The Romanism Within<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\nThe specific configuration the apostasy would take was clear to Paul\u2019s mind, as well. \u201cThe lawless one,\u201d he explained, will be an imposing figure \u201cwho opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.\u201d The apostasy would center in a man putting himself in the place of God on earth, in a \u201ctemple\u201d setting, or a religious system.<\/p>\n
With enlightened prophetic eyes, Paul saw that the apostasy was coming, but he also discerned that the core principle of the system was \u201calready at work\u201d in the then-existing pagan Roman Empire with its dominating caesars. And while Paul saw that the apostasy of the church was coming as a historical development future to his time, he described the pagan Roman Empire as \u201cthe one who now holds it back\u201d and would \u201ccontinue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed.\u201d In other words, Paul saw that the Great Christian Apostasy would essentially involve the establishment of a fallen form of Christianity taking the place of the Roman Empire, exercising pagan-type power in the name of Christ.<\/p>\n
Paul then summarizes his prophecy with these insightful words:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing\u201d (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, NIV).<\/p>\n
\u201cHow Satan works\u201d is an encapsulating term that includes the two primary ways in which the devil operates to further his kingdom: deception and coercion. While the kingdom of Jesus is only advanced by means of truth and love, Paul says that Satan\u2019s system is revealed in \u201call sorts of displays of power\u201d and \u201call the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.\u201d<\/p>\n
And this is precisely what happened. Once the apostles had passed off the scene, a gradual process of compromise took place that eventually succeeded in Romanizing the Christian church.<\/p>\n
Four: Papal Supremacy<\/h2>\n
By the fourth century after Christ, the covenant community of agape love was morphing into \u201cChristendom,\u201d the official religion of the state. In 312, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, professed conversion to Christ. Approaching the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine saw a cross of light above the midday sun with the blazing Greek words, \u1f18\u03bd \u03a4\u03bf\u03cd\u03c4\u1ff3 \u039d\u03af\u03ba\u03b1<\/em>\u2014In this sign, conquer! <\/em>Here was a supernatural message, clearly not from the Jesus who hung with self-sacrificing love on Calvary’s cross, commanding the Roman Emperor to henceforth engage in all of his violent military exploits in the name of Christ. Civil power was now made the realm of Christianity. Rather than adopt the self-sacrificing spirit and principles of the kingdom of Christ, Constantine essentially baptized his military with their weapons in hand, leaving the coercive pagan picture of God intact, but now bearing the name of Jesus.<\/p>\nThe popular Jesus was now, in fact, not Jesus at all, but a false god masquerading in His place. The name of Jesus had been hijacked for political and military ends.<\/p>\n
During the sixth century, the Roman Empire was crumbling and a massive power vacancy was being created. By this time, Romanized Christianity was the prevailing religion of the Empire. The official church was little more than a thin veneer of Christian language covering the inner substance of paganism. The name of Jesus was on the church’s lips, while a dark theological image of God as a power-mongering Roman Emperor was enthroned in the church’s heart.<\/p>\n
With a crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other, Jesus was now represented by a ruthless killing machine\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Justinian, the Roman Emperor, issued a decree in 538 AD making the pope supreme ruler in all religious matters. The pope was thus granted the use of civil power to enforce the church\u2019s teachings. By the rule of law and under the threat of punishment, all must comply with the dictates of the pope as the infallible Vicar of Christ on earth.<\/p>\n
And with that single political maneuver, thus began the long, dark, bloody reign of papal supremacy!<\/p>\n
With a crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other, Jesus was now represented by a ruthless killing machine with a geographic reach and an historic longevity unsurpassed by any other power in history. Through the Middle Ages the church tortured and slaughtered multiplied millions upon millions of human beings who dared to think for themselves and imagine a better picture of God. In the world\u2019s corporate psyche, the name of Christ became synonymous with enslavement, greed, cruelty, and murder.<\/p>\n
Daniel foretold that the papal system would exercise its power with two main characteristics:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out (persecute) the saints of the most High\u201d (Daniel 7:25, KJV).<\/p>\n
The papacy would speak \u201cgreat words against the Most High,\u201d not as an open opponent of God, but rather as a covert enemy of God claiming to be His one true representative on earth. The papacy would defame the character of God by constructing a false doctrinal system that would portray God as a coercive monster whose wrath must be appeased by whatever deeds the church might dictate, not the least of which was paying the church cash money in exchange for God\u2019s forgiveness or to pay off minutes, hours, days, or years of torture in purgatory for deceased loved ones.<\/p>\n
In addition to the \u201cgreat words\u201d of theological distortion \u201cagainst\u201d the character of \u201cthe Most High\u201d\u2014which essentially equated to a powerful doctrinal system of emotional coercion\u2014the church enforced its theology by means of civil legislation. This meant that the church could legally punish all those it deemed as dissenters and heretics\u2014anyone who believed that God was better than the picture the papacy was painting. And the punishments ran the full gamut from excommunication and financial penalties to torture and execution.<\/p>\n
As long as the church possessed civil and legislative power, there was no stopping her cruel criminal career of coercion in the name of Christ. But history was destined to turn a corner in the direction of liberty.<\/p>\n
Five: the Gospel in the Form of a Governing Document<\/h2>\n
As foretold in Bible prophecy, the long dark reign of papal supremacy came to a screeching halt during the French Revolution. In 1798, the French general, Louis Alexandre Berthier, under the authority of Napol\u00e9on, dethroned and imprisoned Pope Pius VI. After 1260 years of wielding absolute political power, the papacy\u2019s civil and legislative authority was finally at an end. The apostle John, in Revelation 13, foretold this event as the inflicting of a \u201cdeadly wound\u201d upon the papacy.<\/p>\n
Preceding the French Revolution (1789\u20131799) was the American Revolution (1765-1783). The world was in violent upheaval, driven by a determination to cast off all coercive power structures and by an insatiable hunger for religious and political freedom. The American Revolution was essentially the messy but inevitable outworking of the theological revolution set in motion by Jesus. The principle of non-coercive love embodied in Christ was now taking on the form of a political system. Here was a new nation that dared to enshrine the truth of mankind\u2019s innate liberty in its governing documents:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. \u2014 That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, \u2014 That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness\u201d (The Declaration of Independence).<\/p>\n
\u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances\u201d (The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America).<\/p>\n
The revolutionary genius of the bold new venture was simply this: the law of the land was that there was no law <\/em>of the land to control the conscience!<\/p>\nThe American Constitution declared as law<\/em> that the government exists for the purpose of insuring that all its citizens remain un<\/em>-governed at the level of their conscience. The human being was to be left completely un<\/em>-coerced in matters pertaining to God. No king or pope would be allowed to exert control over any person\u2019s belief system. Each human being was to be regarded as a self-governing free agent capable of individual relationship with God.<\/p>\nThus, with the interference of a state dictated religion out of the way, men and women could examine the claims of Christ purely on the merits of His good character. Religious conviction could now gain access to the conscience by appealing to the rational, emotional, relational nature of mankind.<\/p>\n
Six: Pope Francis<\/h2>\n
What, then, do we do with the current pope?<\/p>\n
Two things, as I see it:<\/p>\n
\n- Smile and say Amen<\/em> in response to all the good things he\u2019s advancing.<\/li>\n
- And understand that beneath the surface, the historical, political, and theological substance of the office he occupies remains unchanged to any significant degree. Papal doctrine still holds that the Catholic Church is the only door to salvation and that the pope is the supreme, infallible Vicar of Christ on earth.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Yes, Pope Francis is a charming and likable person. But the question should never be whether or not the pope has a pleasant personality. Rather, the question should always be, what does he represent as the man that occupies the papal throne and what is the ultimate end to which the papal power structure reaches? It is the papal office and its underlying theology of power that we need to be concerned with. And on that level, nothing of substance has changed.<\/p>\n
The doctrines of penance, indulgences, transubstantiation, the veneration of saints, purgatory, eternal torment, and salvation within the Catholic Church alone, all capped off with the doctrine of papal infallibility, still compose the dark theological core of the system. Papal theology is fundamentally an appeasement construct of the character of God, which means that it is pagan, or coercion-based, in its basic substance. The pope is not merely a religious leader, he occupies a political throne as<\/em> a religious leader. And the union of these two realms of power in the papal office\u2014church and state\u2014renders the system inherently incompatible with the gospel of Christ and at odds with the Constitution of the United States of America.<\/p>\nIf the ancient ruler of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, could come to know and love the one true God of heaven, certainly the pope can too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And. That. Is. The. Point.<\/p>\n
The personality of the man is beside the point. He, like each of us, is a human being for whom Jesus died. If the ancient ruler of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, could come to know and love the one true God of heaven, certainly the pope can too. As to what\u2019s going on in the heart of Pope Francis, we can\u2019t possibly know. May God open his eyes to see that no man can legitimately occupy a political-religious throne in the name of Jesus. To what degree the pope is consciously working out the objectives that lie embedded within Catholic doctrine, is beyond our judgment. What we can know with absolute certainty is that all forms of power that encroach upon the conscience\u2014wherever manifested\u2014are anti-Christ by definition, because they are anti-love by definition and \u201cGod is love\u201d (1 John 4:16).<\/p>\n
Which brings us to the real point we need to grasp if any of this is to be truly meaningful at all.<\/p>\n
Seven: You and Me<\/h2>\n
The deeper issue for you and me isn’t what’s going on in the heart of Pope Francis, but what’s going on in our own hearts.<\/p>\n
In the final events of human history, all of us will act out our picture of God. That\u2019s the gist of the warning communicated in the end-time prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.<\/p>\n
Even now, in our manner of relating to others, we can read the tangible indicators of the picture of God we hold in our hearts. Each of us is actuated in our daily relationships by either the power-over<\/em> or the power-under<\/em> relational dynamic. In the way we treat others, each of us is either acting out the principle of God\u2019s non-coercive love or the principle of papal supremacy.<\/p>\nHow do I relate to my spouse, to my children, to my colleagues at work, to my fellow church members, to my next-door neighbor, to those who disagree with me, cross me, or violate me? It is in the realm of my daily relationships that I can best discern what I really believe about God. Regardless of what I say I believe about God, the way I treat people reveals what I really believe.<\/p>\n
According to Revelation 13, a centralized power structure is going to be set up in the world that will unite church and state. Those who engineer the system will perceive themselves as having God-given power over others. And here\u2019s the thing: everyone who subscribes to a coercion-based picture of God will find themselves rationalizing their alignment with the persecution machine that will inevitably overtake the world. When \u201cno man can buy or sell\u201d except those who go along with the system\u2014when the pressure of survival is leveraged against us by means of legislation\u2014each of us will simply reveal ourselves to be who we really are at heart.<\/p>\n
And in that day, the pope will be the least of our concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pope Francis definitely has our attention. Bible prophecy said that would be the case (Revelation 13:3). But why? What is the significance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[192,165,74,5,8,75],"class_list":["post-9045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-catholicism","tag-coercion","tag-freedom","tag-great-controversy","tag-love","tag-pope"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/So_What_About_the_Pope.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAh8r-2lT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9045"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11386,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9045\/revisions\/11386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}