Pope Francis wearing the fish hat of the fish-god, Dagon. Dagon is mentioned 12 times in 7 verses in the Bible as a false god.

This is chapter 7 of The Effect of the Jesuit Eschatologies on America Today – by Dr. Ronald Cooke

It is a fact, that Sir Robert Anderson, Harry Ironside, Dave Hunt, and many other commentators on the book of Revelation, repudiate the Roman Catholic System, while at the same time promoting the Jesuit-Romanist view of the Man of Sin. Is this anomaly important or not? We believe that the fact that almost all Protestant evangelical commentators now promote one or the other of the two Jesuit positions on the Man of Sin, has had a profound effect upon America today.

In this brief tract two areas where the Jesuit eschatologies have had a deep and lasting effect upon the American church today will be considered: the Ecumenical Movement and the so-called Cultural Struggle. In fact, I believe it can be shown that these two movements could not have arisen in the modern American church, had not the Reformed Protestant position on the Antichrist been first abandoned.

The Ecumenical Movement is a repudiation of the Protestant Reformation. One of the first concerted moves to repudiate Reformation Protestantism was the Tractarian Movement in the 19th century in England. This movement was connected to a revival of Jesuit eschatology in the nineteenth century within the confines of Bible-believing Protestantism.

In the twentieth century, Clarence Larkin exulted in to bring about this “wonderful” revival of Jesuit teachings at the beginning of the nineteenth century

1. The Oxford Movement. 2. The resurrection of the commentary on the book of Revelation, written by the Jesuit, Francisco Ribera. 3. The publication of the book, The Coming of the Messiah in Power and Glory, written by another Jesuit, Emanuel Lacunza. The Jesuits surely revived Roman Catholicism in England, and the revival of the Roman Catholic view of the Antichrist was then spread throughout North America through the influence of the Scofield Bible.

Very few Christians today, know much about the Oxford Movement that started early in the 19th century. It is also called the Tractarian Movement, because the changes that the Anglo-Catholics were desiring, were set forth in Tracts of varying sizes.

The fact that the writings of C.S. Lewis were welcomed by Reformed, Evangelical, and Fundamental Christians in the 20th century is proof that few modern Christians know anything about Tractarianism, For C.S. Lewis was actually continuing the struggle of the 19th century Tractarians in the 20th century: the struggle to Romanize Anglicanism.

When the Test Act was abolished by Parliament in 1828, it caused great dissent in England. The abolishing of the Test Act made it possible for Roman Catholics and Dissenters to run for political office in the House of Commons. The Anglican Church then had to deal with this new situation, so the call went forth for “THE ADAPTATION TO THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.” (Sounds familiar).

Violence then broke out in various places in England. At Bristol, the angry populace burned down the Episcopal Palace. So it was a tumultuous time in Britain. In the midst of this turmoil, the Tractarian Party sought to Romanize English Anglicanism. At this juncture no one was calling for anyone to leave the Anglican Church; they were calling for Roman Catholic teachings and practices to be brought into the Angelican Church.

A conference of certain Anglican theologians was held in 1833. This conference is usually regarded as the start of the Oxford Movement. The clerical party at the University of Oxford has always been considered the mainspring of the movement, although it was pushed in other universities outside of Oxford. The main men associated with this movement were, John Keble, John H. Newman, Edward Pusey, RH. Froude, A. P. Perceval, Hugh Rose, W. G. Ward, F. W. Faber, and others too numerous to mention.

Three main points were made prominent in the early meetings: 1. The idea of the church, which Froude particularly insisted was to be based upon the first century church. They wanted nothing to do with the “divisive spirit of the Reformation.” 2, The importance of the sacraments. And 3. The significance of the “priestly” office. This was in regard to the “sacrifice” of the Mass. They wanted more emphasis upon the immolation of the Host than on preaching the gospel and the celebration of Communion, as only a “feast of remembrance.”

Out of these three “main” points many others developed. For these men also wanted some of the teachings and practices of Roman Catholicism to be brought into Anglicanism. They wanted the teaching of Purgatory to be recognized as taught by the fathers, even if it was not taught in the Bible. They agitated for penance, confession to a priest, prayers for the dead, through angels and saints; the veneration of relics, and the veneration of Mary. They also wanted more emphasis upon the sacraments in the matter of salvation.

Dr. Pusey, early on, denied that the Tractarians wanted to return the Anglican Church to Rome. He sought to make this clear to the Bishop of Oxford. However, he could not deny that in general, the Tractarians taught their readers and followers to look indulgently upon the teachings and practice of Roman Catholicism and to bewail the Protestant Reformation as a blunder, if not a complete tragedy in the Church.

Many of the younger clergy, infected with the teachings of the Anglo-Catholics, were impatient with the Anglican Church for not implementing the proposals of the Tractarians. So they were on the verge of perverting to Roman Catholicism and forgetting all about Anglicanism. So JH. Newman wrote Tract No. 90. The purpose of which was to make it easy for the young men to subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles of Anglicanism which set forth Reformation teachings clearly, and yet hold firmly to all the essentials of Roman Catholicism with a clear conscience.

No other essay or Tract, in the whole history of the Oxford Movement created such a sensation as this one. Oxford University as a whole was alarmed. A session of the university authorities declared that the tracts were in no wise officially sanctioned by the university, and that a subscription of the Thirty-Nine Articles in the sense taught in Tract 90 was utterly contrary to the spirit of Subscription.

The Bishop of Oxford, who at one time viewed the Tractarians without much animosity, sent a message to Newman, censuring the Tract in question, and forbidding further publication of such tracts. This was the beginning of the end of Tractarianism.

It caused a separation among the adherents of the Oxford Movement. Those who were intent on pursuing their agenda would now do so OUTSIDE the ranks of Anglicanism. Those, who were the most in favor of Roman Catholic dogmas and practices, now left the Anglican church and became Roman Catholics.

Pusey kept up his attacks upon Protestantism. He preached in 1843, a sermon setting forth the Roman Catholic Mass, in which he taught transubstantiation. He was suspended for two years from his office for this sermon. His assistant, Seager, a Hebrew teacher, then reacted to this discipline of Pusey, by perverting to Rome. W. G. Ward was the next pervert to Rome, after he was expelled from Oxford for an article in which he taught Mariolatry and other obnoxious doctrines of Rome. He, on being expelled from Oxford, perverted to Rome. J. H. Newman then resigned and followed Ward to Rome. Not less than 150 clergymen and eminent lay leaders left Anglicanism by 1846, and became Romanists.

Later, when the Pope of Rome divided England into 12 Bishoprics, it further complicated matters in England. So that Roman Catholicism became more inviting to those Anglo-Catholics who were dissatisfied with how the Romanizing of Anglicanism was proceeding. So a further 300 clergymen left the Anglican Church by the end of 1862. The lay members who left were in the thousands. However, no official number has ever been given of the ordinary members who left Anglicanism at this time.

One of the early issues in this whole controversy was the identity of the Antichrist. The Protestant Reformers were unanimous in identifying the Papacy as the Antichrist of Scripture. So if the Ecumenical Movement was to get off the ground, this was the first matter to be dealt with to pave the way for the irenic dialogue to continue.

Continue to the next chapter: The Thesis of the Jesuit Francisco Ribera

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