[Campion]

I do wonder why YOU insist on dialoguing with those who have impugned stalwarts of the faith as being demonic.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but you don't seem to have a problem with people who impugn stalwarts of my faith as being Antichrist, which seems to me a little worse than demonic.

Just for the record, I -- not speaking for ArrogantBustard here -- do not think that Spurgeon was demon-possessed. Just badly mistaken. He now, of course, has altered his opinions ... somewhat.

[Zechariah11]

I do not think it is AT ALL appropriate to insult the Pope or the Catholic faith on this forum. It is rude, crude, offensive, and tactless. Period.

There is a difference between an open forum/public dialogue where sensibilities are exposed and a private Biblical commentary. Even so, there are VERY few conservative commentaries which label the Pope as the AntiChrist -- and I have read many.

You are more likely to see comparisons to the Church of the Nicolaitans. But then the modern evangelical church is often viewed by conservatives, themselves, as having the features of the Church at Laodecea. Both churches were harshly criticised by the resurrected Lord.

Luther was strong in soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) rather than eschatology (the doctrines associated with the Tribulation, etc.). So if he said the Pope was the AntiChrist, it wouldn't surprise me, He was distraught over the obscurity of salvation by faith alone which he felt had been obscured by the dominant Church. Luther should be read for his treatment of the Psalms, Galatians, and Romans -- not Revelation.

The AntiChrist makes no acknowledgement of God. How can that apply to the Pope since the Pope acknowledges the Trinity all the time? The future False Prophet MAY arise from Rome but he would have to repudiate the Trinity and call upon worship of a contemporary world leader, the AntiChrist.

[pctech]

I do wonder why YOU insist on dialoguing with those who have impugned stalwarts of the faith as being demonic. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but you don't seem to have a problem with people who impugn stalwarts of my faith as being Antichrist, which seems to me a little worse than demonic.

Just for the record, I -- not speaking for ArrogantBustard here -- do not think that Spurgeon was demon-possessed. Just badly mistaken. He now, of course, has altered his opinions ... somewhat.

Quite the contrary, I DO have a problem when people accuse stalwarts of faith of being "demon possessed." But what you don't realize is that we are never going to change their minds, all we can do is debate the issues logically and rationally. As long as we can do that there should be no reason why we can't converse. Am I wrong?

In addition, I've learned to trust my life to people who don't agree with me philosophically or religiously. I had to when I served this great country in the military. And while we didn't agree on everything, I did learn quite a bit from them on other matters. And while we may not agree with them on everything, we do agree that we must stand up for the principle of a free country. That's why we're here on Free Republic.

Finally, we cannot be "isolationists" in this area. We serve a great, loving, and judgemental God. We will be held accountable for our deeds, whether they be good or bad, in sin or out of sin. We talk, we discuss, we extort, we plead, we cry, but in the end if we choose to disagree, then we choose to disagree. That's all we can do. At that time, if we choose to "shake the sand from our sandals" then so be it. Until Christ comes, we can do no more.