T
TriuneUnity
Guest
Let me be the first to say, though, Newbie, that at this point in history, while I do not deny what our Confessions teach on the office of the papacy, it really isn’t something that we are focused on.
In Lutheran usage, the antichrist is not some political figure who seizes power before the last days, such as End Times enthusiasts are always trying to identify. Though the last days will indeed involve the reign of an antichrist, there are actually many of them throughout history, as the Epistle of John indicates, and they arise WITHIN the Church.
They also have different marks. An antichrist will be a “man of lawlessness”; he will be a “destroyer of truth”; and he will offer a “new gospel.”
With these criteria and others, the Reformation identified the papacy as antichrist. Lutheran theologian Fredrik Sidenvall argues that today, those who best fit those criteria are LIBERAL THEOLOGIANS.
I would add that St. John says that the antichrist will deny that Jesus has come in the flesh. To my knowledge, popes have not done that. But liberal theologians–the neo-gnostics, those who distinguish between the “Christ event” and the historical Jesus, and the rationalists who reject the Incarnation–do make that very denial.
We might also identify the spirit of antichrist as being present among politically-conservative American evangelicals who, in the name of church growth, remove the crosses from their sanctuaries, and never speak of sin or Christ’s sacrifice in their sermons – in order not to offend sensitive “seekers.”
In Lutheran usage, the antichrist is not some political figure who seizes power before the last days, such as End Times enthusiasts are always trying to identify. Though the last days will indeed involve the reign of an antichrist, there are actually many of them throughout history, as the Epistle of John indicates, and they arise WITHIN the Church.
They also have different marks. An antichrist will be a “man of lawlessness”; he will be a “destroyer of truth”; and he will offer a “new gospel.”
With these criteria and others, the Reformation identified the papacy as antichrist. Lutheran theologian Fredrik Sidenvall argues that today, those who best fit those criteria are LIBERAL THEOLOGIANS.
I would add that St. John says that the antichrist will deny that Jesus has come in the flesh. To my knowledge, popes have not done that. But liberal theologians–the neo-gnostics, those who distinguish between the “Christ event” and the historical Jesus, and the rationalists who reject the Incarnation–do make that very denial.
We might also identify the spirit of antichrist as being present among politically-conservative American evangelicals who, in the name of church growth, remove the crosses from their sanctuaries, and never speak of sin or Christ’s sacrifice in their sermons – in order not to offend sensitive “seekers.”