Office of the Pope demonised (Part 1)

I have come across many articles and books written by various individuals and religious groups attacking the Papacy.

A lot has been said and written, with scriptures quoted, to support some people’s opinions in trying to label the office of the pontiff as an institution of evil.

History has also been written to highlight some acts of a diabolic nature said to have been perpetrated with the blessings of the church’s leadership over the past centuries.

Countless other writings are in circulation vilifying both the church and some of its doctrines.

A lot of our Christianity is aligned to this ‘Mother Church’ (as I will call it) because many of the splinter protestant and Pentecostal churches have their roots anchored to it. In past centuries, we have had many notable religious figures like Martin Luther who rose up to challenge some of the doctrines and practices of the Mother Church.

Scriptures are being quoted to link it with some of the beasts or kingdoms mentioned mainly in the visions of Daniel and of the visions in Revelation, according to Apostle John.

I have my own personal conclusions on this matter, but will confine myself to what has been said and written by some individuals linking the Papacy to some of these visions.

There is also some history written about the Christian Crusades started by Emperor Constantine with the said blessings of the Mother Church, which resulted in the loss of life of thousands of human lives.

Among many other accounts of history, there is also that of the Inquisition of Spain in which (according to one writer, Ivan Antonio Llorente), “31,912 persons were condemned and perished in flames”, and 241,450 were “condemned to severe penance”.

Due to my very limited space, I will not go into details about these.

It is assumed the Church has over the centuries destroyed at least 50 million lives over matters of religions conviction. Another protestant historian wrote, “The ‘Church’ of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind.”

Some religious writers and interpreters have come up with theories that try to link the institution of the Papacy with a kingdom that arose in the vision of Daniel in chapter 7.

The first link to the rise of the Church relates to which reads;

Daniel 7:7-8, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, terrible and dreadful and exceedingly strong; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold in this horn were the eyes of a man, and mouth speaking great things”.

When Daniel sought an answer to this part of his vision, an angel of the Lord told him,

“Thus, he said: ‘As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which will be different from all the kingdoms and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it into pieces. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words of the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, two times, and a half time. But dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the Kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them’.

“Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my colour changed; but I kept the matter in my mind” (Daniel 7:23-28).

According to these religious scholars and interpreters, this fourth beast represented the Roman Empire.

The ten horns represent the ten kingdoms that arose after the demise of the Roman Empire.

Seven out of those ten kingdoms have survived to this day and are said to be represented by the seven western countries of Europe; namely Spain, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Portugal.

The other three of the original ten ‘horns’ representing the Vandals, Ostrogoths and the Heruli tribes, were uprooted from the face of the earth. It is said that the Mother Church played a big part in their destruction.

Then came out the little horn thereafter, and “in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words”

(Daniel 7:8).

Now the same religious scholars and interpreters have linked this little horn to the headquarters of the Pope.

The Papacy managed to create a small state of its own, known as the Vatican, which has enormous influence across the planet Earth. It is headquarted in Rome, Italy.

The book of Revelations of the visions of Apostle John features a beast of some similarities with Daniel 7. This is also said to be linked with the Papacy, according to the same group of religious thinkers. Part of that vision reads

(Revelations 17:1-6): Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me,

“Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk”. And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication, and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations”. And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

My next article will put forward some of the arguments used by these people to support their convictions that the Papacy is the symbol of a demonic power and ‘the great whore’ sitting on a scarlet beast mentioned in Revelation 17. Please note I am writing as a non-aligned individual (neutral) in all these assumptions quoted herein.