Dr. Ian R.K. Paisley Declares Who Is The Antichrist

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

Dr. Ian R.K. Paisley teaches that 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. l 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 characterized 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.

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

Antichrist An Enemy Of Christ Under A Mask

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

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 emphasized, 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.’

Scripture Prophecy Itself, Supplies The Key To Its Interpretation

The Pope is the Antichrist

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 emphasize 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 study 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.

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 aboard 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 hierarchy).  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 slated, ‘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 be 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.

Antichrist Exalts Himself Above God

Sitting in the temple of God speaking ex-cathedra the Pope claims to have the infallibility of God Himself. This is the daring pitch and blasphemy of Antichrist in keeping with Paul’s prophecy, ‘Shewing himself to be God.’

To reign over earthly kings came very far short of papal ambition.  The Popes, like Satan their master, decided to be like the most High God. ‘He as God, sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.’

The Antichrist claims to be God first in words and then in deeds. Let us listen to what the ‘great mouth’ has spoken of himself and then what his friends have spoken for him.

Note the position he takes. ‘He sitteth in the temple of God.’  This is not the temple at Jerusalem for that was to be destroyed by the Empire whose fall brought Antichrist’s rise.

The name ‘temple’ is carried over into the New Testament teaching and indicates either the body of the individual believer, ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,’ I Cor. 3:16 or the whole body of professing Christians, ‘Jesus Christ the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.’ Eph. 2:20.

The temple in which Antichrist sits is representative of the Christian Church, a church however gone totally apostate.  For the prophecy makes it clear that the apostasy precedes the revelation of the Man of Sin. He was indeed to be both the outcome and head of that great apostasy.

Antichrist then, according to this prophecy, would establish himself prominently in the professed Christian Church.  This is exactly what the Popes have done.  This fact disposes of the theory that the Antichrist will be some atheistical leader or superman politician who in a very brief but terrible career will desolate the world.  No, he will work in, by and with the professed Christian Church, howbeit apostate.

Again no one-man Antichrist, whose reign is to last for only three years or seven years can meet the conditions of the Bible prophecies. We have already noted that the key to prophetic interpretations is not any man’s idea.  No Scripture is of any private interpretation, or preconceived notion but interpreted by the Word of God itself.  We must go by the Word of God only.

As in Daniel’s prophecy, Antichrist is a dynasty, a dynasty which wears out the saints so much so that the souls of the martyred dead in heaven cry out, ‘How long?’ The teaching of Christ, let it be noted, emphasises the corporate individuality of both Antichrist and the False Prophet. (See Chapter 17).

The Pope claims to be God.

Pope Innocent III enacted in writing, ‘We may according to the fulness 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.’ I Book of Gregory 9 Decret. C3.

The Lateran Council, addressing Pope Julius II in an oration delivered by Marcellus states, ‘Take care that we lose not that salvation, that life and breath which thou hast given us, for thou art our shepherd, tou art physician, thou art governor, thou are husbandman, thou finally ART ANOTHER GOD ON EARTH’ Council Edit. Colm. Agrip. 1618.

Pope Nicholas assumed the title of God. His words are:—‘I am all in all and above all, so that God Himself, and I, the Vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do . . . Wherefore, if those things that I do be said not to be done of man, but of God. WHAT CAN YOU MAKE ME BUT GOD? Again, if prelates of the Church be called and counted of Constantine for gods, I then, being above all prelates, seem by this reason to be ABOVE ALL GODS. Wherefore, no marvel if it be in my power to dispense with all things, yea, with the precepts of Christ.’ See Decret. Par Distinct 96 Ch. 7 Edit Lugd. 1661.

Sitting in the temple of God speaking ex-cathedra the Pope claims to have the infallibility of God Himself.  This is the daring pitch and blasphemy of Antichrist in keeping with Paul’s prophecy, ‘Shewing himself to be God.’

After his election the Pope is enthroned in the ceremony known as Adoration.

Let us refer—not to any private sources—but to the official ‘Book of Sacred Ceremonies’ of the Church of Rome.
This book, sometimes called ‘Ceremoniale Romanum,’ is written in Latin, and was compiled three hundred and forty years ago, by Marcellus, a Roman Catholic Archbishop, and is dedicated to a Pope, Leo X. Let us turn to that portion of this Volume which describes the first public appearance of the Pope at Rome, on his Election to the Pontificate.

We there read the following order of proceedings: ‘The Pontiff elect is conducted to the Sacrarium, and divested of his ordinary attire, and is clad in Papal Robes.’ The colour of these is then minutely described. Suffice it to say, that five different articles of dress, in which he is then arrayed, are scarlet. Another vest is specified, and this is covered with pearls. His mitre is then mentioned; and this is adorned with gold and precious stones.

Such, then, is the attire in which the Pope is arrayed, and in which he first appears to the World as Pope. In the Book of Revelation we see that scarlet, pearls, gold, and precious stones are thrice specified by St. John, as characterizing the Mysterious Power portrayed by himself.

But we may not pause here.  Turn again to the ‘Ceremoniale Romanum.’  The Pontiff elect, arrayed as has been described, is conducted to the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica, or Church, of St. Peter.  He is led to the Altar; he first prostrates himself before it, and prays.  Thus he declares the sanctity of the Altar. He kneels at it, and prays before it, as the seat of God.

What a contrast then ensues! We read thus:

‘The Pope rises, and, wearing his mitre, is lifted up by the Cardinals, and is placed by them upon the Altar – to sit there. One of the Bishops kneels, and begins the ‘Te Deum.’  In the meantime the Cardinals kiss the feet and hands and face of the Pope.’

Such is the first appearance of the Pope in the face of the Church and the World.

‘Whatever God does the Pope professes also.  Does God require that to Him every knee shall bow?

So, too, the Pope: he requires to be worshipped with prostration and kissing.

Does God reveal Himself as the ‘only holy?’

So, too, the Pope. He claims to be styled ‘his holiness.’

Is God the ‘only wise?’

So, too, the Pope: he claims to be ‘inerrable.’

Did God plant his throne on the summit of Sinai, and thence promulgate those ten commandments which are the world’s law?

So, too, the Pope: he has planted his seat on the seven hills in the character of the world’s supreme lawgiver and judge, and he claims an equal authority and infallibility for all that he is pleased to promulgate ex-cathedra as Jehovah claims for the precepts of the decalogue.

Is it God’s prerogative to pardon sin?

The Pope assumes the same great prerogative. He pardons the sins of the living and the dead.

Is it God’s prerogative to assign men their eternal destiny?

This, too, does the Pope. He pretends to hold the keys that open and shut purgatory, and while he reserves to his followers a sure passport to the realms of paradise, he consigns all outside his church to eternal woe.

In fine, does God sit between the Cherubim and receive the homage of His people in His sanctuary?

The Pope, seated on the high altar of St. Peter’s while incense is burned before him, and the knee is bent to him, is invoked as the Lord our God.  Romanists are accustomed to call the altar, the throne of God, inasmuch as thereon they place the host.  The use the Pope finds for it on these occasions, is the not very dignified one of a footstool.  ‘He as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.’

Antichrist’s Usurpation Over Kings and Nations

Antichrist makes a double usurpation. He vaults over the thrones of kings into the very throne of God.

‘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.’ II Thess. 2:4.

Antichrist makes a double usurpation. He vaults over the thrones of kings into the very throne of God.

‘Binding up in one colossal jurisdiction things temporal and spiritual, the Pope stretched his sceptre over all the seats of human judicature, and sat with his feet on the necks of kings as well as of priests.  He claimed it as his prerogative to judge all, but to be judged by none; to make laws, but to be subject to no law; thereby unconsciously vindicating his prophetic appellative ‘the lawless one.’

He has had himself depicted holding in one hand the ‘keys’ of spiritual authority, and in the other the sword of temporal power. He has taught that it was fit that all princes should kiss his feet, and has extorted from not a few this act of obedience.  He has inculcated on monarchs that sound orthodoxy requires them to hold their kingdoms as fiefs of the papal chair; and to keep alive in them this pious frame of mind, he has imposed on them and on their subjects the tax of Peter’s Pence.

If still he discerned in them the risings of pride, this meek vicar of Christ has plucked the sceptre from their hand, kicked their crown with his pontifical foot, and transferred their dominion to some more devout and humble-minded neighbor.  All this he has done ‘as set of God over the kingdoms and nations to plant and to pluck up — to build and to pull down — to make and to unmake kings.’ ‘Is not the king of England my bondslave?’  were words from the ‘great mouth.’ (Pope Boniface VIII to Philip, King of France.)

If the annals of the Papacy at this present hour are not illustrated by these solemn acts of pontifical justice, it is because the power and not the right is lacking.

Pope John Paul II claims all these powers over all the kings and rulers of the world but prudently postpones their exercise till the arrival of a happier day for the Papacy.

The Church of Rome so exactly answers the description.

“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.”

Man of Sin and Son of Perdition

The apostle Paul completes the portrait of the Antichrist by styling him the ‘Man of Sin and Son of Perdition.’

Christ is the Man of Holiness, the only truly holy man this earth has ever seen. ‘That Holy Thing.’ Said the angel (Luke 1:35). ‘The Holy Child Jesus,’ said Luke (Acts 4:27). The apostle Paul witnessed that He was “Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners’ (Heb. 9:26).

The Pope, the Vicar of Christ, is the Man of Sin.  He has invented sin, he has taught sin, he has enticed sin, established iniquity by a law, he trades in sins and has grown rich through the sins of Christendom.  Sin is the Pope’s work.  Sin is the Pope’s being.  Popery is the incarnation of sin as the Gospel is the incarnation of holiness.

The policy of the Pope as the Antichrist is not to deny truth but to pervert truth.

He perverts the commandments of God and converts them into sin.  He perverts the sacraments of Christ and converts them into sin.  He perverts the offices of the church and converts them into sin.  There is not a doctrine of the Bible which the Pope does not pervert and thus deny.  King Jeroboam made Israel to sin.  The Pope has made the world to sin.

Paul further styled him as ‘the Son of Perdition.’  This is a phrase of terrible significance.  It is only used once before in the New Testament and that in reference to Judas the traitor.  It is applied to him by our Lord after the devil came in and possessed him.

‘While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition: that the scripture might be fulfilled.’ John 17:12.

The first ‘son of perdition,’ was a bishop – a bishop who fell from his elevated estate.  The Antichrist is a bishop – a bishop fallen indeed – the Bishop of Rome.  The first ‘son of perdition,’ went to his own place.

‘That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.’ Acts 1:25.

The Antichrist is cast into the lake of fire.

‘And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.’ Rev. 20:10.

The first ‘son of perdition’ Judas, went forth from the bosom of the infant church, where he had just partaken of the Passover cup. He rose up from the very presence of the Godman, to enact his awful apostasy.

The second and greater ‘son of perdition’ in like manner arose in the bosom of the primitive church.

‘If Christianity is going to be destroyed it must come from within,’ he declared.  ‘Give me the kingdoms of the world. Elevate me to Caesar’s throne.  I will declare myself to be the Vice-Christ and the world will believe on me and follow me.  I will destroy true Christianity.’

Who prompted the Antichrist?  What is the power behind the Papacy?  The beast is energized by Satan himself.  Popery is the son of perdition, the spawn, the offspring of that Old Serpent the Devil, the Arch Destroyer.

Christ’s work is to create and give life. Antichrist’s work is to destroy and take life.

The Pope destroys the principles of gospel morality and evangelical virtue.  Where the Papacy has trodden there is the blackness of physical, moral and spiritual death. Death and hell follows after the Pope.  He is the ‘son of perdition.’  No other can or will fulfill the prophecies of God. He is the Antichrist.

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