The Pope as the Antichrist

[Alfred Persson]

I’ll reply only on a few points. The range of Greek manuscripts, plus of English Bible versions, seems to undercut the idea of ‘emphatic’ for 1 Jhn.2:18: “that antichrist” (KJV); “that the antichrist” (NABRE); “that an antichrist” (ISV). Even if ‘the’ is the authentic text, translation and interpretation is moot. Eg in John’s days, some, perhaps genuine Christians, might have come up with an idea of one future antichrist, THE antichrist, to which John said to this church, Okay, you’ve heard about this idea (whether it’s true or not), but be aware that various false teachers, antichrists, are already doing the rounds, and be aware of what they are denying. Ie, perhaps John was existential, not eschatological, here.

I checked various apparatuses, and Greek mss. Only Nestle, Westcott, Tischendorf, Lachmann, Tregelles leave out the article because they give undue weight to the Vaticanus. You say "even if" because you must, ALL the Greek versions read THE Antichrist in 1 John 2:22, which refers back to the person in 1 John 1:18.

But I don't trouble myself with unsound theories of lower criticism, by faith I accept the "Majority Text" represented in the Byzantine family, which is so consistent in readings one could say "not a jot or title" (smallest indication of meaning) has passed, they all substantially agree. Word order, the use of synonyms are irrelevant to meaning, none of which has been lost. All will be fulfilled.

It is obvious John is going from the Arch Antichrist, to those who follow his lead. The Common English Bible of 2011 is based upon Nestle, but notice it includes the definite article "the Antichrist"

18 Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not really part of us. If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. But by going out from us, they showed they all are not part of us.
...
22 Who is the liar? Isn't it the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. (1 Jn. 2:18-22 CEB)

 

[Alfred Persson]

...
As to the abomination, arguably it happened around AD 68, when many ethno-Jewish Christians fled Jerusalem (D A Carson’ Matthew (EBC), 2010:1102).

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand (Matt. 24:15 KJV)

11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (Dan. 12:11-12 KJV)

While I agree abominations that cause desolations appeared in the 1st century, Daniel puts the one he speaks of in the last days.

This "abomination that stands up" taking away the daily sacrifice, and then erects an abominable image of himself 1,290 days later (30 days after he morphed from the False Christ "man of sin" into the "Son of Perdition" Seed of Satan (Gen. 3:15) Antichrist at mid week, ending all sacrifices to everything called God or worshiped (Dan 9:29; 2 Thess. 2:3-4), continues his persecution of the saints until the rapture, 1, 335 days counting from the beginning of the end time week.:

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Rev. 14:9-16 KJV)

As we can't fix to an exact day the beginning of the End Time Week of 7 years, we can't know the precise "day or hour" it will happen. BUT I'd wager, after everything is done, this prophecy in Daniel will be heralded as literally fulfilled.

As the prophetic word will be "unsealed" in the end time, it could be those living in that precise end time will be very accurate as to when the Rapture will occur.

9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. (Dan. 12:9-10 KJV)

This of course adds to those who will be converted during the Tribulation, prophecy revealed inspires faith:

9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
...
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9-14 KJV)

 

[Alfred Persson]

Picking up a name because of their listed descendants listed as 666 (Ezr.2:13) or 667 (Neh.7:18), seems far-fetched to me, like pulling rabbits out a hat and saying hey presto. If hidden code, why did Nehemiah botch it? Hey, the lists were simply for the purpose of recording the exiles who returned to Jerusalem, not for an Aha moment as we predict a future name. Moreover, arguably in the symbolism of Revelation, 666 is like saying in triplicate that humanity (the symbolic number 6) always falls short of perfection (the number 7).

Its a well known parallelism in Biblical Hebrew, forgotten until CH Gordon reported on them in "New Directions," Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 15 (1978) 59–60

2 Janus Parallelism. This type of parallelism hinges on the use of a single word with two different meanings, one of which forms a parallel with what precedes and the other with what follows. Thus, by virtue of a double entendre, the parallelism faces in both directions. - Berlin, A. Parallelism. In (D. N. Freedman, Ed.)The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 5:155

Adonikam is the pivot word, looking back 666 refers to it, looking forward it requires a calculation to arrive at the name.

John saw the 666 and 667 difference, as a clue he could use to propound a riddle Bible believers would pick up, leaving everyone else in the dark as they employ occult methods to "divine" the name:

John gamely invites all “that hath understanding count the number”. It follows solving the riddle depends on how the text is phrased.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Rev. 13:18 NKJ)

the sons of Adonikam, 666 (Ezr. 2:13 NAS)
the sons of Adonikam, 667 (Neh. 7:18 NAS)

John gives three clues how 666 points to one name.
1) “Calculate the number” (666+1=667 Adonikam).
2) “Number OF a man” (666 sons are “OF” the man Adonikam)
3) “His number is 666” (Only one name Adonikam is associated with the number 666 )

John wasn’t like modern critics, he would consider the difference (666 in Ezra 2:13; 667 in Nehemiah 7:18) in number intentional. Experts in Hebrew Scripture will immediately recognize John’s riddle is a asymmetric Janus Parallelism(Gen. 6:3; 49:26; Cant. 2:12; Ezek. 20:37; Dan. 11:35; Nah. 1:8.)

Adonikam had 666 sons or counting from his father also named Adonikam, 667 sons.

From the “Janus” 666 we look back and “count” (5585 ψηφίζω psephizo) “as with pebbles” 666+1=667 to “Adonikam” as the Beast’s name.

From the “Janus” 666 we look forward, Adonikam had 666 sons, they are “of” him. Again the name Adonikam appears.

“His [Adonikam] number is 666.” The only name in the Bible closely associated with 666 is “Adonikam“.

Therefore, solution to John’s riddle is “Adonikam“.

Adonikam is the Name of the Beast having 666 meaning | End Time News

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six (Rev. 13:18 KJV) Many insist we use Gematria (substituting letters for numbers) to solve the riddle of 666 meaning, although they cannot...

endtimenews.net

 

[Alfred Persson]

You again throw in a bit about Dan without justifying such use. That idea began with Irenaeus. I gave the reasons why he came up with that idea, which is still trotted out. If I can nail you down to this particular, granting for sake of argument that there is to come and age-ending antichrist who may rightly be called THE antichrist, why do you believe that such will come from the tribe of Dan?

PS: by [That is what Abraham meant when he prophesied] I guess you meant Jacob?

Its prophecy and it fits the end time data about the false Christ who is attacking the real Christ with his deception. Of course we can only infer from the text to events in the end time, and inferences at best are only probable, not certain.

It fits the end time "like a hand in a glove", "if it fits so you cannot acquit" (contrast Johnny Cochran at OJ's trial)

The tribe of Dan is left out of the 12 tribes listed in Revelation and its plausible the reason is because the Antichrist is from the Tribe of Dan. Like most interpretation of symbolism, there can only be probability at best, possibility most of the time. Only fulfilled prophecy is easy to interpret, with the benefit of hindsight, history.

So you don't like it. I'll not shed any tears over that. No doubt you'd dispute every inference I made from scripture, with even less to go on.

I hope history proves my interpretations correct, for that will document the Bible revealed these things without any "special illumination" by God. All it takes is critically thinking on the data and the possibilities that exist in the end time.

The Antichrist His Names Titles and Ancestry | End Time News

The Antichrist will appear in the guise of Christ, to oppose Christ. Paul called him the "Son of Destruction" which implies a Jewish-Christian miracle worker evangelist. His name is Adonikam and he will rise from obscurity near the ancient city of Antioch, modern Turkey. He is from ancient...

endtimenews.net

 

[Shilohsfoal]

Alot of people worshiping Donald Trump these days.

 

[Randy]

What I am questioning is back in your post #11 you said "Satan is given the keys to the abyss and releases the angel who is currently bound in the abyss in the days of the sounding of the 5th trumpet."

First this doesn't happen until the sixth trumpet has sounded as the fifth trumpet is about the locust in Rev 9:1-21 and Apollyon (meaning destroyer) is the angel out of the bottomless pit, but not of Satan. The name Apollyon is only found once by name in Rev 9:11. If you notice in Rev 9:1 John is given the vision of a star that has fallen from heaven unto the earth and was given the key to the bottomless pit. Angels in scripture are often called stars in heaven, Job 38:7; Rev 1:16, 20; 2:1; 3:1; 12:1.

Apollyon/Abaddon is a Hebrew and Greek word which means destruction/destroyer as we see God used this angel for His purpose in Exodus 12:23; 1 Chronicles 21:15-18; 1 Corinthians 10:10; Hebrews 11:28; Rev 9:11.

The angel who is called Apollyon/Abaddon in Rev 9:11 was sent by God for His purpose to have this angel open the pit and rule over these locust as they were commanded not to kill any man, but to only torment them to where they would want to die, but could not. This angel according to Rev 9:11 was never previously bound/imprisoned in the pit, but was the angel of the bottomless pit. Many think that since the name means destroyer in the Hebrew that this is an evil angel that Satan uses in Rev 9 at the 5th trumpet. If this was an evil angel why would Satan use him to torment those who are already his own who refuse to repent and turn back to God?

The dragon is given the keys to the bottomless pit. All the evil bound there are released. The beast comes out of the bottomless pit as shown in Rev 11.

I see at 5th trumpet the abyss is opened
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.

They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

 

[donadams]

I don't think Luther or Calvin were trying to establish the Church of England in any way...

They were still the genesis for all rebellion

They are responsible not only for the fundamentalism: faith without reason but also atheism that came from them: reason without faith

They did not support either but are responsible cos they started the great revolt (satans work) against God, His Christ, & His church and revealed truth!

Thks

 

[Vinny37]

...

I’ll reply on a few points to your multiple responses. In that you do care a toss about biblicality, I warmly commend you.

I wished to focus on a POV re. 1 Jhn.2:18. I was aware of the definite article in v22, possibly smuggled into v18 by harmonisation, a proven scribal feature (eg the Paternoster a/cs). I don’t think that it is critical here, so I merely noted v18 as textually debateable. You show a surety “by faith” to, I presume, what some call the C17 KJV TR, and you might be happy to consider https://archive.org/details/the-words-gone-global-exploring-bible-versions-2017-231024. “By faith” many doubtless showed a similar surely with the Vulgate, and perhaps with the Geneva over the KJV (disliked by many good Puritans), and “by faith” many accept the NIV. It’s all pretty meaningless virtue signalling, which even the KJV translators’ preface did not reflect.

Even allowing the article for v18, several EVV (I cited the KJV) have not translated as the definite, although the Catholic NABRE has done so. As you might know, ὁ should not always be translated in.

The canonical writers could throw in noncanonical material, such as First Enoch in 1 Pt.3, and Jesus could say, You have heard it said without necessarily affirming what they had heard. Why could not John have raised a buzz word he did not affirm? 1 Jhn.2:22 defines THE antichrist as anyone who denies that Jesus is the christ. That is, it does not have a singular meaning in John’s context, so hardly affirms an end-age archantichristos, but falls very much in line with an existential threat circulating even in the C1.

You allow that an abomination could have been a C1 event, but say that for Daniel it was about what is future to us. It was certainly about what was future to him. Yet Jesus picked it up from Daniel (Mt.24:15), and linked that particular to the C1. He could have prophesied many abominations without referring to Daniel, otherwise. I grew up in the sixties/seventies on assuming Daniel (Hal Lindsey, Thomas Foster, etc) as looking at what is future to us: I sided with historicism over the futurism.

I feel that Janus parallelism is being stretched a little too thin when evoked to explain differences between separate scrolls. I happily accept coded wordplay within a given scroll, but should we overwork a willing horse to death? We might suggest all kinds of theories as to why Paul in separate letters, linked a helmet in different ways (Eph.6:17; 1 Ths.5:8)—was he assuming we’d read letters in Janus parallel and see a hidden message about hope?

The a/cs in Ezr/Neh. vary many times on stats—a forest of Janus parallelism, or is it for just one tree? Were all variations, hidden codes, JPs? Eg, Arah (775 or 652); Zattu (945 or 845); Adonikam (666 or 667); Bigvai (2056 or 2067)? Postulating a immediately prior Adonikam, hits all kind of snags, such as why Bigvai’s father was also Bigvai, and why Adonikam’s father Adonikam and Bigvai’s father Bigvai, only one son apiece, and whether sons Arah & Zattu lost some of their fathers’ descendants (carelessness?). Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Again I ask, if such is Janus P, are we not obligated to explain the code for each? Why simply pick out the 666 one, and how does that link eschatologically to 1 Kg.10:14 if the number is more significant than say, 667 or 665? But many happenstances make for interesting theories, though not one which the early church seems to me to have picked up on.

At a guess Parosh (Ezr.2:3) was not a Danite, since Ezr.2:1 speaks of the listed as returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to their own town, whereas the Danite homeland was in what was left of North Israel. How we move from a number which might not be literally accurate, to giving a good name of a long dead non-Danite who had at the time of Ezr/Neh. about 666 descendants, to a posited age-end archantichristos, I just don’t get. But you may put it down to my stupidly and perverseness. It is too gnostic for my simple or depraved mind, a hidden knowledge in which I shall not boast.

As to speculated clues, even if Rv.13:18 should read “a man” (arguably the Greek reads as per the NET and Wycliffe), I don’t think them convincing, as I don’t find the dots warrant connecting. For my money, here John simply spoke of the Beast bearing man’s number, that is emphatically (ie in triplicate) falling short of deific perfection (777).

But our respective arguments and counterarguments are perhaps sufficiently presented here, and I suspect that we are both busy people. So let the readers read and understand, and if they will, enjoy https://archive.org/details/revelations-gone-global.

 

[for_his_glory]

The dragon is given the keys to the bottomless pit. All the evil bound there are released. The beast comes out of the bottomless pit as shown in Rev 11.

I see at 5th trumpet the abyss is opened
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.

They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

It seems like you are mixing up scriptures to prove your point and I gave the right order of events, but you refuse to see this so I will bow out instead of reiterating this with you. You have a good day.

 

[Alfred Persson]

I’ll reply on a few points to your multiple responses. In that you do care a toss about biblicality, I warmly commend you.

I wished to focus on a POV re. 1 Jhn.2:18. I was aware of the definite article in v22, possibly smuggled into v18 by harmonisation, a proven scribal feature (eg the Paternoster a/cs). I don’t think that it is critical here, so I merely noted v18 as textually debateable. You show a surety “by faith” to, I presume, what some call the C17 KJV TR, and you might be happy to consider https://archive.org/details/the-words-gone-global-exploring-bible-versions-2017-231024. “By faith” many doubtless showed a similar surely with the Vulgate, and perhaps with the Geneva over the KJV (disliked by many good Puritans), and “by faith” many accept the NIV. It’s all pretty meaningless virtue signalling, which even the KJV translators’ preface did not reflect.

Even allowing the article for v18, several EVV (I cited the KJV) have not translated as the definite, although the Catholic NABRE has done so. As you might know, ὁ should not always be translated in.

You glossed over the NIV's use of "THE antichrist" even though the Nestle Aland Greek it translates doesn't have the article, as acceptance "by faith". No, it strove for "dynamic equivalence" (functional equivalence) which means the presence of the article is implied by the surrounding Greek text.

The arguments made by some for "harmonization" put the cart before the horse, citing prevailing beliefs about the Antichrist as inspiring the insertion of the article, when it is more likely the presence of the article inspired what later became "the prevailing beliefs".

I accept your desire not to spend lots of time on this, we clearly won't agree. But I thought separating your points made it more accessible to our readers, if any. Let them decide who is right for themselves.

On that note, I will join you in hoping our readers enjoyed this exchange.

 

[Alfred Persson]

wrong place

 

[for_his_glory]

The dragon is given the keys to the bottomless pit. All the evil bound there are released. The beast comes out of the bottomless pit as shown in Rev 11.

I see at 5th trumpet the abyss is opened
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.

They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

I started a new thread about Apollyon in the End Times forum if you would like to discuss this further as it really does not have anything to do with this thread.

 

[Vinny37]

You glossed over the NIV's use of "THE antichrist" even though the Nestle Aland Greek it translates doesn't have the article, as acceptance "by faith". No, it strove for "dynamic equivalence" (functional equivalence) which means the presence of the article is implied by the surrounding Greek text.

The arguments made by some for "harmonization" put the cart before the horse, citing prevailing beliefs about the Antichrist as inspiring the insertion of the article, when it is more likely the presence of the article inspired what later became "the prevailing beliefs".

I accept your desire not to spend lots of time on this, we clearly won't agree. But I thought separating your points made it more accessible to our readers, if any. Let them decide who is right for themselves.

On that note, I will join you in hoping our readers enjoyed this exchange.

[You glossed over the NIV’s use of “THE antichrist” even though….] Sounds just a little like Gail Riplinger, who I read some time ago with sad amusement. IMO you are above her level, but still offer the occasional little gibe, perhaps? So to cover my back a little, of the four passages, viz 1 Jhn.2:18,22; 4:3; 2 Jhn.1:3—I’ll call A,B,C, & D—whether or not the article was used or not (there is textual variance), as you say [the presence of the article is implied by the surrounding Greek text]—or can be implied. Just comparing a few EVV, for [the]:

For A, the NIV/KJV/NKJV, agree against Wycliffe/Tyndale/Luther.

For B, the KJV/Wycliffe/Geneva, agree against NIV/Tyndale/Luther.

For C, the KJV/Tyndale/Luther, agree against the NIV/NKJV/CJB.

For D, the NIV/Young’s/Luther, agree against the KJV/Wycliffe/NLT.

I don’t accept any EV [by faith], but I accept by faith and study that all by and large, substantially and faithfully translate the authentic text. For Bible study I advocate a range of EVV covering NU & TR.

All the best.

 

[Alfred Persson]

[You glossed over the NIV’s use of “THE antichrist” even though….] Sounds just a little like Gail Riplinger, who I read some time ago with sad amusement. IMO you are above her level, but still offer the occasional little gibe, perhaps? So to cover my back a little, of the four passages, viz 1 Jhn.2:18,22; 4:3; 2 Jhn.1:3—I’ll call A,B,C, & D—whether or not the article was used or not (there is textual variance), as you say [the presence of the article is implied by the surrounding Greek text]—or can be implied. Just comparing a few EVV, for [the]:

For A, the NIV/KJV/NKJV, agree against Wycliffe/Tyndale/Luther.

For B, the KJV/Wycliffe/Geneva, agree against NIV/Tyndale/Luther.

For C, the KJV/Tyndale/Luther, agree against the NIV/NKJV/CJB.

For D, the NIV/Young’s/Luther, agree against the KJV/Wycliffe/NLT.

I don’t accept any EV [by faith], but I accept by faith and study that all by and large, substantially and faithfully translate the authentic text. For Bible study I advocate a range of EVV covering NU & TR.

All the best.

We all must follow our conscience, what we believe true. I accept the "Majority (Byzantine) text" above all others, but no specific English translation. I use them all when appropriate.

"For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matt. 5:18 NKJ)

What Christ said applied to the Law I expand to include all 66 books of the canon. Christ promised not the smallest meaning (jot or tittle) would be lost until the kingdom come and all is fulfilled. That's good enough for me.

For a time I considered the arguments for variant readings, and frankly not one of them reach the realm of certainty. Many of them were critically unsound, scholars following confirmation bias.

The best proof none of it is "scientific", is the constant need for revising the text. If the process were critically sound, they would have all settled on one version long ago. But engaging in such is a constant source of employment for many perhaps unsuitable for honest labor.

 

[DavidT]

Those old Reformation doctrines that the pope is the Antichrist don't hold water anymore. And I am not saying a pope can't be deceived, for the pope is just like any believer on Christ that can fall away. The British Church eventually saw the Roman pope in that light, and refused to allow the pope authority over them.

I am a Protestant Christian by the way, and my French ancestors of the 16th century left France because they were being persecuted by the Catholic Church for being Protestants. So they lived right during the Protestant Reformation period. And because of the pope then and the Catholic Church reacted to the Protestants as being in rebellion, the Protestants regarded the pope then as the Biblical Antichrist, meaning they thought they were living in the last generation that would see Christ's return.

But Christ's return and defeat of the Antichrist did NOT happen in their day. Bible prophecy about the 'end' did NOT come to pass, and it still is not yet come to pass about the final Antichrist today.

So these Churches today that are still dwelling on the old doctrines of the Protestant Reformation about the pope as Antichrist are simply out of fashion with their false theories about the Catholic Church and the pope.

And I actually see some of the false crept in unawares having sneaked into those Reformation type Churches that are likely false Jews that hate... the Catholic Church especially; thus they are constantly finding ways to attack the Catholic Church. Why? Because the Catholic Church back in history persecuted the Jews at one time too.

But no matter, many in the Catholic Church are just as likely to fall away from Christ as any of the 5 Churches in Revelation which Jesus rebuked. The solution? Stick to what your Bible says, check out your teachers in it. God has provided all nations with the ability to learn how to read and write so as to be able to read His Word, so none today have an excuse.

 

[Randy]

Does this read like any Pope in history or now?
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]

 

[DavidT]

Does this read like any Pope in history or now?
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]

Sounds like you are maybe putting some of those things in the past? but the timing of the beasts of Revelation 13 is actually about the final generation on earth that will see Christ's future return.

Revelation 13 is pointing to both a one-world beast kingdom, and a beast king, for the end of this world. The Rev.13:4-8s verses are not enough to understand all that. Rev.9 linked with the idea of the beast of the bottomless pit helps reveal the "another beast" of Rev.13:11 will be a king that is over the bottomless pit, just as Rev.11 shows that one also as the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit to kill God's future "two witnesses" in Jerusalem. So there's several pointers about the beast at the end that Christ included throughout His Book of Revelation about that beast idea, including in the Book of Daniel, and even in certain chapters of the Book of Isaiah.


For Those With Eyes To See, And Ears To Hear:

I don't expect many brethren will understand this from Bible Scripture, at least not until one digs into in-depth Bible study about it with the help of The Holy Spirit.

In the Revelation 12:3-4 Scripture, we are shown about a 'previous' beast system similar to the one mentioned in Revelation 13:1. This one in Rev.12:3-4 is unique though, because it is 'timed' when Lucifer ("red dragon") drew a third of the angels (stars) into rebellion with him. That happened back in the old world which God destroyed, thus ending Lucifer's original rebellion when he coveted God's Throne for himself, wanting to be GOD.

That Rev.12:3-4 beast kingdom had "seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns". If you'll notice, the beast in Rev.13:1, which is for the 'end' of this world, is to have "ten crowns".

The part below in red is why we cannot get away from that Scripture showing that beast with only 7 crowns took place back at the time of Lucifer's original rebellion against God, in that old world...

Rev 12:3-4
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
KJV

That underlined part prevents us from placing that above event for this present world.

Thus the idea of the healing of the deadly wound upon 'one' of the beast's symbolic heads, is actually about a RE-OCCURANCE of Lucifer's beast system rebellion of old when he drew a third of the angels into rebellion with him against God. Nothing new under the sun, like Solomon said. Satan is coming again, for the end of this world, to try and play GOD again. But his beast kingdom setup on earth this next time per Rev.13:1 will have "ten crowns" instead of 7 crowns like his beast kingdom of old had.