In response to my call to imagine what things would be like, etc., etc., if John Paul II had not been, or Benedict XVI was not pope, you replied:

Quote
The Roman church would quickly disintegrate into chaos as many Liberal Protestant churches have.

I would have to disagree with this, at least in part. No pope would adopt and proclaim a pro-abortion, pro-gay, pro-liberation agenda outright and openly --- it would be introduced slowly and gradually, with study commissions, councils, encyclicals, etc., etc. Vatican II was a radical departure from orthodoxy and tradition; yet, it's deviations have been embraced more or less wholeheartedly by the majority of Catholics because it was in sympathy with the spirit of the times. Well, the spirit of the age today is even more radically pagan and unorthodox, so I wouldn't expect much resistance over the long haul. Catholic theology is so convoluted, confusing, and unbiblical that most Catholics will believe anything over time, provided it is sufficiently popularized and presented by a trusted priest or pope. Most of the Catholics that I know are basically New Age pantheists and pluralists who believe all "good people" are part of the church (anonymous Christians) and will go to heaven, "whatever that is," to be with Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Buddha, and Mohammed.
Nevertheless, I do believe that over time such a church would "disintegrate into chaos" like most or all liberal Protestant churches; but ultimately, this is idle speculation, just like your judgment that the pope is the Antichrist.

Quote
The Antichrist will not proclaim any new doctrines that are certain to diminish his power and dominion. Get Real!


The only references to the Antichrist (as opposed to "the Beast," the "man of lawlessness," or the "Abomination of Desolation") that I can find are in the letters of John:

Quote
1 John 2:18
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

1 John 2:22
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

2 John 1:7
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.


From these passages it is clear that anyone who "denies that Jesus is the Christ," or "denies the Father and the Son," or does not confess "Jesus is from God," or does not confess "the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh" is an antichrist. While Karl Ratzinger's (Benedict XVI) doctrinal errors are MANY and SERIOUS, he has never denied that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is God, the Trinity, or the Incarnation; in fact, he has defended these doctines with vigor against liberals within the Church who deny them. If he doesn't even qualify as an antichrist, how can he be The Antichrist?

[Linked Image]