Claims that the head of Christ’s church on earth is a visible man, not the Holy Spirit
“It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has been given the very titles of Deity. He has been styled ‘the Lord God the Pope’ [See Appendix], and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage [worship and veneration] of all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation, is still urged by him through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage.
“But those who fear and reverence God meet this Heaven-daring assumption of Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ Luke 4: 8. God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ’s church except by usurpation.”- Ibid.
NOTES:
- On the Holy Spirit, Christ’s only vicegerent on earth. In John 14, 15, 16, Jesus clearly taught and fully prepared His chosen for the coming of “another Comforter,” His vicegerent—the Holy Spirit—the third Person of the Trinity of the Godhead. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit fifty days after His glorious resurrection upon the 120 prepared disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem was the promised Pentecost by the prophet Joel during the Old Testament times (Acts 2: 1-18; cf. Joel2: 28-30). This signal event jump-started the Holy-Spirit led movement of the development of the Christian Church dispensation (of the New Testament times), permanently replacing the Jewish dispensation (of the Old Testament times with the ceremonial law and earthly priesthood), and permanently ending the chosen-people status of the Jewish people and nation as the chosen people of God. All, regardless of previous religious beliefs or none at all, race, creed, color of skin, culture, status in human society who accepted Christ as their personal and only Savior and Mediator and became “circumcised of the heart and not of the flesh,” became spiritual Israel, adopted sons and daughters of God, members of the spiritual “commonwealth of spiritual Israel.
- On the Antichrist who claims to be Christ’s Vicegerent.
“Dr. James Strong [of Strong’s Bible Concordance based exclusively on the King James Version) says that ‘antichrist’ comes from two Greek words, antee and khristos, and gives the following definition of antee: ‘Opposite, i.e., instead or because of, . . . . for, in the room of. Often used in composition to denote. . . substitution.’ – Exhaustive Concordance, Greek Dictionary, entrees Nos. 500, 473. Thomas Sheldon Green says: ‘Anti, prep, over against; hence, in correspondence to; in place of. . . .’—Greek-English Lexicon, p. 14. Boston: 1896. The meaning therefore, of ‘antichrist,’ as it is used in the New Testament, is a rival to Christ, or one who attempts to take the place of Christ as His ‘vicar.’ This significance of the prefix ‘anti’ is also seen in the word ‘anti-pope.’ (For further information on this point see ‘The Papacy Is Antichrist,’ by J.A. Wylie, pp. 2-18. Edinburgh: George M’Gibbon.) We shall now see that this is exactly the position which Catholics claim for the pope, that he holds the place of Christ on earth. Rev. T.L. Kinkead says:
‘Our holy Father the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, is the vicar of Christ on earth and the visible head of the Church.’
“ ‘Vicar’ – that is, one who holds another’s place and acts in his name.’ – ‘Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism,’ p. 130. Benziger Brothers. (Sanctioned by Cardinal Gibbons, five archbishops, nineteen bishops, and other dignitaries).
“Rev. William Humphrey, S.J. {Jesuit] says:
‘Vicarius, a, um. adj. That is instead, in place of another; that supplies another’s room; a deputy. . . . One who performs the office, or duty, of another; a deputy; a substitute.’ – An Abridgement of Ainsworth’s Latin Dictionary, Designed for the Use of Schools, p. 604. London: 1826.
“When the force of this similarity between the antichrist of prophecy and the pope of Rome dawned upon the mind of Cardinal Newman, he declared:
“‘The gibe, ‘If the Pope is not Antichrist, he has had bad luck to be so like him,’ is really another argument in favor of the claims of the Pope; since Antichrist simulates Christ, and the Pope is an image of Christ, Antichrist must have some similarity to the Pope, if the latter be the true Vicar of Christ.’ – ‘Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 561, art. ‘Antichrist.’
“Thus it is claimed that the pope is the vicar of Christ on earth. But Christ left an altogether different Vicar, or Representative, in His place, namely; the Holy Spirit. (John 14: 15-18; 16:7.) Of this Representative [of the Godhead] Christ says: ‘He shall teach you all things.’ ‘He will guide you into all truth.’ John 14: 26; 16: 13. (Compare 1 John 2: 20, 27.) The Holy Spirit, being the author of the Bible (2 Pet. 1: 2), certainly should be the proper interpreter of it. To this the Roman Church answers:
‘Nor can it be said that being a divinely inspired book, its prime author, the Holy Spirit, will guide the reader to the right meaning. The Church which made the Bible, likewise interprets the Bible.’ – ‘Things Catholics Are Asked About,’ Martin J. Scott, S.J., Litt., D., pp. 119, 120. N.Y.: Kennedy, 1927.
“Pope Leo XIII says:
‘But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself.’ –‘The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII,’ p. 193. New York: Benziger Bros., 1903. He further says:
‘We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.’ – Id., p. 304.
“We have now seen from authentic Catholic sources, that the pope arrogates to himself the ‘place of God Almighty,’ the office of Christ on earth, and the prerogative of the Holy Spirit, as sole Teacher of the faithful, and the interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. What more is needed to fulfill the prediction of 2 Thessalonians 2: 3, 4, and the prophecies of the Antichrist?
“ALL AGREED ON THE ANTICHRIST. Up to the close of the Reformation God’s people were generally agreed that the Papacy was the Antichrist foretold in prophecy. The Waldenses taught it. (See page 122 of this book.) About 1384 A.D. John Wycliffe wrote a book against the papal system entitled: ‘Of Antechrist and His Meynee.’ In fact, the English Reformers,–Tyndale, Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley,—all agreed in pointing to the Papacy [the man of sin] as the Antichrist. John Huss of Bohemia, in his ‘De Anatomia Antichristi,’ did the same. Turning to Germany we find Dr. Martin Luther strong in his convictions on this subject. He says:
‘The Pope is . . .the true Antichrist, of whom it is written, that he sitteth in the temple of God, among the people where Christ is worshipped. . . .
‘But Papists [employing the false doctrine of Futurism, a brainchild of the Spanish Jesuit Ribera] want to divert this passage from themselves, and they say that Christ and Paul speak about the temple at Jerusalem, and that Antichrist shall sit there and rule; that will; that will not do. . . .It cannot be understood otherwise than of the new spiritual temple, which he says we are.
‘There shall the Pope sit and be honored, not above God, but above all that is called God. . . . So also we see it before our eyes, that many princes and the world regard his law higher and more than the commandments of God. . . . Cannot this rightly be termed exalting and honoring Antichrist above God?’ – ‘Luther’s Church Postil,’ ‘Gospels,’ 25th Sunday after Trinity, par. 24, 25, part 2, pp. 734, 735. Stavanger, Norway: 1862.
“Luther further declares:
‘Therefore, let whosoever will doubt, God’s word and the proper divine worship convinces me sufficiently that the Pope [the ‘man of sin’] is the Antichrist, and the ecclesiastical orders are his disciples, which deceive the whole world.’ – Id., Part I, p. 379.
‘I hope that the last day is at the door. Things could not become worse than the Roman See makes it. It suppresses the commandments of God, it exalts its commandments above God’s. If this is not Antichrist, then someone else must tell what it is.’ –‘Luther’s Reformatory worksm; p, 280. Copenhagen: 1883.
‘The Pope is the real Antichrist.’ – Id., p. 278.
“Dr. Charles H.H. Wright, in speaking of the Bible prophecy of ‘antichrist,’ says:
‘In all ages of the Church, from the days of Gregory the Great, down to the present, men have pointed to the Papacy as the fulfillment of the prophecy. That interpretation is set forth in the Homilies of the Church of England and by all the Reformed Churches [do they still believe and preach so today?] The interpretation, however, has been ignored or rejected by critics, for reasons which need not be specified. It can, however, stand all the tests of criticisms. –‘Daniel and His Prophecies,’ p. 168. London: 1906. (See also Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1, p. 561, art. ‘Antichrist.’ )- All quoted by Christian Edwardson in his book “Facts of Faith,” Southern Publishing Association. Nashville 8 TN, printed in U.S.A., 1943, pp. 198, 199.
True followers of Christ falsely accused of “heresy” and separation from the “true church”
“Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy, and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ, and departed from ‘the faith which was once delivered to the saints.’ Jude 3.”- GC 50.
Hatred of the Bible by the “man of sin”
“Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the Word that even the Savior of the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the shield of eternal truth, saying, ‘It is written.’ To every suggestion of the adversary, He opposed [with] the wisdom and power of the Word. In order for Satan to maintain his sway over men, the establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God, and place finite men in their true position; therefore its sacred truths must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman Church.”- Great Controversy (1911), p. 51.