Calvinism's Roman Catholic Origin: Part 5

You can’t schedule repentance like an appointment, and you can’t bargain with death for “a few more minutes.” We start with the Bible’s blunt urgency: God says now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. If you’ve ever told yourself you’ll get right with God later, we challenge that delay head-on and point you back to what Christ finished at Calvary and what it means to be saved and born again. 

Then we pivot into a focused teaching from our ongoing series on the Roman Catholic roots of amillennial Calvinism. A common accusation says the pre-tribulation rapture and futurism were invented as a Jesuit strategy to move the spotlight off the Pope as Antichrist. We explain why we’ve never taught “the Pope is the Antichrist,” and we read quotes from respected Reformed writers who also reject that identification, exposing the irony at the heart of the conspiracy claim. 

Finally, we open the Scriptures for a practical Bible study on the Antichrist. From 1 John 4 we distinguish the spirit of Antichrist already at work in the world from the future Antichrist. From 2 Thessalonians 2 we emphasize the plain language about the man of sin, a single individual who exalts himself and is destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming. Listen through to the end, share this with a friend who needs clarity, and then subscribe and leave a review so more people can find straight Bible preaching.

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Transcript

Welcome And Ministry Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of the Land, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

And I welcome you one more time to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. This is a ministry of the Bible Baptist Church, really a ministry of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the people that pray for, the people that support this ministry are found all across the nation and all around the world. And so we certainly can't take any credit to ourselves for the beginning or the continuation, the furtherance of this ministry. All the thanks, praise, honor, and glory must go to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we don't mind at all giving him the honor and glory that is due to his name. You know, if Christ Jesus hadn't come into the world and laid down his life upon the cross at Calvary to save us from our sins, we certainly couldn't do anything for God or with God or in God's name. And all the blessings that we enjoy, our life, our liberty, our pursuit of eternal happiness. All of that is ours, not because we're American citizens, not because we were born in a free nation, but because we've been born again by the wonderful, marvelous, saving grace of God, and we certainly praise his holy name for that.

Why Salvation Cannot Wait

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A young man came to a Christian, an old professor in a college. He asked the teacher, how long before death should one prepare for eternity? The professor's answer was a few minutes. The youth, glad of this, replied, determined to have his fling and sow his wild oats and see life in all its aspects. Then a few moments before death, he would close his selfish eyes and ask God to have mercy upon him. But asked the professor, when are you going to die? The youth replied, I can't tell, nobody knows. Then said the dear old man, get ready now, for that few minutes may be all that you have left. You know, I've traveled all over this country. I've yet to meet a man who wants to go to the lake of fire. Some teenagers will laugh about it, try and make a joke out of it, but but nobody really wants to burn in hell. All those that I've ever talked to have hoped to be saved someday and to escape that awful doom. Many people would like to be saved, but they say they're waiting. Surely God knows the best and proper time for a man to be saved, and God says it's now. There's no promise in God's word that a man should be saved next week or next month or next year, or when he comes to his deathbed, or at the eleventh hour, and all these other things that people so foolishly and unscripturally say. God's pledge is that he will save a man when that man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, not when he says he believes, but when he does believe. God's word in Acts 16 31 is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Time is short, eternity is near. The dark clouds of judgment are gathering, and they're about to burst in all their crushing, grinding power upon a Christless, guilty world. But before this takes place, the voice of God rings out, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In Isaiah 118, a verse unequaled in Scripture for its tender graciousness, the Bible says, Come now. Let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. God's word is come, and he tells you when to come. He says, Now right now. God concludes this magnificent verse with a promise of cleansing from all your sins. You know there's another verse strikingly earnest in Job 22, verse 21. Here the Bible says, Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto thee. Again, this word now confronts us. It tells us that this is the moment to make the acquaintance of God by Christ Jesus, to be at peace with God through Christ. He has made peace for us with his precious blood, and only by its cleansing power can good be our portion in Christ Jesus. The invitation of Jesus Himself was come, for all things are now ready. That's Luke 14, 17. There's nothing left for the poor helpless sinner to do in the matter of the soul's salvation but to believe. Christ died on the cross. All that the glory of God required to be done is done. And then he said, It is finished. He is in that glory today as proof that it is finished, and that God is satisfied. Now can He make known to you by the Holy Ghost through the Scriptures His present salvation for all lost sinners. You know the devil attempts you to put off the salvation of your soul until tomorrow, but tomorrow is too late. Tomorrow is death, the grave, the lake of fire, the eternal wail of a damned soul. God would would not say now so frequently in his word if he did not mean it, or if there were not awful danger in delaying, or if tomorrow would do. It may be now or never for you, my dear listening friend. God grant that it may be now. Are you saved? Or are you born again? Or are you lost? Or are you delaying? You see, there's no such thing in the Bible. There's no such thing in all the Bible as someone who is going to be saved. Or someone who intends to be saved. You're either saved right now or you're lost. That's the only choice you have. I hope you're saved. I hope you know Jesus as your Savior.

The Pope And The Antichrist Claim

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We're in the midst of a series of studies and we're dealing with the Roman Catholic roots of Amelia Calvinism. And we don't have time, this being the sixth broadcast of our series, we don't have time to go back for those who may have just tuned in who are attending churches, unfortunately, that do not teach the Word of God and do not teach the Bible. And I realize these terms are confusing to some and unknown to others. But one of the primary teachings of the Protestant reformers and those denominations which have come out of the Reformation is that the Pope is the Antichrist. Now, if you've listened to this broadcast for any length of time, you know that we teach and speak out against any religion which contradicts the Word of God. And this program originates with the Bible Baptist Church of Deland, Florida. But uh man, if a Baptist church or Baptist preacher crosses the Word of God, we'll speak out against that Baptist church as quickly as we would church bearing any other name. We don't uh we're an equal opportunity uh preaching uh establishment here. We'll preach the truth about anybody and everybody. Uh we just want to set forth the Bible, but we have never, we have never taught that the Pope is the Antichrist. And the reason we don't teach that the Pope is the Antichrist is because the Pope is not the Antichrist. Not according to the Word of God, not according to the Holy Bible. And we need to examine this subject of the Antichrist because the essence of the Lacunza conspiracy charge is that dispensationalism and futurism have taken the spotlight off the Pope. Now, I guess I'll have to review just for a minute. What we're doing in this series of studies is we are we are refuting the idea that the pre-tribulation rapture of the church was invented by Jesuit priests because the Protestant reformers were teaching that the Pope was the Antichrist and putting so much heat and so much pressure on the Pope that uh that the Catholic Church was suffering, and so they came up with this idea to turn the people's attention away from the Pope. Now, this has supposedly led to an ecumenical weakness that would not have been possible had we all stuck to the view that men like Luther and Calvin held that the papacy is the Antichrist. After all, the the line of reasoning goes, who are we to disagree with the teaching of these and other giants of the faith, many of whom were put to death for their reformed convictions? Here again we are faced with an incredible irony. For the truth of the matter is, most a millennial Calvinists no longer believe the Pope is the Antichrist. They are the ones that have gone back toward Rome. They are the ones who have begun to embrace the papacy once again, they are the ones who have denounced the heritage of their Reformation forefathers, while those of us who are premillennial and pre-tribulational and know that the Pope is not the Antichrist still know that the system of Mystery Babylon is to be rejected and spoken against. Where are the great reformed, ah millennial Calvinistic writers to be found who still believe the Pope is the Antichrist? They aren't there. If you ask the Presbyterian minister in your town who or what is the Antichrist, he won't tell you, he doesn't know. If you ask the Methodist minister in your town who or what is the Antichrist, he'll blush and hang his head because he doesn't want to say anything bad about anybody. If you ask the Reform minister in your town who or what is the Antichrist, he'll probably tell you that you are for asking him a question like that. It's a strange thing. As a matter of fact, apart from those uh extreme uh right-wing members of the Seventh-day Adventist movement, uh, I don't know of anyone, any church, any denomination that I've come across in the twenty years I've been in the ministry that will set forth and hold of the idea that the Pope is the Antichrist. Now to say that that this is a doctrine, this pre-tribulation rapture is a doctrine devised to take the reformers away from their belief that the papacy is antichrist, when the reformers and their children no longer believe that or teach that or practice that, uh, certainly uh gives us ample reason to believe that they're just talking through their hat. Most of these people, as we said, no longer believe this. They believe, as do dispensationalists, that the Antichrist is a person, which is what the Bible teaches, not a dynasty, which is what Calvin taught, and again he was dead wrong. You've got to admit that's a rather ironical situation. I want you to read carefully, and I'll give you the references, I'll give you the place from which these quotations are taken. But I want you to listen carefully as I read to you

Reformed Voices Reject The Old Charge

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five quotations from omillenal Calvinists who prove the point we're making conclusively. And again, we're we're thankful to Paul Bailey for his research. First of all, Lewis Burkhoff. Lewis Burkhoff wrote a book entitled Systematic Theology, and it has been considered a, if not the standard reference work of Reformed Covenant Theology. And Burkoff, on page 702 of this book published currently by Banner of Truth Trust, quote, Reformed scholars looked upon papal Rome, and in some cases even on some particular Pope as Antichrist. And the papacy indeed reveals several traits of Antichrist as he is pictured in Scripture, yet it will hardly do to identify it with Antichrist. Now Burkhoff is an Amelinialist, Burkhov is a Calvinist. Now to say that the dispensationalists who are trying to undermine the teachings of uh of Amelinial Calvinism invented the idea that the papacy was not the Antichrist, uh, just won't hold water. Then we have um Herman Hos or Hoxema, H-O-E-K-S-E-M-A, and he wrote a book entitled Behold He Cometh, published by the Reform Free Publishing Association in 1969. And on page 463 he says this. On the other hand, let me also warn you not to make the mistake of finding him, the Antichrist, already in his full manifestation and power. Never yet has there been a power such as is pictured here. John Calvin pointed to Rome and said, There's the Antichrist, there's the beast. And yet this Amelinial Calvinist of our day, Herman Hoxima, said, There's never been a power like that. He hadn't showed up yet.

unknown 14:23

W.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

J. Greer, another uh Amelinial Calvinist, he writes in his book the momentous event, page one hundred twenty-three, quote, the anti-Christian principle was at work in the time of the apostles. It will reach its highest power just before the advent. There will be a great apostasy, and the anti-Christian power will most likely be concentrated in one individual, not the papal system. Anthony Hoax or Hokima, this is not Herman Hoxima, but Anthony Hokima. He states that the reformers, Luther and Calvin, were not entirely wrong to call the Pope the Antichrist, but that really the popes were merely precursors or forerunners of the Antichrist. He explains, and I am quoting now from the Bible of the Future, pages 161 to 162, published by Erdmans, another reformed outfit, quote The Scriptures do seem to teach, particularly in Second Thessalonians chapter two, that there will be a final climactic antichrist whom Christ will destroy at his coming. Note the words there will be, not there has been. Then there's William Hendrickson. Williams Hendrickson served on the NIV Advisory Committee. He is considered to be the Rolls Royce of A Millennial Commentators. He makes fun of the reformers and the translators of the Authorized King James Bible for believing the Pope was the Antichrist. He states in his commentary on Thessalonians with regard to the Antichrist, quote, from page well let's see, page number 173. He is not the Pope. Now, isn't it ironical that the omillenal conspiracy writers who are trying to undermine the faith of God's people in a pre-tribulation rapture accuse dispensationalists of falling for a satanic Jesuit deception? And that satanic Jesuit deception is supposedly the teaching that the Pope is not the Antichrist. And this teaching supposedly has led them to compromise with the Roman Antichrist. When all the time the Reformed theologians in their own camp no longer believe the Pope is the Antichrist, they continue to follow John Calvin even though they know now he was wrong and are embarrassed by it, and they continue to say that the teaching that the Pope is not the Antichrist has led dispensationalists back to Rome when it is these groups themselves which are running back to Holy Mother Church as fast as they can run. Now the books we've quoted are freely available from ah millennial Calvinistic booksellers all over the world. According to the conspiracy writers, these booksellers must unwittingly also be part of the Jesuit Counter-Reformation and the current ecumenical apostasy. If they're right. So it's a strange business, isn't it? It's amazing what you find out if you just do your homework instead of listening to the ravings of men on radio and men on TV. It's just amazing what you can find out if you look in the Bible. So let's do that

The Spirit Of Antichrist In 1 John

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just for a few minutes. If you have a copy of the Bible, that I hope you do, the Holy Bible, the Word of God, the Authorized King James Bible, uh, turn into 1 John and 2 Thessalonians. The book of 1 John and the book of 2 Thessalonians, and let's see what we can find there about this Antichrist. Just the briefest of views will suffice. In the book of 1 John, chapter 4, and verse number 1. 1 John chapter 4, verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God. Because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know we this or 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 spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. Now, from the very dawn of the New Testament church, from the earliest days of the Apostolic Church, there was a spirit in the world. There was a spirit that had come. That spirit was the spirit of Antichrist. Now God the Father is in heaven. That is the Father made manifest in the body of flesh. And then when the Son returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to bear witness to and to exalt and to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, there is a person called Satan. He has a seed, Genesis 3.15. This seed is called the Son of Perdition, and this man will be the false or the Antichrist. Now, in the absence of this false or Antichrist, there is in the world today, and has been since the days when John the Apostle was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, there has been a spirit of Antichrist. Now, if the Spirit of Jesus Christ exalts and magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ, what will the Spirit of Antichrist do? He will exalt and magnify all that is opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that spirit of Antichrist has been in the world for nearly 2,000 years now. And you could point to this religion and that religion and this religious leader and that religious leader and say that they were they were led, they were controlled, guided, and motivated by the spirit of Antichrist. But you certainly could not say that they were the Antichrist.

The Man Of Sin In 2 Thessalonians

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Alright, now come to Second Thessalonians and chapter number two. Second Thessalonians chapter number two. We covered most of chapter one in an earlier broadcast in this series. Second Thessalonians two and verse number one. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, not by the spoken word, not by the printed page, not by a sign, not by a wonder, not by a miracle, not by a deed done, not by a good life, not by a glowing testimony, not by a large bank account, not by an influential ministry. No man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first. And that man, notice not that system, not that denomination, that man of sin be revealed. The there's only one, not a sus a succession, the son of perdition. What would he do? Who opposeth and exalteth himself? It's a person above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he there's a man, one man, as God, sitteth in the temple of God. The temple of God is not at Mecca, the temple of God is not at Rome, the temple of God is not at Nashville, the temple of God is Jerusalem, that's where the temple is, that's where it was, that's where it will be. So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Now, how in the world anybody could read the Bible and deny that the Antichrist is a man and a single individual person is beyond me. How anybody could read the Bible and think that a fellow in a bathrobe sitting in robe could be mistaken for Jesus Christ sitting in a temple in Jerusalem. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? But you see, once you start allegorizing and spiritualizing and interpreting the Bible, instead of just believing what God wrote, you're liable to end up in all kinds of fairy tales. Verse number five Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things. And now ye know what withholdeth, that he, notice again, it's a person, might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. We read you that from first John chapter four. The Spirit, the mystery, the groundwork is being laid. The mystery of iniquity did not already work, only he who now letteth will lead until he be taken out of the way. Now there's only one thing standing between the present day and the full rise to power of the Antichrist, and that is the presence of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit won't be taken from this earth. You can't find that anywhere in the Bible. You can't show that from the scripture. That's a deduction drawn by dispensationalists, and having drawn that deduction, then the those that deny the pre-tribulation rapture say, Well, look here, there are people being converted, and uh there are people being delivered and saved during the tribulation, so the church must uh must still be here because the Holy Spirit leaves with the church. Yeah, but they made that up. The Bible never teaches that anywhere. If you're saved and born again, you are made a member and a part of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he, the body of Christ, will be removed from this earth before the Antichrist can rise to power. Then, when he who now leteth, that's the body of Christ, when he is taken out of the way, that's the body of Christ, then shall that wicked be revealed. Now, in order to teach that the papacy is the Antichrist, you've got to teach that either the Holy Spirit, if you're going to teach the wrong teaching, or the body of Christ, if you're going to teach the correct teaching, was taken out of the way before the papacy began. You see what happens when you start interpreting the Bible instead of teaching the Bible? You just leave God's book alone and set forth what it says, and you don't get into trouble, and your followers don't get into trouble. Then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him, it's a person whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Now, do you think God's going to send a strong delusion to the saved born again people that make up his church? Do you think God's going to send a strong delusion to those who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you think that God is going to damn the souls of those that are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ? Absolutely not. This Antichrist is sent to rule and reign over a world filled with unbelievers who did not receive the truth. That's not the church. Are you part of the church? Are you part of the body of Christ? There's only one way you can be. You must repent of your sin and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and bled and died for you and then rose again that he might forgive your sins and give you everlasting life. If you know him, you know and have and will enjoy eternal everlasting life. And if you don't know him, you will be deceived and destroyed by the coming Antichrist. I hope you know it. I hope you're saved. I hope you're ready.

Salvation Appeal And Free CD Offer

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Well, we sure appreciate you listening to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. This is program number five in a six-part series on the Roman Catholic origins of Calvinism. And we know that many of you would like to hear this entire series again, and you'd like to have a copy for a friend, a loved one, a neighbor. And we're making it available absolutely free of charge. No cost, no obligation. We'd like for you to have this study, all six programs on one CD. All you have to do, visit our website, jameswnox.org. Leave your name and mailing address at jameswnox.org. Be sure to leave the call letters of the station on which you listen. That helps us so much, and your letters of testimony are such an encouragement. That web address again, jameswnox.org. All right, until next time, thank you for listening to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you. And good day.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistland, or our website, Bible BaptistTeland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.