This week Time Magazine declared Pope Francis “Person of the Year.”  The criteria for this honour is to be the person who “for better or for worse...has done the most to influence the events of the year.”

So, according to Time, the Pope is the most influential person of this year. Funny that.  As head of the Catholic Church, he is officially dubbed by the Book of Revelation as “the False Prophet” (Rev 16:13).  Later in Revelation, the Apostate Catholic system is described as:

“..the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” (Revelation 17:1–2)

Many Many Waters

The waters upon which the whore sits are later interpreted:

“The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” (Revelation 17:15)

So just how extensive is the influence of the papacy, biblically described as the Great Whore, over the entire world?

What is very interesting about the Time Magazine article is the spread depicting the growth of the world’s Catholic population from 2006 through 2011.

The following are the statistics:

South America          343 Million    Rising 6%

Europe                       286 Million    Rising 1%

Africa                         194 Million    Rising 22%

Central America       164 Million    Rising 5%

Asia                           132 Million    Rising 12%

North America          86 Million      Rising 5%

Oceania                      10 Million      Rising 9%

To download the entire chart click here.

The grand total of Roman Catholics is 1.215 billion Roman Catholics, which makes up 17% of the world’s population.

The Eastern Orthodox Catholicism adds another 300 million Catholics, bringing it to a total of 1.515 billion, spread out all over the world.

So, we could agree with Time magazine, “for better or for worse, the Pope is the person who has done the most to influence events of the year.” He sits upon “many waters” and has influence over the greatest number of people. This is evidenced by the lineup of world leaders who are itching to have an audience with him.

These have included Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

From Europe Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, E.U. President Jose Manuel Barroso, Italy's Prime Minister Letta, Hungary's President Janos Ader, Belguim’s Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Prime Minister Bevanda.

From the Middle East, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who “extended an official invitation to Pope Francis ... to visit the Holy Land and Palestine;” Lebanese President Michel Suleiman; and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

From Africa Zimbabwe’s Catholic President Robert Mugabe, Mozambique’s Prime Minister Alberto Vaquina, Equatorial Guinea's President Mbasogo and President of the Congo Denis Nguesso.

From North America U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden.

From Asia, Taiwan’s President Ma.

From South and Central America Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro; and Panama’s President Ricardo Berrocal.

This is by no means an exhaustive list.

He has also met with multiple religious leaders including Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev (Russian Orthodox Church), Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (Greek Orthodox Catholics); Major Archbishop Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (The Church of England); Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria (the Coptic Orthodox Church), along with several rabbis.  

The response from the Vatican to this prestigious award?

“The decision didn’t come as a surprise given the great resonance and attention surrounding the election of Pope Francis right from the start of the new pontificate. The fact that one of the most prestigious awards to be attributed by the international press should go to someone who promotes spiritual, religious and moral values as well as call for peace and greater justice in an incisive manner is a positive sign. As for the Pope himself, he’s not someone who seeks fame and success, because he has put his life at the service of announcing the Gospel of the love of God for mankind. It is pleasing to the Pope that this service should appeal and give hope to women and men. And if this choice of ‘Person of the Year’ should mean that many people have understood this message – at least implicitly – the Pope is really happy about this.” - Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy see’s Press Office

No wonder. For someone who isn’t seeking fame and success he is at the helm of the most powerful and dangerous organization in the world. The Apocalypse tells us:

“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:18)

Francis has been dubbed “the People’s Pope.” Time Magazine applauds his advocacy for the poor, writing of him:

He can barely contain his outrage when he writes, “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” Elsewhere in his exhortation, he goes directly after capitalism and globalization: “Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This ­opinion … has never been confirmed by the facts.” He says the church must work “to eliminate the structural causes of poverty” and adds that while “the Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike … he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor.”

 Has anybody looked around the Vatican lately to look at the gold, jewels and precious stones that adorn every nook and cranny? Never mind capitalism, Vaticanism has built an enormous wealthy structure on the backs of its own duped faithful. Indulgences sold to the poor duped masses who scraped together their life savings to buy a relative out of the fires of hell financed the building of the Vatican from which the current popes gave his Christmas message.  

Of course it “loves them rich and poor alike,” they all pour money into the Vatican’s coffers, enriching this great system.  The book of Revelation tells us plainly:

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:” (Revelation 17:4)

Chapter 18 continues:

“How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, So much torment and sorrow give her: For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, And am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Revelation 18:7)

All Nations Drunk With Her Wine?

Well what does the Revelation mean when it says all nations are drunk with the wine of her fornication?  Surely, it could not mean all nations, such as Syria run by the raving dictator Bashar Al-Asad?  Could it?

This year in his Christmas message, the Pope had the following to say on Syria:

Too many lives have been shattered in recent times by the conflict in Syria, fueling hatred and vengeance. Let us continue to ask the Lord to spare the beloved Syrian people further suffering, and to enable the parties in conflict to put an end to all violence and guarantee access to humanitarian aid. We have seen how powerful prayer is! And I am happy today too, that the followers of different religious confessions are joining us in our prayer for peace in Syria. Let us never lose the courage of prayer! The courage to say: Lord, grant your peace to Syria and to the whole world.

How effective was the Pope’s appeal to the parties involved? CNN, the Jerusalem Post, and the Syrian state news agency (SANA) all reported President Bashar al-Assad had sent a message to Pope Francis, (Saturday, December 28, 2013), conveyed by Minister of State Joseph Sweid during his meeting with the Pope’s Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin.

In the message, President al-Assad expressed the Syrian people and leadership’s appreciation of the stances of his holiness regarding the crisis in Syria, highlighting that the crisis will be solved through national dialogue among the Syrians and under a Syrian leadership without foreign intervention….

President al-Assad stressed the Syrian government’s keenness on carrying out its constitutional duty of protecting its citizens, regardless of their race and religion….

During the meeting, Archbishop Parolin said his holiness is constantly following the situation in Syria and is deeply concerned over the suffering of the Syrian people, adding that Pope Francis affirms the need to solve the crisis in Syria through dialogue among the Syrians without foreign intervention.

Parolin relayed Pope Francis’ salutations to President al-Assad and his prayers for peace in Syria, the cradle of civilizations and religions.

So the Pope’s Christmas message was responded to by Syria’s al-Assad, a Muslim. The Pope has stressed the need for the Syrian crisis to be solved without foreign intervention, (ie. Keep out USA), and is apparently singing out of the same hymnbook as Russia’s President Putin.

One is puzzled by this, and has to ask who these players are. We all know who the Pope is, and who al-Assad is, but what about those at the meeting?Interestingly, Joseph Sweid, Syria’s Minister of State, is a Greek Orthodox Catholic. The Pope’s “man in Havana.” He is a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party which is known to be AntiZionist. The founder of his Swied’s party, was a man named Saadeh, was an admirer of Adolf Hitler influenced by Nazi and fascist ideology. The party adopted a reversed swastika as the party's symbol, sang the party’s anthem to Deutschland über alles, the tune of the German National anthem in Hitler’s day, and today. This doesn’t bode will for Israel, Syria’s neighbor to the south.Representing the Vatican was Archbishop Pietro Parolin. He was appointed as Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela by Benedict in 2009, where no doubt he had dealings with soon to be Pope Francis. Pope Francis announced the appointment of Archbishop Parolin as Secretary of State on August 31, 2013. Formerly he was involved in the 2007 “Annapolis Conference” on the Middle East where the “Road Map or Peace” cooked up. It ended up being more of a road accident than a map. This too doesn’t bode well for Israel, Syria’s neighbor to the south.

Archbishop Parolin’s side kick at the meeting was ArchbishopDominique Mamberti. He was appointed Secretary for Relations with States by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. This post is generally seen as the equivalent of Foreign Minister of the Holy See. It was this man who addressed the United Nations in September 2011, and called for a "courageous decisions" toward the two-state solution for the Holy Land after Palestinian leaders requested full U.N. membership for the Palestinian state. Again, this does not bode well for Israel, Syria’s neighbor to the south.

The Vatican’s long arms have some how managed to reached into al-Assad’s government and influence him to come to the table.  Truly:

“…the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” (Revelation 17:2)

The Pope’s interest in the Middle east was summed up in his meeting with leaders of the Eastern Rites in November of last year:

“Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other areas of the Holy Land sometimes overflow with tears. We won't resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians who for two thousand years confess the name of Jesus, as full citizens in social, cultural, and religious life of the nations to which they belong.”

Frog Grog

The wine of her fornication has a specific blend. It is frog spirits:

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” (Revelation 16:13)

The wine or “doctrine” of Rome is a special brand of frog grog. A papal blend of socialism that was adopted by the Vatican at the Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 through 1965. This Pope is considered a socialist Pope. He recently defended a charge of Marxism leveled against him following his criticism of Captalism, the pope had the following to say:

“The Marxist ideology is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended… The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger nothing ever comes out for the poor. This was the only reference to a specific theory. I was not, I repeat, speaking from a technical point of view but according to the church’s social doctrine. This does not mean being a Marxist.”

He might not be a Marxist, but he is definitely a socialist. It is the frog-spirited doctrine of the Vatican that will infect the nations of the world, leading them to conflict in the land of Israel:

“For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” (Revelation 16:14)

The doctrine that Rome is enticing the kings of the earth to swallow will end up in the invasion of the Middle East by a multinational force led by Russia and followed closely behind by the European nations. No wonder when we see the kind of Papal players involved in current negotiations in the Middle East.

While he may be man of the year, he certainly won’t be man of the century. A man is coming who is going to turn the world on its head and will be the most influential person the world has ever seen since the beginning of creation. He will be the one who “has done the most to influence the events of the planet” when he comes to judge the corrupt leaders of the world, especially Catholicism.

His praises will be sung across the world, and in the political heavens:

“And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” (Revelation 19:1–2)

For the Bible in the News, this has been Jonathan Bowen joining you.