“And reports trouble him out of the east and out of the north, and he hath gone forth in great fury to destroy, and to devote many to destruction…”
(Daniel 11:44 YLT)
Prophecy foretold that the king of the north would become troubled over “reports” both out of the east and the north. This word for “report” is translated correctly as “news” in the ESV, BSB, CEV, WEB, and other translations of the Scriptures. The east in Bible prophecy is the place from where the sealing angel of Revelation 7:2 ascends and from where Christ appears at His second advent (Matthew 24:27); thus the message of the east will be the prophetic message that troubled king Herod, leading him to do away with multitudes of innocent children. However, tidings from the north also speak of the reports that are proceeding out of the king of the North’s own land. This has been fulfilled as we see the king of the north doing this very thing under the Papal office of Pope Francis.
Recently, Pope Francis delivered a message for the Church-sponsored World Day of Social Communications 2018; reportedly the first from a Pope in about 50 years. According to a statement released by the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, the message Francis gave was to address fake news, “namely, baseless information that contributes to generating and nurturing a strong polarization of opinions.” The forms of the world’s social communication have surpassed and have become far more powerful than the press, the radio, and television. With the introduction of the internet and social media, we are living in a time of rapidly advancing information with little-to-no censorship.
What has Pope Francis concerned? In a Jesuit magazine article, La Civilta Cattolica, Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro, who is a close confidant of Pope Francis, condemns fundamentalism, specifically where the focus is on the last book of the Bible, Revelation. It is no doubt that the reports of the prophecies of Revelation trouble the Pope, given that both Revelation 13 and 17 clearly and specifically unveil the purposes and plans of the Papacy before they have happened; and foretell it’s fate in chapters 14 in the loud voice of the third angel’s message, and 18 at it’s final fall.
Given this trouble, Pope Francis has sought to link all forms of extremism and fundamentalism with Muslim extremism, and meeting with the CEO’s of Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Google. In so-doing, he is seeking to place limitations on the freedom of speech which condemns and exposes the Roman Catholic institution as the Beast and Harlot of Revelation which has gained great momentum over the internet via Social Media platforms.
By two sweeping moves, Francis has sought to overthrow the messages of prophecy, first, by denouncing as extremists and fundamentalists all who proclaim these messages, who believe in a literal appearing of Christ in the clouds of the eastern skies, believing He will set judgment upon the great harlot who has brought a united confederacy of nations into both receiving and enforcing the mark of the beast worldwide. Under fundamentalism, only Catholic teaching is permitted. Therefore, prophecies condemning the Catholic institution are included. Pope Benedict “criticized ‘fundamentalist’ or ‘literalist’ interpretations and urged renewed appreciation for the symbolic and spiritual interpretation techniques used by the ancient fathers of the church”. “An authentic interpretation of the Bible must always be in harmony with the faith of the Catholic Church,“ Benedict declared.
Secondly, agencies would be set in motion to promote fake news, especially regarding the Catholic church. Thereby giving weight to issue war against the prophetic testimonies which keep the history of abuses from the Catholic church, and her past teaching, alive. Thereby continuing the flame of the Protestant reformation alight with the heavenly oil of the Word of God. By the Pope claiming “fake news”, “hate speech”, and “extremism” to those who would proclaim the prophetic testimonies against the Papal beast and his mark, he may curb, if not entirely silence, the testimonies of the Lord’s witnesses at the present time, who would incur various penalties against them for their advocacy of Bible truth. “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” (Isaiah 30:8-11)
“Fundamentalism is a sickness that is in all religions,” Francis said, as reported by the National Catholic Reporter’s Vatican correspondent, Joshua McElwee. Though he included the Roman Catholic church, he was referring in his context to radical Islam. He went on to declare this fundamentalism was defined as those who “believe in the absolute truth and go ahead dirtying the other with calumny, with disinformation, and doing evil.” However, it was the next remarks of Francis that show his clear intent on censoring freedom of speech and expression. “We have to combat it,” he said. “Religious fundamentalism is not religious, because it lacks God, it is idolatrous… Like everything, there are religious people with values and those without… But how many wars… have Christians made?”
When speaking in the United States Congress in September 2015, Francis stated, “We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or idealogical extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every form of fundamentalism, whether religious or any other kind.” What is fundamentalism if we go to the Dictionary to define it truly? According to the dictionary, it is defined as “a person who believes in the strict, literal interpretation of scripture in a religion.” The label of Muslim extremism are being employed to curb all forms of religious fundamentalism, including Christians who believe literally in the Bible as the rule of faith and authority.
Furthering the Papal agenda of the king of the north, he condemned the spread of “fake news” in order “to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests.” He stated that “it risks turning people into unwilling accomplices in spreading biased and baseless ideas.” “You shouldn’t fall into the ‘sins of communication:’ disinformation, or giving just one side, calumny that is sensationalized or defamation, looking for things that are old news and have been dealt with and bringing them to light today.” (Pope Francis, Dec. 16)
Could keeping the precious prophetic truths that the Papal power is the “mother of harlots” who “makes all nations drunk with the wine of her fornication” and “the beast whose deadly wound was healed” be considered “old news” being brought to light today?
Bishop Jonathan Morris commented on Fox News regarding Pope Francis’ concerns on fake news. “In today’s age it’s so easy to disemminate things that are not true, or things that might be true, but simply don’t help the common good.” What is the common good? Doubtless, the common good according to Catholic doctrine is the promotion of Sunday legislation, and the embrace of Catholic social doctrine in the public sphere by governments foremost, and citizens secondarily.
“But one of the principal imperatives of the common good is the recognition of the moral order…A firmly established order between political communities must be founded on the unshakable and unmoving rock of the moral law… to guide the policies of men and nations…” (Laudato Si, p. 175) “In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church’s holy days as legal holidays.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2188)
Anything that would awaken the multitudes to the dangers of violating the commandments of God in favor of a man-made tradition, they will seek to silence; to lead men to dishonor the law of the God of heaven in preference to the honoring of the law of the Catholic church through the state is the enemy of souls objective; to sound the trumpet that this warning is contained in the fearful warning against the mark of the beast in the third angel’s message is what the Pope is aiming to silence, that it might more smoothly complete their mission without hindrance or backfiring. Yet the light of the third angel’s message will shine, and all who are Christ’s will enter into His rest and receive His refreshing. “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.” (Isaiah 28:12) Will you hear? Will you understand the seriousness of the times in which we are living? The end of all things is at hand. May we be ready for the final conflict, and take our stand on the Lord’s side.
