So-Called American Pro-test-ants, fail to even protest Rome, calling Satan their brother in Christ, and Roman Catholism a "denomination"

The Ascent of the Antichrist

  Reformed Baptist Fellowship  

In what can only be called a strange sign of the times in which we live, Evangelical reaction to the election of a new Roman Pontiff ranges from mildly encouraged to wildly enthusiastic.  Perhaps this only reflects the effete civility of our day.  Perhaps it means that American Christians have entirely abandoned theology for politics.  Or perhaps it certifies that Protestantism is dead.  Whatever the reason, when a few have dared mention what was for centuries the settled opinion of the entire Protestant world – that any “Pope” is and must be Antichrist – many within their own ranks have cried foul.

Insults, Lies & Evaluations
If I call the Pope the Antichrist, do I insult him?  After all, it’s not as though I said the Pope’s mother wears combat boots; I am making a more subtle and significant point.  An accusation of “insult” requires definition.  What is an insult, and is it always wrong?
Some have hurled cruel curses against the Popes, but to the Christian, such language is unworthy.  Others paint all Catholic clergy as sexual deviants, which is simply “false witness,” and yes, there is a commandment against it.

Sometimes, though, what sounds like an insult is actually a carefully reasoned evaluation.  It is normally an insult to call someone a “Nazi,” but some historians have called Sir Oswald Mosley – the English fascist sympathizer – a “Nazi.”  They are not insulting him so much as evaluating him.  Similarly, Protestants have called the Pope the “Antichrist.”  Is this insult or evaluation?

Antichristos
I suppose many Catholics see evangelicals as a pack of “Left Behind” watching fanatics who imagine the Antichrist as a futuristic horned monster who runs around eating children and slapping barcodes on everyone’s forehead.  Goodness knows too many evangelicals are exactly that; maybe this accounts for some of the concern that we are being a little unfair with the Pope.
But this is a recent delusion.  For most of history, Protestant Evangelicals have understood antichrist as a character and a concept best described by the Apostle Paul in II Thessalonians 2:1-12.  Here is the text:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.  Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.  Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?  And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

We may summarize four descriptives of the Antichrist:

1. He will seek to enforce faith in himself on the whole earth.
2. He will call himself God.
3. He will promote himself with counterfeit miracles.
4. He will deceive men into believing a lie which condemns rather than saves.

American Evangelicals now look for one great Antichrist figure at the end of the age whose temporary ascendency will be the harbinger of Christ’s return, but this is something of a contemporary anomaly.  Historically Protestants considered the words of I John 2:18 – there are “…many antichrists…” – and concluded that the spirit of antichrist is greater than any one person or even institution, but that with the passage of history one central Antichrist could be expected to rise.  The consensus position was that this has been fulfilled in the institution of the papacy.  Is that an insult, or a reasonable exegetical conclusion?

Popish Abominations
Our confession summarizes the case against the Pope by repeating the Protestant consensus: he is the Antichrist.

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. Second London Confession of Faith, Chapter XXVI, Paragraph 4

Does this evaluation square with II Thessalonians 2?

1. The Antichrist will “exalt himself against every so-called god or object of worship.”   In other words, he will be the head of a megalomaniacal religion.  He will not replace the worship of false gods with the worship of the true God, but rather with the worship of himself.  Today’s Catholics argue their own relevance by citing more than a billion adherents worldwide.  In so doing, they only highlight their leader’s compliance with the first descriptive of the Antichrist.  Priests have not brought the gospel, but the sword, the inquisition, and the invented terrors of purgatory – only to say, “Look to us, and we will save you from it all.”  Even in our age, when papal ambition wears a cloak of civility, the grand celebrations and claims of vast influence are a very visible form of self-exaltation.

2. The Antichrist will “take his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”  Ever since Wednesday evening we have been hearing what a humble man Pope Francis is, but his supposed humility is undercut by the titles he has assumed.  He has allowed himself to be called “Holy Father.”  Of course Jesus Himself told us (in Matthew 23:9) to call no man “Father” because God in Heaven is our Father.  Moreover, in Colossians 1:18 and elsewhere we are told that Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, yet the Pope assumes this title as well.  Finally, when Jesus was preparing to leave He promised to send another to stand in His place, namely the Spirit of Truth. (John 14:17)  So the Holy Father, the Head of the Church, and the Vicar (one who stands in the place of) of Christ are none other than God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  What exactly are we to think of a man who assumes all three titles to Himself?  Has he not proclaimed himself God?

3.  The Antichrist will come with “all power and false signs and wonders.”  American Catholics don’t like to talk about it, but the first purveyors of fake miracles were not Pentecostal frauds but Roman Catholic frauds.  The system of “sainthood” is based upon fraudulent wonders, as is the false sacrament of the mass.  The priest supposedly performs a miraculous transformation of bread and wine into the dead body and blood of Someone who is at the same time risen and seated in heaven.  The net effect of this counterfeit supernaturalism is to leave the common adherent in awe, unwilling to question the priests who hold the keys to heaven and hell.  Yet not only is none of it verifiable, none of it is remotely consistent with the teaching of Scripture.  The pope is the great beneficiary of this grand confidence scheme – the recipient of the loyal adulation of the superstitious.

4. The Antichrist will “delude” men into “believing what is false,” with the result that they are “condemned.”  As a prop to their ambition the Popes have denied the transaction which sits at the very heart of the gospel: the imputation of Christ’s righteousness fully and freely to everyone who believes.  In its place they have erected a monstrosity – a false gospel in which grace has been conferred by God to the Pope, who distributes it wherever he wills – forgiving sins, but always at a price.  Catholics are taught that the church, through its sacraments, will grant them just enough grace to avoid damnation, but this is an abominable lie.  It turns the hearts and eyes of men away from the freely offered grace of Christ and toward men.  Those who die trusting in this false gospel will be dragged down to hell alongside the Popes who have invented it.
So our Baptist forefathers, together with all other Protestants, were onto something when they identified the Pope as the great Antichrist.  Certainly every Pope has met the description offered by the Apostle, and no other man or institution has ever come close to matching them.

What Should We Say?
But is it insulting?  Is it hopelessly mean to call the head of someone else’s faith “the Antichrist”?  Would it not be more civilized to smile and say what a nice, humble man he is and how glad we are that he supports traditional marriage and opposes abortion?
If the Apostles are an example to us, we ought to realize that part of the task of proclaiming the good news is to oppose heresy in every form.  That is why Paul wrote in Galatians 1:8-9, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
Wasn’t Paul being horribly impolite?  Of course he was, but he was willing to accept the scorn consequently heaped upon his words. As he said in the very next verse, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servantof Christ.”
As servants of Christ, faithful pastors have no choice but to identify the Antichrist whenever he exalts himself.  This is no “anti-Catholicism.”  We love our Catholic neighbors; we love them so much that we would rather they not go to hell!  To that end, every faithful minister of the gospel must speak the truth.  Pope Francis is the Antichrist.  He is the man of sin and the son of perdition, and one day he will be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of the Lord.

 

Tom Chantry, Pastor