David Robertson & anti-Christ Pope vs. Charles Spurgeon & John MacArthur

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18, NKJV)

David Robertson is the pastor of the St. Peter’s Free Church in Dundee, Scotland. When recently called on his open promotion of the Roman Catholic Church and celebration of the pope as a Christian brother, Robertson fired back this statement: “oh dear – I seem to have disturbed another anti-Catholic unbalanced bigot….please keep your rants to yourself…thanks.” I have a confession to make. I may indeed be an “anti-Catholic unbalanced bigot.”  In fact, I’m guilty as charged, if that means I believe the Gospel; believe the pope and Church of Rome to be the enemy of the Gospel; and believe well connected “protestant” pastors ought not attack Biblical evangelism and Gospel preaching evangelists (See: Ashamed of the Gospel), while simultaneously promoting the longest standing, most successful anti-Christ enemy of the Gospel the world has ever known.

In 2010, when Pope Benedict visited Glasgow to celebrate the heretical Roman Catholic mass, David Robertson acted the part of a pro-pope, pro-Catholic, counter-reformation cheerleader when he wrote: “Just been on Radio Scotland to welcome the Pope to Scotland! I honestly think his book on Jesus is one of the best I have ever read. I think he is an intelligent and thoughtful man and I regard him as a Christian brother…I personally thank the Lord for this Pope.” (See: Pope of Rome in Glasgow)

In 2013, in an article titled “A New Years Wish List for the Church in Scotland in 2014,” Robertson continued his counter-reformation when he listed and promoted the Roman Catholic Church as a genuine, Biblical church, from which he hoped to see the hand of God move in the coming year. His consciousness of being a pro-Catholic counter-reformer shows through in these words: “There are those who would be surprised and horrified that I would include the Roman Catholics in this list.” (See: A New Years Wish List for the Church of Scotland in 2014)

In 2014, during a debate titled “Is the Catholic Church the One True Church?,” Robertson argued against the Roman Catholic Church being the one true church, but clearly and simultaneously communicated that he believes it to be a true church. Between the 4 and 10 minute marks of the debate, Robertson declares the Roman Catholic apologist (Peter D. Williams) to be his Christian brother; he dogmatically denies that the pope is anti-Christ; he staunchly declares committed Catholics to be his brethren in Christ; and boldly besmirches and summarily cancels the Protestant Reformation. Between the 18-19 minute marks, Robertson states that if a committed Catholic was to join his church he would not consider it a conversion, but a transfer from one Christian church to another, and goes a step further to say that he would recognize their Catholic baptism. Between 20:20 and 21:00, Robertson speaks of his own temptation to convert to Catholicism. Between 23:00 and 23:15, he again establishes that pope Benedict is his “Christian brother,” saying: “I got in trouble in Scotland for welcoming the pope as a Christian brother to Scotland, and I would welcome him as that.” At 28:50 Robertson invites his “Catholic brothers and sisters” to his upcoming conference. (See: Is the Catholic Church the One True Church?)

The prince of preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon, rebukes David Robertson and all those apostasizing with pope, priest, & sacrament:

“False gods, attempts to represent the true God, and indeed, all material things which are worshipped, are so much filth upon the face of the earth, whether they be crosses, crucifixes, virgins, wafers, relics, or even the Pope himself. We are by far too mealy mouthed about these infamous abominations: God abhors them, and so should we. To renounce the glory of spiritual worship for outward pomp and show is the height of folly, and deserves to be treated as such.” (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Psalm 106:20)

“It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. If there were to be issued a hue and cry for Antichrist, we should certainly take up this church on suspicion, and it would certainly not be let loose again, for it so exactly answers the description.” (C.H. Spurgeon)

“Popery is contrary to Christ’s Gospel, and is the Antichrist, and we ought to pray against it. It should be the daily prayer of every believer that Antichrist might be hurled like a millstone into the flood and for Christ, because it wounds Christ, because it robs Christ of His glory, because it puts sacramental efficacy in the place of His atonement, and lifts a piece of bread into the place of the Saviour, and a few drops of water into the place of the Holy Ghost, and puts a mere fallible man like ourselves up as the vicar of Christ on earth; if we pray against it, because it is against Him, we shall love the persons though we hate their errors: we shall love their souls though we loath and detest their dogmas, and so the breath of our prayers will be sweetened, because we turn our faces towards Christ when we pray.” (C.H. Spurgeon)

Pastor John MacArthur preached a powerful message titled “The Pope and the Papacy” that serves as a more recent rebuke for David Robertson and all those (Luis Palau, Rick Warren, etc.) apostasizing with Roman Catholic pope, priest, apologist, or church:

“What was at stake? I’ll tell you what was at stake. What was at stake is whether or not we evangelize Roman Catholics, that’s what’s at stake. One billion of them in the world. Are they a mission field? Or are they our co-laborers for Christ? That changes everything, everything. On the other side, one of the leading evangelicals said, “I think it’s so wonderful that we can now see Catholics as Christians because that means millions and millions of people are Christians.” As if somehow by them deciding they were Christians they became Christians. I was absolutely incredulous, almost fell off my chair.”

“Reclassifying the Pope, reclassifying the Roman Catholics as believers isn’t that simple. It has massive implications. It has implications that literally overturn centuries of missionary effort. It has massive implications that overturn centuries, if not millennia of martyrdom. In the long war on the truth, the most formidable, relentless and deceptive enemy has been Roman Catholicism. It is an apostate, corrupt, heretical, false Christianity, it is a front for the kingdom of Satan. The true church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always understood this. And even through the Dark Ages from 400 to 1500, prior to the Reformation, genuine Christian believers set themselves apart from that system, and were brutally punished and executed for their rejection of that system.”

“Based on his study of Scripture, Martin Luther finally declared, quote: ‘We here are of the conviction that the Papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist. I owe the Pope no other obedience than that I owe to Antichrist.’ Luther said, ‘I am persuaded that if at this time St. Peter in person should preach all the articles of holy Scripture and only deny the Pope’s authority, power and primacy and say that the Pope is not the head of all Christendom, they would cause him to be hanged. Yet if Christ Himself were again on earth and should preach without all doubt, the Pope would crucify Him again.’ John Calvin, 1509 to 1564, ‘Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Pontiff Antichrist, but those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself after whom we speak and whose language we adopt. I shall briefly show that Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians 2 are not capable of any other interpretation than that which implies them to the Papacy.’ They saw in the Antichrist the Papacy, the Pope.”

“John Knox, 1505-1572, great Scottish Presbyterian, sought to counteract the tyranny which the Pope himself had for so many ages exercised over the church, he himself said, ‘The Papacy is the very Antichrist, the Pope being the son of perdition of whom Paul speaks.’ Thomas Cranmer, one of the great martyrs in England died in 1556 said, ‘Whereof it follows Rome to be the seat of Antichrist and the Pope to be the very Antichrist himself. I can prove the same by many Scriptures.’ The Westminster Confession was written in 1647, the Westminster Confession, the Confession of the Reformers says, ‘There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition that exalted himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God.'”  

“The Roman Empire then is in the view of these men of God through the ages a front line for Satan. And for Spurgeon, Rome was a deadly enemy, first of all, as well as a mission field. Spurgeon said, ‘We must have no truce and make no treaty with Rome.’ He said this, ‘War, war to the knife with her. Peace there cannot, she cannot have peace with us, we cannot have peace with her. She hates the true church and we can only say that the hatred is reciprocated. We would not lay a hand upon her priests. We would not touch a hair of their heads. Let them be free but their doctrine we would destroy from the face of the earth as the doctrine of devils. So let it perish, O God, and let that evil thing become as the fat of lambs, into smoke. Let it consume. Yea into smoke let it consume.’ You can just hear him preaching that in the tabernacle in London. He went on to say, ‘We must fight the Lord’s battles against this giant error, whichever shape it takes. And so must we do with every error that pollutes the church. Slay it utterly. Let none escape. Fight the Lord’s battles, even though it be in error that is in the evangelical church, yet we must smite it.’ We stand on those shoulders.”

*For much more information see Pastor John MacArthur’s excellent sermon “The Pope and the Papacy” at: http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-291/the-pope-and-the-papacy

This article is written at great risk of provoking David Robertson to charge Charles Spurgeon, John MacArthur, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and the authors of the Westminster Catechism with the crime of being “anti-Catholic unbalanced bigot[s].” That would inevitably result in a very visible case of “protestant” pastoral implosion. He would likely no longer be welcome as a guest speaker on certain Christian radio shows. He would almost certainly no longer be welcome to write for faithful Reformed publications such as Table Talk, by Ligonier Ministries. One could expect that Robertson’s books would never again cross the Atlantic to grace the table at the Shepherd’s Conference under John MacArthur’s pastoral teaching and leadership. So I expect he’ll exercise self control over his tendency to pronounce those that condemn his apostasy with Rome as “anti-Catholic unbalanced bigot[s].” Regardless, David Robertson and all other counter-reforming friends of the anti-Christ pope and the Roman Catholic Church, must be warned that they are on the wrong side of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, holy Scripture, and the Protestant Reformation. Even more importantly, the genuine Gospel believing Church of Jesus Christ needs to be warned again of the soul damning heresies of the anti-Christ pope, the Roman Catholic Church, and the apostasizing “evangelicals” or “protestants” that promote them. May God grant that David Robertson’s next book will be titled “A Personal Gospel Reformation -How I Unfriended the Anti-Christ Pope of Rome.” Semper Reformanda.