#875

The Last Pope? Nope!

Miller Time

Have you heard the one about a bunch of people selling all their possessions, dressing up in ecclesial robes and climbing a mountain to wait for Jesus to return? If you haven’t now is your introduction to the quicky and embarrassing story of the Millerites, a group of devote followers of one William Miller who convinced up to a million people that Jesus was going to return in 1843. When 1843 came and passed he revised his prediction to a new date of October 22, 1844. I turn to an article from gotquestions.org to get us up to speed on these last days followers:

When the predicted end did not take place in 1844, the Millerites disbanded in dismay, and the event became known as the “Great Disappointment.” Miller himself quietly withdrew from the public eye. While he still held that the Lord would return soon, he admitted that the chronology was uncertain. He died a few years later. The Millerites, leaderless now, splintered and formed other groups. The Advent Christian Church and the Seventh-day Adventists developed in the aftermath of Miller’s failed prophecies. There is even some evidence to suggest that Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, was also influenced by Miller.

The article rightly advised us that date setting for the Second Coming is not wise:

It is sad that people look for hidden messages and secret clues in the Bible instead of heeding the plain meaning of Scripture. The words of Jesus are clear: “No one knows the day or the hour” (Matthew 24:36). The words of Jesus notwithstanding, some Bible teachers who should know better continue to set dates for the return of Christ and lead followers astray; many, like the Millerites, make life-changing decisions based on the “prophetic” teaching. The gullible are inevitably disappointed as the “prophetic” date passes. The biblical attitude is to be ready for Christ to return at any moment, but to make plans for the future as if He will not return in our lifetime. Disengaging from the world to wait for Christ to return is a misapplication of the doctrine of Christ’s second coming.

But there is a more recent prediction that is also having its day of reckoning.

Another One Bites The Dust

This popular phrase was popularized by the rock band Queen in 1980, but the actual etymology goes way earlier than that. In an article explaining the saying we read this:

Strangely enough, “bite the dust” has been around since the King James Bible was published in 1611. According to the Bible, “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him; and His enemies shall lick the dust” (Psalms 72.9). While “lick the dust” is a variation of the phrase we know today, it still contains the similar meaning of falling to the ground in defeat.

The article cites a book from 1748 and even mentions a translation of Homer’s The Iliad where it’s used in reference to Roman soldiers dying in battle. The phrase shows up in western films when a cowboy perishes as well. All in all, from the Bible to Queen it is pretty common to hear it uttered or written. And I will use it to state that yet another extra biblical prophecy has fallen and can’t get up. Which one you ask” Well our good friend St Malachy’s prediction about the last pope being Petrus Romanus or Peter The Roman. I dealt with this infamous prophecy recently so I won’t belabor it much here only to summarize it briefly. Here is how another article from the web site gotquestions.org explains it:

His list started with his contemporary, Pope Celestine III and continued through the next 112 Popes ... According to Catholic tradition, Malachy’s prophecy remained hidden until AD 1590, when it was first published. It has been a source of conjecture and controversy ever since. The prophecy has recently come into focus again because of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. According to Malachy’s reckoning, Pope Francis I will be the last.

In the prophecy the Final Pope according to Malachy would be known as “Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills [i.e., Rome] will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people.”

The prophecies purportedly were written before 1595, but critics note that the list is amazingly accurate up until 1595 and not so accurate later making some believe that the list was made then using the list already known. After reading the list, I would have to say that the list is kind of hit and miss after 1595. But it could be accurate if you allow for a stretch here and there. For instance, Pope Paul VI’s coat of arms contained a fleur-de-lys, thereby associating him with flowers. But there are more misses than hits on the list and we can hardly trust these dubious listings of popes.

It's Dead Jim

When Pope Francis of Assisi died, who prophecy author Thomas Horn dismissed as being the 112 listed pope according to the Malachy list as being an outlier, all attention was given to his successor. One of the possible candidates was someone from Rome and actually had a first name of Peter, one Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Guess what? He wasn’t the guy picked. Instead it was a man from America, Chicago to be exact, Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost who will serve as Pope Leo XIV. So much for Petrus Romanus. So how long do we try and keep this pope list prophecy going? To date I haven’t seen anyone trying to explain things away and Thomas Horn was promoted to glory in October of 2023 so he can’t give us an explanation for why the Conclave didn’t select the last pope as Petrus Romanus this time around. With a wink and a nod to another cultural saying at least from the Sci-fi crowd, I officially say that the St Malachy prophecy is dead, Jim. It’s kaput. I simply don’t see how anyone, especially inside of Bible prophecy circles can still entertain it as being even remotely accurate. I have brought it up from time to time, but each time I always did so with a skeptical eye especially after Pope Francis took the reins as the 112th pontiff. From then on I couldn’t see how it was accurate. While I’m sure someone will try and keep the flame burning for St Malachy list, I am officially off that train if I was ever on it. It is disappointing because people were interested in it and it did get them curious about the Bible and end times, but like the Millerites and others since, it let us down.

Stick To Your Guns

In keeping with referring to popular phrases, Stick to your guns” is an apropos one for us. According to one article the meaning for it is this:

It is widely believed that the phrase “stick to your guns” is a military reference, which can be traced back to the 17th and 18th centuries, a time when weapons were fast becoming a weapon of choice. More specifically, the phrase is first seen in the ‘Life of Samuel Johnson’ by James Bobswell (1740-95).

It is believed to originate as a military command to sailors on gunned military boats who were posted at the boat’s guns, to instruct the men to remain at their posts, even when the boat is under attack, and fear has kicked in, or even if the boat is captured. This instruction aimed to prevent retreat of the troops, and ensure the job posts and the guns were defended to the end, including when they are needed the most.

For my purposes I encourage all of us who trust the Bible and in particular believe in Bible prophecy to not stop talking about it and promoting it. Jesus is returning soon and the book of Revelation is not only relevant now, but it is instructional for how we live our lives. We cannot let prophecies that have no basis in Scripture dominate our conversations, but instead we need to stick to our prophetic guns of sound Biblically-based prophecies that are in context and useful for balanced preparedness as well as effective evangelism. For all those who believe they have new signs that point to how close we are to last days events like the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming of Jesus I advise us to use caution. Such crazes come and go and while they do draw the attention of curious minds, we lose credibility when they fizzle out because they weren’t accurate. Yes, there will be a last pope just as there will be a last everything and the selection of a pope is a global event that we need to acknowledge. It does affect the world. But there are more Biblical things we need to promote when talking about these things. Rather than shooting prophetic blanks we need to load our witnessing weapons with the Word of God.