The Man of Sin (2Thessalonians 2:1-10)

¹ Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, ² That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. ³ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ⁴ Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ⁵ Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ⁶ And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. ⁸ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: ⁹ Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, ¹⁰ And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2Thessalonians 2:1-10)

The Day of the Lord is not at hand, until there be a falling away, first (2Thess 2:2-3)

Who is the son of perdition (SOP) of Verse 3 (apōleia – G684 – damnation, destruction, perish, waste)?  Judas is the only other person called a son of perdition (John 17:12), so a betrayal of Christ appears to be a prerequisite.  A stated perquisite is that he will portray himself as the God (Verse 4).

Paul spoke to them about this SOP and what it was that is (was) holding him back from fully magnifying himself.

“the mystery of iniquity doth already work” (2Thes 2:7).  The SOP is a product of the mystery (mystērion – G3466 – a mystery or secret doctrine) of iniquity (anomia – G458 – lawlessness, transgression, unrighteousness) – i.e., a secret doctrine of lawlessness that existed at the time of Paul.

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1John 4:3)

Christ will consume this revealed SOP who will dazzle the faithful (the falling away is a mass abandonment of the Truth) with power, signs and amazing feats that Satan will allow it to manifest.  Mankind will be deceived into accepting a form of gospel that is based on man’s (Satan’s) doctrine and criteria (ye shall be as gods – Genesis 3:5).

What power existed at the time that could have kept the SOP from its full manifestation?  Obviously, the Father could, but His Spirit could not “be taken out of the way,” so it must have been a different power.  The Catholics claim it is the Roman Catholic Church that is holding back the SOP, but it did not exist in the time of Paul.

The power must have been the Empire of Rome, the fourth beast of Daniel 2.  Roman Emperors regularly proclaimed themselves to be gods and demanded worship, but the people were never deceived.  A different system was needed to deceive all the masses into worshipping the SOP instead of Yahweh.  Once the Roman empire (and its subsequent ten kingdoms of clay – Daniel 2:41-43) was taken away, the SOP could begin to openly manifest himself and accumulate power.

Daniel 7:7-8 revisits the fourth beast.  This time it had iron teeth and ten horns (horns are prophetic representations for kingdoms).  A subsequent “little horn” grew out of the ten.  This “little horn” kingdom must be a realm that the antichrist will flourish in.

Attributes of the Little Horn:

1. Arises out of the fourth beast (Rome)
2. Arises amongst the ten horns (“I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn” – Daniel 7:8 // “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:” – Daniel 7:24).  The ten kingdoms following the Western Roman Empire.
3. Arises after the ten horns (“and another shall rise after them” – Daniel 7:24)
4. Different from the other horns (“and he shall be diverse from the first – Daniel 7:24)
5. Greater than the other horns (“whose look was more stout [rab – H7229 -captain, chief, great, lord, master, stout] than his fellows” – Daniel 7:20)
6. Uproots three kingdoms (“before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots” – Daniel 7:8  //  “before whom three fell” – Daniel 7:20)
7. Has eyes like a man and speaks great words against the most High (Daniel 7:25  //  “in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things” – Daniel 7:8)
8. Makes war against the saints (Daniel 7:21  //  “and shall wear out [bela – H1080 – to afflict; wear out] the saints of the most High” – Daniel 7:25)
9. Will change times and laws (Daniel 7:25)
10.   It will rule for three and one-half years (“and they shall be given into his hand until a time [one year] and times [two years] and the dividing of time [six months])
11.   Shall devour the whole earth (“and shall devour [akal – H399 – accuse, devour, eat] the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces” – Daniel 7:23)
12.   Exists until the Day of the Lord (“Until the Ancient of days came” – Daniel 7:22  // because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame” – Daniel 7:11)
13.   Dominion until the Day of the Lord (“they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end” – Daniel 7:26)

Before I continue, it appears obvious that the Word is condemning the Roman Catholic Church, not Catholics.  They will be judged individually based on their faith and their actions (like all the rest of us).

What happened when the Roman Empire fell?  In 476, the Germanic barbarian king Odoacer deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire in Italy, Romulus Augustulus, and the Senate sent the imperial insignia to the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno.  Ten barbaric (non-Roman) tribes established kingdoms in Rome’s former empire.

The ten Kingdoms:  The Alemanni (Southern Germany); the Burgundi’s (Eastern France), the Franks (Germany), the Herulis (Albania & Greece), the Lombards (Italy), the Ostrogoths (Switzerland & Bulgaria), the Saxons (England), the Suevi (Portugal), the Vandals (Northern Africa), and the Visigoths (Spain & Western France).

By the beginning of the fifth century, Roman government began to break down. The Germanic ‘barbarians’ who arose to form independent kingdoms on the ruins of the empire were generally the very soldiers who had been hired by the Roman government to guard the borders.   Catholic.heritage-history.com

The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire tried, several times, to reclaim the lost territories of the former Roman Empire.  The greatest success was by Justinian I, Emperor (527-565AD).  He not only sought unity of the various European and African nations (achieving modest success) but he also sought unity within the church, suppressing heretics and declaring that the bishop of Rome was supreme over church and the empire itself in 538AD.

How does the Roman Catholic church match these thirteen attributes?  These are speculative, of course, but they make the most sense to me (and countless others).  I would be interested if you have a different list.

Attribute 1:  All these “new” kingdoms had Roman cultural heritage in common (including Roman Catholicism thanks to Emperor Constantine in 312AD). 

Attribute 2:  Pope Gregory I (590-604AD) was instrumental in aligning the religious affairs and worship of these barbaric kingdoms under the banner of the Vatican.

Attribute 3:  All these kingdoms existed as nomadic tribes that were dominated by Rome and were also a constant thorn on Rome’s side.  As Rome’s power declined, these tribes proved ever harder to control – several even sacked Rome before being driven off.

Attributes 4 & 5:

We also define that the holy apostolic see, and the Roman pontiff, holds the primacy over the whole world.  Ecumenical Council of Florence (1439AD).  Reaffirmed during Vatican Council I (1870AD)

Under the Roman Empire the popes had no temporal powers. But when the Roman Empire had disintegrated and its place had been taken by a number of rude, barbarous kingdoms, the Roman Catholic church not only became independent of the states in religious affairs but dominated secular affairs as well. At times, under such rulers as Charlemagne (768-814), Otto the Great (936-73), and Henry III (1039-56), the civil power controlled the church to some extent; but in general, under the weak political system of feudalism, the well-organized, unified, and centralized church, with the pope at its head, was not only independent in ecclesiastical affairs but also controlled civil affairs. The Papacy and World Affairs, Carl Eckhardt (1937)

Attribute 6:  The Heruli, the Ostrogoths, and the Vandals were decimated by Justinian I and the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) empire.

Attribute 7: 

Seek where you will, throughout heaven and earth, and you will find but one created being who can forgive the sinner, who can free him from the chains of sin and hell; and that extraordinary being is the priest, the Catholic priest. (The Catholic Priest, Michael Müller, 1872)

With regard to the mystic body of Christ, that is, all the faithful, the priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, of making them worthy of paradise, and of changing them from the slaves of Satan into the children of God. And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priests, and either not to pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse or give absolution, provided the penitent is capable of it. (Dignity And Duties Of The Priest; Saint Alphonsus De Liguori, 1888)

Attribute 8: 

Wherefore if forgers of money and other evil-doers are forthwith condemned to death by the secular authority, much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death. (Summa Theologica, St Thomas Aquinas, 1274AD)

The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty . . . she believes and professes that “faith is a work of persuasion, not of force . . . nevertheless when confronted by heresy she does not content herself with persuasion; arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient and she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture. (The Catholic Church: The Renaissance and Protestantism; Professor Alfred Baudrillart, 1907)

Attribute 9: 

The pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things even the precepts of Christ. (The Roman Decretalia De Translat. Episcop. Cap.)

The pope has authority, and has often excercised it, to dispense with the commands of Christ, respecting war, marriage, divorce, revenge, swearing, usury, perjury, and uncleanness. (Pope Nicholas, Caus. 15, Quest.6.)

Peter and his successors have power to impose laws both preceptive and prohibitive, power likewise to grant dispensation from these laws, and, when needful, to annul them. It is theirs to judge offences against the laws, to impose and to remit penalties. This judicial authority will even include the power to pardon sin. Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Church, The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day [the Sabbath] from Saturday to Sunday. (Catholic Mirror – the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, September 23, 1893)

Sunday is founded, not of scripture, but on tradition, and is distinctly a Catholic tradition. As there is no scripture for the transfer of the day of rest from the last to the first day of the week, Protestants ought to keep their Sabbath on Saturday and thus leave Catholics in full possession of Sunday. (Catholic Record, September 17, 1893)

The Catholic Church change the prescribed holiday of Passover (Leviticus 23:5-8) to Good Friday; the prescribed holiday of First Fruits (Leviticus 23:10-12) to Easter (named for the goddess Ishtar and using pagan rites to celebrate it); the prescribed holiday of Pentecost (fiftieth, Leviticus 23:15-22), fifty days from Passover, to their version of Pentecost, which is forty-nine days after Easter.  The Church has done away with the prescribed days of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:23-25); Atonement (Leviticus 23:26-32); and Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-43).  A more in depth exposition of the holidays is included at Chapter 4 of my book, GRAFTED: Embracing Torah. (shameless plug)

Attribute 10:  The popes were given supreme authority (religious and temporal) by Justinian after he successfully defeated the Ostrogoths in Central Italy in 538AD.  Prophetic days are often counted as years (Ezekiel 4:6).  Three and a half years (a time [one year] and times [two years] and the dividing of time [six months]) is 42 months or 1260 days.  538AD plus 1260 years equals 1798AD, the year Napoleon conquered Italy and deposed the supremacy of the papacy.  Napoleon emphasized this in 1804 when he crowned himself as Emperor with Pope Pius VII in attendance (until this time, the church had coronated the kings of the Holy Roman Empire).

Papal authority was reinstated in 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, after Napoleon was exiled.  “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death [1798]; and his deadly wound was healed [1814]” (Revelation 13:3).

Revelation 13 is a restating of the prophecy in Daniel 2.  It appears John was given the same vision, thus establishing it to be true and unequivocal.

¹ And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. ² And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. ³ And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. ⁴ And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? ⁵ And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. ⁶ And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. ⁷ And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. ⁸ And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. ⁹ If any man have an ear, let him hear. (Revelation 13:1-9)

Attributes 11-13 appear to be a future manifestations of the SOP.

The SOP appears to be a system, not a person – but that system is headed by a man.

As a bit of a back-story, I once attended seminary to be a Catholic priest.  I was dissatisfied with the training and often questioned why Catholic tradition was counter to the scriptures.  I was finally asked to leave, being told I was “too orthodox”.  I am thankful they expelled me.

I implore you to read the scriptures for yourself and test them (1Thessolonians 5:21) to see if your church measures up – “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

The Father wants us to know His Word, that is why He had men write it down.  It may seem difficult at first, but there is great joy in working and understanding what He has written to us.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Timothy 2:15)