THE POPE - WHO IS IT

 

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And against the Most High he will speak words and oppress the saints of the Most High; he even dreams of abolishing the holidays and the law from them, and they will be delivered into his hand until a time and times and half a time.

Daniel 7.25

 

 

What behavior of the small horn symbolizes the relationship of papal authority to the Almighty?

“And he will speak words against the Most High” (Dan 7.25).

 

 

How does Paul, speaking of the man of sin, describe this same authority?

“The one who opposes and exalts himself above all things, called God or holy, so that he sits in the temple of God as God, posing as God” (2 Thess 2.4).

Note.

The following extracts from the writings of many authoritative theologians, most of whom are supporters of the Catholic Church, show us how far the papacy has come in its claims to the authority and authority of God.

“All the names and titles by which Christ is called in Scripture as head of the church apply equally to the pope“ (Robert Bellarmine, Disputatones de Controversiis, Vol.2, "Controversia Prima", Book 2 ["De Consiliorum Auctoritate" ], chap.17 [1628 ed.], vol.1, p.266).

“For you are the Shepherd, you are the doctor, you are the husband, you are the ruler, you are God on earth” (Christofor Marcellus’ Oration in the Fifth Lateran Council, 4th session, in J.D. Mansi, Sacorum Conciliorum… Collectio, vol.32, col.761).

“For it is not man, but God, who separates the Roman pontiff, who functions not as a mortal man, but as an almighty God, weighs the needs or benefits of the churches, and disposes not of human, but of Divine authority” (“The Decretas of Gregory IX”, Book 1, title 7 , chap.3, in Corpus Juris Canonici [1555-56 ed.], vol.2, col.203).

“The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the whole earth…He is not only the eternal high priest, but the king of all kings and the lord of all lords” ( La Civilta Catolica, March 18, 1871, guoted in Leonard Woosley Bacon, An Inside View of the Vatican Council [ American Tract Society ed.], p.229, n.).

“Christ entrusted his earthly throne to the pontiff-general…for to him belongs all power in heaven and on earth… therefore, the pontiff-general, who is the vicar of Christ, has all his authority” (Corpus Juris Canonici [1555-56 ed.], vol. 3, Extravagantes Communes, Book 1, chap.1, col.29, transl. from Porro Subesse Romano Pontiff).

“The Pope is crowned with a triple crown - as the king of heaven, earth and underworld (hell)“ (Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Biblioteca, "Papa", art.2 [1772-77 ed.], vol.6, p.26).

“All believers in Christ need to be firmly convinced that the Roman Pontiff is on the holy papal throne and is the archbishop of all the earth and the successor of blessed Peter, the first of all the apostles, the true vicar of Jesus Christ. Blessed Peter was the head of the whole church, the father and teacher of all the followers of Jesus Christ, and through him the Roman pontiff received divine power and authority to lead, nourish, shepherd and rule over the worldwide church of Jesus Christ” (Pastor Aetrenus, publ. in the fourth session of the Vatican Council, 1870, chap.3, in Philipp Shaff, Creeds of Christendom [New York: Harper], vol.2, p.262).

“We teach and determine that it is a dogma revealed to us from above that the Roman pontiff, being in his chair or performing the duties assigned to him as a shepherd, doctor and teacher of all Christians, by the power of his supreme authority determines the teaching of the church in everything that concerns faith and morality, so that the whole church will listen and obey this teaching. With the divine help promised to the pope in blessed Peter, he possesses infallibility and, according to the will of the Divine Redeemer, who desires that His Church has the exclusive right to determine the doctrine of faith and morals, the decrees of the Roman pontiff are unchangeable, neither by his subsequent decrees, nor with the consent of the church“ (ibid., chap.4, pp.270,271).

 

Among the 27 statements known as the “Decrees of Hildebrand”, who under the name of Gregory VII held the papacy from 1073 to 1087, are the following:

2. Only a Roman pontiff can rightfully bear the title of ruler of the world.

6. No one... can live under the same roof with an excommunicated person.

9. All princes can only kiss his feet.

12. The pope has the power to depose emperors.

18. No one has the right to review his sayings, while he can consider the decisions of others.

19. No one can judge the Pope.

22. The Catholic Church is infallible. She never made mistakes and never will make them, for this is what the Holy Scriptures say.

26. No one can be considered a Catholic without accepting the true teachings of the Catholic Church.

27. He (the pope) can release vassals from the dependence of wicked rulers (overlords). (Cesare Baronius, Annales, 1076, secs.31-33, vol.17 [1869 ed.], pp.405,406).

 

“They endowed the pope with the infallibility that only God has. They arrogated to themselves the divine right to forgive sins. They claim to be able to open and shut the way to heaven, forgetting that everything is in the hands of God. They declare that the pope is above all the kings of the earth and that without God they can free entire nations from their oath dependence and loyalty to their kings if they do not like these kings. They go directly against God by selling indulgences for sins, which is the worst of all their blasphemies” (Adam Clarke, Commentary, on Daniel 7.25).

 

 

What does the prophecy say about the attitude of the little horn towards the people of God?

 

“And he will oppress the saints of the Most High“ (Dan 7.25).

Note.

“According to these bloody principles, the papacy severely persecuted the people of God. These persecutions became especially strong starting from the 11th-12th centuries, and, now weakening, then again intensifying, they continued almost to the present day, leaving a special page in the history of Christianity“.

After an open call for the destruction of heretics was made in the canons of Orleans, the Crusades, the establishment of the Inquisition, cruel attempts to destroy the Waldensians, the extermination of the Albigensians, mockery of the Lollards, cruel wars against Bohemia in order to exterminate its inhabitants who did not wish to obey the pope, burning at the stake Jan Hus and Jerome, as well as a great many other faithful followers of Christ. Here is just a short list of everything that the Catholic Church undertook before the Reformation in order to subdue all the peoples of its power. But even later, the Catholic Church more than once, with limitless cruelty, fell upon its opponents, as it was in the Netherlands, the torment and torture of dissidents did not stop during the reign of Queen Mary, the supporters of the Reformation in Spain and Italy were exterminated by fire and sword, deceit and open persecution in Poland, followed by the St. Bartholomew in Paris, the persecution of the Huguenots and all the atrocities and treachery associated with the repeal of the Edict of Nantes. Here are just the most famous and noteworthy historical facts that testify to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. “Nor did we mention the slow and covert murders of faithful Christians by the Holy Inquisition, whose courts were everywhere” (T.R. Birks, The Four Prophetic Empires, and the Kingdom of Messiah [1845 ed.] , pp.248,249).

Llorent's book "History of the Inquisition in Spain" gives an approximate number of all the victims of the Inquisition in Spain. The author was secretary of the Holy Inquisition, and we can fully trust this authoritative testimony. Llorent claims that in Spain alone, more than 300,000 people were killed as a result of the persecution of the Inquisition, of which 31,912 were burned alive at the stake.

Millions of people in Europe were executed for their Christian beliefs.

“The fact that the Catholic Church has shed more innocent blood than anyone else in the history of mankind is an indisputable fact for everyone. The documentary evidence of many of the iniquities of the papacy towards dissenters is so hidden that it is simply impossible to form a complete idea of ​​how many people were victims of it, and no imagination can imagine all their suffering” (W.E.H. Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe [1910 ed.], vol.2, p.32 (see also The Catholic Encyclopedia, p.362) ).

 

 

What does the prophecy testify about the further work of the little horn?

“He even dreams of abolishing their holidays and the law” (Dan 7.25).

Note.

Here is what a Catholic author writes about the power of the pope to change divine commands:

“The Pope has such authority, power and power that he can modify, explain and interpret even Divine laws, as he has God's authority and acts as the vicar of God on earth“ (Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Biblioteca, "Papa", art.2) .

Although the Ten Commandments, the Law of God, is given unchanged in the Catholic translation of the Holy Scriptures, believers are taught not from the Bible, but from the church catechism. From it it’s clear that the Law of God was changed and remade by the papacy in its own way. Moreover, Catholics are not only guided by the church's interpretation of the Law of God, but also turn to the church in all matters of its observance and receive its blessing only if their behavior and life are in accordance with the will of the church hierarchs.

The second commandment, which forbids the making and worship of idols and idols, is not included in the Catholic catechism, and the tenth commandment, which says "thou shalt not covet", is divided into two commandments.

As evidence that the Catholic Church, through the power of the pope, has personally changed the Law of God and that it has appropriated to itself the power, authority and right to change Divine commands, we invite you to pay attention to the following quotations from Catholic literature:

“Question: Do you have evidence that the Catholic Church has the power to establish church holidays?

Answer: If she did not have such authority, she would not do what all modern believers agree with her - she would not replace the observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week, with Sunday, the first day of the week, for this change does not find no scriptural justification (Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, "On the Obedience Duc to the Church", chap.2, p.174).

Question: How can you prove that the Roman Catholic Church has the authority to establish weekends and holidays?

Answer: By the very fact of changing the celebration of Saturday to the celebration of Sunday. Even the Protestants do not object to this, although they contradict themselves by this, for, strictly observing Sunday, they do not recognize all the main holidays established by the Catholic Church.

Question: How can you prove it?

Answer: In view of the fact that they keep Sunday, they thereby recognize the power of Christ to establish feast days and consider their non-observance as a sin; by failing to observe all the other precepts of the Roman Church, they are, in effect, denying the same authority which these days has established” (Henry Tuberville, An Abridgement of the Christian Doctrine, p.58).

“You can read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you won't find a single line confirming the sanctity of Sunday. The Scriptures require the religious observance of the Sabbath, a day we never keep” (James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers [1917 ed.], pp.72,73).

 

 

Until what time, according to the prophecy, will the power of the little horn last?

“And they will be delivered into his hand until a time, times and half a time” (Dan 7.25).

 

 

What other Bible prophecy mentions this period?

“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness in her place from the presence of the serpent, and there she ate for a time, times, and half a time” ( Rev 12.14).

“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking proudly and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to act forty-two months” (Rev 13.5, see Rev 11.2).

“But the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God, to be fed there a thousand two hundred and sixty days” (Rev 12.6).

 

 

What does one day mean in biblical prophecy?

One literal year (Ezek 4.6).

Note.

In the prophecies of the second, seventh, and eighth chapters of the book of Daniel, and in most of the prophecies in the book of Revelation, people, animals, and objects are represented as symbols. By themselves, they do not represent real events, but in a figurative form they speak of real persons and events. In accordance with this, the periods of time in these prophecies are also represented symbolically.

As an example, we can take a verse from the 4th chapter of the book of the prophet Ezekiel, where the prophet was to perform a symbolic act for forty days, each of which symbolized one literal year.

In addition, it should be noted that the periods of time referred to in the seventh and eighth chapters of the book of Daniel - 1260 and 2300 days - do not correspond in meaning to any known historical periods of time, for no such long periods of time in history were calculated in days. This supports the conclusion that these numbers denote time symbolically and not literally. It must also be borne in mind that if we recognize a period of 2300 days as a whole, and at the same time 490 years from the ninth chapter of Daniel are part of this period, then it is obvious that the period of 2300 days (evenings and mornings) must be considered symbolically.

"Time" in the prophecy is identified with the year (see Dan 11.13); times with two years means three and half-time respectively means three and a half years. Obviously, the same applies to forty-two months. Since these two periods, in the above texts, are equal in duration to 1260 days, it is obvious that this is a prophetic year and consists of 360 days, or 12 months of 30 days each. Since in biblical prophecy the day symbolizes the year, this period of time indicates the length of time during which the little horn (papacy) will exalt itself over the holy, festive times and the Law of God, and is 1260 years.

Decree of Emperor Justinian, issued in 533 AD. , recognizes the pope as "head of all churches"                          ( Justinianus Codex, Book 1, title 1, sec.4, in the Civil Law, tralsl. by S.P. Scott, vol.12, p.12 ). The crushing defeat of the Ostrogoths at the siege of Rome five years later, in 538, was a mortal blow to the independence of the supporters of the teachings of Arius, who then dominated all the Italic churches. This year is a significant milestone in the formation and exaltation of the pope over the entire Christian world. Thus, this year can rightly be considered the year of the beginning of the countdown of the prophetic period of 1260 years, which ended in 1798. The immediate result of the uprising against papal authority during the French Revolution was the capture by the French army under the leadership of Marshal Berthier in February 1798 of Rome and the capture of the pope, who died a year later while in exile in the city of Valencia, in France. The year 1798, in which the papacy was mortally wounded, may therefore be regarded as the last year of this prophetic period.

 

 

What fate will eventually befall the little horn?

“Then the judges will sit down and take away from him the power to destroy and destroy to the end” (Dan 7.26).

 

 

To whom will the kingdom and power belong?

“And the kingdom and dominion and majesty of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High” (v.27).