money for religious favors, preferring allegory and tradition over many aspects of scripture, having a leader who wanted to be thought of as God/Christ on earth, and divorcing themselves from Christian biblical practices considered to be Jewish (details are in the article: Simon Magus, What Did He Teach?). Yet, many today have been affected by his teachings.

And it was not just Simon Magus who was associated with signs and lying wonders that affected the beliefs of those I commonly refer to as Greco-Roman Catholics.

Another is the third century bishop known as Gregory Thaumaturgus, whom they also call saint Gregory of Neocaesarea.

Although I had heard of him about two decades ago, until I was doing research related to Fatima, I had not realized how much he affected the history (and doctrine) of the Greco-Roman-Protestant churches, as well as to a degree, the Church of God. Yet, many have never heard of him.

Around 238-244 A.D. Gregory (died roughly 270 A.D.) seems to have been the first to have claimed to have seen an apparition of Mary. This apparition allegedly appeared to him before he became a bishop. Gregory is also known as “Gregory the Wonder Worker” and Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus (wonder worker). He had been trained by allegorical teacher Origen in Alexandria.

Related to Gregory, Roberts and Donaldson reported:

He was believed to have been gifted with a power of working miracles, which he was constantly exercising…the demons were subject to him…he could cast his cloak over a man, and cause his death…he could bring the presiding demons back to their shrine.

Because Gregory’s power over demons and other “wonders” were apparently accepted by many, he had influence. It seems that Gregory’s enchantments and/or sorceries (cf. Isaiah 47:5-12; Nahum 3:4), along with Imperial persecutions, may have greatly assisted the Greco-Roman faction in essentially eliminating the organized faithful in Asia Minor. Gregory was also a factor in the Marian cults that began to rise up around that time. His writings teach praise and excessive devotion to the “Holy Virgin,” including the blasphemous teaching that Mary “blotted out” Eve’s “transgressions.” He was amongst the earliest ones to promote the expression the “Holy Trinity” and the pagan idea that humans had an immortal soul.

Here the mystery of the Holy Trinity was revealed by the archangel to the Holy Virgin according to the gospel (Gregory Thaumaturgus, Homily concerning the Holy Mother of God, Section 35. Translated from the Armenian by F. C. CONYBEARE The Expositor 5th series vol.3 (1896), p. 173. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/gregory_thaumaturgus_homily.htm viewed 11/13/12).

We prove, then, that the soul is simple…that what is simple is immortal…If, therefore, the soul is not corrupted by the evil proper to itself, and the evil of the soul is cowardice, intemperance, envy, and the like, and all these things do not despoil it of its powers of life and action, it follows that it is immortal. (Gregory Thaumaturgus. On the Soul, Chapters 5, 6. Translated by S.D.F. Salmond. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0608.htm> viewed 06/05/11)

The gospel never uses the expression trinity, much less “Holy Trinity” nor does it teach that the soul is immortal (to the contrary, in Ezekiel 18:4 the Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible teaches ” the soul that sinneth, the same shall die” and “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die” in Ezekiel 18:20), but Gregory put his own interpretation on scripture (in the trinity case, he was referring to Luke 1:35, which does not prove that doctrine; and for the immortality of the soul he did not cite scripture). Gregory was a major reason that the trinity started to be accepted much outside of Montanist circles (Origen, too, was a factor). Protestants, of course, accepted the trinity, yet few realize that Gregory’s ‘Marian visions’ played a role in this.

The Catholic Encyclopedia claims Gregory the Wonder Worker developed the first creed with the word meaning “Trinity”:

The first creed in which it appears is that of Origen’s pupil, Gregory Thaumaturgus. In his Ekthesis tes pisteos composed between 260 and 270, he writes:

There is therefore nothing created, nothing subject to another in the Trinity: nor is there anything that has been added as though it once had not existed, but had entered afterwards: therefore the Father has never been without the Son, nor the Son without the Spirit: and this same Trinity is immutable and unalterable forever (P.G., X, 986).

It is manifest that a dogma so mysterious presupposes a Divine revelation.

The last statement should give many pause as it was allegedly from seeing one or more apparitions of Mary (and supposedly the Apostle John) that Gregory the Wonder Worker gained his “revelations.” Gregory was a supporter of Rome and Alexandria was a major factor in spreading more acceptance of the trinitarian position, especially throughout Asia Minor and Antioch.

Because of his “miraculous abilities,” his ideas apparently had more acceptance than what the Bible taught, and many were adopted. Notice something else he wrote:

O holy virgin … She is the ever-blooming paradise of incorruptibility, wherein is planted the tree that giveth life, and that furnisheth to all the fruits of immortality…Thus the holy Virgin, while still in the flesh, maintained the incorruptible life…the holy Virgin has surpassed even the perfection of the patriarchs (Gregory Thaumaturgus. The Second Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers2/ANF-06/anf06-24.htm#TopOfPage viewed 11/13/12)

The Bible does not teach that Mary led an “incorruptible life.” The Bible teaches that all have sinned (Romans 3:23), except Jesus (Hebrews 4:14-15). Stating or implying that Mary did not is in biblical error. Perhaps it should be added that Dr. Ludwig Ott’s 20th century book Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma teaches:

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is not explicitly revealed in scripture… Neither the Greek nor the Latin Fathers explicitly (explicite) teach the Immaculate Conception of Mary. (Ott L. L. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 4th ed . TAN Books, Rockford (IL), Nihil Obstat: Jeremiah J. O’ Sullivan. Imprimatur: + Cornelius, 7 October 1954., Printed 1974, TAN Books, pp. 200-201)

But it was more than Marian ideas that Gregory Thaumaturgus influenced.

Bishop “Gregory the Wonder Worker” was involved in the councils looking into Paul of Samosata who at the time was considered the Greco-Roman Bishop of Antioch (Roberts A, Donaldson J, Volume 20, p. 3).

Gregory assisted in getting Greco-Roman influence to succeed there. The Prophet Isaiah warned that the “Lady of the Kingdoms” used sorceries since her “youth” (Isaiah 47:5,12), and Gregory’s use of “powers” in the formative years of the Greco-Roman confederation seems consistent with that biblical prophecy (he also had influence in various parts of Asia Minor. Gregory Thaumaturgus. Canonical Epistles IV,VII. Ante-Nicene Fathers; also Drijvers JW, Watt JW. Portraits of spiritual authority: religious power in early Christianity, Byzantium, and the Christian Orient, Volume 137 of Religions in the Graeco-Roman world. BRILL, 1999, pp. 107-108).

Actually, in Antioch with the successor to Paul of Samosata, we seem to see for the first time, a bishop outside of Italy that was apparently installed because of direction from the Church in Rome, and the mystic Gregory Thaumaturgus was involved in this. This, to a degree, marked a major expansion of influence of the Church of Rome outside of Italy (it also had some previous influence in Corinth).

The Catholic Encyclopedia credits his influence in expanding their church (which it calls “the Christian Church” below):

Among those who built up the Christian Church, extended its influence, and strengthened its institutions,…Gregory of Neocaesarea holds a very prominent place…To attract the people to the festivals in honour of the martyrs, we learn that Gregory organized profane amusements as an attraction for the pagans who could not understand a solemnity without some pleasures of a less serious nature than the religious ceremony.

Sadly, it is partially because of Gregory that “Christianity” took on more of the trappings of pagan worship and the Marian cults had been allowed to grow and flourish.

Gregory greatly influenced theological thought and several widely accepted false doctrines were originated and/or promoted by him. The fact that he reportedly caused the death of enemies by throwing his cloak upon them has not sufficiently diminished his influence–but should have.

The Continuing Church of God put out this sermonette on its ContinuingCOG channel related to him:

20:46

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Signs, and Lying Wonders

Very few people realize how a demonically- influenced leader man from Neocaesarea impacted doctrines in the Greco-Roman church. Gregory the Wonder Worker claimed to receive messages from an apparition he believed was Jesus’ mother Mary. He pushed the trinity, an antichrist creed, and the immortal soul teaching. Gregory also is celebrated as a saint by the Roman Catholics for pushing profane entertainment and festivals to attract pagans. He allegedly had the power to cause death by tossing his cloak on someone. The Apostle Paul warned of signs and lying wonders–and said that started in his day–which it did with Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8) also known as Simon Magus. Gregory Thaumaturgus had demonic signs and wonders and said he learned them from apparitions. The prophet Isaiah warned about the virgin daughter of Babylon who used sorceries–this is the same mystery Babylon of Revelation 17 that comes to her end in Revelation 18. In this video, Dr. Thiel gives some background about Gregory and warns about those who walk by sight and not faith.

Here is a link to the sermonette: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Signs, and Lying Wonders.

Most of the professing Christian world accepts one or more beliefs promoted by Gregory Thaumaturgus.

Here are some quotes from my book Fatima Shock! What the Vatican Does Not Want You to Know About Fatima, Dogmas of Mary, and Future Apparitions related to signs and lying wonders:

Satan  has  a  plan.  The  Beast  (Revelation  16:13-14), False prophet (Revelation 13:11-17; 16:13-14), and others (Matthew 24:24) are involved with signs and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12), while apparitions claiming to be a Lady (cf. Isaiah 47:5,9,12; Revelation 18:7,23) are likely to contribute to this in the end-times.

Some believe that “Mary” will have power during the time of the Great Monarch (and assist him), and this will lead to many conversions:

Gerald Culleton (20th century): During the reign of the Great Monarch and the Angelic Pastor the Catholic Church will spread throughout the world, conversions will be innumerable…The Blessed Virgin will be the chief one in gaining victory over all heresy…665

Blessed Hieronymus Agathaghelos (1279): The Angel, Mary and John, along with the great and first among martyrs…will intercede.666

Anna-Katrina Emmerick (July 12, 1820): When the Mass had ended, Mary came up to Henry (the Emperor), and she extended her right hand towards him, saying that it was in recognition of his purity. Then, she urged him not to falter…667

Catholic writer Yves Dupont (20th century): Henry is the Great Monarch…The Blessed Virgin urges him not to falter.668

Saint Louis de Montfort (18th century): These great souls…shall be singularly devouted to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm, and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight in one hand and build with the other.  With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms…669

The Ecstatic of Tours: …the French people will… implore the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary Immaculate…The French people will ask for the good King…this King…will ascend to the throne; he will free the church and reassert the Pope’s rights…670

Sister Marie Lataste (died 1847): Peace shall return to the world because of Blessed Virgin Mary will breathe over the storms and quell them.671

Pope Pius IX (died 1878): We expect that the Immaculate Virgin…will gain in influence from day to day among all nations and in all places, prosper and rule from ocean to ocean…to the ends of the earth…there will be one fold and one shepherd.672

Thus, there seems to be an end-time tie between the rise of the European Great Monarch, an ecumenical religion, and apparitions claiming to be Mary. …

The Bible clearly warns of a soon coming time when massive deception will affect the entire world.   Notice several such warnings in the New Testament:

24 for false Christs and false prophets will arise and provide great signs and portents, enough to deceive even the elect, if that were possible. (Matthew 24:24, NJB)

3 Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition…9 Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs and lying wonders 10 and every wicked deception aimed at those who are on the way to destruction because they would not accept the love of the truth and so be saved. 11 And therefore God sends on them a power that deludes people so that they believe what is false, (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 9, DRB, 10-11, NJB)

3 …the whole world had marveled and followed the beast.  4 They prostrated themselves in front of the dragon because he had given the beast his authority; and they prostrated themselves in front of the beast, saying, ‘Who can compare with the beast? Who can fight against it?’… 8 and all people of the world will worship it, that is, everybody whose name has not been written down since the foundation of the world in the sacrificial Lamb’s book of life.  (Revelation 13:3-4, 8 NJB)

4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”… 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him. (Revelation 13:4,8a NKJV)

Thus, Jesus and the Apostles warned that massive deception was coming (and the word that Saint Paul used for delusion was feminine in the Greek744).  Deception that will result in the world worshiping what the Bible calls the beast power.  It appears likely that apparitions which are claimed and/or presumed to be Mary will be a major factor in those deceptions (other signs and lying wonders are biblically-expected; also Byzantine prophecy teaches that signs as well as an “invisible herald from Heaven” will announce the Great Monarch from heaven.) 745    Almost everyone will be deceived and Fatima may be part of the reason!

Just because you may see apparitions and other apparently miraculous signs with your own eyes does not mean that they are from God (Revelation 13:13-15). Search the scriptures to see who/what is and is not true from God (cf. Acts 17:11). …

It has been reported that there are weeping and bleeding statues of the Lady of Fatima. Many people, including some of the Catholic clergy,780  have indicated that these types of occurrences are proof that the apparitions are Mary sent by God to the earth.

Now here is another shock–since I have no reason to doubt all the reports of weeping and/or bleeding Fatima statues, and since none of the statues that reportedly have wept look like the apparition that was originally described as appearing to the three children in Fatima in 1917, there is no way that the weeping and/or bleeding is proof that they are from God.  That would be confusion.  According to the Holy Bible, “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33, NKJV) or “God is a God not of disorder (NJB)”, but the devil “is a liar, and the father thereof” (John 8:44, DRB).

Therefore, weeping and/or bleeding statues are further proof that the apparition seen at Fatima was not Mary sent by the God of the Bible, but instead suggest a demonic origin:

“Let them be all confounded that adore graven things” (Psalm 96:7, DRB; Psalm 97:7 is where the equivalent reference is in NJB/NKJV).

This includes statues and images that are supposed to be of Mary.

Also notice the following related to the two-horned beast in Revelation 13 as well as the “lying wonders”:

Priest E. Sylvester Berry (published 1920): The beast rising out of the earth in the false prophet…The two horns denote a twofold authority – spiritual and temporal. As indicated by the resemblance to a lamb, the prophet will probably set himself up in Rome as a sort of anti-pope…Antichrist will establish himself in Jerusalem…with his ‘lying wonders’… (Berry ES.  The Apocalypse of St. John, 1920.  Quoted in Culleton RG. The Reign of Antichrist.  Reprint 1974, TAN Books, Rockford (IL), pp. 199-200)

The idea that there will be lying wonders involving an antipope is clearly in the Greco-Roman Catholic literature. And as that is consistent with sacred scripture, it appears that it is highly possible that an ecumenical, compromising antipope who performs great signs (Revelation 13:11-14) and is involved with lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9) will be the clinching factor for the coming ecumenical unity that the Bible, Church of God writers, and other theological writers have long warned about.

Notice that the Bible clearly points to persuasive signs and lying wonders in the future:

9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

Nearly everyone alive at the time will be deceived.

Sadly, signs and lying wonders have worked throughout the church age to deceive and get people to accept doctrinal changes.

And, as we can see from scripture, more will happen in the future.

The Continuing Church of God is pleased to announce the following sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

Here is a link to the sermon: Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs.

People have been deceived throughout the ages by signs and lying wonders.

Such “miracles” have been a factor in people departing from the true faith.

Bible prophecy says that more will be.

So, no, Lifesite News, liquefying blood is NOT “preaching the Gospel.”

More of the true gospel can be found in our free  online booklet: The Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Which is available in hundreds of languages at www.ccog.org

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Simon Magus, What Did He Teach? Sometimes called “the father early heretics” or the “father of heresies”, do you know what early writers claimed that Simon Magus taught? Sadly, most who profess Christ still hold to versions of his teachings. Here is a link to a related sermon: Simon Magus and ‘Christianity’?
Gregory the Wonder Worker Also known as Gregory Thaumaturgus, this third century Eastern Orthodox leader was one of the most dangerous heretics and his views have been adopted by many who profess Christ. Here is a link to ta related video: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Signs, and Lying Wonders.
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions Do you know much about Mary? Are the apparitions real? What happened at Fatima? What might they mean for the rise of the ecumenical religion of Antichrist? Are Protestants moving towards Mary? How do the Eastern/Greek Orthodox view Mary? How might Mary view her adorers? Here is a link to a YouTube video Marian Apparitions May Fulfill Prophecy. Here is a link to a sermon video: Why Learn About Fatima?
Satan’s Plan Does Satan have a plan? What is it? Has it already been successful? Will it be successful in the future? Here are links to a two-part sermon series: What are Some of the Parts of Satan’s Plan? and Satan’s Plan is More Dramatic than Many Realize.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Fatima Shock! What the Vatican Does Not Want You to Know About Fatima, Dogmas of Mary, and Future Apparitions. Whether or not you believe anything happened at Fatima, if you live long enough, you will be affected by its ramifications (cf. Isaiah 47; Revelation 17). Fatima Shock! provides concerned Christians with enough Roman Catholic-documented facts to effectively counter every false Marian argument. In addition to the print version, there is a Kindle version of Fatima Shock! which you can acquire in seconds.

Tweet

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 19th, 2023 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Church History, Prophecy.

• Gregory the Wonder Worker greatly affected Greco-Roman religions
• Do You Know Gregory Thaumaturgus’ Impact on Beliefs & History?
• Gregory Thaumaturgus greatly affected church history
• Gregory Thaumaturgus: A worker of Satanic wonders
• Gregory Thaumaturgus’ signs and lying wonders affected beliefs–other signs and lying wonders will deceive even more
• A Demonically-connected preacher affected Greco-Roman doctrine
• Gregory the Wonder Worker impacted church history
• Sermonette: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Signs, and Lying Wonders
• Many have been affected by ‘Gregory the Wonder Worker’
• Gregory the Wonder Worker has impacted Greco-Roman teachings