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''AND THE WOMAN WAS ARRAYED IN PURPLE..." |
"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark..." Isa.:56:10
The True Church, of yesteryear, and the men in Her pulpits, were watchmen, always warning, as well as teaching God's Word. However, since the "New Evangelical" movement, and especially the Charismatic movement of the 1960's, the pulpits have gone strangely silent, concerning the Papacy and her machinations.
Here are some quotes from God's servants of days gone by, concerning the "Woman arrayed in purple and scarlet colour..." Rev. 17:4
Were these Godly, scholarly men all wrong?
The Roman Catholic "Church" claims to be Christian, and "kisses" Christ with a "Hail Rabbi" just as did Judas; a pretended friend, but a secret foe.
INDEED, THE JESUITS HAVE DONE THEIR JOB! And this Pope is one of them!
Charles Spurgeon (1834 - 1892)
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Prince of Preachers |
"It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against
Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a
question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there
is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. If there were
to be
issued a hue and cry for Antichrist, we should certainly take
up this church on suspicion, and it would certainly not be let loose
again, for
it so exactly answers the description."
SO, WHAT OF TODAY'S BAPTISTS?? MOST OF THEM are still wondering WHO ANTICHRIST IS! Looking for some future "Man of Sin" in the mists of time!
Who Did the Reformers Say Is Antichrist?
Take a look at these quotes from the great Protestant reformers showing who they believed the Bible antichrist was.
Nicolaus Von Amsdorf (1483 - 1565)
"He (the antichrist) 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 the Turk
(ISLAM) is the antichrist.
Because the
Turk (ISLAM) 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."
(Nicolaus Von Amsdorf, Furnemliche und gewisse Zeichen, sig.A2r.,v.)
Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)
"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)
Flacius (1570)
"The sixth and last reason for our separation from the pope
and his followers be this; By many writings of our church, by the
Divinely
inspired Word, by prophecies concerning the future and by the
special characteristics of the Papacy, it has been profusely and
thoroughly
proved that the pope with his prelates and clergy is the real
true great antichrist, that his kingdom is the real Babylon, a never
ceasing
fountain and a mother of all abominable idolatry."
(Flacius, Etliche Hochwichtige Ursachen und Grunde, warum das siche alle Christen
von dem Antichrist ... absondern sollen)
Georg Nigrinus (1530 - 1602)
"The Jesuits claim to be sorely offended and have taken my
declarations as an insult and blasphemy in branding the Papacy as the
antichrist
of which Daniel, Paul, Peter, John and even Christ
prophesied. But this is as true as it is that Jesus is the Messiah, and I
am prepared to show
it even by their own definition of the word 'antichrist'."
(Translated from "Nigrinus, Antichrists Grundliche Offenbarung" fol. 6v.)
"This Jesuit further contends that the Papacy cannot be
antichrist because the Papacy has lasted for centuries, but that the
antichrist is supposed
to reign only for 3 1/2 years ... But no one doubts today
that Daniel spoke of YEAR-DAYS, not literal days ... The prophetic
time-periods of forty-two
months, 1260 days, 1, 2, 1/2 times are prophetic, and
according to Ezekiel 4, a day must be taken for a year."
(Translated from "Nigrinus,
Antichrists Grundliche Offenbarung" fols.28v. 29r.)
John Calvin (1509 - 1564)
"Though it be admitted that Rome was once the mother of all
Churches, yet from the time when it began to be the seat of Antichrist
it has ceased to be what it was before. 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 (Paul's words in II Thess. 2) are not
capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the
Papacy."
(Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol.3, p.149)
John Knox (1505 - 1572)
Yea, to speak it in plain words; lest that we submit
ourselves to Satan, thinking that we submit ourselves to Jesus Christ,
for, as for your
Roman kirk, as it is now corrupted, and the authority
thereof, whereon stands the hope of your victory, I no more doubt but
that it is the
synagogue of Satan, and the head thereof, called the pope, to
be that man of sin, of whom the apostle speaks."
(John Knox, The History of the
Reformation of Religion in Scotland, p.65)
Thomas Cranmer (1489 - 1556)
"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)
Roger Williams (1603 - 1683)
Pastor Williams spoke of the Pope as "the pretended Vicar of
Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting
himself
not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and
consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the
Holy
Spirit, yea, and God himself...speaking against the God of
heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of
perdition."
(The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers by Froom, Vol. 3, pg. 52)
The Baptist Confession of Faith (1689)
"The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by
the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution,
order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme
and sovereign manner; neither 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."
(1689 Baptist Confession of Faith)
The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
"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 exalts
himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God."
(1646 Westminster
Confession of Faith)
John Wesley (1703 - 1791)
"... In many respects, the Pope has an indisputable claim to
those titles. He is, in an emphatical sense, the man of sin, as he
increases
all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly
styled, the son of perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless
multitudes,
both of his opposers and followers, destroyed innumerable
souls, and will himself perish everlastingly. He it is that opposeth
himself to the
emperor, once his rightful sovereign; and that exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped - Commanding
angels, and
putting kings under his feet, both of whom are called gods in
scripture; claiming the highest power, the highest honour; suffering
himself,
not once only, to be styled God or vice-God. Indeed no less
is implied in his ordinary title, "Most Holy Lord," or, "Most Holy
Father." So
that he sitteth - Enthroned. In the temple of God - Mentioned
Rev. xi, 1. Declaring himself that he is God - Claiming the
prerogatives which
belong to God alone."
(John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon The New Testament, p.216)
Charles Spurgeon (1834 - 1892)
"It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against
Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a
question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there
is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. If there were
to be
issued a hue and cry for Antichrist, we should certainly take
up this church on suspicion, and it would certainly not be let loose
again, for
it so exactly answers the description."
"Popery is contrary to Christ’s Gospel, and is the
Antichrist, and we ought to pray against it. It should be the daily
prayer of every
believer that Antichrist might be hurled like a millstone
into the flood and for Christ, because it wounds Christ, because it robs
Christ of
His glory, because it puts sacramental efficacy in the place
of His atonement, and lifts a piece of bread into the place of the
Saviour, and
a few drops of water into the place of the Holy Ghost, and
puts a mere fallible man like ourselves up as the vicar of Christ on
earth; if we
pray against it, because it is against Him, we shall love the
persons though we hate their errors: we shall love their souls though
we loath
and detest their dogmas, and so the breath of our prayers
will be sweetened, because we turn our faces towards Christ when we
pray."
(Michael de Semlyen, All Roads Lead to Rome)
Rev. J.A.Wylie (1808 - 1890)
"The same line of proof which establishes that Christ is the
promised Messiah, conversely applied, establishes that the Roman system
is
the predicted Apostacy. In the life of Christ we behold the
converse of what the Antichrist must be; and in the prophecy of the
Antichrist we
are shown the converse of what Christ must be, and was. And
when we place the Papacy between the two, and compare it with each, we
find, on
the one hand, that it is the perfect converse of Christ as
seen in his life; and on the other, that it is the perfect image of the
Antichrist,
as shown in the prophecy of him. We conclude, therefore, that
if Jesus of Nazareth be the Christ, the Roman Papacy is the
Antichrist."
(J.A.Wylie, Preface to "The Papacy is the Antichrist, A Demonstration")
READ ''ANTICHRIST UNVEILED" By RICHARD BENNETT, HERE:
Richard Bennett was a Roman Catholic Priest for 22 years.
12th Century
TREATISE ON ANTICHRIST
Written by the ancient Waldenses and Albigenses of Southern France*
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