IS POPE FRANCIS THE BIBLICAL FALSE PROPHET?

* Originally written 2/9/2014, revised 6/19/2018

The False Prophet will be the Antichrist's side-kick according to the book of Revelation 13;11-17. It is the False Prophet who will "cause all...to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads..." . One of the False Prophet's key actions will be that "...he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do...." I would assert that Pope Francis is a deceiver but his successor will out-class him because he will perform signs and miracles with his deception!

The thing about the Bible is that it can be fun or convenient to be able to refer to an abstract group, like the Pharisees of Jesus' day as the "bad guys," in a bible study with nice church people! However, when the question comes closer to home like, "Who are today's Pharisees?", "Who are today's Sadducees?" or "Is Pope Francis the biblical False Prophet?", many suddenly have this politically-correct nervousness or downright hostility about even entertaining the question, especially about the current popular pope. 

Now if the questions were, "Is Vladimir Putin the Antichrist?" or "Is Pat Robertson the False Prophet?" or "Is Donald Trump Evil?", then since such men are more easy to demonize at least here in the USA, there may not be a such a problem, if you are the typical "low-information" type of American. 

However, as Christians we should desire to discern the truth and we are commanded to do that by continuing in the Word and by "rightly dividing" it per II Timothy 2:15. The key is to recognize that is is possible to discern the truth (John 8:31-32 and John 16:13)! It is also worth noting that since these are the End Times, many will prefer to have their ears tickled with incoherent, secular, "feel-good" nonsense rather than hear sound doctrine (II Timothy 4:3-4). Those that appease the world (I John 4:5-6), like Pope Francis, by tickling their ears possess the "spirit of error."

To answer the question on Pope Francis, I think it could be possible, but he seems a bit old at 77 (81 now in 2018, as I revise this post) to fulfill the role of False Prophet. Please see my other postings on the False Prophet. Also, the web site www.biblical falseprophet.com, with Roman Catholic ties, presents a strong case for considering Pope Francis as THE biblical False Prophet or I would maintain at least a false teacher or false prophet! The role that Pope Francis may be filling is in preparing the way for a more apostate pope, perhaps the False Prophet. Francis is selecting liberal cardinals and sidelining more conservative ones. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable that by padding the College of Cardinals with liberals, his successor would be like him or even more liberal and apostate.

Now, I know many liberals and Catholics would scream that such "attacks" and "accusations" are anti-Catholic. The key should be are they the truth!  Also, Pope Francis' anti-capitalist, and by association pro-socialist, views are at odds with former Popes like Pope John Paul II and Pope Pius XII (who wrote an encyclical against communism). So who is the anti-Catholic one? More importantly, who is pro-Jesus, pro-truth, pro-Bible! And, what happened to the much vaunted liberal open mind?

It is also curious that the liberal media absurdly thinks they are the arbiter of truth in today's modern world. Haha! They represent an antichrist, worldly perspective that is generally in error! Their hypocrisy is tiresome because they suddenly rather to the side of homosexuals, pro-abortion zealots and the like who protest against the Roman Catholic Church.