"I, ____________________, now, in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Saint John the Baptist, the holy apostles Saint Peter and Paul, and all the saints, sacred hosts of heaven and to you, my Ghostly Father, the superior general of the society of Jesus Christ, founded by Saint Ignatius Loyala, in the pontification of Paul the third and continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus, declare and swear that his holiness the pope is Christ's vice regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or universal church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given to his holiness by my Savior Jesus Christ he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths, and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation, and they may be safely destroyed.

Therefore, to the utmost of my power I will defend this doctrine and his holiness' right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or protestant authority whatsoever, especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and the pretended authority and churches of England and Scotland, and the branches of the same now established in Ireland and on the continent of America and elsewhere, and all adherents in regard that they by usurped and heretical opposing the sacred mother church of Rome.

I do now denounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or state-named protestant or liberals, or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates, or officers.

I further declare that the doctrine of the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and others of the name of protestants or liberals to be damnable and they themselves to be damned who will not forsake the same.

I do further declare that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his holiness' agents in any place where I shall be in Switzerland, Germany, England, Ireland, or America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to and do my utmost to extricate the heretical protestant or liberal doctrines, and to destroy all their pretended powers--legal or otherwise.

I do further promise and declare that notwithstanding I am dispensed with to assume any religious heretical for the propagation of the mother church's interest to keep secret and private all her agent's councils from time to time as they entrust me, and not to divulge directly or indirectly by word, writing, or circumstances whatever, but to execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me by you, my Ghostly Father, or any of this sacred convent.

I further promise and declare that I will name no opinion of my own or any mental reservation whatsoever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde accadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the militia of the pope and of Jesus Christ.

That I will go to any part of the whithersoever I may be sent to the frozen regions of the north, to the burning sands of the desert of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the centers of civilization of Europe, to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America, without murmuring or repining, and I will be submissive in all things whatsoever communicated to me.

I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, protestants, and liberals, as I am directed to do to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex, or condition, and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants' heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race, that when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard of the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the pope or superior of the brotherhood of the holy father of the society of Jesus.

In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, my soul, and all corporal powers, and with dagger, which I now receive, I will subscribe my name, written in my blood in testimony thereof, and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the militia of the pope cut off my hands and feet and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein with all punishment that can be inflicted upon me on this earth and my soul tormented by demons in an eternal hell forever.

All of which I, _____________________, do swear by the blessed trinity and blessed sacrament, which I now receive to perform, and on my part to keep, this my oath.

In testimony hereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and seal in the face of this holy sacrament." (He here receives the wafer from the superior and writes his name with the point of the dagger dipped in his own blood taken from over his heart.)

{Taken from J. Scott Carr's book entitled, "The Devil in Robes or the Sin of Priests." Pages 86,87}

I came across this in one of my files, and it really caught my attention! I feel certain that today's priests do not take such an intense oath (or perhaps they do); however, I do have some questions. How could a priest:

1. Pledge more allegiance to the pope than to Jesus Christ?
2. Promise to do "secret" things in service to God?
3. Promise to kill, with God's approval, any who do not agree with the Catholic point of view?
4. Justify killing infants? (for a faith that denounces birth control)
5. Consider the pope to be the holy father? (Matthew 23:9)
6. Define the holy sacrament?

Dear reader, do you see the danger in leaving the safety of God's word? What these men promise to oppose is the very thing of which they are guilty! Upholding man's teaching instead of God's. Their dedication and zeal are commendable, but they are misplaced. I believe that we know that the Roman Catholic Church had to revise and amend this oath of allegiance. But, isn't that what always happens when man teaches his own commandments instead of the true, simple gospel of Christ Jesus! My allegiance is to God and His word--not to a secret society of religious men.