We are witnessing the coming together of a global religious system that the Bible has warned about and described in advance. This religious system is Satanically inspired. Perhaps the worst feature, which hurts and angers God the most, is that it pretends to be Bride of Christ, but God says she is a “great whore”.
Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. 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 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication…. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Protestants have historically believed that this system corresponds with Rome. The reformers believed that the Pope was the Antichrist spoken of by John.
Full of Names of Blasphemy
In the Holy Roman Empire, the political and the religious worlds were combined in the Pontifex Maximus, a title of the Pope. This title literally designated him the head and steward of the ancient Mystery religions. That the person with this title would pretend to be the head of the Church is a blasphemy of the highest order. The system spoken of in Revelation is said to be riding a beast full of names of blasphemy. The blasphemous names given to the pope are many. Just a few of these:
The Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father, the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Sole sovereign of all the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, the Father of princes and kings, Ruler of the World.
The titles are tied to teachings and doctrines which establish him as having all authority in heaven and in earth as the singular and unique representative of Christ on earth.
Persecutor
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus
God says she is “drunk with the blood of the saints.’” She has always been a persecutor of the saints. During the time when the Roman Catholic Church was free to exercise her full might, millions were tortured and killed who would not bow the knee to the pope, or participate in her idolatrous practices. Millions more were killed when the Bible was released in the language of the people and multitudes woke up to the power of the word. Spontaneously the antichrist system was exposed in the light of the truth. The reformation was born and multitudes died for the truth at the hands of a zealous religious state that executed “heretics” in the name of Christ.
Secularists like to point out that it was witches and Jews that were killed. However, if you read Fox’s book of Martyrs, you will see bible believing Christians were one of the primary targets of the inquisitions and the purges. The methods of torture that were employed were so gruesome and inhumane that it is clear that this beast was “drunk” with the blood of the saints.
Counter-Reformation
Eventually nations threw off the yoke of Rome. She did not change her nature or intentions, but had to become much softer in her approach. Recently, through the superficial (cosmetic) reforms of Vatican II and a series of media savvy Popes, Catholic Church has been able to recast herself in the eyes of the world as a much friendlier system, and the past has been largely forgotten. It must be stressed that her intentions have not changed.
When in a position of weakness, she influences and seduces by flattery, falsehood and manipulation. When she is in a position of strength however, she rules by terror and intimidation. What she waits for is a time when she has the power of the state (the sword) to execute her decrees.
The current pope is the first Jesuit to ever become a Pope. He came into power in a strange circumstance. For the first time in centuries the previous Pope actually stepped down and abdicated his title. Those who know about the Jesuit order understand that this is a very significant turn of events. Space does not allow here, but I encourage the reader to look into the Jesuit oath. The Jesuit order was established to bring the “Separated brethren” (the protestants) back into the fold of the “mother church” of Rome.
The Jesuits represent a counter-reformation to deal with the protestant reformation. They were given full latitude by Rome to use any means, including deceit to accomplish their goals. They were even encouraged to infiltrate Protestant Churches. If possible they were even to seek to preach from their pulpits, posing as Calvinists, or Lutherans, or anything else that was needed to bring about a conditioning that would re-align the protestant churches with Roman Catholic doctrine. This has been going on for hundreds of years, and now we’re seeing the anticipated reconciliation come about. Leaders of the major protestant denominations are openly calling for unity with Rome, and eventually the whole system will unify under the Pope.
Today in the modern “Protestant” Church, 500 years after the reformation, the institutional Churches are calling for a reconciliation with Rome. They are beginning to embrace again many of the doctrines and practices that they had cast off in the reformation. This is a satanic agenda that is being deliberately and deceptively played out by men who are masquerading as protestants but are actually loyal to Rome. They are the foremost leaders of the major Protestant denominations and movements today. They are saying that there really is not a fundamental difference between the teaching and doctrines in Rome and what they believe. This is because they have abandoned the truths that their forefathers, the reformers, fought and died for.
This abandonment of principle by the heads of the major Protestant denominations should serve as a warning in itself to Bible believers regarding the lateness of the hour. Again, space does not allow but I encourage the reader to look into “Catholics and Evangelicals together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millenium”. This is an understanding that has been reached between the leaders of the Protestant Denominations and Rome.
Building up to Antichrist
The Prophetic word tells us that the final world empire led by Antichrist will have three major aspects. There will be a unified political system with a centralized authority, a unified economic system with a single currency, and a unified religious system that will eventually be directed toward the worship of Antichrist. The religious aspect of this system will be led by a figure called the False Prophet, and will apparently have a Christian appearance but a Satanic content. The False Prophet has the two horns like a lamb but he speaks with the mouth of the dragon.
Rev_13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon….and he causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do..
All the false teachings that have been brought into the church over the centuries were for the purpose of producing false worldwide visible religious system that apparently believes it’s the church and embraces the doctrine of the final False Prophet who will direct the world’s worship to Antichrist when he is manifested. The Bible calls this system in revelation 17 “Mystery Babylon the Great” and she will be the subject of God’s wrath during the tribulation. For centuries, as has been stated, Protestants believed this to be Rome. However, the reformers probably would not have anticipated that generations later those who called themselves Protestants would willingly rush back to Rome.
The Antichrist or the False Prophet will likely sit in the Papal seat and lead a unified world religion consisting of all the “reconciled” protestant denominations as well as the rest of the world’s religions. When Antichrist appears, it will be at the crest of a wave of false signs and wonders sweeping the earth, during a time of great chaos. He will present himself among other things as the Christ, and will in the midst of the chaos establish a false peace.
He will seemingly settle the issues in the middle east and ushering in a time of prosperity and rest. He will claim that this is the Kingdom of God that was promised. He will be embraced by all the major religions as the savior of the world and will promise to establish an entirely new order and a new understanding of the universe. He will promise to lead mankind into a new age in which man will enter into a realization of his divinity. He will do this in such a way as to deceptively fulfill all of the expectations of the world religions, including the Bible.
Eventually we know that the false peace that he establishes with Israel (called the “covenant with death” by Isaiah) will give them a period of peace and will allow them to rebuild their temple. Eventually this man will actually enter that temple, sit in the Holy of Holies and declare Himself to be God.
2Th 2:4 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.
Those who are dwelling on earth who are not aware of biblical truth would deceived by him, because his coming will be after the working of Satan “with all power and lying signs and wonders.” Thankfully even in that terrible time God will have his witnesses to proclaim the truth and we know that there will be multitudes that come to the Lord during that time (who will pay for it with their lives).
People will be forced to choose between this imposter and the truth of the scriptures. All of the information from the senses will seem to indicate that this man is Christ returned. All the world will worship him.
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
The False Prophet who directs the world to worship him will also cause all those who do not (the true saints of God at that time) to be put to death.
Rev 13:15 And he (the false prophet) had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Remember Jesus said in Matthew 24:
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
In these verses Jesus is telling the people who are on the earth at that time to be on the look out for a false Christ. The deception will be so strong that if possible it would even deceive the God’s people. When the global ecumenical system crystalizes with the False Prophet at its head there will be no place on earth for the witnesses of Jesus who keep the commandments of God.
This all sounds dramatic and much of it is beyond our ability to see in great detail being yet future. All we can do is put together the scriptures that speak of this time and try to understand how they fit with today’s trends. However the closer we are to that time, the more clear it is becoming that the visible form of Christianity today moving at an accelerated pace in this direction.