Lux Lucet

Demonstrator holds up sign in front of Pope Francis during his visit to Ireland, August 2018.  Will Oliver (EFE)

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

    – Revelation 18:4

The headline in the Detroit Free Press was as familiar as it was appalling: “5 Catholic priests charged in Michigan sex abuse investigation.” “Does this never end?,” I thought to myself upon reading it. The answer, it would seem, is no.

Indeed, investigations revealing the horrifying scale of the sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church-State have become something of a commonplace in recent years. Time would fail me were I to even attempt to cover, if but briefly, the scandals that have occurred just here in America, let alone try to talk about those in other countries.

As I read through the article – please note, the piece in the Detroit Free Press is, in parts, quite graphic, as it contains language from the affidavits connected with the case; in reading them one is reminded of what the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesians when he wrote to them concerning deeds about which it was shameful even to speak – I kept thinking about the passage in Revelation, where the voice from heaven warns God’s people to come out of Mystery Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, that is to say, the Roman Church-State (RCS), “that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.”

But not only did I think about unspeakable wickedness of the RCS, but also about the thunderous silence that emanates from the pulpits of even Bible believing Protestant churches concerning the predations of Rome against the most vulnerable of her people. If you think I’m overstating the case, as yourself this, When was the last time you heard a sermon from the pulpit about Antichrist, about Mystery Babylon, and about the work these tools of Satan are doing right in front of our faces? When was the last time you hear a Protestant minister publicly point out the sins of the Roman Church-State or warn his flock about the dangers of this false church?

The answer, most likely, is never.

Jesus enjoined his disciples to go into all the world and to teach all the things he had taught them. Paul said he was innocent of the blood of all men, because he did not fail to teach the Ephesians the whole counsel of God. Since part of the whole counsel of God is the Bible’s teaching about Antichrist and about Mystery Babylon, when ministers to fail to teach about these topics, or to teach about them falsely, the necessary conclusion is that they – and I’m taking here not about liberal ministers who long ago abandoned any pretense of teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but those who would be considered conservative and Bible-believing – are blood guilty for their failure to properly instruct both their congregations and the unbelieving world.

Antichrist is alive and well, and the evil fruits of his evil doctrines are splashed across the headlines all over the internet, yet we Christians remain silent. Why is this? Ignorance is likely one reason. But perhaps more than ignorance, it is out of fear that we remain silent. Fear that we will be rejected. Fear that we will give offense. Fear that me will not hear us and will not like us. Fear of losing our jobs and fear of being censored on the internet. Fear that we will be called haters and intolerant. Fear of being banned from Facebook and Twitter and YouTube.

To all this, Jesus says “Fear not.” It is he who is our king, and it is to him that we owe our allegiance. It is he who warned his disciples not to fear those who could kill the body only, that is to say, other men, but to fear him who can destroy body and soul in hell, that is to say, God.

With this in mind, let us take a closer look at today’s Scripture passage, Revelation 8:4, and see how it relates to the horrible headlines of sex abuse in the Roman Church-State that we so often see.

One Command, Two Purposes

In Revelation 18:4, the Apostle John writes that he heard a second voice from heaven. This voice, John tells us, issued forth one command followed by two purposes. The command being “Come out from her” and the purposes appended to this command being “that ye be not partakers of her sins,” and, “that ye receive not of her plagues.”

Let us begin by considering the command and the voice that issued both it and the purposes attached to it. John calls this voice “another voice” thus distinguishing it from the first voice reported in verses 1-3. This voice, John tells us plainly, was that of an angel. But origin of the second voice which concerns us here is not so clear. John Gill notes in his commentary on the passage that this voice is “Either of another, or of the same angel [as in vv. 1-3], or rather of God, or Christ himself, since the persons addressed are called his people.” Given, as Gill notes, that the voice refers to my people, it seems best to understand it to be of divine, rather than of angelic, origin.

This divine voice commands “my people” to “come out of her” prompting us to ask just what is meant by the terms “my people” and “her.” The identification of “her” is really no great problem. In the context of this passage, the only clear antecedent of “her” is “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINIATIONS OF THE EARTH” from the preceding chapter, Revelation 17:5. This woman is said to ride upon a beast with seven heads, which, we are told, is code for seven mountains, “on which the woman sitteth” (Revelation 17:9) and is identified as “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:18). Quite obviously, MYSTERY BABYLON is Rome.

That MYSTERY BABYLON is Rome is so clear that even the Romanists themselves cannot deny it. But they, along with many Protestants influenced as they are by the eschatological schemes of the Jesuits from the period of the Counter Reformation, insist that this is a reference to Rome pagan rather than Rome papal. But this is not the case. One clue to the correct identification of the Woman Who Rides the Beast as Rome papal is the fact that she is destroyed, not in the fifth century AD when the Western Empire was finally overrun by the invading barbarian armies, but at the return of Christ in Revelation 19. Rome pagan is long gone. Rome papal is still very much with us and, as Revelation teaches, will continue to be with us until the end.

Next, let us turn and consider what is meant by “my people.” Gill proposes two answers to this question. On one hand, he proposes that by “my people” is meant those in the RCS who were elect but not yet called and remained until this time in an unconverted state. On the other hand, Gill suggests that “my people” may refer to those “secretly called by the grace of God, but had not made a public profession of the Gospel, not bore an open testimony against the Romish idolatry.” It seems to me that there is no necessity to pick one of the other of these alternatives, as if they were exclusive of each other. Rather, the passage seems to allow us to hold that both groups could well be the referents of “my people.”

One important implication of this passage is that God has an elect people among the Roman Catholics, whom he will call out at the time of his choosing. And although the passage in question seems to suggest a large-scale leaving of Rome by the elect at the end times, this process began at the time of the Reformation and continues even until this day. The entire first generation of the Protestant church were pilgrims from Rome papal, even as were the children of Israel when they were called out of Egypt and bound for the Promised Land.

This passage is devastating to those who, holding that Roman Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ, discourage Protestants from evangelizing Roman Catholics. This was Chuck Colson’s position in his 1995 book Evangelicals & Catholics Together, a book which called for Protestants and Roman Catholics to band together as brothers in arms.

But, as shocking as this may sound to 21st century, ecumenical Protestant ears, Roman Catholics are not Christians. “Intolerance!,” such men will scream. “We need to be making common cause with Rome to end abortion and win the culture war,” they will say, “and here you are preaching hate!”

Let me assure you that I harbor no hatred in my heart for Romanists. When I say they are not Christians, I say that objectively and not as a matter of opinion on my part. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Justification by Belief Alone, is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, and Rome has damned and cursed, not only this same Gospel, but also anyone who believes it. Rome teaches a different Gospel, a mangled “gospel” works-faith righteousness. which is no Gospel at all. Such a Gospel saves exactly no one and condemns everyone who believes it. It is for this reason that I say Romanists are not Christians.

Now some may argue, as Gill suggests above, that there are secret believers among the Romanists just as there were secret disciples of Jesus among the Pharisees, Joseph of Arimathea for example. This may vey will be, but these believers, if indeed they are believers, have a duty before God to obey the second voice from heaven, God’s voice, and “come out from her.” This was the point of John Calvin’s Anti-Nicodemite writings. The Nicodemites were Reformed believers who had not yet separated from Rome. In one of his letters addressed to “Some Friends,” Calvin noted that it was not enough to worship God secretly in one’s heart only, but that he must also be concerned with “external things.” “For if the heart is good, it will produce its outward fruit,” wrote Calvin. Part of that outward fruit involves separating oneself from apostasy. This means that true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are still in Rome must not remain there. Rather, they are commanded, even as Lot was when he found himself in that wicked city of Sodom, to flee from Rome lest they partake of her sins and receive of her plagues.

Closing Thoughts

It had been my hope today to discuss not only the command “come out from her” but also the two purposes appended to that command. Alas, time is short and I must leave off here for this week. Lord willing, I shall pick up this same subject next Sunday.

That said, there are a few things I would like to say in conclusion to my remarks already made. In the first place, eschatology matters. The failure of 21st century Protestant churches to teach Reformed eschatology has blinded Protestants, church officers and ordinary Christians alike, to the predations of the Antichrist Roman Church-State. Influenced as they are by pre-millennial dispensationalism, most Protestants scan the horizon looking for some future Antichrist. Among the more explicitly Reformed, another form of eschatology know as Preterism is popular. Rather than positing a future Antichrist, as does the Futurism of the Dispensationalists, Preterism sees Antichrist and having come and gone in the first century.

But the eschatology of the Reformation, known as Historicism, sees the coming of Antichrist as not merely a thing of the past, nor as some future event, but as a present reality. Historicism identifies the office of the papacy, not just and individual pope here or there, but the whole line of them, as Antichrist who heads up Mystery Babylon, the Roman Church-State.

Put in this context, it should come as no surprise that many of the priestly representatives of Rome engage in the behavior they do: They are Antichrist’s men doing Antichrist’s bidding. Their evil sexual perversions are but one example of the evil fruit that by necessity flows from the evil teaching of the Roman Church-State, Satan’s masterpiece.

A second conclusion we can reach from the ongoing pedophilia scandals and other sex scandals that have rocked Rome in recent years is that Jesus Christ is even now judging Rome. The stench from Rome’s pedophilia scandals – both the crimes themselves and the ensuing cover ups – is so foul that even secular institutions have recognized the perversions. In her opinion piece published by NBC, Anthea Butler quite rightly called the Church a “criminal syndicate.”

Third, Reformed eschatology is not some airy, theoretical set of propositions with no practical application, but rather a powerful tool for interpreting the events of our own time and bringing comfort to God’s people. Reformed eschatology, known as Historicism, posits a past, present and future Antichrist in the office of the papacy. As Satan’s tool – Paul calls him the Son of Perdition in Second Thessalonians – it should come as no surprise when we see headlines announcing that his servants, the priests of Rome, have engaged in all manner of perverted behavior. It would be far more shocking if this were not so.

Fourth, Christ is even now judging the Roman Church-State. As the many, enormous sexual sins of Rome were being aired for all the world to see last fall, David French, a Protestant who writes for National Review, lamented the damage being done to Rome’s reputation. French likened the Christian church to a fleet, each ship representing a denomination. French expressed concern that “one of the mightiest battleships in the fleet, the Catholic Church, is taking torpedoes left and right.” This is absurd. French’s first error is supposing that Rome is a Christian Church and part of “the fleet.” Not satisfied with one error, he compounds his mistake by then sobbing that the RCS is “taking torpedoes left and right.” To this I can only add, may it take many more until it sinks beneath the waves.

Fifth, as Protestants we must never yoke in ministry with Rome or suggest, or even appear to suggest, that Rome is a Christian Church. It is an embarrassment and an outrage that secular, liberal NBC has a better understanding of Rome than many Protestant ministers. While a writer for NBC correctly called Rome a “criminal syndicate,” noted Baptist minister Robert Jeffress went on national television a few years ago and defended – mirabile dictu! – the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades, saying that they really weren’t all that bad. If Robert Jeffress were the only one who could not discern a false from a true church, that would be a bad, but not a fatal problem for America’s Protestants. But Jeffress’ absurd statements are not merely his own opinions, but reflective of the general position of the conservative Protestantism in these dark times. Brethren, this must change.