STANDING UP TO GOD
Kevin D. Paulson
We have spoken about the mysterious beast power described in the books of Daniel and Revelation. And on the basis of the evidence of both Scripture and history, we came to the conclusion, reluctantly and with sorrow, not with anger or prejudice, that this power refers to the Roman Catholic Church.
Again we want to make it clear that we are talking here about a religious system. We are not talking about people, or questioning the sincerity of anyone's relationship with God.
Many have trouble making a distinction between the errors people believe and practice, and the people themselves. Too many among us either love both the sin and the sinner, or we hate both the sin and the sinner.
We need to learn to tell the difference.
For those of you who were with us last night, you will recall that two characteristics of this power remain to be explored in our meetings. This morning we will focus on the Bible verses which depict this power as speaking great words against God.
Dan. 7:8:
"I considered the horns and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."
Dan. 7:25:
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand for a time and times and the dividing of time."
Rev. 13:5-6:
"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."
Some of what is in these verses we have already covered.
1. The uprooting of the three barbarian kingdoms
2. The 1,260 years of supremacy
3. Making war with the saints
Now we’re going to look at the evidence for speaking great words against God (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:5-6) that this power makes manifest.
What are the great words that this power speaks against God?
Daniel was obviously quite taken aback by these words:
Dan. 7:11:
"I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake."
"The successor of Peter is the Vicar of Christ; he has been established as a mediator between God and man, below God but beyond man, less than God but more than man, who shall judge all and be judged by no one."
Quoted by T. Walter Wallbank & Alastair M. Taylor, Civilization: Past and Present, vol. 1 (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, and Co, 1954), p. 404.
I Tim. 2:5:
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
II Cor. 5:10:
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
Eight hundred years later, the position of the papacy on the right to forgive sins remains unchanged:
"No Forgiveness ‘Directly From God’, Pope Says":
"Rebutting a belief widely shared by Protestants and a growing number of Roman Catholics, Pope John Paul II on Tuesday dismissed the 'widespread idea that one can obtain forgiveness directly from God,' and exhorted Catholics to confess more often to their priests."
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 12, 1984, p. A11.
"Pope John Paul II announced yesterday that throughout the millennium celebration, penitents who do a charitable deed or give up cigarettes or alcohol for a day can earn an 'indulgence' that will eliminate time in purgatory."
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 28, 2998, p. A-1.
"Vatican officials . . . insisted that the new attention on indulgences--the forgiveness of sins through good works--shouldn't harm recently improved relations with the Lutheran Church, whose founder, Martin Luther, rebelled against abuses in granting indulgences.
"The new manual incorporates John Paul's directives on indulgences, including advice that individuals can do penance by such simple acts as giving up smoking for a day."
Associated Press, Sept. 17, 1999 (via the Internet)
And it’s still happening:
“In recent months dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago—the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife—and reminding them of the church’s clout in mitigating the wages of sin.
“The fact that many Catholics under 50 have never sought one, and never heard of indulgences except in high school European history (Martin Luther denounced the selling of them in 1517 while igniting the Protestant Reformation), simply makes their reintroduction more urgent among church leaders bent on restoring fading traditions of penance in what they see as a self-satisfied world.”
Paul Vitello, “For Catholics, a Door to Absolution is Reopened.” New York Times, Feb. 10, 2009.
Why is it impossible for a human being or institution to forgive our sins?
Prov. 28:13:
"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."
II Chron. 7:14:
"If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land."
Isa. 55:7:
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon Him: and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
Here we see why no human being can forgive our sins. Because only God knows our thoughts and hearts, and whether or not we have forsaken our sins.
I Kings 8:39:
"Thou, even Thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men."
It is truly frivolous to believe God's mercy or forgiveness could be purchased merely by giving up cigarettes or alcohol for a day!
Before we examine some other issues, let's look at another description of this power that we didn't have the chance to look at last evening. Here we see another prediction of a power to arise against God before Jesus comes back:
II Thess. 2:3-4:
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the coming of Jesus) shall not come, except there come 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 worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
What is the temple of God, according to the apostle Paul?
I Cor. 3:16:
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
II Cor. 6:14,16:
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? . . .
"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God."
Eph. 2:19-22:
"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God;
"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone;
"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
"In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."
The temple of God is the church of God.
What II Thessalonians 2 is telling us is that God's great enemy will place himself within God's church and thereby claim allegiance.
Now let's look at II Thessalonians 2 again:
II Thess. 2:4:
"Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
What does the Roman papacy claim for itself?
Pope Leo XIII declared that Catholics owe "complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman pontiff, as to God Himself."
Quoted by Stephen D. Mumford, American Democracy and the Vatican: Population Growth and National Security (Amherst, NY: The Humanist Press, 1984), p. 82.
"The Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plentitude of power, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction not only of the earthly but also of the heavenly kingdom."
Lucius Ferraris, "Papa II," Prompta Bibliotheca, vol. 6, pp. 25-29.
"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ Himself hidden under the veil of the flesh."
The Catholic Journal, July 1895
In a very recent statement the former pope presumes to disagree with Christ Himself, whom he claims to represent:
"Have no fear when people call me the Vicar of Christ, when they say to me 'Holy Father' or "Your Holiness,' or use terms similar to these, which seem even inimical to the gospel. Christ Himself declared, 'Call no one on earth your father; you have but one father in heaven. Do not be called Master; you have but one Master the Messiah' (Matt. 23:9-10). These expressions, nevertheless, have evolved out of a long tradition, becoming part of common usage. One must not be afraid of these words either."
Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), p. 6.
We cannot but think of the words of Jesus:
Matt. 15:6,9:
"Thus have ye made the commandments of God of none effect by your tradition. . . . But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Now, what about some of the recent scandals among priests in the Catholic Church?
Now, let's be careful here. Other clergy have fallen into these sins too.
But is there a basic spiritual and theological problem here, reflecting the departures from God's Word we have been discussing?
One contemporary Catholic author, Michael Sean Winters, writes of how the lofty view of papal and church authority has prepared the way for the current scandal of abuse:
"One hundred years ago, the future Pope Pius X wrote, 'When we speak of the Vicar of Christ [the Pope], we must not quibble, we must obey: we must not evaluate his judgments, criticize his directions, lest we do injury .' This is not obedience; it is slavishness."
Michael Sean Winters, "Service Station: Can the bishops reform themselves?" The New Republic, July 1, 2002, p. 15.
"It (the scandal) was endemic to a Catholic culture that had deified its priests in the eyes of their parishioners and thus rendered children particularly vulnerable to exploitation by these men."
Frank Bruni and Elinor Burkett, A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church (New York: Penguin Putnam, 2002), p. 6.
"[The scandal] also bore witness to the lofty, untouchable place that the priest occupied in the lives of these children and their families. A priest brought God into the Eucharist; a priest pardoned their sins."
Ibid, p. 10.
"Regardless of whether the percentages are in synch with the rest of the society, priest abusers have a unique and tragic opportunity to do damage. Their position of trust gives them special access to, and influence over, children and their families. Catholics go to priests in their moments of greatest vulnerability and emotional nakedness--when they confess their sins."
Ibid, p. 57.
No human being can handle the pressure of hearing everyone's dirty secrets!
I Cor. 15:33:
"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners."
"In Latin, the phrase by which priests are known is Alter Christi--other Christ. . . . One victim [said] she was taught that if she encountered both a priest and an angel on the street, she should walk toward the priest, because he is closer to God."
p. 58.
"'We didn't see him (the priest) as a man,' . . . 'but as an extension of God our Father.'"
p. 70
"'Maybe there is a God,' [one victim] says, 'but maybe he's not in the Catholic Church.'"
p. 143
What about celibacy?
"Celibacy was not mandated by Jesus Christ or the apostles, but by Catholic leaders in the twelfth century."
Bruni & Burkett, A Gospel of Shame, p. 50.
I Tim. 4:1,3:
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; . . .
"Forbidding to marry."
Matt. 15:9:
"In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Winters asks, regarding the bishops' response to the current scandal:
"Which man had recently consulted his lawyer, and which man had recently consulted his Bible?"
Winters, "Service Station," The New Republic, July 1, 2002, p. 16.
And what about the mass?
"You're held in respect (as a priest) and you're held in honor regardless of what you're like on the inside. The whole world is one of privilege. . . . And then you hold up the Eucharist. 'This is my body, this is the divine incarnate here that I hold, and I alone can touch it.' It's a tremendous, in a sense, burden, and it can be very seductive to people."
Bruni & Burkett, A Gospel of Shame, p. 194.
Every time the mass is performed, according to Catholic doctrine, Jesus is sacrificed again.
Heb. 9:25-26:
"Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others:
"For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
And now look at this even more recent statement by the current pope, regarding the role of the Virgin Mary:
These words were spoken by the Pope in April 1997:
"Having created man 'male and female,' the Lord also wants to place the New Eve beside the New Adam in the redemption. . . . Mary, the New Eve, thus becomes the perfect icon of the Church. . . . We can therefore turn to the Blessed Virgin, trustfully imploring her aid in the awareness of the role entrusted to her by God, the role of co-operator in the redemption."
Newsweek, Aug. 25, 1997, p. 51.
Even the religion editor of Newsweek commented on this as follows:
"This is what theologians call high Mariology, and it seems to contradict the basic New Testament belief that 'there is one God and one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus' (I Timothy 2:5). In place of the Holy Trinity, it would appear, there would be a kind of Holy Quartet, with Mary playing the multiple roles of daughter of the Father, mother of the Son and spouse of the Holy Spirit."
Kenneth L. Woodward, "Hail, Mary," Newsweek, Aug. 25, 1997, p. 49.
Rev. 13:6:
"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."
And now, for the most recent statement of all:
"Vatican Declares Catholicism Sole Path to Salvation"
Cover headline in Los Angeles Times, Sept. 6, 2000, p. A1
"The Vatican ordered bishops to avoid references to 'sister churches' and instead remember that 'the one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church is not sister but mother of all the particular Christian churches."
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 6, 2000, p. A8.
I don't say this harshly, my friends, but the Bible--as we saw last evening--calls this institution the mother of something else:
Rev. 17:5:
"Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."
We're going to talk further about how the mother and the daughters are getting back together.
According to the Bible, when the deadly wound of this beast would be healed:
Rev. 13:3:
"And I saw one of its heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."
The Pope in our day bestrides the earth with ever-increasing power over the masses. And he is routinely addressed as “Your Holiness.”
Here we see more evidence of blasphemy.
Psalm 111:9:
"Holy and reverend is His name."
Rev. 15:4:
"Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy."
Once again, my friends, hate is not operative here. It is the needful speaking of God’s truth in what we pray is genuine love (Eph. 4:15).