THE POPE IS THE ANTICHRIST

The same line of proof which establishes that Christ is the promised Messiah, conversely applied, establishes that the Roman system is the predicted Apostasy.

In the life of Christ we behold the CONVERSE of what 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’ — Dr. J. A. Wylie.

INTRODUCTION

The Church of Rome portrays herself as the Mother and Mistress of all Christian Churches, and behold the Protestants have a new name — they are no longer ‘heretics’ but ‘separated brethren.’

The Ecumenists, having rejected the Bible, are in total darkness and ignorance concerning the Papacy. In their folly they have all clambered 2board the ‘Roman Express.’ They wish to distance themselves as quickly as possible from anything which exposes the deception, dissimulation. and counterfeit of Popery. Hence in Ecumenical Presbyterianism, the Church of Scotland led the way in jettisoning Paragraph IV of Chapter 25 of the Historic Westminster Confession of Faith which reads as follows:-

‘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, the man of sin, the son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.’

In June 1988 the General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church sought to follow.

A new ecumenical Church Council is being formed in these islands to replace the British Council of Churches (‘British’ in the title was objected to by the Irish Roman Catholic heirarchy). The new Council will have the Church of Rome as a foundation member. Cardinals Hume and O’Fee are now taking an active interest in the shaping of the same.

This replacement Council has been agreed by the old British Council in which the Irish Presbyterian Church, the Irish Methodist Church and the Church of Ireland all hold membership.

So the ecumenical churches are moving rapidly to final Church Unity with the Pope. The Anglican International Commission, led by a Church of Ireland Archbishop, has already agreed that the Pope should be the Head of the envisaged United Church. This has been accepted by the recent Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Churches.

In order to deceive the people in the pews the apostate ‘protestant’ clergy are now energetically campaigning in a great whitewash of Popery. An attempt is under way to erase from the historic creeds of the Reformed Churches the teachings condemnatory of the Papacy and identifying the Pope as Antichrist.

The Pope, the ecumenists and their dupes tell us, is a truly godly man, a sweet and blessed representative of Christ, the ‘Holy Father’ in deed and in truth!

The Church of Rome is presented as truly the church which Christ founded, and the Reformation which separated true believers from that apostate body is mourned over and confessed as sin.

The priests of Rome are presented as true ministers of Jesus Christ and faithful preachers of His Holy Gospel. Prayer and Evangelism in harness with such priests is engaged in by no less a person than Dr. Billy Graham who directs his Roman Catholic converts back to the Church of Rome.

The ordinary man in the pew must know where the truth lies. If the Lord Jesus be Christ, SERVE HIM. If the Pope be Christ, SERVE HIM.

The present Moderator of the General Assembly, Dr. Godfrey Brown, speaking on the BBC Radio ‘Sunday Sequence’ on Sunday (12th June, 1988), after his installation as Moderator stated, ‘There is no scriptural evidence at all for the Confession of Faith’s statement that the Pope is the Antichrist.’ Yet the same Dr. Brown swore at his ordination that he believed the Confession and then signed it as a confession of his own faith! One of the Roman Catholic SDLP’s leaders, Dr. Joe Hendron hailed the Assembly’s decision to attempt to undermine the Confession’s identification of the Pope as the Antichrist with delight. To him it was a mark of ‘true’ Christianity.

So it is timely we should ask the question, ‘Is the Pope the Antichrist?’ and see if it can be demonstrated from SCRIPTURE, HISTORY and HIS OWN CONFESSION that HE IS.

It was the great Dr. Thomas Chalmers, one of the founding fathers of the Free Church of Scotland and the first Moderator of that Church, who said when commenting on the second chapter of II Thessalonians:-

‘Save us O Lord, from falling away, lest we share the perdition that waiteth on the great Apostasy. We hold the usurpation of Rome to 5e evidently pointed at, and therefore let us maintain our distance, and keep up our resolute protest against its great abominations.’

Today Dr. Chalmer’s Chair of Theology in Edinburgh is held by a Roman Catholic Priest.

Exactly one hundred years ago Dr. J. A. Wylie, author of the famous ‘History of Protestantism’ (3 Volumes) published a small book of 168 pages entitled, ‘The Papacy is the Antichrist.

The Rev. James Aitken Wylie was for many years a leading Protestant spokesman. Born in Scotland in 1808, he was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen and at St. Andrews; he entered the Original Secession Divinity Hall, Edinburgh in 1827, and was ordained in 1831. Dr. Wylie became sub-editor of the Edinburgh Witness in 1846, and, after joining the Free Church of Scotland in 1852, edited the Free Church Record from 1852 until 1860. In 1860 he was appointed Lecturer on Popery at the Protestant Institute, a position he held until the year of his death. Aberdeen University awarded him the LL.D. in 1856.

Dr. Wylie was a prolific writer on Protestant themes. In 1851 the Evangelical Alliance awarded him first prize for his writing ‘The Papacy,’ which he submitted as his entry for a competition for the best essay on Popery.

I have simply made a precis of his excellent work, ‘The Papacy is Antichrist,’ because its demonstration cannot be surpassed. I have also added some additional material.

IAN R. K. PAISLEY

SCRIPTURE PROPHECY ITSELF, SUPPLIES THE KEY TO ITS INTERPRETATION

The use of the word ‘King’ both in Daniel’s and John’s prophecies refers to the Kingdom and the Dynasty of Kings rather than the individual monarch.

How plainly this is seen in Daniel 2:37—39:-

‘Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength and glory.

And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom, inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.’

When Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar ‘Thou art this head of gold’ he did not mean Nebuchadnezzar on his own but Nebuchadnezzar and the four kings who followed him as successive rulers over the Babylonian Empire. The term in prophecy in this setting means a dynasty or headship of successive rulers in the same line over a designated empire or kingdom. Mark it was only after his fourth successor had ruled Bablylon that the Medo-Persian Kingdom took over. Yet it is spoken of by Daniel thus, ‘After thee (which clearly means after the dynasty of the kings founded by thee) there shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee’ (here it is plain to be seen that Nebuchadnezzar is not referred to personally but the Empire over which he ruled).

This is also made crystal clear of the four beasts in Daniel chapter seven, where the angel informs Daniel that the four beasts are four kings (v. 17) and immediately afterwards the fourth king is described as the fourth ‘Kingdom’ (v.23).

In order to have a right understanding of the symbolic use of the words ‘beast,’ ‘king,’ and ‘horn,’ we must use this key principle of prophetic interpretation. Heads on the beasts have special reference to special forms of government in the world empires which they represent. The horns stand for kings in relationship to their kingdoms (Rev. 17:12) and emphasise the dynasty of kings and their kingdoms rather than one individual person.

Note carefully how the great horn is used for the nation and the four others for kingdoms in Daniel chapter eight verses 21 and 22.

It is clearly evident then, that the little horn of Daniel chapter seven is not one individual but is a kingdom with its dynasty of kings. This dynasty is not only foretold by Daniel under the symbolism of a little horn, but further expounded on by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul and the Apostle John in the New Testament Scriptures.

It is the purpose of this book to demonstrate that the preaching of the Great Cloud of Witnesses of all Ages in the Church is true and that the little horn is none other than the Dynasty of Rome’s Popes and that therefore THE POPE IS THE ANTICHRIST.

A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES

These faithful witnesses all held the doctrine that the Church of Rome is the Babylon of Revelation chapter seventeen and the Pope is the Antichrist prophesied in Scripture.

REFORMATION WORTHIES

Huss, Wycliffe, Luther, Melancthon, Zwingli, Calvin, Beza, Bucer, Knox, Ferrar, Hooper, Latimer, Ridley, Cranmer, Ussher, Firth, Barnes, Philpot, Becon, Turner, Cartwright, Barrow, Jewel, Coverdale, Lord Cobham, Hooker, Ainsworth, Dent, Foxe, Fulke, Bradford, Bullinger, Rogers, Hutchinson, Whitgift, Sir Francis Drake and a host of others.

POST-REFORMATION WORTHIES

Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Henry Vane, Brightman, Milton, Beard, Baxter, Bishop Newton, John Bunyan, Fleming, Wesley, Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards, Gill, Clarke, Trapp, Brown, Toplady, Pool, Clarkson, Swimmock, Brooks, Charnock, Sibbs, Goodwin, Owen, Hall, Cunningham, Manton, Smith, Adams, Perkins, Gilpin, Field, Durham, Willet, Rainolds, Cotton, Gauge, Burroughs, Carter, Ames, Bridge, Marshall, Potter, Thomas Fuller, Twisse, Keith, Hales, Chalmers, Spurgeon, Wylie, Elliott, Cumming, Goode, Ryle, Candlish, Albert Barnes, Wordsworth, Birks, Hislop, A. J. Gordon often called the Father of Fundamentalism, Moody, Hudson Taylor, Guinness, Salmond, Dinsdale Young, Horn, Close, T. T. Shields, Kensit, Baron Porceli and a host of others.

It was always the theological Romanists and Liberals in Church History who started the attack on this universally held interpretation of the teaching of Holy Scripture concerning ‘The Great Whore’ and ‘The Antichrist.

THE POPE IS THE ANTICHRIST
THE FAITH OF THE HISTORIC CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

This doctrine is written into the Historic Creeds and Confessions of all those Churches which held, in their earliest days, the Bible to be the Sole Rule of Faith and Practice.

EPISCOPALIAN (Anglican)

The Irish Articles adopted by the Archbishops, Bishops and Convocation of the Irish Episcopal Church and approved by the Viceroy in 1615 state:-

Article 79: The power which the Bishop of Rome now challengeth to be supreme head of the universal Church of Christ, and to be above all emperors, kings, and princes, is a usurped power, contrary to the Scriptures and Word of God, and contrary to the example of the Primitive Church; and therefore is for most just causes taken away and abolished within the King’s Majesty’s realms and dominions.

Article 80: The Bishop of Rome is so far from being the supreme head of the universal Church of Christ, that his works and doctrine 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’

PRESBYTERIAN

Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 25 paragraph VI:-

VI. 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.

CONGREGATIONAL

Savoy Declaration, Chapter 26 paragraph IV:-

IV. 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 it (he) 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.

BAPTIST

The Baptist Confession of 1688, Chapter 26 paragraph 4:-

4. 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 no other than 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.

METHODIST

Notes of John Wesley on the New Testament II Thessalonians 2:3:-

“However, in many respects, the Pope has an indisputable claim to those titles. 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, destroyed innumerable souls, and will himself perish everlastingly. He it is that opposeth himself to the emperor, once his rightful sovereign; and that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. Commanding angels and putting kings under his feet, both of whom are called gods in scripture; claiming the highest power, the highest honour; suffering himself, not once only, to be styled God or vice-God. Indeed no less is implied in his ordinary title, ‘Most Holy Lord,’ or ‘Most Holy Father,’ so that he sitteth enthroned in the temple of God, mentioned in Rev. 11:1. Declaring himself that he is God — claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone.’

The Translators who produced the Genevan Version of the Holy Scriptures and the Translators who produced the Authorised Version all believed that the Pope was the Antichrist.

1 THE TERM ‘ANTICHRIST’

The Apostle John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God gave this title Antichrist to the apostasy of Christianity.

‘Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last time.

They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.’ I John 2:18—23.

‘Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come: and even now already is it in the world.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.’ I John 4:2—6.

‘For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.’ II John 1:7.

It is well known that the whole dynasty of Popes take to themselves the title, ‘VICAR OF CHRIST’

John Paul II claims loudly, ‘I am the Vicar of Christ.’

The Apostle John styles the leader of Apostate Christianity, ‘the Antichrist’

The Papal title is the key which unlocks to us the true mystery and character of the Papacy.

‘Antichrist’ is a Greek word. ‘Vicar’ is an English word. The words are synonymous. They have exactly the same meaning. ‘Antichrist’ translated into the English is ‘Vice Christ’ or ‘Vicar of Christ? ‘Vicar of Christ’ rendered into the Greek is ‘Antichristos’ = ‘Antichrist’ The. ordinary use of the word in the Greek is decisive on this point. So every time the Pope claims to be, ‘The Vicar of Christ, he is pleading at the bar of the world’s opinion that he indeed is THE ANTICHRIST.

The Vicar of Christ, the Vice-Christ, the Antichrist, comes in the room and in the stead of the true Christ and must therefore be characterised by deception, dissimulation and counterfeit.

Antichrist poses as the true representative of Christ, not Christ’s enemy, hence deception and lying are his stock-in-trade. Atheists, Communists, Mohammedans and many others do not claim to be Christ’s sole representatives on earth. They openly declare their opposition, hatred, and undying antagonism to Christ. They don’t lie about that. They do not conceal their blasphemies against Christ. They openly declare themselves haters. of our Lord Jesus Christ. They wear no masks. Therefore they are not the Antichrist.

Of all the religions on the earth Romanism is the only one which meets all the requirements of Biblical prophecy, as we shall see. Popery alone exhibits all the features of the Antichrist.

If we allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Scriptures, the Facts of History and the Pope’s Own Claims, then we will be forced to the conclusion, ‘This is indeed the Antichrist.’

We must therefore study the parallel between Christianity and the Papacy, Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Popes, along the entire line of their careers. This parallel is the key to the mystery and explains how the LIE that the Pope was the Vice-Christ or Vicar of Christ misled the whole world, as it is still doing today, into thinking that Romanism is true Christianity. That LIE has wasted ages, overthrown Kingdoms, instituted tortures unmentionable, stained the world with blood and peopled Hell.

‘And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’
II Thessalonians 2:11—12.

N.B. The Greek word ‘lie’ carries the definite article literally reading, ‘THE Lie.’

2 ANTICHRIST PORTRAYED BEFORE HIS BIRTH

It is in keeping with the inspiration and divinity of the Bible that the clearest descriptions of Antichrist are given before his birth.

For fourteen centuries the Papacy has been developing, and it can be studied at first hand in all its devious and diabolical evolution. Yet the most life-like portrait of the Papacy which exists is that given by Paul of the Antichrist in II Thessalonians 2:1—12.

‘Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon ‘ shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition:

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish: because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’

Listening to the approaching footsteps of the Antichrist, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, marked with the keenest spiritual perception the, great shadow about to darken the whole world, not for a few centuries but until the end of time itself.

No wonder that greatest of all English preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, exclaimed when he read this Scripture passage, ‘ARREST THE POPE ON SUSPICION OF BEING THE ANTICHRIST!’

3 ANTICHRIST AN ENEMY OF CHRIST UNDER A MASK

We must establish that this system depicted by Paul is the Roman apostasy and that Paul is speaking of the same system of which the prophet Daniel prophesied before Paul, and the apostle John prophesied after Paul. :

This is no point of speculation. The most vital prophecies of God’s Holy Word are involved. We must either establish that Daniel, Paul and John are speaking of the Papacy, or confess that the Reformation and the Protestant Churches which came into being through it were fighting all along under a mistake.

‘Who is Antichrist?’ It will help us to a proper identification if we consider first the question, ‘What is Antichrist?’

Antichrist is the enemy of the Son of God and makes war with Him. Now the form of that war is all-important as far as our investigations go and all its strategies call for particular attention.

The meaning of the title ‘Antichrist’ as used in the Bible, is a word of new formation. It is made up of two words ‘anti’ and ‘Christ.’ The old Greek classical writers used the word to designate a substitute. For example, ‘anti-Baglieus’ was the substitute for the King. What we would now call a ‘viceroy, ‘anti’ having in this case the same meaning as the English term ‘vice. The person who filled the place of the consul was by the Greeks called the ‘antipagos,’ pro-consul. An absent guest at a feast was called ‘antiderpros.’ The preposition ‘anti’ was used of Christ Himself by Himself, an antilutron, a ransom in stead of many, the substitute.

Here we are being given the key to the strategy employed by the man of sin and the pose he adopts to accomplish his satanic objective.

The antichrist who also bears the name ‘son of perdition’ as did Judas, like Judas pretends to be the friend of Christ and uses the token of love — a kiss — as the signal of treachery.

A stealer into office, who under the mask of friendship to Christ works for the utter destruction of the dominion of the Son of God, is the Antichrist.

Our Lord, Himself, first introduces us to the Antichrist in the New Testament.

‘And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect.’ Matthew 24:4.5&24.

The dynasty of Antichrist and not just one person is clearly revealed by our Lord. The Many (plural) do not say ‘We (plural) are Christ’ No the many say, ‘I (singular) am Christ.’

The term ‘false Christs’ in the Greek is pseudo christ and is but a synonym of ‘antichrist. Note the great strategy of antichrist is not direct frontal attack but falsehood and deception.

The apostle John in his epistles, scriptures we have already quoted, tells us of many antichrists preceding the one special and great Antichrist. When the giant comes the dwarfs have passed away.

‘And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come: and even now already is it in the world.’ I John 4:3.

Denial in the New Testament is the refusal to confess the truth. Rome refuses to confess the proper coming of our Lord Jesus in the flesh, and puts in the place of the Scriptural teaching, a dogma which is a denial of the proper incarnation of the Son of God.

Rome’s dogma, not promulgated until as late as 1854, asserts the Immaculate Conception of Mary as the prior and absolute prerequisite of Christ’s coming after the flesh. It thus denies His proper coming, born of Mary, pure in her virginity but sinful in her heart, and herself requiring to be saved by her Sinless Son, Luke 1:47.

As we have before emphasised, in the New Testament to deny is | to refuse to confess, so we find that the Pope refuses to confess the Christ of God, the only Rock, but rather confesses that he himself : is the Christ on earth, the Rock of Peter. He denies the’ Christ.

But the definition of Antichrist is stated by John thus, ‘He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.’ I John 2:22.

The Pope denies the Father by bringing in the religion of ‘the Mother’ \ Romanism is Mariolatry — the worship of Mary, and the present Pope — is the leader in this cult of Mary. Moreover the Pope usurps the title of the Father, taking to himself God the Father’s exclusive title ‘Holy Father.

John tells us that Antichrist is a liar, the true son of the father of lies, the original liar from the beginning.

If Antichrist comes, as many affirm he will come, without concealment, boldly and truthfully affirming his satanic design to overthrow Christ, how then will he be a liar and a deceiver?

It is clear that Antichrist as depicted by our Lord and John will wear a mask. He will profess one thing and act another. He will enter the church as Judas entered the garden to betray the Son of man with a kiss. Peace will be in his tongue but war in his heart. He will imitate Christ, a diabolical imitation, Satan transformed into an angel of light, which will deceive the world for centuries. The only exception to his lies and deception will be those who through the Holy Spirit’s teaching will be able to tear off the mask and cry out in recognition, ‘I know thee who thou. art, the Antichrist from hell.’

4 ANTICHRIST NO ATHEIST OR COMMUNIST

There is nothing open or above board about Antichrist. He is counterfeit, a deceptive replica of the real thing. By this one mark the Antichrist can be identified.

If Antichrist is a deceiver and the Bible states that he is, then he will not come as a self-confessed Atheist. An atheist or any body of atheists are open enemies of Christ, not His pretended representatives.

They attack Christianity openly and seek to portray the Christian revelation as the invention of priests.

Before there can be an Antichrist there must be a true Christ, therefore Antichrist does not affirm that Christianity is a fable but rather poses as its defender and ultimate Head. No true Christ — no true Antichrist.

What is more, on the same grounds the theory that Antichrist is a political character cannot be substantiated. A wicked, tyrannical, bloodthirsty dictator, who will arise to devastate the whole world by arms is an altogether different Antichrist from the Antichrist foretold in the Bible. Such a person, no matter how wicked and violent his ways, lacks the one great dissimulation under which Antichrist will carry out his programme. This mock-Christ will concentrate on ‘the temple of God,’ and on ‘the saints of the most High.’

When we eliminate those false Antichrists who cannot measure up to the prophetic standards set forth so clearly in the Scriptures, we come more and more to within sight of the real Antichrist.

We turn now to a study of Paul’s prediction, and we will be blind indeed if after our study of it we shall have any doubt to whose likeness in the world today it is that looks forth from this prophecy.

5 THE TWO MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE.

John gives us the name, ‘Antichrist, but Paul gives us his portrait. He so delineates him with such accuracy and definitive fullness that nothing in the intervening 19 centuries is needed to either supplement or amend the picture. Paul’s portrait is not a riddle to baffle future ages but a plain picture so that with history in our hands there is not room for one moment’s doubt. Remember, Prophecy is History written beforehand. As the photograph agrees in every detail with the living face of which it is taken, so clearly did the spirit of prophecy foresee the coming of Antichrist that Paul was able truthfully to depict him.

The key to the prophecy is the expression in the seventh verse, ‘the mystery of iniquity doth already work.’ This phrase is a striking one. It occurs nowhere else in the Word of God. It is no simple iniquity but ‘the mystery’ of iniquity.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, iniquity has polluted this world. History sorrowfully recites its litany. But sin is to take a new dimension and iniquity a new satanic darkness. ‘An unexampled and unthought of apparatus of iniquity is about to appear’ says Paul.

“Mystery, suggests a secrecy and a system so far unknown on the earth. Paul, as he moves in the light and towards the light, tells us what his enlightened eyes behold.

The range of this expression is vast. The depths of its pronouncement are profound. Perhaps even today, some nineteen hundred years after it was first spoken, its length and breadth have not yet been accurately measured or its meaning fully comprehended.

The expression, brings to mind an opposite expression, ‘the mystery of Godliness.’ :

‘Without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness.’ I Timothy 2:16.

These two phrases stand alone in the whole Bible. We read but once of ‘the mystery of iniquity’ and but once of ‘the mystery of Godliness.’ What is the mystery of iniquity? Nothing less than the satanic imitation and devilish counterfeit of ‘the mystery of Godliness.’

What is ‘the mystery of Godliness’? It is the revelation through symbols, prophecies and typical persons of the great Truth of God which had its full manifestation in the Person of the Christ of God. Hebrews 1:1—2.

What is ‘the mystery of iniquity’? It is none other than the parallel and counterfeit of ‘the mystery of Godliness.’ It is the revelation of the Great Lie which has its full manifestation in the Person of the Antichrist.

It is the marshalling of all the principles of evil and their embodiment at the last in one organisation whose head is the incarnation of their fulness. He is the grand outcome of the great apostasy. He guides its counsels, inspires its policy, executes its decrees, and is the medium through which its terrible powers are put forth.

As in Christ God and man are one, so in Antichrist, His counterfeit and rival, the human and superhuman — earth-born man and archangel fallen, are one.

6 THE UNFOLDING OF THE TWO MYSTERIES

Having brought these two mysteries on to the stage of prophecy Paul traces the parallel between them. The stages in both are the same, one their rise, two their coming and three their completed development.

The mystery of iniquity was already at work in Paul’s day. It was working as leaven in the meal and as seed in the soil. The mystery of iniquity works as treason works, unknown to the world, planning in secret and conferring in darkness. The time for its manifestation was not yet.

So also the mystery of Godliness, the gospel revelation, was at work long before the incarnation of the Son of God. It was first hidden in the eternal council of the everlasting God and with the advent of time its secret was whispered only in secret to those who were shown His Covenant. Incarnation was concealed in the prophecy of ‘the seed of the woman.’ Expiation was hidden in the appointment of substitutionary sacrifice. The veil was kept upon it both in the Tabernacle and Temple. The types however, getting clearer and the prophecies fuller, till at last from behind the veil stepped forth ‘God manifest in flesh, the Christ of God. Centering from His all glorious Person, as rays from the sun, there shone forth all the glorious doctrines of the Gospel.

In like manner ‘the mystery of iniquity’ developed, hastening onwards to the day of its manifestation. While systems of worship arose with powerful hierarchies and grand ceremonials and passed to the ruin, ‘the mystery of iniquity’ as if deathless like the Satanic Being who inspired it, still persisted. It made broken thrones and desecrated altars but stepping stones towards its high goal of being the wonder of the nations of the earth.

It remained hidden but Paul tells us of its workings. Sometimes these workings surfaced in a rash of little antichrists as John tells us, but the great Antichrist was not yet. Paul heard the footfalls of the approaching Apostate Colossus through the spirit of prophecy and warned the Church of what he would be like and what he would do. The One who would say ‘I am Christ,’ would follow these many antichrists, and under the deception of that confession, would make war upon the true Christ.

As the true Christ was shown in picture by types, promise and prophecy so the Antichrist was also pictured.

What were Nimrod, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Caesar but types of that terrible power, temporal and spiritual, which would eventually be enthroned in the Papal Chair.

When the fulness of the time came and the day of Antichrist’s appearance had arrived, the great reality appeared, ‘The Man of Sin and Son of Perdition.’ He had found his seat on the Seven Hills, but not as yet his full stature.

7 THE PASTOR BECOMES MONARCH — TEN CENTURIES OF CLIMBING

It was not until the thirteenth century that the ‘Man of Sin’ reached his maturity. During the passing ten centuries he stretched higher and higher and higher, piling assumption upon’assumption and prerogative upon prerogative, till at last he looked down not only upon all churches but upon all kings and kingdoms. He claimed to be the world’s one monarch and bishop, the Representative of Christ on earth.

From a humble pastor to a mighty potentate he evolved. With the exception of true Christianity, no similar example of what at first was so small became in the end so great, has ever been witnessed on earth.

A line of some three hundred Popes are seen and these all, one after the other, prosecuted the same idea. Each one carried that idea forward at the point where his predecessor left it.

A strange combination, increasingly and undeviatingly, is seen to be at work. The spirit which conceived the plan and from century to century carried it forward, was more than human. Paul tells us that it was Satanic.

Mark ‘a great apostasy’ was to precede the rise of Antichrist.

‘The day of Christ,’ that is His coming and ‘the gathering of his saints to Him,’ the ascent of the resurrected saints to meet their Lord, cannot come ‘except there come a falling away first.’ II Thess. 2:3. ‘Falling away’ has the definite article it is ‘the’ falling away, The great and notable apostasy, that dark and terrible time, is spoken of by both Daniel and John.

The early persecutions of the church had hardly ceased until the declension of apostasy set in. The vine which Paul tended in Rome is transformed into the vine of Sodom. Riches, greed, lust and power, destroy its holiness. The bishop rides forth in a gilded chariot, and the clergy are arrayed in silks. Superstitious rites usurp the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

As the centuries pass, error is piled on error, and the whole is buttressed with assumptions and deceptions. The pastor becomes a bishop and the bishop a Pope, the Man of Sin.

He arises from a paganised Christianity, the great apostasy. Like the soil from which he sprung the Pope is pagan in essence though Christian in appearance, an apostate transformed as an angel of light.

Certain events aided the Antichrist in his development. The first of these was the removal of the Emperor from Rome to Constantinople. The Papacy could not have developed until the hindrance of the Caesar was removed from Rome. He who now letteth (hinders) will let . (hinder). Paul notes that carefully and informs us of how the Antichrist is thus withholden.

Constantine removed the new Rome to the Bosphorus, leaving old Rome to its Bishop in AD 334. Out of the chair of St. Peter, which the Bishops of Rome claimed to occupy, and out of the city of the Caesars he forged for himself a sovereignty which survived the fall of the Roman Empire, the convulsions and overturnings of the Middle Ages and the Reformation, and has come down to our day in all its arrogance and deception. It has the art, when men believe it to be about to expire, of rallying its powers and yet again dominating the whole world.

The second great event which aided the Antichrist in his development was the development of a new and loftier order overtopping the episcopate. Christendom became partitioned into five great patriarchates, Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem. The bishops of these five great cities of the empire became the five great princes of the church.

Then came the battle for priority and supremacy. Which of the five should be the first? The people of Rome pronounced in the favour of their bishop even without imperial ratification. He was installed as the first of the five in AD 606. The Emperor Phocas made Boniface III universal bishop only in precedence amongst the five, but with no jurisdiction over the other four.

But the Antichrist did not want precedence. He lusted after real power. The plan put into operation was to subdue the whole clergy of the church to the Pope. As the centuries passed, by the help of many an artifice, the Popes extended their power over the West. The darkness which descended on Europe with the descent of the Gothic hordes favoured the project in a high degree. That darkness masked the evil operations of the Papacy.

In the darkness there was produced the last will and testament of the Emperor Constantine which bequeathed to Silvestor, the Bishop of Rome, the whole Western Empire including palace, regalia, and all the belongings of the Master of the World.

Next came the decretals of Isidone. This showed that from Peter onwards all the Popes held the same state and ruled with the same power as the grand Popes of the Middle Ages.

Of course both documents were forgeries. Even Rome admits that today but she still holds as of divine authority the claims founded on these forgeries.

The third great event that aided the Antichrist in his development was the arrival of the northern nations in southern Europe. These invaders, when they arrived in Rome, beheld a great potentate in the throne of Caesar. He told them that he was the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ on earth, with power to transmit all his powers both temporal and spiritual to his successors. This was the Pope’s only gospel to the barbarians.

In the Pope they beheld no very distant likeness to their own Arch Druid. The idolatries of Rome were like their own pagan ones. Access to the baptismal font was not impeded by their pagan beliefs or sins. So nation after nation entered the Church, the French leading the way and earning for themselves the title ‘the eldest son of the church.’

The Antichrist with the vast accession of new subjects continued on the up and up. The subjection of all bishops was brought about by their pilgrimages to Rome, their appeal to the bishop of Rome in matters of dispute, and eventually by the presentation of the poll of consecration. This was at first a free gift but it soom became indispensable and without it no bishop could discharge his functions. All had to be paid for dearly and so the Antichrist became exceedingly rich. In a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy between the regular and secular clergy the Pope advanced both his financial and temporal interests.

The fourth great event which aided the Antichrist in his development was the event of the various crusades.

The papal-inspired crusades placed power, peoples, princes, and soldiers at the service of the Pope. He took over the estates of those who went off to fight, exempting their owners from the jurisdiction of the civil power in both civil and criminal causes.

When the Crusades were spent the only monarch unbroken and whose treasury was full was the Pope. The monarchs of Europe were bankrupt and their peoples ruined. The Antichrist rose to new heights of even greater grandeur on the ruins. What is more, the nations were further weakened and the Papacy strengthened by the fanatical fury of those returning from the Holy Land who vented their wrath on heretics to such lengths that bloody persecutions and wars were commenced which raged for centuries.

Out of the resulting weakness of strife-torn Europe, the Antichrist increased from strength to strength.

8 THE KING WITH THREE CROWNS — THE VICAR

In the eighth and ninth centuries certain political changes occurred which aided the Papacy to achieve its objective.

To be supreme, the Antichrist must have a country of his very own where he could reign supreme as both temporal monarch and spiritual potentate. The events of the centuries conspired, as it were, to make this possible.

The retirement of the emperor from Rome to Constantinople was the first event. Then the defeat of the Gothic powers in Italy by the Emperor Justinian.

The Eastern Empire, however, was distant and shadowy but still real and Pope Gregory II decided that he must rid himself of its jursidiction. He used the controversy on the subject of image-worship which the Romans supported and the Eastern Church rejected, to instigate a revolt against the Emperor. His representative was slain and the last vestiges of his jurisdiction over Rome and Italy annihilated.

However the Longobards had invaded Northern Italy and the Pope now saw that both his spiritual and temporal authority were in jeopardy.

Pope Zachary turned to Pepin King of France. Pepin and his son Charlemagne responded to the Pope’s call and defeated the Longobards endowing the Papal chair with all the cities and lands of Italy which had been subject to their rule. The Pope at last was a crowned monarch.

Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel chapter 7:8, the three horns plucked up before the little horn, the antichrist. The three horns were, (one) the Vandals defeated by the Emperor Justinian’s General Belisarius, (two) the Ostogoths also uprooted by Justinian, and (three) the Longobards defeated by the sword of France.

It was in memory of these three events and his entering into their kingdom that the Pope wore the triple crown, the tiara.

The Antichrist must however climb higher yet. He must set his throne among the stars and be supreme above all the kings of the earth.

In the eleventh century there arose a Pope of inflexible resolution and towering pride, Gregory VII — Hildebrand. He put before the world with a precision, a boldness, and an argumentative force, never till then brought to its support, the claim to be the Vicar of Christ. He maintained that he was God upon earth. In two dreadful centuries of war and blood-shedding the succeeding Popes eventually turned Gregory’s theory into fact and the tiara triumphed over the empire.

The claim of Hildebrand was exhibited in the person and reign of Innocent II] in the thirteenth century, in all its amplitude of despotism and blasphemy. History records no other achievement of equal magnitude.

The career both of Christ and Antichrist was to end on a throne but each was to reach their respective thrones by a very different road.

9 THE ‘ALL POWER’ OF CHRIST AND ANTICHRIST

Christ does miracles. The Antichrist does counterfeit miracles. Paul highlights these when he states that Antichrist’s coming ‘is after the manner of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.’ II Thess. 2:9.

Antichrist seeks to depose Christ under the show of enthroning Him. He undermines Christianity under the guise of being the leader of Christianity and its essential propagator. His counterfeit is most carefully executed — the work of a great master — and consistently maintained throughout.

The two comings, one of Christ and one of Antichrist are contrasted by Paul. Christ’s coming is the coming of God in the mission of salvation. Antichrist’s coming is the coming of Satan in the mission of damnation. Christ comes as the Way, the Truth and the Life, dispelling the darkness from the souls of men and chasing the night of error from the world. Antichrist comes after the manner of Satan who was a liar and murderer from the beginning. He comes to misdirect, to propagate deceits, chicaneries, lies, errors and delusions which blind the mind and hasten lost souls onwards to the blackness of darkness forever.

Christ states, that ‘all power is given unto me.’ Paul warns us that Antichrist will come ‘with all power.’

Antichrist comes with Satanic assumption of power and with an air of majesty claiming to be the Representative of God on earth. Daniel tells us he will have a mouth speaking great things and that he will wax ‘exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land.’ Daniel 7:8 and Daniel 8:9; He will have such power, Daniel goes on to tell us, that he waxed ‘great even to the host of heaven and he cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped on them.’

All power in heaven and earth was given to Christ as Mediator by God the Father. God says of Christ that He will make Him, ‘higher than the kings of the earth.’

‘He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust.

The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: = nations shall serve Him.’ Psalm 72:8—11.

Daniel with a few graphic strokes of his pen, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, having seen Antichrist’s day afar off, sketches his whole history. He speaks of his little beginning, the sprouting of the little horn. We see Caesar vacate his seat to him and the three horns, Vandal, Ostrogoth and Longobard plucked up before him. We see him rising by leaps and bounds until his head is amongst the stars. We see his stout looks, we hear his great words, and we behold his progress as he tramples on thrones, roots up nations, plucks stars from their orbit and there is none can stay his power. Why? Because ‘the dragon (the devil) gave him power, and his seat and great authority’ Rev. 13:2.

‘And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.’ Rev. 13:7.

Remember, John had a nearer view of the Antichrist in the visions of Patmos than Daniel had.

‘And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?’ Rev. 13:4.

Here is the temporal and spiritual monarchy of the Papacy foretold.

Verily Bible prophecy makes no mistakes and history makes no mistakes in fulfilling it. Survey the centuries from the fifth to the thirteenth, and if we have eyes to see we shall discover in the tumbling seas of European confusion the footsteps of the Antichrist in the murky waters.

Ancient Paganism, Druidic and Scandinavian superstition, Jewish Rabbinism and Oriental philosophy all make their contribution. An apostate church arranges, and combines these heterogenous elements and stamping them with its own impress, gives it to the world as Christianity.

Let us mark the Colossus. His visage grows as the centuries revolve, and at last as we see him as he is we are struck with the fact that we have seen him before. Daniel, Paul and John by the power of the Holy Ghost, painted him correctly and painstakingly. He put the nations in fear. He claimed to be God’s Vicegerent and stricken kings and nations cowed before him.

He promulgated the sign and lying wonder of transubstantiation and today corrupt Protestantism is drugged by its satanic poison. He initiated the ‘Holy Office’ of the Inquisition and raised an apparatus of torture which only the genius of Satan could devise. He dethroned kings and nations could not inter their dead because of his curse. Everything and everybody who got in his way he ruthlessly destroyed.

If this be not Antichrist then Antichrist we will never see. For prophecy completely and perfectly fulfilled is in itself completely and perfectly consummated. This is the complete and perfect fulfillment of the prophecy of the person, the power and pride of Antichrist.

Thou Pope of Rome, we know thee who thou art, the Unholy One of Hell, the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. WE LOOK NOT FOR ANOTHER. PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE THOU ART THE ANTICHRIST.

Continued in The Pope is the Antichrist – By Ian Paisley, Part 2.