“And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven”

(Luke 10:18)

As of writing this, I am sure everyone will be aware of pope Benedict’s shock resignation (something that hasn’t occurred for a sitting pope in over 600 years) followed shortly afterwards, with a timely bolt of lightning, striking the Vatican. The above scripture, of course, came to mind, but what exactly is happening inside the Vatican, and how near are we to the glorious return of the Lord of Glory.

Since news broke of the pope’s unexpected resignation, I have read numerous blogs, with some suggesting that Benedict could no longer carry the strain of his besieged and stained church, to the suggestion of an arrest warrant being issued for his arrest over his involvement in the worldwide cover-up of paedophile priests. Some have also written about a power struggle between him and his powerful secretary of state, Tarcisio Bertone, concerning Bertone’s furry over the way in which Benedict publicly humiliated Roger Mahony, the former cardinal of Los Angeles, by stripping him of all clerical duties.

To add to Ratzinger’s woes, news also broke late this month of a fresh scandal, this time involving the cardinal of Scotland, Keith O’Brien, who it is alleged, acted ‘inappropriately’ towards four seminarians, dating back three decades. (He has since resigned from his position of cardinal, another event, which is unprecedented in the history of the Catholic church.) And yet only 24 hours prior to this making the news, press reports of a sodomite ring, operating within deep within the Vatican were also made public. At last, the dirty laundry within the Vatican is finally being aired, no doubt as a wake-up call for Catholics to repent and flee this corrupt and depraved church, and seek solace and salvation in Jesus Christ alone (Rev. 18:4).

Of course, power struggles, cover-ups, and even murders are nothing new within ‘The Holy See.’ In fact, one Catholic writer, recently and rather crudely referred to the pope’s inner circle as ‘a bunch of gossiping eunuchs.’ I would have added, ‘plotting, conniving and scheming’ too, but enough of the name-calling.

If there is one thing that every Bible believing Christian must understand it is this: that there are two kingdoms on earth. One belongs to God, and the other belongs to the devil.

One brother made this fact, very clear, when he offered the following breakdown: If God has a book, Satan has a book (2 Cor. 11:4); If God has ministers, Satan has ministers (2 Cor. 11:15); If God has a Christ, the devil certainly will have one (Matt. 24:5), and if God has a bride who is a church and a city (Rev. 21:9-10), certainly Satan is not going to call it quits at any point: he too will have a bride (Rev. 17:1-5) who is a church and a city (Rev. 17:18).

The above is certainly striking and demonstrates precisely how successful Satan has been at mirroring and counterfeiting God’s real Church and His Bible, to what we see today in the Catholic church. (The moment a Catholic gets saved, they should quickly walk to the nearest door).

One additional point that must be made is this: you cannot sit on the fence when it comes to the Person of Jesus Christ. You are either for Him and have trusted in His finished work on the cross to save you or you are against Him, and by default, you are still lost in your sins, and in the devil’s kingdom, whether you believe in him or not.

Whatever is happening in the Vatican is on the one hand, interesting for Vatican watchers and those of us that believe in eschatology, and yet, on the other hand, the vast majority of the Church and of course the unsaved world is totally indifferent, and of course they, the latter, are the goats, found in Scripture.

The word of God makes it crystal clear what the world will be like before Jesus returns, found here, in Luke 17:26-27:

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Sonof man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”

Apostasy and worldwide unbelief in God saw the world destroyed with Noah’s flood. The same will occur at the end of the Tribulation, but this time if will come in the way of fire, not water. And yet what disturbs me is the expression of how ‘they did eat, they drank, married wives,’ etc, meaning their way of life carried on as normal, totally regardless to what was happening all around them, right up until His return and final judgment. How hard the heart of unsaved man really is.

One additional footnote I will add is this: over the past sixty years or so Hollywood has made so many apocalyptic and supernatural films, not to mention recent false prophecies about the end of world, ranging from Harold Camping to the Mayan 2012 ‘prediction,’ that when Jesus does actually return, few will be ready for Him and even fewer will even care. Satan again is masterfully behind all of this, and so I now turn to the ‘prophecies’ of St. Malachy.

On my desk, to my right, I have, what for many years, was compulsory reading, for every trainee priest, it is their 1960 dictionary, from St. John’s Seminary, Wonersh. Much of its material is very interesting and most certainly sets the record straight as to what the Catholic church has always believed and held to. Whereas since the Second Vatican Council, which saw the Catholic church do a complete 360-degree turn, one now struggles to get a clear and unequivocal answer to the simplest of questions, like can a Muslim or Mason go to Heaven, without real faith in Christ. Just ask your parish priest if you don’t believe me, you may be surprised.

At nearly 900 pages long and now long out of print, it contains nothing of St. Malachy. And yet this man was ‘canonized,’ meaning, he was made a ‘saint’ by the Catholic church, so any ‘faithful’ Catholic can pray to him, whenever he/she wishes to. How odd, therefore, it is to omit him and his ‘predictions’ from one of their ‘must have books.’

Of course one can certainly appreciate the problems for the Catholic church in promoting his ‘prophecies,’ concerning the last pope, being the final antichrist pope, to their own people. It kind of smacks of a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. And yet many Catholics have happily cited him over the centuries to attack non-Catholics as somehow giving them ‘legitimacy.’

But today we live in a very ‘politically correct’ world and with all religions being ‘equal’ as they ‘journey together’ towards their final destination, men like Malachy do more harm than good, and so I wasn’t very surprised to read most Catholic forums, especially post-Vatican II Catholics, pretty much ridiculing him and attempting to refute his vague ‘predictions.’ Some even claim he fell victim to a forger, which hijacked his ‘good’ name.

According to history, Malachy lived in the 12th century and successfully wrote down his ‘prophecies’ for the next 112 popes, starting in his life up until Peter the Roman, i.e., ‘Pope Peter II,’ the Antichrist, that comes after Benedict leaves office. Intriguing and rather conveniently, this ‘list’ of papal ‘predictions’ was only made public, after the Protestant Reformation was well and truly underway.

Could Satan, the great deceiver and false Messiah once again be behind this subtle and yet brilliant distraction? Would it make any sense for God to give Satan’s church ‘advance’ warning or ‘privileged’ information concerning how the last days will play out? Isn’t that why He gave the world the word of God? The same is true of the Turin Shroud. Why would God allow a church organization that has killed and murdered over 50 million people since the 3rd century, to have an image that purports to be that of Jesus Christ? In fact, aren’t all images of God sacred and strictly prohibited from being depicted, in Scripture.

By the time of our next publication a new pope will be installed and no doubt it will be business as usual. As the Cardinals enter the Conclave is it possible that Satan will enter into them, if he isn’t already in them, rather like he did with Judas, direct them to pick the next pope, that being the antichrist or false prophet from Revelation 13.  Yes, it’s possible but for the most part it’s speculation and like most of the UFO movement it’s all big business, and therefore not only does this distract the unsaved from seeking the Lord, not to mention draining the finances of many people, including some saved people, but it also undermines and confuses their faith and trust in the Bible, which can result in them turning to extra-Biblical books and non-Christian DVDs, written by all sorts of unsaved people, no doubt also led by the same spirit that entered Malachy, that being Satan of course.

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:36).

This verse should be taken very seriously by all saved people. Only God knows the exact timing and way in which the last days will play out. Therefore, if anyone wants to really understand what is going to happen during the end times, they would be most wise and sensible to start reading and taking what they find in their Bibles, very seriously!

I thought I would just share my commentary, from Revelation 13:1, here:

“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”

First of all, you will see that John is standing on the sand of the sea, and I would take that to be a reference that he’s back on the earth, back on the Isle of Patmos. And at the end of chapter 10, he was told to prophesy again before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings; so even in his old age, his work isn’t finished, and that should be a good plug to put out to those that are up in years to keep on going and those that are young in years to double your efforts. There’s much work to be done if you’re a Christian. Don’t just think that you’ve done this or you’ve done that and therefore you don’t need to do anymore. You were told to be ready in season and out of season, and there’s always work to be done for the Lord, and if you want some ideas or tips, then drop us a line, and we’ll be happy to share them with you.

This beast coming out of the sea, according to Isaiah 27 verse 1 – again, Scripture with Scripture – and it says: “In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” Clearly the beast coming out of the sea, I would cross reference that to Isaiah and have it as being the dragon; and, of course, the dragon, according to verse 4 of Revelation 13, is Satan. The beast coming out of the sea isn’t going to be human, although he’ll have a human body and people will be able to see him and speak to him, but he will be supernatural. He’s going to be controlled by the devil; he’ll be the devil’s incarnate man on the earth, and he’ll be completely possessed by the devil. In reality, he will be Satan with a human body. A lot of people think that Judas Iscariot has a part to play in this, but I don’t. That’s not to say he doesn’t play any part whatsoever in eschatology, but I don’t have him coming up out of the sea.

I just want to add a footnote before I go on. Reformed Christians take the position that the office of the papacy is the Antichrist, but for that to fit with Revelation 13, they would have to then argue that the popes that we’ve had – and we’ve had about 260 plus if you go with the Catholic church’s count, and I severely dispute that. There are many times when their popes weren’t even counted. But let’s say you add a couple of hundred, just for argument’s sake, would they then be saying that all of these popes were not human, were demonic? I’ve never heard that. But they’d have to go down that road according to 13:1. I would say that the popes are false prophets, according to verse 11, and there’s still a future for false prophets, and some Catholic mystics believe that the pope after this pope will be Peter II, and this Peter II they claim will be the last pope, an antipope. That’s just a Catholic mysticism, but nonetheless, I thought it might be worth sharing it with you. I will say this, though, that the papacy is certainly the biggest type of antichrist in post-apostolic days – no doubt whatsoever about that – but to say that the popes themselves will be the man of sin is problematic, and I’ll come back to that in a minute.

We’ve got to remember when reading this book, this is a Jewish book. The Jews are the people of the Lord. Paul says they may be enemies for our sake, but they are beloved for the Father’s sake. And because we live in an age now where Gentiles pretty much dominate the so-called Christian world, Christendom, we’ve lost sight that this is a Jewish book. And the Jews are not going to take a Gentile as their long-awaited Messiah. Go to John 5:43. Jesus speaking, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” The Jews are going to receive a future messiah, and he won’t be Jesus Christ, unfortunately for them, but he will be the man of sin, the Antichrist. The Muslims will receive the 12th Imam they think, but, of course, it will be the Antichrist, and the Buddhists, the Maitreya, and any other group which you may want to consider. I would say that the Antichrist will cater for everybody. He will usher in world peace and CND and all the left-wing pressure groups and the climate-change people and “everything is okay” people. They’re going to think this is wonderful – at last, we’ve got peace. But Paul says then sudden destruction comes. So let’s not even go down that road for now.

Go to Daniel, Daniel 11. And we need to understand that the Lord has given us many clear Scriptures and some not so clear. But the man of sin is actually found many, many times throughout the Bible. Look at verse 36, Daniel 11:36: “And the king” – he’s called a king here – “shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god” – lower case “g” – “and shall speak marvellous things against the God” – capital “G” – “of gods” – lower case “g” – “and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers” – capital “G” – “nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.

I just want to stop there and say a few things. This bit of Scripture says that he will not regard the God of his fathers, and that is capital “G.” This, for me, is probably the clearest indication that the Antichrist is going to be a Jew, and he’s not going to regard the God of his fathers. He won’t desire women either, and the Reformed crowd, the people who believe that the office of the papacy is the Antichrist, take this to be proof that the position of the papacy is found here because priests officially are not allowed to be married. Of course, many are married at all different levels from the papacy down to the parish priest, and the flip side of that is that a lot of priests are also homosexual around the world. So there is some credibility in that. But also on the Islamic side, people have said that this could be a reference to Muhammad because he didn’t desire women, and because they use some of the newer Bibles where “G” is lower case “g,” they can move it to Allah, the moon God. But if you let the text speak for itself – and I’m using the King James here – you will see that it is a reference to a Jewish person who doesn’t prefer the God of his fathers.

 

JGB

February 2013

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