The Prophetic Forecast That the Pope "Shall Magnify Himself"—God upon Earth—The Priests as Creators—The End That Will Come
By JEAN VUILLEUMIER
IN the third place, the prophecy says that the horn "shall magnify himself in his heart," magnify himself "even to the Prince of the host," and shall "stand up against the Prince of princes."
In order to apply this language to the papacy, we must find that she has claimed and does claim to be as high as God Himself, thus standing up "against the Prince of princes," our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Has she done that? Let her own words answer the question.
POPE CLAIMED TO BE CHRIST ON EARTH
Monsignor C. Minneo Janni, in his book on the eucharist and the papacy (Paris, Vic and Amat, 1905), says: "Peter is Jesus Christ in the church by his sovereign, supreme, universal, illimited authority."—Chapter 6. "The pope is Jesus Christ, Vice God, our sweet Christ on earth. . . . We kneel at the feet of the pope as before Jesus in the sacrament."—Chapter 11.
Monsignor Fava, bishop of Grenoble, France, writes, "Leo XIII is our Christ."
The bishop of Angouleme wrote to his diocesans on the occasion of the election of Pius X: "All we see in the one elected is the pope; that is to say, Peter; that is to say, the Christ Himself, which means that our heart's desire is to see in him only the supreme receiver of divine power. . . . We say to him, O king, live forever." (Italics ours.)
ON EARTH AS GOD IN HEAVEN
The Paris periodical Les Annales Catholiques makes the following statement: "As vicar of Jesus Christ, the pope is truly upon earth the sign of God. The earth, to honor him, has placed upon his brow the diadem of kings; but God, to honor him more, has placed upon him the reflection of His own attributes. . . . Thou, says God to the pope, . . . art on earth as I am in heaven; I and thou, both immutable, both eternal."
These assumptions, being entirely unknown in the teachings of Christ and His apostles, are therefore confessedly false and self-made, and thus they come fully and squarely under the prophetic arraignment, "It magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host;" and this action, on the part of a man or an angel, is made directly "against the Prince of princes." In any sphere, a rival is the adversary of the one whose legitimate position or office he usurps or desires to usurp. This is why the one who said, "I will make myself like the Most High" (Isa. 14:14), has ever since borne the name "Satan," literally, the adversary.
THE PRIESTS AS CREATORS
According to this rule, not only is the pope an adversary of the Prince of princes, but such also is every priest in the communion of the Church of Rome, and this on account of the phenomenal assumptions made for the priest in the celebration of the eucharist. These claims are made from every Catholic pulpit, are printed in their books of theology, and form a part of the teaching given every seminarist preparing for the priesthood. They were printed in the Montreal Sentinel of the Blessed Sacrament of December, 1912. A rather full statement of this doctrine was published a few years ago in a work printed in Paris under the seal of ecclesiastical authorities, by Abbot Naureze. Here is a literal translation of the statement:
"What is the priest? — He is between God in heaven and man who seeks him on earth, a being God and man, who brings them together and sums them up.
"I am not flattering you by pious hyperbole. . . . This is not a rhetorical falsehood. . . . You are creators, just like Mary in her coöperation in the incarnation. You are creators as God in time. . . . You are creators as God in eternity. Our creation, our daily creation, is nothing less than the Word made flesh Himself.
"God can bring forth new universes. But He cannot do a greater thing under heaven than what is being done in your sacrifice [of the mass]. For in this moment, He places in your hands all that He has and all that He is. . . . I am not a little lower than the cherubim and the seraphim in the government of the world. I am far above them; for they are only servants of God, while we are His assistants [coadjutors]."
ANGELS AFFRIGHTED
"The angels, who see the volume of wealth which each day passes through our hands, are frightened at our prerogatives. I fill three sublime offices with regard to the God of our altars: I bring Him down, I serve Him to the people, I watch over Him. . . . Jesus dwells under your lock and key; His audience hours are opened and closed by you; He does not move without your consent; He does not bless without your coöperation; He does not give but through your hands; and His dependence is so dear to Him, that for eighteen hundred years, He has not escaped from the church to disappear in the glory of His Father."
Any one who has read the Bible, knows that Christ, at His ascension, went up to heaven; that He promised His disciples He would return at the end of the world, to take them to Himself; that He is now sitting at the right hand of the Father, offering in the heavenly temple His precious blood in favor of those who believe; and that in His absence, He has sent "another Comforter," the Holy Spirit, who is to be with us and in us. John 14:3, 16, 17; Acts 1:11; Heb. 8:1; 9:11, 12. This being true, then all the above about the transubstantiation and real presence of Christ on the altars, is sheer falsehood. But in this exaltation of the priest, the falsehood becomes blasphemy.
ABOVE HUMAN CONDITIONS
The abbot continues: "By his office, the Catholic priest is raised above human conditions at an immeasurable height; for at the confessional, he exercises the supreme power, the power that God shall exercise at the final Judgment, the formidable power to retain and to remit sins, to condemn or to absolve; and if he happens to be at the deathbed, the priest has the power to send the impenitent or repentant soul either into the eternity of reward or into the eternity of punishment. . . . Who is the privileged creature on whom the ministration of such a sacrifice has been conferred? Is it the angel? Is it Mary? — No; the angels and Mary shall worship, says Abbot Hubert Lebon; the priest alone shall have the prodigious power to create his Creator." (Italics ours.)
These words seem so awful, that comment or protest becomes superfluous, except to exclaim: How has prophecy been fulfilled! How true are the words of God! How completely has the papacy incarnated the divine photograph taken thousands of years ago, announcing that she should magnify herself "against the Prince of princes"! For not only has she magnified herself in her heart, like the fallen cherub, but she does not hesitate to proclaim such astounding assumptions in the hearing of the multitudes.
PUNISHMENT IS COMING
Dan. 8:25. "But he shall be broken without hand," is the next statement of the prophecy. Ah, yes, the day is coming when519the power which has been allowed to intrench itself in the place of God in the hearts and over the bodies of millions, and to live haughtily and luxuriously with the untold wealth derived from her deceptions, will be judged and rewarded. This day of reward is fully described in Revelation, chapters 17, 18, 19, and 20. Let the reader turn to them.
"And the vision of the evenings and mornings which hath been told is true; but shut thou up the vision; for it belongeth to many days to come." Dan. 8:26.
That the vision is true, we have more evidence than Daniel had. We have more than the words of an angel. We have before us twenty-five centuries of marvelous fulfillments. We can therefore say, The vision is no longer shut up, for we have reached the "latter time of the indignation," "the appointed time of the end."
