Since I was a young man, especially since my college days, there have been those few faithful ones who call the Catholic Faith the "Whore of Babylon" and the Pope the "anti-Christ".
Protestants like Tony Alamo and Jack Chick make their living with this rhetoric. I remember 1982-83 time period, Tony Alamo held "revivals" in Harrison Arkansas.
The next day after they left, you could see the anti-Catholic garbage pasted all over the town's trash cans, windows of businesses, light poles, some cars. They get themselves in a feeding frenzy and like sharks they go for blood.
In YouTube land there are a group of them that position themselves together and gang up on Catholic Channels. It can get ugly out there as their hate intensifies when they smell blood?
Groups like the Seventh Day Adventist teach as doctrine the Catholic Church is this biblical whore.
They were founded in 1863 being the largest remnant of followers of William Miller. Miller and his some odd 50,000 followers sold everything (all their possessions), dressed up in white robes and waited for the Lords return up on Mount Kelloggs.
They believed that the Lord was returning there to pick them up (1850). That day is remembered as the "great day of disappointment".
One of the titles of the Pope is "Servant of the Servants of God", a title based from the Christ's instructions that those who want to be leaders in the Church must be servants.
The SDA and others want to pass off this title from Latin to mean "666". They also want you to believe that Catholics worship the Pope as a 'god'. The truth of God is a stark contrast to these claims of the SDA.
The SDA sponsors a seminar called "Amazing Facts" that base their doctrines from their claims. The Papacy began with Jesus who had promised to Simon, Son of Bar-Jona, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus changed Simon's name to "Kapha" or Rock. We call him St. Peter. Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th successor of St. Peter.
Throughout the history of the Church, there have been times when men have attempted to take over the papacy. Emperors and rulers tried to control or influence the Papacy to further their own ambitions. In some cases, they appointed 'anti-popes' to support them deposing the true Pope according to Canon Law.
An anti-pope is a man who has been improperly elected appointed as Pope. The first anti-pope was Hippolytus (217 A.D.) and the last anti-pope was Felix V (1440-1449). In all there have been 27 anti-popes none of which are listed in the line of the Popes.
It is the teaching of he Catholic Church that in the final days prior to the Second Coming of Jesus, there will be a final anti-pope. Revelation 13:11 states, "Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb's but spoke like a dragon".
The horns of a lamb may be an inference to Christianity, but speaking like a dragon would be a rebellious one. Mark 13:22 states, "False messiahs and false prophets will appear performing signs and wonders to mislead, if it were possible, even the elect".
This apostasy will be world wide and people will flock to the anti-christ through this false prophet. Society today seems to be setting up for such a leader as never before have we seen such rebellion against official Church teaching. Christians today are accepting compromise like never before.
It is common for people to hold that you can dissent from official Church teaching and it is alright. "Go by your own conscience"? Serious issues as Artificial Birth Control, Homosexuality, Divorce and remarriage (without an annulment), shacking up before marriage, missing Mass through one's own fault, issues of obedience.
Society seems to be setting itself up for such a false prophet? Our Protestant friends who oppose the Catholic Faith are already set up for this anti-christ. Do we really think Satan will be that obvious? Sola Scriptura helps set this up rather nicely.
One thing is for sure, faithfulness to the Church will be cornered and looked down upon, it will be persecuted. Pope Pius XII warned that to be a true Christian in the latter 20th century you would have to be a 'living martyr' as the attack on the family and faith will be great.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 St. Paul refers to this apostasy before the man of lawlessness and calls for the Church to remain vigilant. Jesus instructs us to persevere to the end in order to be saved. St. John warns, "They will fight the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings" (Rev 17:14).
Catholics do not worship the Pope! We recognize he is the true successor of St. Peter. As great crowds flocked to St. Peter, so they do today looking to be spiritually fed and blessed by 'Peter in our midst'.
The traditional Christian values are being exchanged for a lie, that ultimately man is in control, man controls his own destiny. This thinking is the great deception of our time. It goes back to the lie in the Garden of Eden when Eve listened to the devil (Genesis 3:1-5).
The anti-Catholics today have some very well made presentations wanting to warn you of the Catholic Faith. Hosea 4:6 God laments that his people are destroyed because of the lack of knowledge.
We need to seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit and listen to the voice of the Lord. St. Luke says it best, "Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me". It's not Sola Scriptura that we must listen to, but the pillar and foundation of truth (the Catholic Faith). If we do this, we will not fall prey to the false prophet nor the anti-christ.
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