Pope Benedict XVI
COGwriter
For three decades, the Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, has been working on a plan. Karl Josef Kuschel at the University of Tubingen seminary in Germany stated:
Ratzinger has been appointing bishops for 30 years. It is now his church. The bishops today were chosen exactly because they agreed with him. (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0806/Pope-Benedict-XVI-s-30-year-campaign-to-reassert-conservative-Catholicism)
One of the more public related steps included promoting Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch to become president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (see Russian Orthodox Church Pleased with Bishop Koch’s Appointment) in order to try to reach out to the Eastern Orthodox and Protestants (Why a Swiss Bishop for the Unity Council. Zenit, July 13, 2010).
The Christian Science Monitor reported an apparently major part of the Pope’s long-term plans:
In the past 30 years, the Vatican has moved strongly to reassert the authority of a traditional, even orthodox Roman Catholicism – to bring the notion of a “one true church” to Europe and then the larger world. (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0806/Pope-Benedict-XVI-s-30-year-campaign-to-reassert-conservative-Catholicism)
So some believe that Joseph Ratzinger’s plan basically has been to purge the Church of Rome of liberals in order for the Catholic Church to be more united in order to be more acceptable to Europeans, and then others.
And that is correct. But that is not the only part of the plan.
Another part has been to shift doctrine more towards later tradition and away from scripture according to some. Long ago, one of Joseph Ratzinger’s first public appearances was a lecture at the University of Tubingen. Jesuit and Professor Hermann Häring commented about his impression of it:
Ratzinger was saying the basis of true theology was not the Bible, but the Bible as interpreted by five centuries of church fathers. He was basically telling the Protestant faculty, ‘Get lost.’ He was saying you must return to Greek theology … to Hellenism. (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0806/Pope-Benedict-XVI-s-30-year-campaign-to-reassert-conservative-Catholicism)
Sadly, moving away from scriptural teaching seems to have been part of Joseph Ratzinger’s plan. Was there a particular doctrine in mind?
Joseph Ratzinger on the Millennium
While most Catholics now believe that their church has always opposed the millennial teachings (the teaching that Jesus would return and reign on the earth for a thousand years), the reality is that as late as the late 1960s, this was still a doctrine that some Catholics accepted. Notice some of what a book blessed by the late Pope Paul VI in 1966 correctly stated:
Millenarians, i.e., believers in the reign of a thousand years. This belief was common in the early Church…the time of the First Resurrection will end…It is the time when the Seventh Millennium will set in, and will be the day of Sabbath in the plan of creation…It has been the common opinion among Jews, Gentiles, and Latin and Greek Christians, that the present evil world will last no more than 6,000 years…Christians and Jews, from the beginning of Christianity, and before, have taught that 6,000 years after the creation of Adam and Eve, the consummation will occur. The period after the consummation is to be the seventh day of creation–the Sabbath…St. Jerome said, “It is a common belief that the world will last 6,000 years.” (Culligan E. The Last World War and the End of Time. The book was blessed by Pope Paul VI, 1966. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), pp. 113-115).
And why bring that up?
Because the millennial teaching IS part of scripture and WAS part of the earliest writings of the earliest leaders (as well as the so-called “fathers”) of the church until the fourth century (for details, see Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism?).
Yet, Bishop Ratzinger took steps to distance the Church of Rome from this teaching.
So much so that the only doctrine associated with Antichrist in the revised Catechism of the Catholic Church (the first major revision in 300 years, and was done while Bishop Ratzinger headed up the Vatican’s top doctrinal post) is the millennial teaching:
676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism…(Catechism of the Catholic Church. Imprimatur Potest +Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Doubleday, NY 1995, p. 194)
Bishop Ratzinger, in in a paper titled The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure prior to becoming pope, wrote:
“…both Chiliasm [the teaching of the Millennium] and Montanism were declared heretical and were excluded from the universal church; for they both denied this vision [the “Christ is the end of the ages” vision] and awaited still another period of more definitive salvation to follow after the age of Christ”
(as cited in Birch, DA. Trial, Tribulation & Triumph: Before During and After Antichrist. Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta (CA), 1996, pp. 515-516; note the comments within [] were from the Catholic writer Birch).
And the above is highly misleading and is odd. It was the leaders in Asia Minor who stood for the Millennium and were the first to oppose Montanism–whom the Roman Catholics originally tolerated (please see the article Location of the Early Church)–hence the belief in one is NOT necessarily related to the other.
The other reason this condemnation is odd, is that even though Origen was opposed to the millennium Origen also taught that there was definitive salvation after what then Cardinal Ratzinger calls “the age of Christ” (please see the article Hope of Salvation: How the COG Differs from Protestantism). Yet the current pontiff Benedict XVI has publicly praised Origin as a “true teacher” (for documentation, see What is the Appropriate Form of Biblical Interpretation?).
What The Bible Says
Scripture clearly teaches a 1000 year millennial reign with Christ. Here is what the Rheims New Testament (a Catholic translation) teaches:
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ; and shall reign with him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison… (Revelation 20:6-7, Douay-Rheims)
Since the above has NOT happened yet, teaching that it will not happen is inconsistent with the word of God–which is what Jesus taught humans were to live by (Luke 4:4).
It appears to me that the millennial view is being so definitely condemned now, because we are getting so close to that time when the Church of Rome is expected to compromise more and the Pope has prepared his followers to do that. It seems like the final revised Roman Church intends to warn against following any (like the actual two witnesses) who will be teaching the original millennial doctrine. Of course, there still are Catholics who accept the biblical teaching on the millennium–but they are becoming more and more of a minority within their church.
Now, while certain “traditionalist Catholics” will point out various condemnations of the millennial teaching throughout Catholic history, the reality is that not only did Catholic saints such as Jerome and Augustine once believe it (which means it was a prevalent view until the latter part of the fourth century), Catholic leaders in the 19th and 20th century did as well. And since the Church of Rome has never formally dogmatically interpreted the Book of Revelation (usually referred to as the Apocalypse in Catholic translations of the Bible), it may be important to understand that the millennial teaching is part of that Book.
Early Millennial Teachings
Perhaps it should be pointed out that the Catholic saint Papias, who was a hearer of John and a friend of Polycarp, taught:
…there wil be a period of a thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, and that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very earth…(Eusebius. The History of the Church, Book III, Chapter XXIX, Verse 12, p. 69)
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes:
A witness for the continued belief in millenarianism in the province of Asia is St. Melito, Bishop of Sardes in the second century…(Kirsch J.P. Transcribed by Donald J. Boon. Millennium and Millenarianism. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume X. Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York)
An Egyptian bishop, Nepos, taught…there would be a reign of Christ upon earth for a thousand years, a period of corporal delights; he founded this doctrine upon the Apocalypse in a book entitled “Refutation of the Allegorizers” (Chapman, John. “Dionysius of Alexandria.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 14 Aug. 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05011a.htm>.)
Melito and Nepos were apparently faithful Christian leaders in the second and third centuries respectively. They taught the millennium. And Nepos specifically opposed those who wished to do away with scripture through allegorizing it and relying on certain leaders “fathers” in the third century A.D.
The Catholic saint Irenaeus, who also claimed to have met Polycarp of Smyrna, wrote in the late second century:
Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number of the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 29, Verse 2. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).
Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain [orthodox persons] are derived from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God’s dispensations , and of the mystery of the resurrection of the just , and of the [ earthly ] kingdom which is the commencement of incorruption, by means of which kingdom those who shall be worthy are accustomed gradually to partake of the divine nature (capere Deum ); and it is necessary to tell them respecting those things, that it behoves the righteous first to receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised to the fathers, and to reign in it, when they rise again to behold God in this creation which is renovated , and that the judgment should take place afterwards (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 32, Verse 1. Translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103532.htm>).
And again He says, “Whosoever shall have left lands, or houses, or parents, or brethren, or children because of Me, he shall receive in this world an hundred-fold, and in that to come he shall inherit eternal life.” For what are the hundred-fold [rewards] in this word, the entertainments given to the poor, and the suppers for which a return is made? These are [to take place] in the times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day, which has been sanctified, in which God rested from all the works which He created, which is the true Sabbath of the righteous, which they shall not be engaged in any earthly occupation; but shall have a table at hand prepared for them by God, supplying them with all sorts of dishes (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 33, Verse 2. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).
That the whole creation shall, according to God’s will, obtain a vast increase, that it may bring forth and sustain fruits such [as we have mentioned], Isaiah declares: “And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every prominent hill, water running everywhere in that day, when many shall perish, when walls shall fall. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, seven times that of the day, when He shall heal the anguish of His people, and do away with the pain of His stroke.” Now “the pain of the stroke” means that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is, death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says: “And thou shall be confident in the LORD, and He will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father.” This is what the Lord declared: “Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down [to meat], and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in the evening watch, and find them so, blessed are they, because He shall make them sit down, and minister to them; or if this be in the second, or it be in the third, blessed are they.” Again John also says the very same in the Apocalypse: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” Then, too, Isaiah has declared the time when these events shall occur; he says: “And I said, Lord, how long? Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses be without men, and the earth be left a desert. And after these things the LORD shall remove us men far away (longe nos faciet Deus homines), and those who shall remain shall multiply upon the earth.” Then Daniel also says this very thing: “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of those under the heaven, is given to the saints of the Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” And lest the promise named should be understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophet: “And come thou, and stand in thy lot at the consummation of the days.” Now, that the promises were not announced to the prophets and the fathers alone, but to the Churches united to these from the nations (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 34, Verses 2-3. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).
For all these and other words were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings; and [with respect to] those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the Wicked one (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 35, Verse 1. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).
Thus Irenaeus clearly taught that after 6,000 years of human reign that there was to be a physical kingdom of God on the earth and that resurrected saints would reign in that kingdom.
The Catholic saint Justin Martyr taught in the mid-second century:
But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.
For Isaiah spake thus concerning this space of a thousand years: ‘For there shall be the new heaven and the new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, or come into their heart; but they shall find joy and gladness in it, which things I create’…For as Adam was told that in the day he ate of the tree he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years. We have perceived, moreover, that the expression, ‘The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,’ is connected with this subject. And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place (Dialogue with Trypho. Chapters 80-81).
The Catholic saint Hippolytus (early third century) wrote:
And 6, 000 years must needs be accomplished, in order that the Sabbath may come, the rest, the holy day “on which God rested from all His works.” For the Sabbath is the type and emblem of the future kingdom of the saints, when they “shall reign with Christ,” when He comes from heaven, as John says in his Apocalypse: for “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years.”Since, then, in six days God made all things, it follows that 6, 000 years must be fulfilled. (Hippolytus. On the HexaËmeron, Or Six Days’ Work. From Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0502.htm verified 9/17/07).
And while I do not agree with everything that people such as Irenaeus, Justin, and Hippolytus wrote, they were early supporters of Rome. And the millennial teaching was a teaching from the Bible and one held by the early church.
Notice that The Catholic Encyclopedia admits:
St. Augustine was for a time, as he himself testifies (De Civitate Dei, XX, 7), a pronounced champion of millenarianism (Kirsch J.P. Transcribed by Donald J. Boon. Millennium and Millenarianism. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume X. Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).
Augustine himself wrote:
The evangelist John has spoken of these two resurrections in the book which is called the Apocalypse…the Apostle John says in the foresaid book, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven. . . . Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Those who, on the strength of this passage, have suspected that the first resurrection is future and bodily, have been moved, among other things, specially by the number of a thousand years, as if it were a fit thing that the saints should thus enjoy a kind of Sabbath-rest during that period, a holy leisure after the labors of the six thousand years since man was created, and was on account of his great sin dismissed from the blessedness of paradise into the woes of this mortal life, so that thus, as it is written, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” there should follow on the completion of six thousand years, as of six days, a kind of seventh-day Sabbath in the succeeding thousand years; and that it is for this purpose the saints rise, viz., to celebrate this Sabbath. And this opinion would not be objectionable, if it were believed that the joys of the saints in that Sabbath shall be spiritual, and consequent on the presence of God; for I myself, too, once held this opinion (Augustine. The City of God, Book XX, Chapter 7).
Since Augustine held this view into the fourth and fifth centuries he also demonstrates that it was an early or original view that those associated with Rome changed.
Ecumenical Compromise is a Major Reason for the Plan
Since the millennial teaching was commonly held until the end of the fourth century by early Christians and traditional Catholics, and was held by some traditional Catholics in the 19th and 20th centuries, why would Joseph Ratzinger want to be so anti-millennial now?
There are two primary reasons. The first is in order to reach those who broke off from Rome in the 16th century: Those who are known as the “churches of the Reformation”. Those groups, specifically those led by Martin Luther and others, did not believe in the millennial reign either:
Luther and Melanchthon, Zwingli and Bullinger, and Calvin and Beza repudiated the millenarian doctrine (Cogley, Richard W. The fall of the Ottoman Empire and the restoration of Israel in the “Judeo-centric” strand of Puritan millenarianism. Church History. June 1, 2003. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3064883/The-fall-of-the-Ottoman.html viewed 12/24/07).
By being clearly opposed to the millennium, Joseph Ratzinger could make his church more appealing to them. This becomes clear when one reads what Archbishop Kurt Koch stated last month in an interview about why he was elevated to be the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Here are his words:
The Holy Father has done much. In the first homily after his election he said openly that ecumenism is a challenge that comes from Jesus Christ and that, at this time dialogue finds good foundations in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.
In pastoral journeys he has always dedicated a part to ecumenism. Let us consider for example the trip to England, which will take place in September. It won’t be easy because the Anglicans’ situation isn’t easy. It’s said that Benedict XVI wishes especially to foster ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox. For me it is impressive.
The Holy Father has asked me to do this work and an element that he has stressed much is that he wants a bishop who knows the churches of the Reformation not only in books but by personal experience. This tells us how close the Holy Father is to the churches of the Reformation. (Why a Swiss Bishop for the Unity Council. Zenit, July 13, 2010)
One of the reasons that this is interesting is that the Pontiff has indicated in the past that the groups outside of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox are not “churches” in the technical sense (Vatican hits ‘wounded’ Christian churches. Australian Broadcasting Corporation for Reuters – July 10, 2007). Yet, now he wants Archbishop Koch to work more with “churches of the Reformation” as well as the Eastern Orthodox.
When my wife and I were at the offices of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in May of 2008, we were told by Patriarch Bartholomew I’s representative that when Pope Benedict XVI visited there (November 2006) that his people told Patriarch Bartholomew I that the Church of Rome would compromise on all doctrinal differences (including the filioque clause of the current Catholic creed) as long as the Eastern Orthodox would accept papal authority, or at least greater primacy. And since that time, the Vatican and the Orthodox have had many meetings studying how to bring that about.
Interestingly, on October 15, 2009, the Vatican’s then top ecumenical official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, reported:
The official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant Churches — Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and Methodist — is entering a new phase, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardinal Walter Kasper pointed this out Thursday during a press conference at the Vatican…(Cardinal Kasper on 40 Years of Dialogue Says Catholic-Protestant Relations Entering New Phase. Zenit, October 16, 2009)
Notice this was called “a new phase” in the official dialogue, suggesting that major changes were occurring. On the next day, the Vatican and the Orthodox began a new round of ecumenical negotiations.
The eleventh meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church took place in Paphos, Cyprus, a city with a rich history, having received three Apostles, Paul, Barnabas and Mark. The meeting took place from 16-23 October 2009…The Orthodox meeting discussed among other things the negative reactions to the Dialogue by certain Orthodox circles, and unanimously considered them as totally unfounded and unacceptable, providing false and misleading information. (Comminique. JOINT INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH. 11TH PLENARY SESSION.Paphos, Cyprus, 16-23 October 2009. Paphos, Cyprus, 22 October 2009. http://www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=en&id=1124&tla=en).
The International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has progressed in its reflection on the role of the bishop of Rome. The meeting was attended by 20 Catholic members; all Orthodox Churches were represented, with the exception of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria. The commission worked under the guidance of two co-presidents: the Catholic representative was Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; and the Orthodox representative was Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas of Pergamum. (Orthodox-Catholic Commission Studies Primacy of Peter Concludes 11th Plenary Session in Paphos. Zenit, October 23, 2009)
Then on October 21, 2009, it was announced that the Vatican would amend its constitution to accept the Anglicans who would agree as full members in the Church of Rome. That they could continue to keep their same rituals, their same buildings, and their same priests. And that those priests could remain married, though at first this was an issue (The Vatican, the Anglicans, and the Celibacy Issue). This was a major compromise and specifically went against at least the intent of the pronouncement of Pope Leo XIII. Pope Leo XIII declared in 1896,
“ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void” (Pope Leo XIII: On the Nullity of Anglican Orders, Apostolicae Curae, 1896. Modern History Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1896leo13-apost.html)
This means for the Vatican to now accept those baptized, etc. by Anglican priests as Roman Catholic shows that compromise has occurred.
Thus, under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI, the Church of Rome is trying to bring other groups into the fold of the Vatican with compromise. But this will involve even more compromise on Rome’s part.
It should be noted that the plan of the Eastern Orthodox has been to get Rome to compromise. An Orthodox document known as the Anonymou Prophecy of 1053 refers to this as the “Deferring of the Latins to the error-free faith of the Orthodox.” Unity has long been both a Vatican and Eastern Orthodox goal. However until recently, it seemed more of a longing than something anyone would try to resolve. But now, that is changing. So much so, that Patriarch Bartholomew stated in an encyclical in February 2010 that those who opposed the ecumenical discussions were fanatical (Bartholomew I Patriarch of Constantinople Opposes Those Who Warn Against Catholic Unity). He also stated:
“union between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches…is not decided by theological commissions but by Church Synods” (Bartholomew I. Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Prot. No. 213, February 21, 2010. http://www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=en&id=1168&tla=en).
Essentially, the Eastern Orthodox believe that an eighth ecumenical council/synod will be held (the Eastern Orthodox recognize 7 prior councils, only, as “ecumenical” and refer to themselves as “the church of the seven councils”). Part of this is based upon two “private prophecies”, one Eastern and the other Roman Catholic:
Saint Nelios the Myrrh-Gusher (died 1592): During that time the Eighth and last Ecumenical Synod will take place, which will satisfy the contentions of the heretics…(Tzima Otto, Great Monarch and WWIII, p. 111)
Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (Born in the 17th century, in Germany): There will be an ecumenical council which will be the greatest of all councils. By the grace of God, by the power of the Great Monarch, and by the authority of the Holy Pontiff, and by the union of the most devout princes, atheism and every heresy will be banished from the earth. The Council will…be believed and accepted by everyone (Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, p. 40).
Would not a council that satisfies “the contentions of the heretics” and is “accepted by everyone” be a council that has greatly compromised?
Getting his church willing to compromise from biblical doctrine in order to compromise with the ecumenical movement has apparently been Joseph Ratzinger’s plan. This has apparently been a plan for decades. And his plan apparently includes provisions to condemn those who accept the biblical doctrines as followers of doctrines of Antichrist. But since Jesus supported (Luke 4:4), and did not oppose, scripture, supporting the teachings of scripture would be something that Jesus and His followers (and not Antichrist and his followers) would do.
The Pope really needs to rethink his plan if he wishes to be faithful.
If you are Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, realize that you should not compromise biblical doctrine for the sake of ecumenical unity. All should heed what the Apostle Jude wrote:
…contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3, Douay-Rheims)
This means accepting the original faith of the apostles and not deviating from scripture. A major ecumenical movement is underway and Pope Benedict XVI has been working towards it. It cannot succeed without compromise and should not succeed with compromise from scripture.
This is dangerous and is warned against by biblical and even certain Catholic prophecies.
Those who wish to learn why this is dangerous may wish to read the following articles:
Why Should American Catholics Should Fear Unity with the Orthodox? Are the current ecumenical meetings a good thing or will they result in disaster?
Orthodox Must Reject Unity with the Roman Catholics The talks for unification involve compromise and the apparent rising up of a changed religion that no one should accept.
Sola Scriptura or Prima Luther? What Did Martin Luther Really Believe About the Bible? Though he is known for his public sola Scriptura teaching, did Martin Luther’s writings about the Bible suggest he felt that prima Luther was his ultimate authority? Statements from him changing and/or discounting 18 books of the Bible are included. Do you really want to know the truth?
John Calvin, Calvinism, TULIP, and What is Predestination? Who was John Calvin? Did he believe in sola Scriptura or did he hold to unbiblical doctines? TULIP analyzed.
Catholic Prophecies: Do They Mirror, Highlight, or Contradict Biblical Prophecies? People of all faiths may be surprised to see what various Roman and Orthodox Catholic prophets have been predicting as many of their predictions will be looked to in the 21st century.
