I suppose many of you will not find my epistle loving in the sense that you may have hoped it would be. I want to speak with you all about returning to a primitive and Biblical form of worship free of organized religion. But before I do we need some context. From Mark 2:22 NAS: “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” We have a clear pattern for how the New Testament church met, was ministered to, functioned, gathered, and worshipped during the first century laid down in the Scriptures. It astounds me how many believers who appear to be very zealous in the practice of their beliefs choose to ignore what the Scriptures clearly state.

Let us look at how no one operates without the mark of beast of Big Government attached to Big Organized religion today. Pay close attention to the fact that no one buys or sells in the name of their religious organization without the mark of, you guessed it, the beast.

Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, proof of copyright:

 

 

Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, proof of copyright:

The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches, proof of copyright:

 

Associated Gospel Churches, proof of copyright:

Why this bugs me, from Revelation 13 NAS Bible:

16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,

17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six *.

What the reformer themselves thought on the matter:

From the Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 18/1 (Spring 2007): 81–100. Article copyright © 2007 by Dennis Pettibone.

Martin Luther’s Views on the Antichrist

Dennis Pettibone

Southern Adventist University

“In the warm ecumenical afterglow of Vatican II, Martin Luther’s identification of the papacy as the Antichrist of Bible prophecy is often seen as narrow-minded, bigoted, and even unchristian. His view, which until recently was shared by a broad spectrum of conservative Evangelical Protestants, is now seen as an embarrassment by some members of churches that retain this interpretation. It is no longer socially acceptable to describe the papacy as the fulfillment of a collection of prophecies regarding a powerful spiritual tyranny.

Even the United States Congress has put itself on record regarding this issue. In 2000 Congress passed a joint resolution condemning Bob Jones University for promoting this belief. The politicians who passed that resolution were probably unaware that they were undermining the historical foundations of Protestantism, but this is the logical inference one can make from this significant observation by Professor Phillip Cary of Eastern University: “The Reformation wouldn’t have happened without the conviction that the pope was Antichrist.”

Since this conviction is one that most contemporary Protestants have discarded, Cary—who describes himself as an “ecumenical minded Protestant” — challenges his fellow Protestants: “If the pope isn’t the Antichrist, what right do you have to be split?” If Protestantism owes its very existence to Luther’s conviction that the papacy was the Antichrist, it might be instructive to inquire why Luther held this view and under what circumstances he came to this conclusion. We will see that he came to this view slowly and reluctantly, driven by historical circumstances and theological reflection. We will also briefly note the comparable views of other Protestant Reformers and their predecessors. Looking at the idea that the papacy is the Antichrist of prophecy in its historical context might give us a rational basis for evaluating it. We will focus primarily on Luther because it was his views on the subject that triggered the Protestant Reformation. However, we should note that Luther was far from the first person to hold this view. Luther himself credited John Huss with being the first to call the pope an Antichrist. Huss did indeed consider the Pope to be the Antichrist, but he was not the first to do so, nor was his mentor, John Wycliffe, although Wycliffe and at least some of his Lolland followers, including Sir John Oldcastle, held this belief. This idea also circulated among the Waldensians, the Albigensians, and the Fraticelli, a group of Franciscans with more regard for the rule of St. Francis than for papal authority. But even earlier than that, back in 991, Bishop Arnulf of Orleans, describing papal murder, lust, and intrigue, asked, “Are there any bold enough to maintain that the priests of the Lord over all the world are to take their law from monsters of guilt like these . . .?” When a person so deficient in virtue sits on the papal throne, Arnulf suggested that he must “be the ‘Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself as God.’” Martin Luther was probably unaware of the previous attacks on the papacy when, in 1517, he drafted his 95 Theses. If he had been, he would have been unsympathetic. At the time he regarded John Huss as a heretic. His target was not the papacy; it was a greedy Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel who was distorting Catholic doctrine by exaggerating the benefits of indulgences. Luther had no intention of splitting the church: he was only trying to protect his parishioners.” - end of quote

Well, there’s the trouble you see. The reformers knew that the Roman Church was based upon the rule of a false Bishop in Rome who claimed to be able to absolve sin, have the power over heaven, earth, and hell to bind and loose (hence the Pope’s three-tiered helmet) and uses of keys representing this as one of his symbols. From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_regalia_and_insignia#:~:text=The%20keys%20are%20gold%20and%20silver%20to%20represent,%22governor%20of%20the%20world%22%20and%20%22Vicar%20of%20Christ%22

“The crossed keys symbolise the keys of Simon Peter. The keys are gold and silver to represent the power of loosing and binding. The triple crown (the tiara) symbolizes the triple power of the Pope as "father of kings", "governor of the world" and "Vicar of Christ". Pictured above is the seal of the Vatican City The gold cross on a monde (globe) surmounting the tiara symbolizes the sovereignty of Jesus.” 

The Anti-Christ of the Bible did not mean the “against Christ” as many modern Christians have come to assume but rather “the in the place of Christ” where the Pope took the place of Christ to an apostate church.

Furthermore, even though the reformers knew that the Pope represented the office of the Anti-Christ they attempted to rework the fallen church by putting new wine into an old wineskin. Brethren our righteous ancestors did not go near far enough in returning to the pattern laid down in the New Testament which defines the nature of Christ’s body here on earth. If we are to glorify Christ, we are commissioned to recover it. For it is that glorification that will usher in His return.

The Body of Christ is an organism, not an organization. Reworked Roman Catholicism with the remnants of its Papal excesses, worship of images and relics, superstition, and mummery only blind believers to the unvarnished Truth of Christ which can only be manifested in a gathering unencumbered by the remnants of the old religion. The very religion which bastardized primitive Christian gatherings to create an organized corporatized big government sanctioned religion where no man bought or sold without the image of the beast of state control and licensing. That beloved is the diametric opposite of Godly!