For a thousand years and more, Baptists, Protestants, and fundamentalists identified Rome with the Harlot of Revelation 17. At the end of the NINTH CENTURY, “Tergandus, Bishop of Treves, called the Pope antichrist, yea, a wolf, and Rome, Babylon” (Martyrs Mirror, 5th English edition, p. 240). In THE ELEVENTH CENTURY, Berenger of Tours denounced Rome’s dogmas and maintained that the Roman Church was the See of Satan (George Faber, The History of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, 1838, p. 159). THE WALDENSIANS, throughout most of their long history, identified the pope as the Antichrist. The Waldensian treatise titled the Noble Lesson, dated 1100 AD, stated: “Antichrist, the predicted murderer of the Saints, hath already appeared in his true character, seated monarchally in the seven-hilled city.” In the 13th CENTURY, the BOHEMIAN BRETHREN held that “the Church of Rome is not the Church of Jesus Christ, but an assembly of wicked men, and the whore that sits upon the beast in the Revelation. ... They declare the pope to be the head and ringleader of all errors” (Peter Allix, Ancient Churches of Piedmont, pp. 242-259). English Bible translator WILLIAM TYNDALE identified the pope as the Antichrist in his treatise The Practice of Prelates and in the preface to the 1534 edition of his New Testament. All of the REFORMATION leaders considered the pope the antichrist, including John Huss, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and and their successors. The religious harlot of Revelation 17 is aligned with the antichrist (compare Rev. 17:3 - Rev. 13:1), and like the antichrist it has two aspects: historic and prophetic. In 1 John 2:18, the apostle said, “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.” Though she does not fulfill this prophecy in its finality, every feature of the religious Harlot of Revelation 17 is found in the Roman Catholic Church. She has ridden through history upon the back of kings, is clothed in gorgeous robes of scarlet and purple and decked in expensive attire. She sits on seven hills, is full of abominations, and has a golden cup. She is drunk with the blood of the martyrs, and the inhabitants of the world are indeed drunk with the wine of her fornication, referring to the multitudes that blindly follow Rome’s doctrines of devils. (Friday Church News Notes, October 2, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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