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6 The Antichrist Most Definitely Is Not a Person!

ter, a title and pretensions from which all meaning had long since departed. Nothing else so directly
linked the old world to the new...From the days of Constantine until late into the middle ages it was,
conjointly with the Papacy, the recognized center and head of Christendom, exercising over the
minds of men an influence such as its material strength could never have commanded...Strictly
speaking it is from the year 800 A.D. when a king of the Franks was crowned Emperor of the
Romans by Pope Leo III that the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire must be dated (The Holy
Roman Empire, 1896, p. 23).

Bryce notes that there is nothing isolated in history, and the Holy Roman Empire harks back
to the Roman Empire before its fall in 476. As he stated above, the power that was dissolved in 1806
is that which was begun by Augustus at Actium in 35 B.C.

The history of the power of a wounded and seemingly dead Roman Empire being resur-
rected in the form of the Papal system, and the Papal system in the name of Rome creating an image
to that first political system, called the Holy Roman Empire, is so clearly outlined in history and the
13th chapter of Revelation as to give no room for any other interpretation.

It seems truly bizarre to me that the Churches of God and evangelical Christians have aban-
doned the true interpretation of prophecy and those leaders who have for many centuries outlined
these prophecies in more detail and greater precision than we do here. That the Churches of God
would caste away their prophetic heritage for the fantasies and drivel that are currently being
hawked around in the name of prophetic fulfillment is both frustrating and shocking! Why, let me
ask, does anyone look for a future fulfillment when these prophecies are so clearly fulfilled in his-
tory? The Antichrist has long since come. His reign of 1260 years is long since over. He has re-
ceived most of the blows designed to knock him from his place of arbitrary control over the physical
and spiritual lives of men. He has but little time left.

Is it right, then, to call the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church a power with the mouth
of Satan? Absolutely! Is it right to call the Vatican a whore who rides the power of the Roman Em-
pire? Absolutely! Following is an outline of historical events that enumerate some of the wilful sins
of those in the list of “successors of St. Peter.”

The Darkest Period of the Papacy

The very character and morals of many of the popes would tend to identify them as succes-
sors of pagan priests rather than so-called representatives of Yeshua or Peter. Some of the popes
were so depraved and base in their actions, even people who professed no religion at all were
ashamed of them. Such sins as adultery, sodomy, simony, rape, murder and drunkenness are among
the sins that have been committed by popes. To link such sins with men who have claimed to be the
“Holy Father,” “The Vicar of Christ” and “Bishop of bishops” may sound shocking -- but those ac-
quainted with the history of the Papacy well know that not all popes were holy men.

Pope Sergius III (904-911). This pope obtained the papal office by murder. The annals of the
church of Rome tell about his life of open sin with Marozia who bore him several illegitimate chil-
dren. He was described by Baronius as a “monster” and by Gregorovius as a “terrorizing criminal.”
Says a historian: “For seven years this man...occupied the chair of St. Peter, while his concubine

The Berean Voice July-August 2002