Introduction.
The background for this title is what happened in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. The big question is whether this has any significance for our time. Can we draw some parallels from what happened at the crucifixion up to our time? Could it be that the Christian church has no other king than the emperor in our days? I must add that not everyone considered the emperor their king in Jesus’ time. As always, God has preserved a small remnant who worshiped God and had their God as their only king. This is also the case today. God has also in the end times preserved a small remnant of the faithful who worship and honour the Creator.
All texts are from the King James Version 1611/1769, unless otherwise stated.
In John 19:15, from which the title is taken, we find this text: But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them. Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar.
It is worth noting that Pilate, who was the governor at the time, actually represented the Roman emperor. He was the emperor’s extended arm in an occupied Judea, and because Judea was occupied by Rome, the Jewish political leaders were stripped of all political and legal authority. They were only puppets under the emperor. The religious leaders tried to keep their ‘dignity‘ as long as possible, but they fell short in the end. Finally, they surrendered into the hands of the emperor just before Jesus was crucified by claiming that they only had Cesar as king, (see John 19:15). In this way, they renounced their birth right they had inherited from the time of Abraham to be God’s special people on earth who were to bring the news of salvation to the whole world. This renunciation was a process that had been going on for many years, for they had forgotten that they were to share salvation with the outside world, instead they had closed themselves in a delusion that said that they and they alone, were the rightful heirs of the kingdom of God, and that no one else were allowed to enter.
First, I will quote something from Ellen G. White’s book The Great Controversy, and then I will give some retrospectives on what has happened in the past, and then look at how the Christian church relates to God in our time to see if it fits into the pattern.
In The Great Controversy, Ellen G. White addresses what happened in Jerusalem and says that Jerusalem is a reflection of the world. She therefore adds a typology to her book. What happened to God’s people in connection with the death of Jesus is a type of a future event.
The following nine quotes are from chapter 1 of The Great Controversy, and this is some of what she says:
1) Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God, (22.1).
2) The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of his government in Heaven and earth. The precepts of Jehovah would be despised and set at naught. Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness! Strange infatuation! (22.2).
3) When the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set up in the holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in flight. When the warning sign should be seen, those who would escape must make no delay. Throughout the land of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight must be immediately obeyed. He who chanced to be upon the housetop must not go down into his house, even to save his most valued treasures. Those who were working in the fields or vineyards must not take time to return for the outer garment laid aside while they should be toiling in the heat of the day. They must not hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in the general destruction, (26.1).
4) The Lord had declared by the prophet Micah. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us, (27.1).
5) The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only confirmed the Jews in their stubborn impenitence. In their hatred and cruelty toward the disciples of Jesus, they rejected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew his protection from them, and removed his restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen. Her children had spurned the grace of Christ, which would have enabled them to subdue their evil impulses, and now these became the conquerors, (28.2).
6) By their actions they had long been saying, Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us, (28.2).
7) For seven years, a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild dirge, A voice from the east; a voice from the west; a voice from the four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the temple; a voice against the bridegroom and the bride; and a voice against all the people, (30.3).
8) This strange being was imprisoned and scourged,; but no complaint escaped his lips. To insult and abuse he answered only, Woe to Jerusalem! Woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof! His warning cry ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold, (30.3).
9) The world is no more ready to credit the message for this time than were the Jews to receive the Saviour’s warning concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on in its unvarying round, when men are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in traffic, in moneymaking. When religious leaders are magnifying the world’s progress and enlightenment, and the people are lulled in a false security, then, as the midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, and they shall not escape, (38.2).
This we know from history.
The city of Pergamos.
Let us first look at the city of Pergamos because this is an interesting city in this connection despite the fact that it is only mentioned in Revelation 1:11 and 2:12-17. In Revelation, Pergamos is used as an image of the church’s third period, from 313 when Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire and until 538 when papal power was established, as we know it today.
However, what can Pergamos have to do with the question whether the Christian church has no other king than the emperor? Well, Pergamos was a city located about 26 km from the Aegean Sea on a hill on the north side of the river Kaïkos (today’s Bakırçay). In Pergamos, the Babylonians had built up an idol cult, and the leader of this cult had the title of Pontifex Maximus. It was the high priest in this pagan system who bore this title, and this pagan title was taken over by the Roman emperors. They also demanded after this time to be worshiped as God, and considered themselves to be God on earth.
When the Roman Empire conquered the Greek Empire, the city of Pergamos was still independent. Pergamos can be traced back to the 8th century BC, (the archaic period). The special thing about the city is that it was never conquered by Medo-Persia, Greece or the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, Pergamos became the capital of the kingdom of Pergamos during the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC. Attalos was the last king of Pergamos, and as he had no heirs he bequeathed the whole city to the Roman emperor. This is important to remember. It was only when Gaius Julius Caesar had taken power in Rome that anyone laid claim to Pergamos.
Both Balaam and Balak are mentioned in connection with Pergamos. The doctrine of Balaam is a clear parallel to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The analogy with Balaam indicates that someone in Pergamos intended to destroy the church by splitting it up and sowing paganism into the pure church. This mixture influenced the Christians. Who were those, Balaam, Balak and the Nicolaitans?
Balaam was a soothsayer and soothsayer. There were several of this type of soothsayers and soothsayers in the city, which is called where Satan’s seat is and where Satan dwelleth. The analogy with Balaam indicates that someone in Pergamos intended to destroy the church by dividing it, and then paganism entered the pure church. Balaam, who we can read about in Numbers chapters 22-24, put his own interests before God’s people. This mixture of paganism and Christianity influenced the Christians.
Balak was the son of the king of Moab, who wanted Balaam to curse God’s people.
The Nicolaitans were disciples of a proselyte from Antioch named Nicholas. The word Nicolaitans can also be understood symbolically, and means victory over the laity. This sect claimed a superiority, which allowed them to worship idols and engage in fornication and paganism. The teaching of the Nicolaitans and the teaching of Balaam are also equated. Irenaeus identified the Nicolaitans as a Gnostic sect, a sect that attempted to bind together Greek philosophy and Christian faith in order to reach a higher realization. The Nicolaitans have also become a symbolic expression of the Gnostics, and they tormented the churches at that time, and especially in Ephesus and Pergamos.
Little by little, people began to use religious costumes and rituals in the church that they adopted from the pagan religions, such as the shepherd’s staff (4th century) and prayer for the dead, and in this way paganism got a bigger and bigger place in the church. It was not only the teachings of Balaam and the teachings of the Nicolaitans that infiltrated the church. Babylonian mystery religions also gained entry, along with mother/child religions such as Semiramis and Tammuz, Isis and Horus, Venus and Jupiter, Cyblee and Deoius and of course the worship of the sun – Sol Invictus. This was what Emperor Constantine’s so-called conversion led to problems for the Christian church. When the emperor made Christianity one of the many state religions in the Roman Empire, the doors of hell literally were open wide open, and all paganism and manmade traditions and all strange philosophies found their way into the church.
Today, the world’s church leaders, including many from our own church, say that we cannot say anything negative about the customs that have been adopted into the church from the pagan religions. It is an illusion to think that the many pagan customs become ‘Christian’ simply by bringing them into the church. As you know, you do not become a horse just because you enter a stable.
During the next roughly 1200 years, from Constantine’s «conversion» in the year 313 until Luther’s reformation in 1517, several unbiblical doctrines followed, such as infant baptism in the 6th century, sacrament of penance (so-called tariff penance) in the early 6th century *, the doctrine of the eternal pain in hell 543, the purgatory 593, the Mass in the 7th century, the last oil in the 8th century, holy water 850, canonization of the dead 995, celibacy for priests 1074, relic and image worship (finally determined) in the 11th century, rosary prayer in the 12th century, sale of indulgences in the 12th century, Mary’s Immaculate conception 1140, worship of the host (communion bread) 1217 and the immortality of the soul to name a few.
* The Catholic Church expects a threefold development of this sacrament – the confession. 1) From the time of the apostles until the early 6th century – the early confession. 2) From the early 6th century(508) to the 12th century – sacrament of penance (tariff penance). 3) From the 12th century onwards – individual confession.
As we see, Pergamos was right through a pagan city that was given as a legacy to the Roman emperor, and with this much of that paganism found its way into the Roman Empire. These are customs still practiced in the Roman Empire. Pergamos is and remains a symbol of the complete paganism and opposition that became visible there through the worship of the emperor. Despite the fact that the first Christians established a church there in the first century, John gives Pergamos a rather poor review. In Revelation chapter 2:13, John uses the following expression about Pergamos, where Satan’s seat [is] and where Satan dwelleth. (See also English; Seven letters, seals, trumpets and vials. The seven letters, part 1.)
Where Satan’s throne is:
Pergamos thus distinguished itself by being the first place where the living emperor was worshipped, and the first temple for the worship of the divine emperor, was built and consecrated in the year 29 BC. When John wrote the Revelation, Domitian was emperor, and he demanded, perhaps not surprisingly, to be addressed as «lord and god«.
Pergamos ecclesiastical period begins with Emperor Constantine’s law in 313, which ended the violent persecution that had lasted for ten years, when he made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. The period ended in AD 538. When the papacy had consolidated its position as the political and religious centre of Western Europe. The papacy had become a mixture of paganism and Christianity, and the expression «where Satan’s seat [is]» is a good image of this.
Where Satan’s seat [is] alludes to the fact that the city was a centre of the occult, and that there were several pagan temples in the city. Pergamos became a place where Oriental religions and Eastern mysticism met, and this was in addition to the obligatory emperor worship. Pergamos god was Asclepius, the god of medicine – who is interestingly symbolized by a snake.
As we see, the Roman emperor continued the old pagan traditions with Pontifex Maximus, a custom that dates back to ancient Babylon, and which accumulated through Medo-Persia, Greece and into the Roman Empire. As said, all emperors bore this title from Gaius Julius Caesar until Emperor Gratian, who in the year 376, for Christian reasons, did not want to bear the blasphemous title Pontifex Maximus. The then Bishop of Rome, Demasus, who at this time had been elevated to the head of the Christian Church and given great power and prestige, allowed him to be titled Pontifex Maximus. All popes have worn this title since 376 until the current pope.
Ellen G. White sums it all up this way in the book The Great Controversy, chapter 3: The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy, which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that the day of Christ should not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Even at that early date, he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy, (49.1) … // … This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of the man of sin foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan’s power,—a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will, (50.1).
Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 this: For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now restrains will do so, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked One be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, (King James 2000 Bible).
As we see, all Jesus’ apostles who mention this power agree on who this is. John says that they went out from us, but they were not of us … … (1 John 2:19), and calls this power the son of perdition, (John 17:12). Paul also calls this power the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3). The special thing about this is that it is described with incredible accuracy how the man of sin came to this power it has had ever since, and which it exercises with an even stronger hand in our time.
Paul says that the mystery of iniquity was already at work in his time, and Paul died in the year c. year 67 / 68. When Paulus died, the emperor still ruled over the Roman Empire. However, when the Roman Empire was divided into two and the Arian tribes had divided the Western Roman Empire among themselves, this paved the way for the man of sin who by cunning took the power in Rome by filling the political vacuum that arose after the emperor moved to Constantinople. It was only when the emperor, he who now restrains, was taken out of the way that the man of sin / the son of perdition was revealed.
Satan had once again moved his throne, and this time from Pergamos to Rome. (The first time he moved his throne was from Babel / Babylon to Pergamos.)
The stoning of Stephen as the type of a future event.
When the Christians in Jerusalem would not submit to the demands of the religious leaders not to preach the resurrected Christ, they began with Roman help to persecute arrest and kill those who had been disciples of Jesus and who were among the leaders of the new church.
Three and a half years after Jesus died on the cross, Stephen was stoned to death. In his defence speech before the council, he spoke of the call of Abraham, of the patriarchs in Egypt, the deliverance of Israel. He then moves on to talk about Israel’s rebellion against God and God’s true tabernacle, before moving on to talk about Israel’s resistance to the Holy Spirit. Then, under the threat of a brutal death, Stephen continues his speech and retracts the council, which he accuses of being like ancient Israel, who killed the prophets whom God raised up to guide his people. This was too much for the self-righteous clergy, so they sentenced him to death by stoning.
This stoning began a long and violent persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem and Judea, and they had to flee from there. This fulfilled God’s plan for the gospel to go out into the whole world. The persecution that the stoning of Stephen triggered is a type of what will happen in the last days of the earth’s history, as we know it today – the antitype. Daniel writes in the book of Daniel 12:1 this. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
A few years later, when John was a prisoner on the island of Patmos, he wrote in Revelation that the first beast, the one from the sea in Revelation chapter 13, would receive a mortal wound, and that it would be healed, and after the mortal wound was healed, the whole world would follow this beast. 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, (verse 3).
We all know who the beast from the sea symbolizes. It is the Roman Empire, and in this context in its religious guise – the papacy. Now this is not something that the Adventists or I have sucked out of our own chests. Already the Waldenses towards the end of the 12th century associated papal power with the beast from the sea, so this is nothing new.
The emperor of our time.
What happened at the crucifixion and in the time just before and just after is a picture of a future event from the time of Jesus. It is still the Roman Empire that rules the world in our time. It has only put on a religious robe, and the emperor is nowadays called the pope. The question is how this could happen. The emperor’s crown has been replaced by a mithra. A mithra is a headdress that the Catholic Church has inherited from Zoroastrianism, where it was a god-man who wore this headdress, later it was used by the clergy in Mithraism, where they worshiped the fish god, Dagon, This, as mentioned, entered the Roman Empire through Pergamos which was bequeathed to the Roman Empire.
In the Bible, we find some verses that address what happened, and there is one verse in particular that gives a completely accurate description of what happened when the leader of the church in Rome came to power. The power the bishop in Rome slyly acquired at the time he has continued to this day, and this verse describes the way he did it. This verse is Daniel 11:21. The next to come to power will be a despicable man who is not in line for royal succession. He will slip in when least expected and take over the kingdom by flattery and intrigue, (New Living Translation).
Another key verse is 1 John 2:19: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
What exactly are these two verses telling us? Both verses tell of a power that will stand forth and hold power until the second coming of Christ. Daniel 11:21 writes «the next to come to power …» which refers back to verse 20 where we see the Roman emperor, and continues with «… will be a despicable«. It is said about the Roman emperors that they were highly respected and revered. Now it will stand from a power in the emperor’s place that is despised. From the beginning, all Christians were despised in the Roman Empire for several reasons. They worshiped only their own God, the Creator, and despised emperor worship and sun worship. Moreover, they did not eat pork, y guardaron el séptimo día de la semana como el día santo de Dios.
It is important that we read these two verses together, and we see in 1 John 2:19 that John says that «they went out from us«. In other words, the power that was to take over from the military-political imperial power came from the Christian church. Furthermore, Daniel says that the new power should come carefully and usurp the kingdom by flattery and intrigue. What happened in Rome?
When the ten Aryan tribes began to penetrate the Roman Empire, less than 100 years passed before the Roman Empire was divided into two, and then the emperor moved to Constantinople. No new leader was appointed in Rome or the Western Roman Empire, so a political vacuum arose. The bishop of Rome took advantage of this and usurped power by using the emperor’s old palace, throne and title. The Church never got, and was never given the kingdom (read Roman Empire), but by flattery and intrigue the bishop of Rome, admittedly with the blessing of the Eastern Roman emperor, managed to fill the political vacuum that arose when the emperor moved to Constantinople, and the bishop took over the emperor’s old throne and title. Suddenly the Catholic Church had usurped all power in Rome. The bishop, «a despicable» who had «went out from us«, had now usurped the kingdom by flattery and intrigue.
We also know the recent history of the Roman Church. In 1798, the Pope, Pius VI (1775-1799), was arrested and thrown into prison by Napoleon’s General Berthier, where he died the following year. This is the fatal wound. For a time, the Pope lost all power and influence, both religious and political, until Pius VII was elected Pope in 1800. Then papal power was re-established, but now it was without political power, at least apparently. In 1929, the papacy regained the Vatican from Mussolini, and now the pope regained his political power.
If we look at how papal power has developed in recent years, after 1929, we see that it is gaining greater and greater influence all over the world, even in the countries that were Lutheran / Protestant bastions. Now, in 2023, the papacy has gathered all Christian churches (with a small exception) along with all other pagan religions and secular governments under its umbrella. With this, Revelation chapter 13 verse 3b: and all the world marvelled and followed the beast, (New King James Version) has been fulfilled to the letter. The deadly wound was healed as it says in Revelation 13,3a.
We can therefore safely state that the Roman Empire continues to this day. Not like in the time up to the end of the fifth century, because it has undergone a change. However, this change is only external. The leader of the Roman Empire has changed clothes, and has put on a religious costume instead of the imperial toga. Internally, the Roman Empire is the same, the Roman leader will still be considered as god on earth, and he will still want to be worshipped.
The antitype of the end times.
After the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), also called the 21st Ecumenical Council, ecumenical cooperation has gained momentum. In the few years following this council, the papacy has managed to do what it had planned for a long, long time. In 1517, Luther wanted to reform the Catholic Church from within, but the papacy would not allow itself to be reformed. There was a break, which led to the growth of the Lutheran/Protestant churches.
Since then, the papacy has tried various methods to reconcile the heretics with the mother church without success. First with excommunication, papal bulls and outright war, however, after the Second Vatican Council, the tone changed significantly, and the heretics were flattered into the fold through ecumenical cooperation.
In Early Writings, Ellen G. White says that the church and the world will unite. Here is a small extract from the chapter called The Church and the World United. After this, I saw Satan consulting with his angels and considering what they had gained. True, they had, through fear of death, kept some timid souls from embracing the truth; but many, even of the most timid, had received the truth, (226.1) … // … Satan therefore decided that he must come in a milder form. He had already corrupted the doctrines of the Bible, and traditions, which were to ruin millions, were taking deep root. Restraining his hate, he decided not to urge on his subjects to such bitter persecution, but lead the church to contend for various traditions, instead of for the faith once delivered to the saints. As he prevailed on the church to receive favours and honours from the world, under the pretense of receiving benefits, she began to lose favour with God, (226.2) … // … The ministers preach smooth things to suit carnal professors. They dare not preach Jesus and the cutting truths of the Bible; for if they should, these carnal professors would not remain in the church. But as many of them are wealthy, they must be retained, although they are no more fit to be there than Satan and his angels. This is just as Satan would have it … Pleasing fables were taught and readily received, and hypocrites and open sinners united with the church. If the truth had been preached in its purity, it would soon have shut out this class. But there was no difference between the professed followers of Christ and the world. I saw that if the false covering had been torn off from the members of the churches, there would have been revealed such iniquity, vileness, and corruption that the most diffident child of God would have had no hesitancy in calling these professed Christians by their right name, children of their father, the devil; for his works they did, (228.1).
The first edition of this book was published in 1882. Almost nothing of all that she says the congregation will go through had happened when the book was printed the first time. Today we see that almost everything has been fulfilled to the letter in the fallen denominations. Even in our own denomination such things have found their way in.
The Second Vatican Council was indeed the catalyst that triggered a three-step reversal of the Reformation. This is what happened:
1) On October 31, 1999, the Lutheran World Assembly took a long first step towards annulling the Reformation when they, together with the Catholic Church, chose to sign what is entitled: The Joint Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification, better known as The Joint Declaration. This document has been prepared in its entirety by the Catholic Church.
2) Pope Francis visited Lund in Sweden on 31 October 2016 in connection with a joint Catholic-Lutheran ceremony. This was the next step on the road to full gathering under the Catholic umbrella. The following (which has been translated from Norwegian into English) is taken from http://www.katolsk.no/nyheter/2016/09/informasjon-om-pavens-sverige-besok The Pope’s historic visit to Lund and Malmö takes place on the occasion of Catholics and Lutherans jointly marking that has passed 500 years since the Reformation. The Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation (LVF) agree that Lund is a good place to mark the Reformation. LVF was founded in Lund in 1947. Lund Cathedral, where the ecumenical service takes place on October 31, has a thousand-year history shared by Catholics and Lutherans. The Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican invite to the meeting on October 31. The host is the Church of Sweden in close collaboration with the Catholic Church in Sweden and the Christian Council of Sweden. The Catholic Church and LVF have been in dialogue for 50 years. It is this dialogue that has led us to this autumn’s historic meeting in Lund and where we are today. A milestone in the dialogue is the document From Conflict to Community, Common Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation 2017 from 2013*. Here, Lutherans and Catholics express grief and remorse for the pain we have inflicted on each other, but also gratitude for the theological ideas with which we have fertilized each other. It is in this context and in this spirit that leaders from the Catholic Church and LVF meet in Lund this autumn for the first time ever to mark the Reformation.
3) The approach that took place on the 500th anniversary of Luther’s Reformation on October 31, 2017, when the Lutheran-Protestant churches merged with the Catholic Church in a joint Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation, is the third and final step on the road to a complete annihilation of the Reformation. Here is a small excerpt from the document From conflict to community. Joint Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation 2017*. Report of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Christian Unity. This document is also written by Catholics and only them, but the Lutheran-Protestant churches have accepted, approved and signed this, together with the Catholic Church. We take as our guide the doctrine of justification, which expresses the gospel message and therefore incessantly serves to direct the whole doctrine and practice of the Church toward Christ (Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification). The true unity of the Church can only be unity in the unity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That the controversy over this truth in the 16th century led to the loss of unity in Western Christianity is one of the dark chapters in church history. In 2017, we must openly confess that we have been guilty before Christ of harming the unity of the Church. The year of remembrance presents us with two challenges: to cleanse and heal the memories, and to restore Christian unity in accordance with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
* Although the document was completed in 2013, it has been used as a basis for the ecumenical meetings in Lund 2016 and in connection with the Lutheran Jubilee in 2017. This clearly means that the Reformation is dead, and it happened on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, October 31, 2017.
(See also English; The end time begins; End-time events, part 1).
The type is thus: We have no other king than the emperor!
The antitype must therefore be something similar. Can we see that it has happened? Can we find the antitype we are looking for?
When Jesus’ disciples founded the church on the day of Pentecost in the year 31, it was a pure and undefiled church that emerged. It built on Christ and Him alone, and they guarded the word delivered to them from the Saviour’s mouth. A quarter of a century after the crucifixion, they began to write letters to the new congregations they had founded in Asia, recording what they had experienced, and Paul was the first to write some of his letters, and eventually the Gospels and the others books came. These were the most important possessions of the young church, and they guarded them with their lives. These texts are called the Textus Receptus (The Received Text). As soon as a copy began to wear out, they copied this manuscript with diligence and accuracy, and they took care that nothing was changed.
At the time of Jesus, the religious leaders in Jerusalem said; we have no king but Caesar. That is exactly what happened on 31 October 2017, on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, when the document ‘From conflict to community. Joint Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation 2017. Report of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Christian Unity’, was signed by the Lutheran World Federation.
By signing these documents, which was done in three stages – on October 31, 1999, on October 31, 2016 and on October 31, 2017, the religious leaders of our time have in effect said the same thing as the religious leaders of the Jews. It is important to note the date of each of the three years. It just had to be 31 October, the same date that Luther posted his theses that started the Reformation on the church door in Wittenberg in 1517.
The political authorities of our time have all submitted as one to the yoke of Rome, which was clearly seen in 2022. During the event called COP27, an event that Pope Francis is behind and where he played the biggest role by proclaiming the 10 new commandments in the climate act – to which the entire political elite has submitted, whether they like them or not. There is, after all, a political consensus that the world will go awry if emissions of CO2 are not limited to a significant extent. We talk about zero emissions of a gas that is absolutely necessary for all life on earth. All green plants depend on CO2 to produce sugars that enable the plants to live, grow and produce fruit/crops that humans and animals depend on to live. A by-product of carbon dioxide assimilation is pure oxygen, which humans and animals also depend on to live. In return, humans and animals exhale CO2. Zero emissions is therefore an illusion like much of what else comes from Rome.
In 2017, the religious leaders completely gave in to the pressure and surrendered to the emperor of our time. It is the emperor of our time who is the leader of the Catholic Church, and he proves that by taking the title Pontifex Maximus. The Lutheran and Protestant leaders said the same thing as the religious leaders in Jerusalem: We have no king but Ceasar!
But, many will surely say, there is no emperor anymore, you just fable your way …
Oh yes, I say to this, the emperor is alive and well in Rome. The emperor in military-political Rome called himself god on earth, used the title Pontifex Maximus, which in Babylon was the title of the high priest of the Babylonian mystery religions. The Pope is the emperor of our time, and this is reflected in the Catholic Church’s own sources, which we will look at shortly.
In our time, it is the case that the Pope calls himself Vicarius Filii Dei (Vicar of Jesus Christ), and even considers himself god on earth, and has stated that whatever the Pope and his clergy bind or loose on earth, the God of heaven must obey. In 1870 the dogma of the Pope’s infallibility was published, a dogma claiming that statements made by the Pope ex cathedra. Ex cathedra means from the pulpit (of St. Peter) and are protected by the Holy Spirit against error. In Pastor Aeternus, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, it is said that this is the highest form of authority ascribed to the pope, defined by the virtue of his ultimate apostolic authority and his office as pastor and teacher for all Christians. What an arrogance.
Many will surely accuse me of fabricating the various claims I make, but as usual, we can go to the source of this, the organs and partners of the Catholic Church to see what they write about the Pope. Here are some statements about the pope from these sources.
- All names used in the Bible about Christ, the same names are given to the pope. This confirms that he is above the church. (Bellarmine, on Authority and Councils.)
- The Pope demands complete submission and obedience, – as to God himself, Great Encyclical Letters, page 193.
- We (the Catholic Church) possess here on earth the authority of God Almighty, Great Encyclical Letters, page 304.
- Kissing the pope’s feet – is a sign of reverence expected of all faithful to the substitute of Jesus Christ, Catholic Encyclopaedia. XII page 270. (This custom was all established in the 8th century.)
- The Pope calls himself the Viceroy of God, the Judge of the living and the dead. Catholicism against Itself, vol. I, page 277. (O.C. Lambert)
- You are the shepherd, you are the doctor, you are the leader, you are the master – you are another God on earth, (History of the Councils, Labbe and Gossarts. Volume 14, column 109)
- Our Lord God the Pope Extragavantes from Antweipen, column 153, Extragavantes in Paris, column 140.
- The Roman pope is the only one in the universe who is righteous; That he can not be judged by anyone, and that is why the pope is crowned with a three-part crown – as king in heaven, on earth and in the realm of the dead, (Proinpta Bibliotheca, Feraris, volume VI, 5 26.)
- As a counter-argument against a faith shared by Protestants and a growing number of Catholics, Pope John Paul II declared on Tuesday that he was invalidating the common and popular idea that one can receive forgiveness directly from God. Furthermore, he advised Catholics to confess their sins more often to their priests. Quote from Pope John Paul II, in an article on forgiveness of sins, (Los Angeles Times (12/94).
In our days, the whole earth follows the beast from the sea that John prophesied in Revelation 13:3 more than 1900 years ago when he was sent to the island of Patmos as a prisoner in the years 95/96. It is not only the Catholics who follow the Pope, almost all other Christian denominations follow the Pope, so do all the other pagan religions too. Even the Dalai Lama, the reincarnated god, worships the Pope by kneeling before him and kissing his feet. And in the last ten years, almost every secular organization has made a pilgrimage to the Vatican to submit to the Pope.
Unfortunately, it has become the case that the world in general has collectively said we have no king but Caesar. All these have fallen on their knees to the man of sin who is also called the son of perdition. But there is still a small strange group, a small remnant, who would rather worship the Creator of heaven and earth, and who have heard and accepted the divine call to flee from Babylon, the fallen denominations, and who have taken refuge in the only one who can save man, Jesus C