When we think about the antichrist certain things like 666 or the mark of the beast come to mind. Many are looking forward to a time when the antichrist will be revealed and force the world to receive its mark. Let’s find out who the antichrist is and why it is important that we accurately identify this power.
Many assume that the word ‘antichrist’ means one who is against Christ, and whilst this is true, it more accurately means ‘one who takes the place of Christ’. In searching for the antichrist we need to look for a system that is aiming to take the place of Jesus in our world today. As we work through the prophecies and other Biblical texts to identify this power, you will see that the antichrist is already here and has been working to secure the worship and allegiance of the nations of the world for a very long time. Soon the final drama will play out.
The first key passage that identifies the antichrist is Daniel 7. It is represented by the little horn in this passage of scripture. If you have not done so, I recommend reading the blog ‘The Keys of Prophecy’ or the tract ‘The Final Crisis’ before moving on. It is essential to understand what the various beasts represent in Daniel 7 so as to understand how the little horn is accurately identified. To recap briefly, the fourth beast of Daniel 7 represents the Roman Empire, and the ten horns represent the ten initial divisions of the Western Roman Empire. Namely we have the Ostrogoths, Heruli, Vandals, Suevi (Portuguese), Lombards (Italian), Burgundians (Swiss), Franks (French), Saxons (English), Alemanni (German), and Visigoths (Spanish). Daniel tells us that it is out of these divisions of the Roman Empire that the little horn will rise to power.
“I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.” Daniel 7:8
This establishes for us the time that we should be looking for this power to first appear as a political entity. It could not come before 476 A.D. as the Roman Empire had not yet crumbled to form ten distinct divisions. It also could not come after three of these divisions were destroyed because it was to be involved in their destruction. This means we must see the little horn rising to power between 476 A.D. and 538 A.D. when the final of the three powers was overthrown. This is important to understand as many believe that the antichrist has not yet come. From this we can see that antichrist has been working in the world for over 1500 years. Note also that it must appear in this time as a political entity because the horns represent political powers or kingdoms.
There are six key features of the little horn which we can find in Daniel 7:24-25.
“The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.”
It shall arise to political pre-eminence after the ten divisions are established, and be different to the ones before it.
It will subdue three of these kingdoms.
It will speak blasphemy against God.
It will persecute God’s saints.
It will rule for a time (one year), times (two years) and half a time (half a year). The Bible gives us a day for a year (Ezekiel 4:6) and the Jews measured a year as 360 days. This gives us a total of 1260 prophetic days, which is 1260 literal years.
It will ‘intend’ to change God’s times and laws.
When we survey history there is only one power that fits all of these identifiers and that is the Roman Catholic Church (Papacy). From the six identifiers we find:
1. It shall arise to political pre-eminence after the ten divisions are established, and be different to the ones before it.
The church was present from apostolic times but it rose to political power out of the ten divisions of the Roman Empire. The church was a religio-political power that set it apart from the purely political powers that came before it.
2. It will subdue three of these kingdoms.
It was instrumental to the downfall of the three Arian kingdoms: Heruli (493 A.D.), Vandals (534 A.D.) and Ostrogoths (538 A.D.). Arianism was a form of Christianity that was in disagreement with the doctrines of the Roman Church. These Arian powers stood in firm opposition to the church rising to political power. Therefore, it was needful that these three kingdoms be destroyed so that the Catholic Church could stand unopposed.
3. It will speak blasphemy against God.
It is blasphemy for a man to claim to forgive sin (Mark 2:7), yet the Catholic Church claims this divine ability. God alone can perceive the heart and pass judgement. No sinful mortal has the ability to determine whether another person is truly repentant for their sins to be forgiven, neither have they the ability to deny this right.
"When he ascended into heaven, Jesus Christ left his priests after hi to hold on earth his place of mediator between God and men, particularly on the altar... The Priest holds the place of the Savior himself, when, by saying 'Ego te absolvo,' he absolves from sin."
(St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Dignity and Duties of the Priest or Selva, p. 34)
In 1302 Pope Boniface wrote in a letter to the Catholic Church:
“Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”
In these statements the Roman Church places itself in the place of mediator, denying that Christ is the only way to the Father (John 14:6).
The Pope has also taken upon himself the titles “Lord God the Pope” and “Holy Father”. The Bible states that we are to call no man Father except our Father which is in heaven (Matthew 23:9). Here the title antichrist comes through as we see the Catholic Church trying to place itself where God belongs.
The Bible further declares that it is blasphemy for a man to make himself God (John 10:33), yet we find the following claim:
The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII writes:
“But to believe that our Lord God the Pope the establisher of said decretal, and of this, could not decree, as he did decree, should be accounted heretical” (emphasis added).
(The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, Cum. Inter, title 14, chapter 4, "Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium", Column 140 (Paris, 1685). In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words, Dominum Deum Nostrum Papam ("Our Lord God the Pope") can be found in column 153.)
In the Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, p304, we find this statement:
"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty."
This final statement comes from a Catholic Encyclopedia:
“The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God…
He is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor, and king of kings. Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions…
The Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, having plenitude of power, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction not only of the earthly but also of the heavenly kingdom.
The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws…The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man but of God, and he acts as vice-regent of God upon earth with most ample power of binding and loosing his sheep.”
(Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica nec non Ascetica, Polemica, Rubricistica, Historica, article, 'Papa')
4. It will persecute God’s saints.
The Catholic church is stained with the blood of many martyrs. The Waldenses and Albigenses were two such groups of faithful Christians who suffered severely at the hands of the Church during the dark ages. The inquisition, the tortures at Goa, the fires of Smithfield, the St Bartholemew’s Day massacre, and the ravages of the Duke of Alva are all evidences of the persecution of God’s people by the Papal power during its reign. Many figures are given as to the total number of people who died at the hands of the Papacy, with the true figure likely in excess of 50 million.
Commenting on the brutality of the inquisition against the Albigenses, the Roman Catholic historian Peter de Rosa in his book 'Vicars of Christ', p. 225, had this to say:
"in [Pope] Innocent's view, it was more wicked for Albigenses to call him the antichrist than for him to prove it by burning them - men, women, and children by the thousands."
On pages 175-176 of the same book, Peter de Rosa wrote:
"Of eighty popes in a line from the thirteenth century on, not one of them disapproved of the theology and apparatus of the Inquisition. On the contrary, one after another added his own cruel touches to the workings of this deadly machine."
5. It will rule for a time, times and half a time.
The Catholic Church reigned for 1260 years (a time, times and the dividing of time). This time period began in 538 A.D. at the downfall of the only remaining Arian power, the Ostrogoths. This same year Justinian's (the Emperor of the Byzantine Kingdom) decree, giving the Bishop of Rome power over all churches, came into effect. Not only did Justinian decree that the Pope should be the head of all churches, but he swore to exert his military power to ensure the increase of the honour and authority of the Holy See. This gave to the church the power and military might of the state to punish all that she should choose to label heretics. In this, the church united with the state to become a religiopolitical power. It held onto this power for a full 1260 yrs.
An excerpt of Justinian's decree:
"Therefore, we have exerted ourselves to unite all the priests of the East and subject the to the See of Your Holiness, and hence the questions which have at present arisen, although they are manifest and free from doubt, and, according to the doctrine of Your Apostolic See, are constantly firmly observed and preached by all priests... because you are the head of all the Holy Churches, for We shall exert Ourselves in every way (as has already been stated), to increase the honour and authority of your See..."
(S. P. Scott, The Civil Law, vol. 12, pp. 11-13)
We would then expect to find the Catholic Church receiving a significant blow in 1798, exactly 1260 years later, and we do. In 1798, during the French revolution, the French General, Berthier, captured Pope Pius VI, who later died, and declared an end to the political reign of the church. So the 1260 year prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
6. It will ‘intend’ to change God’s times and laws.
The final feature is the changing of God’s Ten Commandment law. The reference to times and laws in Daniel 7:25 shows us exactly which commandment the Church would intend to change. The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the only law based on time. This law the Catholic Church openly declares, by its own ecclesiastical power, to have changed.
Catholic Record (September 1, 1923):
"The [catholic] Church is above the Bible, and this transference of the Sabbath observance is proof of that fact."
Catholic Priest T. Enright, CSSR, Kansas City, MO:
"It was the holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the 1st day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea, AD 364, anathematized those who kept the Sabbath and urged all persons to labor on the 7th day under penalty of anathema."
Stephen Keenan, Catholic—Doctrinal Catechism 3rd Edition: 174:
"Question: Have you any other way of proving the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? "Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the 1st day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the 7th day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority."
Chancellor Albert Smith for Cardinal of Baltimore Archdiocese, letter dated February 10, 1920:
"If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church."
Here we have it clearly laid out that the institution of the Catholic Church fulfils all of the identifying markers of the little horn of Daniel 7.
In his letter to the Thessalonian church, the Apostle Paul identified that the antichrist would come as a result of a falling away within the apostolic church.
"Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
The falling away refers to a movement into apostasy, which is evident in the use of the Greek word ‘apostasia’. Paul identified that even in his day this work of apostasy was already beginning (vs 7). The church wandered further and further from the truth until it was in open apostasy against God, even going so far as changing God’s law.
"Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son." 1 John 2:22
In attempting to take the place of Jesus by acting as mediator between God and man, the church is denying Christ. Jesus alone can intercede with the Father for us. The doctrine of purgatory also denies the completed work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary by necessitating that nearly all should spend some time burning off their sins before they can enter heaven. The Bible tells us that Jesus atonement is in full, nothing more need be added to what He has done perfectly for us.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from ALL sin.” 1 John 1:7
The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23), so if Jesus did not pay the full price for us on the cross, then eternal death, not a temporary burning in hell, would be our lot.
Although the Catholic Church has fallen away from the truth, God has many wonderful people there. The claims of the Sabbath and other doctrinal truths have been largely obscured by time and many have been led to believe a false gospel. God judges our heart and motives, He is familiar with all those who are faithfully living up to the light they have. There will be many good Catholics and other protestant Christians, who have held misunderstandings of scripture and God's law, in heaven. God asks us to live up to the light we have. When we find new truth, He asks us to walk in it; to go and sin no more. Now is the time for us to return to true worship, to keep God's commandments as they are written on the tables of stone. God identifies His people as those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." John 6:37
In the book of Revelation, the Catholic Institution is labelled as Babylon the Great, it is also the first beast of chapter 13. This aspect of the church and prophecy will be covered in another blog. Please subscribe to receive notification as new posts are made available, or follow us on Facebook to get these updates as they come.
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