From Protestant, Biblical Spirituality to Ignation Spirituality:

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‘Luther’s sojourn in the convent of Erfurth and that of Loyola in the convent of Manresa explains to us-the one, the Reformation; the other, modern Popery… Luther turned towards Christ; Loyola only fell back upon himself.” –D’Aubigne, History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, b. X, ch. 1, (p.354).

“The Exercises, on which Loyola continued to work over the coming decades, would emerge as the lodestone of a distinctive Ignation spirituality-arguably one of the most impressive, enduring Jesuit contributions to the Roman Catholic tradition.” –Jonathan Wright, God’s Soldiers: Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power-A history of the Jesuits, p. 18.

“Attention to personal idiosyncrasies and individual circumstances displaced lockstep devotion as the hallmark of Jesuit spirituality. Moreover, because the rediscovery of the Ignation manner coincided with the vogue of psychological counseling, its popularity soared. The therapeutic turn found legitimacy in religious precedent.” –McDonough and Bianchi, Passionate Uncertainly: Inside the American Jesuits, 111.

Spiritual Formation: Using the Bible as the Primary Tool for the Use of Spiritual Formation

Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible Designed to Use Scripture for the Practice of the Spiritual Disciples

The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible is designed to unite the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox ecumenical Renewal movements that are now finding their focus in Jesuit Spiritual Formation. It declares:

“Indeed, the very purpose of this study Bible is to make Scripture itself a primary means for the discovery, instruction, and practice of the Spiritual Disciplines, which bring us all the more fully into the with-God life…

Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible Promotes Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises

“Perhaps you have read or heard of The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola or Theresa of Avila’s Interior Castle or Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living and Holy Dying of William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. These writings, and many others like them, all discuss disciplines of the spiritual life for training in righteousness.” –Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible, p. xxxiii.

Spiritual Exercises Are Foundational Training of the Jesuit Order

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola are the foundational training of the Jesuit Order. At every stage of Jesuit training-the Novitiate, the Philosophate, the Theologate and Tertianship training, Spiritual Formation is fundamental.

The Spiritual Exercises Are the Lodestone of a Distinctive Ignatian Spirituality

Jonathan Wright, an author favorable to the Jesuits, writes, “The Exercises, on which Loyola continued to work over the coming decades, would emerge as lodestone of a distinctive Ignatian spirituality –arguably one of the most impressive, enduring Jesuit contributions to the Roman Catholic tradition.Over the next five centuries, Loyola’s spiritual vision-optimistic, rooted in notions of magnanimity and fraternity-would lead Catholics through prayer and meditation, allowing them to examine their consciences, convincing them that their God was in all things [hence the “With-God Life orientation of the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible] and that it was possible for them to discern the specific will of their Creator in their individual lives.”

Every Jesuit Must Revisit Spiritual Exercises Once a Year

By order in 1608, every Jesuit had to revisit the Spiritual Exercises once a year. “To be guided through these exercises-a course of meditation, prayer, and rigorous examination of conscience-turned out to be not only a popular, if daunting recreation among Europe’s laity (Catholic soldiers, Catholic painters, and even a few Protestants) but also an effective way of enticing recruits into a career as a Jesuit.” –God’s Soldiers, 47.

Spiritual Exercises Are the Textbook of the Jesuits, a Textbook Which Has Influenced the Fate of Humanity

The Spiritual Exercises is “a small book, in fact a very minute book which is, in spite of its smallness, amongst those which have influenced the fate of humanity. This volume has been printed so many times that the number of copies is unknown; it was also the object of more than 400 commentaries. It is the textbook of the Jesuits and at the same time the resume of the long inner development of their master [Ignatius Loyola]: the ‘Spiritual Exercises’…

Imbuing Spiritual Forces That Master the Will

“Ignatius understood more clearly than any other leader of men who preceded him that the best way to raise a man to a certain ideal is to become master of his imagination. We ‘imbue into him spiritual forces which he would find very difficult to eliminate later,’ forces more lasting than all the best principles and doctrines; these forces can come up again to the surface, sometimes after years of not even mentioning them, and become so imperative that the will finds itself unable to oppose any obstacle, and has to follow their irresistible impulse.’ [H. Boehmer, Les Jesuits,’ Armand Colin, Paris 1910, pp. 25, 34-35], quoted in Edmund Paris, The Secret History of the Jesuits, p. 21.

All the Truths of the Mystery of Catholicism Will Be Lived and Felt By the One Devoted to the Exercises

“Thus all the truths’ of the Catholic dogma will have to be, not only meditated, but lived and felt by the one who devotes himself to these ‘Exercises,’ with the help of a ‘director.’ In other words, he will have to see and relive the mystery with the greatest possible intensity. The candidate’s sensitiveness becomes impregnated with these forces whose persistence in his memory, and even more so in his subconscious, will be as strong as the effort he made to evoke and assimilate them. Beside sight, the other senses such as hearing, smell, taste and touch will play their part. In short, it is mere controlled auto-suggestion. The angels’ rebellion, Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise, God’s tribunal, the evangelical scenes and phases of the Passion are, as one would say, relived in front of the candidate. Sweet and blissful scenes alternate with the most somber ones at a skillfully arranged rhythm…

Thirty Days to Break the Will and Reasoning

‘Imposing on his disciples actions which, to him, were spontaneous, he needed just thirty days to break, with this method, the will and reasoning, in the manner in which a rider breaks his horse. He only needed thirty days ‘triginta dies,’ to subdue the soul. Note that Jesuitism expanded together with modern inquisition: while the inquisition dislocated the body, the Spiritual Exercises broke up the thoughts under Loyola’s machine.’[Michelet et Guinet: ‘Des Jesuits,” (Hachette, Paulin, Paris, 1845, pp. 185-187],” quoted in Paris, 22.

The Spiritual Exercises Have Been Adapted For the Working Man

The Spiritual Exercises have been adapted for the workingman from the beginning by the Jesuits. The Jesuits introduced the Spiritual Exercises on a broad, common front to the populace of Bavaria in Germany at the time of the Sixteenth century Reformation, and succeeded in stopping the southward advance of Protestantism cold in its tracks. That is the measure of the effectiveness of the Spiritual Exercises. Today, the Jesuits are seeking to train the whole Christian world in Spiritual Formation and the Spiritual Exercises, thus jesuitizing all Christianity, until true Protestantism will be no more.

Reforming the Spirituality of Protestantism to Become Ignatian Spirituality

The goal of the Jesuits is nothing less than ‘reforming of the world.” Paris, 58. In time of the Reformation, the Jesuits were established to exterminate Protestantism and Protestants. A first work in this effort was to hijack the spirituality of the people so that they would not go directly to Christ for salvation, but would go to Christ through the hierarchy of the Church. Daniel 8:11, 12 warns that Rome would seek to remove the direct mediation of Christ-the TAMID. Rome has always wanted to manage salvation, to control and domesticate faith and the relationship with Christ. That is why Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Directors were established.

The Jesuits

“There is nothing that the great deceiver fears so much as that we shall become acquainted with his devices.” GC 516.

The Spirit of Prophecy Position on the Jesuits

And yet there are some, even who call themselves Historics, who feel that nothing should be said about the Jesuits. I never dreamed that we would see that day. However, it is here now. Here is what the Lord says:

“Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time, the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all champions of popery.  Cut off from earthly ties and human interests, dead to claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in the face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to precise, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of papal supremacy.

Liberty the Fathers Bled For Betrayed by the Sons

“When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the scared name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior, the most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed. It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable but also commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under various disguises, the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination, and thus the sons betrayed the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of popery.

Jesuits Run the Terrible Tribunal of the Inquisition

“To give them greater power, a bull was issued re-establishing the inquisition. Notwithstanding the general abhorrence with which it was regarded, even Catholic countries, this terrible tribunal was again set up by popish rulers, and atrocities too terrible to bear the light of day were repeated in its secret dungeons. In many countries, thousands and thousands of the very flower of the nation, the purest and noblest, the most intellectual and highly educated, pious and devoted pastors, industrious and patriotic citizens, brilliant scholars, talented artists, skillful artisans, were slain or forced to flee to other lands.” GC 234, 235.

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