What other “Scripture” is there besides the books of the Old and New Testament that make up the Bible.
But he teaches from the SDA perspective… a protestant denomination that teaches the Pope is the anti-Christ and that the Catholic Church is the “Whore of Babylon.” How ecumenical.
He attacks my faith. And he does so insincerely, in a manner that is demonstrably false. He does not simply “present what’s written in the bible.” He interprets it to support his own demonstrably false conclusions about the Catholic Church.
I will choose God and His Church, not Doug Batchelor and his cable television show.
Peace,
-Robert
How much of him have you actually heard? He talks about the papacy being the first beast power in Revelations (and Daniel) because of what’s written and what’s taken place in our history…not because of his religion. I have some of it here in the New Living Translation for us to look together with my comments in parenthesis:
Revelations 13:1-7:
vs 1: Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea.
(this indicates rising up from an area densely populated) It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns.
(refer to Revelations 17:9, where it references the seven heads as the seven hills where the “woman” rules; Rome is considered “The City on Seven Hills”; the ten crowns indicate the ten kingdoms, or ten horns as referred to in Daniel 7, that pagan Rome, “the great prostitute” was divided into at the end of the Caesars reign in 476 A.D.) And written on each head were names that blasphemed God.
(three of the heads/horns-the Heruli, Vandals and Ostrogoths-refused to accept the Catholic faith, so they were done away with, ending in 538 A.D…another significant year - see Daniel 7:20 for prophecy on that).
vs 2: This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.* (it was an unusual “beast”, unlike any other that had come before it - not much else I can really add there, except that we know who the dragon is and it’s the dragon that gave this beast its authority)
*
vs 3: I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed!* (in short, 1798 A.D., when the French invaded Rome and took the Pope captive, is when the “beast” was wounded. The “healing” came in July 1801 with the issuing of the Concordat, with the support of Napoleon, and again on February 11, 1929 with a treaty signed by Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri)*. The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast.
(self-explanatory)
vs 4: They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
(self-explanatory, although I believe that the Catholic flock sincerely believe they’re worshiping Christ; just know that the devil is a liar and his intent is to deceive anyone who will fall for his lies - it started when he convinced Eve that she would “not surely die”)
vs 5: Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God
(read/re-read Pope Gregory VII “Dictates of Hildebrand” for a sample of the “great blasphemies”.) And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months.
(in biblical prophecy, one day is equal to a year and a year was measured in 360 days - see Ezekiel 4:6 & Numbers 14:34 for insight to the day/year understanding - in either case, 42 months=1260 days=1260 years…in other words, 538 A.D. through 1798 A.D.)
vs 6: And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling—that is, those who dwell in heaven.* (see Lucius Ferraris, “Papa”, article 2 for more on this one)*
vs 7: And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.* (quite simply, the Inquisition)*
No other influential power fits these (and so many other) prophecies like the Catholic (“universal”) church. I’m not suggesting that you or any other Catholic believer is a bad person…I’m just suggesting that you look at Scripture at bit more closely and chose your faith based on truth and not what you may have possibly been brought up to believe. We are all seeking a relationship with Christ, but we have to pay attention to His word and His teachings as given to us in the Bible.
“And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made—the Book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Revelations 13:8-9.
I pray God blesses all of our understanding of His word. Amen.
