Church Union Ch4

We have now seen a summary of what is to be expected in the ecumenical movement and what its ultimate result will be. Now it is important to ask, "Is there any basis for fear?"

Many writers on the subject of ecumenism say that the uniting churches will form the great beast or false prophet of Revelation. Others claim that the federated religious systems will work with some powerful deceiver who will be the "man of sin" or the "antichrist." Some of these warnings have validity; others are totally inaccurate. Let us first consider those which are not Scripturally justifiable.

We have learned that the seed of Abraham is to be composed of all faithful Christians. This was lost sight of by Judaism who expected that Messiah would be only one individual. But Paul points out that Messiah or Christ is not one individual, but many! In I Corinthians 12:12, Ephesians 1:22,23; 4:15,16 and in other places, it is made clear that Christ is not one but many members. In short, the seed of Abraham is considered by God to be The Christ. (Galatians 3:27-29) This being so, we find that the Scriptures show the same mystery exists regarding the Antichrist. It is, likewise, not one person, but many. As a matter of fact, the antichrist is the same as the tares of our Lord's parable.

The antichrist is the false church — not only the great Roman apostate church, but also all of the denominations which have separated from her. John explains that Babylon was a "mother" church, and that her "daughters" were also unclean in the Lord's sight. (Revelation 17:4,5) We may therefore conclude that the federated churches will not work with an antichrist since they are themselves all a part of the one great antichrist system.

It is well to note that Martin Luther and the other reformers identified papacy as the antichrist. (For a more detailed discussion, see The Time is at Hand, page 267) The concept of a literal person being the antichrist crept in during the last century. Most evangelicals are unaware of this divergency from their historical Protestant roots.

The term "man of sin" must also be considered. It is found in II Thessalonians 2:3-13. In these verses we find much that helps to explain the matter. In verse 7, Paul calls the man of sin by the name "mystery of iniquity" and says that it was already at work in his day! From this we immediately perceive that this could not literally be a man. He would be nearly two thousand years old now! Who, then, is the man of sin? Paul says that the Lord's second advent couldn't accomplish its work until the man of sin would be revealed or exposed. Well, he has been exposed!

The man of sin is the papacy — not the pope himself, but the papal arrangement, the arrangement by which a man claims to be head of Christ's Church. Notice that in verse 3 Paul explains that before the man of sin could have control, a "falling away" must occur. The Greek word translated "falling away" is apostasy. Until Christians fell away from the truth, as expressed by the Apostles, no man would dare claim to be head of the Church. But the spirit of this error was already working (verse 7) in Paul's day in that prominent bishops were gaining ambition and usurping authority from the individual members of the Church.

The apostate church was already beginning. The tares were being sown! Verse 4 tells what tremendous authority the apostate church would exercise. And it has been fulfilled. Note the words of Roman Catholic churchmen themselves: St. Bernard wrote that "none except God is like the pope, either in heaven or on earth." Pope Nicholas I wrote that the Emperor Constantine had "conferred the appellation of God on the pope, who, therefore, being God, cannot be judged by man."

Pope Innocent III said, "The pope holds the place of the true God." The canon law, in the gloss, denominates the pope "our Lord God." Is that enough? The popes themselves have condemned and identified themselves by their own words. The papacy is the man of sin. Therefore, again, we see that it would be improper for us to look for a literal man of sin to deceive the whole world in our day. Papacy, the Scriptural man of sin, has already deceived the whole world during its infamous reign which historians now call the dark ages! (See Appendix B)

Thus the views which expect an antichrist or a man of sin to appear as a literal person in conjunction with the ecumenical uniting are incorrect. However, the Lord does warn the wheat class concerning difficulties it will have due to church confederation. One example is in the highly symbolic language of Revelation 16:13. This verse describes the efforts of the Roman church (beast), the federated Protestants (false prophet), and the civil government (dragon) to attempt to hold together the social order as it now exists. While their efforts may seem for a while to succeed, they are doomed to ultimate failure and destruction. It is here, however, that the true Church must take note. It is the Scriptural testimony that the true Church will somehow be persecuted by this unholy alliance.

The "Beast" and the "Image of the Beast"

The Revelator gives another view of this matter in the 13th chapter of Revelation. In this chapter we have summarized for us centuries of church history. The first ten verses show the development of the great Roman apostate church — a beast of ten horns. (Horns represent supporting powers — an apt symbol since the power of natural beasts is often demonstrated by their lowering of their horn to gore their victims.) The Roman church has generally had the political support of the ten European powers (nations) which are fragmentations of the old "Holy Roman Empire." Even the Reformation is mentioned in this account as a "wound" (verse 3) from which the beast recovers.

In verse 10-14 we see the rise of another beast. Note: This two-horned beast appears on the scene during or after the Reformation "wound." Further, this beast exercises "all the power of the first beast." This is a reference to authority. The non-Protestant churches (Anglican and Greek Orthodox) claim their authority through "apostolic succession."

With this much information, plus the fact that the second beast has two horns or supporting powers (verse 11), we can reasonably identify this beast historically as the Church of England and Ireland (the two horns). Now we have before us the two great non-Protestant forces of the ecclesiastical world — Rome and England. Both claim authority to teach through direct succession of bishops from the days of the Apostles. No Protestant church makes this claim. This is important.

The historical weakness of the "Evangelical Alliance" (See Appendix C) and the federated churches was that the churches which constituted them lacked apostolic succession. Revelation 13, however, points out the future of the matter. The alliance — the mergers, confederacies, and cooperations — of the Protestant denominations will indeed receive a spark of life-giving power (verse 15). This ecumenical church union of Protestants will be an "image of the beast." It will in this sense exercise all the power of the first two beasts — claiming apostolic authority to teach. It will, when vitalized, become the "false prophet" of later chapters of Revelation.

From this prophecy, therefore, we can well expect that recognition of ecumenical federations will be coming one of these days from the Church of England — probably recognition in the form of the granting of apostolic succession to the Protestant churches! The result, as shown in Revelation 13:15-17, will be a religious intolerance of all who will not conform to the new ecumenical church.

The faith of the saints will then be severely tested. But their victory of faith will be the moment the world has so long unknowingly awaited. The last member of the true Church will be changed from flesh to spirit — or, as the Lord said, the wheat will be gathered into his barn. Then they will bless all of the families of the earth! How we pray, "Thy kingdom come!"