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October 30, 2016 |
| False Prophet? | ||
I've mentioned before that I suspect the current Pope is the False Prophet / Second Beast of Bible Prophecy. I've never given the reasons for believing that before. I think this would be a good way for us to learn how to apply Bible prophecy.
The application of Bible prophecy has been a problem within the church from the beginning. People incorrectly apply the prophecies and make predictions that are proven false. In some cases there are people who do foolish things with this these false understandings and some people have died. These misuses of prophecy get lots of media attention and bring mockery down on the church. The faith of people is weakened and the church avoids prophecy because it is associated with false predictions.
The Apostle Paul even had to deal with this in his time.
But we beg of you, my brethren, concerning the arrival of Our Lord Yeshua The Messiah and concerning our assembling unto him, 2 That you would not be soon shaken in your minds, neither be troubled, either from word, nor from a spirit, neither from an epistle that is as if from us, namely, that, "Behold, The Day of Our Lord has arrived." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)
Paul finds it necessary to warn the Thessalonians that someone is spreading the idea that the Second Coming has happened
In this lesson we'll look at how I have applied prophecy and learn how to do it correctly and what to do with it.
Probably the thing that most people do wrong is they fail to apply all of what prophecy says. They pick out one or two details and ignore the rest. I think sometimes they do that because they don't understand what most of the prophecy says. More commonly I think they are trying to fit a particular person into prophecy. In their zeal to make this work they ignore parts that don't fit. Sometimes they excuse that by saying something like "I can't explain that part yet but you have to agree he's a perfect fit for the rest."
From when I was a child I remember there was a method for every president where numbers could be applied to the letters of their names so that they would add up to 666. They were doing this because Revelation talks about there being a way to get the sum of 666 from the letters of the name of the anti-Christ.
Some languages, including Hebrew / Aramaic, have digits associated with some or all of the letters of the alphabet. So there is a very natural way to get numbers from names. English doesn't have any such thing so these people were picking the numbering scheme to get the result they wanted, that some president was the anti-Christ.
The Bible describes a bunch more things to look for in the anti-Christ as well and these were being ignored.
Say more - be prepared to say " I don't know.
The Bible says quite a bit about this person and his organization. Revelation 13:11-17 talks about its characteristics as it rises (gains power). Revelation 17 talks about its nature. Revelation 18 talks about its downfall but in doing so reveals more about its nature.
Summarizing Revelation 17 and 18, the organization is a church, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Those chapters describe it in many ways.
It was a good church, a bride of Christ, but has become a spiritual prostitute. It chases after other Gods.
In this church, a bride no longer hears from her husband or the husband from the bride. The church teachings are so muddled that no one hears the word of God. They pray to all sorts of things and God does not hear them.
This church has also lost part of its organization but rejects the idea that it has suffered loss. Many groups split from the RCC over time. The first big split was the East-West split that produced the Orthodox churches. The split that really cost the RCC its power was the Reformation split that produced the Protestant churches.
This church is the protitute mother of prostitute daughters. Many of the churches that split off from the RCC still teach the same flawed teachings.
It still considers itself a queen with no need for a husband. The RCC, as an organization, does not look forward to the Second Coming. It was perfectly happy to rule the earth while it did and it yearns for the day when it will do so again.
This church makes substantial amounts of money from selling all sorts of things, from physical things to the souls of its people. The history of the RCC shows this to be true but some of the daughter churches can be similarly accused.
Understanding these particular references and the others in those two chapters, there just cannot be any doubt that the organization is the Roman Catholic Church. It must be a Christian church (bride of Christ) and no other Christian church matches all the descriptions.
This is hardly a surprise. Even within the RCC there are writers who have come to the same conclusion - that the prophecy speaks of the RCC. The official position of the RCC is that the prophecy is speaking of the Jewish church. The prophecy doesn't fit that at all though. The Jewish church was never the bride of Christ, it never suffered loss, it hasn't even been functional since 70 AD.
This verse from Revelation describes the second beast as it ascends. The second beast is also referred to as the False Prophet. The verses that follow describe the things it will do after it ascends. Those are clearly future events which can be used when those come to pass.
And I saw another Beast that ascended from the Earth, and it had two horns and was like the Lamb and was speaking like the Dragon. (Revelation 13:11).
This verse provides us with four characteristics we can look for that will help us to recognize the organization the False Prophet. One of these characteristics will tell us when it arises.
Points 1, 3 and 4 are easy to match to the RCC, an organization that came out of the believers, claims to be Christian, but teaches against Christianity.
Point 2, though, seems to be a problem. The RCC has only ever had one leader at a time, the Pope. There were a couple times when there was more than one person claiming to be Pope. These were resolved by declaring all but one of them to be false Popes so there was never a time when the RCC had two leaders.
Except for right at this time in history. Never before have their been two Popes working together. They have collaborated on documents and the current official Pope says that he feels this is a very natural way for the RCC to be lead.
This situation where there are two ruling Popes came about because the previous Pope resigned. That has only happened once before in history. In that case the Pope who resigned spent the rest of his life locked in a castle tower and he was not heard from. So we are seeing a fulfillment through a situation that has never happened before in 1900 years of RCC history.
Prior to this current two Pope situation a person would have looked at this two horn characteristic and said this can't be a description of the RCC because the RCC has never had two ruling Popes and such a thing is impossible. This has often been a problem with the interpretation of prophecy. Our thinking is limited to what we can imagine is possible. Some times the impossible becomes possible. For example, for more than 1000 years, Ezekiel's prophecies about the return of Israel were not taken literally. After World War II, the unthinkable became reality.
Remember though that the verse above is a description of the second beast / False Prophet as he rises. Nothing says that this two Pope situation will continue to exist. In fact, at the time of the second coming, there is a strong indication that there is a single leader.
While the RCC can be said to have been speaking liking a dragon for hundreds of years now, this Pope is finding new lows. He teaches that everyone will be saved despite their religion or beliefs. Therefore he rejects the idea that the church should seek to convert.
The Apostle Paul says that every man should inspect himself for sin before taking Communion. Long ago, the RCC took it upon themselves to decide who was fit for communion. Obviously they excluded anyone who was in a state of sin, including those who were divorced and remarried and practicing homo-sexuals. This Pope is working to allow anyone to take communion.
More than anything though, the focus of this Pope is on ecumenism - finding ways to rejoin the daughter churches together. His current target is the Lutheran church, which is still very similar to the RCC in its practices and in some beliefs. There have been discussions and agreements, although the agreements overlook the problem areas.
This ecumenism is entirely in line with what the Bible seems to describe, a one world church.
Almost every one of the promises Christians hold near and dear are based on prophecy: The promise of [everlasting life]. The hope of salvation. The joy of eternity with Christ. Each of these is a promise from God guaranteeing our future. And what is a prophecy, if not a guaranteed future event?
Remember, Jesus Christ Himself was mocked and ridiculed by this world. If you want to follow Him, He says you must be willing to be mocked and ridiculed yourself. Bible prophecy is the message of Jesus, and as Christians, we must be willing to endure persecution for it:
"Then he said to the crowd, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own soul in the process? If a person is ashamed of me and my message, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in my glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels'" (Luke 9:23-26, NLT).