The Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty at the General Conference, Ganoune Diop, recently said in the video above that the Second Vatican Council brought about changes to the Roman Catholic Church in 1965. Ganoune Diop acknowledges that Rome used force during the Inquisition, but he also asserts that Rome published “Dignitatis Humanae,” a document on religious liberty, bringing about a change to the Catholic Church. According to Diop, Seventh-day Adventists need to be educated so as not to “slander” the Roman Catholics but instead acknowledge their contributions to religious liberty.
In actuality, Rome hasn’t changed any of its fundamental beliefs, core values, or objectives. The Vatican successfully recognized that fostering interfaith dialogue rather than force would be a more effective way to attain global domination, but their ultimate objective of bringing the world together and reversing the divisions brought about by the Protestant Reformation has not changed. Therefore, the so-called “change” that Ganoune Diop asserts the Vatican has experienced isn’t actually a change because the end result remains the same. In this context, the “change” is more about adjusting the means rather than the goal.
During the Second Vatican Council, the changes were superficial because the fundamental mission was not affected. A shift in methods doesn’t imply a change in core values. Vatican II was a change in tactics, not in substance. Prophetically, Rome continues to be what God has declared her to be: the man of sin, the beast of Revelation, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, and the kingdom of Antichrist.
Even Rome’s version of “religious liberty” hasn’t changed either. Ganoune Diop doesn’t understand that Adventists do need instruction, but we need to know that it’s our religious liberty work that has changed. Indeed, the head of the General Conference’s religious liberty department has adopted Rome’s interpretation of what constitutes “religious liberty.” According to Diop, religious liberty is subservient to Rome’s common good philosophy, which moves the emphasis from defending individual freedom of conscience to supporting a more collective, church-state-aligned approach.
Instead of advocating for the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the absolute and unconditional right of individuals to practice their faith without interference, Diop frames religious liberty within the parameters of the “common good,” which is Catholic social teaching. This form of “religious liberty” is secondary to the peace and unity of society, (Rome’s) moral order, and the state’s role in regulating religious practices for the benefit of all.
According to Ganoune Diop, the “Dignitatis Humanae” document was created during Vatican II, which established religious liberty. Let’s actually look at what this Vatican document actually says in Section 7. While Dignitatis Humanae does in fact discuss religious freedom, it also makes clear that this freedom is subject to the common good and may be restricted when needed, in contrast to the US Constitution’s “inalienable rights,” which cannot be taken away:
#7. The right to religious freedom is exercised in human society: hence its exercise is subject to certain regulatory norms. In the use of all freedoms the moral principle of personal and social responsibility is to be observed. In the exercise of their rights, individual men and social groups are bound by the moral law to have respect both for the rights of others and for their own duties toward others and for the common welfare of all. Men are to deal with their fellows in justice and civility. Furthermore, society has the right to defend itself against possible abuses committed on the pretext of freedom of religion. It is the special duty of government to provide this protection. However, government is not to act in an arbitrary fashion or in an unfair spirit of partisanship. Its action is to be controlled by juridical norms which are in conformity with the objective moral order. These norms arise out of the need for the effective safeguard of the rights of all citizens and for the peaceful settlement of conflicts of rights, also out of the need for an adequate care of genuine public peace, which comes about when men live together in good order and in true justice, and finally out of the need for a proper guardianship of public morality. These matters constitute the basic component of the common welfare: they are what is meant by public order … the freedom of man is to be respected as far as possible and is not to be curtailed except when and insofar as necessary” (Dignitatis Humanae). [1]
The Vatican’s version of religious liberty diminishes the Protestant belief that God alone gave us certain rights and that those rights are absolute. Protestants believe that true religious liberty is a fundamental right that should not be interfered with by the state, church, society, or other individuals, and that liberty of conscience is a deeply personal matter that is subject to God alone and not to external controls, secular or religious. This liberty includes refusing medical treatments, including vaccinations, because of one’s sincerely held religious beliefs.
On the other hand, you have Rome’s version of religious liberty, which teaches that individual rights can and must be curtailed when they conflict with broader societal objectives. Tragically, this interpretation has also been accepted by the General Conference, the UN, and many liberal state governments. This is entirely consistent with Rome’s historical and long-standing tendency to prioritize institutional goals over individual liberties, which ultimately leads to tyranny. And here we have Ganoune Diop, advocating on behalf of Catholic social teachings with the full support of the General Conference. By doing so, Diop continues to dilute the biblical and Protestant view of religious liberty. Instead, he openly, willfully, and unabatedly continues to advocate for state, ecclesiastical, and even Rome’s overreach against individual rights.
Diop and the General Conference leaders believe that the liberties that God has given you are not absolute but are instead subject to the demands of the global community, including vaccinations and health mandates. This same justification will be used for suspending individual liberties during the implementation of climate change mandates and the upcoming Sunday law mandates designed to save society. The common good, championed by Rome, is the very antithesis of individual freedom and will be used once again to reestablish persecution.
According to Rome, your personal freedoms can and should be overridden to promote the greater good. This is part of the old adage that says, “The end justifies the means.” This teaches that certain individuals have to be scarified in order to achieve success. So, yes, Rome does believe in “religious liberty,” as long as it doesn’t interfere with its ultimate objectives. Because if it does, then your personal liberties and freedom of conscience can and will be curtailed if that is what is best for the coming one-world universal community.
“Rome never changes. Her principles have not altered in the least. She has not lessened the breach between herself and Protestants; they have done all the advancing” (Signs of the Times, February 19, 1894).
“And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III are still the principles of the Romish Church. And had she but the power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries” (Great Controversy, p. 580).
“Rome never changes. She claims infallibility. It is Protestantism that will change” (Review and Herald, June 1, 1886).
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(Was curious about the work of the jesuits in the country Diop is from)
Google searched:
“jesuits in Senegal”—-Google says:
“Although there are only four Jesuits in the country, the Society is responsible for a parish in Tambacounda, in the centre of the country, and is about to open a new centre in M’bour, 80 km south of Dakar, to work, among other things,
at the service of interreligious dialogue.”
Diop says “So What..”
But His ministry mirrors the Jesuits very work in his own country,
Fascinating, especially considering how the 3 Angel’s messages is meant to be the SDA churches most important work.
Popery is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times. [2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.] It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon, she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. “We are not bound to keep faith and promises to heretics,” she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ? GC88 571.1
It is not without reason that the claim has been put forth in Protestant countries, that Catholicism differs less widely from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a change; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that now exists, because Protestantism has so greatly degenerated since the days of the reformers. GC88 571.2
As the Protestant churches have been seeking the favor of the world, false charity has blinded their eyes. They do not see but that it is right to believe good of all evil; and as the inevitable result, they will finally believe evil of all good. Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for their bigotry. – GC88 571.3
A large class, even of those who look upon Romanism with no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and influence. Many urge that the intellectual and moral darkness prevailing during the Middle Ages favored the spread of her dogmas, superstitions, and oppression, and that the greater intelligence of modern times, the general diffusion of knowledge, and the increasing liberality in matters of religion, forbid a revival of intolerance and tyranny. The very thought that such a state of things will exist in this enlightened age is ridiculed. It is true that great light, intellectual, moral, and religious, is shining upon this generation. In the open pages of God’s holy Word, light from Heaven has been shed upon the world. But it should be remembered that the greater the light bestowed, the greater the darkness of those who pervert or reject it. – GC88 572.1
A prayerful study of the Bible would show Protestants the real character of the papacy, and would cause them to abhor and to shun it; but many are so wise in their own conceit that they feel no need of humbly seeking God that they may be led into the truth. Although priding themselves on their enlightenment, they are ignorant both of the Scriptures and of the power of God. They must have some means of quieting their consciences; and they seek that which is least spiritual and humiliating. What they desire is a method of forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remembering him. The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of all these. It is prepared for two classes of mankind, embracing nearly the whole world,—those who would be saved by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. Here is the secret of its power. – GC88 572.2
A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favorable to the success of popery. It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for its success. In past ages, when men were without God’s Word, and without the knowledge of the truth, their eyes were blindfolded, and thousands were ensnared, not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation there are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of human speculations, “science falsely so-called;” they discern not the net, and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded. God designed that man’s intellectual powers should be held as a gift from his Maker, and should be employed in the service of truth and righteousness; but when pride and ambition are cherished, and men exalt their own theories above the Word of God, then intelligence can accomplish greater harm than ignorance. Thus the false science of the nineteenth century, which undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful in preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with its pleasing forms, as did the withholding of knowledge in opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages. – GC88 572.3
In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the State, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. [See Appendix, Note 11.] Nay, more, they are opening the door for popery to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance,—a custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of the papacy,—the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God,—that is permeating the Protestant churches, and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them. – GC88 573.1
If the reader would understand the agencies to be employed in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the record of the means which Rome employed for the same object in ages past. If he would know how papists and Protestants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas, let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the Sabbath and its defenders. – GC88 573.2
The church that holds to the word of God is irreconcilably separated from Rome. Protestants were once thus apart from this great church of apostasy, but they have approached more nearly to her, and are still in the path of reconciliation to the Church of Rome. Rome never changes. Her principles have not altered in the least. She has not lessened the breach between herself and Protestants; they have done all the advancing. But what does this argue for the Protestantism of this day? It is the rejection of Bible truth which makes men approach to infidelity. It is a backsliding church that lessens the distance between itself and the Papacy. ST February 19, 1894, par. 4
Thank you for this good article, which also takes a closer look at religious freedom from the papal point of view, which Ganoune Diop praises, and shows that this is not about the absolute freedom of faith and conscience of the individual, but is restricted by the “common good”, which is certainly defined and determined by the pope and the powerful of this world. In addition to Ellen White’s clear statements that Rome will not change, Diop must be reproached for the fact that he obviously no longer believes in the fulfillment of the prophecies of Revelation about the Antichrist that lie ahead of us and thus rejects above all the third angel’s message, which warns of the “beast”, his “image” and the “mark” that we as Adventists are to proclaim.
Since Ganoune Diop was particularly conspicuously protected by the leadership of the GC at the last General Conference plenary session (the disclosure of his misconduct by Johnathan Zirkle was boycotted) and he was re-elected to office, it can be assumed that the GC leaders are following the same line as Diop. In addition, despite these scandalous public statements by Brother Diop, no criticism or rebuttal has been forthcoming from Ted Wilson or ADCOM to date. This means that the vast majority of the leadership of the GK – at least in the North American division – obviously stands behind Ganoune Diop’s statements, because those who remain silent agree! And this highlights a huge problem, as well as creating additional explosive material for a split in the near future. Let us earnestly pray to God to guide and direct everything so that clarity will soon prevail, sins will be confessed and cleared up, and the faithful can proclaim the threefold angel’s message in the power of the latter rain!
Adventism and Catholicism in a Changing World
October 12, 2024
03:00 PM-05:00 PM
Centennial Complex
Damazo Ampitheater
religion@llu.edu
909-558-7478
School of Religion
Adventism and Catholicism in a Changing World
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Date: October 12, 2024
Time: 3:00pm
Location: Damazo Amphitheater (Centennial Complex, 24760 Stewart Street)
Speakers:
Reinder Bruinsma, PhD
Denis Fortin, PhD
Rev. Romanus Ike
The Seventh-day Adventist and Roman Catholic Churches have had a turbulent relationship through the years. But in today’s world many people see them as having much more in common than what separates them. The panel will explore the intriguing question of what the two churches can learn from each other and what that might imply for the future. Reinder Bruinsma will premier his new book on the topic at the close of the program.
Sponsored by Loma Linda University Center for Understanding World Religions and Humanities Program
😳😮😧😠
Diop is earning quite the reputation as the bad boy of Adventism
Diop should NOT be representing the Adventist Church. He doesn’t hold to our beliefs at all.