"Man of the Year"
The prestigious "Man of the Year" award for 1994 was bestowed upon Pope John
Paul II by TIME magazine.
No other world figure has commanded the admiration he has enjoyed as the globe-trotting
(over 1/2 million miles) Pope. His kindly smile and fatherly wave have made the "Pope
Mobile" a legend. Although they might disagree with his theology, both Catholics and
Protestants have joined in the accolades of praise for this man. Indeed, Catholics all
over the United States have hailed his October visit as the most important event in their
lives. Billy Graham has extolled Pope John Paul, "as the conscience of the whole
Christian world."
Of course, he has his detractors. Many are former priests and nuns who have experienced
the tragic consequences of enforced celibacy. What is the root of this problem and what
can be done? The solution, as expressed by ex-nun Patricia Nolan Savas, is simple:
"Any organization that can, with the stroke of its' sacerdotal pen, remove the pain
of eternal punishment from a Friday hotdog and pluck St. Christophers from millions of
dashboards can surely admit that it has erred in other matters."
The implications are obvious. . . By the stroke of a pen, John Paul could end the Catholic
Church's centuries' long dogma of "forbidding to marry" which no less than the
Apostle Paul identified as one of the "doctrines of devils" (1 Timothy 4:1, 3).
No wonder the majority of Catholics in the United States disagree with this dogma of
celibacy imposed on priests, brothers and nuns.
Not Just a Church
John Paul was extolled for his moral leadership in 1994 by TIME, but the article admitted
that the UN population conference in Cairo could be considered the Pope's "low
point" of the year. (Yet this did not discourage the UN from including him as a
featured peace and human rights speaker last month during his visit.) Yet at this
conference of 186 nations which included the Papacy, the policies of President Clinton and
the Pope hit head on and the Pope won.
Why was the Vatican the only Christian Church at the Cairo conference? The Vatican is more
than a church. The Vatican State is a civil government that exchanges ambassadors with the
nations of the world. The Vatican claims to be both the spiritual and civil Kingdom of God
on earth.
To set up a Kingdom of God before Christ returns to set up his own Kingdom, the Scriptures
identify as the work of the "antichrist." The Greek word translated antichrist
means instead of Christ (STRONG'S #473+5547), not against Christ. This fact motivated
Luther and other reformers to identify the Papacy as the "little horn" of Daniel
7 and 8 and the antichrist "beast" of Revelation 13. This historic Protestant
view holds that antichrist is a system, not an individual, which thrives during the
Christian Age.
The concept that the antichrist or "man of sin" would be an individual who would
appear in the future, at the end of the Christian Age, was first presented by the Catholic
Jesuit Priest Ribera in 1580 to counter the Reformation view that the Papacy was the
antichrist. A future individual antichrist, however, did not become popular among
"born again Christians" until after World War II.
Pope John Paul appears to be a sincere and compassionate individual, but the government
which he heads, the Papacy, has an unfortunate track record. And that unfortunate record
is not just from the remote past. The following is a documentation of Papacy's unsavory
influence in world affairs during much of the 20th century:
The Papacy from 1919 to 1990
1919: Hitler's Nazi-ism was born. Archbishop Pacelli (who became Pope Pius XII) gave
Hitler Church Money to "help his small, struggling band of anti-Communists 'go quell
the devil's work,' Pacelli told Hitler."
Under Vatican pressure, part of Ukraine was taken from Communist Soviet Russia and given
to Catholic Poland.
1922: Much to the Vatican's delight, Mussolini set up a Fascist dictatorship in Italy.
1925: Any Vatican representative was forbidden to enter the Soviet Union. From this time
the real Vatican campaign against the Soviet Union "began to flood 'the whole
world.'" Later the Vatican established Fascist parties in most European nations in
its attempt to "establish Totalitarianism wherever possible."
1926: Under Vatican pressure, Pilsudski set up a Catholic Fascist dictatorship in Poland.
For over 15 years Catholic priests accompanied Polish soldiers in expeditions to punish
the "rebel Ukrainians." Orthodox churches were burned and many were executed.
1929: Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini, which guaranteed the full and
independent sovereignty of the Vatican State in Vatican City. Also Fascist Italy paid the
Vatican a vast sum of money to compensate for the loss of the Papal States in 1870.
1933: The Pope had Franz von Papen persuade President Hindenburg to appoint Hitler to be
Chancellor of Germany. Fritz Thyssen, a rich Catholic steel magnate who financed Hitler,
wrote an article in the Swiss Arbeiterzeitung entitled, "Pius XII, As Nuncio, Brought
Hitler to Power."
"I learned much from the Order of the Jesuits (said Hitler). . . until now there has
never been anything more grandiose on the earth than the hierarchical organization of the
Catholic Church. I transferred much of this organization into my own party."
1936: The Vatican and Mussolini backed General Franco's bloody civil war against the
Spanish Republic and vigorously supported his Fascist regime.
1939 - 1941: The Vatican pressured Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium and France to
cave in to Germany.
1939: The Vatican and Hitler, with the fall of Czechoslovakia, set up a Catholic Fascist
State in Slovakia headed by a Catholic prelateu Monsignor Tiso. His regime was brutal
toward Jews and non-Roman Catholics. After the war he was executed for war crimes.
1941: The Axis Powers and the Vatican set up the Catholic Fascist Party, Ustashi, in
Croatia under the dictatorship of AntePavelic. Archbishop Stepinac was the Supreme
Military Vicar of the Ustashi Army. Jews were murdered, Serbian Orthodox churches were
destroyed and Serbs were given the choice to convert to Roman Catholicism or be killed.
1943: When it was known that Germany would lose the war, the Vatican and Britain tried to
plot the fall of Hitler, then have Germany join forces with Great Britain and the U.S. in
a war against Russia.
1945 - 1989: The Axis Powers and the Vatican lost World War II and Communism swept over
1/3 of the world.
1982 - 1989: Pope John Paul and former President Reagan successfully plotted the downfall
of the Communist Empire (TIME, February 24, 1992). During this clandestine campaign
Archbishop Pio Lashi said to the diplomat, Vernon Walters, "It is a very complex
situation . . . listen to the Holy Father (Pope). We have 2,000 years experience at
this." It was further observed, "Step by reluctant step, the Soviets and the
Communist government of Poland bowed to the pressure imposed by the Pope and the
President."
1989: The Communist Empire fell. Papacy finally triumphed over her bitter enemy.
1990: The Pope's ultimate agenda is revealed in the following statement he made on April
21, 1990: "A united Europe is no longer a dream. It is not a utopian memory from the
Middle Ages (emphasis added). The events that we are witnessing show that this goal can be
reached." The Pope wants to revive the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle (Dark) Ages.
Are the Heavens Rolling Together "as a Scroll"? (Isaiah 34:4)
1992: A group of 40 prominent evangelical and Catholic scholars and leaders has agreed
that Christians must stop aggressive proselytizing of one another's flocks and work
together more closely to "contend against all that opposes Christ and His
cause." "We dare not by needless and loveless conflict between ourselves give
aid and comfort to the enemies of the cause of Christ," the statement, signed March
29 in New York, says. "Not since the 16th century have Protestants and Catholics
'joined in a declaration so clear in respect to their common faith and common
responsibility.'"
". . . Although the document addresses the relationship between evangelicals and
Catholics, it acknowledges that belief in "the one Christ and one mission includes
many other Christians," most notably Eastern Orthodox and Protestants outside the
evangelical camp. What brought the two communities together to this point, some signers
said, are the experiences of worshipping together in the charismatic movement and working
together for political causes, such as the pro-life movement. Evangelical Protestants
"have much more in common with Bible-believing Catholics" than with liberal
Protestants, Charles Colson said.
1993: In November Moody said, "Today, for good or bad, the lines that separate
evangelicals and Roman Catholics are fading. More and more people from both sides are
working together. . ." Charles Colson writes, "It's high time that all of us who
are Christians come together regardless of the difference of our confessions and our
tradition . . ." Ministries of Billy Graham, Luis Palau, World Vision, and
charismatic groups such as YWAH involve Catholics.
1994: Christianity Today (December 12) observed that the consensus among younger
evangelicals is to "collaborate with Roman Catholics."
The ecclesiastical "heavens," in fact, are rolling together. What shall be the
result? "The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and their host shall fall
down."
"Man of the Year"? The Pope himself is not the "Man of Sin," but he
heads the system that is the Man of Sin, the Antichrist. Whether you are a Protestant or
Catholic, can you afford not to investigate scripturally the long-held Reformation concept
that Papacy is the antichrist? Send for our free booklet, "CHURCH UNION AND THE
ANTICHRIST" for more information about how these prophecies are being fulfilled
today, and what the future holds.
For more information about how these prophecies are being fulfilled today, and what the
future holds refer to CHURCH UNION AND THE
ANTICHRIST on this website.
1. U.S.A. TODAY, December 8, 1993
2. LUTHERAN WORLD, September, 1960, pp. 128-129.
3. Joseph Tanner, DANIEL AND REVELATION (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1898), pp. 16,
17.
4. Paul J. Murphy, LA POPESSA (New York: Warner Books, 1980), p. 52.
5. Avro Manhattan, THE VATICAN IN WORLD POLITICS (New York: Horizon Press, Inc., 1949), p.
272.
6. Ibid., pp. 272, 280.
7. Ibid., pp. 273-275 (Many references given for documentation)
8. Murphy, LA POPESSA, and Manhattan, THE VATICAN IN WORLD POLITICS, pp. 22-24.
9. Manhattan, THE VATICAN IN WORLD POLITICS, pp. 168, 169.
10. Leo Lehmann, BEHIND THE DICTATORS (1942), Fritz Thyssen, I PAID HITLER (1941).
11. Hermann Rauschning, HITLER SAID TO ME (1939), pp. 266-267.
12. Manhattan, THE VATICAN IN WORLD POLITICS, pp. 95-99.
13. Ibid., pp. 247-265, 340-341.
14. Ibid., pp. 262-236.
15. Avro Manhattan, THE TERROR OVER YUGOSLAVIA, THE THREAT TO YUGOSLAVIA (London: Watters,
1953).
16. John Loftus & Mark Aarons, THE SECRET WAR AGAINST THE JEWS (St. Martin's Press:
New York, 1994), p. 87.
17. NEW YORK TIMES, April 23, 1990.
18. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELIGION REPORT, April 4, 1994.