The Rise of the Antichrist in the Judgment Hour
William Diehl


The common belief is that the papacy came to power in AD.538 when the bishop of Rome was recognized as the supreme pontiff of the Roman Church. My own opinion regarding the origins of the papacy is that the birth of the papacy occurred when the belief system of the circumcision party which opposed the true apostolic Gospel took over the church. Paul states clearly that the Mystery of Iniquity was already at work in the church. Paul declared that all but a few of his faithful disciples had forsaken him and the gospel that he taught.

John's letters to the churches are filled with warnings that the Antichrist had already come and that it would increase in power in the church. Nearly every epistle of the New Testament gives the same warning regarding those who were infiltrating the church with legalism and ceremonialism and Gnosticism. Thus it is very evident that the false apostles of the pagan Roman religions were very early taking control of the churches and disfellowshipping and persecuting those who would not tolerate their dominance of the churches. It is with this in mind that some maintain that pagan Roman and papal Rome are one and the same "little horn" power. The armies of the Roman Empire supported both pagan and papal Rome.

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