Lux Lucet

This is unfortunate, for there really is no reason to be confused about the identity of Antichrist.  For most of the history of the Protestant church, most everybody knew who Antichrist was.  In his essay “Antichrist 1999,” John Robbins noted that the Reformers were united in their views of Antichrist, so much so that their understanding came to be known, “as the Protestant view of prophetic interpretation.”  The plowboy in William Tyndale’s time knew who Antichrist was.  But generations of Reformed scholars, ministers, teachers, elders, and deacons have shown themselves completely confused on this subject.   

What is the reason for this confusion?  Ultimately, the answer is that it is the will of God that men today be blind to the identify of Antichrist.  To what end God has ordained this, I cannot say with certainty.  In his brilliant essay “The Church Irrational,” John Robbins made the important point that it is God who sends a spirit of delusion on those whom he intends to destroy.  21^st century churches, even putatively Bible believing reformed churches, are greatly deluded, and it is not unreasonable to think that God has purposed their destruction along with the rest of Western civilization. 

Western civilization, and the churches of the Reformation that produced Western civilization, have become as salt that has lost its savor.  Among Presbyterians, the PCUSA, what’s sometimes called the mainline Presbyterian church, once a faithful church, has become a synagogue of Satan replete with every sort of false doctrine from the social gospel, to the denial of the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Scriptures. to the acceptance of same sex marriage and women elders and ministers.  The downgrade began in the 19^th century and has continued ever since. 

One of the ways the downgrade has expressed itself among Presbyterians is an alteration that was made to the Westminster confession by the Presbyterian General Assembly over a century ago.  According to a discussion paper put out by the PC USA in 2000,

It is significant to note that the language equating the Pope with the Antichrist was removed from the Westminster Confession by action of the Presbyterian General Assembly in 1903, and now appears only as a footnote to the text, having no confessional authority in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

“The Successor to Peter” A Paper For Discussion From The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, KY, December 6-7, 2000.

A comparison of the original language of WCF Ch.25.6 with the 1903 revision makes clear the change in the language:

Original:  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.

1903 Revision: 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.

The 1903 statement is true but inadequate, for it serves to obscure the real danger of the Antichrist office of the papacy and Harlot Roman Catholic Church-State of which it is the head.  In fact, the same statement could be made, and would be every bit as true, of any other individual or office simply by removing the term “the Pope of Rome” and replacing it.  You could write, for example, “There is no other Head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Commissioner of Baseball, in any sense be head thereof.”  Or you could write, “There is not other Head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the CEO of Proctor & Gamble, in any sense be head thereof.”  Both these statements are true, but neither one is all that helpful to Christians, especially to Christians whose nation, and for that matter whose entire civilization, is under a sustained, multipronged attack by Antichrist.

The Scriptures warn us in many places not to be deceived.  But it is apparent that many professing Christians have been deceived about the identity of Antichrist. 

One of the early sources of deception about the identity of Antichrist among Protestants, and maybe the most powerful sources of that delusion, is the Jesuits.  The Jesuit Order was founded in 1540 and was one of the key components of the Counter Reformation.  In keeping with the efforts of the Counter Reformation to defeat the advance of the Gospel of Justification by Belief Alone, Jesuit scholars were enlisted to take the heat of the papacy, which had become the focus of Protestant charges that it was the Antichrist of the New Testament. 

One of the ways that the Jesuits have succeeded in taking Protestants’ eyes off the correct Biblical understanding of the identity of Antichrist is by devising unbiblical eschatological systems.   In the 1994 essay “Antichrist” edited by John Robbins, we read about the Jesuit origins of both Futurism and Preterism.  Futurism is the idea that Antichrist is some future manifestation but has nothing to say about the present work of Antichrist.  It was developed by Spanish Jesuit Francisco Ribera, and is today the majority report among those who call themselves Evangelicals.  Preterism took the focus off the great papal Antichrist in a different way by putting the work of Antichrist strictly in the past.  This system was developed by another Spanish Jesuit, Luis de Alcazar.  While futurism is the darling of dispensationalists and various non-denominational Evangelicals, Preterism holds more influence among the Reformed, in particular those in the camp of the Theonomists and purveyors of the Auburn Avenue theology.  Both systems miss the mark.  Indeed, they were designed by the Jesuits to miss the mark by taking people’s eyes off the work of Antichrist, even as he carries out his evil deeds right in front of their noses. 

For if Antichrist is already come, or if he is a future figure only, then the Pope’s attempts to subvert nations by mass welfare migration, to subvert churches by wooing unsuspecting Protestants into ecumenical dialogues and signing ecumenical statements, or to impose global government by pushing fake panic narratives such as climate change or Covid are not seen as what they truly are, the open, in your face works of Antichrist.  And if deceived Christians, or at least those claiming to be Christians, fail to properly understand the events taking place right in front of their faces, they cannot sound the alarm and organize to put an end to them.    

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