This Revelation Timeline Decoded Bible study provides many testimonies from our family in Messiah, who witnesses against the antichrist Popes of Rome, many who paid for their testimony with their lives.
These testimonies will confirm that the office of the papacy, the Popes of Rome, are the antichrist beast of Revelation, the Little Horn of Daniel, and the office of the Papacy, the Son of Perdition.
Here’s my The Saints Witness Against the Antichrist Beast Popes video.
These people faced the beast head on as it was in power during their lives, they testified against it, and they were persecuted and killed by it.
These testimonies of our Church Forefathers show that the Church of Christ viewed prophecy fulfillment according to the historic view for 1,700 years; and that it’s only been during the last few centuries that the futuristic view has infiltrated the Church.
They regarded the prophecies of Daniel, Paul, and John as faithfully setting forth the entire course of the Christian history, from the first century until Jesus returns.
Quotes from Roman Catholic Church Popes are included, to help you see what they were proclaiming at the same time that the Witnesses of Christ were testifying against them.
The term Antichrist is not pointing to just one man, but an office of men, such as the King of England or the President of the United States.
The office of the Papacy is the Son of Perdition, that man of sin, the Antichrist, whose teachings oppose that of Christ.
Messiah warned that many will come in my name. The Popes of Rome proclaim that they are the Vicar of Christ, which means “in place of Christ.” The word antichrist doesn’t just mean “against Christ“, it means “in place of Christ.”
Pope Boniface VIII said “We declare, assert, define and pronounce to be subject to the Roman Pontiff is to every creature altogether necessary for salvation… I have the authority of the King of Kings. I am all in all, and above all, so that God Himself and I, the Vicar of Christ, have but one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do. What therefore, can you make of me but God?”
Pope Pius IX said, “I alone… am the successor of the apostles, the vicar of Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
Pope Pius X declared, “The Pope is not simply the representative of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, he is Jesus Christ Himself, under the veil of the flesh. Does the Pope speak? It is Jesus Christ who is speaking, hence, when anyone speaks of the Pope, it is not necessary to examine but to obey.”
Pope Pius XII said, “…recognize the Holy, Catholic, Roman Church to be the only true Church of Jesus Christ, outside of which neither sanctity nor salvation can be found. Call them to the unity of the one fold, granting them the grace to believe every truth of our holy faith and to submit themselves to the Supreme Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth.”
The power of the Roman Catholic Church reached a pinnacle in the 12th through 15th centuries, as they attained: independent sovereignty, absolute supremacy over the Christian Church, and full control of the princes of Europe.
Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) said “We may according to the fullness of our power, dispose of the law and dispense above the law. Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God.” (Source: “Decretals of Greogory IX,” Book 1, chapter 3.)
He was the “most powerful of all the Popes.” He claimed to be “Vicar of Christ,” “Vicar of God,” and “Supreme Sovereign over the Church and the World.” He claimed the right to depose Kings and Princes; and that “All things on earth and in Heaven and in Hell — are subject to the Vicar of Christ.”
He brought the Church into supreme control of the State. The Kings of Germany, France, England, and practically all the Monarchs of Europe, obeyed his will. He even brought the Byzantine Empire under his control. Never in history has any one man exerted more power!
Pope’s also started to condemn Bible-believing followers of Christ, who taught salvation through Christ alone, as heretics.
Pope Innocent III decreed, “We prohibit laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testament. …We forbid them most severely to have the above books in the popular vernacular.” (meaning in their country’s native language, as the Papal Church only allowed their priests to read it in Latin). (Source: The Council of Toulouse, Canon 14)
Pope Innocent III said, “Anyone who attempts to construe a personal view of God which conflicts with (Catholic) church dogma must be burned without pity.” (Source: Papal Bull, 1198 A.D.)
Here’s a video about what the early church fathers beleived.
Arnulf (991), the Bishop of Orleans, proclaimed the Pope as the Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself as God.
“deplored the roman popes as “monsters of guilt” and declared in a council called by the King of France in 991 A.D. that the pontiff, clad in purple and gold, was, “Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself as God.” (Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian church, 8 vols., reprint of the 3d (1910)ed. (Grand Rapids Mich.: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.)
Gherbert of Rheims said that the Pope was the antichrist sitting in the temple of God.
Before the year 1000, Gherbert said of the pope sitting on his lofty throne in gold and purple, that if destitute of charity, he was antichrist sitting in the temple of God.
Berenger said the Roman see to be not the apostolic seat, but the seat of Satan.
In the eleventh century, referring to the Pope’s enforcement at that time of the doctrine of transubstantiation, Berenger affirmed the Roman see to be not the apostolic seat, but the seat of Satan.
Eberhard II (1240), archbishop of Salzburg, affirmed that the Pope was the antichrist.
“Stated at a synod of bishops held at Regensburg in 1240 that the people of his day were “accustomed” to calling the pope antichrist.” (LeRoy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers)
The early witnesses were people groups called the Albigenses and Waldenses (called Vaudois in French). God had entrusted them with preserving His Holy Word, which is why the Papal Church persecuted them so relentlessly.
The Albigenses called the Church of Rome the whore of Babylon.
In the sunny south of France, in Provence and Catalonia, lived the Albigenses, who were bible-believing followers of Christ.
The Albigensian Christians preached against the immoralities of the Roman Catholic priesthood, pilgrimages, worship of saints and idols, opposed the (pompous and pretentious) claims of the Church of Rome; and made great use of the Scriptures. By 1167 they (the Albigensian Christians) were a majority of the population of South France.
The Albigenses “All agreed in regarding the Church of Rome as having absolutely perverted Christianity, and in maintaining that it was she who was designated in the Apocalypse by the name of the whore of Babylon.”
Rome could not endure this testimony; she drew her deadly sword and waged war against those who bore it. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate the Albigenses in the south of France.
In 1229 – The Roman Catholic Inquisition executed 32,000 Bible-believing Albigensian Christians at Toulouse, France – and confiscated all their property!
By the time the Roman Catholic armies finished these “crusades”, almost the entire population of southern France (mostly Albigensian Christians) had been exterminated.
The Waldenses called the Roman Church the harlot of Babylon, and the Papacy, the “man of sin” and “antichrist”.
Peter Waldo (1140-1218) was a rich merchant of Lyons, France, who gave up everything to preach the Gospel. Waldo’s followers called themselves “the Poor in Spirit“.
The Waldensians were orthodox in their beliefs, but they were outside of the organizational structure of the Roman Catholic Church. They traveled in pairs, preaching the Gospel. They were humble people who believed in “apostolic poverty”. They were barefoot, owning nothing, and they shared all things in common.
They were considered to be a threat because they set standards which made many members of the Catholic clergy look bad by comparison. In 1184, Pope Lucius III excommunicated Waldo and his followers.
They were students of prophecy from the oldest times. In the book of Waldensian Pastor Leger called “Treatise on Antichrist” written in 1120, said “That treatise brands the Romish Church as the harlot Babylon, and the Papacy as the “man of sin” and antichrist.”
Waldensian Reinerius Saccho asserted “that the Romish church is not the church of Jesus Christ, but a church of malignants and that it apostatized under Sylvester—and that the Church of Rome is the harlot in the apocalypse.” (The Testimony of The Reformers, E. Bickersteth, 1836, p. 46 from the Testimony of Reinerius Saccho, in 1254)
That was the faith and confession of the Waldenses, for which they were killed by the Papal Church.
“Whereupon we, with all our posterity, have to understand what be the reasons and arguments wherewith the antichrist of Rome is wont to uphold the impious seat of his abomination; who now is come to such excess and profundity of all kinds of iniquity, that all justice, equity, and verity being set aside, he seeketh the defence of his cause by no other thing than only by force and violence, terror and oppression, and shedding of blood.” Foxes Book of Martyrs: The Waldensian martyrs in Provence
Where not a few persons, but whole villages and townships, with the most part of all the aforesaid country, both men, women, and children, were put to all kinds of cruelty, and suffered martyrdom for the profession of the gospel.
The history of the persecutions and wars against the people called Waldenses or Waldois, in the valleys of Angrogne, Lucerne, St. Martin, Perouse, and others, in the country of Piedmont, from A.D. 1555, to A.D. 1561.
“For who would ever have judged or suspected in his mind, that the bishop of Rome (commonly received, and believed, almost of all men, to be the vicar and vicegerent of Christ here in earth) to be antichrist, and the great adversary of God, whom St. Paul so expressly prophesieth of, in these latter days to be revealed by the brightness of the Lord’s coming, as all men now, for the most part, may see it is come to pass?” Foxes Book of Martyrs: The Waldensian martyrs of Peidmont
Michal of Cesena declared the Church of Rome to be the Whore of Babylon.
Michal (1270-1342) who came out of the Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church declared the Pope “to be Antichrist, and the church of Rome to be the whore of Babylon, drunk with the blood of the saints.” Foxes Book of Martyrs, op cit., p. 445
John Wycliffe said Antichrist, the head of all these evil men, is the pope of Rome.
John, (1330-1384), called the Morning Star of the Reformation, spent most of his life teaching at Oxford University and was recognized by John of Guant (The Duke of Lancaster) as extraordinarily gifted in theology. He translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English and placed it in the hands of the people.
Wycliffe said of the Pope:
“When the western church was divided for about 40 years between two rival popes, one in Rome and the other in Avigon, France, each pope called the other pope antichrist – and John Wycliffe is reputed to have regarded them as both being right: “two halves of Antichrist, making up the perfect Man of Sin between them.”
“We suppose that Antichrist, the head of all these evil men, is the pope of Rome.” (Ibid, p. 90)
40 years after his death the Roman Catholic Church dug up his bones and had them burned and the ashes were thrown into the river.
Walter Brute was martyred for saying the Pope is the Antichrist.
Walter was a noted scholar, prophetic expositor and associate of Wycliffe. In 1391 he was accused of saying the pope is antichrist, and a seducer of the people, and utterly against the law and life of Christ, and he was killed for his testimony
http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe84.htm
Matthias of Janow said the Pope is the most wicked Christian, falsely styling himself by that name.
Matthias was a fourteenth-century Bohemian ecclesiastical writer. Matthias came to be known as the Bohemian Wycliffe. He received his doctorate from the University of Paris and in 1381 became the canon in the Cathedral of Prague. His writings paved the way for the Hussite movement.
Janow based his conclusions about the Antichrist on II Thessalonians 2, Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 and 17. Here is one of his statements:
“The Antichrist has already come. He is neither Jew, pagan Saracean nor worldly tyrant, but the ‘man who opposes Christian truth and the Christian life by way of deception;—he is, and will be, the most wicked Christian, falsely styling himself by that name, assuming the highest station in the church, and possessing the highest consideration, arrogating dominion over all ecclesiastics and laymen;’ one who, by the working of Satan, assumes to himself power and wealth and honor, and makes the church, with its goods and sacraments, subservient to his own carnal ends.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 40.
John Purvey said the Papacy was the kingdom of the Antichrist.
John (1354 – 1414) was one of the leading followers of the English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe during the late fourteenth and early.
Luther said “We are not the first who interpret the Papacy as the kingdom of Antichrist…He (John Purvey in 1390 AD) rightly and truly pronounces the Pope “Antichrist” as he is…a witness indeed, foreordained by God to confirm our doctrine.” (Martin Luther, Commentarius in Apocalypsin reprint).
Sir John Oldcastle, a follower of Wycliffe, proclaimed the Pope as the great Antichrist, the Son of Perdition, the open Adversary of God, and the Abomination standing in the holy place.
John (died in 1417) was an English Lollard leader, who was also known as Lord Cobham, was knight of Herefordshire, and a prominent follower of Wycliffe. He unequivocally stated:
“But as touching the Pope and his Spirituality, I owe them neither suit nor service, for so much as I know him by the Scriptures to be the great Antichrist, the Son of Perdition, the open Adversary of God, and the Abomination standing in the holy place.” (Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 88.)
Being a friend of Henry V, he long escaped prosecution for heresy.
He spoke of the Pope in these words: “I know him by the scriptures to be the great Antichrist, the son of Perdition… Rome is the very nest of Antichrist, and out of that nest come all the disciples of him.“ Guinness, op. cit., p. 134
When convicted, he escaped from the Tower of London and then led a rebellion against the King. Eventually, he was captured and executed in London. For his testimony King Henry V had him “hanged up by the middle, in chains of iron, and so consumed alive in the fire, praising the name of God as long as his life lasted.”(Ibid., pp. 636-641)
William White said that the pope… is nothing else but a devilish estate and heavy yoke of antichrist, and therefore he is an enemy unto Christ’s truth.
William was a follower of John Wycliffe, and he was well learned, upright, and a well-spoken priest.
“That the wicked living of the pope, and his holiness, is nothing else but a devilish estate and heavy yoke of antichrist, and therefore he is an enemy unto Christ’s truth.”
John Huss proclaimed the Antichrist has been revealed in the Pope for which he was burned to death.
John Huss (a.k.a. Jan Huss, 1372-1415) was a well-educated man from Bohemia, who came under the influence of Wycliffe’s writings, which caused him to break with the church of Rome.
A reformation sprang up in Southern Bohemia more than a century before the time of Luther, and was quenched in seas of blood. What gave rise to it? The testimonies of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. His followers became known as Hussites.
He referred to the Antichrist as the enemy of the Church – not as a Jew, a pagan, or a Turk(Muslim) – but as a false confessor of the name of Christ.
“Surely even at this day is the malice, the abomination, and filthiness of ANTICHRIST revealed in the pope...”
“The Pope is … the true Antichrist, of whom it is written, that he sitteth in the temple of God, among the people where Christ is worshiped…”
“I trust in God that He will send after me those that shall be more valiant; and there are alive at this day that shall make more manifest the malice of ANTICHRIST, and shall give their lives to the death for the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Among his dying words he proclaimed, “In 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.”
The name “Huss” meant goose in the Bohemian language, and he said “This day ye are burning a goose; but from my ashes will arise a swan, which ye will not be able to roast.”
Almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention (a list of 95 issues of heretical theology and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church) onto the church door at Wittenberg. The prophecy of John Hus had come true!
He was condemned as a Heretic by the Catholic Church and was burned to death by a bonfire made up of his books on July 6, 1415. He died singing to the Lord. His ashes were gathered and cast into the nearby Rhine River.
Jerome of Prague was burned at the stake for his testimony against the Roman Catholic Church.
Jerome of Prague (Jeroným Pražský in Czech, 1379 – 30 May 1416) was a Czech church reformer and one of the chief followers of Jan Hus who was burned for heresy at the Council of Constance.
The Roman Catholic Church accused him of the following: 1. That he was a derider of the papal dignity. 2. An opposer of the pope. 3. An enemy to the cardinals. 4. A persecutor of the prelates. 5. A hater of the Christian religion.
In going to the place of execution he sang several hymns, and when he came to the spot, which was the same where Huss had been burnt, he knelt down, and prayed fervently. He embraced the stake with great cheerfulness, and when they went behind him to set fire to the fagots, he said, “Come here, and kindle it before my eyes; for if I had been afraid of it, I had not come to this place.” The fire being kindled, he sang a hymn, but was soon interrupted by the flames; and the last words he was heard to say these, “This soul in flames I offer Christ, to Thee.”
John Purvey rightly and truly pronounced the Pope as Antichrist.
John (1354-1428), who was a close associate of John Wycliffe, published a commentary on the Apocalypse in 1390 based on Wycliffe’s sermons.
Over one hundred years later, a copy of this book came into the hands of Martin Luther who was so impressed by it that he reprinted it in Wittenberg in 1528 describing it as “a Commentary on the Apocalypse Written 100 Years Ago.”
Purvey’s Commentarius in Apocalypsin [Commentary on the Apocalypse] was prefaced by this impressive statement by Martin Luther:
“This preface, noble reader, you may understand was written by us for this reason—that we might make known to the world that we are not the first who interpret the Papacy as the kingdom of Antichrist. For many years prior to us, so many and so great men (whose number is large, and their memory eternal) have attempted this so clearly and openly, and that with great spirit and force, that [those] who were driven by the fury of the papal tyranny into the farthest boundaries of the earth, and suffering the most atrocious tortures, nevertheless bravely and faithfully persisted in the confession of the truth. Although we in this age are far more learned and free than they, yet we ought to be ashamed that they, held in great barbarity and captivity, were so much braver and bolder than we in spirit and fortitude.”
“For as this author was, for his age (as I think), among the first who sought learning and holiness most ardently, yet hindered by the defectiveness of the time and the reign of darkness could neither speak these things so purely nor think so clearly as in this our age we speak and think, yet he rightly and truly pronounces the Pope Antichrist, (as he is). . ..a witness, indeed, foreordained by God to confirm our doctrine.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, pp. 94-95.
William Tyndale said the Pope is the antichrist and his doctrine sprung of the devil.
William Tyndale (1493-1536) was an English scholar who became a leading figure in Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execution.
Tyndale translated the Greek Bible into English, but the Roman Catholic Church fought against him publishing it. The Catholic church believed that only the mother church is able to rightly interpret the Bible.
During a dinner meeting among priests and bishops where Tyndale was present, he said that he “defied the Pope and all his laws” and vowed that “a plough-boy would know more of the Scriptures than they“.
Tyndale said of the Pope;
“The pope’s forbidding matrimony, and to eat of meats created of God for man’s use, which is devilish doctrine by Paul’s prophecy,… are tokens good enough that he is the right antichrist, and his doctrine sprung of the devil.” 1 Timothy 4:1-3 Tyndale, An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue, in Works, vol. 3, p.
‘The Jews look for Christ, and he is come fifteen hundred years ago, and they not aware: we also have looked for antichrist, and he has reigned as long, and we not aware: and that because either of us looked carnally for him, and not in the place where we ought to have sought. The Jews had found Christ verily, if they had sought him in the law and the prophets, whither Christ sendeth them to seek. John v. We also had spied out antichrist long ago, if we had looked into the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, where, because the beast sees himself now to be sought for, he roars.’ (Ibid, p. 46)
Tyndale was caught, arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. While he was being tied at the stake, Tyndale prayed that the “eyes of the King would be opened.”
Here is William Tyndale tied to the stake to give his life for what he preached. After his death, the circulation of the English Bible providentially found its way into the hands of King Henry VIII. In seeing the masterful work done, Henry issued an edict that every church was to have one of these Bibles on display in their chapel. Henry did make one adjustment to the Bible, and that was the insertion of the header which pronounced him Defender of the Faith on the title page. Tyndale’s prayer was heard.
There were two pillars of the Protestant Reformers
The Two Witnesses of Revelation are the Word of God and the Church of Christ, both of which testify against the Roman Church.
The first is well known: Sola Gracia, Sola Christos, Sola Scriptura, Grace alone, Christ alone, the Bible alone; which testifies that Catholicism and salvation by the sacraments through the Papal Church, is false.
The second pillar was the identity of the Anti-Christ. The reformers are unanimous on the identity of this power described and defined in Daniel. You will not find one reformer that did not speak of the papacy as Antichrist, and identify the little horn power of Bible prophecy as the Holy Roman Empire that persecuted God’s Word and His people and magnified itself against Christ.
Huldreich Zwingli proclaimed the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist… the Papacy has to be abolished.
Zwingli (1484-1531) was a great Swiss Reformer who remarked about the Papacy:
“I know that in it works the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist… the Papacy has to be abolished… But by no other means can it be more thoroughly routed than by the word of God (2 Thessalonians 2), because as soon as the world receives this in the right way, it will turn away from the Pope without compulsion.” Principle Works of Zwingli, Vol. 7, p. 135.
“If we would live Christlike, everybody would fall away from Popedom, because they would recognize that nothing else than deceitful pomp stands behind it. [In this spirit] everything undertaken toward its fall will succeed. And I request that we break the might of the Papacy not by the power of hate, but by the power of love to God and to our neighbor. The Papacy has to be abolished or it conceals itself until it suppresses again the gospel. But by no means can it be more thoroughly routed than by the Word of God (2 Thess. 2), because as soon as the world receives this [the Word of God] in the right way, it will turn away from the pope without compulsion.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, pp. 334-335.
John Calvin said we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist.
John (1509-1564) was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. Trained at the University of Paris for the priesthood, he later he studied at Bourges where he became converted, and joined the reformation cause against the Roman Catholic heresy.
John Calvin declared,“I deny him to be the vicar of Christ, who, in furiously persecuting the gospel, demonstrates by his conduct that he is Antichrist–I deny him to be the successor of Peter..I deny him to be the head of the church.” “Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt…I shall briefly show that (Pauls words in 2 Thessalonians 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy” John Calvin, Tracts, Vol. 1, pp. 219,220. John Calvin, Institutes.
“Daniel and Paul had predicted that Antichrist would sit in the temple of God…we affirm him to be the Pope…Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak.” L. Froom, Prophetic Faith of our Fathers Volume 2 (Washington D.C: Review and Herald, 1948): 437.
Martin Luther declared “We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist.”
Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk, who the Lord called out of the Papal Church.
The Lord had him compare the Word of God with what the Popes taught, and he determined that the Papal Church was a false church, a harlot. Read The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11.
He declared his findings with the 95 Thesis, which he posted on the doors of the Church of Wittenburg, which sparked the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther, father of the Lutheran Church, declared “We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist.” (Source: The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, by LeRoy Froom. Vol. 2., pg. 121.)
“Oh Christ, my Lord, Look down upon us and bring upon us thy day of judgment and destroy the brood of Satan in Rome. There sits the man of whom the Apostle Paul wrote (2 Thess 2) That he will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, that man of sin, son of perdition. What else is papal power but sin and corruption? It leads souls to destruction under thine own name O Lord! I hope that day of judgement is soon to dawn. Things can and will not get worse than they are at this time. The Papal See is practicing iniquity to its heights. He suppresses the Law of God and exalts his commandments above the commandments of god.”
“Is not this to sit in the temple of God, to profess himself to be ruler in the whole Church? What is the temple of God? Is it stones and wood? Did not Paul say, The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are? To sit – what is it but to reign, to teach, and to judge? Who from the beginning of the Church has dared to call himself master of the whole Church by the pope alone?“ (Source: “Works” vol. ii., p. 385)
“Likewise in 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul clearly says that the man of sin shall rule in the Church, exalting himself against the worship of God, etc. But it is manifest that the popes do rule in the Church, and under title of the Church in defending idols. Wherefore I affirm that no heresy hath arisen, not indeed shall be, with which these descriptions of Paul can more truly and certainly accord and agree than to this Papal kingdom.”
“If you do not contend with your whole heart, against the impious government of the Pope, you cannot be saved. Whoever takes delight in the religion and worship of the Pope will be eternally lost in the world to come.“
“If you reject the Pope, you must expect to incur every kind of danger, even to lose your life but it is far better to be exposed to such perils in this world than to keep silent. So long as I live, I will denounce to my brothers the sore and the plaque of Babylon for fear that many who are with us should fall back like the rest into the bottomless pit” History of the Reformation vol15 p208
‘ The vicar is in the place of an absent chief,—what is such a vicar but Antichrist.’ ‘ I know and am certain that the papacy is the kingdom of Babylon.’ (Ibid, p. 47)
“Nothing else than the kingdom of Babylon and of very Antichrist….For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the church; while he yet sits in the church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny.” Martin Luther, First Principles, pp. 196-197
“Hearest thou this, O pope! not most holy, but most sinful pope! May God from his throne in heaven soon hurl thee from thy throne into the bottomless pit.” D’Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VI, Chapter III
“The papacy is none other than the kingdom of Babylon, and the violence of Nimrod the mighty hunter… The papacy is a general chase led by the Roman bishop to catch and destroy souls.” The Babylonian Captivity Of The Church
“I know that the pope is Antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan himself.“ D’Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VI, Chapter IX
“I hope that the last day is at the door. Things could not become worse than the Roman see makes it. It suppresses the commandments of God, it exalts its own commandments above God’s. If this is not Antichrist, then some one else must tell what it is.” – Luther’s Reformatory Works,” p. 280. Copenhagen: 1883.
Nicolaus von Amsdorf said that the pope is the real, true Antichrist.
Nicolaus (1483-1565) was a friend and ardent colleague of Martin Luther. Notice his words on the identity of Antichrist:
“He will be revealed and come to naught before the last day, so that every man shall comprehend and recognize that the pope is the real, true Antichrist and not the vicar of Christ. . . .Therefore those who consider the pope and his bishops as Christian shepherds and bishops are deeply in error, but even more are those who believe the Turk is the Antichrist. Because the Turk rules outside of the church and does not sit in the holy place, nor does he seek to bear the name of Christ but is an open antagonist of Christ and His church. This does not need to be revealed, but it is clear and evident because he persecutes Christians openly and not as the pope does, secretly under the form of godliness.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 305., Furnemliche und gewisse Zeichen, sig.A2r.,v.)
Philipp Melanchthon, a German Reformer, said that the Roman Pontiff is the antichrist.
Philipp (1497-1560), born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was Martin Luther’s closest collaborator, though of a calmer spirit. His concept of the Antichrist is unmistakable:
“Since it is certain that the pontiffs and the monks have forbidden marriage, it is most manifest, and true without any doubt, that the Roman Pontiff, with his whole order and kingdom, is very Antichrist. Likewise in II Thes. 2, Paul clearly says that the man of sin will rule in the church exalting himself above the worship of God, etc. . . . But it is certain that the popes do rule in the church, and under the title of the church in defending idols. . . . “Wherefore I affirm that no heresy hath risen, nor indeed shall be, with which these descriptions of Paul can more truly and certainly accord and agree than with this pontifical kingdom. . . .The prophet Daniel also attributes these two things to Antichrist; namely, that he shall place an idol in the temple, and worship [it] with gold and silver; and that he shall not honor women. . . .That both of them belong to the Roman Pontiff, who does not clearly see? The idols are clearly the impious masses, the worship of saints, and the statues which are exhibited in gold and silver that they may be worshiped.” Translated from Melanchthon, Disputationes, No. 56, “De Matrimonio”, in Opera (Corpus Reformatorum), vol. 12 col. 535
Ulriucus Zuinglius said the Pope is the Antichrist whom Paul described.
Ulriucus was a zealous reformer, born at Wildehausen, in Switzerland. In regard to 2 Thessalonians 2 (answering the papal application of it to the Protestants,) he said:
“Let our doctrine be examined, and it will appear that they are false. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, and that he is the only Reconciler and the only succour of man, but the Papists preach the Pope, the Antichrist, whom here Paul so accurately describes.” (Ibid, p. 47)
Confession of the Glastonbury Congregation (1551)…French refugees in England who first gathered under Calvin and Farel.
“Moreover I renounce the Pope as the Roman Antichrist, and his whole doctrine and religion…“
London Confession of John à Lasco (1551)
“We further beseech thee, O Most Merciful Father, for the preservation of the Churches of this Kingdom, as well as all of the others scattered throughout the entire world, in which the Doctrine of thy Son is being proclaimed, cleansed of the blasphemies of the Roman antichrist.
John Hooper said the Pope is the capital enemy of Christ and his religion.
John was the Bishop of Gloucester from 1551-1554. He was a proponent of the English Reformation, he was martyred during the Queen Mary Persecutions.
He spoke strong words about the identity of the Antichrist:
“If godly Moses and his brother Aaron never acclaimed this title [to be God’s vicar and lieutenant] in the earth, doubtless it is a foul and detestable arrogancy that these ungodly bishops of Rome attribute unto themselves to be the heads of Christ’s church. . . .“Because God hath given this light unto my countrymen, which be all persuaded (or else God sent them to be persuaded!), that the Bishop of Rome, nor none other is Christ’s vicar upon the earth, it is no need to use any long or copious oration: it is so plain that it needeth no probation: the very properties of Antichrist, I mean of Christ’s great and principal enemy, are so openly known to all men that are not blinded with the smoke of Rome, that they know him to be the beast that John describeth in the Apocalypse.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 382.
“Of that wicked and pestilent see and chair in Rome, which is indeed the very whore of Babylon that St. John describeth in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, sitting upon a seven-headed beast, which John himself interpreteth to be seven hills and the children in the grammar-school do know that Rome is called civitas septem montium, the city of seven hills.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 383.
Master John Bradford, who was martyred in 1555, said “the usurped authority of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome is undoubtedly that great Antichrist.”
Master John, a faithful Minister and pillar of Christ’s Church, valiantly and cheerfully gave his blood in the name of Christ. In a letter to Lady Vane, he wrote,
‘ The usurped authority of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome is undoubtedly that great Antichrist, of whom the apostles do so much admonish us.’
In his Sermon on the Lord’s Supper, he said,
‘ It is a plain sign of Antichrist to deny the substance of bread and wine to be in the Lord’s Supper after consecration; for in so doing, and in granting transubstantiation, the property of the human nature of Christ is denied ; for it is not of the human nature, but of the divine nature, to be in many places at once.
Now grant transubstantiation, and then Christ’s natural body must needs be in many places, which is nothing else but to confound the two natures in Christ, or to deny Christ’s human nature, which is the self same thing, St. John says, to deny Christ to be come in the flesh.’ (Ibid, p. 45)
“Wherefore I now am condemned and shall be burned as an heretic. For, because I will not grant the antichrist of Rome to be Christ’s vicar-general and supreme head of his church here and every where upon earth, by God’s ordinance.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 378.
Notice Bradford’s remarkably strong words to a fellow laborer:
“This bearer hath told me, that your desire is to have something sent to you concerning the usurped authority of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome, which is undoubtedly that great Antichrist, of whom the apostles do so much admonish us; that you may have as well something the more to stay you on, as also wherewith to answer the adversaries, because you may perchance therein be something opposed. To satisfy this your desire I will briefly go about, and so that I will, by God’s grace, fully set forth the same, to enarm you to withstand the assaults of the papists herein, if you mark well and read over again that which I now write.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 379.
In 1555 Hugh Latimer said before being burned to death, “What fellowship have Christ with Antichrist?“
He attended Cambridge University and in 1535, he was appointed Bishop of Worcester. He began to preach publicly on the need for the translation of the Bible into English. This was a dangerous move as the first translation of the New Testament by William Tyndale had recently been banned by the Pope.
Latimer was called before Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and he was given an admonition and a warning. For his witness, Latimer was burned to death in 1555 by the Catholic Church next to Nicholas Ridley. Latimer said of the Pope;
‘ What fellowship hath Christ with Antichrist ? Therefore it is not lawful to bear the yoke with the Papists. Come forth from among them, and separate yourselves from them, saith the Lord.’ (Ibid, p. 45)
Nicholas Ridley said before being burned to death that the See of Rome is the seat of Satan.
He was the English Bishop of London, he received his Master’s degree in 1525 from Pembroke College, Cambridge. He played a major part in many intellectual discussions on religion, primarily Anglican doctrine. He also ordered the removal of images from churches under his jurisdiction.
Latimer was quoted as having said to Ridley:” Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.“
Ridley, in his farewell letter, before he suffered, he said;
“The see of Rome is the seat of Satan, and the bishop of the same, that maintaineth the abominations thereof, is Antichrist himself indeed. And for the same causes, this see at this day is the same which St. John calls, in his Revelation, Babylon, or the whore of Babylon, and spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, the mother of fornications and abominations upon earth.” (Ibid, p. 45)
Again, in his Lamentation for the Change of Religion, he said;
“What city is there in the whole world that, when John wrote, ruled over the kings of the earth? or what city can be read of, in any time, that, of the city itself, challenged the empire over the kings of the earth, but only the city of Rome, and that since the usurpation of that see, has grown to her full strength?” (Ibid, p. 45)
Thomas Cranmer said before being burned to death that the Pope is Christ’s enemy, and the antichrist.
Cranmer (1489-1556) as the Archbishop of Canterbury, he was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the reformed Church of England.
Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy, imprisoned for two years. He was set in a tower and forced to watch the execution of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. He fainted at the sight of the burnings and under pressure, he renounced his faith.
At his execution on March 21, 1556, he withdrew his forced confession, and proclaimed the truth of the Protestant faith, and testified against the Pope;
“Christ biddeth us to obey the king. The bishop of Rome biddeth us to obey himself: therefore unless he be antichrist, I cannot tell what to make of him. Wherefore if I should obey him, I cannot obey Christ.”
“Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons.” (Works by Cranmer, vol.1, pp.6-7)
“He is like the devil in his doings; for the devil said to Christ, If thou wilt fall down and worship me, I will give thee all the kingdoms of the world. Thus he took upon him to give that which was not his own. Even so the bishop of Rome giveth princes their crowns, being none of his own; for where princes either by election, either by succession, either by inheritance, obtain their crown, he saith that they should have it from him.”
“O heinous blasphemy and most detestable injury against Christ ! O wicked abominations in the temple of God ! O pride intolerable of Antichrist, and most manifest token of the son of perdition, extolling himself above God, and with Lucifer exalting his seat and power above the throne of God ! For he that taketh upon him to supply that thing which he pretend to be imperfect in Christ must needs make himself above Christ, and so very Antichrist.”“And thus he sitteth in the temple of God, as if he were a God; and nameth himself God’s vicar, and yet he dispenseth against God. If this be not to play antichrist’s part, I cannot tell what is antichrist, which is no more to say, but Christ’s enemy and adversary; who shall sit in the temple of God, advancing himself above all others, yet by hypocrisy and feigned religion, shall subvert the true religion of Christ, and under pretence and colour of Christ’s religion, shall work against Christ, and therefore hath the name of antichrist.”
“This enemy of God and of our redemption, is so evidently painted out in the Scriptures by such manifest signs and tokens, which all so clearly appear in him, that except a man will shut up his eyes and heart against the light, he cannot but know him.”
‘ As for the Pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy and the Antichrist, with all his false doctrine.‘ (The Testimony of The Reformers, E. Bickersteth, 1836, pp. 44,45)
“After all these sprung up the pope, that triple-crowned monster, and great antichrist, which took upon him authority, not only over the clergy but also climbed above kings and emperors, deposing them at his pleasure, and settled himself in the temple of God, that is, in the consciences of men, extolling himself above God, dispensing with good laws, and giving men leave to break them, and to regard more his decrees than the everlasting commandments of God.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 392.
He was taken to where Latimer and Ridley had been burnt six months before and set on fire. He placed his hand in the fire, the hand with which he had falsely signed his renouncement of his beliefs, and said;
“This hath offended!” He held his hand in the fire never pulling it out until the fire took all of him.
Master Bullingham said the pope is antichrist, Rome religion from hell.
‘I tell thee plainly, Bullingham, John Calvin (whose Institutions I have perused since our departure) telleth me plainly, by God’s word, that it is an idol; and that the pope is antichrist, and his clergy the filthy sink-hole of hell. And now I believe it; for I feel it sensibly. O that God had revealed these matters unto me in times past! I would have bequeathed this Romish religion (or rather irreligion) to the devil of hell, from whence it came.” From Bridgewater, April 26, anno 1562.
John Maundrel, William Coberly, and John Spicer said the Pope is God’s enemy.
They are known as the three martyrs suffering at Salisbury. They were asked whether the pope was supreme head of the church, and Christ’s vicar on earth; they answered negatively, saying, that the bishop of Rome doth usurp over emperors and kings, being antichrist, and God’s enemy. http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe336.htm
For their witness, they were burned to dead on March 24 1556 outside Salisbury, Wiltshire
Robert Drakes, William Tyms, Richard Spurge, Thomas Spurge, John Cavel, and George Ambrose, were burned to death for proclaiming that the Pope is the Antichrist.
Robert Drakes, minister; William Tyms, curate; Richard Spurge, shearman; Thomas Spurge, fuller; John Cavel, weaver; George Ambrose, fuller; professed the Gospel of Christ and proclaimed that the Pope was the Antichrist.
Tyms said “you have the popish church of Rome for you, for which you be perjured and forsworn. And the see of Rome is the see of antichrist; and therefore to that church.”
Drakes said, “As for your Church of Rome, I utterly defy and deny it, with all the works thereof, even as I deny the devil and all his works.”
On April 23, 1556, they were burned in Smithfield at one fire, these six constant martyrs of Christ, suffering for the profession of the gospel. http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe337.htm
John Hullie was burned to death for proclaiming that the Pope is the Antichrist.
John (1520-1556), a minister, who, being first brought up in the school of Eton, was afterward scholar, and then conduct in the King’s College, at Cambridge.
To the congregation of Christ’s faithful followers, he wrote;
“The words be these; If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured into the cup of his wrath, and he shall be punished with fire and brimstone before the holy angels, and before the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up evermore.”
“Mark well here, good Christians, who is this beast, and worshippers that shall be partakers of that unspeakable torment. The beast is none other but the carnal and fleshly kingdom of antichrist, the pope with his rabble of false prophets and ministers, as it is most manifest; which, to maintain their high titles, worldly promotions, and dignities, do with much cruelty, daily more and more set forth and establish their own traditions, decrees, decretals, contrary to God’s holy ordinances, statutes, laws, and commandments, and wholly repugnant to his sincere and pure religion and true worshipping.” http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe340.htm
For his testimony, he was burned to death by the Roman Catholic Church in 1556.
Henry Adlington, Laurence Pernam, Henry Wye, William Halliwel, Thomas Bowyer, George Searles, Edmund Hurst, Lyon Cawch, Ralph Jackson, John Derifall, John Routh, Elizabeth Pepper, and Agnes George; were all burnt in one fire, for proclaiming the Pope as Antichrist under the devil.
This happy and blessed order of martyrs burnt in one fire at Stratford-le-Bow by London, eleven men and two women, whose dwellings were in sundry places in Essex.
The Papal church accused them of proclaiming the following:
The see of Rome is the see of antichrist, the congregation of the wicked, &c., whereof the pope is head, under the devil. The mass is not only a profanation of the Lord’s supper, but also a blasphemous idol.
For their testimony, they were burned to death by the Roman Catholic Church in 1556. http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe347.htm
Agnes Prest was burned to death for proclaiming that the Pope is the Antichrist and the devil.
Agnes, of Launceston, Cornwall, was examined by the Papal Church. Then stept forth an old friar, and asked her what she said of the holy pope.
“I say, that he is antichrist and the devil.” Then they all laughed. “Nay,” said she, “you have more need to weep than to laugh, and to be sorry that ever you were born, to be the chaplains of that whore of Babylon: what profit riseth by you that teach nothing but lies for truth? How save you souls, when you preach nothing but damnable lies, and destroy souls?“
For her testimony, she was burned to death by the Roman Catholic Church on August 15, 1557. http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe390.htm
Ralph Allerton, James Austoo, Margery Austoo, and Richard Roth; were burned to death for calling the Roman Catholic Church the persecuting church of Antichrist.
The Papal church accused them of proclaiming the following:
“The church which they call us unto, is the church of antichrist, a persecuting church and the church malignant.”
For their testimony, they were burned to death by the Roman Catholic Church on September 17 1557 http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe369.htm
John Jewel proclaimed that the Popes of Rome are the Little Horn of Daniel.
John (1522-1571) was bishop of Salisbury and one of the great intellectuals of the English Reformation. In 1562 he published his monumental work, Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae. This work, translated into many languages, was a statement of the position of the Church of England against Roman Catholicism.
Jewel lists Roman Catholicism’s misconceptions about the Antichrist (that he would be a Jew from the tribe of Dan, that he would be born in Babylonia or Syria, or that he would be Mohammed, or Nero), and then points out that all of these concepts are merely smoke screens to hide the identity of the true Antichrist:
“These tales have been craftily devised to be guile our eyes, that, whilst we think upon these guesses, and so occupy ourselves in beholding a shadow or probable conjecture of antichrist, he which is antichrist indeed may unawares deceive us.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 407.
Jewel then goes to Scripture to unmask the pretender:“This whole matter is also expressed in the seventh of Daniel: ‘The fourth beast was fearful and terrible and very strong: it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue under his feet; and it was unlike to the beasts that were before it; for it had ten horns.’ ‘And, behold, there came up among them another little horn. . . . which had eyes like a man and a mouth speaking presumptuous things.’ “This beast is the empire of Rome, the greatest empire that ever was. It was divided into ten, or into sundry kingdoms; as I shewed you, and as we see this day. The little horn is antichrist. The empire shall be divided and weakened: then antichrist shall come. ‘He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall consume the saints of the Most High, and think that he may change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand.’ Wherein he sheweth not only the pride and presumption of antichrist, but that he shall also prevail for a time. Such a one there hath been, and yet is. He blasphemeth God, murdereth the saints, hath changed times and laws, the laws of God and the laws of nature. He is antichrist.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 410.
Jewel employed the historicist method to reach his conclusions. This allowed Jewel to see that the Antichrist was not some past or future individual but rather a present system. In fact, Froom quotes Jewel to the effect that the Antichrist would arise in Rome, the city of seven hills. Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 410.
Matthias Flacius Illyricus said the Roman clergy is the real true great antichrist, and that his kingdom is the real Babylon.
Flacius (1520-1575) was a Lutheran reformer from Istria, present day Croatia.
“The sixth and last reason for our separation from the pope and his followers be this; By many writings of our church, by the Divinely inspired Word, by prophecies concerning the future and by the special characteristics of the Papacy, it has been profusely and thoroughly proved that the pope with his prelates and clergy is the real true great antichrist, that his kingdom is the real Babylon, a never ceasing fountain and a mother of all abominable idolatry.” (Flacius, Etliche Hochwichtige Ursachen und Grunde, warum das siche alle Christen von dem Antichrist … absondern sollen)
John Knox said “ the pope should be recognized as “the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks.”
John Knox (1505-1572) was a great leader of the Reformation in Scotland. He too believed that the papacy was the predicted Antichrist of Daniel. Notice his own words:
“First, then, not only are all the impious traditions and ceremonies of the papists taken away, but also that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church, is altogether abolished; and it is provided that all persons shall in the future acknowledge him to be the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks. . . . The mass is abolished, as being an accursed abomination and a diabolical profanation of the Lord’s Supper; and it is forbidden to all persons in the whole kingdom of Scotland either to celebrate or hear it.” John Knox, The Zurich Letters, p. 199.
John Knox’s first public sermon was on the 7th book of Daniel proving the pope to be the Antichrist. His sermon was marked by his consideration of the Bible as his sole authority and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, two elements that would remain in his thoughts throughout the rest of his life. John Knox said of the Pope;
“that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church.” As with Luther, he finally concluded that the Papacy was “the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks.”(Source: The Zurich Letters, pg. 199)
In a public challenge he declared:
“As for your Roman Church, as it is now corrupted… I no more doubt but that it is the synagogue of Satan, and the head therof, called the Pope, to be the man of sin of whom the apostle speaketh.” Knox, The Zurich Letters, p.199
“That the pope is the head of the [church] of the antichrist.” (The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, John Knox, 1841, p. 5)
Heinrich Bullinger said the Little Horn is the kingdom of the Roman pope.
Heinrich (1504-1575) was Zwingli’s intimate friend and succeeded him as chief pastor of the Zurich Cathedral in 1531. Notice his clear and forthright comment on the identity of the Antichrist:
“By the little horn many understand the kingdom of Mohammed, of the Saraceans and of the Turks. But when the apostolic prophecy in Second Thessalonians 2 is more carefully examined, it seems that this prophecy of Daniel and that prophecy of the apostle belong more rightly to the kingdom of the Roman pope, which kingdom has arisen from small beginnings and has increased to an immense size.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 344.
William Fulke proclaimed the Pope as the Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition.
William (1538-1589) was an English Puritan who clearly understood the identity and work of the Antichrist:
“The see being found, it is easy to find the person by St. Paul’s description; and this note especially, that excludeth the heathen tyrants, ‘He shall sit in the temple of God’: which when we see to be fulfilled in the Pope although none of the eldest Fathers could see it, because it was performed after their death, we nothing doubt to say and affirm still, that the Pope is that ‘Man of Sin,’ and ‘Son of Perdition,’ the adversary that lifteth up himself ‘above all that is called God’; and shall be destroyed by the spirit of the Lord’s mouth, and by the glory of His coming.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 423.
Georg Nigrinus said the Papacy is the antichrist of which Daniel, Paul, Peter, John and even Christ prophesied.
Georg Nigrinus (1530 – 1602) Evangelical theologian and teacher, and prolific exegete, chiefly on prophecy.
“The Jesuits claim to be sorely offended and have taken my declarations as an insult and blasphemy in branding the Papacy as the antichrist of which Daniel, Paul, Peter, John and even Christ prophesied. But this is as true as it is that Jesus is the Messiah, and I am prepared to show it even by their own definition of the word ‘antichrist’.” (Translated from “Nigrinus, Antichrists Grundliche Offenbarung” fol. 6v.)
In an argument dealing with the Jesuit explanation that antichrist would reign for three and a half year, he said:
“This Jesuit further contends that the papacy cannot be antichrist because the papacy has lasted for centuries, but that the antichrist is supposed to reign only 3 ½ years….But no one doubts today that Daniel spoke of year-days, not literal days….The prophetic time-periods of forty-two months, 1260 days, 1,2,½ times are prophetic, and according to Ezekiel 4, a day must be taken for a year.” (Nigrinus, “Antichrists Grundtliche Offenbarung” fils 28v,29r cited in Froom 2:328)
John Napier proclaimed that Rome is Babylon and the Pope is the Antichrist.
John (1550-1617) was lord of Merchiston. He was a distinguished mathematician who invented logarithms and was also an ardent defender of the Protestant cause. In 1593 Napier completed his Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of Saint John. This was the first significant Scottish work on the interpretation of Scripture, particularly the prophecies. He identified Rome as the whore of Revelation:
“. . .the whoore, who in the Revelation is stiled spirituall Babylon, is not reallie Babylon, but the verie present Citie of Rome.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 459.
In proposition 26 of his work, Napier is even more explicit:
“The Pope is that only Antichrist, prophesied of, in particular.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 461.
Napier then expands upon what he means [in old english]:
“There is one particular Apostalik kingdome, who is the chief and principall of all Antichrists, and is that great Antichrist, whom Paul calles the man of sinne, and the sonne of perdition, adversary to God, and an extoller of himself above all that is called God, with divers other epithets conteined. . . . Leaving therefore all other smaller Antichrists, this great Antichrist and chiefe heade of all Antichrists, is he whome here we have to trie out, whom (for remooving of all doubts) wee say cannot be the Mahomet, neither any Turk, lewe, or Ethnick.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 461.
Geneva Study Bible included study notes from the Protestant Reformers, that all proclaimed that the Popes of Rome were the antichrist beast.
Modern believers can read the Scriptures with help from the theology of Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, and other Reformation leaders. It was first printed in 1560. This Bible helped the Protestants understand how the Popes and the Church of Rome fulfilled Bible prophecy, as the antichrist beast which warred against the Saints.
It was used by the Protestants who fled the persecution of the Papal beast, and came to America. When the King James was published, it did not include their commentaries, so much was lost in the KJ Bible version.
You can read the Geneva Bible @ http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/
The Church of England declared that the Papal Church of Rome is the Babylonian beast.
The Articles of the Church are almost one series of testimonies against Papal doctrines. In the Homilies, sanctioned by these Articles, the following testimonies appear respecting the Pope as antichrist, Babylon, and the Man of Sin.
In the Homily of Obedience, Part iii.
‘ The Bishop of Rome teaches, that they that are under him are free from all burdens and charges of the commonwealth, and obedience towards their prince; most clearly against Christ’s doctrine and St. Peter’s. HE OUGHT THEREFORE RATHER TO BE CALLED ANTICHRIST, and the successor of the scribes and pharisees, than Christ’s vicar, or St. Peter’s successor; SEEING THAT, not only on this point, but also in other weighty matters of Christian religion, in matters of remission and forgiveness of sins, and of salvation, HE TEACHETH SO DIRECTLY AGAINST BOTH St. PETER, AND AGAINST OUR SAVIOUR CHRIST.’
In the Homily against Peril of Idolatry, Part iii., speaking of the worship of images, and the miracles of the Papists, the Homily says—
‘ The scriptures have for a warning hereof shewed, that THE KINGDOM OF ANTICHRIST shall be mighty in miracles and wonders to the strong illusion of all the reprobates.’ And again, ‘ Such sumptuous decking of images with gold, silver, and precious stones, be a token of Antichrist’s kingdom, who, as the prophet foreshows, shall worship God with such gorgeous things.’
Sermon against Wilful Rebellion, Part v.—
‘After this ambition, [to be head of all the church, and lord of all kingdoms,] the Bishop of Rome became at ONCE THE SPOILER AND DESTROYER both OF THE CHURCH, which is the kingdom of our Saviour Christ, and of the Christian empire, and all Christian kingdoms, as an universal tyrant over all.’
‘ In king John’s time, the Bishop of Rome, understanding the brute blindness, ignorance of God’s word, and superstition of Englishmen, and how much they were inclined to worship THE BABYLONIAN BEAST OF ROME, and to fear all his threatenings and causeless cursings, he abused them thus, and by their rebellion brought this noble realm of England under his most cruel tyranny.’ (The Testimony of The Reformers, E. Bickersteth, 1836, pp. 43,44)
A homily of the Church of England or Anglican Church:
“He ought therefore rather be called Antichrist, and the successor of the Scribes and Pharisees, than Christ’s vicar or St. Peter’s successor” “Homilies,” part 3,Homily of Obedience, (Cambridge: Corrie, 1850), p. 114.
The Church of Scotland Confession of Faith declared the Pope as the Antichrist, the man of sin and son of perdition.
‘ There is no other Head of the Church than the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the Pope of Rome be in any sense the Head thereof ; but is that antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.’ Ch. xxv. s. 6. (Ibid, p. 44)
The Lutheran confession of faith 1603 testified that “the Pope is the very Antichrist, who exalteth himself above, and opposeth himself against Christ.”
“The Pope is the very Antichrist, who exalteth himself above, and opposeth himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God.” The Smalcald Articles.
“Since the Bishop of Rome has erected a monarchy in Christendom, claiming for himself dominion over all churches and pastors, exalting himself to be called God, wishing to be adored, boasting to have all power in heaven and upon earth, to dispose of all ecclesiastical matters, to decide upon articles of faith, to authorize and interpret at his pleasure the Scriptures, to make a traffic of souls, to disregard vows and oaths, to appoint new divine services; and in respect to the civil government, to trample underfoot the lawful authority of magistrates, by taking away, giving, and exchanging kingdoms, we believe and maintain that it is the very Antichrist and the son of perdition, predicted in the Word of God under the emblem of a harlot clothed in scarlet, seated upon the seven hills of the great city, which has dominion over the kings of the earth; and we expect that the Lord will consume it with the spirit of his mouth, and finally destroy it with the brightness of his coming, as he has promised and has already begun to do.” Article 31 of the Confession of Faith adopted in 1603 in the Synod held at Gap, under the leadership of Henry IV of France.
The Irish Articles of Religion of 1615 testified that the Bishop of Rome is the Man of Sin.
“The Bishop of Rome is so far from being the supreme head of the universal Church of Christ, that his works and doctrines do plainly discover him to be that man of sin, foretold in the holy Scriptures, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and abolish with the brightness of His coming.” Article 80 of the Irish Articles of Religion of 1615. Quoted in Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 553.
The London Baptist Confession of 1689, proclaims that the Popes of Rome is the antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ.
“The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God; whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” (Ibid.)
Westminster Confession of Faith states that the Popes of Rome is the antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ.
This confession was ratified and established by Act of Parliament in 1649.
The Westminster Confession of Faith declared, “There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.” (Source: Chapter 25, Point 6)
Samuel Lee proclaimed that the Roman Pontiff is the antichrist.
Samuel (1625-1691) was a learned minister from New Bristol, Rhode Island, who affirmed:
“It is agreed among all maintainers of the Evangelical Church that the Roman Pontiff is Antichrist.” Samuel Lee, The Cutting Off of Antichrist, p. 1.
Roger William called the Pope’s prisons, the devil’s prisons.
Roger (1603-1683), who lived in the early Colonial period, the first Baptist Pastor in America, was a staunch defender of civil and religious freedom. He had to flee the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the dead of winter because he believed in the strict separation of church and state. In fact, the “wall” metaphor can be traced back to Roger Williams long before it was used by Thomas Jefferson. Notice his view of the Antichrist:
“Antichrist (by the help of Civil Powers) hath his prisons, to keep Christ Jesus and his members fast: such prisons may well be called Bishops prisons, the Popes, the Devils prisons: These inquisition houses have ever been more terrible then the Magistrates.” Froom, PFF, volume 1, p. 51.
He spoke of the Pope as “the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God himself…speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition (II Thess. 2).” Taken from The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers by Froom, Vol. 3, pg. 52.
Cotton Mather said that all the characteristics of Antichrist are answered in the Popes of Rome.
Cotton (1663-1728) in his book, Fall of Babylon, remarks:
“Is the Pope of Rome to be looked upon as The Antichrist, whose coming and reigning was foretold in the ancient oracles? The oracles of God foretold the rising of an Antichrist in the Christian church; and in the Pope of Rome, all the characteristics of that Antichrist are so marvelously answered that if any who read the Scriptures do not see it, there is a marvelous blindness upon them.” Froom, PFF, volume 3, p. 113.
Samuel Cooper wrote that if Antichrist is not to be found in the chair of St. Peter, he is nowhere to be found.
Samuel (1725-1783) in his “A Discourse on the Man of Sin,” p. 12., wrote:
“If Antichrist is not to be found in the chair of St. Peter, he is nowhere to be found.”
Sir Isaac Newton taught that the Church of Rome was the Little Horn of Daniel.
Isaac (1643-1727) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and also a faithful expositor of Bible prophecy.
“But it [the little horn] was a kingdom of a different kind from the other ten kingdoms. . . . By its eyes it was a Seer; and by its mouth speaking great things and changing times and laws, it was a Prophet as well as a King. And such a Seer , a Prophet and a King, is the Church of Rome. A Seer. . . .is a Bishop in the literal sense of the word; and this church claims the universal Bishopric. With his mouth he gives laws to kings and nations as an Oracle; and pretends to Infallibility, and that his dictates are binding to the whole world; which is to be a Prophet in the highest degree.” Sir Isaac Newton, Observations Upon the Prophecies (London: 1831 edition), p. 75.
John Wesley said that the whole succession of popes from Gregory VII. are undoubtedly Antichrist.
John (1703-1791), an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian, was largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement.
John wrote about the Pope;
“He is in an emphatical sense, the Man of Sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly styled the Son of Perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his opposers and followers… He it is…that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped…claiming the highest power, and highest honour…claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone.” (Source: Antichrist and His Ten Kingdoms, by John Wesley, pg. 110.)
“The whole succession of popes from Gregory VII. are undoubtedly Antichrist. Yet this hinders not, but that the last pope in this succession will be more eminently the Antichrist, The man of sin, adding to that of his predecessors, a peculiar degree of wickedness from the bottomless pit.” (Explanatory notes upon the New Testament, John Wesley, Vol. II, 1813, p. 431)
Michael Angelo Tamburinin, the Jesuit General, the Black Pope, said that they control the whole world.
“See, my lord, from this room – from this room I govern not only Paris, but China: not only China, but the whole world, without any one knowing how ’tis managed.” Michael Angelo Tamburinin, 1720, General of the Jesuits, speaking to the Duke of Brancas.
Jonathan Edwards said that the greatest and most cruel enemy of the Church of Christ is the church of Rome.
Jonathan was an American preacher and theologian, who is perhaps best known for his role in the Great Awakenings of the mid 1700’s.
Commenting on the Roman Catholic church in his History of Redemption, Jonathan Edwards stated,
“So that antichrist has proved the greatest and most cruel enemy the church of Christ ever had, agreeable to the description given of the church of Rome, [Rev. xvii. 6.] ‘And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.‘” “Thus did the devil, and his great minister antichrist, rage with violence and cruelty against the church of Christ! And thus did the whore of Babylon make herself drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus!” (History of Redemption, Jonathan Edwards, 1793, pp. 452, 460)
Marquis de LaFayette said that the Jesuits are the most crafty, dangerous enemy of civil and religious liberty.
Marquis (1757-1834) stated;
“It is my opinion that if the liberties of this country – the United States of America – are destroyed, it will be by the subtlety of the Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, for they are the most crafty, dangerous enemies to civil and religious liberty. They have instigated most of the wars of Europe.” Romanism: A Menace to the Nation, Jeremiah J. Crowley p. 140
Napoleon Bonaparte said that the Jesuits of Rome are a military organization, who seeks world power.
Napoleon (1769-1821) was a great military leader and the Emperor of France after the French Revolution.
“The Jesuits are a military organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is power – power in its most despotic exercise – absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man [Ed.: i.e., the “Black Pope”, the Superior General of the Jesuits]. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms [sic] – and at the same time the greatest and most enormous of abuses…”
John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, knew the Catholic religion was the enemy of the nation.
“I have long been decided in opinion that a free government and the Roman Catholic religion can never exist together in any nation or Country.” “Liberty and Popery cannot live together.”
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, said that the Jesuits of Rome deserve eternal perdition in hell.
“I do not like the late Resurrection of the Jesuits. They have a General, now in Russia, in correspondence with jesuits in the U.S. who are more numerous than everybody knows. Shall We not have Swarms of them here? In as many shapes and disguises as ever…. In the shape of printers, Editors, Writers, School masters, etc. If ever any Congregation of men could merit, eternal Perdition on Earth and in Hell… it is this Company of Loyola.”
“This irritable tribe of priests, have subverted the pure morality of primitive Christianity to serve their own selfish interests.” The Jesuits have “perverted” Christianity “into an engine for enslaving mankind, a mere contrivance to fetch wealth and power to themselves.”
Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher recognized the papacy as the Antichrist.
From the Reformation period to the weakening of the temporal power of the papacy, from the First Great Awakening in America on into the twentieth century, the vast majority of Protestant ministers of the Gospel recognized the papacy as Antichrist.
In a sermon delivered before the American Board of Missions at New York on October 12, 1827, Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher said,
“Popery is a system where science and ignorance, refinement and barbarism, wisdom and stupidity, taste and animalism, mistaken zeal and malignant enmity, may sanctimoniously pour out their virulence against the Gospel, and cry Hosanna, while they go forth to shed the blood and to wear out the patience of the saints.
And though by revolutions it has been shaken, and compelled by motives of policy to cease a little from blood, not a principle of this system has been abandoned. All the wiles of ages past are put in requisition now to heal the fatal wounds which the beast has received, and to render the system still more powerful and terrific.
The leaven is in secret and in open operation in this country ; and the quick action of the beast to the touch of the spear shows that he is neither dead nor asleep. And, considering the civilization, and wealth, and science, which the system comprehends, it is from popery, no doubt, that the Gospel is destined to experience the last and most determined resistance,— popery, as sustained by and sustaining despotic governments.” (Beecher’s Works., Vol. II., Lyman Beecher, D.D., 1852, pp. 418, 419)
Samuel F.B. Morse said that the Jesuits are the most dangerous secret society.
Samuel (1791-1872), American inventor of the telegraph, who documented foreign conspiracy, said;
“The Jesuits…are a secret society – a sort of Masonic order – with superadded features of revolting odiousness, and a thousand times more dangerous.”
Samuel Adams proclaimed that Popery is the enemy of American civil rights.
Samuel (1722-1803) American Revolutionary leader and statesman;
“I did verily believe, as I do still, that much more is to be dreaded from the growth of Popery [Ed.: i.e., the religion of the church of Rome] in America than from the Stamp Act or any other Act destructive of civil rights.” (1768)
Abraham Lincoln said that the priests of Rome (the Jesuits) hate the American liberties.
Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th U.S. President, who was assassinated by agents of Papal Rome, said;
“I see a very dark cloud on America’s horizon, and that dark cloud is coming from Rome”
“The war (the Civil War of 1861-1865) would never have been possible without the sinister influence of the Jesuits.”
“If the American people could learn what I know of the fierce hatred of the priests of Rome against our institutions, our schools, our most sacred rights, and our so dearly bought liberties, they would drive them out as traitors.”
Pope Pius IX proclaimed that after the fall of the Roman Empire, they rose up to civil power, which fulfills the prophecy of the Little Horn of Daniel.
Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) gave this remarkable testimony, which when examined in conjunction with Daniel chapter 7, precisely identifies the little horn, the man of sin, the Antichrist power:
“The Catholic Church which was founded and instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ to procure the eternal salvation of men, has, by reason of this divine institution, the form of a perfect society. Therefore, she must possess liberty such that she cannot be subject to any civil power in the execution of her sacred ministry.
To act with freedom, as it is just she should, she has always needed the assistance which was suitable to the conditions and the necessities of the age. It is, therefore, by a particular decree of Divine Providence that, at the fall of the Roman Empire and its partition into separate kingdoms, the Roman Pontiff, whom Christ made the head and center of his entire Church, acquired civil power.
Certainly, it was by a most wise design of God Himself that in the midst of so great a multitude and variety of temporal princes, the Sovereign Pontiff enjoyed political liberty, which is so necessary for him to exercise his spiritual power, his authority, and his jurisdiction over the whole world. Source: Papal Teachings: The Church, selected and arranged by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, translated by Mother E. O’Gorman, R.S.C.J., Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, St. Paul Editions, Boston, © 1980, 1962 by Daughters of St. Paul, Library of Congress catalog card number 62-12454, par. #225,
Dr. H. Grattan Guinness pointed to the Roman Catholic Popes as the little horn power of Daniel 7, the Man of Sin in 2nd Thessalonians and the Beast of Revelation 13.
Born August 11, 1835, in Dublin. His famous work “Romanism and the Reformation” compiled the prophetic vision of the Reformation that pointed to the Roman Catholic Popes as the little horn power of Daniel 7, the Man of Sin in 2nd Thess and the Beast of Rev 13.
“The rule of Rome revived in a new form, and was as real under the popes of the thirteenth century as it had been under the Caesars of the first. It was as oppressive, cruel, and bloody under Innocent III. as it had been under Nero and Domitian. The reality was the same, though the forms had changed. The Caesars did not persecute the witnesses of Jesus more severely and bitterly than did the popes; Diocletian did not destroy the saints or oppose the gospel more than did the Inquisition of Papal days.
Rome is one and the same all through, both locally and morally. One dreadful wild beast represents her, though the symbol, like the history it prefigures, has two parts. There was the undivided stage, and there has been the tenfold stage. The one is Rome pagan, the other Rome Papal; the one is the old empire, the other the modern pontificate; the one is the empire of the Caesars , the other is the Roman Papacy”
You shrink from it, do you? I accept it. Conscience constrains me. History compels me. The past, the awful past rises before me. I see THE GREAT APOSTASY, I see the desolation of Christendom, I see the smoking ruins, I see the reign of monsters; I see those vicegods, that Gregory VIII, that Innocent III, that Boniface VIII, that Alexander VI, that Gregory XIII, that Pius IX; I see their long succession, I see their abominable lives; I see them worshipped by blinded generations, bestowing hollow benedictions, bartering lying indulgences, creating a paganized Christianity;! see their liveried slaves, their shaven priests, their celibate confessors; I see the infamous confessional, the ruined women, the murdered innocents; I hear the lying absolutions, the dying groans; I hear the cries of the victims; I hear the anathemas, the curses, the thunders of the interdicts; I see the racks, the dungeons, the stakes; I see that inhuman Inquisition, those fires of Smithfield, those butcheries of St. Bartholomew, that Spanish Armada, those unspeakable massacres.
I see it all, and in the name of the ruin it has wrought in the Church and in the world, in the name of the truth it has denied, the temple it has defiled, the God it has blasphemed, the souls it has destroyed; in the name of the millions it has deluded, the millions it has slaughtered, the millions it has damned; with holy confessors, with noble reformers, with innumerable martyrs, with the saints of ages, I denounce it as the masterpiece of Satan as the body and soul and essence of antichrist”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky said that the Jesuits are the Romish army, who lust of power is to be sovereign over the world.
Fyodor (1821-1881), a Russian novelist, stated;
“The Jesuits…are simply the Romish army for the earthly sovereignty of the world in the future, with the Pontiff of Rome for emperor…that’s their ideal. …It is simple lust of power, of filthy earthly gain, of domination – something like a universal serfdom with them [Ed.: i.e., the Jesuits] as masters – that’s all they stand for. They don’t even believe in God perhaps.”
Charles Spurgeon said the Church of Rome and her teachings are a vast mountain of rubbish covering the Truth of God!
Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (1834-1892), was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition and known as the “Prince of Preachers”.
After preaching his first sermon at the age of 16, he became pastor of the church in Waterbeach at the age of 17. His most fruitful years of ministry were at the New Park Street and later the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit in London. Called the “Prince of Preachers,” he had more than 1,900 sermons published prior to his death.
“Her idolatries are the scorn of reason and the abhorrence of faith! The iniquities of her practice and the enormities of her doctrine almost surpass belief! Popery is as much the masterpiece of Satan as the Gospel is the masterpiece of God! There can scarcely be imagined anything of devilish craftiness or Satanic wickedness which could be compared with her—she is unparalleled as the queen of iniquity.
Behold upon her forehead the name, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. The Church of Rome and her teachings are a vast mountain of rubbish covering the Truth of God! For weary years good men could not get at the Foundation because of this very much rubbish.”
“It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. If there were to be issued a hue and cry for Antichrist, we should certainly take up this church on suspicion, and it would certainly not be let loose again, for it so exactly answers the description.”
“Popery is contrary to Christ’s Gospel, and is the Antichrist, and we ought to pray against it. It should be the daily prayer of every believer that Antichrist might be hurled like a millstone into the flood and for Christ, because it wounds Christ, because it robs Christ of His glory, because it puts sacramental efficacy in the place of His atonement, and lifts a piece of bread into the place of the Saviour, and a few drops of water into the place of the Holy Ghost, and puts a mere fallible man like ourselves up as the vicar of Christ on earth; if we pray against it, because it is against Him, we shall love the persons though we hate their errors: we shall love their souls though we loath and detest their dogmas, and so the breath of our prayers will be sweetened, because we turn our faces towards Christ when we pray.” (Michael de Semlyen, All Roads Lead to Rome)
In a sermon titled “War, War, War”, Spurgeon said;
“I am ashamed that sons of the Reformers should bow themselves before the beast, and give so much as a single farthing to the shrine of the devil’s firstborn son. Take heed to yourselves, ye Protestants, lest ye be partakers of her plagues; touch her not, lest ye be defiled. Give a drachma to her, or a grain of incense to her censors, ye shall be partakers of her adulteries and partakers of her plagues. Every time you pass the house of Popery let a curse light upon her head: Thus saith the Lord:—‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”
“These are battles with sin, and battles with false doctrines, and battles with war. Fight these battles Christian and you will have enough to do. We must have no truce, no treaty with Rome. War! War! War! with her! There cannot be peace. She cannot have peace with us – we cannot have peace with her. She hates the true Church, and we can only say that the hatred is reciprocated. We would not lay a hand on her priests; we would not touch a hair of their heads. Let them be free; but we will attempt to destroy their doctrine from the face of the earth because it is the doctrine of demons. O God, let the Roman Catholic Church perish, let it be consumed in the smoke“
Since then, the Protestant Church hasn’t done much protesting against the antichrist Catholic Church. Maybe that’s why our Lord calls the Laodecian Church era lukewarm, wretched, miserable, naked, poor and blind.
Reverend J. A.Wylie says that the Roman system is the predicted Apostacy.
Reverend Wylie (1808 – 1890) in his Preface to “The Papacy is the Antichrist, A Demonstration.” said;
“The same line of proof which establishes that Christ is the promised Messiah, conversely applied, establishes that the Roman system is the predicted Apostacy. In the life of Christ we behold the converse of what the Antichrist must be; and in the prophecy of the Antichrist we are shown the converse of what Christ must be, and was. And when we place the Papacy between the two, and compare it with each, we find, on the one hand, that it is the perfect converse of Christ as seen in his life; and on the other, that it is the perfect image of the Antichrist, as shown in the prophecy of him. We conclude, therefore, that if Jesus of Nazareth be the Christ, the Roman Papacy is the Antichrist.“
Henry Palmerston said that the Jesuits breed social disturbance.
Henry (1784-1865), British prime minister and statesman, said;
“The presence of the Jesuits in any country, Romanist or Protestant, is likely to breed social disturbance.”
Thomas M. Harris said that the Jesuits have seized control of the American government.
Thomas (1817-1906) a U.S. Army Brigadier General and author of the book “Rome’s Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” said;
“…A foreign political power (the Jesuits of Rome) …has gotten a lodgment (a military term for a foothold that has been gained or seized in the enemy’s territory) in this land of Liberty, and…is evidently bent on the destruction of our free institutions, and substituting for them Papal despotism: a despotism that lords it over the minds, the consciences, and the actions of its subjects – and thus renders them incapable of loyalty to any other government.”
William Ewart Gladstone said that Romanism is the enemy of freedom.
William (1809-1898), British prime minister and statesman, said;
“No more cunning plot was ever devised against the freedom, the happiness and the virtue of mankind than Romanism [Ed.: i.e., the Roman Catholic system].” (Statement made in a letter to Earl Aberdeen)
Roman Catholic Archbishop James E. Quigley proclaimed that the Jesuits use the United States to control the world.
“Within twenty years this country is going to rule the world. Kings and Emperors will soon pass away and the democracy of the United States will take their place… When the United States rules the world, the Catholic Church will rule the world… Nothing can stand against the Church. I’d like to see the politician who would try to rule against the Church in Chicago. His reign would be short indeed.” Roman Catholic Archbishop James E. Quigley, Chicago Daily Tribune, May 5, 1903
Adolph Hitler said that he patterned his SS after the Order of the Jesuits.
“I have learnt most of all from the Jesuit Order. So far, there has been nothing more imposing on earth than the hierarchical organization of the Catholic Church. A good part of that organization I have transported direct to my own party. The Catholic Church must be held up as an example. I will tell you a secret. I am founding an order. In Himmler (who would become head of the Nazi party) I see our Ignatius de Loyola (Jesuit founder).”
Leroy Edwin Froom said that the incriminating finger of Bible prophecy was squarely pointed at the Bishop of Rome as the predicted Antichrist of Scripture.
Leroy’s monumental work is “The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers.” Froom spent decades preparing this four volume work where he traces the interpretation of Bible prophecy from apostolic times till the middle of the twentieth century. Froom traveled extensively throughout Europe, examining original sources and carefully documenting his research. Even today, Froom’s work is considered the authority in its field.
Froom says that it is clear that from the 14th till the 18th centuries, the incriminating finger of Bible prophecy was squarely pointed at the Bishop of Rome as the predicted Antichrist of Scripture. After presenting an impressive mass of evidence from the original sources, Froom concludes:
“In Germany, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Sweden, England, and Scotland there had been simultaneous and impressive declarations by voice and pen that the Papacy was the specified Antichrist of prophecy. The symbols of Daniel , Paul, and John were applied with tremendous effect. Hundreds of books and tracts impressed their contention upon the consciousness of Europe. Indeed, it gained so great a hold upon the minds of men that Rome, in alarm, saw that she must successfully counteract this identification of Antichrist with the Papacy, or lose the battle.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, pp. 484-485.
Bear in mind that those who pointed the finger at the Papacy as the great Antichrist were highly educated. Most were experts in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Many reached their own conclusions independently of others.
Their works were saturated with quotations from Daniel 7 (the little horn), Revelation 13 (the beast), Revelation 17 (the harlot), II Thessalonians 2 (the Man of Sin), and Matthew 24 (the Abomination of Desolation). Their testimony was unanimous and covered the entire European Continent.
If you have more quotes from our Church Fathers, please use the comment box to let me know, so that I can add them. Thank you! 🙂
David Nikao Wilcoxson
Return to the Revelation Timeline Decoded home page.
Click here for a Historical Witnesses Against Antichrist Summary
