The Antichrist Sea Beast Of Revelation 13 Is The Popes Of The Roman Catholic Church

This Revelation Timeline Decoded Bible study focuses on the sea beast of Revelation 13, the Popes of Rome, the Antichrist beast.

The sea beast of Revelation 13 is the Roman Catholic Church, which rose to power after the Lord caused the Roman Empire to collapse. It reigned for 1,260 years (1,260 prophetic days) from 538-1798 A.D.

It worked relentlessly to eliminate the Two Witnesses, the Word of God and the Church of Christ, both of which testified that salvation is by faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, not by works through the Papal Church; and that the Papal Church is the beast of Revelation, the Little Horn of Daniel, and the Pope, the Son of Perdition.

Its reign ended when the Pope was imprisoned by the Jesuits in 1798 A.D.

Revelation 13:1 “Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.”

John is showing us that it is the same beast as in Daniel 7, which had ten horns.

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Daniel 7:24-25

The visions of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 reveals that a beast represents the reigning kingdom power.

Water in Bible prophecy represents people:

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. Revelation 17:15

The Popes of Rome rose to power among the 10 civil kingdoms of the fallen Roman Empire.

The blasphemous name may be “Vicar of Christ” or “Holy Father.”

Messiah caused the Roman Empire to collapse internally from the seal judgments, and to be attacked by army after army from the trumpet judgments.

So Satan caused the Bishops of Rome and Emperor Constantine to create a counterfeit church, to seek to destroy the Church of Christ from within.  Like the Roman Empire, they would persecute the saints, but they also misled people with a false salvation message.

The Roman Catholic Church home is St. Peter’s Basilica.  Basilica means: a place of a king, the abode of the Basalisk, the abode of the serpent.

In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk, from the Greek βασιλίσκος basilískos, “little king;” Latin regulus) is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilisk

It is telling us that the Little King, the Little Horn of Daniel 7, would rule there, which the Popes have fulfilled.

The Vatican features several serpents and dragons in the artwork.

Revelation 13:2 “Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.”

John is telling us that the beast would have the characteristics of Greece (leopard), which put education and logic above revelation; Medo-Persia (bear), which put the rule of law above mercy (Dan 6:12); and would speak like Babylon (lion), which was steeped in astrology, and the spirits of the occult. The Roman Catholic Church displays all of these attributes.

The name ‘Vatican’ means ‘divining serpent’ from Latin Vatis=diviner, and can=serpent. It’s not pointing to just one person, it’s pointing to a position.  The President of the United States, the King of England, have all been fulfilled by many people.  The office of the Papacy is the same way.

Revelation 13:3 “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.”

When the Roman Empire collapsed, their head, the Roman Emperors, were removed from power, which was the deadly head wound.  It recovered in the form of the Roman Catholic Church, when Popes took authority as the Pontifex Maximus, and claimed civil and ecclesiastical authority over the whole world.

Revelation 13:5, “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.“

Popes have claimed to be God, to be Jesus Christ in the flesh, to forgive sins, to provide salvation, and other blasphemies.

Satan used the Roman Catholic Church to deceive in the name of Christ.  The 42 months here is the same 1,260 years as Daniel 7:25 spoke about with “a time and times and half a time” which occurred from 538 – 1798 A.D.

The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990, Vol.26, p.938) says “The ultimate humiliation of the Church came when Pius VI was driven out of Rome by the French armies in 1798 and in the following year was taken captive by them and dragged back to France, where he died.”

Revelation 13:7 “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.”

Satan used the Roman Catholic Church to make war with the saints during the Dark Ages and the Inquisitions. They persecuted the saints so extensively, that they pronounced the opposers who testified against them as dead.

“We define that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff (Pope) hold the primacy over the whole world.” (Source: Laetentur Coeli, Council of Florence, 1439)
And at that time, they did have control of the whole civilized world.

Daniel, Paul and John all described the same thing, the antichrist Popes of Rome rising to power after the Roman Empire collapsed.

Notice the commonality of the prophecies, that the Popes would rise to power, that they would speak against God, and that they would reign for 1,260 years.

After the internal collapse from civil war, famine and pestilence; and after the Roman Empire was attacked by many armies; the last Western Roman Emperor was removed in 476 A.D.

The Little Horn of Daniel describes the Popes, who rose to power after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Daniel 7:8 “I considered the (10) horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

The 10 horns of the 4th beast of Daniel 7 foretold that the Roman Empire would split into 10 civil kingdoms, and that a Little Horn, the Popes of Rome, would rise up among them, and pluck out three of the kingdoms that did not bow down to his authority. They subdued and destroyed three of the ten kingdoms, the Heruli, the Ostrogoths and the Vandals.

Daniel 7:25 “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”

Daniel foretold that the Little Horn, the Popes of Rome would speak against Elohim, and reign for 1,260 years.

The ‘restrainer’ of 2 Thessalonians 2 described the Roman Emperors who restrained the Popes from taking power.

“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.” Verse 4

The Roman Emperor was the restrainer, because as long as he was in authority, the Popes could not take power.

Shortly after the last Roman Emperor was removed in 476 A.D., the Son of Perdition, the Popes of Rome, rose to power in 538 A.D.  They sit among the followers of Messiah, which is the temple of God, and they proclaimed to be God.

The sea beast of Revelation 13 rose up out of the people groups, out of the 10 civil kingdoms, that were created when the Roman Empire collapsed.

“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” Verse 5

The Popes were given civil and ecclesiastic power as a church/state, and they took the Emperor’s title of Pontifex Maximus, and the ‘deadly head wound‘ was healed.

John is telling us the same thing as Daniel, that the Popes of Rome would reign for 1,260 years, and speaking blasphemies, proclaiming to be God and to forgive sins.

Revelation 17 tells us that five forms of Roman government, referred to as kings, had passed when John wrote Revelation.

“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” Verse 3

Here is the same beast as Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 described, with 10 horns.

“And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” Verses 10-11

The seven kings represent the seven forms of government that existed in the Roman Empire, and the 8th represents the Popes of Rome who took power.

Five had passed.  One was at the time, the Emperors of Rome. And one existed during the ‘short space’ between 476, when the last Roman Emperor was removed, and 538, when the Popes of Rome took power.

The antichrist is not just one man, it is a position, like the President of the United States. It has been fulfilled by many Popes.

Messiah said that many would come in my name, and the many Popes proclaim to be the “Vicar of Christ” or the “substitute Christ.”

The Popes reigned during 1,260 years of civil and ecclesiastic power, from 538-1798 A.D., until the Jesuits caused Napoleon’s army to take the Pope captive, removing his civil power.

The Jesuit Generals, the black popes, are the earth beast of Revelation 13, who control the Vatican and the White Pope.

Quotes from our forefathers of the faith, about the Antichrist Popes of Rome:

Eberhard II (1240), archbishop of Salzburg, affirmed that the Pope was the antichrist. 

“Stated at a synod of bishops held at Regensburg in 1240 that the people of his day were “accustomed” to calling the pope antichrist.” (LeRoy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers)

The history of the persecutions and wars against the people called Waldenses or Waldois, in the valleys of Angrogne, Lucerne, St. Martin, Perouse, and others, in the country of Piedmont, from A.D. 1555, to A.D. 1561.

“For who would ever have judged or suspected in his mind, that the bishop of Rome (commonly received, and believed, almost of all men, to be the vicar and vicegerent of Christ here in earth) to be antichrist, and the great adversary of God, whom St. Paul so expressly prophesieth of, in these latter days to be revealed by the brightness of the Lord’s coming, as all men now, for the most part, may see it is come to pass?” Foxes Book of Martyrs: The Waldensian martyrs of Peidmont

John Wycliffe said Antichrist, the head of all these evil men, is the pope of Rome.

John, (1330-1384), called the Morning Star of the Reformation, spent most of his life teaching at Oxford University and was recognized by John of Guant (The Duke of Lancaster) as extraordinarily gifted in theology. He translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English and placed it in the hands of the people.

Wycliffe said of the Pope:

“When the western church was divided for about 40 years between two rival popes, one in Rome and the other in Avigon, France, each pope called the other pope antichrist – and John Wycliffe is reputed to have regarded them as both being right: “two halves of Antichrist, making up the perfect Man of Sin between them.”

“We suppose that Antichrist, the head of all these evil men, is the pope of Rome.” (Ibid, p. 90)

Matthias of Janow said the Pope is the most wicked Christian, falsely styling himself by that name.

Matthias was a fourteenth-century Bohemian ecclesiastical writer. Matthias came to be known as the Bohemian Wycliffe. He received his doctorate from the University of Paris and in 1381 became the canon in the Cathedral of Prague.  His writings paved the way for the Hussite movement.

Janow based his conclusions about the Antichrist on II Thessalonians 2, Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 and 17.  Here is one of his statements:

“The Antichrist has already come. He is neither Jew, pagan Saracean nor worldly tyrant, but the ‘man who opposes Christian truth and the Christian life by way of deception;—he is, and will be, the most wicked Christian, falsely styling himself by that name, assuming the highest station in the church, and possessing the highest consideration, arrogating dominion over all ecclesiastics and laymen;’ one who, by the working of Satan, assumes to himself power and wealth and honor, and makes the church, with its goods and sacraments, subservient to his own carnal ends.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 40.

John Purvey said the Papacy was the kingdom of the Antichrist.

John (1354 – 1414) was one of the leading followers of the English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe during the late fourteenth and early.

Luther said “We are not the first who interpret the Papacy as the kingdom of Antichrist…He (John Purvey in 1390 AD) rightly and truly pronounces the Pope “Antichrist” as he is…a witness indeed, foreordained by God to confirm our doctrine.”  (Martin Luther, Commentarius in Apocalypsin reprint).

William White said that the pope… is nothing else but a devilish estate and heavy yoke of antichrist, and therefore he is an enemy unto Christ’s truth.

William was a follower of John Wycliffe, and he was well learned, upright, and a well-spoken priest.

“That the wicked living of the pope, and his holiness, is nothing else but a devilish estate and heavy yoke of antichrist, and therefore he is an enemy unto Christ’s truth.”

William Tyndale said the Pope is the antichrist and his doctrine sprung of the devil.

William Tyndale (1493-1536) was an English scholar who became a leading figure in Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execution.

Tyndale translated the Greek Bible into English, but the Roman Catholic Church fought against him publishing it. The Catholic church believed that only the mother church is able to rightly interpret the Bible.

‘The Jews look for Christ, and he is come fifteen hundred years ago, and they not aware: we also have looked for antichrist, and he has reigned as long, and we not aware: and that because either of us looked carnally for him, and not in the place where we ought to have sought. The Jews had found Christ verily, if they had sought him in the law and the prophets, whither Christ sendeth them to seek. John v. We also had spied out antichrist long ago, if we had looked into the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, where, because the beast sees himself now to be sought for, he roars.’ (Ibid, p. 46)

Tyndale was caught, arrested, tried, and sentenced to death.

Huldreich Zwingli proclaimed the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist… the Papacy has to be abolished. 

Zwingli (1484-1531) was a great Swiss Reformer who remarked about the Papacy:

“I know that in it works the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist… the Papacy has to be abolished… But by no other means can it be more thoroughly routed than by the word of God (2 Thessalonians 2), because as soon as the world receives this in the right way, it will turn away from the Pope without compulsion.” Principle Works of Zwingli, Vol. 7, p. 135.

John Calvin said we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist.

John (1509-1564) was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation.  Trained at the University of Paris for the priesthood, he later studied at Bourges where he became converted, and joined the reformation cause against the Roman Catholic heresy.

John Calvin declared,“I deny him to be the vicar of Christ, who, in furiously persecuting the gospel, demonstrates by his conduct that he is Antichrist–I deny him to be the successor of Peter..I deny him to be the head of the church.” “Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt…I shall briefly show that (Pauls words in 2 Thessalonians 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy” John Calvin, Tracts, Vol. 1, pp. 219,220. John Calvin, Institutes.

Martin Luther declared “We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist.”

Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk, who the Lord called out of the Papal Church.

“Nothing else than the kingdom of Babylon and of very Antichrist….For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the church; while he yet sits in the church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny.” Martin Luther, First Principles, pp. 196-197

“I know that the pope is Antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan himself.“ D’Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VI, Chapter IX

Nicolaus von Amsdorf said that the pope is the real, true Antichrist.

Nicolaus (1483-1565) was a friend and ardent colleague of Martin Luther. Notice his words on the identity of Antichrist:

“He will be revealed and come to naught before the last day, so that every man shall comprehend and recognize that the pope is the real, true Antichrist and not the vicar of Christ. . . .Therefore those who consider the pope and his bishops as Christian shepherds and bishops are deeply in error, but even more are those who believe the Turk is the Antichrist. Because the Turk rules outside of the church and does not sit in the holy place, nor does he seek to bear the name of Christ but is an open antagonist of Christ and His church. This does not need to be revealed, but it is clear and evident because he persecutes Christians openly and not as the pope does, secretly under the form of godliness.”  Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 305., Furnemliche und gewisse Zeichen, sig.A2r.,v.)

Philipp Melanchthon, a German Reformer, said that the Roman Pontiff is the antichrist.

Philipp (1497-1560), born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was Martin Luther’s closest collaborator, though of a calmer spirit. His concept of the Antichrist is unmistakable:

“Since it is certain that the pontiffs and the monks have forbidden marriage, it is most manifest, and true without any doubt, that the Roman Pontiff, with his whole order and kingdom, is very Antichrist. Likewise in II Thes. 2, Paul clearly says that the man of sin will rule in the church exalting himself above the worship of God, etc. . . . But it is certain that the popes do rule in the church, and under the title of the church in defending idols. . . . “Wherefore I affirm that no heresy hath risen, nor indeed shall be, with which these descriptions of Paul can more truly and certainly accord and agree than with this pontifical kingdom. . . .The prophet Daniel also attributes these two things to Antichrist; namely, that he shall place an idol in the temple, and worship [it] with gold and silver; and that he shall not honor women. . . .That both of them belong to the Roman Pontiff, who does not clearly see? The idols are clearly the impious masses, the worship of saints, and the statues which are exhibited in gold and silver that they may be worshiped.”  Translated from Melanchthon, Disputationes, No. 56, “De Matrimonio”, in Opera (Corpus Reformatorum), vol. 12 col. 535

Ulriucus Zuinglius said the Pope is the Antichrist whom Paul described.

Ulriucus was a zealous reformer, born at Wildehausen, in Switzerland. In regard to 2 Thessalonians 2 (answering the papal application of it to the Protestants,) he said:

“Let our doctrine be examined, and it will appear that they are false. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, and that he is the only Reconciler and the only succour of man, but the Papists preach the Pope, the Antichrist, whom here Paul so accurately describes.” (Ibid, p. 47)

John Hooper said the Pope is the capital enemy of Christ and his religion.

John was the Bishop of Gloucester from 1551-1554. He was a proponent of the English Reformation, he was martyred during the Queen Mary Persecutions.

He spoke strong words about the identity of the Antichrist:

“If godly Moses and his brother Aaron never acclaimed this title [to be God’s vicar and lieutenant] in the earth, doubtless it is a foul and detestable arrogancy that these ungodly bishops of Rome attribute unto themselves to be the heads of Christ’s church. . . .“Because God hath given this light unto my countrymen, which be all persuaded (or else God sent them to be persuaded!), that the Bishop of Rome, nor none other is Christ’s vicar upon the earth, it is no need to use any long or copious oration: it is so plain that it needeth no probation: the very properties of Antichrist, I mean of Christ’s great and principal enemy, are so openly known to all men that are not blinded with the smoke of Rome, that they know him to be the beast that John describeth in the Apocalypse.”  Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 382.

Master John Bradford, who was martyred in 1555, said “the usurped authority of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome is undoubtedly that great Antichrist.”

Master John, a faithful Minister and pillar of Christ’s Church, valiantly and cheerfully gave his blood in the name of Christ.  In a letter to Lady Vane, he wrote,

‘ The usurped authority of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome is undoubtedly that great Antichrist, of whom the apostles do so much admonish us.’

In his Sermon on the Lord’s Supper, he said,

‘ It is a plain sign of Antichrist to deny the substance of bread and wine to be in the Lord’s Supper after consecration; for in so doing, and in granting transubstantiation, the property of the human nature of Christ is denied ; for it is not of the human nature, but of the divine nature, to be in many places at once.

Now grant transubstantiation, and then Christ’s natural body must needs be in many places, which is nothing else but to confound the two natures in Christ, or to deny Christ’s human nature, which is the self same thing, St. John says, to deny Christ to be come in the flesh.’ (Ibid, p. 45)

“Wherefore I now am condemned and shall be burned as an heretic. For, because I will not grant the antichrist of Rome to be Christ’s vicar-general and supreme head of his church here and every where upon earth, by God’s ordinance.”  Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 378.

In 1555 Hugh Latimer said before being burned to death, “What fellowship have Christ with Antichrist?“

He attended Cambridge University and in 1535, he was appointed Bishop of Worcester. He began to preach publicly on the need for the translation of the Bible into English.

This was a dangerous move as the first translation of the New Testament by William Tyndale had recently been banned by the Pope.

Latimer was called before Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and he was given an admonition and a warning. For his witness, Latimer was burned to death in 1555 by the Catholic Church next to Nicholas Ridley. Latimer said of the Pope;

‘ What fellowship hath Christ with Antichrist ? Therefore it is not lawful to bear the yoke with the Papists. Come forth from among them, and separate yourselves from them, saith the Lord.’ (Ibid, p. 45)

Nicholas Ridley said before being burned to death that the See of Rome is the seat of Satan.

He was the English Bishop of London, he received his Master’s degree in 1525 from Pembroke College, Cambridge. He played a major part in many intellectual discussions on religion, primarily Anglican doctrine. He also ordered the removal of images from churches under his jurisdiction.

Ridley, in his farewell letter, before he suffered, he said;

“The see of Rome is the seat of Satan, and the bishop of the same, that maintaineth the abominations thereof, is Antichrist himself indeed. And for the same causes, this see at this day is the same which St. John calls, in his Revelation, Babylon, or the whore of Babylon, and spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, the mother of fornications and abominations upon earth.” (Ibid, p. 45)

Thomas Cranmer said before being burned to death that the Pope is Christ’s enemy, and the antichrist.

Cranmer (1489-1556) as the Archbishop of Canterbury, he was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the reformed Church of England.

At his execution on March 21, 1556, he withdrew his forced confession, and proclaimed the truth of the Protestant faith, and testified against the Pope;

“Christ biddeth us to obey the king. The bishop of Rome biddeth us to obey himself: therefore unless he be antichrist, I cannot tell what to make of him. Wherefore if I should obey him, I cannot obey Christ.”

“Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons.” (Works by Cranmer, vol.1, pp.6-7)

‘ As for the Pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy and the Antichrist, with all his false doctrine.‘ (The Testimony of The Reformers, E. Bickersteth, 1836, pp. 44,45)

“After all these sprung up the pope, that triple-crowned monster, and great antichrist, which took upon him authority, not only over the clergy but also climbed above kings and emperors, deposing them at his pleasure, and settled himself in the temple of God, that is, in the consciences of men, extolling himself above God, dispensing with good laws, and giving men leave to break them, and to regard more his decrees than the everlasting commandments of God.” Froom, PFF, volume 2, p. 392.

Master Bullingham said the pope is antichrist, Rome religion from hell.

‘I tell thee plainly, Bullingham, John Calvin (whose Institutions I have perused since our departure) telleth me plainly, by God’s word, that it is an idol; and that the pope is antichrist, and his clergy the filthy sink-hole of hell. And now I believe it; for I feel it sensibly. O that God had revealed these matters unto me in times past! I would have bequeathed this Romish religion (or rather irreligion) to the devil of hell, from whence it came.”  From Bridgewater, April 26, anno 1562.

John Hullie was burned to death for proclaiming that the Pope is the Antichrist.

John (1520-1556), a minister, who, being first brought up in the school of Eton, was afterward scholar, and then conduct in the King’s College, at Cambridge.

“Mark well here, good Christians, who is this beast, and worshippers that shall be partakers of that unspeakable torment. The beast is none other but the carnal and fleshly kingdom of antichrist, the pope with his rabble of false prophets and ministers, as it is most manifest; which, to maintain their high titles, worldly promotions, and dignities, do with much cruelty, daily more and more set forth and establish their own traditions, decrees, decretals, contrary to God’s holy ordinances, statutes, laws, and commandments, and wholly repugnant to his sincere and pure religion and true worshipping.” http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe340.htm

The Church of England declared that the Papal Church of Rome is the Babylonian beast.

The Articles of the Church are almost one series of testimonies against Papal doctrines. In the Homilies, sanctioned by these Articles, the following testimonies appear respecting the Pope as antichrist, Babylon, and the Man of Sin.

“He ought therefore rather be called Antichrist, and the successor of the Scribes and Pharisees, than Christ’s vicar or St. Peter’s successor”  “Homilies,” part 3,Homily of Obedience, (Cambridge: Corrie, 1850), p. 114.

The Lutheran confession of faith 1603 testified that “the Pope is the very Antichrist, who exalteth himself above, and opposeth himself against Christ.”

“The Pope is the very Antichrist, who exalteth himself above, and opposeth himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God.” The Smalcald Articles.

Westminster Confession of Faith states that the Popes of Rome is the antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ.

This confession was ratified and established by Act of Parliament in 1649.

The Westminster Confession of Faith declared, “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.” (Source: Chapter 25, Point 6)

John Wesley said that the whole succession of popes from Gregory VII. are undoubtedly Antichrist.

John (1703-1791), an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian, was largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement.

“The whole succession of popes from Gregory VII. are undoubtedly Antichrist. Yet this hinders not, but that the last pope in this succession will be more eminently the Antichrist, The man of sin, adding to that of his predecessors, a peculiar degree of wickedness from the bottomless pit.” (Explanatory notes upon the New Testament, John Wesley, Vol. II, 1813, p. 431)

Reference Studies on Revelation 13:

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible

Coke’s Commentary on the Holy Bible

Geneva Bible Footnotes

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Matthew Poole’s Commentary on the Holy Bible

John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible

William Burkitt’s Expository Notes

Henry Grattan Guinness’s book Romanism and the Reformation: From the Standpoint of Prophecy

Ralph Woodrow’s book Great Prophecies Of The Bible

Robert Carignola’s book “The Present Reign Of Jesus Christ”

Victor McGowan’s book “The Revelation and the History of Christendom: Prophecy Fulfilled to the End of Our Time“

Next Revelation Timeline Decoded Bible Study: Revelation 13 – Roman Earth Beast