Antichrist Is Not The Papal System

Reasoning The Scriptures
The Antichrist is not the Papal System
M any Christian Scholars have endeavoured to identify the Papal system of Roman
Catholic Church with the Antichrist. Dante Alighieri, John Wycliffe, John Huss,
William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Isaac Newton, Gill, Wesley, Miller, E.G. White,
C.T.Russell and many more protestants believed and taught that the Papal system is indeed
the Antichrist. In this regard we do not deny that the Papal system is an Apostate system
which persecuted the true followers of Christ, the world will never forget those barbarous
tortures done by the Papal system to the saints, we do agree that the women referred in Mat
13:33 is indeed the Papal Church who leavened the word of God with all her false doctrines
like trinity, hell fire, immortal soul, worship of saints, idolatry, Mariolatry, confession of sin,
indulgence letter for forgiveness, and at last the doctrine of the Mass,etc. Even today we see
major part of the doctrines which the Holy See preaches are also preached and practiced by
many Idolatrous Nations, but this cannot make them also the Antichrist simply because they
too preach false.
Five major factors made the Aforementioned Scholars to conclude that the Papal system is
the Antichrist, namely :
1. The Ecclesiastical Supremacy of Papal System by the Emperor Justinian

2. The Brutal Persecution done by Popes all through the dark ages
3. Introducing innumerable false (pagan)doctrines into Christianity
4. False claims of Popes (which the above Authors considered as blasphemy
referred in Daniel 7 and Rev 13)
5. The numerical values of the title “VICARIUS FELLI DEI” which is written
on the diadem of the Pope summed up to 666
But, not all the eligibilities referred in the scriptures to the Antichrist fit with the Papal
system. We sincerely appreciate all the previous authors who wrote before 19th century and
acclaim their writings and their serious effort, they all indeed have deciphered and
interpreted correct symbols of Revelation and Daniel with a wrong false prophet who
belong to the category of “many antichrists” of 1John 2:18. Now we shall proceed with lot
of Scriptural evidences, historical corroborations and Authenticated proofs to show that
THE ANTICHRIST IS NOT THE PAPAL SYSTEM.
Reasons for Why Papacy are not the ANTICHRIST?
Reason #1. It is evident from the scriptures that Antichrist will deny Christ instead
of acknowledge him
1John 4:2,3: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that
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spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now
already is it in the world.
This cannot be applied to Pope because he indeed acknowledge Jesus Christ as

Saviour of the World otherwise Christianity’s celebrated festivals like “Christmas”
“Good Friday” “Easter” would not have existed on this earth, What Popes do on
these occasions does they deny Christ? Never! these festivals may have pagan origin
but this doesn’t’ mean that they forsake Christ and glorify the pagan gods on the said
festivals, we indeed condemn their unbiblical dates and practices which is not
according to the scriptures, but one or the other way they are acknowledging his birth
(messiah coming in the flesh) his death (his sacrifice) his resurrection (proof of his
Saviorship) which is in harmony with (1 John 4:2,3) and contrary to 2 Thes 2:4 and
Dan 11:37, Pope sustains the worship of saints but the Antichrist never – “Neither
shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any
god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
Reason #2: The Antichrist is described as the one "who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth
in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4). This is what
the Popes have never done. Not even Leo ventured to deify himself or supersede
God. If Pope say I am the representative of God quite oppositely Antichrist say I am God.
The Popes have made many false and impious claims for themselves; nevertheless,
their decrees have been sent forth as from the "vicegerent" of God, the "vicar" of
Christ—thus acknowledging a Divine power above him.
Reason #3: In Revelation 13:2, 4 we read, "And the beast which I saw was like unto
a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a
lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority...and they
worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast." According to protestant
commentators, the dragon is the PAGAN ROME which gave authority to the Papal
Rome. Now by almost common consent this first beast of Revelation 13 is the
Antichrist. If, then, Roman Catholism be the Antichrist, where, we may ask, shall we
turn to find anything answering to what we read of here in Revelation 13:4—"And
they worshipped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast." Did the Catholics
worship the Pope or the Pagan Rome which is supposed to be the dragon? Did the
Papacy uphold the pagan Rome rather establishing their own kingdom? This cannot
be true as it is explained by those expositors that this same Papal Rome uprooted
three kings of Pagan Rome (Dan 7:24) Every kingdom divided against itself will be
brought to desolation Beelzebub cannot cast out Beelzebub isn’t’ it? (Mat 12:25-26)
But the fact is entirely poles apart than what we assume. Bible interprets its own
symbol it is stated clearly that the DRAGON is none other than the old serpent the
Devil – the deceiver (Rev 20:1) not the pagan Rome.
2
Reason #4: The Antichrist will make a Covenant with many. In Daniel 9:27 we read,
"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for a week." The one referred to here
as making this seven-year Covenant is "the Prince that shall come" and not the prince
who had already come (Dan 9:26), Russelites and Adventists maintain that the two
prince are one and the same, we argue that if the Messiah was cut off (died) at the
end of sixty nine weeks how can he cause the sacrifice and oblations to cease in the
midst of 70th week? Besides Christ did not make any covenant for one week i.e. for
seven year this would seriously contradict Heb 13: 20 were it is stated that his
covenant would be an everlasting covenant and “the Prince that shall come" of Dan
9:27, is indeed the Antichrist, who will be the Head of the ten-kingdom Empire, who
because of the overspreading of abomination will cause desolations. If this is
interpreted to Pope, we know of no record upon the scroll of history of any Pope
having ever made a seven-year Covenant with many.
Reason #5: In Daniel 11:45 we read, "And he shall plant the tabernacles of his
palace between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end,
and none shall help him." The person referred to here is, again, the Antichrist, as will
be seen by going back to Daniel 11:36 where this section of the chapter begins. There
we are told, "The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and
magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God
of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that is determined
shall be done." This is more than sufficient to identify with certainty the one spoken
of in the last verse of Daniel 11. The Antichrist, then, will plant the tabernacles of his
palace "between the seas" and “the holy mountain,” that is, between the
Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and mount Zion. By no species of ingenuity can this be
made to apply to the Pope, for his palace, the Vatican, is located in the capital city of
Italy.
Reason #6: The 13th chapter of Revelation informs us that the Antichrist (the first
Beast) shall be aided by a second Beast who is denominated "the False Prophet"
(Rev. 19:20). The False Prophet, we are told "exerciseth all the power of the First
Beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the
First Beast" (Rev. 13:12). If the First Beast be the Papacy, then who is the False
Prophet who "causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship" her? Some
say the image of the beast is the protestant denominations, this would mean that, the
Protestants will promote Papacy and cause the people of the earth to worship the
first beast- the Antichrist, how absurd and ridiculous to hear this? The very word
“PROTEST” means to object or to remonstrate, a protestant of the beast cannot be
the promoter of the beast. Protestant denominations in any way have not promoted
Papacy but objected and condemned it; if the false prophet is not the Protestants
then the beast is not the Papacy. Russellites and Adventists are one step forward
form the other, they interpret that the “image of the beast” or the “false prophet”
who had two horns like of a lamb is the church of England and the Church of
Ireland and the king Henry the 8th, we don’t know in what way they caused the
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people of the earth to worship the beast (Papacy) by performing great wonders, when
we read in the historical record, they were actually against the Papacy (beast) it is the
Pope who excommunicated the Henry and his subjects1 this led Henry to be
declared by the Parliament and the people supreme head on earth of the Church of
England Besides, he considered the title of head of the English Church as if it
transferred to him the enormous power which had been claimed, and indeed usurped,
by the Roman Pontiff and in consequence of this interpretation of his title he looked
upon himself as master of the religious sentiments of his subjects, and as authorized
to prescribe modes of faith, according to his fancy. When Henry VIII was declared
supreme head upon earth of the Church of England, George Brown, a native of
England, and a monk of the Augustine order, whom that monarch had created in the
year 1535 archbishop of Dublin (Ireland), . . . caused the king's supremacy to be
acknowledged in that nation (Ireland)2.Notice here Henry the 8th did not promote
nor campaigned for Papacy but was declared supreme head upon earth similar to
what Papacy claimed earlier, both claims are one and the same, this once again does
not fit in Rev 13.
Some Authors refer to the Evangelical Alliance made by some (not all) protestants
denominations in 1846 A.D is the “image of the beast” or the “false prophet” one
can clearly point out the error here, according to the reckonings of the Adventists
and Rusellites the Papacy rose to power on 538/539 A.D and the evangelical alliance
in 1846 A.D, What was the beast doing all through this period without his promoter
the false prophet? Was this lengthy gap required? Finally what did the false prophet
perform in 1846, any wonders, any miracles, any fire from heaven? – No such things
happened in 1846 nor did the evangelical alliance campaign for Pope to bow and
worship.
Reason #7: Revelation 17 gives us more details about the seven heads of the
beast:
9 “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven
Mountains on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five
have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does
come, he must remain for a little while. (Rev. 17:9-10)
Even though it says wisdom is needed to figure out the meaning, people quickly jump
to the most obvious conclusion, which is not the correct answer. Almost all
Revelation expositors interpret the woman seated on the beast as the Papal Church or
the Roman Catholic Church – is this interpretation consistent with what the revealing
angle’s cryptology given in Rev 17:9-10? We answer no.
1
Myers' History
2
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History
4
The seven heads have a double meaning; they represent seven mountains (the Greek
says mountains, not hills) and seven kings. The fact that five kings are fallen and one was
alive at the time of this Revelation given to John and the other is yet to come is almost
ignored. This tells us that the kings rule in succession; one after the other. The seven
heads of the beast do not represent seven of Rome’s emperors; the seven heads
represent seven empires that have ruled over Israel and the Middle East during the
course of history.
Now let us reason about the seven hills of the Rome and the woman. Who is the
woman? They say, she is the Papal Church. Whom does the beast represent? They
say, it is the Pagan Rome (some say the beast is also the Papal Church). Now on has
to locate where the woman i.e. the Papacy’s seat of Authority is located? It is located
in Vatican; yes the Holy See the Papacy’s ruling headquarters is on the hill of Vatican
which is in Italy. When we see any ancient map of Rome we can clearly see Roman
province did not extended beyond Tiberis River until 3rd century A.D. and also the
Vatican hill is not among the seven hills of ancient Rome, only in the 17th century A.D
did the walls of Rome was extended up to the Vatican hill. This can be easily traced
through the Map given bellow.
This map clearly shows us that the Vatican hill is not among the seven hills of ancient Rome.
The seven hills are located inside the walls coloured in blue (Republican walls of 6th to 4th
century B.C) we should not forget that the Biblical word used in Rev 17:9 is mountain
instead of hill; Traditionally Rome is said to be founded on seven hills, but the history and
the topography of Rome is a bit more complicated than that. The hills are not really
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isolated hills. Rather they are a series of ridges eroded from a plain above the floodplain of
the Tiber River. Erosion has separated the ends of some of the ridges into freestanding
heights. It's easy to understand if you look at the contour map given below. Note also that
the slopes of the hills and ridges were
much steeper in ancient times and the
valley bottoms were much closer to the
level of the Tiber than they are today --
both natural action and human
intervention have smoothed the
contours and softened the edges.
The Seven Hills of Rome are namely

1. Aventine Hill (collis Aventinus)
2. Caeline Hill (collis Caelius)
3. Capitoline Hill (collis Capotolinus)
4. Esquiline Hill (collis Esaquilinus)
5. Palatine Hill (collis Palatinus)
6.Quirinal Hill (collis Quirinalis)
7. Viminal Hill (collis Viminalis) see the
below map at right
When we speak of seven hills always

Rome comes to our mind first, but
actually there are other hills as good as
the traditional hills which the
commentators and other historians have
ignored, the other hills were also part of
the Roman province. The other hills are:
1. Pinician
2. Janicullum
3. Vatican
If this is taken into consideration

Rome would be a city of 9 hills
rather than seven below is a map
of ancient Rome which shows the
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seven hills as well as the other hills of Rome (the other hills are marked in blue dots)
Rome indeed was built on other hills apart from the traditional seven hills we have
presented accurate historical proofs, any one can search in any dictionary,
encyclopaedia or the internet and know the information presented in this treatise are
true and substantial. So, if Rome has more than the seven hills this would not fit into
Rev 17:9, besides the Papal church’s head quarters the Holy See or the Vatican city
which has a membership in the UNO is solely built on a single hill that is the Vatican
Hill and this hill as we have seen is not among the seven hills of Rome, again, this
criteria will not fit to Rev 17:9, if the woman is the Papal church did she built the city
of Rome on seven hills? No, Even though Papal Rome is meant (according to Rev
17:9 it is not)here once again this also fails to meet the angel’s cryptology because to
harmonize Rev 17:9 Papal Rome should be located seating on literal seven hills but
actually Papal Rome is indeed seated on a single hill named Vatican ! And If Literal
Rome is meant here (according to Rev 17:9 it is not) we have seen the literal city of
Rome is seated on more than 7 hills ! History should be reviewed and corrected in
this regard that Rome instead of a city of seven hills should be read as the city of 8 or
9 hills but not exactly seven!
Coming to the cryptology of the angel it is said that the Seven heads are the seven
mountains and seven kings, if the mountains here are meant to be literal one, then in
what way shall we answer to the interpretation given for the mountains in Rev 17:10
“Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come” are we to understand that five
mountains among the seven will fall and one will remain? Will the seventh mountain
miraculously appear in the historical scene? Scripture interprets its own symbols the
angel has clearly deciphered the symbols he said the seven mountains are also the
seven kings, mountains represent kingdoms in Biblical cryptology, kingdoms and
kings are always interchangeable.
Even though the seven mountains are interpreted as kings this will again not fit with
Rome because, If the seven heads referred to Roman Emperors of the first century, it
would require that Revelation be written in 68 A.D. The five fallen emperors are
supposed to be Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero who committed
suicide in 68. The next emperor only ruled a few months, as did the next, both in 68.
By the time John wrote Revelation in about 96 A.D., there had been thirteen past
emperors, Domitian being the fourteenth. Those who say it refers to Roman
emperors ignore the ones who ruled only a few months. But, if it referred to Roman
emperors of the first century, it would require that the next emperor also be of that
time, not 1900 years later.
Reason #8: The Adventists, The Russelites and many Adventists who uphold that
Papacy is the Antichrist calculate the beginning and the ending date of Papacy’s raise
and decline from 539 A.D to 1799A.D (1260 days of Dan 7: 24,25) these given dates
are neither historical nor scriptural because 539.A.D was not the beginning of Papal
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rule neither did it ended in 1799 A.D. Daniel 7:26 states that after the determined
time of 1260 days (not years) the little horn should be completely abolished, the
scrolls of Daniel makes this clear “the Judgment shall sit, and they shall take away
his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end”. No one can say all
this happened in 1799 A.D neither we can say that the Papal system would be
consumed gradually over period of hundred years, this would make the fixed time
(1260days) totally ludicrous. King Napoleon’s attack on Pope was only a temporary;
his arrest of Pope spanned only 9 months and soon after this Napoleon returned the
diamond crown to the Pope and they both continued in power, even today Pope is in
power and not consumed. Millions of people attended the funeral of Pope John Paul
II and the election of the new Pope Benedict was one of the most publicized events
of recent times, millions of Christians attend the holy mass conducted by the present
Pope in the Vatican. The Papacy is still active as it was earlier even America one of
the strongest nations of the earth pay respect to him and honour him.
Most of the historical records show that the Pope’s temporal power started during
the time of Pope Stephen II. It is said that he requested Pepin III, emperor of
France, to fight against his enemies, which he did and then gifted those provinces to
the Pope as a gift. This did not happen in 539, but in 756 AD. Even though Papacy
had a lot of influence from the early 5th century itself, they did not have actual place
among the assumed ten horns till AD 756. The following excerpts are a few that we
came across during our study:
Papal States, Ital. Lo Stato Della Chiesa, from 754 to 1870 an independent
territory under the temporal rule of the Popes, also called the States of the
Church and the Pontifical States.3
The "Donation" of Pepin--who owed his new title as king of the Franks in
part to the Pope--and that of his son Charlemagne were the theoretical
foundations of the temporal power of the Papacy.
(754), Promise made by the Carolingian Frankish king Pepin III the Short to
win for Pope Stephen II (III) lands in Italy that had been conquered by the
Lombards; it was later (756) embodied in a document that became the origin
of Papal rule over central Italy, which lasted until the 19th century. Pepin had,
with Papal agreement, deposed the last Merovingian ruler of the Franks and
then was elected king himself. He received the Pope at Quierzy-sur-Oise (near
Laon, Fr.), made the donation, and was subsequently anointed as king by the
Pope. Fulfilling his promise, Pepin fought two campaigns (754 and 756) in
3
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.
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Italy, wresting from the Lombard king Aistulf the former Byzantine territory,
which he then awarded to the Pope.
As early as the 4th century, the Popes had acquired considerable property
around Rome (called the Patrimony of St. Peter). From the 5th century, with
the breakdown of Roman imperial authority in the West, the Pope’s influence
in central Italy increased as the people of the area relied on them for
protection against the barbarian invasions. When the Lombards threatened to
take over the whole peninsula in the 750s, Pope Stephen II appealed for aid to
the Frankish ruler Pepin III the Short. On intervening, Pepin restored the
lands of central Italy to the Roman See, ignoring the claim of the Byzantine
(East Roman) Empire to sovereignty there. This Donation of Pepin (754)
provided the basis for the Papal claim to temporal power, while by the Treaty
of Pavia (756) the Lombard king Aistulf ceded territory in northern and
central Italy. The Pope consequently became ruler of the area around
Ravenna, the Pentapolis (along the Adriatic Sea from Rimini to Ancona), and
the Roman region. 4
In 751 the Lombards had conquered the imperial territory at Ravenna, the seat
of Byzantine government in Italy, and were demanding tribute from the Pope
and threatening to take Rome. Following Pepin's coronation, the Pope
secured his promise of armed intervention in Italy and his pledge to give the
Papacy the territory of Ravenna, once it was conquered. In 756 a Frankish
army forced the Lombard king to surrender his conquests, and Pepin officially
conferred the Ravenna territory to the Pope. Known as the "Donation of
Pepin," the gift made the Pope a temporal ruler over the Papal States, a strip
of territory that extended diagonally across Italy from coast to coast.5
The "Donation of Pepin" in 756 provided a legal basis for the erection of the
Papal States, which extended Papal temporal rule beyond the traditional
diocese and duchy of Rome. In 728, Liutprand, king of the Lombards, reached
an agreement at Sutri with Pope Gregory II giving to the Papacy the fortified
hill town of Sutri on the Via Cassia and some other fortified sites in Latium.
This "Donation of Sutri" marked the historic foundation of the Papal States.
…in 756, Pepin and his Frankish army forced the last Lombard king to
surrender his conquests, and Pepin officially conferred upon the Pope the
territories belonging to Ravenna even cities such as Forlì with their hinterlands
upon the Pope, laying the Donation of Pepin upon the tomb of Saint Peter,
according to traditional later accounts. The gift included Lombard conquests
4 Britannica 2001Standard Edition
5 Bruce Shelley's Christian History in Plain Language
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in the Romagna and in the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, and the
Pentapolis in the Marche (the "five cities" of Rimini, Ancona, Fano, Pesaro,
and Senigallia). For the first time ever, the Donation made the Pope a
temporal ruler over a strip of territory that extended diagonally across Italy
from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic.
Pepin confirmed his Donation in Rome in 756, and in 774 Charlemagne

confirmed the donation of his father6.
Most encyclopaedias affirm the period of the temporal power of Popes between AD
756 and 1870. In 1870, Victor Immanuel brought a more deadly blow upon Papacy
than that delivered by Napoleon in 1799. In an effort to unify all Italy, he annulled all
temporal powers of the Popes. The Popes were so humiliated that they went on a
self-imposed exile to protest this till 1925. Now they are as active as before. The total
period of the temporal rule of Popes are 1114 years (756-1870) this will not fit to the
1260 day for year theory, The duration of Antichrist’s career, after he comes out in
his true character, will be limited to forty-two months. There are no less than six
scriptures which, with a variety of expression, affirm this time restriction. In Daniel
7:25 we learn that this one who shall "think to change times and laws," will have these
"given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time:" that is, for
three years and a half—cf. Revelation 12:14 with 12:6. And again in Revelation 13:5
we are told, "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months" (Rev.
13:5). Now it is utterly impossible to make this harmonize with the protracted history
of Romanism by any honest method of computation.
Reason #9: In Daniel 9:27 we are told that the Antichrist "shall cause the sacrifice
and the oblation to cease." And again in Daniel 8:11 we read, "Yea, he magnified
himself even against the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken
away." If Romanism is the Antichrist how can these scriptures be made to square
with the oft repeated "Sacrifice of the Mass"?
Reason #10: Daniel 7:24 speaks of the little horn who suppresses three kings before
coming to power. The Adventists and Russelites interpretation to the aforementioned
verse is as follows:
“History reveals that the Papacy destroyed three of the ten kingdoms, which
were as follows: 1. The Heruli in A.D. 493, 2. the Vandals in A.D. 534,
3. The Ostrogoths in A.D. 538.
6
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
10
Br. Russell’s comments slightly differ from the above
Italy was thenceforth known as the Western Empire, whose seat or capital
was at Ravenna. This was one of the "horns": it fell, A.D. 476, at the hands of
the Heruli, another of the horns, which established itself on its ruins. Next
came the Ostrogothic kingdom, another "horn," overthrowing the Heruli and
establishing itself as ruler of Italy, A.D. 489. And, as we have just seen, it was
during the power of this "horn" (the third to be rooted out to make way for
the papal horn) that Justinian acknowledged the papal supremacy; and it was
by his orders, and by his general and his army, that it was plucked up7.
The Adventist’s horns are 1.Hureli 2. Vandals 3.Ostrogoths and the Russell’s horns
are 1. Ravenna 2. Hureli 3. Ostrogoths. Before proceeding to present our comments
we would like to provide the source through which we have gathered the adequate
information to sustain our assertion they are:
The encyclopaedic references

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
2. The World Book Encyclopaedia
3. The New Book of Knowledge
4. Purnell's new English Encyclopaedia
5. Collier's Encyclopaedia
6. Funk and Wagnall's New Standard Dictionary of the English Language8
The books we looked into are
1. E Gibbon - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

2. P De Rosa - Vicars of Christ - The Dark Side of the Papacy
3. A Momigliano (ed.) - Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century
4. Millar - The Roman Empire and its neighbours
5. AHM Jones - The Later Roman Empire: 284-602AD
6. J Pelikan - The Excellent Empire - The Fall of Rome and the Triumph of the
Church
7. S Bullough - Roman Catholicism
8. J Richards - The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages: 476-752AD
7
Studies in the Scriptures – Volume 3, page 76,77
8
Please see the articles: Papal States, Rome, Pope, Papacy, Catholicism, Roman Empire, Belisarius, Pius VI, Pius VII,
Stephen II, Stephen III, Pepin, Franks, Lombards, Burgundians, Vandals, Heruli, Goths, Orthogoths, Visigoths, Celts,
Saxons, Germani, Teutonics, Huns, Suebi (Suevi), Quodi, Helveti, Belgi, Gauls, Cimbri, Alemanni, Dacians, Walloons,
Venetians, Iberians, Marcomanni, Magyars, Basques, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium,
Austria, England, Rumania, France, Germany, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania.
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These references will be adequate to provide all the information we claim. Basically all
of the data was taken from encyclopaedias; and the books are merely there for
backup proof. We hope that is sufficient. If you want to look stuff up, we would
suggest our readers go to the encyclopaedias first. They contain all the relevant
information. The rest contain it too, but it is more difficult to locate. Encyclopaedias
are easier to obtain in libraries too. You can possibly try soft copies on the Internet.
We accept the two dates for the first two (493 and 534). They are correct. The date
for the defeat of the Ostrogoths was NOT 538 AD, but rather 555 AD. A minor
defeat occurred previously, but our sources give us the date of 540 AD for that one,
two years AFTER Adventism's required date. However, that is irrelevant - the Bible
says that the three horns were uprooted - history shows that the uprootment of the
final of these assumed three horns, the Ostrogoths, was not complete until 555 AD. So
either one must count from 555 AD, or one must not count at all from the defeat of
the Ostrogoths. To count their defeat from 2 years before a minor irrelevant defeat
and 17 years before their actual defeat and annihilation is dishonest manipulation of
history, something very typical of Adventist and Russellites and people like them who
have a prophetic agenda to force the facts into their own conceived ideas
It is interesting to note that the Visigoths another tribe (the western split of the
Gothic kingdom) suffered the same type of defeat the Adventist and Russellites
classify as the uprooting of the Ostrogoths (the eastern part) - but they don't say they
are also a horn that was uprooted. Why? Is it because it is inconvenient to have more
that the biblically required 3 horns to deal with? In fact, if one includes the Visigoths'
defeat in Aquitania (equivalent to what the Adventists want to call the Ostrogoths'
defeat) then there are SEVEN horns that were uprooted, NOT THREE. (See later.)
The next point is that Dan 7:24 says that it is the 11th horn that uproots or puts
down the three kings. However, in all three cases at hand, the Papacy had
NOTHING to do with their uprootment!!! The person who defeated the Ostrogoths
and the Vandals was Belisarius, a general in the army of Justinian, emperor of the
Eastern Roman Empire9. Justinian was a Christian, but his political actions were
clearly not influenced by the bishop of a foreign city, Rome. It is yet another
Adventist and Russellites untruthful distortion of the facts to say this.
But that is all irrelevant. Let's turn to the Heruli, and see what influence the Papacy
had in their uprootment. All our sources say they were uprooted by another barbarian
tribe called Lombards in 493 AD. Which is very interesting, because the Lombards
were NOT Catholic - they were Arians, enemies of the Catholic Church and of the
Papacy, and CERTAINLY NOT influenced in their political decisions by their enemy
the Pope? So, completely contrary to Daniel 7:24, the Heruli were NOT put down by the
Papacy at all, but by the Lombards. Both the Adventist and Russellites interpretation
9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belisarius
12
of Daniel 7:24 are incorrect, or, if they are right, the actual prophecy given by God to
Daniel was faulty.
Vandals the supposed 3rd horn a Germanic tribe who attacked the Roman Empire in
the 5th century AD. In 409, they looted Roman Gaul and invaded Spain. Defeated by
the Goths, they moved further south and invaded North Africa (429), establishing a
kingdom from which they controlled the W Mediterranean. They sacked Rome in
455. In 533–534, Byzantine General Belisarius destroyed the Vandal kingdom10
It is interesting to note that these Arian Lombards were to rule Italy, and Rome, thus
allowing the Pope no political power in Rome or Italy, from 568 - 774 AD. It was
only after a request by Pope Stephen II to King Pepin of the Franks that caused the
Lombards to be kicked out of Rome in 755-6. Pepin then gave land to the Papacy -
this was the first land the Papacy owned, and it is from this point that the temporal
rule of the Papacy began - NOT as Adventists and Russelites claim in 538/539 AD.
And what is more, the Papal political power did no begin in 538 either - history
clearly shows that it began under Constantine the Great, when Christianity became
the official religion of the Empire - 380 AD. Some say it started before this, as is
evidenced by the activities of the Council of Nicea in 324-5 AD, but either way, the
date cannot be set as late as 538 AD. So here we have incontrovertible proof that the
political power of the Papacy began in the 300's, and the temporal reign over people
and land began in the 700's, and between those dates other people, Arians and
Romans, held rule over the land where the Pope lived.
In summary, Adventist and Russellites’ dates are wrong, and the three horns were
finished being uprooted only in 555 AD. Also, their theory blatantly contradicts the
Bible (Dan 7:24) because the Papacy could NOT have had any influence in the
Lombardish decision to wipe out the Heruli nor the Ostrogoths or the Vandals
because it was the Roman general Belisarius who wiped out them.
Furthermore, the Adventist and Russellites theory is wrong because they have failed
to accurately identify a 10 horned beast, with 3 horns that get uprooted. The Huns
(455 AD) were also a people who were uprooted - this time by the waning Roman
Empire, and later finally by the other tribes, the Eastern Empire, and by civil war.
Also uprooted were the Alemanni (495 AD). So one has a problem of FIVE horns
(Seven if you count the Visigoths and Russell’s Ravenna) that were uprooted, NOT
THREE. One cannot ignore the Huns or the Alemanni, because they were just like
the other barbarian tribes that tried to invade Western Rome, e.g. Lombards, Heruli,
10
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Vandals.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Vandals.aspx , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals#Decline
13
Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks, etc. Nor can you call the Huns the present day
Hungarians - these are the descendants of the Magyars; the Huns were absorbed into
the surrounding peoples after their defeat, just like the Heruli were, never to be a
tribe on their own again.
One Adventist source (Marvin Moore) says that the 10 horns are 10 barbarian nations
that tried to invade the Western Roman Empire. The three that were uprooted, he
claims were uprooted by the Papacy (we have shown that to be inaccurate) because
they were Arian, and not Catholic. But the Franks were ALSO Arian - they converted
to Catholicism in 486. The Lombards were Arian, and only converted long after
Pepin kicked them out of Rome in 755 AD. So it is inaccurate to say that Catholics
ruled Italy and the city of Rome from 538 onwards - they did not. The Visigoths were
Arian, and converted in 589 AD. So here we have several more Arian tribes that
invaded the Western Empire, yet Moore claims that what made these three horns
(Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Heruli) different, unique, and worthy of uprooting was
that they were the only Arian tribes. Yet another obvious Adventist’s distortion of the
truth.
Now what happened to Ravenna which Br Russell took into consideration among the
three horns? We would like to give the following excerpts as the answer:
In 751 the Lombards had conquered the imperial territory at Ravenna,

the seat of Byzantine government in Italy, and were demanding tribute from
the Pope and threatening to take Rome. Following Pepin's coronation, the
Pope secured his (Pepin’s) promise of armed intervention in Italy and his
pledge to give the Papacy the territory of Ravenna, once it was conquered. In
756 a Frankish army forced the Lombard king to surrender his
conquests and Pepin officially conferred the Ravenna territory to the
Pope. Known as the “Donation of Pepin,” the gift made the Pope a temporal
ruler over the Papal States, a strip of territory that extended diagonally across
Italy from coast to coast.11
It is emperor Pepin and a Frankish army who forced the tribe of Lombard’s to leave
Ravenna after this the said territory was conferred to Pope which is known in the
Christian history as “Donation of Pepin” so, strictly speaking a Frankish army forced
the Lombard’s but not the Pope and one should note that Ravenna is a territory
rather than a tribe which was conquered in 756 A.D but not in 538 A.D. This
will again not fit in Dan 7:24,25 because here we see, according to Br. Russell the
third horn was still standing un plucked till 756 A.D even though the little horn rose
to power on 539 A.D.
11 Bruce Shelley's Christian History in Plain Language
14
Summary - there were more than 3 Arian horns, and there were more than three
uprooted horns.
Let's now count the number of horns in the whole of the Western Empire.
According to the Adventist the ten horns of Daniel are: Germany, England, France,
Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Switzerland. And obviously the three uprooted ones -
Heruli, Ostrogoths, and Vandals. It appears that Adventists are not united on this
matter (see above, where Marvin Moore claims that the 10 tribes were barbarians who
invaded the Roman Empire - something the English and the Roman Italians were
not. But anything that appears to add up to 10 and looks good and is anti-Catholic, is
acceptable to the Adventist Church it seems.
But here they have made an obvious fallacy - the countries today were NOT the same
countries or nations that were around in the days of the Empire. Borders were
completely different, and people were completely different. The Spanish and French
did not even exist (as single entities) in 538 AD - how on earth could they make up
an existing horn of a beast that was current in 538 AD??? Furthermore, it is incorrect
to classify Italy as only one country, because at that time, and for a long time
afterwards, they were made up of different peoples - a least three - the Venetians, the
Lombards, and the Italians/Romans themselves. And once again the Adventist and
Russellites have conveniently left out the Huns. And if you want to include
Switzerland (the Helvetians), a very minor group in those times, you have to include
the more prominent Belgium (made up of the Flemings and the Belgians) as well -
they were part of the Western Empire just as much as the rest of the countries were.
And since the Adventist and Russellites wants to include parts of North Africa (the
Vandals - Algeria and Tunisia), we feel free to insert Libya and Mauritania as well. So
already, counting as the Adventists want us to count, if we look at history and
geography honestly, we have more than 10 horns or tribes or nations.
In order to find out who precisely the 10 (or more) horns were, we must look at who
the distinct and separate tribes/nations of people were at that time.
We don't know whether the Adventists want to count the nations of the Western
Roman Empire, or just the nations that invaded the Western Roman Empire. Some
even have included England, who never invaded the Western Roman Empire, but
who was part of it, as a horn.
Let's list the nations/tribes that were to be found within the borders of the Western
Roman Empire in 476 AD; the time when the Adventist and Russellites claims they
were all present (including the three which were uprooted.)
England (i.e. the Saxons), Franks, Lombards, Burgundians, Gauls (French Gauls),
Belgi, Helvetii (Swiss),Italians (i.e. Romans), Iberians, Visigoths, Basques,
15
Libyans, Mauritanians (North Africa, next to where the Vandals were located),
Dacians (Rumania, a Roman province), assorted Slavic peoples of Alemanni, and
then the 3 the Adventists want uprooted - Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Heruli and
Russell’s Ravenna. Well, that is more than 10 horns/peoples, so we will stop there. If
we wanted to get more technical, we could go on.
Notice that we leave out the Germans (specifically the Germany tribe to which the
Adventist and Russellites must be referring), who did not form part of the Western
Roman Empire, but were to be found north of the Empire's borders. Some of the
Teutonic Germans were found in the Roman Empire (e.g. the Heruli, to name but
one) but specifically the Teutonic tribe called the Germany, which was later to
become Germany, was outside of the Empire.
Well, that proves that the Western Empire simply cannot be a 10 horned beast.
Let's take a look at the alternative view of this confused group of people, the one
used by Moore - that the horns are kingdoms that invaded Rome. First we think it
appropriate to note that the Papacy was not a kingdom until 754-756 AD, and
therefore it is incorrect to classify it as a horn here. But we'll let that slip by for now.
But note that we can't include England because it never invaded the Empire - it was
part of it, though.
Here is a list of barbarian tribes that invaded the Western Roman Empire:
Huns, Heruli, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Lombards,

Allemanni Germany (they DID invade, they just weren't part of it), Suevi, Quodi,
Gauls (still on the go at that time), Celts (in England), Moors (in North Africa)
Well, here again we have more than 10 horns to this beast. Personally we don't think
to confuse our reader more, so we won't go any further.
Summary - there were more than 10 horns to the Western Empire (or her invaders),
therefore the biblical prophecy is clearly misplaced. There were more than 3 uproot
ions, hence again the biblical prophecy is misapplied to these people. Furthermore,
the papacy was NOT responsible for the uprooting (as required by Dan 7:24), and
thus it is even more clear that the Adventist and Russellites idea of prophecy is false
and deluded.
Personally we feel that this type of prophecy interpretation is clearly what follows on
in the followers of false predictors like William Miller, Ellen White and C.T.Russell.
These individuals predicted events that quite clearly did not came to pass. Miller, one
could say, was merely deceived - he did not claim to be a prophet. Ellen White, on
the other hand, is clearly what the Bible calls a False Prophet - her predictions did not
come to pass, and she even contradicted herself and the Bible. And Mr Russell whom
16
the bible students honour as the prophet of the millennium, his followers even
equalize his writings with the Bible, but examined through the scriptures he also fail
to measure up the Interpretations of Scriptural standards We feel that a church
should be honest with the facts of history when trying to dabble in prophecy -
something the Seventh-day Adventist’s and Russellites clearly are not doing.
Reason #11: The Antichrist and the Woman are totally distinct is unequivocally
established by the teaching of Revelation 17. Here we learn that there shall be ten
kings who will reign "with the Beast" (v. 12), and act in concert with him (vv. 13,16).
Then we are told "these shall (the beast Papacy) to the hate the Whore (the papacy),
and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire"
(v. 16). If the whore is Papacy then who is the beast? If the beast is the Papacy who
will be the whore? Is it the beast the Roman Empire? No, because Roman Empire
will not hate and burn the flesh of the woman nor will destroy her. The beast itself
will be the eighth king the final dictator of the world i.e. the Antichrist; if the
antichrist is the beast then certainly the whore is not the Papal church.
Reason #12: There are three Latin words inscribed on the Pope's crown, Vicarius
Filii Dei, the Vicarious Son of God. The majority of the protestant commentators
who uphold Popes are the Antichrist tell that this title attached to the Pope would
seem to be an illegitimate one. He is not the vicarious Son of God; he is not the Vicar
of Christ, therefore all intimation to the effect that he is the substitute or
representative of Christ in reigning power would seem to be that much of blasphemy
The numerical signification and the sum of these letters, "Vicarius Filii Dei," are
shown here:
VICARIUS FILII DEI
V(5)+I(1)+C(100)+A(0)+R(0)+I(1)+U(5)+S(0) + F(0)+I(1)+L(50)+I(1)+I(1) +
D (500) +E (0) +I (1) = 666.
We must note carefully here, the numerical value of Roman letter ‘V’ is 5 but all the
Commentators substitute V for the letter U, which doesn’t have any value in Roman
literature, so if the letter U is value less then the total number will sum up to 661 not
666 besides the clue given in Rev 13:17 (he that had the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name …. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath
understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and
his number is Six hundred threescore and six) is willingly ignored, the values should
be counted by his NAME or by the name of the BEAST which will be the number
of A MAN. Vicarius Filli Die is not a name instead a title among many, not all popes
has this title written on their diadem. Now what is the name of the beast is it Papacy
or is it Pope or is it Roman Catholic Church? What name shall we take to count among
the above stated, even though taken none of will sum up to 666!
The ancient Greek word for "the Latin speaking man" is LATEINOS
17
L = 30 lambda
A= 1 alpha
T = 300 tau
E= 5 epsilon
I = 10 iota
N = 50 nu
O = 70 omicron
S = 200 sigma
------------
666
The association of "Lateinos" with 666 was first suggested by Irenæus (ca. 130-202
A.D.) who proposed in his writings against heresies that it might be the name of the
fourth kingdom in Daniel 7:7. This again not fit to the criteria of Rev 13:17, Latinos
is again a common noun and not referring to a particular entity, there are even many
non Catholics who speak Latin this cannot make them Antichrist because they all
speak Latin. Irenaeues while referring this name certainly could not have meant
Papacy rather Rome because the Papal Rome didn’t even existed in his time.
'Romith' is the Hebrew name for the 'Roman beast,' or Roman kingdom;
and this word contains the just and exact number 666. ROMITH -
R(200)+O(6)+M(40)+I(10)+T(10)+H(400)=666. These kinds of interpretations
repeatedly fail to fit with the scriptural criteria, the above stated word does not tell us
any name of the Antichrist as it should be in Rev 13:17, and certainly the ROMAN
KINDOM is not the Antichrist, it is according to them is the Papacy.
The gamatria of the number 666 alone is not sufficient to prove that Pope is the
Antichrist, if this would be so; we have several other gametrias calculated the names
of famous world rulers and personalities which sum up to 666!
1. The Roman emperor Nero (lived 37-68 AD, ruled 54-68 AD) persecuted the first
Christians. He accused them of starting a fire which destroyed half of the city of
Rome in 64 AD (Tacitus, Annals 15.44). Like all Roman emperors, Nero took the
name Caesar. In Greek, Nero Caesar becomes Neron Kaisar. If we transliterate
Neron Kaisar into Hebrew, we get NRWN QSR (vowels were omitted in written
Hebrew).
Name Transliteration Numerical Name Transliteration Numerical

Value Value
Aleph (smooth breathing) 1 Lamedh L 30
Beth BH, B 2 Mem M 40
18
Daleth DH, D 4 Samekh S 60

He H 5 Ayin (rough breathing) 70
Waw W 6 Pe PH, P 80
Zayin Z 7 Cadhe C 90
Heth H 8 Qoph Q 100
Teth T 9 Resh R 200
Yodh Y 10 Sin SH 300
Let's look at the letters of NRWN QSR:
N R W N Q S R
50 200 6 50 100 60 200 = 600
Early Christian tradition identified the emperor Nero with the Antichrist
2. Faced with the embarrassing identification of the Pope with the Beast, Catholic
scholars responded in true ecumenical spirit with their own preferred candidate:
the Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546).
Petrus Bungus, in Numerorum Mysteria (Bergamo, 1599; reprint Hildesheim: Olds,

1983), used the following letter/number combinations:
A B C D E F G H I/J K L M N O P Q R S T U/V W X Y Z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 400 500 600
By slightly contorting Martin Luther's name (to MARTIN LUTHERA) and

regarding the I as equivalent to 1 rather than 9 (it's a Roman numeral, after all),
Bungus succeeded in identifying his archenemy with the Beast:
M AR T I N L U T HER A
30 1 80 100 1 40 20 200 100 8 5 80 1 666
19
3. In Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, Book 9, Chapter 19, Pierre, the son of
Count Cyril Bezuhkov, convinced himself that Napoleon was the Beast, by the
following reasoning (translation by Louise and Aylmer Maude):
The French alphabet, written out with the same numerical values as the Hebrew,
in which the first nine letters denote units and the others tens, will have the
following significance:
A B C D E F G H I/J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160
Writing the words L'Empereur Napoleon in numbers, it appears that the sum of
them is 666, and that Napoleon was therefore the beast foretold in the
Apocalypse.
L'Empereur Napoleon, of course, is French for The Emperor Napoleon. The
identification with Napoleon only succeeds if the e in Le, dropped by elision in
L'Empereur, is restored:
L E EM P ER EU R N AP O L EO N
20 5 5 30 60 5 80 5 110 80 40 1 60 50 20 5 50 40 666
4. Some members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, hostile towards Roman

Catholics, like to identify the Beast with the Pope. Books by Adventist authors
which accept this identification include:
• Roy Allen Anderson, Unfolding the Revelation (Mountain View: Pacific Press,
1974)
• Carlyle Boynton Haynes, Our Times and Their Meaning (Nashville: Southern
Publishing Association, 1929)
• Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation (Battle Creek: Review and Herald
Publishing Company, 1897)
But turnabout is fair play. Martin Gardner, The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix (Buffalo:
Prometheus Books, 1985), pp. 14-15 (with footnote), reports that an anonymous
religious pamphlet of the 1930s (published by the People's Christian Bulletin)
identified the Beast with one of the founders of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church,
Ellen Gould White (1827-1915). The scheme is similar to that used for the Pope, with
U representing Roman numeral V and W (double U) standing for V + V, or 10:
E L L E N G O U L D W H I T E
50 50 5 50 500 10 1 666
20
5. Another mapping of letters to numbers used by numerologists is shown in the

following table:
By this table, it is evident that the Beast is Adolf Hitler, since the numbers
corresponding to the letters in his name add up to 666:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125
H I T L E R
107 108 119 111 104 117 666
6. Numerologist Gary D. Blevins, author of 666: The Final Warning (Kingston, TN:
Visions of the End Ministries, 1990), identifies Ronald Wilson Reagan on of the
presidents of America as the most likely candidate for the Beast of Revelation
13:18. Note that each of Reagan's three names has six letters, and that the entire
name has six syllables.
Blevins uses the following scheme, which he calls the Bible's Secret Code:
6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78 84 90 96 102 108 114 120 126 132 138 144 150 156
Unfortunately, plain old RONALD REAGAN only adds up to 660, so Blevins is

compelled to pad the name to A RONALD REAGAN in order to reach 666:
A R O N AL D R E AG AN
6 108 90 84 6 72 24 108 30 6 42 6 84 666
7. The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is a system for
representing symbols numerically. Here are the ASCII numerical values that represent
capital letters:
65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90
21
Microsoft founder and world leading software giant Bill Gates' full name is William
Henry Gates III. The total of the ASCII values of the characters in BILL GATES
plus 3 = 666:
B I L L G A T E S III
66 73 76 76 71 65 71 69 83 3 666
All the above facts and figures presented force us to conclude that Pope or the Papal
system is not the Antichrist. If the numerical value alone is a substantial proof to
prove Pope is Antichrist then we have other good genuine reasons to say apart from
Pope there are other personalities like Nero, Martin Luther, Reagan, Hitler, E.G.
White and Bill gates who can be classified as suitable candidates for Antichrist.
Reason #13: One of the key factors of the protestant commentators who concluded
that Pope indeed is Antichrist was the persecutions done by him to saints which
according to them are in accordance with Dan 7:24, 25. If this is alone a genuine
criterion to prove Papacy is Antichrist then in the Christian historical records we see
persecutions done to Christians outside the Roman Empire right from the death of
Christ and up to the present time. The prophetical allotted time for persecution of
saints is said to be 1260 days or 42 months by a single entity (Dan 7:24,25, 8:23-
24,Rev13:7) when searched in the historical data of Popes we see no such things done
within the allotted time frame, even though the 1260 day for year theory fails to meet
the requirements, as we have already seen in our reason # 8and 10 that the Papacy’s
temporal power started from 756A.D and ended in 1870 A.D and the assumed date
of Papal elevation 539 A.D is neither correct nor historically accurate.
We are not defending the Papal persecutions nor hiding the brutal and ruthless
massacre and mass murdering done by Pope over hundreds of years, but our point of
assertion focuses on the motive behind these persecution, yes we agree that Pope
persecuted Christians – is it in accordance with Dan 7:24,25, 8:23-24,Rev13:7? The
motive behind the persecutions of the Antichrist is to make the Christians to deny
Christ and worship him alone Rev 13:15 “and causes that as many as would not
worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Pope or the Papal church have never
uttered a single word to deny Christ and forced to take the number of their name and
the mark, the motive behind the Papal persecution was pure political rather than
spiritual, Pope never waged war against the Prince of the host (Christ, Dan 8:11, Rev
17:14)
Now we shall proceed to show that Pope alone did not persecuted the true Church
besides there were others’ who persecuted the Church as similar as the Papal Church
22
even Arians and Protestants have persecuted Catholics! Here are the excerpts taken
from the well-known online encyclopaedia12
Persecution under Nero, 64-68 A.D. Main article: Great Fire of Rome
The first documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians in the

Roman Empire begins with Nero (37-68). In 64 A.D., a great fire broke out in Rome,
destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population.
Nero himself was suspected as the arsonist by historian Suetonius, claiming he played
the lyre and sang the 'Sack of Ilium' during the fires. In his Annals, Tacitus (who claimed
Nero was in Antium at the time of the fire's outbreak), stated that "to get rid of the
report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated
for their abominations, called Christians by the populace" (Tacit. Annals XV, see Tacitus
on Jesus).
Persecution from the second century to Constantine
By the mid 2nd century, mobs could be found willing to throw stones at Christians, and
they might be mobilized by rival sects. The Persecution in Lyon was preceded by mob
violence, including assaults, robberies and stonings (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History
5.1.7) Further state persecutions were desultory until the third century, though
Tertullian's Apologeticus of 197 was ostensibly written in defense of persecuted
Christians and addressed to Roman governors[5] The "edict of Septimius Severus"
familiar in Christian history is doubted by some secular historians to have existed outside
Christian martyrology.
The first documentable Empire-wide persecution took place under Maximin, though
only the clergy were sought out. It was not until Decius during the mid-century that a
persecution of Christian laity across the Empire took place. Christian sources aver that a
decree was issued requiring public sacrifice, a formality equivalent to a testimonial of
allegiance to the Emperor and the established order. Decius authorized roving
commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices
and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were
often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or
burning incense to Roman gods, and were accused by the Romans of impiety when they
refused. Refusal was punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and executions.
Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased their certificates,
called libelli. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the
community should accept these lapsed Christians.
The Great Persecution: Main article: Diocletian Persecution
12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians
23
The persecutions culminated with Diocletian and Galerius at the end of the third and
beginning of the fourth century. Their persecution, the Great Persecution is considered
the largest. Beginning with a series of four edicts banning Christian practices and
ordering the imprisonment of Christian clergy, the persecution intensified until all
Christians in the empire were commandeded to sacrifice to the gods or face immediate
execution. However, as Diocletian zealously persecuted Christians in the Eastern part of
the empire, his co-emperors in the West did not follow the edicts and so Christians in
Gaul, Spain, and Brittania were virtually unmolested. This persecution was to be the last,
as Constantine I soon came into power and in 313 legalized Christianity. It was not until
Theodosius I in the latter fourth century that Christianity would become the official
religion of the Empire.
Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. Roman authorities tried
hard to avoid Christians because they "goaded, chided, belittled and insulted the crowds
until they demanded their death."193 One man shouted to the Roman officials: "I want
to die! I am a Christian," leading the officials to respond: "If they wanted to kill
themselves, there were plenty of cliffs they could jump off."194 Such seeking after death
is found in Tertullian's Scorpiace but was certainly not the only view of martyrdom in
the Christian church. Both Polycarp and Cyprian, bishops in Smyrna and Carthage
respectively, attempted to avoid martyrdom.
The conditions under which martyrdom was an acceptable fate or under which it was
suicidally embraced occupied writers of the early Christian Church. Broadly speaking,
martyrs were considered uniquely exemplary of the Christian faith, and few early saints
were not also martyrs. The New Catholic Encyclopedia states that "Ancient, medieval
and early modern hagiographers were inclined to exaggerate the number of martyrs.
Since the title of martyr is the highest title to which a Christian can aspire, this tendency
is natural". Estimates of Christians killed for religious reasons before the year 313 vary
greatly, depending on the scholar quoted, from a high of almost 100,000 to a low of
10,000.
Persecutions of early Christians outside the Roman Empire
In 341, Shapur II ordered the massacre of all Christians in Persia. During the
persecution, about 1,150 Christians were martyred under Shapur II.[6] In the 4th
century, the Terving King Athanaric began persecuting Christians, many of whom were
killed.[7]
Persecution of Christians by Christians
As with many religions, Christianity is not a homogenous group; there exist many sects
of Christianity, which often find themselves at odds with each other. Upon the
establishment of official ties between the state and Christianity, the state and the Church
turned their considerable attention to those deemed heretics. The first nonconforming
Christian executed was Priscillian. Many 4th century examples of such a situation
involved Arianism, which held, against the orthodox tradition, that Jesus was not "one in
unity with the Father", but instead was a created being, not on the same level with God,
above humans but below God the Father.
24
When high-ranking officials agreed with orthodoxy, the state stopped at no ends to bring
down the Arians. The converse was true when high-ranking officials, instead, adhered to
Arianism, at which point the power of the state was used to promulgate that particular
interpretation. The Germanic Goths and Vandals adhered to Arian Christianity,
establishing Arian states in Italy and Spain. Orthodox Christians defended themselves
vigorously against these foreign Arians. In 429 the Vandals (who were Arians)
conquered Roman Africa. Catholics were discriminated against; Church property was
confiscated. Thousands of Catholics were banished from Vandal held territory.[citation
needed]St. Augustine, for example, died while in a town besieged by the Arian Vandals.
In the medieval period the Roman Catholic church moved to suppress the Cathar
heresy, the Pope having sanctioned a crusade against the Albigensians; during the course
of which the massacre of Beziers took place, with between seven and twenty thousand
deaths. (This was the occasion when the papal legate, Arnaud Amalric, asked about how
Catholics could be distinguished from Cathars once the city fell, famously replied, "Kill
them all, God will know His own.") The Crusades in the Middle East also spilled over
into conquest of Eastern Orthodox Christians by Roman Catholics and attempted
suppression of the Orthodox Church. The Waldenses were as well persecuted by the
Catholic Church, but survive up to this day. The Reformation led to a long period of
warfare and communal violence between Catholic and Protestant factions, leading to
massacres and forced suppression of the alternative views by the dominant faction in
many countries. In the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre the French king ordered
the murder of Protestants in France. In the modern period, such events include violence
between Mormons and Protestants in the United States during the 19th century. That
century also saw the martyrdom of St. Peter the Aleut at the hands of Roman Catholic
clergy in San Francisco, California.
Anti-Catholic: Main article: Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism officially began in 1534 during the English Reformation; the Act of
Supremacy made the King of England the 'only supreme head on earth of the Church in
England.' Any act of allegiance to the latter was considered treason. It was under this act
that Thomas More was executed. Queen Elizabeth I's scorn for Jesuit missionaries led to
many executions at Tyburn. As punishment for the rebellion of 1641, almost all lands
owned by Irish Catholics were confiscated and given to Protestant settlers. Under the
penal laws no Irish Catholic could sit in the Parliament of Ireland, even though some
90% of Ireland's population was native Irish Catholic when the first of these bans was
introduced in 1691.[8] Catholic / Protestant strife has been blamed for much of "The
Troubles," the ongoing struggle in Northern Ireland.
This attitude was carried "across the pond" to the American colonies, which would leave
England, forming the United States. Although there has been a strong anti-Catholic
sentiment in North America since before the dawn of the US, the feeling grew stronger
during waves of Catholic immigration from old Europe. Nationalist, "native" feeling was
represented by the Know-Nothing Party. Father James Coyle, a Roman Catholic priest,
was murdered in 1921 by the Ku Klux Klan.
Anti-Protestant: Main article: Anti-Protestantism: The Bartholomew's Day massacre
25
Anti-Protestantism originated in a reaction by the Catholic Church against the Protestant

Reformation of the 16th century. Protestants were denounced as heretics and subject to
persecution in those territories, such as Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, in which the
Catholics were the dominant power. This movement was orchestrated by Popes and
Princes as the Counter Reformation. This resulted in religious wars and eruptions of
sectarian hatred such as the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
Persecution of the Anabaptists: Main article: Anabaptist
When the disputes between Lutherans and Roman Catholics gained a political
dimension, both groups saw other groups of religious dissidents that were arising as a
danger to their own security. The early "Täufer" (lit. "Baptists") were mistrusted and
rejected by both religio-political parties. Religious persecution is often perpetrated as a
means of political control, and this becomes evident with the Treaty of Augsburg in
1555. This treaty provided the legal groundwork for persecution of the Anabaptists.
Muslim persecution of Christians
Persecution of Christians in Ottoman Empire This section does not cite any
references or sources. (May 2008)
The Ottoman government that arose from the ashes of the Byzantine Empire instituted
Islam as the new official religion. Islam recognizes Jesus as a great prophet, and tolerates
Christians as another People of the Book. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor
was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration
continued to function. One of the first things that Mehmet the Conqueror did was to
allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, Gennadius Scholarius. The Hagia Sophia and
the Parthenon, which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were
converted into mosques, although countless other churches, both in Constantinople and
elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and
the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They
were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman
territories. Because Islamic law makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all
Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single millet, or
nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and
religious authority and made ethnarch, head of the entire Christian Orthodox
population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory
were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers
of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.
Turkey: Main articles: Armenian Genocide, Pontic Greek Genocide, and Assyrian Genocide
In Turkey, the Istanbul pogrom was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated pogrom

that compelled Greek Christians to leave Constantinople (Turkish Istanbul), the first
Christian city in violation to the Treaty of Lausanne (see Istanbul Pogrom). The issue of
Christian genocides by the Turks may become a problem, since Turkey wishes to join
the European Union.[9] The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is still in a
difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the Ecumenical Patriarch must be an
ethnic Greek, holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the Greek minority
26
has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the
Orthodox Theological School of Halki are also difficulties faced by the Church of
Constantinople. Despite appeals from the United States, the European Union and
various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed
since 1971. Persecution of Christians is continuing in modern Turkey. On February 5,
2006, the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro was murdered in Trabzon by a student
influenced by the massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press,[10]
following the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. On April 18, 2007, 3
Christians were brutally murdered in Malatya,[11][12] the hometown of Mehmet Ali
Ağca, the assassin who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981.
Iraq
Although Christians represent less than 5% of the total Iraqi population, they make up
40% of the refugees now living in nearby countries, according to UNHCR.[13] Northern
Iraq remained predominantly Christian until the destructions of Tamerlane at the end of
the 14th century. The Church of the East has its origin in what is now South East
Turkey. By the end of the 13th century there were twelve Nestorian dioceses in a strip
from Peking to Samarkand. When the 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol
descent, Tamerlane (Timul Lenk), conquered Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria, the civilian
population was decimated. Timur Lenk had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in
Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad.[14][15]
In the 16th century, Christians were half the population of Iraq.[16] In 1987, the last
Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians.[17] They were tolerated under the secular
regime of Saddam Hussein, who even made one of them, Tariq Aziz, his deputy.
Recently, Christians have seen their total numbers slump to about 500,000 today, of
whom 250,000 live in Baghdad.[18] An exodus to the neighboring countries of Syria,
Jordan and Turkey has left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small
minority without a militia of their own, Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by both
Shi’a and Sunni Muslim militias, and also by criminal gangs.[19][20]
As of June 21, 2007, the UNHCR estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to
neighboring countries, and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis
fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.[21][22] A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the
past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the
United States.[23] One of the most recent tragic events of the present Iraqi situation for
the Christian community is the assassination by Islamic terrorists of Chaldean Catholic
priest Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna
Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in the ancient city of Mosul.[24] Fr. Ragheed Aziz
Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped by Muslim terrorists
who demanded their conversion to Islam, when they refused the terrorists shot
them.[24] Six months later, the body of archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was found
buried near Mosul. He was kidnapped on February 29, 2008 when his bodyguards and
driver were killed.[1]
Kosovo
27
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the
Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed
overwhelmingly of Serbs (see Demographic history of Kosovo). Initially, former
Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the
local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in
1389. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were
awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority
of the Patriarch of Constantinople [2].
Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims.
Among the earliest was the Damour Massacre in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked
Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological,
and retaliation reasons. The Syrian regime was also involved in persecuting Christians as
well as Muslims in Lebanon.
Sudan
In Sudan, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the
Janjaweed, the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected Islamists in northern Sudan
since 1984.[3] It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take
the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not only or purely religious in nature, but
also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been
killed in the conflicts. It is estimated that as many as 200,000 people had been taken into
slavery during the Second Sudanese Civil War. The slaves are mostly Dinka
people.[25][26]
Pakistan
In Pakistan 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that
"blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. Ayub Masih, a Christian,
was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a
neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, Salman Rushdie, author of The
Satanic Verses. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the
Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the
conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the
property. Masih has been released.[27]
The Christian community in Pakistan is the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.[28]

On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", Karachi,
where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then murdered eight Christians
by shooting them in the head [4]. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi
police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been
covered with tape. In November 2005 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in
Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United
Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by
a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some
political parties in Pakistan.[29]
28
On June 5, 2006 a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working
near Lahore when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the
facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who
beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating and joined
in. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized.[30]
One year later, in August 2007, a Christian missionary couple, Rev. Arif and Kathleen
Khan, were gunned down by militant Islamists in Islamabad. The "official" position in
Pakistan is that the killer was a fellow Christian, and that the killings were "justified" as
an honour killing under the false pretext that the missionaries were engaged in sexual
harassment, an assertion widely doubted in the international media, as well as by
Pakistani Christians. [5] [6]
In other Muslim nations
In Egypt the government does not officially recognize conversions from Islam to
Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents
marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities,
and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and
given a Muslim education. The government also requires permits for repairing churches
or building new ones, which are often withheld. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the
country only if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from
proselytizing. The Coptic Pope Shenouda III was internally exiled in 1981 by President
Anwar Sadat, who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new
pope. They refused, and in 1985 President Hosni Mubarak restored Pope Shenouda III,
who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt,
the rise in extremist Islamist groups such as the Gama'at Islamiya during the 1980s was
accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches; these have since declined
with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police have been accused
of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.[31]
There have been anti-Christian incidents carried out in areas governed by the Palestinian
Authority. Some claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the
PA;[32] others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the
individuals involved, but not the society in general.[33][34] Two American courts, one in
Illinois and the other in North Carolina, accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as
grounds for granting asylum to Evangelical converts fleeing PA territory. There is an
ongoing trend for emigration among Palestinian Christians doubling that of Muslims.
The ratio of Christians among Palestinians went from 18%-20% in 1947 to 13% in 1966
to 2.1% in 1993.[35]
Though Iran recognizes Assyrian and Armenian Christians as a religious minority (along
with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the Parliament, after the
1979 Revolution, Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity)
have been arrested and sometimes executed.[36] See also: Christianity in Iran.
In Saudi Arabia Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith
openly.[37] Bibles and other non-Muslim religious books are captured, piled up and
burned by the religious police of Saudi. No non-Muslims are allowed to become Saudi
29
citizens. Prayer services by Christians are frequently broken up by the police and the
Christians are arrested and tortured without even allowing them to be released on
bail.[38][39]
In the Philippines, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Abu Sayyaf has attacked and
killed Christians.[40]
In Indonesia, religious conflicts have typically occurred in Western New Guinea, Maluku
(particularly Ambon), and Sulawesi. The presence of Muslims in these regions is in part a
result of the transmigrasi program of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often
occurred because of the aims of radical Islamist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiah
or Laskar Jihad to impose Sharia.[41][42]
Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, was charged in Afghanistan with rejecting
Islam (apostasy), a crime punishable by death under Sharia law. He has since been
released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western
governments.[43][44]
Persecution in Communist nations: Soviet Union
Further information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Persecution of

Christians in Warsaw Pact countries
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove
the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the government and Russian
society, and to make the state atheist. Thousands of churches were destroyed or
converted to other uses, and many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-
government activities. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was
undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, to abandon religious
beliefs. This persecution resulted in the martyrdom of millions of Orthodox followers in
the 20th century by the Soviet Union, whether intentional or not. This persecution
spread not only the Orthodox, but also other groups, such as the Mennonites, who
largely fled to the Americas.[45]
People's Republic of China
The communist government of the People's Republic of China tries to maintain tight
control over all religions, so the only legal Christian Churches (Three-Self Patriotic
Movement and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association) are those under the Communist
Party of China control. Churches which are not controlled by the government are shut
down, and their members are imprisoned.[46] Sunday school is illegal.
The Chinese government has recently and repeatedly cracked down on Christian
activities in groups that meet at home and not the government sanctioned and edited
Churches. The government also blocks all access to most Christian materials on the
internet as part of it's policies of control.
Persecution in Western Hemisphere
30
19th and 20th century Mexico: Main article: Persecution of Christians in Mexico
Blessed Miguel Pro, arms spread in the form of a cross, was killed for his faith by the
government in Mexico.
In the nineteenth century, Benito Juárez confiscated a large amount of church land. The
Mexican government's campaign against the Catholic Church after the Mexican
Revolution culminated in the 1917 constitution which contained numerous articles
which Catholics considered violative of their civil rights: outlawing monastic religious
orders, forbidding public worship outside of church buildings, restricted religious
organizations' rights to own property, and taking away basic civil rights of members of
the clergy (priests and religious leaders were prevented from wearing their habits, were
denied the right to vote, and were not permitted to comment on public affairs in the
press and were denied the right to trial for violation of anticlerical laws). When the
Church publicly condemned these measures which had not been strongly enforced, the
atheist President Plutarco Calles sought to vigorously enforce the provisions and enacted
additional anti-Catholic legislation known as the Calles Law. Weary of the persecution, in
many parts of the country a popular rebellion called the Cristero War began (so named
because the rebels felt they were fighting for Christ himself).
The effects of the persecution on the Church were profound. Between 1926 and 1934 at
least 40 priests were killed.[47] Where there were 4,500 priests serving the people before
the rebellion, in 1934 there were only 334 priests licensed by the government to serve
fifteen million people, the rest having been eliminated by emigration, expulsion and
assassination.[48][49] It appears that ten states were left without even a single priest.[50]
During the Spanish Civil War: Main article: Red Terror (Spain)
During the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, and especially in the early months of the
conflict, the faithful, including individual clergymen and entire religious communities
were executed by leftists, including communists and anarchists, with a death toll of the
clergy alone, not including lay people, of 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and
seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns, for a total of 6,832 clerical
victims.[51] In addition to murders of clergy and the faithful, destruction of churches
and desecration of sacred sites and objects were widespread. On the night of July 19,
1936 alone, some fifty churches were burned.[52] In Barcelona, out of the 58 churches,
only the Cathedral was spared, and similar desecrations occurred almost everywhere in
Republican Spain.[53
Persecution of Christians in Japan
Tokugawa Ieyasu assumed control over Japan in 1600. Like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he
disliked Christian activities in Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate finally decided to ban
Catholicism, in 1614 and in the mid 1600's demanded the expulsion of all European
missionaries and the execution of all converts. This marked the end of open Christianity
in Japan.[54] The Shimabara Rebellion, led by a young Japanese Christian boy named
Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, took place in 1637. After the Hara Castle fell, the shogunate
31
forces beheaded an estimated 37,000 rebels and sympathizers. Amakusa Shirō's severed
head was taken to Nagasaki for public display, and the entire complex at Hara Castle was
burned to the ground and buried together with the bodies of all the dead. [55]
Many of the Christians of Japan continued for two centuries to maintain their religion as
Kakure Kirishitan, or hidden Christians, without any priest or other pastor. Some of
those who were killed for their Christianity are venerated as the Martyrs of Japan by the
Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the
Episcopal Church. Although Christianity was later allowed under the Meiji era,
Christians again were pressured during the period of State Shinto.
Persecution of Christians in India
In India, there is an increasing amount of violence being perpetrated by Hindu

Nationalists against Christians.[56] The increase in anti-Christian violence in India bears
a direct relationship to the ascendancy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[57] Incidents
of violence against Christians have occurred in many parts of India. It is especially
prevalent in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi.[57]
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) are the most responsible organizations for violence against Christians.[56]
The Sangh Parivar and local media were involved in promoting anti-Christian
propaganda in Gujarat.[56] The Sangh Parivar and related organisations have stated that
the violence is an expression of "spontaneous anger" of "vanvasis" against "forcible
conversion" activities undertaken by missionaries,[58] a belief described as mythical[59]
and propaganda by Sangh Parivar;[60] the Parivar objects in any case to all conversions
as a "threat to national unity".[61]
In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in violent attacks on Christians in India.
From 1964 to 1996, thirty-eight incidents of violence against Christians were
reported.[57] In 1997, twenty-four such incidents were reported.[62] In 1998, it went up
to ninety.[57] Between January 1998 and February 1999 alone, there were one hundred
and sixteen attacks against Christians in India.[63] Between 1 January and 30 July 2000,
more than fifty-seven attacks on Christians were reported.[64] The acts of violence
include arson of churches, forcible conversion of Christians to Hinduism, distribution of
threatening literature, burning of Bibles, murder of Christian priests and destruction of
Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries.[57][56] The attacks often accompanied by
large amounts of anti-Christian hate literature.[64]
In some cases, anti-Christian violence has been co-ordinated, involving multiple attacks.
In 2007 Orissa violence Christians were attacked in Kandhamal, Orissa, resulting in 9
deaths and destruction of houses and churches.[65][66] Nearly twelve churches were
targeted in the attack by Hindu activists.[67][68][69] Human rights groups consider the
violence as the failure of the state government that did not address the problem before it
became violent. The authorities failed to react quickly enough to save human lives and
property[70]
Foreign Christian missionaries have also been targets of attacks. In a well-publicised case
Graham Staines, an Australian missionary, was burnt to death while he was sleeping with
his two sons Timothy (aged 9) and Philip (aged 7) in his station wagon at Manoharpur
32
village in Keonjhar district in Orissa in January 1999.[56][71][72] In 2003, the Hindu

nationalist activist Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang responsible.[73]
In its annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department of State
criticised India for "increasing societal violence against Christians."[74] The report listed
over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious property
to violence against Christians pilgrims.[74]
According to Rudolf C Heredia, religious conversion has remained a critical issue even
before the creation of the modern state. Whereas Nehru wanted to establish a "a secular
state in a religious society"[75] Gandhi opposed the Christian missionaries calling them
as the remnants of colonial Western culture [76]. He, claimed that by converting into
Christianity, Hindus have changed their nationality.[77]
Recent wave of anti-conversion laws in various Indian states passed by some states is
actually seen as gradual and continuous institutionalization of Hindutva.[78] Some
extremist Hindu groups accuse Christian missionaries of using inducements such as
schooling to lure poor people to the faith, and have also launched movements to
reconvert many tribal Christians back to Hinduism.
Most of the Anti Conversion laws are brief and leave a lot of ambiguity, which can be
mis-used for inflicting persecution. Legal experts believe that both conversion activities
and willful trespass by missionaries upon the sacred spaces of other faiths can be
prosecuted under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, and as such there is no need
for anti-conversion laws by individual states and they should be repealed. A
consolidation of various Anti-Conversion or "Freedom of Religion" Laws has been done
by the All Indian Christian Council.[79]
In the past, several Indian states passed anti-conversion bills primarily to preventing
people from converting to Christianity. Arunachal Pradesh passed a bill in 1978. In 2003,
Gujarat State, after religious riots in 2002 (see 2002 Gujarat violence), passed an anti-
conversion bill in 2003.
In July, 2006, Madhya Pradesh government passed legislation requiring people who
desire to convert to a different religion to provide the government with one-month's
notice, or face fines and penalties.[80]
In August, 2006, the Chhattisgarh State Assembly passed similar legislation requiring
anyone who desires to convert to another religion to give 30 days' notice to, and seek
permission from, the district magistrate.[81]
In February, 2007, Himachal Pradesh became the first Congress Party ruled state to
adopt legislation banning illegal religious conversions.[82]
Persecution of Christians in Africa
In the 11 Northern states of Nigeria that have introduced the Islamic system of law, the
Sharia, sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians have resulted in many deaths,
33
and some churches have been burned. More than 30,000 Christians were displaced from
their homes Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.[83]
Recent Christian persecution in other countries
A partial list of countries not already mentioned above where significant recent
persecution of Christians exists includes North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka,[84]
Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan, Thailand, Lebanon, Syria and Cambodia.[85]
We have presented exhaustive reference for Christian persecutions right from the 1st
centaury to the present times, where shall we classify these persecutions? Is these all
motivated by Pope? All through the Gospel Age persecutions were done as warned
by our Lord (Luke 21:12) what is the difference between the persecutions of the
Popes and other gentile nations done to the Christians? is it in accordance with Dan
7:24,25, 8:23-24,Rev13:7? The motives behind these persecutions may have several
political reasons and biblical similarities but none of them will fit into the scriptural
accounts exclusively pertaining to Antichrist. It is said that the persecution under the
Antichrist will be so sever that human kind would have never tasted, if the days are
not shortened by the divine power no flesh will remain (Mat 24:22) this persecutions
will eventually culminate in world wide Great tribulation which will pave way to the
battle of Armageddon were mankind will witness the grand climax of the present evil
system.
Now we have presented 13 genuine reasons for Why the Papacy is not the Antichrist, the
reasons can be added on if dug deeper and deeper in the subject, but we think the reasons
presented herein is substantial and sufficient for the truth seekers. Any honest Bible student
should reason with the above presented facts and let the Holy Spirit lead him to come to a
truthful conclusion.
There have been many Antichrists(1 John 2:19) who have come and gone into the world
and have taken the name of Christ and have spoiled his name and have claimed to be the
representative of God but scriptures points us that, there will be an Individual personality
who at the latter days will raise in the historical scene as predicted by the holy prophets and
apostles, will declare that he is god and claim all homage and worship which legally belong to
God, he will not be any representative or vice agent of god but will claim he is God. He will
unite the nations of the world to fight against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it is he
who will burn the mystery Babylon the whore of Rev 17 and cast her down. He will be an
ultimate creation of Satan. The embodiment of all lawlessness and wickedness will be
displayed through his character and conduct, most intellectual genius whom the world has
ever witnessed, Master of occultism and a spiritual juggler, World’s astonished political and
ecclesiastical leader. His master mind will captivate the educated world. His marvelous store
of knowledge, his acquaintance with the secrets of nature, his superhuman powers of
perception, will stamp him as an intellectual genius of the first magnitude. Kings will be his
pawns and princes his playthings. In this master-piece of Satan he will be concentrated
intellectual greatness, sovereign power and human glory, combined with every species of
34
iniquity, pride, tyranny, willfulness, deceit, and blasphemy, such as Antiochus Epiphanies,
Mohammed, the whole line of popes, atheists, and deists of every age of the world have
failed to unite in any individual person.
Having contemplated on the reasons that Papacy is not the Antichrist, let us now consider
who is he? what he does and how will be his Life and character? In doing so we shall view
him in the light of the Character of the Lord Jesus. Christ is the Divine plumb-line and
standard of measurement by which all character must be tested.
35

Antichrist Is Not The Papal System

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Reasoning The Scriptures

The Antichrist is not the Papal System

1. The Ecclesiastical Supremacy of Papal System by the Emperor Justinian

Reasons for Why Papacy are not the ANTICHRIST?

This cannot be applied to Pope because he indeed acknowledge Jesus Christ as

The Seven Hills of Rome are namely

When we speak of seven hills always

If this is taken into consideration

4 Britannica 2001Standard Edition

5 Bruce Shelley's Christian History in Plain Language

Pepin confirmed his Donation in Rome in 756, and in 774 Charlemagne

Br. Russell’s comments slightly differ from the above

The encyclopaedic references

The books we looked into are

1. E Gibbon - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

In 751 the Lombards had conquered the imperial territory at Ravenna,

11 Bruce Shelley's Christian History in Plain Language

Huns, Heruli, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Lombards,

Name Transliteration Numerical Name Transliteration Numerical

Daleth DH, D 4 Samekh S 60

Let's look at the letters of NRWN QSR:

50 200 6 50 100 60 200 = 600

Petrus Bungus, in Numerorum Mysteria (Bergamo, 1599; reprint Hildesheim: Olds,

By slightly contorting Martin Luther's name (to MARTIN LUTHERA) and

4. Some members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, hostile towards Roman

5. Another mapping of letters to numbers used by numerologists is shown in the

Unfortunately, plain old RONALD REAGAN only adds up to 660, so Blevins is

The first documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians in the

Persecution from the second century to Constantine

The Great Persecution: Main article: Diocletian Persecution

Persecutions of early Christians outside the Roman Empire

Persecution of Christians by Christians

Anti-Catholic: Main article: Anti-Catholicism

Anti-Protestant: Main article: Anti-Protestantism: The Bartholomew's Day massacre

Anti-Protestantism originated in a reaction by the Catholic Church against the Protestant

Persecution of the Anabaptists: Main article: Anabaptist

Muslim persecution of Christians

In Turkey, the Istanbul pogrom was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated pogrom

Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon

The Christian community in Pakistan is the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.[28]

In other Muslim nations

Persecution in Communist nations: Soviet Union

Further information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Persecution of

People's Republic of China

Persecution in Western Hemisphere

Persecution of Christians in Japan

Persecution of Christians in India

In India, there is an increasing amount of violence being perpetrated by Hindu

village in Keonjhar district in Orissa in January 1999.[56][71][72] In 2003, the Hindu

Persecution of Christians in Africa

Recent Christian persecution in other countries

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