This phrase occurs three times only in the Word of God, and all of them in the Book of Revelation-16 : 13, 19 : 20, and 20 : 10. On the whole, there is general agreement that the “False Prophet” refers to the Papacy. Some have thought that it refers to Mohammed, but in the opinion of the writer the weight of evidence is easily on the side of the Papacy. In this article, therefore, we assume that this is the case.
In the book of Revelation, the Papacy is the subject of three major symbols—”The Image of the Beast” (13 : 14), “The Great Harlot” (17 : 1), and “The False Prophet.”
Historically the first phase occupies by far the greater length of time. It begins when Constantine moved his government from Rome to Constantinople, during the fourth century. This gave the Pope a chance he was not slow to seize. With his assumption of spiritual supremacy came the growth of temporal power, slowly at first, but at an ever-increasing rate, until finally the Pope wielded more power than the Emperor.
Until the formation of the Holy Roman Empire in A.D. 800, the Papacy was represented by “The Names of Blasphemy” upon the head of the (Dragon) beast (Rev. 13:1), but the Holy Roman Empire was represented by “another beast coming up out of the earth and it had two horns like a lamb” (Rev. 13 : 11). One of these horns represented the Emperor and the other the Pope—the former to wield civil power and the latter ecclesiastical power; and together representing medieval Christendom’s ideal of the Kingdom of God upon earth, with both King and Priest enthroned!
In Chapter 13, however, this is immediately followed by the suggestion “to make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live.” This obviously refers to the sixth head phase (the Imperial) of the Dragon beast. This symbol requires, therefore, that a power should arise which should exercise spiritual power in such a way that it could be referred to as the “Image” or “Ghost” of the imperial head of the dragon. It is remarkable that the historian refers to the Papacy as “The ghost of the Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the ruins thereof.”
During the Middle Ages, the Pope filled this position exactly! The “thunders of the Vatican” became very real, and two instances will show how real was the power of the Pope. In England, John defied the Pope. In reply, the Pope placed England under an interdict and also excommunicated John. The two combined quickly reduced John to obedience. Under the interdict there could be no full ecclesiastical rites before the church altars of marriages, funerals or “christenings ” and all the usual activities of the church were suspended. This had a colossal effect when we consider the part played by the church in the lives of all classes of society, and we are not surprised that John soon became submissive.
The second case is that of the Emperor Henry IV of Germany. During the winter he sought audience of Pope Gregory VII in the Appenine Mountains at Canossa and the Pope kept him in the snow outside the castle, clad only in the garb of a penitent, until he condescended to see him.1
. We are not surprised that later Henry had his sweet revenge when conditions were somewhat reversed!
Truly the power exercised by the Popes equaled that of the Emperors at its height. There was also a great similarity in their lives! Corruption, vice, avarice, immorality with all that wealth and power could give to the gratification of any and every passion, no matter how debased, were generally found alike in the lives of the Popes and the Emperors. All through the Middle Ages this power was ruthlessly exercised until all opposition was crushed and the “Protestant” parties were fitly represented by witnesses slain and remaining unburied for 31 typical days or 105 years in actual fact.
This 105 years was from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, to 1790 when the slain witnesses came to life again. In that year the French Revolution was well under way and, the power of the Image of the Beast was doomed. It was about this time that the vials of the wrath of God began to be poured out. The first major phase now merges into the second.
In Revelation 17 : 1 we read,
“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me saying, Come hither and I will shew thee the judgement of the great whore . . . and I saw a woman sit on a scarlet coloured beast . . . “
We are justified in thinking the judgement referred to has to take place in the days of the vial angels, seeing it was one of these angels who introduced the matter to John. But note, the judgement had not to be upon the Image of the Beast, for that phase was now past; the judgement is to be upon a system in the form of a dissolute woman dominating the dragon, with the emphasis now upon the spiritual rather than the civil aspect. In v.16 we read,
“. . . the ten horns shall hate the whore, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire”.
Have the events of the 19th and 20th centuries provided any fulfilment of this gruesome prophecy? Very definitely. The process commenced with the French Revolution, when France, “the eldest son of the church”, revolted against the Catholic power. Religion was entirely overthrown, and at the worst period a Goddess of Reason was set up, and a ten day week instituted. In 1870 the Pope lost his temporal power and he became a voluntary prisoner in the Vatican. Until 1928 no Pope, after assuming office, ever left the Vatican grounds. Incidentally the confinement was neither as arduous or as irksome as some suppose! The Vatican, with its 11,000 rooms, is quite a large place and the Vatican City gives plenty of room in which to take exercise! In 1928 a measure of temporal power was restored and the Papacy could say “I sit as a queen and am no widow!” (and then began the “day” of her visitation!).
When the Civil War in Spain began it soon became evident what treatment the Roman Church could expect. In this country, where God’s people the Jews had been barbarously treated, and where rivers had run red with the blood from the Inquisition, the cruelties inflicted by the church now retributively were returned upon her own head. Churches were burned with fire, after having all their wealth stripped from them (leaving them “naked and bare.”). Then came the Second World War. To help the war effort Hitler seized all he could, this seizure often being at the expense of the church. Her wealth was taken from her and her “flesh was burned with fire.” Incidentally this was the punishment for harlotry under the Law of Moses.
This brings us to the final phase, “The False Prophet.” We have previously seen that the ” Frog-like Spirit ” is the attempt at world dominion, and we see from Revelation 16 : 16 that it is the Frog-like spirits which are instrumental in gathering the nations to Armageddon (see R.V. margin “they”). We do not think that any of our readers are in ignorance of the stupendous efforts which the Papacy is making to achieve world dominion. In England the growth in numbers of Roman Catholics is stupendous and new churches and schools are springing up everywhere, in very marked contrast to those of the Protestant persuasions whose churches are often being closed.
Revelation 19:20, however, requires that the Beast and the False Prophet are cast together into the Lake of Fire, so presumably they have been associated together prior to this event. Seeing further that the “Beast” is the Earth Beast, i.e. the Revived Holy Roman Empire, it is the natural thing for the Pope and the “Emperor” (whatever name or form this office of authority may take) thus to be associated. Both Psalm 2 and Revelation 17 require that when they are fulfilled the Lord is in the earth again, and it would appear that it is in revolt against his demands for recognition as World Emperor that “Armageddon” develops.
The first two phases of the Papacy are past. Things are rapidly moving to the manifestation of the third one. We hear much in these days of Russian intrigue and the like, but let us make no mistake; anything of that nature is practiced far more thoroughly and efficiently by the servants of the Papacy. It is, however, comforting to know that when they do “make war on the Lamb,” “the Lamb will overcome them,” and not only so, he will also destroy this system with the brightness of his coming and consume it with the spirit of his mouth.
This harlot mother is also the mother of harlots, who all believe in some measure her pernicious heresies. When Jesus therefore exhorts—nay, rather commands—”Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her plagues” it is an injunction which we disregard at our peril. Jesus means just what he says, and we can think of nothing worse than being associated with the destruction of that impure woman and her equally impure progeny. On the other hand there can be nothing more satisfying than to be an integral part of that which is the very reverse, even “a chaste virgin” and not only to attend, but to be incorporated into “the marriage of the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, for “his bride hath made herself ready.
- This incident was a victory for the Emperor and not the Pope. A quarrel over the investiture of bishops in Germany had broken out between Hildebrand, Pope Gregory vii, the “Napoleon of the Papacy” and Henry iv, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. At the Council of Worms in 1076, Henry denounced the Pope and declared him deposed; but with far greater support, Gregory immediately replied at the Vatican Synod by excommunicating and deposing Henry. With formidable military allies, the Pope further planned a full-scale invasion of Henry’s dominions for the following summer, in order to elect a new and more subservient Emperor.
It is erroneous to suppose the Pope summoned Henry to appear before him, for this was the last thing Gregory really wanted. Henry however, by subtle counter-stroke, outwitted the Pope by the pretense of “stooping to conquer.” Making a dangerous mountain crossing in the depth of an unusually bitter winter, Henry iv most unexpectedly appeared at the gates of Canossa castle in the Apennines, where Gregory was staying, to crave the Pope’s pardon with a display of counterfeit contrition. Garbed in the thin vesture of a penitent, yet heavily clad with thick woollens underneath, the Emperor stayed in the snow for three days. Gregory was both astounded and outmanoeuvred by this sham humility of the cunning Emperor. Pardon was pronounced and the invasion of Germany called off. Having thus forestalled this threat of Papal aggression, Henry iv later made war on Gregory who was driven into exile where he died. (A. E. J.)
The Solution