Bible Chronology Timeline

12. BATTLES AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Judeo-Christian Roots

As the persecution against the church broke out in Jerusalem in 4190 (34 A.D.), the church widened its horizons and spread abroad. These persecuted Christians, who were mainly Jews, had had their roots in the patriarchal church of Old Testament times. Isaiah referred to this church as “the branch of the LORD” (Isaiah 4:2). Paul, being a Jew, referred to the Israelite church as his kinsmen, the ones to whom belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises (Romans 9:4). Christ was born into the Jewish religion. It was of the Jews, “of whom concerning the flesh Christ came” (Romans 9:5). No wonder, Paul desires that his kinsmen, the Jews, were all saved (Romans 9:3). But he recognizes that “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6), “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children” (Romans 9:7). However, Paul confirmed the fact that God reserved for Him a residue of faithful Jews; he quotes Isaiah: “Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved” (Romans 9:27). It was God’s doing, as Paul continues: “And as Esaias said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha” (Romans 9:29).

Minutes before his execution in 4190 Stephen preached of what he termed: “The church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), referring to the Jewish religion. Stephen spoke of them as the descendants of Israel; that is, the “fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us” (Acts 7:38). Following the same train of thought, Paul asks “What advantage then hath the Jew?” (Romans 3:1), invariably, the evangelist responds to this question, and says: “Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2). But some would argue contrarily, and say: “For what if some did not believe?” (Romans 3:3). Then Paul casts a rhetorical question: “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Romans 3:3) to which, he exclaims: “God forbid” (Romans 3:4).

Did the majority of the Jews accept the Lord Jesus as their Creator God? No! But, I know of one Jew who accepted Jesus for what He is… John said: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). To the rest of the Jews Paul rehearsed the words of Isaiah who prophesied of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross: “All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Romans 10:21, see also Isaiah 65:2).

Now the question is… Are we going to deem of no validity the oracles of God committed to the Jews because of their unbelief and rejection of the Messiah? Take, for instance, this oracle: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy… The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God” (Exodus 20:8, 10). Are we going to refrain from keeping Saturday holy because it is an emblem of those who rejected the Lord Jesus, the Jews? Please understand that God’s seventh day of rest was not only given to the Jews but to all the human race; it was given by God at the outset of time from the creation week; thus the Scriptures read: “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2: 3). That is why Paul, the Christian Jew, continued keeping Saturday as the only true Day of the Lord when he was in Antioch (Acts 13:14), in Jerusalem (Acts 13:27), in the synagogues, with the Gentiles (Acts 13:42,44; 15:21), in Philippi of Macedonia (Acts 16:12,13), in the synagogue of the Jews at Thessalonica (Acts 17:1,2), and in Corinth he persuaded the Jews and the Greeks every Sabbath (Acts 18:1,4).

In his appeal to the church in Rome, Paul counsels Christians not to become boastful by thinking themselves better than the Jews and not to pride themselves as having achieved a higher status than that of the Jews (see Romans chapter 11). With such counsel Paul is urging the Christian Church to shun the evil of nationalism that indoctrinates its adherents with ideas of superiority and supremacy over others. The apostle exhorts us with the words: “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches…” (Romans 11:17-18); that is, do not boast against the Jews who disobeyed the Scriptures and rejected the Messiah.

Arrogant boasting by later Christians resulted in the persecution of the Jews. They were ostracized as most detested pests because of their rejection and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. But of course, the persecution was not intended against the Jews only, but against any Christian church that adhered to the faith of the apostles who were solely Jews. Therefore, it is vital that we follow Paul’s exhortation to the Gentile Christian Church not to boast against its roots: “For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches” (Romans 11:16).

The Rock Upon Which the Church Stands

Reader, if you are a Roman Catholic, do you believe it is possible that the head of the church might be a mere fallen man? The Papacy teaches so! Had that been the case, the Christian Church would have ceased to exist a long time ago. But you may ask: Who is that Rock that the Lord Jesus speaks of when He says “upon this Rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it? (Matt. 16:18). Paul gives the answer when he speaks of the church in Moses’ time: “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). The only One upon Whom the gates of hell (the grave) did not prevail was the Lord Jesus. Moreover, it was prophesied of Him that His body would not undergo decay in the tomb: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psalms 16:10). Therefore, Peter explained what David had prophesied about the Lord Jesus: “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:31-32).

The Christian Church believers were honored to inherit the knowledge of salvation from the Jewish nation. The true Christians were not boastful, and therefore did not change the Commandments of God. They didn’t attempt to replace the Lord Jesus as the Head of the Church. Because of their loyalty to God, thousands of those faithful witnesses were put to death; they rest in their graves until resurrection day; “Of whom the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:38). Yet, of them it is also written: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord… their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13).

Although they were slain, their testimony remains as an encouragement for us to be faithful. James was killed with the sword (Acts 12:2), Peter was killed stretching forth his hands as he was crucified (John 21:17-19), “others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings… they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented” (Hebrews 11:26-37). John was an outcast on the island of Patmos “for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9). And Paul’s final encouragement for the young Timothy was: “Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Timothy 4:5-6).

The Mystery of Iniquity Unmasked

From the year 4190 (34 A.D.) it was fulfilled what the Lord Jesus had prophesied, that: “the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles” (Acts 28:28). The Lord Jesus told His hearers: “Did ye never read in the scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’ Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matt. 21:42-43).

The apostles were persecuted and killed, just as the Lord Jesus suffered afflictions and torture, suffering the death of the cross. Our Lord had warned His young church concerning what lay ahead for their lives, saying: “if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” (Luke 23:31). But physical persecution was nothing compared to the cunning deceptions of the religious leaders that infiltrated the Christian Church to bring them into subjection. The Lord Jesus had also counseled: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matt. 7:15).

Those wolves in sheep’s clothing were in operation in the days of Paul, who wrote: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Nonetheless, the apostle encouraged the church to search the Scriptures, advising them that the second coming of the Lord would not occur until “there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Here there is no reference to Judas Iscariot as the son of perdition, although he also received that woeful title (John 17:12). It is referring to a religious system commanded by a hierarchy represented by one “who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

The man of perdition is a portrayal of a religious hierarchy commanded by a visible head as its leader who encourages its followers into worshipping him.

Remember that in the early Christian Church none of the faithful Jews ever received adoration from their fellow brothers. For example the faithful Peter, when he visited for the first time a Gentile centurion, “Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him… Peter stopped him, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man” (Acts 10:25-26). Peter gave us an example of faithfulness to God by refraining from worshipping any created being. Not even the holy angels allowed themselves to be worshipped (Revelation 19:10). We must only worship God (Matt. 4:10; Revelation 14:7; Revelation 22:9).

The Medieval Church State

When Emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire granted special favors to the Roman Catholic institution in A.D. 313, he was connecting with insiders of his own state religion. He wrote to Anulinus, proconsul of Africa: “… it is our wish that when you receive this letter, if any of these things belonged to the Catholic Church of the Christians, in any city or in other places, you shall cause them to be restored immediately to their churches.”

In that same year Constantine who received insider information regarding his church and state religion and who felt that their newly-found church was being threatened by Bible-believing Christians and the power of the Gospel of truth, he wrote to Caecilian, Bishop of Carthage: “…since I have learned that some men of unstable mind wish to turn the people from the most holy and Catholic Church by shameful and corrupt courses, know that I have given command to Anulinus… that they should not tolerate this if it happened.”

In connection with the apostate bishops who favored the cause for Sunday worship, Emperor Constantine on 7th March A.D. 321 signed into law the state recognition of Sunday as the day of rest. He wrote to Elpidius: “All judges, city people and craftsmen shall rest on the venerable day of the sun”. Such recognition was to advance the Catholic religion, as they affirmed: “We hold our common assembly on the day of the sun because it is the first day on which God put to flight darkness and chaos and made the world, and on the same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead…” Bear in mind that God did not approve of such alteration of His Law of Ten Commandments, but it was prophesied that the mystery of iniquity would attempt to change God’s Laws (Daniel 7:25).

From Constantine and onward, every Roman Emperor was zealous for advancing the progress of their newly formed church/state religion. The Roman Emperors themselves were responsible for officially establishing the Roman Catholic Church; it was the Emperors who gave the Papal church its current name ‘Catholic’. Emperor Theodosius, who praised his newly established church/state religion, wrote in A.D. 380: “We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title of Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since, in our judgment, they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give to their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of the divine condemnation and in the second the punishment which our authority, in accordance with the will of Heaven, shall decide to inflict.” With such a menacing decree, Theodosius thought to stop the progress of the true Christian faith by threatening those who dared to obey God rather than men, who, under persecution, gathered together to worship God in their homes.

The Roman Emperor Zeno acted like those who manufacture a graven image and expect to receive protection from it, the work of their hands (Isaiah 45:20; Isaiah 46:6, 7). The emperors had created a religious system in the hope that it would grant them relief from their worst fears of extinction as an empire. Zeno wrote in A.D. 482 that their Roman Empire owed its continued existence to the Catholic Church: “The Emperor Zeno… to the very reverend bishops and clergy, and the monks and the people throughout Alexandria, Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis. We are convinced that the source and stay of our sovereignty, its strength and impregnable safeguard, is that only genuine and true faith…We therefore endeavor night and day by every means, by prayer, by strenuous exertions, by legislation, to promote in every part the increase of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the undefiable and immortal mother of our realm…” How absurd, the emperors created their own mother in order to receive protection from her.

The establishment of such a system of iniquity was not the product of an overnight effort. It took a long time and supernatural efforts. Yet, the Roman Catholic Papacy was favored by the Roman emperors, and very subtly and treacherously the Papacy overturned the roles; from being in subjection to the empire they became lords as they took over the empire’s rule. It was the Roman Emperor Justinian who championed the cause for the Papacy’s temporal power. Thus, “In the establishment of the Ecclesiastical Empire, Justinian holds the like place that Constantine and Theodosius occupy in the establishment of the Catholic Church.”

Jewish Heritage Upholds Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone

Notice that the prophets prophesied of the Lord Jesus as being the Corner Stone of the spiritual temple of believers. Thus, David prophesied of the Lord, saying: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalms 118:22). Isaiah also prophesied of Him: “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isaiah 28:16). Peter is not the head of the church, but he identified the real Head, our Lord Jesus, when he proclaimed: “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12 see also 1 Peter 2:5-7).

The whole matter that we have been saying is that the first Christians and the church leaders were Jews. They, however, did not boast or for that matter did not take upon themselves the authority to change or dispose of the oracles of God. They were ready to die for their faith rather than to modify God’s Commandments; as Peter said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). In that same line of thought James exhorted “the twelve tribes scattered abroad” (James 1:1) with the words: “so speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:12). “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). Therefore, if God’s judgment is going to be based on the Ten Commandments, how much more important it is to obey God rather than men. Furthermore, our Savior did not change the Jewish milestones, as he said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17).

Notice that the Word of God presents God as the foundation stone upon which the Christian Church is founded. The Cornerstone is neither any of God’s disciples nor any human system. Therefore, Paul explains that the Head of the church is Jesus: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). The Christian Church is therefore “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).

Heinous Crimes Against Humanity

When the Papal system came into power, which lasted for a period of 1260 years, they created villainous laws of impunity for their clergy so that their leaders could commit crimes against humanity and go unpunished. Very appropriately it is said of such a system:

“The noontide of the papacy was the world's moral midnight. The Holy Scriptures were almost unknown, not only to the people, but to the priests. Like the Pharisees of old, the papist leaders hated the light which would reveal their sins. God's law, the standard of righteousness, having been removed, they exercised power without limit, and practiced vice without restraint.”

The infamous Pope Boniface in A.D.1302 wrote: “If, therefore, the earthly power err, it shall be judged by the spiritual power; and if a lesser power err, it shall be judged by a greater. But if the supreme power err, it can only be judged by God, not by man. Furthermore we declare, state, define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff.” But the Papal system only protects those who are accomplices of their vices. Even in their retirement years, their own cannon law gives the clergy impunity, as long as they adhere to their vows of obedience to the pope.

During the rule of Benedict of Nursia, who founded his own monastery for the preparation of the Catholic priesthood, he wrote regarding their clergy: “Indeed it is not allowed to the monks to have bodies or wills in their own power.” If the Papacy can achieve the brainwashing of those young students they can rob them of their free will, and thus the senior priests can have control over the young students’ minds and bodies. Now the end result is that the crimes committed by Catholic hierarchical authorities are learned and practiced by the inferior clergy. Then, the crimes of sexual abuse that begin in the Catholic monasteries continue with their vicious cycle in the greater society. Consequently, their priests rape and abuse those upon whom they exert authority and power. Thus, much of society’s sexual deviation breaks out from these brainwashing centers: the Catholic monasteries and convents. Yet those crimes go unpunished.

This brainwashing system, the Papacy, invented the deviant doctrine and practice of compulsory celibacy that forbids their clergy from expressing their affection toward the opposite sex in holy matrimony. This practice encourages the many deviant practices among the clergy. The Word of God clearly states that God does not force a person to remain celibate, but rather it counsels: “if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn” (1 Corinthians 7:9). Nonetheless, the Papacy’s enforced celibacy incites their clergy to burn in their immoral practices. Yet, the Word of God uncovers the immorality of such a world religious system with the words: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” (1Timoty 4:1), “forbidding to marry” (1 Timothy 4:3).

Moreover, the Word of God condemns this idolatrous system as the initiator of homosexual practices because they “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man (Romans 1:23). Therefore, they dishonored their own bodies between themselves (Romans 1:24), and they practiced “vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men …” (Romans 1:26-27).

Heresies of a New Empire

The worldwide mystery of iniquity, the Papacy, got rid of the doctrine that proclaims the Lord Jesus as the Head of the Christian Church and established their visible head the Pope, in that role. The papacy also encourages the nations to kneel and worship the pope. See, for instance, the ecumenical meeting of Assisi in 1986 when world religious leaders worshipped the pope. The man of sin not only receives worship but also fosters pagan doctrines throughout the whole world. This iniquitous system propagated these false doctrines from within the Christian Church. Peter calls them: “false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord…" (2 Peter 2:1). This system has been very subtle in their denial of the preeminence of the Lord Jesus. They introduced the heresy of a mediatrix, a woman mediator for humanity, while the Holy Scriptures leave no doubt as to who the only Mediator is: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

The medieval Papacy adopted the heresy of the immortality of the soul from the pagan philosopher Plato whose name is still in vogue in Catholic homilies around the world:

“Plato had taught that the souls of heroes, of illustrious men, and eminent philosophers, alone, ascended after death into the mansions of light and felicity, while those of the generality, weighed down by their lusts and passions, sunk into the infernal regions, whence they were not permitted to emerge before they were purified… Hence a notion prevailed that only the martyrs entered upon a state of happiness immediately after death; and that for the rest, a certain obscure region was assigned…This is the origin of the Catholic Purgatory.”

The old serpent called the Devil and Satan (Revelation 12:9) who deceived Eve with the lie: “ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4) also employed through his right arm the Roman Papacy, his ancient deception of the immortality of the soul to introduce the heresy of praying to the spirits of the dead. This iniquitous system led their adherents to subtly reject the Lord Jesus as the only Mediator in Heaven by adopting the blasphemous practice of praying to the spirits of their dead. The Word of God clearly states of these spirits that “they are the spirits of devils, working miracles…” (Revelation 16:14).

Thus: “Many who professed conversion still clung to the tenets of their pagan philosophy, and not only continued its study themselves, but urged it upon others as a means of extending their influence among the heathen. Serious errors were thus introduced into the Christian faith. Prominent among these was the belief in man's natural immortality and his consciousness in death. This doctrine laid the foundation upon which Rome established the invocation of saints and the adoration of the virgin Mary. From this sprung also the heresy of eternal torment for the finally impenitent, which was early incorporated into the papal faith. Then the way was prepared for the introduction of still another invention of paganism, which Rome named purgatory, and employed to terrify the credulous and superstitious multitudes. By this heresy is affirmed the existence of a place of torment, in which the souls of such as have not merited eternal damnation are to suffer punishment for their sins, and from which, when freed from impurity, they are admitted to Heaven.”

Satan continues to deceive humanity through the false doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Firstly, by the curia’s canonization of eminent Catholics who excelled in the formation of their pagan theology, such as Augustine and Aquinas, or by canonizing those who implemented the inquisition in order to defend the Catholic tradition. Secondly, by repeating in their homilies the names of infidels like Socrates, Plato, Ptolemy, etc., whose pagan philosophies paved the way for the formation of the Catholic tradition. Satan struggles to maintain their allegiance to a wrong cause in the hope that one day their names will be beatified and kept alive in the minds of future generations.

A Pretense to Infallibility

In order for the Papacy to defend their hideous crimes, their abuse of power, and their usurpation of God’s authority, they invented the heresy of Papal infallibility so that they could perpetuate their system of iniquity and brainwashing. In A.D. 1870 the infamous Pope Pius IX decreed: “We [i.e. pope Pius IX], teach and define as a dogma divinely revealed: That the Roman pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra…is endowed with that infallibility… defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.”

But the Papal system has erred time and again in morality and in doctrines; they have trampled and changed the truth of God for humanism. The Vatican, their center of divination, is spoken of in Revelation with the words: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils…” (Revelation 18:2). No wonder the Anglican Church in its beginning issued a strong letter against the Papal heresies. The Bishop of Durham, John Cosin, wrote in A.D. 1660 “We… do not agree with the Roman Catholics in anything whereunto they now endeavor to convert us.” Then he continued to enumerate a long list of Papal heresies which the Anglicans strongly opposed:

“2- That the pope of Rome is the vicar-general of Christ, or that he hath a universal jurisdiction over all Christians that shall be saved”. 8- That there is a purgatory after this life, wherein the souls of the dead are punished, and from whence they are fetched out by the prayers and offerings of the living; and that there is no salvation possibly to be had by any that will not believe as much.” 9- That the old saints departed, and all those dead men and women whom the pope hath of late canonized for saints or shall hereafter do so, whosoever they be, are and ought to be invocated by the religious prayers and devotions of all persons; and that they who do not believe this as an article of their Catholic Faith cannot be saved.”

In view of the Word of God’s doctrines, papal infallibility cannot be substantiated. The following are some of the major fallacies introduced by the Roman Papacy since it came to power. Take, for instance, the doctrines of one of the greatest heretical theologians in the Catholic religion, Augustine. He wrote: “God became man, that man might become God.” But what kind of god do they become? They become like the prince of darkness sexually abusing thousands of innocent children, covering up these crimes against humanity, and when they are revealed they simply wash their hands of them.

Then Thomas Aquinas taught that any man can work for his own salvation. Moreover, he went so far as to say that Christ worked for his own salvation by his passion. He wrote: “Now it is clear that any man, established in grace, who suffers for righteousness’ sake, merits salvation for himself by that very suffering. Hence Christ through his passion merited salvation not only for himself but for all his members.” This is wickedness! Does that aberration also imply that the Catholic clergy can inflict torture and abuse on women and defenseless children because afterward their suffering will achieve them salvation?

In the Catholic system, the more blasphemous a philosophical view is, the more acceptance it receives. Consequently, the greatest humanist Aquinas, teaching people to be their own Saviors, was honored by the Papacy to be the major exponent of their tradition. “The teaching of Aquinas was set up by Leo XIII as the classical exposition of Catholic Doctrine.”

Impious Tradition Supplants Jesus as Savior

A system that cannot prove all things by the Word of God: the Word of God can do no other thing but to defend its sophisms by its so called tradition. Moreover, it upholds tradition above the Holy Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus strongly rebuked them when He told the Pharisees: “ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (Matt. 15:6).

Bear in mind that the Catholic tradition was not developed overnight; it took a long time. Their tradition is the work of dirty politics; one introduces a bill and another signs it into law. Likewise, in the Papacy they have developed a long tradition of practices and beliefs of basing their doctrines on the sophisms of their predecessors; one introduces a sophism and another perfects it. Take, for instance, the sophism introduced in A.D. 1854 by Pope Pius IX who alleged through his ‘immaculate conception theory’ that Mary the mother of Jesus was conceived without original sin, a theory taken from the infamous Augustine. A century later in 1950 A.D. Pope Pius XII made such a sophism a doctrine for the Catholics, but not before he made improvements to it by the addition of another deception, the assumption of Mary. This doctrine teaches that she was taken to heaven seconds after her death. Furthermore, he wrote a long list of blasphemies against God when he rewarded their old sophism that: Mary is ‘the mother of God’ “…from all eternity united in a mysterious way with Jesus Christ by one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, in her divine motherhood… who bore off the triumph over sin… finally achieved, as the supreme crown of her privileges, that she should be preserved immune from the corruption of the tomb, and, like her Son before her, having conquered death, should be carried up, in body and soul, to the celestial glory of Heaven, to reign there as Queen at the right hand of her Son…” This is heretical humanism of the highest order! The Papacy dares to take the prerogatives of God and bestow them upon a human being whom they teach to be another Savior.

Using their tenet of the immortality of the soul, the Papacy formulated a major blow against Christianity. With their blasphemous and heretical doctrine of the assumption of Mary, they have also dethroned, at least from the minds of the common people, the eternal King of kings Jesus. They teach that Mary is the mother of God; but according to the Word of God the Lord Jesus, as God, is “Without father, without mother” (Hebrews 7:3). Their doctrine also maintains that she has been from eternity, while the Word of God clearly proclaims that it is Jesus who alone fits the description of “having neither beginning of days” (Hebrews 7:3) because only God is immortal and eternal. The Scriptures proclaim: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17). According to the Papacy Mary was conceived without sin and triumphed over sin; but the Word of God again affirms that only Jesus was without sin and triumphed over it: “He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). They make Mary co-redeemer with Jesus as an “ally of the Redeemer”, while the Word of God states that Jesus is the only Savior: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And finally, in their thirst for usurping Jesus’ glory, the Papacy attributed to Mary the prerogative of Divinity by claiming for her the Old Testament prophecy about the Lord Jesus: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psalms. 16:10).

Battle Against the Heavenly Sanctuary

In 2666 Satan devised a scheme to annihilate from the earth the knowledge of the Law of God and bring disrepute upon God’s Heavenly Sanctuary truth. When at the base of Mount Sinai Satan induced the Israelites to make a molten calf, he introduced a humanistic style of worship that cast a shadow on the Heavenly Sanctuary doctrine for the redemption of this world. Satan thought to eradicate from the face of the earth God’s perfect knowledge about Heaven’s plan of salvation even before the people of God had made a covenant with the Lord.

For a brief moment the Israelites were deceived with the idea that they were worshipping God by sacrificing to the calf. But they were not ignorant of God’s displeasure regarding idolatry, as the Lord said to Moses: “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them…” (Exodus 32:8). The sentence: “These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4) referred to the abomination of the Egyptians. Satan intended to dethrone from the peoples’ hearts the true God and make them believe that every person on earth worships the same god.

When Moses made Israel drink of the unusual broth whose ingredients were nothing else but their molten calf of gold and water (Exodus 32:20), he gave them a strong rebuke that applies even more so to the children of God in the world today. The religions of the world, and more specifically the Catholic system, teaches its adherents that they can drink the very blood of God in order to receive the blessings from the sacrament.

Accordingly, the Papacy has introduced a system of worship that eradicates the truth about the Heavenly Sanctuary doctrine by making people believe that by eating the Eucharist they are in a substantial way eating God in their so called ‘Sacramentum Christus’ or Christi, which is Latin for ‘Sacrament of Christ’. The word sacrament is not found in the Word of God, it is a Roman Catholic word that conveys a superstitious belief referring to the act of conferring a special virtue on those who receive a sacrament, in this case the Eucharist. Since the Middle Ages the Papacy has been teaching Thomas Aquinas’ doctrine of Transubstantiation, the belief that the Catholic priest can convert the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. But such superstitious belief is nothing other than a copy of the Osirian Sacrament from which the doctrine of the Eucharist is derived. The Osirian Sacrament is a cannibalistic practice in which practitioners believe that virtues and powers of the person eaten can be absorbed by the eater. Charles Chiniquy wrote in his autobiographical book:

“When a priest of Rome, I was bound, with all the Roman Catholics, to believe that Christ had taken His own body, with His own hands, to His mouth; and that He had eaten Himself, not in a spiritual, but in a substantial way! After eating Himself, He had given it to each of His disciples, who then ate Him also!!”

Before you read how the Catholic tenets have supplanted the doctrine of the Heavenly Sanctuary study what the Word of God teaches about the sanctuary on earth. When the temple of Solomon was dedicated in 3207, “…the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the Most Holy Place…” (1 Kings 8:6). “There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb…” (1 Kings 8:9). The temple’s Most Holy Place which contained the ark, was a representation of the true Sanctuary in Heaven, which is “the temple of God…where was seen…the ark of his testament...” (Revelation 11:19). This is where Jesus is “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 8:2).

Now notice how the Roman Papacy supplanted the Heavenly Sanctuary doctrine with the idolatrous system of the Eucharist. Whenever Catholic priests perform the Eucharist, which they define as the sacrifice of the mass, they do it on a long table denominated the altar, where they believe they are carrying out the actual sacrifice of Christ. Right behind their altar, they have a coffer called in Latin the Sacrarium, or Sacristy in English. This is a chest where they put the monstrance, which in turn is a golden vessel in the form of a cross with a circular hollow in the middle with golden sunbeams where they deposit and keep the consecrated host for adoration.

You see how sacrilegious, blasphemous and idolatrous such worship is. Either ignorantly or knowingly, the Catholic priests are carrying out the role of anti-Christ. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was not carried out many times but only once. It was carried out by Jesus Himself, not another “priest”. The Word of God says: “…for this he did once, when he offered up himself” (Hebrews 7:27). Moreover, the Lord Jesus is not enclosed in a coffer by the whim of sinful men, nor is he on earth, but “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven…” (Psalms 11:4). The Lord is where He said He would return to. The Bible says: “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19).

In the idolatrous Roman Catholic system, their sacristy has supplanted the ark of the covenant of God, their monstrance has supplanted the Ten Commandments of God, and by their crowning act of blasphemy, their Eucharist has supplanted the Lord Jesus Himself. This is wickedness! Great multitudes of people have been deceived with the Papal tenet that the real Lord of Heaven is in that circular wafer which is nothing else but the adoration the sun-god Osiris. No wonder, brother Chiniquy expressed his horror when he confessed:

“I have often been asked: Was it possible that you sincerely believed that the wafer could be changed into God by you? And have you really worshipped that wafer as your Savior? To my shame, and to the shame of poor humanity, I must say ‘Yes’.”

It was the Papacy who indoctrinated the people of all nations with the heresy that the sacrifice of Jesus is carried out over and over again by the priest. The Word of God states that the Lord Jesus does not offer himself often (Hebrews 9:25). It was a once for all sacrifice, or else He would have suffered many times since the foundation of the world (Hebrews 9:26). But it is the Papacy’s murderous desire to keep Jesus, if it were possible, always hanging on the cross, which is why they make a representation of a crucified man, which they unhesitatingly teach is ‘Christ crucified’. Just to make it more palatable to the senses of the ignorant people they place the ‘sacrificed god’ inside a monstrance in the form of a white round wafer for people to come and worship. The alarmed man of God said:

“No words can give any idea of the pleasure I used to feel when alone, prostrated before the Christ whom I had made at the morning Mass, I poured out my heart at His feet. It is impossible for those who have not lived under those terrible illusions to understand with what confidence I spoke to the Christ who was then before me…”

On the Seat of the Dragon

This system of wickedness has supplanted everything that is from God. The Roman Papacy has attempted to change the day of rest from the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week Sunday, the day of Osiris the sun-god (Daniel 7:25). And they did not hide it much from the sight of their followers because they gave to their wafer god the roundness of their sun-god. No wonder the Catholic system fits the Biblical description: “he shall speak great words against the most High” (Daniel 7:25). Then Paul unmasks them and calls this system “the man of sin” and “son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). And quite correctly too, because he “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

Moreover the Papacy sinks the whole world into further idolatry and blasphemy by encouraging the multitudes to a mere man “holy father”. The Lord Jesus clearly commanded His church to “call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven” (Matt. 23:9). But the man of sin makes himself be called “holy father” when the only Holy Father is God in Heaven. The Lord Jesus said: “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me...” (John 17:11). And in Isaiah 9:6, our Savior is called “The mighty God, The everlasting Father.”

The Mystery of Iniquity Exerts Power for 1260 Years

The Word of God reveals how the mystery of iniquity, the Roman Papacy, would exert its tyrannical power for a period of 1260 years (Revelation 11:3; Revelation 12:6). Consequently, “the year A.D. 538, which marks the conquest of Italy, the deliverance of Rome, and the destruction of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, is the true date which marks the establishment of the temporal authority of the papacy, and the exercise of that authority as a world-power.”

Paul, who understood the prophecies of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus, wrote: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). John prophesied of this system of iniquity when he wrote that “…the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2). This system is also portrayed as a ‘beast;’ which in prophecy means kingdom (Daniel 7:23). Thus, John continues: “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3). “Not till after the great apostasy, and the long period of the reign of the "man of sin," can we look for the advent of our Lord. The "man of sin," who is also styled the "mystery of iniquity," the "son of perdition," and "that wicked," represents the papacy, which, as foretold in prophecy, was to maintain its supremacy for 1260 years. This period ended in 1798.”

In reiterating the history of the mystery of iniquity, “the 1260 years of papal supremacy began with the establishment of the papacy in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798. At that time a French army entered Rome, made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power which it before possessed.”

It was Napoleon Bonaparte who ordered the French armies, commanded by General Berthier, to march against Rome. Thus, the “French forces reached the outskirts of Rome on February 9, 1798, and six days later they occupied the city itself without opposition. On February 20, Pius VI was carried into exile at the hands of the French, signaling the end of the long period of papal dominance in European affairs.” Thus we have that:

     A.D. 1798 -
     A.D. 538
 = 1260 years

“The infliction of the deadly wound points to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, "his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." Paul states plainly that the "man of sin" will continue until the Second Advent. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. To the very close of time he will carry forward the work of deception. And the revelator declares, also referring to the papacy: "All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life" (Revelation 13:8). In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, which rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church.”

Chronologies of the Mysteries of God - Page 13