Roman Catholic Antichrist?

Yes, The Feasts of Israel picks on the Roman Catholic hierarchy, a lot, and lists numerous reasons why it fulfills all the Scriptural characteristics of the antichrist. But is that fair? After all, there have been good popes and bad popes, just like there are good people and bad people in every church denomination. And just look at all the good the Catholic church has done and all the godly Catholics who have given their lives in faithful service of God!

I contend that it is always fair to tell the truth, even when it hurts. How can we get the church back on track if we never learn the truth about why and when it got off track? Many of the problems in virtually every church denomination today actually originated from the Roman Catholic church of the Dark Ages. As I said in my essay on Completing the Reformation, the reason the Dark Ages were so dark is the church fell away from the simple truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and tried to control the world through the fear of eternal damnation and a promise of eternal bliss depending on whether or not you agreed with the current dogma of the Pope.

One problem here, and this is a point many miss, is that the Catholic church was pretty much all there was at the time – the only game in town, you might say. The Christian faith had spread over much of the known world within the first three or four centuries after Christ, but it was all one church. The early church fathers worked hard to keep heresies (such as gnosticism and montanism) out of the church. It was called “Catholic” because it really was universal. So when things went sour, it affected the entire church. We all still suffer the consequences.

Oh there were dissenters. Donatists, Waldenses, Albigenses, and others, all the way through the fifteenth century with John Wyclif and the Lollards, and John Huss and the Taborites. Many of the dissenters merely challenged the excesses of Catholic leaders who had become greedy and proud. They didn’t want to harm or divide the church; they wanted to reform it, to reduce the corruption and bring it back to the simplicity and purity of the gospel. (Some of these dissenters, such as the Dominicans and Franciscans, tried to reform the church with vows of poverty and piety, and later became an accepted part of the Catholic church.)

The purpose of the Inquisition was to root out dissenters, then called heretics, as they challenged the established doctrines of the church. Claiming to be working for the purity of the faith, in reality they were working for the imposition of church dogma on the common people. In this, Catholic leaders were moderately successful, until they crushed the rebellions of the Lollards and the Taborites. That was the last straw. The spirit of the Reformation finally burst forth with Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Ulric Zwingli,  William Farel, John Calvin, and others, and this time it could not be stopped.

That much is common knowledge. What does the Inquisition have to do with the Roman Catholic church being the antichrist? Actually, nothing. That was just an outward expression of a more serious inner problem.

The Inquisition was wrong. Faith has got to be a personal, voluntary thing. Coerced “faith” is not faith at all. Trying to keep the faith pure by killing heretics is no better with Catholics than it is with the Muslims killing their “infidels.” Both are inspired by Satan, who wants to kill anyone with any level of true, inner faith.

Satan, the Adversary, has always tried to kill those of true faith. That does not make him (or those inspired by him) the antichrist. Sure, Satan is against Christ – anyone who is not in willing submission to Christ is against Christ. There is no middle ground here. But the antichrist has certain key characteristics according to Scripture which puts him beyond all that. The antichrist sets himself in place of Christ, as if he himself were Christ, the only mediator between God and mankind.

Scripture affirms that, “There is one …mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 2:5) and that, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” (Rom 10:9) That’s it. It’s really very simple. Even a child can do it. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and even that [salvation] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship…” (Eph 2:8-10)

 But not in the Roman Catholic church of the Dark Ages. Church leaders set themselves up above the people with the arrogant claim that salvation was only through them. Only they could interpret the Scripture. Only submission to them could guarantee salvation. They had Saint Peter’s keys of the kingdom, along with the authority to open the doors to heaven for those submitting to them, and to close those doors and consign to eternal damnation those who would not submit. That is what made the Roman Catholic church the antichrist.

Even some Catholics now admit that their church went a bit too far on that one. But this is where it gets controversial. The Dark Ages are past. The Roman Catholic church is a lot more Scriptural now. They even allow the common people read the Scriptures for themselves in their own language! A lot of Catholics are godly, true believers, filled with the Spirit of God and serving God with all their hearts. So why do I still claim that the Roman Catholic hierarchy is the antichrist?

Because they still put themselves in place of God. They arrogate for themselves the right “to make alterations in times and law” (Dan 7:25), and claim God’s authority to change the clear words of Scripture according to their traditions. And what’s worse, most Protestant denominations go right along with them!

One key example is the Sabbath. The Scripture is quite clear that “the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God…” (Ex 20:10) but no. The Catholic church way back at the time of Constantine decided they would change that to the pagan “Day of the Sun” in a dramatic compromise with the sun-worshipers. The Feasts of Israel were prohibited and pagan holidays such as Christmas (birth of Tammuz, the sun god) and Easter (the Feast of Ishtar, mother of Tammuz) were substituted in their place. In fact, thousands of Scripture passages talking about Israel being God’s chosen people and God’s many promises concerning the ultimate restoration of Israel – all wiped out, with the arrogant claim that the Catholic church had now replaced Israel throughout the Scriptures. Wow.

I’d sure hate to be the one standing before Christ at the Bema Seat Judgment trying to explain, “Well, yeah Jesus. Your Holy Word just had a few problems here and there so I fixed ‘em for You.”

 That is the antichrist – anyone who thinks he can play God, change His Holy Word, and elevate himself up over mankind with another gospel, a different way to God. In the process, he not only distorts the true gospel but also distorts the very nature and character of God Himself, changing the God of love into a monster who threatens to forever torment in hell all those who don’t go along with the program.

So is that it? Are all Roman Catholics antichrists? No, of course not. They are dear, precious children of the Heavenly Father, who “know in part and… prophesy in part” (1 Cor 13:9) just like the rest of us. The antichrists (and Scripture affirms there are many of them - 1 Jn 2:18) are only those who insert themselves and their doctrines between us and God. The Roman Catholic hierarchy, for example, in which we are separated from God by ten levels of priests, bishops, cardinals, popes, saints, and the ‘holy virgin.’

And it’s not just the Catholics here, either. There are too many things that the Protestants never quite got around to protesting. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the traditions of men… rather than according to Christ.” (Col 2:8) This is religion - all the religious efforts of men to find God, their own way. I call it religiosity.

Anyone who changes the truth of Scripture to fit the doctrines and traditions of men is the antichrist. They are the “goats” of Jesus’ parable. (Matt 25:31-46) They put on a great religious show, but they don’t know God or have His Spirit. “Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power… always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth.” (2 Tim 3:5, 7)

Yes, one of these days (possibly very soon) one will rise up in the spirit of the antichrist to fulfill Revelation 13 in a final attempt to deceive all mankind. He might be a good Catholic - and he might not, as that spirit has swept all through the religious world. I just wanted you to know where it all started in the early days of the Christian church, back even before they were called “Roman Catholic.”