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"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

 

IN VIEW of these pointed words of the Apostle Paul, showing that a character which he designates "The Man of Sin" must precede the coming of the Day of the Lord, which we have proved has already begun to dawn, it is important that we look about, to see if such a character has yet appeared.

For if such a character as Paul and the other apostles so carefully describe has not yet come, the above words should be understood as Paul's veto to all the other testimony concerning the Lord's presence and the setting up of his Kingdom now. And that veto must stand as an unanswerable argument until this Man of Sin shall be recognized, corresponding in every particular to the prophetic description.

Antichrist Must Be Developed, Revealed
and Smitten  Before the Day of the Lord

It is clearly stated, not only that this Man of Sin must first rise, but that he must develop and prosper, before the Day of the Lord comes. Before Christ's day the prosperity and influence of this power will have reached their climax and will be on the decline; and it is to be by the bright shining of the Lord's presence at his second advent that this Man of Sin shall be utterly destroyed.

These foretold circumstances we must observe, in order to see whether this caution to the Church in Paul's day is still applicable in our day. Now, after eighteen centuries, the claim is again made that the day of Christ has come; and the important question arises, Does anything which Paul said in correcting the error of the Thessalonians stand as an objection to this claim now?

From the Apostle's exhortations to the Church, to watch for the Lord's return, taking heed to the sure word of prophecy, and from his care in pointing out the signs of Christ's presence, the character of his work at that time, etc., it is evident that he was quite as anxious that the Church should be able to recognize the Lord's presence when he should come, as that they should not be deceived into the error that he had come, before the time of his presence.

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A contrary View of This Subject Considered

a.  Deceptions of Antichrist
Already Working in Paul's Day

A fall into the latter error, in the early part of the age, exposed those who embraced it to the deceptions of the Antichrist principle which was even then working; while a failure to recognize the Day of the Lord, and his presence in the day when his presence is due, exposes those failing to recognize him to the continued deceptions and false doctrines of Antichrist, and blinds them to the grand truths and special privileges of this day. Hence the Apostle's anxiety for the Church at both ends of the age, and his warning--"Let no man deceive you by any means." Hence also the exact description of the Man of Sin, in order that he might be recognized in his time.

While Christians in this end of the age are inclined to forget even the promise of the Lord's return, and, when they do remember it, to think of it only with dread and fearful forebodings, the early Church looked for it anxiously, and with joyful anticipation, as the fruition of all its hopes, the reward of all its faithfulness and the end of all its sorrows.

Consequently, the believers of that day were ready to hearken diligently to any teaching which claimed that the Day of the Lord was either very near or present; and hence they were in danger of being deceived on this point unless they were careful students of the teachings of the apostles on the subject.

b.  Paul's Letters to Thessalonica
Regarding the "Man of Sin"

The Church at Thessalonica, impressed with the erroneous teachings of some, to the effect that the Lord had come again, and that they were living in his day, evidently supposed that the idea was in harmony with Paul's teaching in his first epistle to them, wherein he s aid (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5) that the Day of the Lord would steal on quietly and unobservedly, as a thief in the night, and that, though others would be in it unawares, the saints would be in the light concerning it.

Learning of the serious error into which they had fallen, of supposing the day of the Lord's presence to have already come, Paul wrote them a second epistle, the central thought of which was the correction of this error. He says:

"Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him, "That ye be not readily agitated in mind nor troubled; neither by spirit, neither by word, neither by letter as from us, as though the Day of the Lord [enestemi] is present. "Let no man delude you, by any means; because the falling away [apostasy] must first come, and there must be and there must be revealed that Man of Sin, the Son of Destruction, "The Opposer,      (1)  exalting himself above all,      (2)  being called a (1)  exalting himself above all,      (2)  being called a god [mighty ruler] or      (3)  that receives homage--so as to      (4)  seat himself in the Temple of God,      (5)  openly displaying himself that he is a            god.      (3)  that receives homage--so as to      (4)  seat himself in the Temple of God,      (5)  openly displaying himself that he is a            god. "Remember ye not that while I was yet with you I told you these things? "And now ye know what interposes, in order that he [Christ] may be revealed in his own [due] season. "But insubordination [to Christ] is already working, only as a secret thing, only as a secret thing, until the now hindering one shall be out of the way; "And then shall that insubordinate one be revealed, shall that insubordinate one be revealed, whom the Lord shall kill with the spirit of his mouth and annihilate by the bright shining of his bright shining of his [parousia] presence."                                       2 Thessalonians 2:1-8

 

Paul could write thus positively of the development of the Man of Sin before the Day of the Lord, because of his study of Daniel's prophecy, to which our Lord also referred (Matthew 24:15); and probably because Paul himself, in his "visions and revelations," had been shown the great havoc which this character would work in the Church.

c.  What Paul Did NOT Say

It should be observed that Paul did not use arguments such as some today are disposed to use against the claim that the day of the Lord has begun. He did not say, O foolish Thessalonians, do ye not know that when Christ comes your eyes shall behold him, and your ears shall hear a dreadful sound of the trump of God? and that you will have further proof of it in the reeling tombstones and the rising saints?

Is it not evident that if such a criticism had been proper, Paul would have been quick to avail himself of an argument so simple and so easily grasped? And moreover, is not the fact that he did not use this argument a proof that such an argument is not, and could not be, founded on the truth?

From the fact that Paul, in his energetic effort to correct their error, offered but this one objection to their claim, he thereby evidently endorsed as correct their general ideas of the Day of the Lord--that it could be commenced while many might be in ignorance of it, that it could come without outward demonstration to mark it.

d.  Paul's Only Objection
That the Lord Had Not Returned
--The Man of Sin

But the only ground of his objection was, that there must first come a falling away, and, in consequence of that falling away, the development of the Man of Sin--which, whatever it may be --which, whatever it may be (whether a single individual, or a great Antichrist system which he thus personifies), must rise, flourish and begin to decline-- before the day of the Lord's presence.

 The system which fully answers the description given by inspiration:

(1)  Must be professedly Christian, and must contain a large majority of those who claim to be Christians.

(2)  And it must be one having its start as an apostasy, or falling away from the true Christian faith--

(3)  An apostasy, too, which was secret and stealthy, until circumstances favored its assumption of power. Its stealthy beginning was in the days of the apostles--in the desire of some teachers to be greatest.

We need not look long to find a character fitting all the requirements perfectly; one whose record, written by secular historians as well as by its own deluded servants, we shall see agrees exactly with the prophetic delineations of Antichrist. But when we state that the one and only system whose history fits these prophecies is Papacy, let no one misunderstand us to mean that every Roman Catholic is a man of sin; nor that the priests, nor even the popes of the Church of Rome, are, or have been, the Antichrist.

No man is " the Antichrist," "the Man of Sin," described in prophecy. Popes, bishops and others are at most only parts or members of the Antichrist system, even as all of the Royal Priests are only members of the true Christ, under Jesus their head, and in the same manner that these in their present condition are together the antitypical Elijah, though no one of them is the Elijah or the Christ foretold. Notice, further, that the Church of Rome as an ecclesiastical system only is not the " Man of Sin," and is never presented under any figure of a man.

On the contrary, a woman is always the symbol used for a church separate from its head and lord. The true Church is symbolized by a "chaste virgin," while the apostate church, which has fallen away from primitive purity and fidelity to the Lord, is symbolically called "a harlot."   As the true "virgin" Church continues to be such to the end of the age, when she is to be united to her Lord and take his name--Christ--so the apostate church was not the Antichrist, or Man of Sin, until she united with her lord and head, the pope, the claimed vicegerent of Christ, and became a religious empire, falsely styled Christendom --which signifies Christ's Kingdom.

h.  The Gospel Age Was Not the Time
for The Church to Reign

Papacy is the name of this false kingdom; and it was built upon a misapplied truth--the truth that the Church is called to be kings and priests unto God and to reign on the earth. But the time for reigning had not yet come: the Gospel age was not appointed for that purpose, but for the selection, development, discipline, humiliation and sacrifice of the Church, following in the footprints of her Lord and patiently waiting and enduring until the time appointed for the promised exaltation and glorious reign--the Millennial age.

The Lord foresaw that nominal Christianity would spread over the world, and that, becoming popular, it would be embraced by many who would appreciate the form without entering into the spirit of its institution. He foresaw that as numbers of this sort would identify themselves with the Church, the worldly spirit, which is the opposite of the spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice, would come in with them; that selfishness and a desire to be great and to rule, thus coming in, would not have long to wait until they could seize an opportunity; and that thus the Church would seek to dominate the world before the time--or, rather, that the worldly element which would enter the Church would make its influence felt, and in the name of the true Church would grasp the civil power of earth which God had given over to the Gentiles, and which cannot pass fully into the hands of the true Church until the close of the Times of the Gentiles, A.D. 1914.

And thus it actually transpired: the nominal church began to fall away as it increased in numbers under the teaching and example of ambitious men whose ideas grew more and more favorable to the power and worldly influence which numbers and wealth brought with them. Gradually the spirit of the Church became worldly, and the things of the world were coveted.

 

The suggestion of ambition was-- "If the great Roman Empire, with all its power and influence, its armies and wealth, were only to support the Church, how honorable and noble it would then be to be a Christian! How speedily then would heathen persecutions cease! Then it would be in our power not only to overawe them, but to compel their adherence to the Church and cross and name of Christ. "It evidently is not God's design that the Church should forever be subject to the world and persecuted by it: the Apostle's words, 'Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?' as well as our Lord's promises that we shall reign with him, and the many prophecies which refer to the reign of the Church, indicate clearly that such is God's plan. True, the Apostle wrote that our Lord would first return and exalt the Church, and exhorted that we should 'wait' for the Lord; but several centuries are now past, and we see no sign of the Lord's coming. "We must understand that the apostles were to some extent in error. To us it seems clear that we can and should use every means to obtain a hold upon civil government and conquer the world for the Lord. It must be, too, that the Church should have a head--one to represent the absent Lord and to represent the Church before the world--one who would receive the homage of the world, exercise the authority of Christ, and rule the world with a rod of iron, as the Prophet David predicted."

Thus gradually by a slow process of reasoning covering centuries, the real hope of the Church for exaltation to rule and bless the world--namely, the second coming of the Lord--was lost sight of, and a new hope took its place: the hope of success without the Lord, under the headship and lead of a line of popes. And thus, by collusion, intriguing and exchange of favors with the world, the hope of the Church became a false hope, a delusive snare by which Satan led from one evil and error to another, both of doctrine and of practice.

i.  At What Point Did 
The Apostasy Become 
The Man of Sin?

The point at which the apostasy developed into the "Man of Sin" was when the Papal hierarchy exalted itself under the headship of an arranged line of popes, and claimed and attempted the rulership of earth in the name of, and pretending to be, Christ's Millennial Kingdom.

It was a false, fraudulent claim, no matter how thoroughly some of its supporters believed it. It was a fraudulent, counterfeit kingdom, no matter how sincere some if its organizers and supporters may have been. It was Antichrist's, no matter how much they claimed and believed it to be the true Christ's glory and kingdom and power upon earth. It is a mistake to suppose that to be conscientious is always to be right.

Every system of error doubtless has as many conscientiously deluded votaries as it has hypocrites, or more. Conscientiousness is moral honesty, and it is not dependent upon knowledge. The heathen, misinformed, conscientiously worship and sacrifice to idols; Saul, misinformed, conscientiously persecuted the saints; and so, too, many papists, misinformed, conscientiously did violence to the prophecies, persecuted the true saints and organized the great system of Antichrist.

For hundreds of years Papacy has not only deceived the kings of the earth as to its power and claimed divine authority, and ruled over them, but even in the Church, God's Temple, where Christ alone should be recognized as Head and Teacher, it has seated itself and claimed to be the only teacher and lawgiver; and here it has deceived all, except the few, by its phenomenal success and boastful claims.

"All the world wondered"--were astonished, deceived, bewildered--"whose names were not written in the Lamb's book of life," and many whose names are written as saints of God were seriously perplexed. And this deception is the stronger because of the very gradual formation of these ambitious designs and their yet more gradual realization. It extended over centuries, and, as an ambition, was already secretly at work in Paul's day.

It was a process of little by little adding error to error--the supplementing of one man's ambitious declarations by those of another and another farther down the stream of time. Thus, insidiously, did Satan plant and water the seeds of error, and develop the greatest and most influential system the world has ever known--Antichrist.

 

j.  "Antichrist" -- Two Definitions

The name "Antichrist" has a twofold significance. The first is against (i.e., in opposition to) Christ: the second significance is instead (i.e., a counterfeit) of Christ.

 

"Antichrist" Means:
1.  Against Christ	In opposition to Christ
2.  Instead of Christ	A counterfeit of Christ

In the first sense the expression is a general one, which would apply to any enemy opposing Christ. In this sense Saul (afterward called Paul), and every Jew, and every Mohammedan, and all the Pagan emperors and people of Rome, were antichrists--opposers of Christ. (Acts 9:4)

But it is not in this sense of the word that the Scriptures use the name Antichrist. They pass over all such enemies, and apply the term Antichrist in the sense given above, as now its secondary meaning, viz.--as against, in the sense of misrepresenting, counterfeiting, taking the place of the true Christ.

Thus John remarks, "Ye have heard that the Antichrist shall come. Even now there are many antichrists." (1 John 2:18,19) [The Greek distinguishes between the special Antichrist and the numerous lesser ones.] And John's subsequent remarks show that he does not refer to all opposers of Christ and the Church, but to a certain class who, still professing to be of the Christ body, the Church, had left the foundation principles of the truth, and were therefore not only misrepresenting the truth, but were, in the eyes of the world, taking the place and name of the true Church--hence really counterfeiting the true saints.

John says of these, "They went out from us, but they were not of us:" they do not represent us, even though they may deceive themselves and the world on this subject. In the same epistle John declares that those he mentions as many antichrists have the spirit of the Antichrist.

 

k.  What We Expect of Antichrist,
We Find in Papacy

Here, then, is what we should expect, and what we do find in Papacy: not an opposition to the name of Christ, but an enemy or opponent of Christ in that: (1)  It falsely bears his name, (2)  Counterfeits his kingdom and authority, and (3)  Misrepresents his character and plans and doctrines before the world--a most baneful enemy and opponent indeed--worse far than an outspoken foe. And this is true, be it remembered, even though some of those connected with that system are conscientiously astray--"deceiving and being deceived."

 

k.  What We Expect of Antichrist,
We Find in Papacy

Here, then, is what we should expect, and what we do find in Papacy: not an opposition to the name of Christ, but an enemy or opponent of Christ in that: (1)  It falsely bears his name, (2)  Counterfeits his kingdom and authority, and (3)  Misrepresents his character and plans and doctrines before the world--a most baneful enemy and opponent indeed--worse far than an outspoken foe. And this is true, be it remembered, even though some of those connected with that system are conscientiously astray--"deceiving and being deceived."

 

With these intimations as to the identity and characteristics of the Man of Sin, and when, and where, and under what circumstances, to look for him, we shall proceed to an examination of some of the historic evidences, proving, we think beyond reasonable question, that every prediction concerning the Antichrist has been fulfilled in the Papal system, in a manner and to an extent which, with the enlightenment of this day taken into account, all must admit could never be repeated.

Space obliges us here to confine ourselves to a mere outline of the great mass of historic testimony. We have also confined ourselves to historians of recognized accuracy, in many instances going to Roman Catholic writers for their testimony or admissions.

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The Circumstances Which Gave
Birth to the Man of Sin

a.  A Great Falling Away

We first inquire, Does history record a fulfilment of Paul's prophecy of a great falling away from the original simplicity and purity of the doctrines and life of the Christian Church, and of the secret working of an iniquitous, ambitious influence in the Church, prior to the development of Papacy, the Man of Sin--i.e., prior to the recognition of a pope as the head of the Church?

Yes, very clearly: The Papal Hierarchy did not come into existence for several centuries after the Lord and the apostles had founded the Church. And of the interval between, we read:

b.  The 4th Century "As the church grew in numbers and wealth, costly edifices were constructed for worship; the services became more elaborate; sculpture and painting were enlisted in the work of providing aids to devotion. Relics of saints and martyrs were cherished as sacred possessions; religious observances were multiplied; and the church under the Christian emperors [in the fourth century], with its array of clergy and of imposing ceremonies, assumed much of the stateliness and visible splendor that belonged to the heathen system which it had supplanted.", with its array of clergy and of imposing ceremonies, assumed much of the stateliness and visible splendor that belonged to the heathen system which it had supplanted."   [Fisher's Universal History, page 193.], with its array of clergy and of imposing ceremonies, assumed much of the stateliness and visible splendor that belonged to the heathen system which it had supplanted."   [Fisher's Universal History, page 193.]

 

Says another, "Contemporaneously with the establishment [of Christianity as the religion of the empire in the fourth century] was the progress of a great and general corruption which had arisen two centuries before. Superstition and ignorance invested the ecclesiastics with a power which they exerted to their own aggrandizement."  [White's Universal History, page 156.]

c.  The 5th Century Rapin observes that, "In the fifth century Christianity was debased by a vast number of human inventions; the simplicity of its government and discipline was reduced to a system of clerical power; and its worship was polluted with ceremonies borrowed from the heathen."

 

d.  The 1st Century "In the First Century not many wise or noble were called. No great names have been handed down to us; no philosophers, or statesmen, or nobles, or generals, or governors, or judges, or magistrates. In the first century the Christians were not of sufficient importance to be generally persecuted by the government. They had not even arrested public attention. Nobody wrote against them, not even Greek philosophers. "We do not read of protests or apologies from the Christians themselves. They had no great men in their ranks, either for learning, or talents, or wealth, or social position. Nothing in history is more barren than the annals of the Church in the first century, so far as great names are concerned. Yet in this century converts were multiplied in every city, and traditions point to the martyrdoms of those who were prominent, including nearly all of the apostles.

 

e.  The 2nd Century "In the Second Century there are no greater names than Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Clement, Melito and Apollonius, quiet bishops or intrepid martyrs, who addressed their flocks in upper chambers, and who held no worldly rank, famous only for their sanctity or simplicity of character, and only mentioned for their sufferings and faith. We read of martyrs, some of whom wrote valuable treatises and apologies; but among them we find no people of rank. It was a disgrace to be a Christian in the eye of fashion or power. The early Christian literature is chiefly apologetic, and the doctrinal character is simple and practical. There were controversies in the Church, an intense religious life, great activities, great virtues, but no outward conflicts, no secular history. They had not as yet assailed the government or the great social institutions of the empire. It was a small body of pure and blameless men, who did not aspire to control society. But they had attracted the notice of the government and were of sufficient consequence to be persecuted. They were looked upon as fanatics who sought to destroy a reverence for existing institutions."

f.  Organized for Power

(1.)    There was an organized fellowship among the members;
(2.)    Bishops had become influential, Bishops had become influential, Bishops had become influential, not in society,
          but among the Christians;
(3.)    Dioceses and parishes were established;
(4.)    There was a distinction between city and rural bishops;
(5.)    Delegates of churches assembled to discuss points of
          faith or suppress nascent heresies;
(6.)    The diocesan system was developed, and
          ecclesiastical centralization commenced.
(7.)    Deacons began to be reckoned among the higher clergy;
(8.)    The weapons of excommunication were forged;
(9.)    Missionary efforts were carried on;
(10.)  The festivals of the church were created;
(11.)  Gnosticism was embraced by many leading minds;
(12.)   Catechetical schools taught the faith systematically;
(13.)  The formulas of baptism and the sacraments became of
         great importance;
(14.)  And monachism became popular.