IS THE ANTICHRIST ALREADY HERE?
A Brief Look at What Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions
Declare in the Light of History

I.   INTRODUCTION
	a.  What this is not:  A diatribe against Roman Catholics.
	b.  What this is:  An examination of key statements from Holy Scripture, The 	Lutheran Confessions, and Roman Catholic Historical and Theological sources 	for identifying the Antichrist.

“You have heard that Antichrist is coming . . .”   I John 2:18

II.   SEEDS OF THE PAPACY FROM HISTORY
	a.  Romanists claim, based on a false exegesis of Matt. 16:18, that the papacy goes back to Peter, its first pope.
	b.  Some believe it started with Boniface III (607), since he was the first to take the title: “Universal Bishop.”
	c.  Others believe it started with Gregory VII (1085), because he centralized power in the Church under the Roman Bishop.
	d.  “The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals” (556), a literary forgery, claimed to go back to the beginning of the Church.  They were devised to strengthen the authority of the bishops, and particularly emphasized the primacy of the pope.
	e.  Clement of Rome (95) held the need for “an orderly succession of bishops to prevent division.”  Apostolic Succession is implied in Clement’s statements.
	f.  Irenaeus (202) held that bishops had a certain gift of grace for the custody of the truth, and he labeled as heretics any who did not hold to “Principle Succession.”
	g.  Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (258), attributed distinct sacerdotal functions to the bishops.  Without them “the Church would be without the grace it is to impart, and would cease to exist.”
	Cyprian planted the seeds for the primacy of the pope when he based the unity of the Church on the belief that it was built on Peter, even though he felt that Peter was equal in power with the other disciples.
	h.   Irenaeus and Tertullian (222) were already emphasizing the exalted position of Rome for the custody of Apostolic doctrine.
	i.   The Church received a tremendous boost of power in the 4th Century when it was united with the State, and in which the emperor played a dominant role.
	j.   Rome was the only apostolic seat in the West (there were six other seats in the Eastern Branch of the Church), and it was the West that saw the greatest expansion.

III.  SOME ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
	a.  Bishop Siricius (384-398) stated that those who differ with him separate themselves from the rock on which Christ built His Church, i.e. that the Bishop is “the Head of the Body, the heir of Peter’s Office (Decretal 385).”  He also praised celibacy, calling marriage “an unclean, bestial relationship.”

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	b.  Innocent I (417-418) was the first to make a direct connection between the alleged successors of Peter, and the primacy in Christendom.  He also demanded that all churches follow the usages, and obey the decisions of Rome.
	c.  Zosimus (417-418) declared that no one may question the decision of the Roman See, because they inherited Peter’s authority.
	d.  Boniface I (418-422) claimed that the organization of the Church was begun by Peter, and that the Roman Church is the head of all churches on earth.  Anyone separating from Rome ceases to be a member of the spiritual Body, and separates himself from the Christian religion.
	e.  Leo I (440-461), about whom Emperor Valentinian III declared: “ . . . only then will peace continue throughout the Church when the Bishop of Rome is recognized by all as lord and master.”
	f.  Hilarius (461-468) called himself “The Vicar of Peter” to whom belongs the “Keys of the Kingdom.”
	g.  Gelasius I (492-496) is called “Christ’s Vicar.”  He declared Matt. 16:18 the sole ground of the Roman Papacy.  Everything the Vatican Council of 1870 decreed concerning the pope can be found in Gelasius’ letters.
	h.  Gregory the Great (590-604) declared that the title “Universal Bishop” was 
“ . . . a name of blasphemy.  Whoever calls himself [such], in his presumption, is a forerunner of Antichrist.”
	i.  Boniface III (607) took the title “Universal Bishop” and applied it to himself.  Since his day, popes use the formula “We will and command” in ratifying the election of bishops.
	j.  Stephan II (752), and Leo III (800) crowned secular heads of State, and their example has been used by popes ever since to justify their claims that the pope is superior to secular governments.
	k.  Even though, historically, there is no evidence before 868, it is believed a letter was forged around 753 called “The Donation of Constantine.”  Allegedly, this letter was written around 328-330 by Constantine the Great.  It gives to “Blessed Sylvester” and his successors to the end of time all the finery, retinue and courtly luster of an empire.  It supposedly bequeathed to the pope “ . . . the city of Rome, all Italy, all places, provinces and cities of the Western Empire, and jurisdiction over Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Jerusalem.”  Since its appearance (centuries after Constantine lived), popes have chiefly used it to support their desires for temporal power.
	l.  From this point to the Late Middle Ages, there is little opposition to the papacy.  Rome had gained its power!

IV.   ROME’S TEACHINGS ON THE PAPACY
	a.  In summary: The Pope is the head and foundation of Christendom; the pope is the infallible teacher of Christendom; sinners can find salvation only in the pope’s Church.
	b.  On Peter’s primacy: From the “Constitutio Dogmatica de Ecclessia Christi (1870),”  “We declare that the primacy of jurisdiction over the Universal Church of God 

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was immediately and directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ The Lord . . . If anyone shall say that Blessed Peter the Apostle was not appointed prince of all apostles and the visible Head of the Church Militant, let him be anathema!”
	c.  On the Pope’s Primacy, ibid:  “If any man should deny . . . a perpetual line of successors in the Primacy over the Universal Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is the successor to Peter . . . let him be anathema!”  These declarations still stand to this day.

V.   THE ANTICHRIST IN SCRIPTURE
	a.  Scripture speaks of the “antichrist” in general and specific terms.  I John 2:18 uses it in a general sense, and focuses in on one aspect in 4:3 where he says “ . . . every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus (as having come in the flesh) is not from God.  This is the spirit of Antichrist . . . “  John is referring to those who teach other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In general, “antichrist” refers to all false teachers, because they set themselves up against Christ.  They are rebels.
	b.  In reminding his readers that they have heard that antichrist is coming, John may have been referring to an Old Testament prophecy in Dan. 11:36-39.  This speaks of one who exalts himself above every god, speaking blasphemies against “The God of gods,” and is totally given over to power and wealth in his idolatries.
	c.  II Thess. 2:3-10 refers to the Antichrist’s rise during the apostasy.  He will sit in the temple of God and oppose Him, claiming himself to be God, and working false signs and miracles.  The Lord will destroy him “with the breath of His mouth.”
	d.  I Tim. 4:1-3 speaks of those who depart from the faith, giving heed to lying spirits and doctrines of devils; forbidding marriage and commanding abstention from certain foods (c.f. Rome’s adherence to a celibate priesthood and mandatory fasts and “meatless” Fridays - though toned down somewhat in recent years), etc.
	e.  Revelation Chaps 13 and 17 identify the marks of the Antichrist as: hypocrisy, seduction, false wonders, persecution, and glamour.

VI.   MAKING THE CONNECTION
	a.  So, who is he?  In taking all the prophecies together, we see that it is not someone from outside of the Church such as Nero, Hitler, Moslems, atheists, etc.  It has to be someone working from within the Church.
	b.  The Reformation fathers understood that the prophecies of the Antichrist have been fulfilled in the Roman Papacy, with the pope as its head.
	c.  In I Tim. 4, St. Paul speaks of “THE” falling away - apostasy - from the essence of Christianity; from Christ Himself.  The essence of Christianity is “Justification by grace through faith alone in Christ, without works.”  Luther says this about the doctrine of Justification: “It alone begets, nourishes, builds and defends the Church of God and, without it, the Church of God cannot subsist for one single hour (What Luther Says, Vol. II, ref. 2195).”  So, whoever attacks this faith of Christians threatens their lives and harms the Church most.

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	d.  The Papacy officially condemns this doctrine in The Council of Trent, Session VI, Canons 11, 12, and 20.  To summarize these Canons: If anyone believes that we are justified only through faith in the work of Christ upon the cross, relying completely on the divine mercy of God in Christ, without the condition of observing the commandments, let him be anathema!
	e.  A whole host of teachings, promoted by the Papacy, and going counter to the teaching of Justification by Grace through Faith are:  indulgences, penance’s, fasts, prayers, alms, pilgrimages, purgatory, works of supererogation, the Roman view of the Mass, etc.  Even with Vatican II (1960’s) “downplaying” many of its doctrines which are repulsive to Protestants, these teachings and works are still part of official doctrine and practice, and are even enjoying some renewal under the present pope (John Paul II).  Therefore, this illustrates that if “Justification by Grace through Faith Alone in Christ” is admitted, the whole structure of the Papacy collapses.
	f.  NOTE:  With all the dialog going on between Rome and various Protestant groups, and all the talk of “convergence on Justification” taking place, what we see really happening is that Protestants are coming over to Rome’s position, and not the reverse.  Some “Lutherans” are talking about being able to call the pope their “holy Father, too” and accepting prayers to Mary as being desirable.  Truly, the leopard may hide his fangs and purr, but his spots remain the same!
	g.  The I John passages say that Antichrist will deny Christ came in the flesh.  The pope will say He came, but empties all that makes Christ our Savior by teaching, at least in part, that we must do something toward gaining our salvation, canceling some of our sin by the merits of masses, saints, fasts, purgatory, etc.
	h.  The pope is called “The man of sin, the son of perdition” because he robs people of the Gospel and, with his laws and ordinances, and makes sin where there is no real sin.  Through his “purgings” he has shed more blood than all the Roman emperors.  By their own confession, they would do the same now, if they could.
	i.  Antichrist, according to Dan. 11, will not regard the God of his fathers, but honors a god they did not know.  the pope establishes a new way of worshipping and serving God by teaching that people must do “good works” to gain God’s favor, calling “good” such works  not commanded in Scripture, such as, veneration of saints, angels, relics, pictures and images; The Mass, where each time it is celebrated, Christ is “re-sacrificed in an unbloody manner” for sins, pilgrimages, vigils, the monastic system, etc.
	j.  II Thess says Antichrist sits in the temple of God.  The temple of God is, of course, the Christian Church (Eph. 2:19-22).  Antichrist does not separate from the visible expression of it, or work from outside of it, but he sits in the very middle of it.  He establishes his power and rule, and heads the “falling away.”
	k.  This passage, together with Dan. 11, describe Antichrist as lawless, opposing and abolishing and changing human and divine laws, acting as though he were God Himself - not claiming to be God but His “representative.”

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	l.  The pope’s claims are legion: He has authority over all earthly governments, his commands are divine commands, Christians cannot be saved apart from him, he is “inerrant” in theological matters, and he is not subject to anyone.
	m.  Dau’s “Doctrinal Theology,” II, pg. 178 ff. lists a whole page of divine names and attributes given to the pope.  One pope says, “ . . . it is a fact that the pope was called God by the pious emperor Constantine.  It is manifest that God cannot be judged by man.”  Papal spokesman Claudius Seisselius (1520) said, “The pope is an angel, the Vicar of Christ on earth, aye, I should rather say, he is Christ.”  No pope has since rejected that statement.
	n.  In the encyclical “Haec Quippe,” the pope claims he can change righteousness unto unrighteousness, and vise-versa.
	o.  Pius IX applies Christ’s words, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” not to Christ but to himself.
	p.  Boniface VIII’s bull “Unam Sanctam” (1302) says: “We declare, proclaim and pronounce that it is altogether necessary for salvation for every human being to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”  Though repealed, it has again been reinstated.  Though not openly promoted today, this doctrine periodically appears in various statements and writings of the Roman Church.
	q.  Pope Pius IX, ex cathedra, condemned all Bible Societies “as a pest.”  This, too, still stands and has never been repealed.
	r.  The “lying signs and wonders” - miracles that supposedly happen from magic trees, relics, appearances of Mary, etc. - are all satanic devices designed to focus our devotion on things other than Christ.
	s.  The objection that Antichrist can only be one person doesn’t take into account that Scripture can designate a whole class of people using the definite singular.  Also, II Thess. says Antichrist will meet his end at the Last Day, and yet the “mystery of iniquity” was already at work in the first century (c.f. also I Jn. 4:3).  No single person can live as long as that.

VII.  COMMENTS FROM THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS (Concordia Triglotta)
	a.  Smalcald, Part II, Art. IV: “That the pope is not, according to divine law or according to the Word of God the head of all Christendom (for this [name] belongs to One only, whose name is Jesus Christ).”
	      “And the papacy is also of no use in the Church, because it exercises no Christian Office; and therefore it is necessary for the Church to continue and exist without the pope.”
	     “This teaching shows forcefully that the pope is the very Antichrist, who has exalted himself above, and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power . . . saying that in order to be saved a person must obey him.”
	     “[The pope] had to make himself equal and superior to Christ, and had to cause himself to be proclaimed the head and then the lord of the Church, and finally of the whole 

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world, and simply God on earth, until he has dared to issue commands even to the angels of heaven.”
	     “Lastly, it is nothing else than the devil himself, because above and against God he urges falsehoods concerning masses, purgatory, [etc.] . . . and condemns, murders and tortures all Christians who do not exalt and honor these abominations [of the pope] above all things.”
	     “We shall stand before the pope and the devil himself . . . and say as the angel in Zechariah 3:2 said to Satan: “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan!”
	b. Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope:
	      “How can the pope be over the entire Church by divine right when the Church has the election?”  pg. 509, #11.
	     “ . . . Opinions which contend that the pope is by divine right the ruler of the kingdoms of this world, are [utterly] false and godless.  From this persuasion, horrible darkness has been brought into the Church . . . “  pg. 513,  #34.
	     “And the marks [all the vices] of Antichrist plainly agree with the kingdom of the pope and his adherents.”  pg. 515,  #39.
	     “ . . . All Christians ought to beware of becoming partakers of the godless doctrine, blasphemies and unjust cruelty of the pope.  On this account, they ought to desert and execrate the pope and his adherents as the kingdom of the Antichrist.”  pg. 517,  #41.
	     “ . . . For the errors of the kingdom of the pope are manifest.  And Scripture with its entire voice exclaims that these errors are a teaching of demons and of Antichrist.”  pg. 517,  #42.
	c.  The Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Art. X, pars. 20-22 repeat and affirm that the statements made in the above documents are true.

VII.  CONCLUSION
	a.  While not essential for salvation, a Christian who does not recognize this truth is in greater danger of being mislead by the errors of the papacy.
	b.  One who cannot see “the mystery of iniquity” in the Roman Papacy has little understanding of the history of the Church, the meaning of the Reformation, and a poor conception of Luther’s doctrine in these areas.
	c.  Scripture describes the Antichrist as very dangerous, crafty and destructive, one who appropriates vast power and will seduce great numbers of people.  Scripture pronounces a curse on all who let Antichrist seduce them, Rev. 14:9 ff.
	d.  Frankly, this article is clearly expresses in the Lutheran Confessions; whoever denies its truth does not completely stand in one faith with our predecessors, and subscribes to the Confessions “quatenus,” not “quia.”
	e.  The best and only antidote to Antichrist’s poison, is to preach the pure Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ, in every and any way we can, as God gives us the opportunity.

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Pr. Kenneth D. Lueke,  Bad Axe, MI.  Thumb Area Winkel Conference  April 4, 1995