Christian Theology Is Wrong About “the Beast”, the “False Prophet” & the “Two Witnesses”

All Agreed On Who is the Antichrist

Up to the close of the Reformation God’s people were generally agreed that the Papacy was the Antichrist foretold in prophecy. The Waldenses taught it. (See page 122) About 1384 A.D. John Wycliffe wrote a book against the papal system entitled: “Of Antecrist and His Meynee.” In fact, the English Reformers, – Tyndale, Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, – all agreed in pointing to the Papacy as the Antichrist. John Huss of Bohemia, in his “De Anatomia Antichristi,” did the same. Turning to Germany we find Dr. Martin Luther strong in his convictions on this subject. He says:
“The Pope is … the true Antichrist, of whom it is written, that he sitteth in the temple of God, among the people where Christ is worshiped…

“But Papists want to divert this passage from themselves, and they say that Christ and Paul speak about the temple at Jerusalem, and that Antichrist shall sit there and rule; that will not do. … It cannot be understood otherwise than of the new spiritual temple, which he says we are.

“There shall the Pope sit and he honoured, not above God, but above all that is called God. … So also we see it before our eyes, that many princes and the world regard his law higher and more than the commandments of God. … Cannot this rightly be termed exalting and honouring Antichrist above God?” – Luther’s Church Postil,” “Gospels,” 25th Sunday after Trinity, par. 24, 25, Part 2, pp. 734, 735. Stavanger, Norway: 1862.

Luther further declares:

“Therefore, let whosoever will doubt, God’s word and the proper divine worship convinces me sufficiently that the Pope is the Antichrist, and the ecclesiastical orders are his disciples, which deceive the whole world.” – Id., Part 1, p. 379.

“I hope that the last day is at the door. Things could not become worse than the Roman see makes it. It suppresses the commandments of God, it exalts its own commandments above God’s. If this is not Antichrist, then some one else must tell what it is.” – “Luther’s Reformatory Works,” p. 280. Copenhagen: 1883.

“The Pope is the real Antichrist.” – Id., p. 278.

Dr. Charles H. H. Wright, in speaking of the Bible prophecy of “antichrist,” says: “In all ages of the Church, from the days of Gregory the Great down to the present, men have pointed to the Papacy as the fulfilment of the prophecy. That interpretation is set forth in the Homilies of the Church of England and by all the Reformed Churches. The interpretation, however, has been ignored or rejected by critics, for reasons which need not be specified. It can, however, stand all the tests of criticism.” – “Daniel and His Prophecies,” p. 168. London: 1906. (See also Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. I, p. 561, art. “Antichrist.”)

Additional Quotes to this chapter (All agreed on Who is the Antichrist)
When the Bible hit the printing press, almost all the early Church fathers began to understand Bible Prophecy and in particular the one of the Antichrist. True Protestantism teaches salvation by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8) and the supremacy of the Bible above the visible church, (2 Timothy 3:16) above traditions, pastors, priests, popes and kings. It also teaches the priesthood of all believers (2 Peter 2:9, 10) and that all people everywhere can be saved by coming directly to our loving heavenly Father through His only Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:6). 1 Timothy 2:5 states, “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”

The Protestant Reformation in the 1500’s literally changed the course of history. It helped move Europe out of the Dark Ages and led to the rise of true religious freedom. Its original principles eventually found expression in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America which teaches that when it comes to religion, the governments of earth have no right to control the conscience. What did the major Protestant Reformers teach about the Antichrist? Here are some more comments presented by some of the most influential Christian leaders who have ever lived and what they believed about “the little horn” (Daniel 7:8), “the beast” (Revelation 13:1), and “the man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and about Antichrist.

John Wesley (1703-1791) (Methodist): Speaking of the Papacy, John Wesley wrote, “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… He it is…that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped…claiming the highest power, and highest honour…claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone.” Antichrist and His Ten Kingdoms, by John Wesley, pg. 110.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) (Lutheran): “Luther … proved, by the revelations of Daniel and St. John, by the epistles of St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Jude, that the reign of Antichrist, predicted and described in the Bible, was the Papacy … And all the people did say, Amen! A holy terror seized their souls. It was Antichrist whom they beheld seated on the pontifical throne. This new idea, which derived greater strength from the prophetic descriptions launched forth by Luther into the midst of his contemporaries, inflicted the most terrible blow on Rome.” Taken from J. H. Merle D’aubigne’s History of the Reformation of the Sixteen Century, book vi, chapter xii, p. 215.

Based on prophetic studies, Martin Luther finally declared, “We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist.” (Aug. 18, 1520). Taken from The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, by LeRoy Froom. Vol. 2., pg. 121.

John Wycliffe: “When the western church was divided for about 40 years between two rival popes, one in Rome and the other in Avigon, France, each pope called the other pope antichrist – and John Wycliffe is reputed to have regarded them as both being right: “two halves of Antichrist, making up the perfect Man of Sin between them.” – Ibid

Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) (Anglican): “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.” (Referring to prophecies in Revelation and Daniel.) Works by Cranmer, Vol. 1, pp. 6-7.

John Calvin (1509-1564) (Presbyterian): “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.” Taken from Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin.

John Knox (1505-1572) (Scotch Presbyterian): John Knox sought to counteract “that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church.” As with Luther, he finally concluded that the Papacy was “the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks.” The Zurich Letters, by John Knox, pg. 199.

Roger Williams (1603-1683) (First Baptist Pastor in America): 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 (II Thess. 2).” The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, by Froom, Vol. 3, pg. 52.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647): “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 exalteth himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God.” Taken from Philip Schaff’s, The Creeds of Christendom, With a History and Critical Notes, III, p. 658, 659, ch. 25, sec. 6.

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) (Congregational Theologian): “The oracles of God foretold the rising of an Antichrist in the Christian Church: and in the Pope of Rome, all the characteristics of that Antichrist are so marvellously answered that if any who read the Scriptures do not see it, there is a marvellous blindness upon them.” Taken from The Fall of Babylon by Cotton Mather in Froom’s book, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 3, pg. 113.

A Great Cloud of Witnesses: “Wycliffe, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, Cranmer; in the seventeenth century, Bunyan, the translators of the King James Bible and the men who published the Westminster and Baptist confessions of Faith; Sir Isaac Newton, Wesley, Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards; and more recently Spurgeon, Bishop J.C. Ryle and Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones; these men among countless others, all saw the office of the Papacy as the antichrist.” Taken from All Roads Lead to Rome, by Michael de Semlyen. Dorchestor House Publications, p. 205. 1991.

kundalini? i looked that up. it hurt my brain to read about it, thanks. don’t you think kundalini would be against Yah’s Word? to truthseeker: anyone can be israel if they keep the torah commandments. i would include the Messiah, also. the word gentiles just means peoples, nations. Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” that would mean grafted in. there is a verse about many anti-christs. 1 john 2:18 “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” yeah, many anti-christs. i think that is provable. strong’s concordance says: antichrist: either one who puts himself in the place of, or the enemy (opponent) of the Messiah. that would be many people who do this. there are 2 different beasts mentioned in revelations 13. both get their power from the dragon. the false prophet you mention is ALL?? religions that worship one god? what? i worship Yahuah and don’t have a church to go to that keeps all the commandments and the testimony of His Son. i worship one God. okay? the 2 witnesses are explained in revelations 11: “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.” could the witnesses be Law and Grace from the Messiah? or the kingly and priestly offices that the Messiah holds? it says something about 2 olive trees and lampstand in Zechariah 4. “Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
we will see………. someday.