As we continue our study of the antichrist, let us always keep in mind that it is far more important to know what Christ is doing than what the antichrist is doing. At the same time that the antichrist is seeking to take over the world, the foundation for the kingdom is being laid that will prevail over it. Even though the very end of the age is prophesied to be a time of trouble like the world has never seen before, it is also prophesied to be the time of the greatest glory and achievement for those who know and serve the Lord, and ultimately the whole world will be delivered into the freedom and glory of Christ. Just as Paul the Apostle preached that, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22), it will also be through tribulation that the whole earth enters the kingdom of God.

As the troubles of these times increase, we should rejoice that the time of His appearing is drawing nearer. Our King will certainly come, and He will certainly prevail. This is the time when we are called to cross our Jordan River and begin possessing our land. A generation is being raised up that will never retreat before the enemies of the cross, even before any antichrist, just as is declared in Daniel 11:31-32. We must always keep this in mind—we are here to take back the earth, not surrender it.

Now we will continue our study of the eschatology of the Protestant church, which has been almost completely overlooked by teachers of eschatology for the last century and a half. Because much of this eschatology does point the finger at the historic Roman Catholic Church, it is important that we make some acknowledgments before proceeding.

It is interesting to me that I am accused by some as being anti-Catholic, and by others as being a Catholic and promoting Catholicism. Neither of these is true. However, after spending years researching the history of the church, I do confess becoming for a time almost rabidly anti-Catholic. However, as my studies and insights increased, my perspective has been tempered by a deep appreciation and respect for many things accomplished by the Roman Catholic Church on behalf of Christianity, Western civilization. In the last half of the twentieth century it has been the most powerful moral agent in the world.

It is also true that the Protestants went on to do everything they accused the Romans of doing, and almost every move of God since has likewise fallen into the same spiritual traps, if only to a lesser degree. For this reason, I now view the historic mistakes of the Roman Catholic Church to be the mistakes of the church. Therefore, I will mostly refer to the church of this period as "the historic church," rather than the Roman Catholic Church, because I believe we need to acknowledge these as being the mistakes of the church rather than just one denomination.

We are not studying this to point the finger at any one group, but in order to learn from history so that we are not doomed to repeat it. To date every generation has repeated the same mistakes to at least a degree. It is time for this cycle to be broken.

We must also understand that the Roman Catholic Church is quite different now than it was in the Middle Ages. Without the Roman Catholic Church, it is likely that the whole world would now be living under Islam. For the last few decades at least, the Roman Catholic Church has been the most powerful moral force on the earth, and Pope John Paul II is probably the one person most responsible for unraveling the Iron Curtain and setting millions of people free from the terrible yoke of communism. Many of the greatest souls to walk the earth over the last one thousand years were Roman Catholics, even in our own time, those like John Paul II and Mother Theresa. Let us keep this in mind as we look at some difficult problems with the historic church.

As we briefly addressed previously, a basic understanding of the nature of the antichrist is found in II Thessalonians 2:1-4:
 

This warning was given by Paul because not understanding the principles outlined in this passage could lead the church to fall to this very deception and apostasy. The first point is that the apostasy has to come before the day of the Lord can come. For this reason many are waiting or prophesying a great falling away. Great apostasies seem to have taken place during every generation, but do any of them qualify to be the apostasy spoken of in this text? It is hard to conceive that any worse could take place than what happened in the Middle Ages, which are often even called "the Dark Ages" for that reason.

How great was this apostasy? Consider, it was not only against the law to possess a Bible, but it was punished by death. When the Bible was read to the people, or sermons preached, it was done in Latin, a language that the people did not understand. Doctrines were established that removed the direct mediation of Christ for the people and placed the mediation of priests in His place. Personal faith in Christ was supplanted by faith in the church and salvation was by inclusion in the membership of the church rather than by faith in Christ and His atonement. The power of the cross itself was supplanted by "the sacrifice of the mass." Halley's Bible Handbook and other religious and secular histories concur that over fifty million people were killed at the hands of the historic institutional church in Europe for refusing to acknowledge the institutional church as the only church, and the only way to salvation.

I have stated this as mildly and generously as I can. Foxe's Book of Martyrs and other works paint a picture of the church during that period far more graphically than I think is necessary here. What most historians consider the trip wire of the Protestant Reformation was the selling of indulgences whereby one could actually buy the grace of God, and even pay for their loved ones who had died to be freed from purgatory. This was the ultimate affront to the cross, and many at the time saw it as the "abomination of desolation" or "the abomination that desolates," since it so profoundly removed the cross as the source of the grace and mercy of God, and presumed to actually sell the grace of God.

The point is that it would be hard to conceive of a more profound and widespread apostasy ever taking place than the one that lasted for over one thousand two hundred years during the Middle Ages. Protestant eschatology asserts that every prophecy about the coming of the antichrist is fulfilled by historic events during this time, including the healing of the "fatal head wound."

It is remarkable and compelling how specifically and accurately these seem to have been fulfilled, which we will briefly cover in coming weeks. For now, we need to consider how "the man of lawlessness" is "a son of destruction" and how he would take his seat in the temple of God. Many believe that the temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt before the man of lawlessness can be revealed, but as the Protestant's assert, that is no longer the temple of God—the church is. This antichrist must therefore take his seat in the church and display himself as God in the church. This is believed to be fulfilled by the institution of the papacy by which a man, the pope, has declared himself to be the head of the church in Christ's rightful place.

It is also an easy to confirm fact in the Catholic Church's own catechism and encyclopedias that every title attributed to Christ in Scripture was taken by the popes of the Middle Ages and even many of the titles given to the Father. Because the papacy also claimed authority over the written Word, it gave birth to the Protestant declaration of "the Scriptures alone" or that all doctrine must be established by Scripture, not a decree of any man, including the pope.

There were Protestants throughout the Middle Ages, multitudes of whom paid for their convictions with their lives, but even more than the remarkable ministry of Martin Luther it was the invention of the printing press that fired the Protestant Reformation. The first book off of the new press was the German Bible, written in the language of the common people. Everyone who read it could immediately see how far the dogma of the institutional church of the time differed from the teachings of Scripture.

We have very superficially touched on this subject and did not even touch on many important issues of the times, such as the treatment of the Jews and Muslims by the historic church. Even so, what we have covered cannot help but to raise some profound questions. These we will seek to address in the coming weeks.

I would again like to emphasize that the mistakes of the institutional historic church have been made by possibly every movement since, including the Protestants, a fact that we do need to cover in some detail. Therefore, I view the mistakes of the Roman Catholic Church as the mistakes of the church. Even if it is true that the antichrist took his seat in the church, which is the temple of God, it does not make the church the antichrist. For all of its mistakes the church is still the temple of God, and the Lord Himself will fill His temple.

The Protestant Reformation also ignited a Catholic Reformation and did at least begin to cleanse the Roman church from many of its practices that had gone so awry during the Middle Ages. Pope John Paul II continued this process, remarkably even publicly repenting of many of the historic excesses of the Roman Catholic Church and asking forgiveness from the offended groups.

One of the greatest revivals of our time has also come within the Roman Catholic Church, whereby an estimated one hundred million Catholics have been born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Pope John Paul II encouraged all Catholics to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. Not only has the Catholic Charismatic Renewal blessed the whole church in many ways, the Roman Catholic Church has blessed the whole church and has been a great light to the world in many ways over the last half century. Just as the Roman Catholic Church stood against Islam in the Middle Ages, it has continued to stand boldly against some of the great strongholds of our time such as communism, abortion, and the assault on the family.

Again, it is a mistake that perpetuates the errors of the church for us to point the finger at any other group rather than these being the mistakes that we, the church, have made. How this works out practically will be the focus of the coming weeks. Seeing these can help us to build on the only foundation that will last—the One who alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who will prevail and establish His kingdom in spite off all of our worst mistakes. At that time, His church will be "without spot or wrinkle" (see Ephesians 5:27), a bride worthy of the King.