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Will the Next Pope Be the Last?

One of our greatest fears about writing for the "Nearing Midnight" page is that some breaking news events will invalidate or trump the articles we have prepared each Monday. Last week, the news of Pope Benedict XVI's decision to step down was one such event. Terry quickly wrote a flash update for this page. I decided against doing a full article because NM is designed to be a more thought-out news update. We have Rapture Ready News for daily news events.

The retirement announcement generated a huge amount of interest in the prophetic community. The traffic to the site instantly doubled, with over 50,000 unique individuals logging in to our server. What brought people to the site was a prediction by Saint Malachy that says the next pope will be the last one.

This prophecy is not related to the book of Malachi in the Bible. It was given by an Irish saint and archbishop of Armagh. He had a vision of the next 112 popes, producing an apocalyptic list that gave a brief description of each pope.

The "Prophecy of the Popes" is claimed to have been written in 1139 A.D. The manuscript was deposited in the Roman archives, and was forgotten until 1590. It wasn't published until 1595. Without any way to verify the Malachy prophecy, the validity of the first seventy-four predictions is in much doubt.

Our friend Tom Horn has a book about the subject, and even he has determined that the earlier predictions were probably altered in the late sixteenth century.

“It appears that somebody had altered the original medieval document from 1590 backward to promote a particular cardinal to the College of Cardinals to be the fulfillment of what at that time was still a secret list of popes,” Horn explained.

The prophecies that can be proven to be written before the popes took office have their own problem to ponder. The predictions are very brief, with most only being less than three words in Latin. Many are also very general in nature. Here are four examples: "Lover of the cross," "From a great river," "Lofty column," and "Religious man." They could be applied to any pontiff.

There were a few cases where Malachy hit the bull's eye. The one for Innocent XII described him as a "Rake in the door." His full name was Antonio Pignatelli del Rastrello. "Rastrello" in Italian means "rake." Pope John Paul II was given the prophecy, "From the labor of the sun." Writers see a fulfillment in that he was born (18 May 1920) on the day of a solar eclipse and entombed (Friday 8 April 2005) on the day of another eclipse.

For the last pope, Saint Malachy broke from his pattern of brevity and offer more length description:

“In extreme persecution the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman…Who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible or fearsome judge will judge his people. The End.”

Theorists have already, due to the nature of their names, placed heavy odds on Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Bertone (Italy) and Peter Turkson (Ghana). Some have speculated that the next pope may take on the name Peter, but since it would invite "extreme persecution" and the obvious destruction of Rome, any knowledge of the prophecy would certainly cause him to avoid the name.

Pope Benedict XVI's resignation has caused the Rapture Index to surge to a new record high. This is the third time in a year that the index has set a record. I think the driving force behind this surge of prophecy-related events is our nearness to the end times.

The real reason to watch the next pope is to see how he may fit the role of the False Prophet. The head of the Catholic Church has almost no competition for the job. He is the one the liberal media turns to for religious commentary. He has name recognition that spans the globe. I doubt that even 10 percent of Protestants could name the head of their religious order.

Right now, the vote for the new pope is scheduled for the 15th of March. Since it is very likely that the new guy will be in office for at least a decade, we may soon see a key Tribulation player step onto the world stage.

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (Revelation 13:11-14).

--Todd


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Roman Road of Prophecy

Many who are Christians are at least somewhat familiar with one particular scriptural formula for coming to Christ in becoming a believer. It is known as The Roman Road to Salvation.

It has often been used for many years to show those who haven’t heard the reason salvation is needed, and how it is obtained. The following is that scriptural road map:

Romans 3:10: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one."
Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Romans 5:8: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 10:13: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
These Scriptures mean that none of us are worthy, nor can we earn the right to go to Heaven when we die. But Jesus loved us so much that He died for us to pay the price for our sin so that we can be with Him forever. All we have to do is ask Jesus to come into our hearts and be our Lord and Savior and follow Him.

In similar fashion--but, perhaps somewhat more circuitously--I believe there is a Roman road of prophecy that can help the student of Bible prophecy receive understanding of things involved with some recent developments.

With the announcement on Monday, February 11, by Pope Benedict XVI that he is resigning as pope effective February 28, has come considerable concern and curiosity about what it might mean, prophetically. Most who email me, of course, are vitally interested in Bible prophecy. They know, to one degree or another, about the supposition that the next pope will be the last pontiff.

This prediction comes from the twelfth-century Irish Catholic bishop, St. Malachy, who was said to have had a vision in the year 1139, in which he received foreknowledge of the 112 popes that would reign in the line of papal succession from that point until the final pope. Although some aspects of the names of the popes from that time until now have been somewhat nebulous in terms of accuracy, they have in many cases been considered to be close enough to the “prophesied” names to validate St. Malachy’s prognostications. The last forty-five popes, I’m told the research shows, have been almost precise in their accuracy.

So, we await the installation of the next pope to see if the Malachy “vision” that the last pope is to be Petrus Romanus ("Peter the Roman") will prove to indeed be the case. We shouldn’t have long to wait.

While preparing for being a guest on a nationwide radio program, the program host and I discussed a number of things in our preliminary phone conversations. As part of our talking through the pope and end-times matters before doing the program, we agreed that we couldn’t be absolutely dogmatic about whether Rome was the city about which the prophecies in Revelation chapter 17 foretell. The Vatican, headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, as everyone knows, sits upon the “seven hills of Rome.” Therein resides the almost universal belief among Bible prophecy students that the Catholic Church will be a major player in the last days.

That prophecy about the end-times city that will play a profoundly deleterious role in the consummation of the age states: “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth” (Revelation 17:9).

Although I still maintain that we can’t be absolutely dogmatic that the city referred to is Rome, I remain personally convinced that this is the case. I believe there is a scriptural road map of sorts that we can explore that might present strong evidence that the city given in Revelation 17: 9 is Rome. Therefore, let’s look at what I term "The Roman Road of Prophecy":

Daniel 9: 26-27 and the ties to Rome. The wind-up of this Age of Grace (Church Age) is encapsulated in the prophecy given Daniel (Daniel 9:26-27). The great prophet was told to write that the “prince that shall come” would confirm the covenant (agreement of peace between Israel and its enemies) for seven years. This prince would come out of the people who would destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Jewish Temple). These were the Romans. Regardless of their regional makeup, they were Romans, whose leaders were Emperor Vespasian and his son, General Titus–of Rome. Romans fulfilled part of this end-times prophecy in A.D. 70., beginning earlier, around 33 A.D. with the “cutting off of Messiah” (Daniel 9:26). All of human history, from the confirming of the covenant by this Roman prince (the Beast of Revelation chapter 13) through Christ’s return, would, the Daniel 9: 26-27prophecy indicates, conclude in almost total devastation for planet Earth. This prophetic area of Scripture puts the city of Rome at ground zero for the wind-up of human history.

Luke 2:1-3: Rome holds sway over the world. During the prophesied time of Israel's Messiah being born, Rome was the power center of the then-known world. “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the entire world should be taxed. [And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.] And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem [because he was of the house and lineage of David]; To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child” (Luke 2:1-5). Again, Rome is in the prophetic spotlight while the Savior of the world makes His appearance in the flesh upon a judgment-bound planet. Revelation 17:15-18: Rome represents the focus of God’s judgment at wind-up of the age. God’s Word uses a drunken, debauched prostitute as symbol for the end-times religious system that is located–you guessed it—in Rome, whose tyrant regime had exiled John the apostle and prophet to Patmos. There, John was given the Revelation:

“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the ***** sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the *****, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:15-18).

Can there be much doubt that Rome was the city that reigned over the whole Earth at the time of John’s exile? Bible prophecy tells us in these passages that Rome will be at the center of world rebellion “until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” A corrupt religious system will be prominently ensconced atop the seven mountains.

Make no mistake: With its expansive reach and influence, the doings of the Roman Catholic Church in the coming months are worth watching for the observer of Bible prophecy.

--Terry



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Zechariah 12:3,9:
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.


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