The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Who is the Antichrist?

(addressed to Pilgrim)

Here's how the pope denies the trinity, etc.

1. Romanism holds that salvation is by works; there is no place for effectual calling, the Father drawing sinners to the Son, etc.

2. Romanism denies the deity of the Son through its denial of the sufficiency of his atonement; if His atonement is insufficient, at best Christ was on a par with the angels.

3. Romanism denies the return of Christ in the flesh in that it has its own pseudo-Christ (I prefer to call him "the antichrist") in its pope, to whom its people look as God's representative on earth and the leader of a "Christendom" that they hope will conquer the earth and usher in a golden age. Wasn't Cortez and others like motivated by such thoughts in their conquests of heathen lands?

I can see this hyper-literalism you apply to the pertinent passages could open up many other "cans of worms". For example, the epistles speak of believers abiding in Christ and thereby not sinning, Christ dying not merely for the sins of the Jews, but for the whole world also, etc.

As for dogma and office, surely you must concede that the antichist has to have office?

I'm also suspicious of a lot of what passes for "Scripture interpreting Scripture" - it sounds like a wonderful principal, but I'm far from convinced it's always being applied where it's claimed, especially if the "key" passages employed in such interpretations have themselves been misinterpreted in the first instance.