The Protest is not Over

By Pastor Aubrey Duncan

A Historical Perspective

Protestantism means protesting against the unbiblical teachings of the Church of Rome. It is what gave rise to the mighty Protestant Reformation of the 15th and 16th centuries and birthed the greatest experiment in human civilization, the United States of America. Most of the Christian denominations, which came out of the Papal Church in protest against its un-Biblical teachings and man-made traditions, have retained many traits and characteristics of the mother church. Sunday sacredness is the most prominent. We read in the book, the Great Controversy: “It is the spirit of the papacy, the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God, that is permeating the Protestant churches, and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them” (E.G. White, Great Controversy, p. 573).

Today, America, through self-appointed religious leaders, directs the nation back to Rome. The National Back to Church Sunday Movement, a coalition of Evangelical, Catholic, and mainline Sunday-keeping churches, has joined forces for the establishment of Sunday sacredness in America. In more recent times, calls have been made from both the secular and religious media for Sunday rest to mitigate the climate change crisis. The question is, where are the Protestants?

In these final hours of earth’s history, a great drama is being played out before our eyes, and very few are aware of its nefarious plot and pernicious consequences. The storyline revolves around God’s word versus the traditions of the papacy. The great Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, along with others such as Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Edwards, Henry, Clark, Wesley, and Spurgeon, just to name a few, identified the Roman Catholic Church as the first beast of Revelation 13 and the antichrist power of Bible prophecy.

Note: This is not in any way referring to the tens of millions of God-fearing individuals who have no knowledge of Bible truth, but to a hierarchy that both history and the Bible clearly identify as an enterprise that is working against God while claiming to represent Him.

Martin Luther, the most famous of the Protestant Reformation, having discovered this truth in the light of God’s word, declared: “We are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist…personally, I declare that I owe the pope no other obedience than that of Antichrist” (Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 121, Froom).

As a result of the courage of Luther and other Protestant Reformers, tens of thousands of Roman Catholics, infected with the holy boldness of those Reformers, returned to the Scriptures and discovered the truth as it is in Jesus. The world has not been the same since. Unfortunately, however, today most Protestants and Evangelicals have developed a nauseating case of historical amnesia, all but forgetting the work, commitment, and sacrifice of the Reformers. They have, knowingly or unknowingly, set aside that which distinguishes them from Catholicism and are instead joining with Romanism to achieve an elusive compact for world peace. For the most part, these individuals and organizations, while calling themselves protestant, are totally oblivious to the conflict in which they are engaged.

Ellen G. White, a world-renowned Bible commentator, alerts us: “In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy that she has lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance—a custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority” (Great Controversy, p. 573).

The fact of the matter is that the God of creation has never made Sunday holy. Neither does He force anyone to accept what He offers. Further, legislation of religious dogmas always leads to tyranny and persecution of those who do not agree with the legislated dogmas. In Jesus, we have freedom of choice.

Ellen White, who the Smithsonian magazine lists as one of the ten most influential religious figures of all time, continues: “The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church… is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation of a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and undo all that Protestantism has done” (Ibid. 563).

Christians everywhere, like the Reformers of old, need to rekindle the spirit of Protestantism and resist Rome’s call for universal Sunday sacredness, a tradition contrary to God’s word, which she claims is her mark of authority in religious matters. Additionally, the Roman church claims that it is the church that Jesus Christ established on earth. But how accurate is that profession? Let’s find out.

The Great Battle

Renowned Encyclopedia Britannica describes this political/ecclesiastical behemoth: “The papacy is the oldest continuing, absolute monarchy in the world. To many the pope is the infallible interpreter of divine revelation and the vicar of Christ; to others he is the fulfillment of the biblical prophecies about the coming of the Antichrist” (Encyclopedia Britannica, page 877). Each must make a choice on this issue. Here are some points you must prayerfully ponder in making your choice:

• The Holy Bible gives a profoundly distinctive identity for popery. God declares through His servant John regarding this indefinable behemoth: “Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.
  (Revelation 17:5).
• God’s word teaches that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. He confidently affirmed: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

But Rome insists that salvation is only available through her church and the works of its sacraments. Pope Francis most vehemently condemns what the Bible teaches, as he boldly declared that it is dangerous to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ outside of his church. Few realize the deadly consequences of such a pronouncement from the head of the Catholic Church. That was precisely the claim of the church that led to the slaughter of 50+ million souls and gave birth to the mighty Protestant Reformation of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Those martyred souls believed what Jesus and the early church taught: that He, Jesus Christ, is the Only Way to salvation (John 14:6; John 15:5; Acts 4:12). The question is, will not the church do likewise when she gains vantage ground, which she is rapidly achieving? Bible prophecy foretells that it will. But where are the Protestants?

• Jesus says Go, Francis says No. In the last words of Jesus Christ recorded in the book of Matthew, He admonished his disciples: “All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen ” (Matthew 28:18-20). His commission is for all His followers throughout the ages.

But, in a meeting with the leaders of the Lutheran church at the Vatican, Pope Francis warned: “It is not licit that you convince them of your faith; proselytism is the strongest poison against the ecumenical path … you can tell the ‘why’ (of your faith) with much thoughtfulness. But without wanting to convince.” This is blatantly hypocritical for the leader of a movement that has been doing nothing but proselytizing for the last 500 years, bringing almost all of Christendom back to her fold. Sadly, most so-called Protestants have willingly embraced Francis’ admonition rather than heeding the commission of Jesus Christ, whom they pretend to serve.

• The Bible teaches that we should not bow down to idols. The Roman Catholic Church has completely removed that commandment from God’s word, which reads: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:4-6). Not only has the Church of Rome obliterated that commandment from God’s law, but idol worship is part and parcel of Catholic worship.
• The Bible teaches that all men, except Jesus Christ, have sinned: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Romans 3:23, 4:15).

On the contrary, the Roman Church teaches that Mary was sinless. How horrendous is this assertion? If Mary was sinless, then she must have had sinless parents. They would have had to have sinless parents. Her entire lineage would therefore have had to be sinless as well. Only a sinless being can produce another sinless being. Of course, Mary was the mother of Jesus, but the One she gave birth to was implanted in her by the sinless Holy Spirit. The angel announced to Mary’s astounded fiancée: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20). Nowhere in the Holy Scriptures can it be found that Mary was sinless. Like all sinners, she received the wages of sin and awaits the gift of the life-giver, her sinless Son, Jesus Christ.

• The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. Paul informs us: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”(1 Timothy 2:5).

Not only does the Church of Rome teach that Mary is sinless, but it has elevated her to the position of co-mediator with Jesus. In fact, it has raised her above Jesus, asserting that one has to come through her to get to Jesus. In addition, one must first confess to a priest, who will then give directions on how to get to Mary.

• The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice once for all on the cross of Calvary: “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:26-27).

In opposition to God’s truth, the Church of Rome teaches that her priests sacrifice Jesus every time they offer the mass. Additionally, the Roman Catholic Church claims that its Jesus cookie becomes the actual body and the fermented wine becomes the real blood of Jesus at the pronouncement of her priests. However, the Bible clearly prohibits the drinking of blood and cannibalism, the eating of human flesh.

• The Bible teaches that the seventh day, today called Saturday, is God’s Sabbath: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made (Genesis 2:3).The Church of Rome boldly contradicts that and claims she has changed God’s law and has transferred the solemnity of God’s Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week: “Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed to Sunday … not from any directions noted in the Scriptures but from the church’s sense of its own power … People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority should logically become Seventh-day Adventists and keep Saturday holy” (Saint Catherine Catholic Church Sentinel, May 21, 1995).
• The Bible teaches that the dead are totally separated from life. Life and death are polar opposites. Says the wise man Solomon: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).

But the Church of Rome says that death is another form of life. It consigns whomever they desire to heaven immediately after death; others to an eternal burning hell; and yet others to purgatory—a holding pen to be purified until their loved ones decide on the payment of funds to the church. The church then determines whether the deceased go to heaven or their eternal burning hell. This grand deception is based on the first lie that was ever told. Moses records: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:4-5).

The Church of Rome is vehement in obscuring and perverting the fact that salvation is found in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. In place of Christ’s full and complete atonement for the redemption of all humanity, she imposes herself. In place of salvation from sin, as Jesus teaches, she offers salvation in sin.

Everyone has to decide who she truly is and whom they choose to believe and obey. We cannot straddle the fence. We either believe what God says in His Holy Word or we accept what the Church of Rome teaches while claiming to represent Jehovah. If the Roman church is God’s representative on earth, as she claims to be, why does she teach so many things that are contrary to the word of God and slaughtered upward of 50 million people for no other reason than claiming that Jesus Christ is the only Messiah and that salvation is available only through Him?

The Protestants of today are allowing culture and feelings to override clear Biblical teachings. They have all but exchanged sola scriptura for the traditions of the Church of Rome. They have all but forgotten why they are Protestants and what distinguishes them from Catholicism. Reformation Day, October 31st, has become Halloween, the day of the worship of the dead.

John Calvin (1509–1564) wrote: “Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman Pontiff, Antichrist. But those who are of that opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself after whom we speak and whose language we adopt. I will briefly show Paul’s words in 2nd Thessalonians 2 are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies to the Papacy” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin).

The good news is that despite the numbing silence of the so-called protestant churches, the protest is not over.

The Final Countdown

As Francis the Jesuit projects a sanctified image of piety and caring for the downtrodden, almost the entire world is deceived. The masses are mesmerized by his public persona. Presidents and prime ministers bow down before him. The media can’t seem to get enough of him, but his church’s position against God’s word, which is unchangeable, remains steadfast. He is calling for a few brave men and women to stand for the right even though the heavens fall. How will you respond?

The historical record is undeniable: “Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. In the first triumphs of the Reformation, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time, the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from earthly ties and human interests, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason, and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power.

The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in the face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, and no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy” (Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 234).

This strategy is working brilliantly in America, as the majority of its citizens are grossly oblivious to the reality of the rapid decline of the American experiment and the resultant implementation of Papal rule, not only in America but around the world. Both the prophets Daniel and John foretold this state of affairs.

An essential foundation of papal power is the unification of church and state. Who can deny the fact that the movement for church-state unification is accelerating at an intensified rate in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?

Mike Johnson, the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, is one of the prime movers and shakers behind this movement. Here’s how he and his movement are characterized in a recent interview with scholar, historian, and journalist Kristin Kobes Du Mez: “So really, Christian supremacy and a particular type of conservative Christianity is at the heart of Johnson’s understanding of the Constitution and an understanding of our government.” She continued: “He is incredibly standard in terms of being a right-wing, white evangelical Christian nationalist”. His election draws America one major step closer to its prophetic destiny.

We were talking about the Jesuits: “When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed. It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination, and thus the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of popery (Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 235).

As the curtain is about to close on the final scene of the Drama of the Ages, God makes His clarion call and final appeal: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird … For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Revelation  18:2–3).Finally, he appeals to God’s people who have been deceived into following her: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues … for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Revelation (Revelation 18:4–5).

How will you respond?

About: Follow Pastor Aubrey Duncan at his Unfolding Prophecy Page.