Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) (Lutheran): “Luther proved, by the revelations of Daniel and St. John, by the epistles of St. Paul, St Peter, and St. Jude, that the reign of antichrist, predicted and described in the Bible, was the Papacy.” – {History of the Reformation of the Sixteen Century, J.H. Merle D’aubigne, Book VI, Chapter XII, p 215}
John Calvin (1509 – 1564) (Presbyterian): “Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman 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 applies to Papacy.” – {Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin}
John Knox (1505 – 1572) (Scotch Presbyterian): John Knox sought to counteract “that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church.” As with Luther, he finally concluded that the Papacy was “the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks,” – {The Zurich Letters, John Knox, p 199}
Thomas Cranmer (1489 – 1556) (Anglican): “Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons.” (Referring to prophesies in Revelation and Daniel) – {Works by Cranmer, Vol. 1, pp 6-7}
Roger Williams (1603 – 1683) (First Baptist Pastor in America): Pastor Williams spoke of the Pope as “the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God Himself speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2).” – {The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Froom, Vol. 3, p52}
John Wesley (Methodist): “That is, Europe. This beast is the Roman papacy, as it came to a point six hundred years since, stands now, and will for some time longer. To this, and to no other power of earth, agrees the whole text, and every part of it in every point. This beast is a spiritually secular power, opposite to the kingdom of Christ. A power not merely spiritual or ecclesiastical, nor merely secular or political; but a mixture of both.” – {Commentary on the Bible, John Wesley, Ch. 13}
A Great Cloud of Witnesses: “Wycliffe, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, in the seventeenth century, Bunyan, the translators of the King James Bible and the men who published the Westminster and Baptist confessions of Faith; Sir Isaac Newton, Wesley, Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards; and more recently Spurgeon, Bishop J.C. Ryle and Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones; these men among countless others, all saw the office of the Papacy as the antichrist.” – {All Roads Lead to Rome, Michael de Semlyen, Dorchester House Publications, 1991, p 205}
And even today by the Primitive Baptist, Old School Baptist, many Independent Baptist churches, and the Seventh Day Adventist.
