Friends, I thought I ought to come into the studio again because there's been a lot happening in the news lately that has prophetic implications. What does the President of the United States, the leader of the Orthodox Church, the United Nations, the US Congress, and presidents of Israel and Palestine all have in common? Well, in the last few months, they've all been visiting with Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church. Friends, it seems like very few Christians today remember why Protestants protested. Let me explain.
This has already been a very notable two years for the Catholic Church. Beginning with the surprising resignation of Pope Benedict, the [unintelligible 00:00:43] cited poor health as the reason but many wondered if there might be more to the story. Then on 3/13/13, as the world watched in wonder, white smoke issued from the Sistine Chapel chimney and an Argentinian Cardinal, Jorge Bergoglio, was introduced as the new pope.
This was not only significant for the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide, and he's the first pope from the Americas and the first to be named Francis, but it would be especially alarming to Protestants that this seemingly humble man is the first Jesuit elected as Pope. I think this has profound implications. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Jonathan Edwards, Matthew Henry, Adam Clark, just to name a few, all identified the Roman Catholic Church as the Beast of Revelation 13 and the papacy as antichrist.
During the Reformation, thousands of Catholics returned to the scriptures and discovered the truth about Jesus. Unfortunately today, most Protestants and evangelicals have historical amnesia, all forgetting what the significance is that separates them from Catholicism. Now, don't get me wrong, Pope Francis might be an absolutely wonderful individual. I'd like to meet him. I support his modest and conservative positions on several issues. Furthermore, I expect to meet millions of former Catholics and current Catholics in heaven.
We're not talking about people's personal temperaments, but rather Catholicism's official view regarding scripture. For example, have we overlooked the Pope's claim to be God on earth? Pope Leo XIII said, "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." That's very troubling. Let me give you an example of what some of these interesting headlines are. I suppose that most of us have heard that not too long ago, Pope Francis officially canonized two former popes, meaning they can be venerated and prayed to.
What does it mean when a man says that he's got the power to officially deify other men where you can pray to them and they ostensibly can then take your prayers to God and tell the Lord Jesus that they need to answer your prayers now. What does it say about a man who claims to have the authority to make other people saints to be prayed to? Not to mention what it says about the state of the dead.
In reading the New York Times article about this written by Jim Yardley, he says, "For Francis, who has emerged as a major global figure after only one year as Pope, the canonization ceremony offered a stage to underscore his broad agenda of trying to bring together different Catholic fractions as he prepares for two major meetings in which prelates are expected to address some of the most contentious social issues facing the Catholic Church. The two former popes are icons to different constituencies within the church that by canonizing them together, Francis was making a political statement as well as a religious one.
"John XXIII is a hero to many liberal Catholics for his Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s, which sought to open the church to a more modern era. On the other hand, Pope John Paul II, he's a hero to many conservative Catholics because of his resistance to liberalizing elements of the church. By pairing their canonization, many analysts said Francis sought to de-emphasize their differences in the service of trying to reconcile divisions within the Catholic Church and find consensus as he prepares for the meetings, known as synods, centered on the theme of family.
"It'll be interesting to see what comes out of these family synods. I expect they're going to talk about the importance of keeping Sunday holy. More than 5000 priests, and over 1000 bishop leaders, and other dignitaries from more than 90 countries joined the throng. The spectacle was beamed across the world." Another thought that popped into my mind in connection with the canonization of these former popes, they, Catholics, call the popes the Holy Father. When you've got two former popes that are canonized and they can be prayed to, doesn't that create confusion for Catholics when they pray, "Our Father which art in heaven?"
Which one are they talking to? Perhaps that's why Jesus said we shouldn't be calling any man father, a religious leader, because we have one Father in heaven, which is God. The Bible tells us that we're not supposed to be praying to man. You can read, for instance, in 1 Timothy 2:5. There is only one God and one mediator between God and man, and that's Jesus Christ. The idea that we're praying to Paul and the dead popes, that is unbiblical.
This was also an interesting event because at this enormous mass where these popes were canonized, they actually had two living popes there canonizing two dead popes, because Pope Benedict was present as well. That's a very interesting event. Then the other thing that happened is the pope recently made a trip to the Middle East. It seems like he's sort of inserted himself in the peace process. The United States has been failing to get any kind of consensus among the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians. So now the pope said, "Let me take a crack at it."
The pope, he came with great fanfare, he visited a number of holy sites. Keep in mind there's a lot of significance to this. It's not an accident that the Middle East represents the holiest places in the history for the world's Muslims, for the Catholics, and for the Protestants, and the Jews. Going there has a lot of significance. The pope appearing on this site of the Temple Mountain where the Dome of the Rock is, the place where Solomon's temple was, the temple where Jesus taught, where the Jews would like to build another temple someday, problem is right now there's one of the holiest of Muslim shrines there called the Dome of the Rock.
He's been there and getting photographed in that location. I just brought back to my mind one of the verses in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:1, "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.
"But you brethren are not in darkness so that day should overtake you as a thief." That's why we should be awakened. We should be sober and see these things that are happening before our very eyes in the headlines. The pope also met with the leader of the Orthodox Church, Bartholomew I, the patriarch. That was I thought, very interesting.
It tells us that he is the leader of 250 million Orthodox Christians, and there has been a divide separating the Catholic Church from the Orthodox Church for over 1000 years now and they're seeking to find unity. Several times they pray together and they talk together and they're planning on meeting further to find out how to heal the schism that occurred between these two great denominations.
It says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, "Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless there comes a falling away first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worship, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Very interesting. If you go back to March, the President of the United States made a special trip to Europe, and he sat down and he visited with the pope.
It says here, I'm reading from a CNN report, "President Barack Obama gave Pope Francis a box of seeds as a gift, a fitting token of their first ever meeting providing a fresh start of sorts between the administration and the Catholic leadership after years of strained relations." Because the position of President Obama on certain social issues like abortion is very much out of harmony with the position of the Catholic Church, and so they were hoping to reconcile. There's one picture in particular where you've got President Obama sitting at the desk with the pope. It almost makes it look like--
It reminds me of when I went to elementary school, I got into trouble and I was brought into the principal's office. That's the first picture that pops into my mind. It looks like the president is recognizing the superiority of the pope in this picture. Also I thought it was interesting that the box, the president gave the pope a gift of a box of seeds. The box was made out of wood that came from the first cathedral built in North America, first Catholic Cathedral built in North America. Also, the pope gave the president a couple of books.
It says, "He gave him two medallions, one symbolizing the need for peace and solidarity between the two hemispheres, and a copy of his book The Joy of the Gospel, a book written by Pope Francis that calls for a new era of evangelization and a renewed focus for the poor. This reminds me of a very significant quote you find in that classic book called The Great Controversy, and this is down on page 588, "Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hand across the Gulf to clasp the hand of spiritualism.
"They'll reach over the abyss to clasp the hand with Roman power, and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience. Little by little you're seeing more credibility and more recognition being given to the church in Rome." Now, you connect these events with something else that happened about a month ago. The pope met with leaders from the United Nations.
It says, "Francis chose a meeting with, of all people, officials of the United Nations to endorse what he calls the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as the indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society." The author of this article was a little bit disgruntled. It says,"By appealing to sanction what amounts to force redistribution, Francis grievously extended his authority as a religious leader and became what amounts to a robe wearing politician."
It says in Revelation that this antichrist power, whoever it might be, has something to do with economics because it gets to the place where you can not buy or sell unless you receive the approval of this power. So I think that's interesting as well. Then you marry that together with something else that happened about a month ago, when house speaker John Boehner gave a formal invitation to Pope Francis to address the US Congress, senators and congressmen. Not only did he give this special invitation, this will be the first time in history that that's been done, and it was supported not only by the Republicans, but just as much by the Democrats.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat leader from California, she was pleased to join Boehner in making the invitation, adding that she has been inspired by the messages of peace, compassion, and brotherhood that have come from Pope Francis. It might be worth mentioning at this point that house speaker John Boehner is a Roman Catholic, as is Nancy Pelosi, as are most of the Supreme court judges in the US today, when at one point in American history, there were no Roman Catholics on the Supreme court.
Well, friends, it seems like more and more is happening where we see that this is a very busy pope who is doing all he can to try to thrust himself on the stage of the world as both a financial leader, leader in economics, a leader in politics, a leader in spiritual things, and sure enough that the prophecy is coming true, all the world is wondering after the beast. This is why Ellen White wrote in the book Great controversy page 563, "The protestant churches are in great darkness or they would discern the signs of the times.
The Roman church is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict, to regain control over the world and to reestablish persecution and undo all the Protestantism has done. Friends, if I seem excited, it's because a lot really is happening. I don't know if I have in my life ever seen so many events that are transpiring in such quick succession that seem to have some prophetic relevance. That's why it's so important.
If you don't understand why this is important, you need to get a hold of that video that we recently produced called Revelation, the Bride the Beast in Babylon. You can download it from Itunes, you can order it from Amazon, it's at all major outlets, and you can go to the website, it's called the revelationmystery.com. Friends, as we witness these different components of prophecy all coming together, that shouldn't frighten us. That's actually good news. It reminds me of that verse where Jesus said, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up, lift up your heads because your redemption draws near." Luke 21:28.
Well, friends, a lot has been happening in the news lately, and I expect there's going to be more in the near future. I hope that you'll join me for our next prophesy update.