For instance: Futurism has tainted and corrupted the whole evangelical system everywhere. Where did Futurism originate? This question demands a clear answer, so here it is:-
The Reformers, one and all, applied the prophecies of the “Man of sin” and the “Antichrist” to the Papacy.
John Knox, for instance, wrote, “The Pope is the head of the Church of Antichrist. As for your Roman Church as it is now corrupted. I no more doubt but that it is the synagogue of Satan, and the head thereof called the Pope, the man of sin.”
Cranmer at his trial, gave what he knew was his dying testimony, “As for the Pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy, and the antichrist with all his false doctrines.” It was this conviction based on prophecy that made the Reformation. Bible prophecy added great strength to this God-led movement. Bible prophecy may not be the sole foundation but it provided a solid foundation. The Papacy was condemned by both precept and prophecy.
Martin Luther never felt free to break with the Church of Rome until he discovered Justification by faith and had nailed his thesis on the church door. He still believed the Pope was the vicar of Christ and the church of Rome was Christ’s church. He merely aimed at reforming the Catholic Church. It was the discovery from Bible prophecy that finally gave him strength to make the full and final break. He discovered that the Pope was the Antichrist, the “Man of Sin.” He then burned the Pope’s Bull.
To him his former church was but a counterfeit system. Now separate from Rome was not separation from Christ, but separation from Antichrist.
This discovery produced the Reformation. It gave it it’s foundation and strength. The Reformation, we do well to remember, was born of a dual discovery:- The discovery of the true Christ and the discovery of the Antichrist. Prophecy had foretold the Reformation and prophecy had given the foundation. Is it any wonder that the Papacy, felt that at any cost, it must turn the evidence. The stigma must be removed.
Ribera, a clever Jesuit was selected to do the removing of that damning stigma.
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The Reformer, Thomas Brightman, (1562-1607) when he saw Ribera’s work said in disgust “Once they would not suffer any man to scarce touch a Bible, now they produce a commentary to explain it - to point men away from the Papal Antichrist.” Leroy Froom, Volume 2, page 493. This was the beginning of Futurism.
“Thus in Ribera’s Commentary was laid the foundation for that great structure of Futurism, built upon and enlarged by those who followed. until it became the common Catholic position.
And then, wonder of wonders, in the nineteenth century this Jesuit scheme of Interpretation came to be adopted by a growing number of Protestants, until today Futurism, amplified and adorned with the rapture theory, has become the generally accepted belief of the Fundamentalist wing of popular Protestantism” Prophecy and the Church”, page 297 by A. T. Allis.
Allis says: ‘The futurist interpretation is traced back to the
Jesuit Ribera whose aim was to disprove the claim of the Reformers that the Pope was the Antichrist. Not only Protestant writers, but Catholic writers as well, have recognized that the Futurist interpretation about Antichrist originated with Ribera. The futuristic School, says one Catholic theologian, Founded by the Jesuit Ribera in 1591, looks for Antichrist, Babylon, and a rebuilt temple In Jerusalem, at the end of the Christian Dispensation.” Hitchcock, The Beast And The Little Horn, page 7.
http://pdf.amazingdiscoveries.org/eBooks/THE_ORIGIN_OF_FUTURISM.pdf
After the initial thrust of the Reformation, t
he identification of the Papacy as the antichrist became less common; however, it was still strong among Protestants of almost all denominations until about the end of the nineteenth century. Today, in the environment of the ecumenical movement, it has certainly become most unpopular to identify the Papacy as the antichrist. The majority of Christians prefer to ignore the issue, believing it to be of little importance in today’s modern society.
Who is the Antichrist?
