The Antichrist unveiled.
We come to see who the Antichrist is
in the words of Scripture and to identify
him, and to know him as the opposite
to who the Christ is, the Lord of
Glory, Christ Jesus, who is our Lord and
our Saviour.
On October the 8th, 2000, Pope John Paul
II, under his official title as the Vicar
of Christ, consecrated the whole world and this
new millennium to Mary Most Holy.
That's the Vatican's own words.
In the notes going with this paper, I
give the Vatican webpage.
This blasphemous act of entrustment to Mary Most
Holy, that which belongs to God alone, is
a mockery of the First Commandment.
The Pope's official and offensive act ought to
warn Christians that while he formally claims to
be, in his own words, the true Vicar
of Christ, in fact he opposes Christ by
such false worship.
Moreover, many other events, the Pope has officially
contradicted the Gospel, as on the 13th of
May this year, 2000, in what he calls
the Jubilee year, he gave a false Gospel
message.
And whereas we also have in history documented
the involvement of another Pope, Pius XII, in
Hitler's reign of terror.
These things ought to warn Christians that right
there before their eyes is seen the line
of men that Scripture calls the man of
sin.
And that this one who calls himself the
true Vicar of Christ is actually fulfilling the
Scripture of the man of sin, or the
son of perdition.
In Scripture there is just one Lord and
one Holy Father.
This may seem simplistic, but it's necessary to
get back to the bedrock of Biblical truth.
There is one Lord and one Holy Father.
The Church of Rome authoritatively teaches that her
Pontiff is rightly called, again official words, Most
Holy.
And that he is, again official words, The
Most Holy Roman Pontiff.
And they use titles such as the Holy
Father and the Vicar of Christ.
This is a full definition of what the
Apostle John calls the Antichrist.
To look at the Apostle John's own words
of the definition of the Antichrist, who is
the liar but he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ.
He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and
the Son.
The Pope in assuming these titles to himself
is against the Christ and the Holy Father
in heaven.
By purporting or assuming these titles unto himself.
Such haughtiness blatantly breaks the new covenant law
of Christ, where the Lord said, Call no
man your father on earth, for one is
your father which is in heaven.
Jesus Christ declared, One is your master, even
Christ, and ye are all brethren.
The Pope calls himself Most Holy, Holy Father
and the true Vicar of Christ.
Thus assuming these titles unto himself.
He is officially recording that he is, in
the words of Isaiah 14 and verse 14,
like unto the Most High.
That he is claiming to be like unto
the Most High.
And so he is taking unto himself the
very offices of the Father and the Son.
And taking unto himself these offices, he is
therefore fulfilling the definition of the Antichrist.
Because in doing so, he is denying both
the Father and the Son.
And we cleanse ourselves with these very words
at the end of page 1.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and
glorify thy name?
For thou only art holy, and all nations
shall come and worship before thee.
We praise God that there is only one
Holy Father, and he is in heaven.
The historical origins of the Antichrist.
Throughout history, circumstances concerning the coming and the
character of Christ have corresponded so brilliantly to
prophecy that in the past, the Lord's people
praised his name for it.
Likewise, the Lord's flock thanked him for so
clearly depicting the Antichrist.
So people gloried in the Lord's word because
it showed them who the Christ was, and
it showed them who the opposer was, the
Antichrist.
The Lord Jesus himself confirmed the understanding that
there would be a specific fulfillment in the
Antichrist's role when he stated, For the ruler
of this world is coming.
Similarly, Christ Jesus said, I have come in
my Father's name, and you do not receive
me.
If another come in his own name, you
will receive him.
The Lord speaking about the Antichrist being received
readily where he himself was not received.
The Apostle John, the beloved Apostle, following the
Master's footsteps, states emphatically, Ye have heard that
Antichrist shall come.
John confirms that there were contemporary opponents of
Christ, but these forces would eventually center in
one entity, one office, or one system.
Contrary to flared popular belief, the Popes are
not the successors of the Apostle Peter.
The Apostle Peter we know historically in the
Bible was never even in Rome, let alone
the first Bishop of Rome.
It's only a tradition that he was in
Rome.
It is not a Biblical historical fact.
And of course the whole idea of Apostolic
Succession is again a myth.
Real Apostolic Succession is to have Apostolic Biblical
Truth, and not a physical lineage of hands
upon hands, so that we have a line
of so-called men passing on power by
a physical means.
So this idea of the successors to Peter
is simply a myth, or a tradition.
But there is an historical line from the
Popes back to the Roman Emperor.
History shows that the title of the Supreme
High Priest was officially bestowed on the Bishop
of Rome by the Emperor Justinian in the
6th century.
I don't give here, but it's a whole
subject in the Senate.
The precise date is 538 if we want
to get into details.
And of course it's fulfilled 1,260 years
later, where the Pope is removed from his
seat by Napoleon's soldiers in 1798.
But that is a whole story in itself,
and that is a further detailing of prophecy.
Therefore the office of the Supreme High Priest
of the Church of Rome has been perpetuated
for nearly 1,500 years.
And it came from an apostate secular source,
whereas the Bible proclaims the one Supreme High
Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, appointed by God.
The pagan Emperor Justinian also bestowed on the
Bishop of the Church of Rome the universal
oversight of the entire Christian world.
That was when the Bishop of the Church
at Rome became known as the Pope, arising
as the spiritual head of the apostate Roman
Empire.
This historical fact alone ought to clearly delineate
the Antichrist.
I will refer you to the four volumes
of Froum, and in particular to the volume
that deals with this Volume 1, this period
in history from pages 511 to 517, where
the exact details of Justinian handing over by
official decree this title to the Pope is
described.
The cloud of witnesses from Christian history.
From the time of persecution of the Vaudois,
the earliest Christian believers, and we still have
Vaudois today, they have come down right through
history, from Biblical times, and the Waldenses throughout
the long era of the Inquisition, the Lollards,
the Bohemians, and the believers of the Reformation,
both the office of the Christ and its
counterfeit, the Antichrist, were clearly seen.
The zeal and the courage of many of
the martyrs is based on their conviction that
they were withstanding the Antichrist.
Today, however, it is religiously correct to declare
one's ignorance of the Antichrist, and as the
ecumenical movement gains momentum, it is imperative for
us to regain a Biblical understanding of scriptural
prophecy, which is still being played out in
our time right before our eyes, and not
in some future cataclysmic, you know, horrendous futuristic
period which cannot be documented because nothing has
already, nothing has happened.
Bible believers of old recognized the Roman Catholic
institution as the Antichrist.
This signification was known and spoken of throughout
the Middle Ages by such as the famous
Dante, John Whitecliffe, John Huss, I thank God
that I was very recently stood where John
Huss stood in Prague.
I praise God, and I went to the
church where John Huss had preached there, the
church there in Prague.
Savonarola, I've been to the spot actually where
he was burnt, actually in Italy as well.
And during the Reformation by people such as
Martin Luther, William Tyndale, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer,
Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, John Bradley, John Fox,
and John Bunyan, the translators of the King
James Bible, Isaac Newton, the famous physicist of
whom we get the name, who gives so
much credit when it comes to our understanding
of gravity and other things, the wonderful Jonathan
Edwards, George Whitfield, John Wesley, and in recent
times our wonderful Spurgeon, J.C. Ryle, Dr.
Martin Lloyd-Jones, and we could go on
and on.
This is just giving you a touch of
many of the great men who have seen
the Antichrist as an antithesis of the glory
of who Christ is and the one who
opposes Him.
All these men knew the precision of Scripture
regarding both the Christ and the Antichrist.
The written word has been fulfilled in history,
both in light, that is Christ Jesus, and
in darkness, in the Antichrist.
Like a silk glove over your hand, Scripture
has been fulfilled and God's people have wondered
at the Lord in showing who the Christ
is and showing who His opposer is.
Today, however, it is religiously correct to refrain
from speaking about the Antichrist, except in some
futuristic scenario that cannot be verified.
This tolerance principle has blunted, or all but
blunted, the accuracy and the distinctiveness of the
biblical sword.
Such tolerance that holds that the warnings of
Christ and the apostles, John and Paul, and
of course Peter, are as if they meant
nothing.
Christ warned about the apostasy, many Christ's to
come.
Peter spoke about the false teachers.
Paul spoke about the wolves and sheep's clothing.
It's like these things didn't matter, and that
these things were either in some period way
back in the past or going to happen
in the future.
But it's like this does not apply to
us.
It's like trying to wipe out the warnings
of Christ and the apostles, as if they
did not apply to our own day.
This particular paper that I'm doing deals with
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 from verse 13 to
12.
It is an introduction to many other texts,
unveiling who indeed is the Antichrist.
The apostle states in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
3, let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first, and that
man of sin be revealed the son of
perdition.
The man of sin would appear as an
outworking of the falling away.
The word in Greek is apostasia, like our
English word apostasy.
So clearly if there is a falling away,
it means that there was Christianity in the
first place.
There is a falling away from the true
faith, and then the revealing or the emergence
of the man of sin.
The embryo or the birthplace of iniquity that
leads to the man of sin is this
falling away from what was true Christianity.
For the mystery of iniquity that already work.
Paul says that it was already begun, this
falling away, even in his own day.
It had already begun.
So certainly not futuristic, it had already started
in Paul's day.
It was already at work.
And Paul is contrasting the mystery of iniquity
to the mystery of godliness.
Paul is using the same terminology, only the
antithesis of it, what he spoke about in
Timothy 3.16, the mystery of godliness.
Now he is showing the exact opposite of
that, the mystery of iniquity.
That this was to emerge from the apostasia,
the apostasy, the falling away from true Christianity.
And what was this mystery of iniquity to
do?
It was to be deceiving with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness.
This was absolute wickedness that would be perpetrated
from this man of sin through the mystery
of iniquity with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
Such apostasy means apostasy.
That is, it is not outright contradiction of
biblical truth, but it is hypocrisy, deceit, appearing
to be righteous and holy, it is taking
on the pretenses or aping, pretending to be
something while at the same time it is
denying it.
So it doesn't mean that it is outright
contradiction, it is deceivableness, which is attempting to
deceive by pretending to be.
That is the true definition of apostasy, and
the true definition of the fulfillment of scripture,
what is going on before our eyes.
It is great to see the clarity of
God's word.
We have in verses 6 and 7 a
description of what this is to be, and
it is very clear in scripture that this
constraint or withholding of the man of sin
is a what?
in verse 6, and it is a who?
in verse 7.
That very thing wipes out futurism, because the
Holy Spirit is not a what?
It is not a substance, the Holy Spirit
is a person.
And the constraint on the man of sin
is a what?
in verse 6, and it is a who?
in verse 7.
So this is very clear in Paul's teaching
that we have a clarity that is remarkable.
And it is for us to see what
is there in the exact text, that we
have a what?
holding back the man of sin, that is
a who?
in the following verse.
It is important to understand the historical background.
Who was Paul writing to?
The Thessalonians.
What had happened before he wrote this letter
when he was in Thessalonica himself?
This is clearly shown in the historical account
in Acts 17 from verse 1 to 10.
We are told what happened when Paul was
there at Thessalonica together with Silas.
It was a charge brought against Paul and
Silas that they were, these all do contrary
to the decrees of Caesar saying that there
is another king, one Jesus.
The charge that happened against Paul and Silas
when they were in Thessalonica was that they
were charged with an offense against Caesar, that
is against the Roman Empire.
And so it would be very clear to
the Thessalonican mind that when Paul speaks about
a what?
and a who?
he is speaking about the Roman Empire as
the what?
and the who?
is Caesar or the Emperor himself.
So we have here a clear description and
we see the reticence of Paul in saying
this outrightly because he would be charged with
insurrection or revolt had he written this explicitly.
But it could not be more explicit without
actually saying the Empire and the Emperor himself.
So it is quite explicit even without using
the explicit names because of Paul using the
what?
in verse 6 and the who?
in verse 7.
We are now on page 4 if you
are following on the notes.
To know the time therefore at which the
man of sin will appear, the whole passage
from verse 1 to 12 must be taken
into account.
The man of sin is set forth and
appears by the removal of who?
of him who is now holding back, verse
7.
The previous verse the believers were told, now
you know what holds him back.
They are the exact words then from verse
6.
What was it then that the believers knew?
They knew that the Roman Empire held all
and everyone in check.
The Thessalonican mind, it was Rome and only
Rome that retained or constrained.
Now this is clear even from the early
believers and their commentaries and right through history
as well.
But I just give a reference here to
Tertullian and Jerome and you can read their
accounts again in Froum and many other historical
writings.
Where these men very clearly depicted as they
knew in the earliest days what the apostles
knew and what the Thessalonians themselves knew.
That it was the Empire and it was
the Caesar that held back the man of
sin.
And historically this is exactly how it happened
also.
Historically it was the Emperor Constantine who removed
the seat of the Empire from Rome to
Constantinople.
The remover gave the opportunity for the desired
growth of the power seeking bishops of Rome
and at the same time we had the
internal and external corruption in the Roman Empire
itself.
And this of course led about the breaking
up of the Roman Empire and it meant
then that the power and the civil power
began to come into the hands of the
bishops of Rome and of course that was
done in the Corpus Iuris, the handing over
of the codifying of law by Justinian in
the same 6th century.
That's a whole story in itself but this
whole idea of canon law and codifying law
that has a civil effect on it goes
back to Justinian.
Just as a side note, I put on
a webpage a few years ago, Corpus Iuris
looking to get a verification that Justinian did
this on some historical webpages and what came
up only the European Union laws which have
the same name.
I have written a paper on that called
The Pattern of Papal Persecution Then and Now.
It's quite interesting that whole idea of codifying
law which also came to the Supreme High
Priest in the 6th century.
And from then on we have had the
Roman Church having an effect on civil powers
and of course in our own day this
has become rampant.
It's a whole subject to study in itself.
The place where the Son of Man appears.
The Apostle states unmistakably that the place where
the Son of Man will become visible and
he says it in verse 4.
Now what
is the
Temple of God for Paul?
Paul keeps talking about the Temple of God.
And of course there is not some future
temple to be constructed any place let alone
in Jerusalem.
It is the Temple of God for Paul
as you are the Temple of God.
Do you not know that your body is
the Temple of God?
Paul keeps on speaking about the believers as
the Temple of God and that is consistent
in Paul.
I give some notes here, some references also
like 1 Corinthians 3, Ephesians 2.21, 2
Corinthians 6.16 where Paul speaks about the
believers as the Temple of God.
So it is in the midst of the
believers going on what scripture interpreting scripture that
this man of sin appears and that is
remarkably clear that it couldn't be more clear
unless we were trying to somehow deny the
very word of God that the Temple of
God is among the believers.
Now Rome also has some commentary to make
on this verse 4 and it is quite
interesting that Rome actually claims unto herself what
is spoken of here in verse 4 and
I want to show you this in Rome's
own words.
But before I get there I want to
show that God's written word is of utmost
importance.
So much so that in Psalm 138 the
Lord says, Thou hast magnified thy word above
all thy name.
The Lord magnifies His word above His name.
That is how important is the absolute truth
of God's word because that is the whole
standard, it is the measure, it is the
basis of truth and that is why the
Lord magnifies His word even above His name.
And so we have to see that this
is the very thing that the Antichrist is
going to do is he is going to
claim to be as God and even above
God sitting in the Temple of God.
So we want to see this in Rome's
own words.
Rome's assumed titles of His Holiness that the
Holy Father and equivalent titles deny the Christ
and deny the Holy Father in Heaven.
But that is not all.
I give an exact quotation here at the
end of page 4 whereby in the Code
of Canon Law for His Holiness is claimed
this very distinctive attribute of God His infallibility
that God exalts above His name.
This very attribute of God is claimed in
the official teachings of Rome which is also
her official law that you must bow to.
In Rome's own words that fulfill this verse
she says, quotation, The supreme pontiff in virtue
of his office possesses infallible teaching authority when
as supreme pastor and teacher of all the
faithful he proclaims with a definitive act that
the doctrine of faith and morals is to
be held as such.
That's Canon 749.
Claiming the divine attribute of infallible teaching authority.
And this then officially fulfills verse 4 of
2 Thessalonians.
Sitting calling himself God so that he is
exalted above all that is called God.
Again the exactness of the Lord's word but
in the exactness of Roman Catholic teaching seeing
how the Catholics fulfill the very word of
God.
And how ridiculous it is that this is
done in black and white and people who
call themselves biblical scholars don't see that Rome
is actually in its official decrees fulfilling the
exact words of scripture.
Claiming the divine attribute of God's word unto
themselves and therefore exalting themselves above all that
is called God.
At the resurrection by Christ's earned righteousness all
power was given to him in heaven and
on earth.
The papal official decrees claim this as well.
They claim this unto the Pope.
And I give this in their own words.
And this is from the Catechism of the
Catholic Church.
They say the following words.
The Pope enjoys by divine institution supreme, full,
immediate and universal power in the care of
souls.
That is immediate, full, absolute power in the
care of souls.
All power on heaven and earth is given
only to Christ Jesus.
And it takes him as the God man
to fulfill that.
So we see then the horrendous claim to
be as God.
And this is done sitting in the midst
of the people of God.
How much blasphemous official talk is needed before
somebody has the common sense to say here
sit at the Antichrist.
How much has got to be said in
blasphemous official words before people realize what has
been said.
And put it alongside of scripture.
Extravagantly and without trembling the papacy fulfills the
definition of the Antichrist.
Because the Greek word doesn't mean simply against
Christ but more significantly aping or substituting for
him.
And the papacy as it teaches and as
it is lived out fulfills this twofold meaning
of the Greek word.
It is against by presuming to take his
place and usurping his offices as prophet, priest
and king.
The full supreme Lord of the church is
Christ Jesus.
And this is spelled out in such as
Ephesians chapter 1.
And hath put all things under his feet
and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church which is his
body.
The fullness of him that filleth all in
all.
The Roman church purports to take to itself
the divine position of Christ Jesus the Lord
by claiming Christ Jesus very attributes.
And so the New Catechism of the Catholic
Church official first time documentation says for the
supreme pontiff by reason of his office as
vicar of Christ namely as pastor of the
entire church has full supreme and universal power
over the whole church.
A power which he can always exercise unhindered.
The pope claims exactly the office of Christ
and therefore claims to be as God.
The wickedness that goes with this system shows
the mystery of iniquity.
And I am not going into that.
It is not simply that this is wicked
teaching but it has an effect on the
lives of men.
Just recently in Portland we had the wickedness
again shown of huge court cases against a
priest for molesting children and this has gone
on from state to state.
It has gone on in my own native
Ireland.
It has gone on across the world.
We have wickedness in a lot of the
convents and a lot of the other places.
Now I am not going into that.
That is the mystery of iniquity.
I refer you here in the notes to
iconbusters.com on the section of the wickedness
and I would ask you to go to
that web page.
Just to see even the links to the
Catholic web pages of how when this teaching
is lived out how the mystery of iniquity
is revealed in ordinary everyday life and that
is a whole story in itself and our
hearts should grieve in compassion for those who
live under this type of teaching as it
is lived out.
Capitulation of mind and will.
Where did I get such terminology?
You will see this is official Roman Catholic
teaching.
Not simply does the Catholic Church say that
He is the Supreme Holy Father and that
He has these divine attributes but it demands
a capitulation of your highest faculties your intellect
and will.
Now we know that the cults say you
check your mind at the door.
You are supposed to capitulate your mind at
the door and the cults do that but
they do not define as clearly as the
Catholic Church does this capitulation.
And I want you to read with me
the exact words of Rome from Canon 752
whereby you are to submit your intellect and
will.
End of page 5.
A religious respect of intellect and will even
if not the assent of faith is to
be paid to the teachings which the supreme
pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate on
faith and morals where they exercise the authentic
magisterium even if they do not intend to
proclaim it with a definitive act.
Therefore the Christian faithful are to take care
to avoid whatever is not in harmony with
that teaching.
Submit your intellect and will.
Your highest faculties.
Now if you think that that is not
enough in actual fact in 1998 there was
added a just penalty.
That's in recent times.
I said 1998 exact October.
It caused havoc and a lot of dissension
on the east coast here in the United
States.
Because Canon 1371 will bring just penalties against
anyone who doesn't submit.
So it's not simply that this is a
teaching but it has teeth that you are
to be punished if you do not submit
your intellect and will.
And I give the exact words of the
Canon in the footnotes.
So to presume to take the place of
Christ himself as prophet, priest and king is
tantamount to sitting in the temple of God
showing forth that he is God.
And this is exactly what papal Rome documents
for herself.
And that claims is a law and that
one can be punished if one does not
submit to it.
Now what are the purposes and the intentions
of the man of sin, the one who
is against the son of man, the one
who stands against him and the one who
purports to take his place.
What are his intentions as described in the
word of God.
It is interesting that the words that Paul
uses to describe him are the exact same
words that Paul uses to describe the Christ.
Revealed, coming in mystery or spoken beautifully of
who Christ is.
He is revealed.
He is the mystery of godliness.
And the one who is to replace him,
Satan replacing him with his own man, Paul
uses the exact same terminology only showing how
he opposes him.
So Paul says in verse 4, who opposes
and exalts himself above all that is called
God or that is worshipped so that he
sits in the temple of God showing himself
that he is God.
This is the son of iniquity, the man
of sin and his purposes are even him
whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and lying wonders.
His purpose is to deceive with power and
lying wonders in all this deceivableness of unrighteousness.
So again it is hypocrisy, deceit.
It is not that Satan appears in a
satanic form but as an angel of light
as the scripture says.
And he is appearing in the garb of
righteousness to deceive and it is with all
type of lying wonders that he takes on
to himself as it were the garments of
Christ to stand against Christ.
And this type of lying wonders is what
he is about so that he deceives by
hypocrisy and deceit by claiming to be Christian
that he nullifies the very gospel of what
is of the Lord.
I give an example here again from this
year that I have alluded to at the
beginning of the paper where on the 13th
of May the Pope endorsed a lying wonder.
That is what happened at Fatima in 1917
when three young children were deceived in thinking
that they were to do reparation and atonement
for their sins which is the message of
Satan.
And there were and still are lying wonders
as at Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje and of course
here in the states Lubbock, Texas, Denver, Colorado
and in Conyers just outside Atlanta we have
our lying wonders here in the states as
well.
But this lying wonder is endorsed officially by
the Pope and he also gave officially the
Roman Catholic message of salvation and is in
line with the message that was given there
at Fatima all endorsing a lie and this
is an example of how the man of
sin works.
I want to read from the Pope's own
words there at Fatima earlier this year.
According to the divine plan, a woman clothed
with the sun, Revelation 12, 1, came down
from heaven to this earth to visit the
privileged children.
She asked them to offer themselves as victims
of reparation saying that she was ready to
lead them safely to God.
And behold, they see a light shining from
her maternal hands which penetrates them inwardly so
they feel immersed in God.
So it's a woman leading them to God,
her maternal hands and feeling immersed in God
and this is all by atonement or self
-sacrificing way by which you atone for your
own sins which is a message of Satan.
I have a whole paper on that where
I show the falseness of that message and
the Pope endorsing a lie.
It's on our webpage at bereanbeacon.org if
anybody wants to check it out.
So that is an example of what the
intentions of the man of sin.
So that the gospel is the power of
God unto salvation to all that believe.
And this has been seen by the Valdois,
the Valdenses, the Lalads and many others throughout
history being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The gospel is for us today the end
of the man of sin and why we
preach the true gospel of grace and not
any man-made gospel.
And also the final end will be the
Lord will cut off the man of sin
at the end with the breath of his
mouth.
None but God could have delineated the mystery
of iniquity which is clearly the office of
the papacy, the Roman Catholic Church.
Man could never have anticipated it all.
It's what God has foretold.
It's he the Lord of truth and of
scripture has delineated this clarity that we could
not have expected.
It's just as the Lord himself was clearly
shown in Isaiah 43, in Psalm 42, all
the clear descriptions of who the Christ was
in his glory and in his suffering.
And as Christ explained in chapter 24 of
Luke to the disciples on the road to
the Mosque.
It was the clarity to do with the
Christ, equally the clarity to do with the
Antichrist.
In this passage, Revelation 17 and 18 and
many other passages in the scripture where the
Antichrist and his whole system, Revelation 13, the
conglomerate beast and the three powers there collaborating
together and on and on.
The clarity of God's word.
And so the Lord clearly shows in the
scriptures by the truth of his word who
he himself is as he fulfills all righteousness.
He dies in the place of his chosen,
of the one who he is called.
He fulfills all righteousness.
He is the one who fulfills all scripture,
of the prophecy spoken about himself.
And he is the one who in his
word portrays the woman sitting on the seven
hills of Rome.
He is the one who portrays her colors,
her golden cup, who portrays that she is
a city who is also a system, who
is also a religious power, who is also
a civil power.
The intimate details, all fulfilled precisely as is
this second Thessalonians 2 passage.
I remember even as a priest in 1964
going to the Vatican, standing outside the Vatican
as the 3000 bishops, cardinals and palates were
flooding out of the square.
And I was seen with my own eyes
and this was more beautiful than Hollywood could
ever do it.
This is for real.
And what was before my eyes?
Scarlet and purple.
And I even as a priest I said,
oh no, could this be Revelation 17?
Even as a priest and I put that
out of my mind.
Because the preciseness of the colors and they
are the official colors from the Monsignor I
of purple and of course the scarlet of
the cardinals.
And it's the only city that is also
a system, that is also a religious power
and that sits physically on the seven hills.
I don't know if you know but the
Vatican has official residence on the seven hills
and not just on Vatican Hill.
She has official power from 1927 from the
Lateran Concord made with Mussolini.
She has official power from the Lateran Concord
made with Mussolini on the seven hills of
Rome.
And that is another story in itself.
But this passage is abundantly clear.
Who is the man of sin?
Who sits in the temple of God calling
himself the Holy Father?
Calling himself the true vicar of Christ?
Denying the Father and the Son?
Who is it that exalts himself above God?
The very attribute of infallibility where God exalts
his word above his name.
Who claims this attribute?
Officially and in his own teaching.
Who is it that deceives and pretends to
be or hates Christ?
Who claims Christ's authority?
There is only one and there is going
to be only one throughout history.
There has only been one who has done
this and done it consistently.
And the people who stood against him for
667 years he decreed persecution and the Inquisition.
Not 6 years of Holocaust but 667 years
of persecution.
Drinking the blood of the saints.
And this is again history.
It is the solid fact of history that
this one who has claimed official authority demands
submission of intellect and will.
Sits among God's people calling himself God in
the midst of the people of God.
And it is a system that goes back
to what was genuine Christianity and fell away.
And officially to assume the pagan title in
538 where Justinian gave to him the Pope
and to his system her, the one who
sits on the seven hills, gave the title
of supreme high priest which was his pagan
title.
And so he has been the summum pontifex,
the supreme bridge maker since then, the official
pagan title.
This was officially handed over to him.
And all these things are documented and so
what more clarity could we have than God's
word and God's word as it has been
fulfilled by scripture.
I ask you to take these things before
the Lord and pray about them because it
is a serious matter that needs to be
stood for in this day and age so
that the truth of the gospel is proclaimed
and that the Lord plucks from the fire
many unto himself and that we see the
glorious salvation of God's people by his grace
and saved from this wicked system unto the
glory of our God.
Amen and Amen.
A question is given to record and copy
the entire message.
And now here is Richard Bennett.
Many of the former priests who are now
converted to biblical truth such as the 50
that we have in the book just published,
Far From Rome, Near to God, the testimonies
of 50 converted Roman Catholic priests.
Many of the men in this book are
asked the similar question.
What is the essential difference between biblical faith
and Roman Catholicism?
There are many, many external differences.
There are many, many differences in doctrine.
But the essential difference is that of justification.
In Roman Catholicism justification is made to look
as if it were subjective and internal.
Justification is made to look as if it
were in us.
Justification is centered in you, the person.
Justification by which you are made right with
God, the Catholic Church says is a personal
righteousness inside you.
And the terminology that the Catholic Church uses
such as habitual grace, sanctifying grace, all the
words that it used to explain this justification
that it says is in the person are
such that they designate the being right with
God as being inside a person.
In the Bible it is totally otherwise.
Justification is objective, legal and external.
We are justified by Christ's work for us,
not in us.
Justification is Christ-centered, let your minds be
on the heavenly things.
A person that is justified has the righteousness
of God credited to them.
It is an imputation and totally outside the
person.
This is clear again and again from the
Lord's own words where he said, I lay
down my life for my sheep.
This is my body which is given for
you.
It is something for the other, not in
the other.
And when we are told that there is
now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,
no external rebuke by God, for example in
Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
There is no condemnation, no sentence of judgment.
There is the exact opposite.
There is the sentence of being right with
God.
The righteousness of Christ Jesus is given to
the account of the believer.
And this is said also in the words
of the Lord in John's Gospel, chapter 3,
verse 18.
He that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God.
It is the way in which we see
that a person is condemned, a person has
the sentence on them by God of being
condemned externally put on them because they have
not accepted the finished work of Christ Jesus.
And those who have accepted by grace through
faith the finished work of Christ Jesus, there
is now no condemnation.
Romans 8, 34, Who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, yea, rather that
is risen again, who even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us.
At the right hand of God, the Christ
who is glorious now in his being accepted
by the Father, he it is who makes
intercession for us.
He it is who has the finished work
that is accepted by the Father.
It is the righteousness of faith that is
the way in which God designates to our
account the full righteousness of Christ Jesus the
Lord.
This is spoken about again and again in
scripture, for example Philippians 3, 9, the righteousness
which is of God by faith.
It is spoken of in Romans 3, 21
and 22, but now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifest.
Even the righteousness of God which is by
faith of Jesus Christ upon all and unto
all that believe.
The righteousness of God is attributed to you,
is designated to you, is credited to you.
An external righteousness that is not your own,
that in actual fact is infinite.
It is as Christ Jesus again and again,
it is what he said for you.
When you want to know why something is
done, go to the author.
Christ Jesus said this is my blood which
is shed for you.
The reason for it being shed is external
to you, it is shed for you.
It is an infinite righteousness that is external
to you.
And the fact that it is not internal
is again and again emphasized in the scripture.
We would say that it is emphasized so
many times that it is nearly too much.
Why does the Bible keep on saying not
of works, outside the law, without the deeds
of the law, to emphasize that it is
not in you.
So that we do not get into the
trap of negating the righteousness of God and
so in actual fact not been saved.
And I say this with compassion because I
had lived the Roman Catholic works gospel for
so long.
I know what it is in the monastery
to flagellate myself, I know what it is
to offer penances, to do things that I
could be right before God and to be
not at peace with God.
But the book that I have edited with
many many former monks who did all types
of extraordinary penances to be right before God
shows me again men who excelled at this
inner so called justification.
I say so called because it is not
biblical.
The Bible emphasizes without the law, Romans 3
.21. Romans 3.28, without the deeds of
the law.
Romans 4 and verse 6, without works.
And on and on, again and again we
are told that it is without works.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justify the ungodly, his fate
is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described the blessedness of
the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without
works.
Without works, not frustrated by works.
Because if you look to your being right
with God to something inside you, you frustrate
the very work of God.
And this is the real serious crux of
the matter.
That if you look to justification, salvation as
internal, you are frustrating the work of God.
In Galatians chapter 2 verse 21, Paul explicitly
says, I do not frustrate the grace of
God.
For if righteousness come by the law, then
Christ is dead in vain.
If you place justification within your own heart,
then you are making Christ's death to be
in vain for you.
And I speak this to many sincere, sincere
nuns, sincere brothers, sincere Roman Catholic priests, sincere
Roman Catholic people.
I ask you not to frustrate the grace
of God.
The blessings spoken about in Ephesians chapter 1,
where are they?
In Christ.
You are accepted in Him.
You have been chosen in Him.
You have redemption in Him.
It is in the Beloved, in Christ, and
where He is in the heavenly places.
In Christ.
The same message that our redemption is in
Christ where He is at the right hand
of the Father.
Your life is hid with Christ in God.
Colossians 3 and verse 3.
The message of salvation that our right standing
is because of the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
Repent of trying to do it your own
way.
Repent of trying to see justification inside yourself
or any man or woman.
It is in Christ and in Him alone.
Consent to God's way.
To be the new creature in Him that
God desires that you should be.
To the praise of the glory of His
grace.
When I was a missionary in Trinidad and
beginning to get deeply into the things of
the Lord, I would delight sometimes in passages
of scripture.
For example, Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 17.
The Lord thy God in the midst of
thee is mighty.
He will save.
He will rejoice over thee with joy.
He will rest in His love.
He will joy over thee with singing.
That my God, my Abba Father could rejoice
over me with delight.
That He could have joy in me.
This is what I wanted to know.
That there would be a deep personal relationship
with me and God.
And I saw in 1 John again and
again, say for example 1 John 4 and
8, that God is love.
It is His very nature to love.
And I would sometimes tell people that.
Just accept the infinite love of God.
But it didn't change them just as it
didn't change me.
I had to come further down in the
same chapter.
In verse 10 where it says, herein is
love.
Not that we love God, but that He
loved us and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.
That word propitiation, not a word that we
like to deal with.
It means satisfying the wrath of God for
sin.
Christ Jesus is the propitiation in His death
on the cross.
He paid the price for my sin, my
sin nature and my personal sin.
And this is how I could come into
a personal relationship with Him.
The same message as is at the very
beginning of 1 John.
John emphasizes that this is the message.
He is telling you, here it is.
And what does he say it is?
That God is light and in Him is
no darkness at all.
He who is a consuming fire in His
holiness, justice and truth.
And if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another and the blood of Jesus
Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
But here was the same concept as in
chapter 4.
The Son is the propitiation for our sins.
And here, and the blood of Christ Jesus
cleanses us from all sin.
The blood of Christ Jesus shed.
My particular difficulty, and it is very relevant
to all of us who have grown up
in a Catholic tradition, that we try to
do things to gain salvation.
Where the Bible keeps saying, not of our
works, not of the law, not of human
endeavor, so that no one could boast.
And so, I began to consider the blood
of Christ Jesus only.
Could it be that Christ Jesus' blood and
that alone?
And it was here that Isaiah, when he
spoke in prophecy regarding what was going to
happen, it was here that Isaiah was used
by the Lord to really open wide my
eyes.
When Isaiah says, everyone that thirsts, come you
to the waters.
And you that have no money, come buy
and eat.
Come buy wine and milk without money and
without price.
Without anything of human endeavor, come and accept.
From the centrality of the message in Isaiah
in chapter 53, 5 and 6.
Surely he has borne our griefs, carried our
sorrows.
Yet he was esteemed, stricken, smitten of God
and afflicted.
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him,
and with his wounds we are healed.
The very blood of Christ Jesus and that
alone.
And I have cried out that I would
understand that ultimate, final, all-perfect, all-sufficient
blood of Christ Jesus that cleanses us from
all sin.
And the Father is absolutely faithful.
He sees the propitiation that he himself has
provided.
And so the all-holy, all-perfect, sovereign
God can love us in Christ Jesus.
I ask you whether you be the biggest
sinner on earth, or whether you are a
religious sinner in the sense that I was,
trying to make my filthy works that Isaiah
calls them in Isaiah 64, my good works,
to be a propitiation.
To cast aside all dependence on things that
you do, and to rest only on Christ
Jesus of what he has done for you
on the cross.
Then you are his, related to the Father
in Christ Jesus.
Yes, God is light, and in him there
is no darkness at all.
And if we walk in the light, that
is, covered in the light of Christ Jesus,
his propitiation, as the Father himself is in
the light, then we have fellowship with the
Father and with one another.
And when I had prayed for divine grace
to understand this, and to become covered as
it were by the death of Christ in
my own life, that is exactly what happened.
I saw the full work of Christ Jesus
in his death in my place on the
cross, and then I was covered with his
righteousness.
The righteousness of God by faith, as scripture
says.
I became a newborn son of the kingdom.
And this is what I say to you
today.
It is by grace that you are saved
through faith.
Accept God's work in Christ Jesus done for
you.
The loving Abba Father in his love for
you has provided the factual presentation or demonstration
of his justice that sin has been paid
for at the price of our sins, and
the contamination of our sin nature has been
paid for by Christ on the cross.
Accept this fact, and then you become a
newborn son or a newborn daughter of the
kingdom.
You are one in him, covered with his
righteousness.
The very righteousness of God is over you.
You have a new relationship with God.
And then you can begin to know the
peace that surpasses all understanding.
As it says in scripture, therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.
The assurance that you are related to the
Abba Father through the blood of Christ Jesus
that was shed for you on the cross.
In Galatians chapter 4 and verse 6, and
because you are sons, God has sent forth
the spirit of his Son into your hearts
crying, Abba Father.
Therefore you are no more a servant but
a son, and if a son then a
nearer of God through Christ.
I had there on the mission field become
a child of God that I could cry
out Abba Father.
That I could know God as my proper
God.
And from that day to this, my prayer
has always been Abba Father.
And I have stopped doing sacrifices and penances
so as to be saved.
I try to do good deeds in thanksgiving
to God in praise and in worship in
awe before the Holy God.
But not to merit or not to gain.
Because I know it has been gained for
me.
It has been accomplished by Christ Jesus.
And therefore it would be an insult for
me to offer anything of myself together with
Christ.
He is the one who has already borne
the complete wrath of God upon himself for
my sin.
I ask quietly that you cry out to
God also.
If you have been in the situation where
you have tried to live devoutly and religiously,
but that you haven't seen the clear message
that it is a work finished by Christ
Jesus.
And it is not for us to achieve
salvation.
It is just for you and for me
to accept it as God's gift.
If you are in that situation, ask God
to open your eyes.
And that he will do.
A humble and contrite heart he will not
spurn.
Receive the word.
Ask him for his grace.
And he is absolutely faithful.
And as a newborn son and daughter of
the kingdom, praise him now and forevermore.
Thank you for listening to these messages.
Sometimes the word of scripture is strong, but
the Lord is faithful.
And when we look to him, he shows
us his graciousness and the wonder of who
he is.
If you would like to get a copy
of the Antichrist Unveiled, it is on our
webpage.
You can simply go to the webpage and
download it.
The address for the webpage is bereanbeacon.org.
B E R E A N B E
A C O N dot org.
And for the webpage, that is all one
word, bereanbeacon.
If you want to contact me by email,
simply write to rbennett at stick
.net.
My mailing address is PO Box 192, Del
Valle, TX 78617.
You are free to copy this tape and
distribute it to others if you so wish.
Most of all, may the Lord be glorified.
May he be seen in all his glory.
And may the true believers be willing to
live for him and to give their lives
for him as it is all of his
grace that we were initially saved and that
we were in Christ Jesus.
Much appreciation and it would be a joy
to hear from you.
Thanks ever so much.
Richard Bennett.
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And remember that John Calvin, in defending the
Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is
sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting
on the words of God, which I commanded
them not, neither came into my heart, from
his commentary on Jeremiah 7.31, writes, God
here cuts off from men every occasion for
making evasions, since he condemns by this one
phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the
Jews devised.
There is then no other argument needed to
condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded
by God.
For when men allow themselves to worship God
according to their own fancies, and attend not
to His commands, they pervert true religion.
And if this principle was adopted by the
Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in
which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to
the ground.
It is indeed a horrible thing for the
Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards
God by performing their own superstitions.
There is an immense number of them, as
it is well known, and as it manifestly
appears.
Were they to admit this principle, that we
cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His
word, they would be delivered from their deep
abyss of error.
The prophet's words, then, are very important, when
he says that God had commanded no such
thing, and that it never came to his
mind.
As though he had said that men assume
too much wisdom, when they devise what he
never required, nay, what he never knew.