This is so intense that I had to reprint it in it's entirelty. Oringanally, I was looking for material on the apocrophylia, then I was intrested in the fact that it confirmed here what we have been talking about, "If anything, the Roman Catholic Church has changed for the worse, since today it not only holds the same false doctrines that were proclaimed by the Council of Trent in the 16th century, but now it also has added the immaculate conception and assumption of Mary, papal infallibility, the possibility of salvation for the heathen, and the higher-critical approach to Scripture to the list of its false teachings." However, this is so compelling...the evidence of the pope as the antichrist... Please everyone read this.
http://www.wels.net/sab/frm-qa.html
A biblical understanding of the doctrine of the Antichrist is especially important at a time when Lutherans around the world have signed agreements on justification with Rome which really are no agreements. The pope has recently affirmed that Lutheran churches which have not preserved apostolic succession cannot even be called churches. All other churches can be considered saving churches only to the degree that their members are in imperfect communion with the bishop of Rome. In the recent jubilee year, the pope reaffirmed the practice of issuing indulgences. In spite of all this, Lutherans are negotiating the terms under which they can submit themselves to the papacy. Yet if we study Scripture and history, we see that nothing has changed since Luther made the clear declaration that the pope is the very Anti-Christ. If anything, the Roman Catholic Church has changed for the worse, since today it not only holds the same false doctrines that were proclaimed by the Council of Trent in the 16th century, but now it also has added the immaculate conception and assumption of Mary, papal infallibility, the possibility of salvation for the heathen, and the higher-critical approach to Scripture to the list of its false teachings.
There are two points which by themselves are enough to make the pope an antichrist. First, he makes himself God when he takes to himself the right to make divine laws binding on the church. It is a sin to eat meat on Friday. Then it isn't. Priests are denied marriage, a gift of God. The list goes on and on. Here the pope denies the authority of God the Father. Second, he curses anyone who believe the most important teaching of the Bible, forgiveness of sins by grace alone by faith alone. He denies the essence of the work of Christ, God the Son. These two teachings make the pope an antichrist. The fact that he fits all the other characteristics of the false teacher who would come from Rome make him not just an antichrist, but the Antichrist.
Your questions basically challenge three passages: 1 John 2, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation 17, so we will take them in that order.
1 John 2
It is ironic that the passages which provide us with the title "The Antichrist" tell us very little about him. The title comes from passages in John's epistles in which he is discussing, not the great Antichrist, but the other lesser antichrists who appear throughout the history of the church and some specific antichrists who were a threat to the church in his own day. John warns:
18 Dear children, this is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. 22 Who is such a liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the sort of antichrist I am warning you about -he denies the Father and the Son. (From 1 Jn 2:18,19,22, my translation).
The main grammatical problem in this passage is how to render the presence or absence of the Greek article in the English translation since the idioms of the languages differ. In the first occurrence of antichrist in v. 18, the Greek has no article, but because John is here talking about a specific individual, the NIV is correct when it adds an article to the English translation and renders, "The antichrist is coming." I have tried to convey the same meaning by capitalizing Antichrist to make it a proper name and yet reflecting the absence of the Greek article in my translation. In verse 22 antichrist has the article, but John here is not talking about the great Antichrist, but about the sort of lesser antichrist he had previously mentioned in verse 18. For this reason I have rendered the article as an article of previous reference or a generic article and paraphrased "the sort of antichrist I am warning you about."
In all of the translations you refer to it is clear that John is not talking about one person but about a group of persons.
Similar references to such lesser antichrists who operate with the same spirit as the great Antichrist occur in 1 Jn 4:3 and 2 Jn 7. In 3 Jn:9,10 we see an example of such incipient popishness in the church in the mini-pope Diotrephes, who loved the primacy and arrogantly opposed the Apostle John.
All that John's letters teach us about the great Antichrist is that this doctrine was so well known in the early church that John could base his discussions of lesser antichrists on his readers' previous knowledge of the Antichrist. Since the problem which John is addressing in his letter is false teachers who arise in the church and who arrogantly oppose God's truth, we may conclude that both the lesser antichrists and the great Antichrist fall into this category.
Although all the apostles taught the same doctrine, they did not always use the same terminology. The one whom John called "Antichrist" was called "the Man of Sin" or "the Man of Lawlessness" by Paul. For unknown reasons it was John's term "Antichrist" which became the standard term of the church, even though it was Paul who had given a more thorough description of this person in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12:
3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not cone until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
In spite of the importance of this passage, we must pass it by with only a brief summary of its description of Antichrist. The power and spirit of Antichrist were already secretly at work in Paul's day, but the great Antichrist could not come out into the open and develop fully until the person and thing which were restraining him (probably the Roman emperor and empire) were removed from the scene. Although Antichrist is called a man, his power is at work from Paul's time until the end of the world, so he is a succession of persons, a dynasty, not an individual. He is above all a religious deceiver who seats himself in God's Temple, the church. He usurps divine authority to himself, promotes the lie which opposes the gospel, and supports his delusions with counterfeit miracles. The essence of his work is that he leads souls to destruction. This description alone is enough to justify the conclusion that the Pope of Rome is the Great Antichrist, since he alone fits all the marks in the highest degree.
Scripture, however, gives further evidence, which should be more than enough to convict the Pope in the minds of the uncertain. Although John does not use the term "Antichrist" in Revelation, he there gives a more thorough treatment of this topic, which he touched on only indirectly in his letters. Revelation 17:
1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.. 3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7 Then the angel said to me: Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. 9 "This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet cone; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. 12 "The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. 15 Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.
The match-ups of this chapter with the history of the papacy are so frequent and so specific that it is very difficult to avoid the connection. Even a number of Roman Catholic commentators acknowledge that the Babylon of Revelation 17 must be Rome, but they try to deflect its condemnations to a revived pagan Roman Empire. The correspondences with papal history are so many that it is difficult to mention them all in a paper of this scope.
The prostitute, who represents the apostate church as she often does in Scripture (Ezekiel 16, 23, Hosea), forms a sad contrast with the faithful woman of Revelation 12. She rides on a beast which apparently is the same beast of government which appeared in Revelation 13. The church now dominates the state and makes the state serve its purposes. At first glance John's readers, who were being persecuted by the government, must have thought that such a passing of power to the church would be a wonderful day. Who of them would have guessed how disastrous it would be when the church dominated a diminished Roman Empire? A church which is catholic--that is which rules over all peoples and nations, a church rich with gems, precious metals, and rich garments, a church which has more annual revenue than all the kings of Europe--wouldn't such a church be a great blessing to the world? But what do we see in the vision? We see a church which is in adulterous alliance with kings and yet tries to lord it over them. (The German emperor who had to stand in the snow at Canosa to seek the Pope's forgivenss and the Pope's Interdict on England are but two examples in a long, sad train of such events.) We see a church lavishing its wealth on castles and great works of art and luxurious living. (One would think that her princes would at least blush when they parade in scarlet and purple.) Most incredible of all we see a church drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of Waldensians and Albigensians, of Savanarola and Huss, of victims of the Inquisition, of Netherlanders and Germans. We see a church hated even by her allies, the kings of the earth, who turn against her and devour her. (Recall the captivity of the papacy in Avignon by the French kings, the actions of Henry VIII to seize church property in England, and anticlericalism and state-church conflicts over property through the centuries right down to our own time.) The kings of the earth live in a love-hate relationship with the prostitute church, fascinated by her pomp and glory, but angered by her power and pretensions. (Papal visits of recent years still demonstrate these conflicting passions.)
In Revelation 18 even her enemies mourn the apostate church's fall because she embodies everything that is magnificent in human achievement, the greatest art, architecture and music, the greatest scholarship and humanistic endeavors. Yet all her pomp has been achieved at the cost of sacrificing her loyalty to God, so that his people are warned:
Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.
To avoid her we must identify her. To make her identity more certain her connection with Rome is made clear. Who of John's readers could fail to catch the significance of the seven hills of the city? Furthermore, she is identified with the culmination of seven kings or kingdoms. The "king who is" must be the pagan Rome of John's day. The five who have fallen are apparently Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece, the past kingdoms that oppressed God's people. The seventh and eighth kingdoms, which belong together, are the unholy allies, the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire and other kingdoms allied with the papacy.
This identification of the Antichrist with Rome is confirmed by the prophecies of Daniel 7:
2 Daniel said: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. 3 Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.
4 "The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it. 5 Hand there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!' 6 After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
7 "After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast--terrifying and frightening and very powerful It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. 8 While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully." 11 Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.) 17 "The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. 19 Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws--the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. 20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell--the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. 21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. 23 He gave me this explanation: .The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, treading it down and crushing it. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to chance the set tines and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time." 26 But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. (Daniel 7:2-8 , 11-12, 17, 19-27)
From the context of Daniel it is clear that the first three empires are Babylon, which carried Judah into captivity, Persia which nearly destroyed Israel through Haman's plot, and the Greek Empire of Alexander which eventually led to the terrible persecutions under Antiochus Epiphanes. The fourth empire must therefore be Rome, the oppressor of John's day which had ruthlessly devoured the world in its conquests. It is from this fourth Empire, Rome, that the horn arises who speaks boastfully and changes times and laws, who oppresses the saints throughout the time, times and half a time of the New Testament era. It is clear that Revelation 13 and 17 rest solidly on the foundation of Daniel 7.
In Daniel 8 there is another little horn who arises to oppress God's people, but he rises out of the Greek Empire, not out of Rome. He is Antiochus Epiphanes who bitterly persecuted Israel around 168 B.C., the time of the Maccabean revolt. This persecutor, Antiochus, is relevant to our discussion because in Daniel 11 he serves as a type of the Antichrist.
36 The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women. nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. 38 Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his fathers he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price.
40 At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. 43 He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians in submission. 44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him. (Daniel 11:36-45)
In Matthew 24 Jesus discusses the fall of Jerusalem which took place in 70 A.D. This event is a type of the Last Judgment, which Jesus also discusses in Matthew 24. In the same way in his 11th chapter, Daniel begins with the arrogant oppressions of Antiochus the King of the North, who is the type, and finishes with the Antichrist, who is anti-type or fulfillment. Especially in verses 37-40 the Reformers and their heirs saw an apt description of the wars and wealth, the sale of church offices, and the enforced celibacy of the Antichrist. Because of the poor rendering in the NIV translation and other translations, verse 37 needs our special attention. Literally it reads, "For the God (or gods) of his fathers he will show no regard and for the desire of women and for every god he will not show regard." By its translation "the one desired by women," the NIV favors the interpretation that this verse refers to Tammuz, a heathen god whose cult especially attracted women (Ezekiel 8:14). The traditional Reformation interpretation was to see this verse as a reference to the scorn of normal sexual relations which underlies enforced celibacy. This interpretation fits whether one understands the phrase "desire of women" as meaning "the desire women have for men" (subjective genitive) or "the desire men have for women" (objective genitive). This interpretation already appears in the oldest extant commentary on Daniel, that of Jerome, who refers to the Antichrist's false pretense of chastity in his discussion of this passage. This passage is used by Chemnitz in his discussion of celibacy and explicitly applied to the papacy. It therefore is clear that this interpretation is worthy of serious consideration in spite of the remarks of commentators like Robert Anderson who says that the view which sees the Antichrist in Daniel 11 has "minimal appeal beyond the circle of some sects" and is "exegetically witless and religiously worthless."
In this survey we have seen that the evidence identifying the Pope as the Antichrist is overwhelming. But in practical terms for you it really does not matter if the pope teaches his false teachings as the Antichrist or as an antichrist. It would be just as urgent to flee his false teachings in either case.
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