Broken Bride I – Dancing with the Devil

So, uh good morning everybody. HappySabbath to you all.It is good to see you all in this uhbeautiful morning here in Maine.And uh today uh we're going to look atpart one of our series A Broken Bridefrom This is called Dancing with theDevil. And the topic I'm discussingtoday is actually the question of theAntichrist.Because the Antichrist is something thatwe hear are referred to quite a lot.Um we find it in prophecy. And uh theAntichrist is alive and well today andat work all around us.And if we if our eyes were open to seethe reality of the world in which welive. So, for those of you watchingonline, we give you a warm welcome aswell.

And I pray that as we go throughour time together um that God will giveus the gift of the Holy Spirit and giveus wisdom and understanding so we mayunderstand the times in which we live.And we recognize the actors in our worldwho have end-time significance. So, umbefore I start, umthere is uh just a just a bit aboutmyself. I was raised in England, not inMichigan as you probably suspect.Andso I was raised in England uh innorthern industrial cities. Uh thecities where all the good soccer teamscome from, like uh Liverpool and soforth.Uh that's that's where I was raised,went to university in a publicuniversity in Birminghamin the Midlands of England. And umthey're just down the road from thefactory that made HP sauce.

Do you knowHP sauce?Okay, the whole air would the wholeatmosphere would smell with thisbeautiful rich smell, sweet smell of HPsauce. There's my mom and my dad.They've been married now for 54 years.And they were they were in pastoralministry for about 42 years.And uh I tell you having a godly fatherand a praying mother is one of the bestfoundations anybody could have in life.Uh there's my wife on our uh first dateor our second dateand got engagedand then we got married.All right, so there we are. We gotmarried.My wife hasn't changed at all. I'm anold man now and soI'm not sure what that says aboutmarriage, but anyway, I'm an old wreckand she is as young as the day we gotmarried. Souh anyway, there we were in 2016, becameUS citizens.

Those are our two children.One's at Southern, the other's atAndrews doing a biomedical laboratorysciences.And we're very proud of our children. Sothis is our journey today. We're goingto look at the question of theAntichrist in the New Testament. We'regoing to look at the growth of theAntichrist system uh through history asit's manifest today. We'll then come tothe application for Adventists todaybefore we draw our conclusions.

So umyou if you have your Bibles with you,you may want to keep them uh handy andopen. Uh I think most of the text willappear on the screen. Uh sometimes theHoly Spirit directs us to another textthat isn't pre-prepared and not on thescreen. And if so, you need your Biblesum ready for that. Uh but before we openour Bibles, let's ask the Holy Spirit toopen our hearts and our minds.

So shallwe pray?Heavenly Fatheras we gather in this your house on yourday as your people.Father, I thank you for the gift ofprophecy.Father, I thank you that you've not leftus aloneto face the the the giants and thedragons and the beasts of this world.But I thank you, Father, that Jesus haspromised he'll always be with us at theend of the age.I thank you, Father, for the promise ofthe Holy Spirit to give wisdom to allwho ask not doubting that they shallreceive.I thank you, Father, for the sure suregift of prophecy which provides a lightin these darkening times, a light so wecan see the path forward as we marchtowards our heavenly home.So Lord, as we speak and as we sharethis morning, I pray for the outpouringof your Holy Spirit upon each one of us.May I pray your blessing upon those whomay be watching this online, whereverthey may be around the world. AndFather, I pray that this house will befilled with your spirit, that yourangels will guard this house of worship,and that Jesus will be glorified in allthat is said and done this morning. Inhis holy name we pray. Amen.All right. So the question before us iswhat is Antichrist?

And sosome people say that Antichrist is aperson, some say that Antichrist is asystem, others say Antichrist is afallen angel, others say the Antichristis an ideology. But what does thescripture teach us about Antichrist? Nowthere are some key prophetic passages wefind in the word of God that give us anidea of who or what Antichrist is. Inthe book of Daniel we have in Danielchapter 7, we read of a beast, aterrible blasphemous fourth beast ofthat chapter, that has the authority topersecute the saints of of God for 1,260years, and which makes war upon God. Andin Revelation chapter 13, of the first10 verses, we have a sea beast thatparallels the fourth beast of Daniel 7,that has the authority to persecute thesaints of God, and once again toblaspheme against God for 42 propheticmonths, well that is 1,260 literal yearsin prophetic interpretation.

So boththese passages, Daniel chapter 7 andRevelation chapter 13, they describe anearthly power that has received itsauthority and power from Satan, whichmakes war on God and upon his saints,and which comes under God's eternal andfinal judgment.But neither of these two passagesmentions the phrase Antichristexplicitly.But where else do we find the wordAntichrist actually mentioned in theBible? Well, you don't find itexplicitly mentioned in the New in theOld Testament, but we do find the wordAntichrist in the New Testament. I'mgoing to give you the exact the theinstances now where it is actuallyfound. Uh the first question of whatdoes the word Antichrist mean? Well,Antichrist does not mean against Christ.Like Antifa is against fascism, youmight say.

Uh the the politicalorganization America. Anti is apreposition in Greek, and it means inthe place of or instead of.So, Antichrist does not mean againstChrist per se, it means in the place ofChrist. It takes the place of JesusChrist. And Jesus is our means ofsalvation. And so, if it takes the placeof Jesus Christ, it means this issomething Antichrist is something thatthat diverts us from the true plan ofsalvation and puts us into a false planof salvation, one that does not lead usto our heavenly home.

So, the word antidoes not mean against, it means in placeof Christ. Um the first instance we findin the New Testament actually refers toJesus Christ himself. The prepositionantior anti is found in Mark 10:45, a veryvery famous verse where Jesus says, "TheSon of Man did not come to be served,but to serve, and then" and this is thephrase here, "to give his life a ransomfor many."And I put the Greek underneath downthere, and it says, "And to give the ofhim the life." Um uh uhlike a sacrifice of atonement. Antipolonmeans on behalf of many. So, Jesus gavehis life in the place of many, on behalfof many.

And the first instance of theword anti in the New Testament refers toChrist is this passage here, and itrefers to Jesus himself who gave hislife for you in your place that youmight have the gift of eternal life. Thesecond passage we find also refers toJesus Christ in the word anti.It's2:5-6. It says, "For there is one God,there is also one mediator between Godand humankind, Christ Jesus himselfhuman, who gave himself a ransom forall. And here Paul, he he he adds theword anti in lutron, which previouslyappeared in Mark 10:45. You see anti inlutron in red at the bottom right of thescreen there.

Paul um puts these twowords together in 1 Timothy 2:5-6.And he and he says Jesus is the one,literally, the one who is giving himselfum on behalf of others, behalf of manyas a sacrifice. Who gave himself as aransom for all. And so these twopassages here um have the word antiapplies to Jesus Christ himself. So theword anti is not in and of itself anegative preposition.Just because something is anti doesn'tmean it's automatically evil or bad. Inthese two passages, Mark 10 and 1Timothy 2, the the preposition anti isapplied to Jesus, and in both instancesit's talking about the fact that Jesus'death was vicarious.

Um it means it wasin place of somebody else. It was apropitiation. It was a sacrifice ofreconciliation and atonement between usand our heavenly Father. And so it wasand it was a substitutionary atonementas the theologians would say. So there'sa lot of meaning packed into thesewords.Um now the the first instance of ofanti-Christ in scripture actually comesin the teachings of Jesus in the sermonof Matthew 24 just before Calvary.

Andin this passage here, Jesus warns thedisciples and he warns us today to bewary of false Christs. Now he doesn'tuse the word anti-Christ here, but thethe word he the phrase in English is, hesays, "For false Messiahs and falseprophets will appear and produce greatsigns and omens to lead astray ifpossible, even the elect." And that wordfor false Messiahs, I put it down at thebottom, is pseudo Christoy or pseudoChrists.And so there are going to be falseMessiahs or pseudo-Christs who are goingto appear. And is their weapon of choiceforce or is it deception?By definition, it's deception.That these false Christs are not theopen enemies of God, they are thepretend friends of Christians. They arethe pretend friends of those who want tofollow Jesus Christ. They pretend to beChrist themselves.

Their goal is to leadastray according to Jesus him sayinghere that the elect of God.And so the target of Antichrist is notthe world at large. The target ofAntichrist are those who are in the bodyof Christ. And the Antichrist's goal isto lead the elect of God astray.And his primary weapon is not force,although he does resort to force whennecessary, his primary weapon isdeception.So as we said last night and the nightbefore, truth is important.Searching for truth is important.And so like in Judas, he enters thegarden and professes who Judasprofessedly came to kiss Jesus, but inreality he came to betray him.So whereas Daniel in chapter 7 and 8 inRevelation 13 paints a brilliant pictureof this end-time foe of God's peopleusing symbols and animals, the ApostlePaul gives perhaps the most succinctdescription of who the Antichrist is andwhat the Antichrist does in 2Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 1 through12. Paul explains the satanic characterof the Antichrist, a deceiving powerthat comes in the place of God to attackthe body of Christ which sits in thetemple of God and which declares itselfto be God.Now the the the initial conclusion wereach here right now is this,that Islam is not Antichrist,nor is Hinduism, nor is Buddhism, nor isanimism, nor is communism, nor is theSoviet Union, nor is atheism. Why?Because none of these systems professedfaith in Jesus as the divine son of God.They attacked the church with physicalforce, but they did not come to replaceChrist in the church.

They want to closethe church down. Uh it is true, and butthey didn't come to deceive the churchfrom the inside by pretending that theyin some way were the Christ himself.Each of these systems of thought deniesthe incarnation and the divinity ofChrist. They often visibly attack thetrue church of Christ. Either throughrhetorical physical persecution, butthey do so openly without deception, andtherefore they do not meet thecharacteristics of antichrist that we'vediscussed so far. So, let's look at theat the umthe antichrist in the New Testament, inparticular 2 Thessalonians 2.

I'm goingto look at the first 12 verses here in abit more detail this morning. So, uhthis is the first verse of 2Thessalonians 2. Paul says, "As to thecoming and the word for coming isparousia. We're going to come back tothat word later. As to the coming of ourLord Jesus Christ and our being gatheredtogether to him, we beg you, brothersand sisters, do not be quickly shaken inmind or alarmed either by spirit or byletter as though from us to the effectthat the day of the Lord is alreadyhere.

And it would appear that therewere many false ideas circulating in theearly 1st century that the the day ofthe Lord had already come. That's allthe day of the Lord was was almostimminent and about to happen. There weremany false interpretations, faultymemories, and fake epistles. Fake newsis nothing new. And so, the Apostle Paulis writing here to counteract these thethese alarming words, these falseannouncements that the day of the Lordor the coming of Jesus Christ is athand.

Now, he handles the matter withgreat tact in this passage. He begs themembers to listen to his instruction. Hedesires to encourage the faint heartedwho are worried about the comingpersecution. And he writes about thecoming parousia uh when Jesus Christ isgoing to come again. He's referring toMatthew 24:31,where Jesus says that he, that is God,will send out his angels with a loudtrumpet call, and they will gather hiselect from the four winds, from one endof heaven to the other.

Or we find laterin 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul writes thisabout the parousia of Jesus. He says,"Then we who are alive, who are left,will be caught up in the clouds togetherwith them to meet the Lord in the air,and so we will be with the Lordforever." And so Paul is writing thispassage so that we, as in the 21stcentury, just as much as the Christiansin the first century, we have an idea ofwhat is going to happen before Jesuscomes again.And certain things must take place.And 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 3 is afascinating verse.It says there,"Let no one deceive you in any way." Whois the one who deceives so far inscripture?Satan and the Antichrist. His His HisHis weapon is deception. So Paul says,"Let no one deceive you in any way."That is Satan is trying to deceive youand I today.We are the subject of We're the objectof his attacks.Satan is trying to deceive us with errorand falsehood so that we are divertedfrom our path to our heavenly home. SoPaul says, "Let no one deceive you inany way, for that day, that is the dayof the coming of Jesus Christ, will notcome until two things happen first.First, the rebellion comes first." Andthe word for rebellion he uses isapostasia.We have the word apostasy.And the word apostasia, the prepositionapo means away from.Just keeping our guys on the cameras onus here this morning.I think I'm still on the cameras.

Isthat all right, brother?So astasi means it's a it's a a part ofit means where you have been standing.So the word apostasy, it means you havetaken a stand away from where you hadbeen standing. And if you were to standon truth, apostasy means that you nolonger stand on truth. And apostasymeans that you once did stand on truth,but now you've moved away from truth.So, the first thing that's going tohappen before Jesus comes again, myversion says rebellion, others sayapostasy, the Greek word there isapostasy, there is going to be a fallingaway from truth within the body ofChrist. That's the first sign beforeJesus comes again. The second signbefore Jesus comes again, it says, "Andthe lawless one is revealed, the onedestined for destruction." Now, that'show I translated it there.And I underneath it I've put the Greekthere.And in the blue in the Greek at thebottom, I've put the lawless one and theoriginal Greek reads "ho anthropos tesanomias".

Now, what does that mean? Hoanthropos means the man, we get the wordanthropology from that. Um anomiais an interesting word. Some versionssay the man of sin.That's not the best translation of thatphrase. The word anomia, "a" meanswithout, like atheos is without God, youget the word atheist from that.

"Nomos"is law.So, this is the man without the law ofGod.That's why it's called the lawless one.Some versions say the lawless one, otherversions just kind of say, "Okay, it'sthe man of sin." But, the literaltranslation of this end-time powerbefore Jesus comes again, it is the manwithout the law, that is the law of God.So, we know that in the final crisis, aa point of contention is going to be thelaw of God.And so, it is the law the man withoutlaw is going to be revealed, and theword revealed is apokalupthe, we get theword apocalyptic from that. Jesus hasthe apocalypse in Revelation, theapocalypse of Jesus Christ. This the theman of sin, the man of the lawless one,the man without law, the man of sin, nomatter how your version translates it.He also has a an apocalypse also at theend of time.And so, we're starting to see there'sthis parallelism between Christ and theman of sin. They both have anapocalypse, they both have a revelationof themselves, and before Jesus comesagain, there is going to be a fallingaway from truth within the church. So,there is going to be, let's dwell onthis for a few moments, a great apostasybefore the second coming, and thatapostasy would center around the man ofsin, as we're going to call him for thepurposes of this morning.

That is, aterrible shadow would fall over the bodyof Christ before Jesus returns. Falseteachings would enter the body ofChrist. For instance, a false sacrificewould would replace Christ's one andfull sacrifice on Calvary. We call thatfalse sacrifice the mass. An earthly,impure priesthood, rather than aheavenly and holy high priest, wouldminister on behalf of sinful humanity.

Adead Mary would replace the dead saintthe living savior as the onlyintercessor between humanity and God.Confession of sin would now be beforemen, rather than before God. Doingpenance is now important, rather thanhaving penitent hearts, that is, havingremorse and sorrow for sin. We would nowbe expected to purchase indulgences ifwe want to be forgiven our sins. Nothingof that in scripture. We were taughtabout the canonization of dead saints.The apocryphal books would be added tothe word of God.

We'd be taught of theimmaculate conception of Mary, which isnot referred to the immaculateconception of Jesus. The Catholic dogmais that Mary herself had a sinless birthin order to be the sinless mother ofJesus Christ. So, the doctrine of theimmaculate conception is not of Jesus,it's of Mary herself. We read we learnedabout the exaltation of Mary asTheotokos, or the mother of God. We aretaught of Mary's bodily assumption upinto heaven, that she sits at the righthand of God in heaven above.

We Wetaught through Origen that scripture canno longer be interpreted as it iswritten, but you must listen to theinterpretation of the church in order toknow what the scripture actuallyteaches. We are taught that the churchis now over the scripture and the churchis no longer subject to the scripture.We are taught that pilgrimages arepilgrimages are acceptable as penance toatone for sins. We are taught that weare in we should be venerating angelsand dead saints. We have the use ofimages in worship, the rosary, baptismby sprinkling and child infant baptismrather than baptism of faith byimmersion, the doctrine oftransubstantiation,righteousness by faith and good works asin the Council of Trent in the MiddleAges rather than by grace alone, thetransference of solemnity from Sabbathto Sunday, monasticism, forcedasceticism, the unbiblical dividebetween clergy and laity, the idolizingof celibacy over marriage, the adorationof rotting bones otherwise known asrelics, the false claim to apostolicsuccession from Peter, the lighting ofcandles, prayers for the dead, theadoration of stone and gold images,processions in the streets, theinfallibility of the Pope, the doctrineof purgatory, the paying of time toreduce the time paying of money toreduce the time you spend in purgatoryor your loved ones in hellfire, thedoctrine of two swords, the idea thatthe priest cannot lead you into thekingdom of God through the sword of thespirit, then the civil authorities withthe steel the seed of sword of steel,they have the responsibility to compelyou to enter the church. These are allfalse doctrines that entered the churchin the second, third, fourth, and fifthcenturies.The list is long.And it's an entirely false system ofsalvation that was erected.

Paul saysthe man of sinwill be revealed and there will be afalling away, an apostasy from biblicaltruth.This system grew over the centuries.Pope Urban II called for the Council ofClermont in 1095 AD that led to theCrusades. The first Crusade capturedJerusalem in 1099 AD. And when the Popesrealized that they could mobilize armiesto extinguish their enemies, they thenmobilized Catholic armies in Europe toextinguish faithful,um, you might say early Protestants inEurope. They weren't called Protestantsback then, but groups such as theWaldenses and the Albigenses.across many parts of Europe.Then a centuries-long brutal jihad waswaged against the Waldenses and otherswho held true to scripture. The man ofsin, if he could not persuade you bysaying submit, had other means ofpersuasion.Rape, impaling,dismemberment, disemboweling, beheading,strangling and garroting at the stake,being burned alive, hanging, beingsliced apart inch by inch, havinggunpowder put in your mouth and yourhead blown off, drownings, starvation,and exposure in freezing dungeons.

Tensof Tens of millions of innocent saintsof God were slaughtered by the man ofsin.But you may be saying, "But Pastor Vine,why are you assuming that the Papacy isthe man of sin?"Well, let's come to the next verse.Second Thessalonians 2 and verse 4, itsays, "He, that is the man oflawlessness, the man of sin, he opposesand exalts himself above every so-calledgod or object of worship, so that hetakes his seat in the temple of God,declaring himself to be God."So, the man of sin is as we are as wesee through this passage is the Bishopof Rome, the Papacy, claimed authorityover the other leading bishops of theworld, the bishops of Constantinople,Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria.There were five leading bishops in theworld in the early centuries. And in 606AD, the Byzantine emperor, man calledPhocas, issued an edict affirming thatthe Bishop of Rome had precedence overall the other patriarchs. Now, theBishop of Rome then worked tirelesslybehind the scenes to make sure that hegained authority and power. He did notHe did not want to be just one amongequals. He wanted to be first amongequals.

And so, um they produced forgeddocuments. These are now almostuniversally recognized as beingforgeries. The Testaments of the EmperorConstantine in 776 AD. Um this wasallegedly um this was allegedly adonation from the Emperor Constantine toPope Sylvester in Rome at the in 340 ADin which the Popes were allegedly givingsupreme civil and religious authorityover Western Europe. Then the FalseDecretals of Isidore.

They are now thecornerstone of the modern papacy and ofchurch canon law. They came out around845 AD. This was allegedly a collectionof letters from pastors in the 2nd and3rd centuries in Rome. And those falsedocuments, which now almost universallyrecognized as being forgeries, becamethe foundation on which people power waspronounced through the Dark Ages. PopeGregory, for instance, issued somemaxims in 1073 AD.

These are some of hismaxims. He asserted that the Pope's nameis the chief name on earth.He asserted it is lawful for the Pope todepose emperors. His decision is to bewithstood by nobody. The Pope can bejudged by nobody. The Pope has absoluteauthority to remove and appoint bishops.The Pope can annul the allegiance ofsubjects to kings.And yes, I'll leave it at that, I think.And so, here you have um some papalclaimsum uh that give the papacy supreme civiland religious authority in Westernsociety.

Because if you can um annulpeople's loyalty to their king, and youyou can dissolve the feudal system, thatmeans that the papacy throughout theMiddle Ages was had the final say in whocould be king in any nation.And so, they also claimed the authorityover bishops and over kings. And if theywanted to, they could put a whole nationunder excommunication or under ban. Andso when when King John of England he wasthe guy that signed Magna Carta. Wethink he's a good king since he signedthe Magna Carta. He was an atrociousking.

He was forced at sword point tosign the Magna Carta because thisbut the bishop the barons they wanted tohave some civil rights that he wouldn'totherwise give them. He was so bad andhe wouldn't pay his dues to the Popethat the Pope put the land of Englandfor a couple of years under interdictwhich meant no weddings no baptisms andno official burials. So for those coupleof years nobody in England had anyassurance of salvation under the papalsystem. They were cut out from heavenbecause the Pope has the keys of heavenas you see on his officialthe type the coat of arms that he uses.The bishops of Rome during the MiddleAges insisted on being the final word inall ecclesiastical disputes. And whentheir advice was accepted by parties toa dispute the bishops of Rome realizedthat rather than just waiting to come tothe bishop with problems the bishops ofRome should should issue letters to thewhole world giving pastoral guidance toall Christians around the world.

And soin the Middle Ages we start the practiceof having encyclicals where the papacyissues pastoral guidance on certainissues to the whole world. And even tothis day the papacy issues encyclicals.Every single year around Easter the Popeissues a sermon to the world is calledto the city into the world.I think urban at orbem I think is theLatin phrase And he delivers that speechor that sermon in St. Peter's Square inin in Rome. And the the papacy'sassumption is they have a responsibilityto guide not only all Christians in theworld now but everybody on planet Earth.And so their sense of theirself-importance knows almost no limits.So you come back to the text here. Itsays he takes his seat in the temple ofGod.That's a key phrase.Cuz it tells us where he where heoperates.Now, in the New Testament, there are twowords for temple.One is the word as used by Paul here,naos.And the other word is hieron or heron.Now, the word heron, as you see at thebottom of the screen, that is usedexclusively of the temple of Jerusalem.And so, the word arche means head inGreek, like an archbishop is a headbishop.A monarch is a monarch arche, the soleruler of a nation.

And the heron arche,we we we we turn that in English intothe word hierarchy. It means the head ofthe temple. It's a religiousum system of power. That's what the wordhierarchy means.But this Paul does not use He doesn'tsay he takes his seat in the temple ofGod. When you read it in your English,you think, "Well, maybe maybe thisAntichrist figure takes his seat in thetemple of Jerusalem." No, that's notwhat Paul is saying.

He says he takeshis seat in the temple of God. The wordis naos. Now, the word naos is referredtoto the body of Christ, not the physicaltemple of Jerusalem.But so, you find that in 1 Corinthianstwo passages, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.It says, "Do you not know?" And Paul isspeaking here to you plural, that is tothe church, "that you are God's naos,temple. Now, God's spirit dwells in you.And if anyone destroys God's naos, histemple, God will destroy that person.For God's temple is holy, and you, thatis you plural, are that temple." Now,you being the temple of the Holy Spiritis 1 Corinthians 6, as individual, buthere Paul is speaking to you plural, toas a body of believers, the body ofChrist, you are the naos, you are thetemple of God. And in Ephesians 2:21,Paul uses that phrase again.

He says,"In him, that is in Christ, the wholestructure is joined together and growsinto a holy temple, that is a naonhagion, in the Lord." And so, in thesetwo passages here, we see that theApostle Paul, when he uses the word naosfor temple, He's talking about the bodyof Christ.So, when it says in 2 Thessalonians 2that this man of sin takes his seat inthe naos of God, Paul is not talkingabout him taking a seat in the temple ofJerusalem. He's saying that thisAntichrist figure takes his seat in thebody of Christ. That's where he'soperative. You following this?And he takes his seat, which means he'sestablished jurisdiction.When somebody when a when a king comesin and they come to their throne,everybody stands and after the king hassat down, then everybody else can sitdown. And the fact that the king sitsdown first is a sign that he is the kingor that he's the queen, and thatindividual has authority and he can sitdown in the presence of everybody else.And so, this is a a body an entity thatthat exists within the body of Christ.The man of sin sits in the body ofChrist, the Christian church.

This isthe result of centuries of apostasy andfalling away from truth, bringing insystems of false doctrine, and he hasestablished jurisdiction and claimsauthority in the body of Christ. Thetext goes on to say, "And he declareshimself to be God."So, not only does he take his seat inthe body of Christ, he said he claimsauthority in the body of Christ, but hedeclares himself to be God.And as the divine Son of God, JesusChrist was was happy receiving worship,such as Thomas worshiped Jesus in Johnchapter 20 and verse 28. Likewise, theAntichrist claims divinity and seeks theworship of humanity.We know in Revelation chapter 13 thatthe issue is worship at the end of time.And in here in in first secondThessalonians 2, this Antichrist entitydeclares himself to be God.And does this actually happen? Well, inRoman Catholic canon law, the Pope isreferred to as God. I'm not making thisstuff up.

You can look it up foryourselves. In the Decrees of Gregory13th, canon 7, it says the Pope iscalled God. In the decretals of Gregorythe 9th, it says he's referred to asLord and God.Uh the Sacrum Ceremonial has the phrase,"The apostolic chair is the seat ofwho?"Of God. And the decretals of Gregoryreads that the Roman Pontiff, not asmere man, but as true God, reigns onEarth.And so the Pontiff claims theprerogatives of God alone. Will everyknee bow before Jesus Christ and confesshim as Lord one day?

Is that true? Yesor no? Yes. And if you come before thePope today, all supplicants are requiredto come with bowing and kissing at hisfeet. Jesus Christ was condemned by ademon as being the It was confessed by ademon as being the holy one of God, andby Gabriel as being holy in Luke 1before his birth, and by Peter as God'sholy one in Acts chapter 2, and theAntichrist styles himself His Holiness,despite being condemned in scripture asbeing the man of sin.People refer to the Pope as HisHoliness, even though he is the man ofsin.

According to Daniel chapter 2:29,Daniel said that all wisdom belongs toGod, and yet it is the Antichrist thatclaims infallibility every time hespeaks in his official capacity.God issued the moral law from MountSinai, and the Antichrist now issuesauthoritative dogma from the seven hillsof Rome.Only God can forgive sin, Mark 2:10, yetthe Antichristclaims the same authority for the livingand the dead, either through theconfessional or through purchased andproclaimed plenary remission of sinsthrough indulgences. God alonedetermines eternal destiny for eachhuman being on planet Earth, but theAntichrist claims to hold the keys thatopen and shut purgatory and the doors toHeaven and Hell, and the Antichristclaims the authority to determine whowill receive eternal life and who willnot. In fact, the Antichrist has asthat says there is no salvation outsideof the Church of Rome. Extra ecclesiamnon salus est. That's the doctrine.Outside the church, there is nosalvation.

And so, when the Apostle Paulsays he declares himself to be God, it'sa very accurate description of what hashappened over the last 20 2,100 years.It's a very accurate description. SecondThessalonians 5 2 and verse 5 goes on inthis way.He says, "Do you not remember that Itold you these things when I was stillwith you?And now you know what is now and youknow what is now restraining him." Now,Paul is referring here to the fact thatthe Antichrist is yet to appear in hisfull manifestation, and he's restrainedactually bypapal Rome is restrained by the presenceof pagan and imperial Rome. But, he'snot going to say imperial Rome quiteexplicitly, but his his hearersunderstand what he's talking about. Andhe goes on to say, "So that he, the manof sin, may be revealed when his timecomes, for the mystery of lawlessness isalready at work, but only until the onewho now restrains it is removed."And so, this version says the mystery oflawlessness.And we need to compare that with themystery of godliness. There are twomysteries in scripture.There's the mystery of iniquity, or themystery of lawlessness, and there's themystery of godliness.

There are twomysteries that run parallel, side byside, throughout scripture. We findum there's lots of scripture says aboutthe mystery of iniquity. You can pick itup the hints through scripture, but theBible explicitly talks about the mysteryof godliness. And Paul discusses themystery of godliness here in 1 Timothy 3and verse 16. And he says, "And withoutcontroversy, great is the mystery ofgodliness.

God was manifest in theflesh, justified in the spirit, seen ofangels, preached unto the Gentiles,believed on in the world, and receivedup into glory."And so, the mystery of godliness and themystery of iniquity stand in oppositionto each other, and they run through thecourse of human history.And both are mysteriesbecause both are based in somethingthat's unfathomable to the human thehuman comprehension. One is based in themystery of the depth of God's love forus. The other is that is mixed in is isburied in the mystery of how sin cameinto being.And miss sin really has no explanationcuz if you can explain why sin came intointo existence, then you can justifysin.And so the mystery of sin and themystery of godliness are both profoundmysteries.But the mystery of godliness began wefirst read about it in 2 Timothy 1:9. Itsays this grace was given us given us inChrist Jesusbefore the ages began.That is the mystery of godliness washidden in the councils of the Godheadbefore this world was created.Redemption of humanity by means of theincarnation of the eternal Son of Godwas hidden from all except the Godhead,Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And bit bybit throughout the scriptures, themystery of godliness was graduallyunveiled and revealed to humanunderstanding.

In Genesis 3, there wasthe promise of a deliverer, the seed ofthe woman bringing hope to the newlyfallen human race. In Genesis 4, thestory of Cain and Abel, we have the thethe installation of a sacrificial systemwith the idea of substitution andexpiation and reconciliation. In thebook of Leviticus, we have a completeceremonial system being established andwith sacrifices to illustrate themeaning and to point forward to thecoming of the Messiah, the Lamb of Godthat takes away the sin of the world,takes away my sin, and takes away yoursin. And then we come to various otherinstances in the Old Testament where wehave prophets such as Elijah, priestssuch as Melchizedek, kings such asDavid. Each one points forward to thegreat fulfillment or the antitype is theincarnation of the Messiah of Godhimself in the person of Jesus Christ,Immanuel, which means God with us.

Andas you go through the Old Testamentprophecies from Genesis to Malachi, thethe prophecies of the coming of theMessiah and the mystery of godlinessbecome ever clearer. Some very famousexamples are Psalm 22, "My God, my God,why has thou forsaken me?" And Isaiahchapter 53 is another great example. Andso finally, in the fullness of time, themystery of godliness was revealed in theperson of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christof God. As the Apostle Paul said, "Godwas manifest in the flesh."The mystery of godliness centers uponthe person of Jesus, his teachings, hislife, his death, his resurrection, hishigh priestly ministry in the heavenlysanctuary today, and his soon secondcoming.It was not just the gradual unfoldingand development and the revelation of asystem of everlasting truth, but themystery of godliness had its climax inthe unveiling of a person, the divineSon of God, Jesus the Christ.Likewise, that's the mystery ofgodliness, we see the same kind ofthings happening with the mystery ofiniquity. I mean, iniquity had itssource outside of planet Earth andbefore the foundation of this world.

Inhistory, iniquity had its foundation inheaven above. Ezequiel 28:15 says, "Youwere blameless in your ways from the daythat you were created until iniquity wasfound in you."And when this Earth was created and Godpopulated the Earth this Earth with theanimals and the human beings, Satan wascast down to this Earth.False religions have risen and fallenover the last 6 or 7,000 years. Empireshave risen and fallen, but the mysteryof iniquity continued to grow over thecenturies. The Apostle Paul describes itthis way.He says, "For the mystery of lawlessnessis already at work."And so, um, it's already at work. So,before the papacy existed in in inactuality, before it existed in the timeof the apostles, the mystery oflawlessness was already at work.

But theapostolic era church was not to bedismayed. The The mystery of lawlessnesswas already work among them, but itsgrowth was hindered by an existingpower, pagan Rome.Gnostic teachers in the time of Pauldenied the incarnation, and thus theydenied the whole work of redemption.These teachers were anti-Christian, butthey were not the final Antichrist.Satan established paganism from the timeof Cain and Abel, the worship of manygods after men's own likeness, ratherthan of the one true God. And it is atruism in scripture that you become whatyou worship.And if you turn your eyes to Jesus andfix your eyes on Jesus, he will changeyour character. So day by day there ismore of him and less of you in yourcharacter.But the challenge about paganism is thatmen create and men create gods thatexalts their fallen desires.And that's why paganism almost alwaysleads to a rapid downward moral spiralinto sexual immorality and degradation.That's why sexual morality goes soclosely with paganism.As Satan over the years establishedfalse altars, false priesthoods, andfalse sacrifices, all opposed andoffering alternative options to themystery of godliness and God's plan ofsalvation. In pagan Rome, in imperialRome, Satan found the Caesars, men whohad absolute civil and religiousauthority with unquestioned power oflife and death over their citizens, menwho sat in luxury on the imperial thronein Rome with official titles such as sonof God and Pontifex Maximus, which aretoday official titles of the Pope.

TheseCaesars were semi-divine figures,intercessors between humanity down hereand God up there, and they thus pointedforward to the Antichrist, the papacy,which replaced the Caesars of Rome by asthey claimed universal civil andreligious authority over all mankind,who like the Caesars of Rome sit on thethrone of Rome and of the throne ofPeter and the Caesars combined, and theyofficially claim Caesar's titles of Godon Earth and Pontifex Maximus, whichmeans the great bridge between man andGod. When Jacob was running away fromhis father, Isaac, having deceived him,he had a dream. Remember that dream?And he saw the angels going up and downfrom heaven to Earth.And who's the who what does that ladderrepresent?Jesus Christ. So, Jesus is the bridgebetween man and God.But the Papacy claims the title PontifexMaximus, that they are the bridgebetween man and God. And so, this is oneof the reasons why we say the Papacy isis the Antichrist.

And if you want toknow, does the Papacy recognize thatthey are Antichrist? Have you heard ofthe papal title of Vicar of Christ?Yes. What does the word vicar mean?It comes from the word vicarious. Itmeans in the place of.The word anti, the Greek preposition,means in the place of.So, Antichrist, if you translate it intoEnglish, means in place of Christ. Vicarof Christ, when translated into Greek,is Antichrist.

They're hardly hidingtheir identity.They're hardly hiding their identity.And so, the mystery of godlinessoriginated in heaven within the councilsof the Godhead and found its fullestrevelation after centuries of thegradual development of a system of trueworship in a person, in the incarnationof of Jesus of Nazareth, the divine Sonof God. Likewise, the mystery ofiniquity originated in heaven with Satanand his demons in rebellion against God.And over the centuries, it grew throughvarious manifestations, but it found itsfullest revelation after centuries offalse pagan worship in a person, the thePope. Behind Jesus Christ is God theFather. Behind the Pope is Satan. Christand Antichrist.The mystery of iniquity was already atwork in the time of the Apostle Paul,but it was constrained by the presenceand power of the Caesars.

That's whyPaul says it is revealed, he may maymaybe revealed when his time comes. Nowthat that verse, when his time comes,also lets us know that God puts a limiton how far evil can go.Though God allowed the mystery ofiniquity to come to to its fullestfruition, and during what we now callthe Dark Ages, a period of papalsupremacy, 1260 years, from 538 to 1798AD, the papacy was allowed to dominatethe Western world.God allowed humanity to see whatgovernment by Satan actually looks like.And during those Dark Ages, it'sestimated that more than 50 millioninnocent saints were put to death.Not including deportations and all therest of it.Revelation chapter 13 says there will bea final resurgence of global papal powerand authority.And once again, it'll be backed bypersecution, by economic sanctions, andthen ultimately by the death penalty forall who will not worship that that beastof Revelation, and receive the mark ofthat beast.That is why God has called a movementinto existence, the Seventh-dayAdventist movement, to give God's finalcall of mercy to this world, to fear Godand give glory to him, rather than tofear the Antichrist and give glory tohim.Second Thessalonians 2 and verse 8 saysthis, "Then the lawless one, that is theone without sin, anomos, will berevealed, whom the Lord Jesus willdestroy with the breath of his mouth,annihilating him by the manifestation ofhis coming."The one without law, or the man of sin,is mentioned again in this passage.According to this passage, Antichristwill be destroyed when the true Christ,Jesus of Nazareth, comes in glory at hissecond coming. Can you say amen to that?Amen. As Satan is the true spiritualpower behind Antichrist, some argue thatthis verse here refers to the appearanceof Satan as Christ himself before theclose of probation in one last effort todeceive the nations. Bothinterpretations are possible just fromthis verse alone.

But whicheverunderstanding you take from this verse,Paul is describing the fate that awaitsthe Antichrist, that is the papacy, andultimately Satan at the second coming ofChrist, when the papacy will cease toexist and Satan's carefully laid schemesuh collapse. Now, the verse refers tohiscoming, the manifestation of his comingin that verse. The word for coming isepiphany, and we get the word epiphanyfrom that.And we notice in the scripture that theBible talks about two epiphanies ofJesus Christ, the true Christ. There'sthe first coming of Jesus is referred toin 2 Timothy 1, that is his firstincarnation when he was born inBethlehem,and then at his second coming, that isalso referred to as as his epiphany in 1Timothy 6:14 and 2 Timothy 4:1. So,there is an epiphany of Jesus Christ,and there is an epiphany ofhis first coming and an epiphany of hissecond coming, and between the firstepiphany of Christ and the secondepiphany of Christ, we are Adventistsbecause we don't just celebrate thefirst coming, we're looking forward andproclaim the second coming of Jesus.Between those two comings of JesusChrist, there's going to be an epiphanyof the man of sin or the Antichrist.

Butthe good news of scripture is that Jesushas the final say in that process.And that when Jesus comes again at hissecond coming, the man of sin, thepapacy, will be destroyed once and forall together with her ability topersecute and to shed blood and to um tokill the saints of God. And so, the goodnews of this passage here is that Godhas placed limits around the appearanceof Antichrist.Before Antichrist appears, there's thefirst coming of Jesus, and there's thesecond coming of Jesus. Antichrist hasno escape from the person and ministryof Jesus Christ.And so, this passage goes on.The coming of the lawless one or the manof sin is apparent in the working ofSatan who he uses all power, signs, andlying wonders, and every kind of wickeddeception to those who are for those whoare perishing because they refuse tolove the truth and so be saved.Now, this passage here can also, likethe previous verse, be interpreted asthe pre-advent appearance of Satan in afinal effort to deceive the nations oras the final flourish of the blasphemouspersecuting papal power that imposes themark of the beast in the final conflictbetween between good and evil inRevelation 13. Now, if this passage isspeaking of Satan's final appearance todeceive the nations, his ministry willlook and feel identical to the ministryof Jesus Christ. It says there he usesall power, signs, and what kind ofwonders?Lying wonders.So, Paul Peter describes the ministry ofJesus at Pentecost as a ministry thatwas filled with deeds of power, wonders,and signs.

Jesus described the falseChrists, the same nouns being used hereas being signs and omens. In 2Thessalonians 2 and verse 9, Paul hebasically copies of the words of Peter,power, signs, and wonders, but he addsthe word lying to the phrase.Remember the number one the number onetool of Satan is deception.That is why the the the Apostle Paulsays that when Satan appears andimpersonates the ministry of JesusChrist to deceive the elect of God, hisministry will look, sound, hear, andfeel like the ministry of Jesus Christ.But, it will be a lying ministry.He will do the power, wonders, and signsthat Jesus did, but his is a lyingministry. That is why your faith is notbased on miracles.Our faith is not based on miracles.But, how can they call on one in whomthey've not believed? And how are theyto believe in one of whom they've neverheard? And how are they to hear withoutsomeone to proclaim him?

And how arethey to proclaim him unless they aresent? As it is written, how beautifulare the feet of those who bring goodnews.Faith comes through the hearing of theword of God, not through miracles.Faith is grown in our lives as as wefeed on the word of God on a daily basisand allow the word of God to take rootin our lives. The word of God, it ispowerful and it cuts our inner core likea two-edged sword. Jesus is the ultimateword of God, John 1:1. In the beginningwas the word, the word was with God, theword was God.

So, when we feed on the onthe word of God, we're not just sayingwe're reading the scriptures, we'reasking Jesus to take root in our heartsand he changes us from the inside andprepares us for our heavenly home. Andso, our faith is not based on whethersomebody is healed tomorrow from adeadly disease.Because Satan can cause disease and hecan withdraw the causes of thosediseases.Our faith is based on the word of Godand the growth of faith that the HolySpirit engenders within our lives.But if this passage here speaks about umpower, signs, and lying wonders of thepapacy, the Antichrist,then you can equally you can equallyapply this passage to the Antichrist andwhy do I say that? Because there ishardly a miracle of Jesus Christ thatthe Antichrist has not claimed to haveperformed from its saints. Certain ofthe saints of the Catholic Church haveallegedly opened the eyes of the blind,unstopped the ears of the deaf, they'vecured all manner of diseases, they'vecast out demons, they've raised thedead, and driven away pestilence. Takentogether, the saints of the Antichristhave performed almost all the miraclesthat Jesus performed, allegedly.However, all the miracles of Jesus weredone before his enemies.Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead infront of the Pharisees from Jerusalem.All of the miracles of the Antichristare published years, often centuries,after they were allegedly performed.There's a fundamental difference.

Falsespiritual miracles abound in theAntichrist system. The papacy claims toregenerate the soul through baptism.They claim the ability to fill men withthe Holy Spirit by the anointing withholy oil. They claim the ability toinfuse you with heavenly grace via herseven sacraments. They claim the rightsof ordination that spanned 7,000 yearsfrom Peter down to the current Pope, anunbroken chain of transmission, as theysay. They change They claim the abilityto change bread and wine into literalbody and blood of Jesus Christ in themass.

They claim the ability to forgivesins in the confessional. And in thesacrament of the last rites, they claimto guarantee to the dying that they'reabout to enter paradise. All of thesepapal powers, including baptismalregeneration, sacramental grace,priestly power, absolution from sin,transubstantiation, and extreme unctionor the sacrament of last rites, arelies.And millions take comfort in these lies,passing to Christ-less deaths, deceivedby the Antichrist.Antichrist has one purpose in all ofthis falsehood,to deceive the elect of God and causetheir eternal loss.The lost are those who deceived bySatan, and the saved are those who lovethe truth. Humanity either follows Jesusbecause they love the truth, or theyaccept the deceptions of Antichrist,often because it corresponds with theirfallen desires.And so, the text goes on.For this reason,God sends them a powerful delusion,leading them to believe what is false,so that all who have not believed thetruth,but took pleasure in unrighteousness,will be condemned.That phrase, a powerful delusion, isliterally a working of error.And so, God allowsalmost like a test to come upon hischurch,to sift our hearts,to see whether we are true to God ornot.It's not that God wants to deceive usinto eternal loss.So, God wants to test us to make surethat our hearts are true to him.And those who do not believe the truth,but take pleasure in unrighteousness.The phrase unrighteousness is literallythe lie.So, there is the truthand there is the lie in this passagehere.Paul is referring to the final deceptionwhen Satan will impersonate the comingof Jesus Christ. The final deception.That is why Jesus warns us.

He says, "Ifthey say the Messiah is in an inner roomin Manhattan, do not go there. If theysay the Messiah is in the deserts ofArizona, do not go out there."You know why? Because the coming of theSon of Man or every eye will see him.Not only that, but as the the coming ofthe Son of Man will be as lightning thatflashes from the east to the west. Whyis that so significant? Because you cancounterfeit many things on planet Earth,but every child on planet Earthrecognizes lightning when they see it.You don't have to tell a child, "Oh,that was lightning." They know it waslightning.

So, the coming of JesusChrist will be unmistakable in its gloryand all the accompanying physicalphenomena that happen um such as theglobal earthquakes and the mountainsmoving out of their places and theislands being moved from their placesand the hailstone falling upon the Earthand the dead in Christ rising forth inthe cemeteries being emptied out. By theway, the word cemetery, it's a Greekword. It means a place where peoplesleep.People are sleeping in cemeteriesawaiting the coming of Christ. That'swhy Jesus says Lazarus is just asleep.The word cemetery is a place wherepeople sleep. But the lost in the finalanalysis are those who found pleasure inthe lieand in sin.They prefer sin to righteousness.

Theyprefer indulgence to self-discipline.They prefer darkness to light. Theyenjoy doing what is morally wrong ratherthan upholding what is morally right. Inseeking personal pleasure, they condemnthose who spoke the truth, who upheldthe claims of God's moral law onhumanity, and thus they bring eternaldestruction upon themselves.So, deception is coming.And it's important that everybody hereto avoid being caught out by thatdeception, you need to know the truth.You need to know the truth.Application for Adventists today.Just a few months ago, May,the Vatican press office published thefollowing words spoken by the Popeduring a recent meeting with topAnglican clergy.This is what he said.Dear primates of the Anglican community,thank you for choosing to meet this yearin the city of the apostles, Peter andPaul.It is a gift for me to feel close to thecommunities that you represent.That's very gracious of him, I must say.I realize that the role of the Bishop ofRome is still a controversial anddivisive issue among Christians. Yet inthe splendid phrase of Pope Gregory theGreat who sent St. Augustine as amissionary to England,what he's saying there is you Anglicansowe your Christianity to the CatholicChurch.

That's what he's saying there.He says, "The Bishop of Rome is servusservorum Dei, that is the servant of theservants of God."That's a nice sounding phrase. Again, inthe word words of John Paul II, "Thisdesignation is the best possiblesafeguard against the risk of separatingpower and in particular the primacy fromministry. Such a separation wouldcontradict the very meaning of poweraccording to the gospel, 'I am among youas one who serves.'"So here the Pope is claiming like asChrist is among us as one who serves, sothe papacy is among the Christians asone who serves.He is literally anti only antichrist whomake a claim like this. "For thisreason, it is necessary to engage in aper patient and fraternal dialogue onthe subject. A dialogue in which,leaving useless controversies behind,such as the Reformation, strives tounderstand how the Petrine ministry,that is the ministry of Peter, manifestthrough the papacy today, can develop asa service of love for all."We'll say that to those who weregarroted at the stakeor torn apart on the rack.A service of love for all.When they would tear your body apart atthe rackor when they would burn you at thestake, it was known as an act of faith.And when they actually killed you, theywould they they didn't use the wordkill.

They'd say they were going torelax your body.They spoke in euphemisms.Is the papacy says that his ministry isa service of love for all.According to Second Vatican Council,they issued some statements on theecumenical movement in 1964.These are authoritative votes of theworldwide Roman Catholic Church.And they issued an ecumenical decreedecree 1964 called UnitatisRedintegratio.And this is they they claim that thepapacy intends to unify the separatedchurches on the authority of the Bishopof Rome, that is I added the phrasethere on the Antichrist. They didn't usethe phrase Antichrist, but I added thatphrase there.But the Second Vatican Council votedthat the reason the papacy engages inthe ecumenical movement is to reuniteall the separated brethren, that is allthe Protestants and the Orthodox, backunder the control of the Bishop of Rome.That's what the Second Vatican Councilvoted. This is what they voted in Decreeon Ecumenism in 1964, the restoration ofunity among all Christians is one of theprincipal concerns of the Second VaticanCouncil. Christ the Lord founded onechurch and one church only. They go onto say,Nevertheless, our separated brethren,that is Protestants and Orthodox,whether considered as individuals or ascommunities and churches, are notblessed with that unity with which JesusChrist wished to bestow all those whothrough him were born again into onebody and with him quickened to newnessof life, that unity which the HolyScriptures and the ancient tradition ofthe church proclaim.

This is whyProtestants reject the man of sinbecause we don't base doctrine ontraditions of the theThe that Council goes on to say, "For itis only through Christ's Catholic Churchthat that by that they mean the RomanCatholic Church, which is theall-embracing means of salvation, thatthey can fully benefit from the means ofsalvation."So, there you have it. Unless you rejointhe Church of Rome or the papacy orAntichrist, you can never benefit fromsalvation. Goes on to say, section 4,paragraph 3, "This is a public documentvoted in the Vatican II. All Christianswill at last in the common celebrationof the Eucharist be gathered into theone and only church, in that unity whichChrist bestowed on his church from thebeginning.We believe that this unity subsists inthe Catholic Church as something she cannever lose, and we hope that it willcontinue to increase until the end oftime." And it's interesting that whenwhen the papacy issuedthe Laudato Si encyclical in 2015,before the Paris climate changeagreements, they argued that we needSunday sacredness for two reasons. Oneis to provide a break from the ceaselesscycle of consumption on planet Earth toease the crime the climate crisis.

Thatwas the first reason, and the second wasso that all of humanity would have thetime to celebrate the Eucharist. It's areflection of what we find in SecondVatican Council in this statement here.So, is this is the papacy hiding theirintentions, yes or no?Absolutely not. Absolutely not.Sister Whitewrote in the Signs of the Times,she says, "The church that holds to theword of God is irreconcilably separatedfrom Rome.Protestants were once thus apart fromthis great church of apostasy." She'sechoing what Paul says in 2Thessalonians 2, "But they haveapproached more nearly to her and arestill in the path of reconciliation tothe Church of Rome.Rome never changes. Her principles arenot the altered in the least. She hasnot lessened the breach between herselfand Protestants.

They have done all theadvancing. But what does is argue forthe Protestantism of this day? it is therejection of Bible truth which makes menapproach to infidelity. It is abacksliding church, the lessons adistance between itself and the papacy.What kind of church lessons a distance?A backsliding church lessons a distance.And she went on to say after she visitedthe Waldensian valleys in 1886,she wrote some articles in the Reviewand Herald and she said there, "Romenever changes. She claims infallibility.It is a Protestantism that will change.The adoption of liberal ideas on itspart will bring it where it can claspthe hand of Catholicism."The adoption of liberal ideas.And today we have a papacy andProtestant churches in America that haveadopted all very very similarhermeneutical processes.

Criticaltheory. More and more churches areapproving of critical race theory as ameans of interpreting scripture. Moreand more churches are accepting oradopting the idea there is a climatecrisis that requires global unifiedcoordinated action to solve the climatecrisis. The papacy is very happy withthe adoption of liberal ideas on thepart of Protestants because it bringsthem closer to the papacy itself.Hence, part of what I was talking aboutlast night.So, what are you saying in conclusiontoday?It is not possiblefor us to pursue ecumenism in Christwith Antichrist.A few months ago, our pal director ofthe General Conference, Dr. GanouneDiop, he gave a a talk at a gooduniversity and he said there veryclearly, you can see it online, he said,"Our purpose in the ecumenical movementin participating is not to build onevisible unified structure of Christiansaround the world." We'd say amen tothat.

He said, "What we're pursuing isecumenism in Christ, which is a nicesounding statement which means almostanything to anybody."Well, the point is this, the papacy isthe Antichrist and arch deceiveractuated and empowered by Satan todeceive the elect of God. There can beno agreement between Christ and Satan asper 2 Corinthians 6:15. Adventistrepresentatives should not be activelytaking part in a global ecumenicalmovement where the Antichrist is activeand seeking the visible unity of allChristians under the leadership ofAntichrist or the papacy itself.As sister White said,is a backsliding church that lessens thedistance between itself and the papacy.So, what are we saying conclusion heretoday? Well, some of you may be RomanCatholic listening today. Maybe some ofyou come from Roman Catholicbackgrounds.

Maybe some of you arewatching online and come from a Catholicbackground. And the truth of scriptureis this, is that God loves you.And Jesus died on Calvary for you asmuch as for anybody else on planetEarth.You are not to blame for the historicalerrors and false doctrines that creptinto that system. And God is calling youtoday out from darkness to light, awayfrom error to truth, from followingAntichrist to following the goodshepherd Jesus Christ. And in these endtimes, God has a remnant movement whokeep the commandments of God and have atestimony of Jesus. That is theSeventh-day Adventist movement.The The Apostle John in the book ofRevelation describes God's last call tothose who are in Babylon the Great, anend time, a phrase for the Antichristend of time.And that the bit in red at the bottomsays there that I heard another voicefrom heaven saying, "Come out of her, mypeople, so that you do not take part inher sins and so that you do not share inher plagues."So, if you are a Catholic listeningtoday, God is referring to you as mypeople.You are still his people, and he'sgiving you an offer of mercy to come outof spiritual Babylon, away from all theerrors that have crept into the churchover the last 2,100 years.

A church thatthat now, as the text says, a dwellingplace of demons, a haunt of every foulspirit, a haunt of every foul bird, ahaunt of every foul and hateful beast.God is calling you out of that systembecause he calls you my people.And there is coming a judgment, andthere are going to be going to beplagues, last plagues falling uponplanet Earth, and those plagues willsome of them fall precisely upon theAntichrist system.So, don't stay in Antichrist.Jesus says in his revelation, come outof her, my people. God does not condemnany any today who are in the CatholicChurch, but he does say, come out ofher, my people, so that you do notparticipate or share in her plagues. Foras for Adventist PA leaders today,public affairs and religious libertyleaders,uh this is our public affairs andreligious liberty director, Dr. GanouDiop. We've mentioned him extensivelylast night, one of the architects of theuh anti-vaccination statement, theanti-religious liberty statement.

Thisis a a screenshot from his talk atOakwood University, where he said,"Adventists must be the most ecumenicalpeople in the world."And you can listen to what he saysthere.Um we would say to Dr. Ganou Diop,um you cannot dance with the devil andcome away unharmed.You may be an observer at thesemeetings, but to be an activeparticipant in those meetings is a steptoo far.We need to know what is going on, but weare not to participate in Satan's finaldeception of humanity.And so, we are to be observers, notparticipants. As Sister White says, itis a backsliding church, the lessenedadditions between itself and the papacy.Now, some of you knowthat just a few months ago,May 16th, this this press release wasissued by the General Conference, as Dr.Ganou Diop was admitted to a hospital onMay 16, 2024. He's being treated inintensive care unit for a cardiacailment of uncertain cause.He's receiving excellentstate-of-the-art treatment.The Diop family has shared that Diop'scondition is currently stable andincludes certain surgical proceduresthat have been performed.Et cetera, et cetera. We ask for theprayers of the world church.And I would say this, we pray today forthe full healing of Dr.

Ganou Diop andfor the healing of his heart.We wish no harm upon this man. But wealso pray for a change of heart.That when he is restored to his ministryas if he may well be, we don't know. Butif as and when he is restored to theleadership of that department, myunderstanding his his much more thanjust a cardiac issue he was dealingwith. It was much more complex thanthat. If as and when he is restored, wepray that God will give him a change ofheart.So that he no longer thinks you can haveecumenism in Christ with antichrist.

Itis simply impossible to have.As the scripture says, Galatians 6:7, donot be deceived. God is not mocked. As aman soweth, so shall he reap.And so we have to be careful when wetalk about these matters. And we are notto engage in like playing with thedevil, dancing with the devil, andassume that somehow we're going to comeaway unscathed from that process. Andfor Adventist members today, for eachone of you sitting here, I know ouryoung people are due to come in here anymoment.

And if those can around can goand get the young people, then then wethey'll be here in a seconds to sharewhat they've been learning with us.For Adventists sitting here today, forall of you, for those watching online,I would say this,love the truth.It's the antidote to deception.Love the truth.Don't just know the truth. Love thetruth.To love the truth means you don't justknow it with your head, but you engagewith your heart.And so it's a whole body response to thetruth of God as manifest in the mysteryof godliness in the person of JesusChrist.So love the word of God. Read the wordof God each day and allow it to changeyour life on a daily basis. And beyond,you're not just reading the word of God,but you're reading the word of God inorder to meet the God who loves you.Read the word of God not just that youcan master the text, but that God canmaster you through the text.Read the word of God not just forinformation,but read the word of God for personaltransformation.The God will change you in the readingof His word. Love the word.It is the antidote to deception.

If youwork for the federal government and andyour job was to detect counterfeit banknotes, the first thing you have to dobefore you can detect a counterfeit isto know the original absolutelyperfectly.So, we need to know what the Bible saysabout Jesus Christ, the way, the truth,and the life, about His second coming,about His righteousness that He's goingto give to us. We're going to talk aboutthat tonight. This is the bride ofChrist. We need to know this forourselves. So, love the truth.

It is theantidote to deception. Secondly, sharethe truth.God has a purpose for us today.And it's to announce the second comingof Jesus Christ and to proclaim threemessages found in Revelation 14.That is our purpose. And uhmen in particular need a purpose inlife.Men need a purpose in particular. Thereis nothing worse than a man who has nopurpose in life.He falls back into video games orsomething else. His life is ameaningless circle of of the pursuit ofof pleasure and entertainment.

Men needpurpose in life. When Jesus called thosefirst four apostles, Peter, John, andJames and Andrew by the Sea of Galilee,He did not say, "Follow me and we'llbecome friends." He said, "Follow me andI'll make you fishers of men."He gave us a task. A task that has aglobal impact. A task that reaches toevery nation, tribe, language, andpeople. God's purpose for us today is toshare the gospel to the ends of theearth.

And because there are seven oreight billion people on planet earth and40% of them yet to hear the gospel,there is plenty work for everybody inthis hall today to do in taking thegospel to the ends of the world. So,love the truth, it is the antidote todeception. Share the truth, it is God'spurpose for his end time movement. Andfinally there, stand for the truth.Repeatedly in the book of Revelation,the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, whenthere is an apocalypse of Satan, the manof sin we read about in 2 Thessalonians2, there's an apocalypse of JesusChrist, his revelation, last book of theBible. And repeatedly through that wefind the truth and also um elsewhere inthe scripture that the one who enduresto the end shall besaved.The one who endures to the end will besaved.

The word endurance, it meanspatience. It means putting up withdiscomfort. It means living through theturbulence of this world throws at youbecause at the end of the tunnel thereis a light. And that light is the comingof Jesus Christ.So, love the truth.Share the truth.And stand for the truth.And when Jesus comes again, by God'sgrace, each of our light names will bein the Lamb's Book of Life.Let's bow heads and before our youngpeople come up here, let's close with aword of prayer.Heavenly Father,we thank you for your word, which is alight unto us, a light of prophecy thatguides us in difficult moments.We pray this morning, Heavenly Father,that we will indeed love the truth,that we will share the truth, that wewill stand for the truth.Jesus, when you come again in the cloudsof glory,our prayer is that you're looking foreach one of us. In your holy name wepray.

Amen.