Grace and peace, saints.

Today I watched the live streaming of Pope Francis, the False Prophet of Revelation 13, paying homage to the statue of the Immaculate Conception in Rome. As usual, the pontiff was thronged by Roman faithful crying “Papa!” and people vying to touch him or give him something.

As I watched the proceedings, three things stood out for me. The first thing was the same thing that always stands out for me when I watch the Pope interact with his votaries: the absolute lack of love and compassion in the man. Sure, he smiles; and yes, he does shake hands, kiss babies, and bless people. But you can never see any genuine feeling on Pope Francis’ face as he interacts with those people who throng to see him–especially the sick and disabled. The only thing more noticeable than that is the fact that no one seems to notice.

The second thing that stood out for me was that in watching the people adoring, idolizing, and fawning over this man, it was painfully obvious that were Jesus to show up at the same venue as the Pope, Roman Catholics would probably give the Pope a lot more attention than they would our Savior. You may argue this, but the Lord Jesus Himself said that a man cannot serve two masters, as he will love one and hate the other. If they love the Pope this much, what could they possibly feel for the Genuine Article?

The third and most important thing that stood out for me was the fact that there were sick and physically and mentally disabled people lining the street at the front of the crowd, obviously placed there intentionally in order that the Pope would be able to see, touch, and speak to any or all of them without obstruction.  This is probably done every time the Pope speaks, because I have seen this done before. As I watched this, I couldn’t help but contemplate the fact that the Pope of Rome claims to be the Vicar, or Substitute for Jesus Christ, yet he healed not one of those disabled people waiting to see him. Some of them spoke something in his ear, but rather then answer, he just flashed a placating smile and walked away. I wondered if any of them asked the Pope to heal them, but I will never get the answer to that one.

When Jesus walked this earth, He healed everyone who asked Him for healing, bar none. And they asked Him all the time. Yet, the man who claims to be Christ’s Vicar on earth has publicly healed no one to date. Why is this?

As I considered this, it occurred to me that this may be the reason that Pope Francis will perform “wonders” in the not-too-distant future. If you think about it, most everyone on earth regardless of their religion believes that Pope Francis is really God on earth even though the man has never performed any miracles to prove this outlandish claim. When Jesus walked the earth, the people required of Him a sign–a miracle to prove that He was really the Son of God. Pope Francis claims to be the Substitute for Jesus Christ and to even hold the keys of heaven, but not one person to my knowledge has ever asked him to perform any miracles to back up that claim. Why?

Now, if most everyone already believes the Pope is God without one shred of proof, then there should be no need for him to do anything extraordinary to prove himself. But the Bible says the False Prophet will, in fact, perform many miracles, including making fire come down from heaven. Why perform miracles if everyone already believes you are God? The answer is obviously because everyone doesn’t believe Pope Francis is God. Bible-believing Protestant Christians certainly don’t believe this, and it is for this reason persecution is on the near horizon for the body of Christ. The miracles, therefore will not be for the sake of the Roman faithful, but for those who doubt, possibly as a result of our witness. 

Pope Francis will perform miracles in order to counter the claims of true Christians that he really is The False Prophet and not God on earth. It will also be his final effort to deceive those Christians who are undecided about joining his One World Church: those “Christians” whose names are not written in the Book. And it will work marvelously.

Just something to think about. Good day!

TSM