The recent death of retired Pope Benedict brought on outpouring of accolades. Some honored him for his intellectual prowess and grasp of church history. Other commentaries emphasized his spirituality.

Much was made of his dying words, whispered in the twilight hours of his demise: “Lord, I love you.” Could anyone question the genuineness of such a tender expression?

But Jesus said that we were to know them by their fruit, not by their performance. It is ironic that Benedict’s 95 years bore some highly questionable fruit.

His intellectual endeavors placed him at the center of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) in the early 1960s. He is credited with preparing a significant portion of the documentation produced by that Council.

And what was this three-year-long meeting about?

Looking back from our more advanced viewpoint, we can see that it was a turning point in a very strange history. Briefly, we have the creation of a counterfeit Christian Church at the time of Constantine. It grew over the centuries into a huge and politically powerful hierarchy centered in Rome.

The primary mark of its apostasy was an unrelenting focus on denying God's word to the common people. During the dark ages, few of the common people could read, and written Bibles were kept scarce and mostly in uncommon Latin.

With the rise of printed bibles in the common language, people discovered the Vatican’s unbiblical teaching. The force of the Reformation movement broke the political power structure. By the middle of the 20th century, Rome’s influence was blunted even with a strong, consistent counter-reformation effort.

Secularism and scientism posed an increasing threat, and the Protestants still recognized the spirit of Antichrist behind the popes. Jesuit strategists decided on a new tactic.

Inquisition-type methods of burning Protestant Bibles and torching Protestants only got them bad press. A more subtle approach was needed. This is where the Second Vatican Council was convened which produced reams of doublespeak.

They recognized that, in the new information age, words and their definitions were the most powerful weapons. In the past the cry had been, “destroy the heretics!” Now, Protestants were simply “separated brethren.” Catholics became just another denomination of Christian with a different worship style.

The goal was “unity of all Christians.” Jesuit priests joined major Protestant assemblies to pray together “that we all may be one.” Jesus’ prayer for the unity of His disciples was quoted endlessly.

So far, this new phase of the counterreformation has been hugely successful. When Christians are spoken of as a worldwide entity, the total quoted always includes the one billion plus followers of the Pope.

Lone voices objecting that the unbiblical worship of a wafer-god and the Virgin Mary goddess cannot be Christian, are largely ignored.

Serious Bible believers have to recognize that all the Vatican II Council did was change the window dressing. The Vatican’s pagan-based doctrines can never change without destroying the entire structure. The message to the Protestants has all been one way: come back to mother church in Rome.

In the 1970s Chick Publications was contacted by an ex-Jesuit priest, Alberto Rivera, that God had allowed to escape the inner machinations of the Vatican. After prayer and research, Jack Chick decided to publish his story using the serious Crusader Comic format and Fred Carter's unique art style. The result was six volumes now called the Alberto series, shown below.

As research continued, the intrigues of the Jesuits in history became increasingly obvious. Another Crusader Comic on the Jesuits was added to the set along with the illustrated story of Charles Chiniquy, another ex-priest whose older story further illustrates the unbiblical Vatican system.

Another subject that emerged in our research was the fact that destroying the Bible was central to Rome's effort against the Bible believers. It was the focus of the inquisition. Besides the bonfires of Bibles, counterfeit Bibles were also published with the text altered to support the Catholicism’s pagan doctrines.

Author David W. Daniels began to pursue the history of this attack on the Bible during modern times. He discovered that it has not stopped but simply taken a more subtle strategy. Over a period of 15 years, he has published more than a dozen books describing in detail the continued attack through the generation of dozens of modern language Bibles all based on counterfeit source documents.

Space here does not permit expansion of the details of the sordid history of this counterfeit church sitting on the seven hills of the Vatican. But God has provided for us to publish a wide range of material available on our website about this modern version of the spirit of Antichrist.

Despite the current publicity of the great spirituality of Pope Benedict, we have serious reservations about his eternal bliss. Only God is the final arbiter when we all shall stand before His judgment seat.

We are told not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices. So, God has provided a wealth of information by Chick Publications and outside authors.