This is part 2 of

It was published in 1846. The author, Samuel J. Cassels, was a Presbyterian minister.

All true Christians know that Jesus is Nazareth is the Messiah or they wouldn’t be Christians. What most Christians today don’t know is the papacy, the office of the Pope, is the biblical Antichrist. This is unfortunate because Protestant Christians up to sometime in the 19th century did think of the Pope as the Antichrist. Why do not most mainstream Protestant churches today hold this view? It’s the result of the Jesuit-led Counter-Reformation! Most Christians know a bit about the history of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, but how many know of the “Counter-Reformation”? The Counter-Reformation was the Church of Rome’s strategy to undo the Protestant Reformation. The term Counter-Reformation was never mentioned even once in any fellowship or church I ever attended. Because preachers today don’t know about the Counter-Reformation, their flocks don’t know either.

The Protestant Reformation began in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed to a Catholic church in Wittenberg Germany his 95 thesis which was a disputation on the power and efficacy of Indulgences. Around the year 1585, a Jesuit priest named Francesco Ribera purposely misinterpreted the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 in an attempt to attribute a prophecy referring to Jesus Christ to an end-time Antichrist. Sad to say, most evangelicals today bought the Jesuit interpretation. One reason they did is because modern English Bible translations of Daniel 9:27 are downright wrong! See Daniel 9:27 Grossly Mistranslated in Modern English Bible Translations

Daniel 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:…

Christians up till then 19th century understood the “he” of Daniel 9:27 to be Jesus Christ, and “the covenant” to be the covenant of grace through faith that God made with Abraham, the same covenant mentioned in verse 4 of the same chapter of Daniel. Francesco Ribera, in order to take Protestants eyes off the papacy as the Antichrist, cooked up a doctrine which is called Futurism, the name of the school of interpretation that puts most of the prophecies in the Book of Revelation as yet unfulfilled. Ribera claimed that the “he” of Daniel 9:27 is the Antichrist, a man who will rise in the future. Ribera ripped away the last 7 years of the 70 Weeks prophecy from the first 69 weeks (or sevens totaling 483 years) and threw it in the future! Does this seem right to you? Is there any scriptural precedent for him to do so? Do the verses before Daniel 9:27 talk about an Antichrist? My Bible talks about Messiah the Prince!

When Protestants of the 16th, 17th and 18th century heard the doctrine of a future Antichrist reigning in the last 7 years of time just before the return of Jesus Christ, they rejected it. But by and by due to Jesuit infiltration into Protestant churches and seminaries, Ribera’s interpretation of Daniel 9:27 was accepted by mainstream denominations. It apparently took root in Protestant theology sometime in the 20th century. My friends, please know that a future Endtime Antichrist doctrine based on prophecies in the book of Daniel is not what Christians over 18 centuries used to believe! The Pope in their eyes fit the biblical description of the Antichrist precisely. This book by Samuel J. Cassels will give you that biblical proof if you will only take the time to read it.

To learn more why I changed my views about the 70th Week of Daniel, please see The 70th Week of Daniel Delusion.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

WE have already remarked upon the importance of ascertaining the personal identity of Christ. Of corresponding importance is it, to discover the personal identity of Antichrist. Antichrist is the enemy of Christ. As therefore, our salvation is secured through personal union by faith with Christ, so our destruction is made certain, if at last we are found on the side of Antichrist. Here, we cannot serve two masters. If we adhere to the cause of Christ, we cannot promote that of Antichrist; and if we maintain the cause of Antichrist, we cannot promote that of Christ.

Nor is there between these two any neutral ground. “He that is not for Christ, is against him;” and he that is not against Antichrist, is for him. Christ and Antichrist are in open hostility. The struggle is great, and has been of long continuance. It is going on around us; and we cannot be idle spectators of the scene. Our views, our feelings, our conduct, must favour the one or the other of these contending parties. Let every man, therefore, select his position, and gird on his armor. Let him choose the one or the other of these two masters. Which will he serve? With which does he seek his destiny?

But how is Antichrist to be ascertained? The same way that we ascertain Christ. Search the Scriptures; examine facts. The Jews were condemned, because, with the Scriptures in their hands, they did not recognize, but rejected Christ. And so shall we be condemned and punished, if, with the same Scriptures in our hands, we do not recognize, but blindly follow Antichrist.

The times also require this investigation. Throughout Europe, throughout the world, there is a revival of the Papal system. True, this revival is not to be considered as indicative of any very great triumphs. The best days of Popery have been numbered. The notions which men now entertain of popular liberty, and of the rights of conscience, the general intelligence that prevails, the recorded history of Papal oppression, the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, and above all, the word of God, all lead to the belief, that no efforts of the crafty agents of this crafty system, can ever give it the influence it has once exerted. “Tekel” is inscribed upon it; and some Cyrus will, ere long, be raised up, who shall dry up its waters, break down its gates of brass, and let oppressed humanity go free. No; it is not the ultimate triumph of this system we fear; it is the harm it may do in its death-struggle; it is the unnatural energies of its spasmodic dissolution, that we dread.

In America, particularly, is this investigation important. In all the countries over which it has triumphed, Popery, like the anaconda, has wound around its folds of art, of cunning, of superstition and of power, until, enclosing everything in its too friendly embraces, it has, with one tremendous effort, crushed the nation to death. It sends forth its missionaries; it gathers its schools and colleges; it erects its cathedrals and builds its churches; it is patriotic, benevolent, charitable. Its alms and offerings attract the vulgar, its austerities and penances convince the skeptical. It is at first tolerated; then approved; next obeyed! But now come the dread realities of the system, taxation, passive submission, excommunications, interdicts, crusades, the inquisition, destruction. Yes, Popery has well nigh destroyed every country in which it has been predominant. The liberties and national prosperity of a people cannot coexist with such a system.

Let then, Americans — Americans, who have never witnessed a Court of Inquisition, or an Auto-da-fe, on their virgin soil; Americans, whose national liberties are still fragrant with the blood of revolutionary forefathers; Americans, whose proud eminence in the civilized world, gives them more to lose than other nations; let Americans especially examine this subject well. And if, in such an examination, the following pages shall contribute but a mite to the discovery of the truth, the author will feel himself more than compensated for the labor they have cost him.

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