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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Antichrists
Wow. Sadly, these sorts of questions are part of American politics. How many Catholics are devotees of the Antichrist?
The labyrinthine doctrine of a theologically conservative Lutheran denomination has wound its way into the Sixth District congressional campaign, a twist that has Republican Michele Bachmann's campaign fuming and DFLer Patty Wetterling's denying any role.
Liberal blogs are abuzz with claims that the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the parent of Bachmann's church, holds that the pope is the antichrist.
"Good grief, that's ridiculous," said Bachmann spokeswoman Connie Slama.
Ridiculous? WELS is pretty clear on its position:
Q: A person claimed that the Lutheran Confessions would not only confess the Papacy to be the Antichrist, but also the Catholics. Is this true: "Ac plane notae Antichristi competunt in regnum Papae et sua membra." De Potestate et Primatu Papae (No. 39)
A: The Confessions do not label all members of the Roman Catholic Church as "The Antichrist." I am convinced that would be taking the Latin Quotation from "Of the Power and Primacy of the Pope" out of context. Throughout the Confessions, the Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Papacy alone, is labeled as the Antichrist by applying the clear marks by which Scripture says that Antichrist will be identified.
We thank God, that even within the outward kingdom of Antichrist, there will be some (the precise number known only to God) who escape the fate of the Antichrist because they believe the Scripture's teaching about Christ rather than Antichrist's lies. It was just such Christians within "Babylon" that made up much of the Invisible Church in the days before the Reformation.
When our Confessions mention the Papacy's "adherents" (sua membra), it is speaking about those within Roman Catholicism who not only are outward members of that church, but support and promote the lies and deceptions through which Antichrist does his work. Without such people serving the cause of Antichrist, his kingdom would collapse. Such people who support Antichrist's lies will indeed suffer judgment along with Antichrist, yet neither Scripture nor our Confessions call those adherents themselves Antichrist.
So Catholics aren't antichrists, unless they support and promote the Antichrist. Yikes. More blog coverage here.
