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The Pope as the Antichrist

Hobie

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The Protestant churches today and even some brethren are backing away from identifying the Antichrist power, and yet the Reformers and even those before them saw clearly who the Antichrist was. What is happening to the churches today, are they becoming blind and forgetful of the truth they once saw clearly, as to who was the leader of the Antichrist entity, and gave scriptural proof.

Here is good description of Martin Luther's conviction on this...
"Luther came to think of the pope as the Antichrist because, first, of what the general tradition was about where to find the Antichrist. The Antichrist was someone subverting the Church from within. That was the expectation popularly. And when he saw the papal office and read the histories and saw it subverting the gospel as he understood it, he became convinced that that was the proof that the papal office was the office of the Antichrist, trying to destroy God's church from within.

The pope claimed to be Christ's representative on earth. Luther became convinced that the pope was the devil's representative on earth. And that took graphic form very early in the Reformation ... with one of the most effective pieces of propaganda in the early Reformation: a series of 26 woodcuts that juxtaposed some action in Christ's life with something in the papacy. Christ carrying his cross to be crucified; the pope being carried in his throne on the backs of people ... . Christ washing the feet of the disciples; the pope having his feet kissed. And over and over again, scenes from Christ's life juxtaposed with scenes from the papacy. ... Christ was always humble and serving; the papacy, the pope was always lordly and [lording] over others. Christ is Christ; the pope is Antichrist.

At the end of his life, Martin Luther decided he had to issue his final testament against all the enemies of the gospel. And he published treatises, he encouraged people, but words were not sufficient. He also had to use images. And so he asked his friend, the painter Lucas Cranach, to do a series of woodcuts, and Luther wrote the verses for them. And these woodcuts were designed to show as graphically as possible, to those who could read and those who couldn't, what Luther thought of the papacy. So for example, there's a woodcut which shows the pope on his throne and peasants with their tongues out, their trousers down, farting in the pope's face. Another one shows the pope riding an ass, holding a pile of dung in his hands, saying "The pope is offering a counsel." And another that shows the German emperor lying on the ground with the pope with his foot on the emperor's neck, which shows, once again graphically, Luther's belief that the papacy was trying to control secular authority throughout the world. These were all actions of the Antichrist, and Luther wanted to make it clear what he thought of the pope".... Apocalypticism Explained | Apocalypse! FRONTLINE | PBS

The title of the Pope, 'Pontifex Maximus', can be traced all the way back to ancient Babylon and its system of pagan worship. The Babylon kings served as both king and priest of the pagan Babylonian Mystery religion. As priests, they bore the title "Pontifex Maximus" or "Supreme Pontiff," meaning "supreme pathfinder" or "bridge maker," representing "the path or connection between this life and the next", or they held the keys to the next life. When Medo-Persia conquered Babylon, the Babylonian pagan religion was maintained, but there was a revolt of the priesthood so consequently the priests of Babylon were driven out of Medo-Persia, and established themselves at Pergamum, does the name sound familiar. Well they took with them their titles and vestures and set about to continued their reign there as priest-kings of Babylonian paganism and we find the scripture refers to it:

Revelation 2:12-14 King James Version (KJV)
12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

The pontiff king of Pergamum Attalus III lived from 170 BC – 133 BC, and in his will he left the kingdom to the emperor of Rome in 133 BC and the kingdom of Pergamum merged with the Roman Empire along with what the Bible calls Satan throne and idol worship and its title "Pontifex Maximus".

The pagan title was taken over by the bishop of Rome, as we see it in In Emperor Theodosius's edict De fide catholica of 380 AD. By this time, the Roman bishops had amassed much political as well as religious power, and so the bishop of Rome was elected 'Pontifex Maximus', becoming the official pagan Babylonian priest seated on Satan's throne in Rome. As such, the bishop introduced the worship of pagan Babylon with its rites and rituals and pagan sacraments, "converted" the pagan temples of Rome into "Christian churches" but at the same time allowed pagan worship to come in.

The Roman bishop Damasus exercised his authority as head of 'Babylonian paganism in Rome', and replaced all the Christian elders with pagan priests and continued the practice of basically the Babylonian Mystery religion and we can see how it spread in Roman Empire from there, and was pointed out by the Reformation and its leaders and nothing has changed.
 
The Pope is the antichrist.
No, he is not.

The Pope does not meet the criteria specified by John and the original readers would never have gotten the Pope from John's letters. The only way to arrive at the Pope as the antichrist is to spiritualize and allegorize the text in ways violating the most basic precepts in sound exegesis.
 
No, he is not.

The Pope does not meet the criteria specified by John and the original readers would never have gotten the Pope from John's letters. The only way to arrive at the Pope as the antichrist is to spiritualize and allegorize the text in ways violating the most basic precepts in sound exegesis.
He is against Christ as is plain to see in the history of the church of Rome, and does all that was prophesied, so is the Antichrist given..
 
The Pope is the antichrist.

No, he is not.

The Pope does not meet the criteria specified by John and the original readers would never have gotten the Pope from John's letters. The only way to arrive at the Pope as the antichrist is to spiritualize and allegorize the text in ways violating the most basic precepts in sound exegesis.
He is against Christ as is plain to see in the history of the church of Rome, and does all that was prophesied, so is the Antichrist given..
I do not know why I have to unnecessarily repeat this but since it is ignored, I will do so.

The Pope does not meet the criteria specified by John and the original readers would never have gotten the Pope from John's letters. The only way to arrive at the Pope as the antichrist is to ignore the specifics and then spiritualize and allegorize the text in ways violating the most basic precepts in sound exegesis.There are many people who are "against Christ," but that alone does not make then antichrists. John provided a specific list.

1 John 2:18-22
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:2-3
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

2 John 1:7
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Many antichrists exist but the antichrists came in the last hour. Many of them had appeared, and because many of them had appeared John's original readers knew it was the last hour (back then). Those antichrists came from within their own ranks but did not remain with them and their leaving showed everyone they weren't Christians. Not only is the antichrist an individual who was a former believer living during the NT era, he also....

  • Denied Jesus is the Anointed One of God,
  • Denied both the Father and the Son,
  • Did not confess and/or acknowledge Jesus came in the flesh,
  • Did not confess Jesus is from God,
  • Deceived others.

There may be other criteria not listed (because few if any lists in the Bible are exhaustive) but this is the criteria specified by God through His inspired apostle, John. Both individual Popes and the Papal system in general meet some of those criteria, but not all. The reason God provided that information was so His people would NOT be like...


Luke 17:22-23
And He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, 'Look there! Look here!' Do not go away, and do not run after them.


Exactly as future millennialists have been doing for the last 180 years. "The rapture is coming! The rapture is coming! Look! Look! The antichrist! The antichrist! the signs are here! Here they are! The rapture! The raptures. Look for it! Look for it!" and when other point out nothing of the sort has happened ad hominem ensues. The great irony is that modern futurism is blatantly not what Jesus taught. It is, therefore, also anti Christ, but it is not the antichrist any more than is the papal system.

When Jesus comes, he sends his angels to gather both the tares and the wheat at the same time and the signs will be so apparent there will not be any doubt or debate among God's people. Not that there's going to be a lot of time to debate the matter...

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Blink of an eye.



Until that occasion occurs, the Pope does not meet John's criteria. He is definitely opposed to the real Jesus and RCCism has changed the teaching and practice of Christianity enormously but, despite his antithetical existence and teaching, the Pope is NOT the prophesied antichrist.
 
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I do not know why I have to unnecessarily repeat this but since it is ignored, I will do so.

The Pope does not meet the criteria specified by John and the original readers would never have gotten the Pope from John's letters. The only way to arrive at the Pope as the antichrist is to ignore the specifics and then spiritualize and allegorize the text in ways violating the most basic precepts in sound exegesis.There are many people who are "against Christ," but that alone does not make then antichrists. John provided a specific list.

1 John 2:18-22
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:2-3
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

2 John 1:7
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Many antichrists exist but the antichrists came in the last hour. Many of them had appeared, and because many of them had appeared John's original readers knew it was the last hour (back then). Those antichrists came from within their own ranks but did not remain with them and their leaving showed everyone they weren't Christians. Not only is the antichrist an individual who was a former believer living during the NT era, he also....

  • Denied Jesus is the Anointed One of God,
  • Denied both the Father and the Son,
  • Did not confess and/or acknowledge Jesus came in the flesh,
  • Did not confess Jesus is from God,
  • Deceived others.

There may be other criteria not listed (because few if any lists in the Bible are exhaustive) but this is the criteria specified by God through His inspired apostle, John. Both individual Popes and the Papal system in general meet some of those criteria, but not all. The reason God provided that information was so His people would NOT be like...


Luke 17:22-23
And He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, 'Look there! Look here!' Do not go away, and do not run after them.


Exactly as future millennialists have been doing for the last 180 years. "The rapture is coming! The rapture is coming! Look! Look! The antichrist! The antichrist! the signs are here! Here they are! The rapture! The raptures. Look for it! Look for it!" and when other point out nothing of the sort has happened ad hominem ensues. The great irony is that modern futurism is blatantly not what Jesus taught. It is, therefore, also anti Christ, but it is not the antichrist any more than is the papal system.

When Jesus comes, he sends his angels to gather both the tares and the wheat at the same time and the signs will be so apparent there will not be any doubt or debate among God's people. Not that there's going to be a lot of time to debate the matter...

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Blink of an eye.



Until that occasion occurs, the Pope does not meet John's criteria. He is definitely opposed to the real Jesus and RCCism has changed the teaching and practice of Christianity enormously but, despite his antithetical existence and teaching, the Pope is NOT the prophesied antichrist.
No one else fills the prophecies and as you can see the Pope is telling everyone what they should do, even America...
 
No one else fills the prophecies and as you can see the Pope is telling everyone what they should do, even America...
Which has nothing to do with John's specified criteria for the antichrist.
 
No one else fills the prophecies and as you can see the Pope is telling everyone what they should do, even America...
The Pope is not the antichrist, but he most certainly can be his prophet. Everyone who calls themselves God/god needs a prophet. The antichrist will claim to be god, and his prophet will push everyone to worship him and get his mark.
 
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No, he is not.

The Pope does not meet the criteria specified by John and the original readers would never have gotten the Pope from John's letters. The only way to arrive at the Pope as the antichrist is to spiritualize and allegorize the text in ways violating the most basic precepts in sound exegesis.
Well actually, a lot of Reformers believed the pope was the antichrist.
 
I do not know why I have to unnecessarily repeat this but since it is ignored, I will do so.

The Pope does not meet the criteria specified by John and the original readers would never have gotten the Pope from John's letters. The only way to arrive at the Pope as the antichrist is to ignore the specifics and then spiritualize and allegorize the text in ways violating the most basic precepts in sound exegesis.There are many people who are "against Christ," but that alone does not make then antichrists. John provided a specific list.
Actually, you're missing out on a lot. I really dont want to go down this road again.

I myself used to believe the pope was the antichrist as well. and there is a lot of convincing evidence for it. But being Amil, and as of late, I personally am not so sure about that. I believe the RC system is corrupt, and it sure may be an antichrist system (as there are many) but I am leaning a different direction, but mainly undecided.
 
Antichrists many ed by the spirit of lies the antichrist Satan, legion or the man of sin . Another teaching authroity other than all things written in the law and prophets (sola scriptura) .False apostles bringing false prohecy (oral traditions of mankind).

The warning below. . .not to hear false prophecy of dying mankind as those who say we need need flesh and blood to teach and guide.

1 John 2:26-27 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

He is shown working in Peter as one of the many antichrists'. . false prophets, false apostles .

Peter in Mathew 16 was given lying words as a false prophet. He rebuked the unseen head Christ and forbid the Son of man, Jesus from performing the demonstration of the Father . . eternal God and Son ..the dynamic dual

Trying to seduce fallen mankind that God is a Jewish man as King of kings .

When the vail which speaks of the circumcision a bloody husband Christ was rent there was no Jewish man as King of kings sitting .

Satan fell and could no longer deceive all the nations that God is a Jewish man as King of kings .
 
Soon there will be extreme war in Israel and the mideast. Gog magog? (the nations are currently aligned) Sheer devastation will occur...a call for peace will ring out and be brought in via a form of peace treaty...A currently unknown individual will sign this "treaty" which has a duration of 7 years. The OK for the Jewish temple to be rebuilt will be given. When the temple is completed this currently unknown individual will walk in and declare himself as God....then all hell breaks out.

I doubt the unknown man is the pope. The current pope has but a short time left.
 
Well actually, a lot of Reformers believed the pope was the antichrist.
Yes, actually, they did. They did so on political grounds, not theological ones. Eschatologically, they were wrong. A lot of Reform-minded believers today think the Reformers' belief the Pope was the antichrist sheer nonsense. They must be missing something. The Pope does not meet the specified criteria.
Actually, you're missing out on a lot.
I am? Maybe a lot wasn't actually posted.
 
Soon there will be extreme war in Israel and the mideast. Gog magog? (the nations are currently aligned) Sheer devastation will occur...a call for peace will ring out and be brought in via a form of peace treaty...A currently unknown individual will sign this "treaty" which has a duration of 7 years. The OK for the Jewish temple to be rebuilt will be given. When the temple is completed this currently unknown individual will walk in and declare himself as God....then all hell breaks out.

I doubt the unknown man is the pope. The current pope has but a short time left.

I would offer.

The antichrists' a legion of false apostles, false prophets. . . another teaching authority other than Christ all things written in the law and prophets (sola scriptura)

Satan the spirit of the antichrists' a legion of false apostles, false prophets. He began his work in the garden of Eden .Knowing Eve was the weaker vessel to represent the bride of Christ the church made up of the apostles and prophets likened to Deborah or Rehab apostles sent with the gospel .

The father of lies knew the Holy Father revealed His will to Adam who was to represent Christ the husband shown by the order in the parable of Moses and Aaron

The foundation of the priesthood of believers.

Exodus 7:1-2 King James Version And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

The women to represent the bride or whole church what the eyes see a hard work as a sign to the unbelieving world needing her husband to wash her with the water of the word . Give them the love of Christ both working as one .in mutual submission

The prophecy Genesis 2: 17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Satan adding to the word of God violating the law not to add or subtract to the word of God with his own false prophecy. . . . . neither shall you touch you will not surely die .

Adam the husband as if Christ was to protect Eve from false prohecy He was deceived his own self.

The lust of the eye (a vision of the tree) drew them. Eve leading to the tree hidden in the middle. The lust of the flesh drew them, they both ate the fruit of false prohecy.

Lust of the eye ,lust of the flesh .the two building blocks of false pride

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Genesis 3:1-6King James Version Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat
 
I would offer.

The antichrists' a legion of false apostles, false prophets. . . another teaching authority other than Christ all things written in the law and prophets (sola scriptura)

Satan the spirit of the antichrists' a legion of false apostles, false prophets. He began his work in the garden of Eden .Knowing Eve was the weaker vessel to represent the bride of Christ the church made up of the apostles and prophets likened to Deborah or Rehab apostles sent with the gospel .

The father of lies knew the Holy Father revealed His will to Adam who was to represent Christ the husband shown by the order in the parable of Moses and Aaron

The foundation of the priesthood of believers.

Exodus 7:1-2 King James Version And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

The women to represent the bride or whole church what the eyes see a hard work as a sign to the unbelieving world needing her husband to wash her with the water of the word . Give them the love of Christ both working as one .in mutual submission

The prophecy Genesis 2: 17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Satan adding to the word of God violating the law not to add or subtract to the word of God with his own false prophecy. . . . . neither shall you touch you will not surely die .

Adam the husband as if Christ was to protect Eve from false prohecy He was deceived his own self.

The lust of the eye (a vision of the tree) drew them. Eve leading to the tree hidden in the middle. The lust of the flesh drew them, they both ate the fruit of false prohecy.

Lust of the eye ,lust of the flesh .the two building blocks of false pride

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Genesis 3:1-6King James Version Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat
I'm not saying there are not antichrist....but it is THE antichrist...top dog...who will declare himself to be God in the rebuilt temple.
 
Yes, actually, they did. They did so on political grounds, not theological ones. Eschatologically, they were wrong. A lot of Reform-minded believers today think the Reformers' belief the Pope was the antichrist sheer nonsense. They must be missing something. The Pope does not meet the specified criteria.
Actually, it was both political and theological. Some of it is aligned just about perfectly with Revelation for one.
 
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