Futurism Spreads

For almost 300 years after the Council of Trent, Jesuit futurism remained largely within Catholicism, but the plan of the Jesuits was that Protestants would adopt this doctrine. This adoption process actually began in the early 1800s in England, and from there it spread to America.

The story of how this happened is both fascinating and tragic. Many individuals were genuine Christians but unknowingly became channels of error.

The Futurism of Ribera never posed a positive threat to Protestants worldwide for three centuries. It did stop the Reformation in Eastern Europe. However, largely, it was virtually confined to the Roman Church. But earlier in the nineteenth century it sprang forth with vehemence as it latched on to Protestants of the Established Church of England.ⁱ

Key Players
Dr. Samuel Roffey Maitland (1792-1866), a lawyer and Bible scholar, became a librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1826 he published a book attacking the Reformation and supporting Ribera’s idea of a future one-man Antichrist. For the next ten years, in tract after tract, he continued his anti-Reformation rhetoric. As a result of his zeal and strong attacks against the Reformation, the Protestantism of England—the very nation that produced the King James Bible in 1611—received a crushing blow.

After Maitland came James H. Todd, a professor of Hebrew at the University of Dublin. Todd accepted the futuristic ideas of Maitland, publishing his own supportive pamphlets and books.

Then came John Henry Newman (1801-1890), a member of the Church of England and a leader of the famous Oxford movement. In 1850, Newman wrote his Letter on Anglican Difficulties, revealing that one of his goals in the Oxford movement was to absorb “the various English denominations and parties” back into the Church of Rome. After publishing a pamphlet endorsing Todd’s futurism about a one-man Antichrist, Newman became a Roman Catholic, and later even a highly-honored cardinal.

Through the influence of Maitland, Todd, Newman, and others, a definite “Romeward movement was already arising, destined to sweep away the old Protestant landmarks, as with a flood.”ⁱⁱ

Read about the spread of dispensationalism, a furthering of futurist doctrine.
The Spread of Dispensationalism By Jim Holdeman. Jim writes from Oklahoma.

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i Ronald Charles Thompson, Champions of Christianity in Search of Truth (TEACH Services, 1996): 91.
ii H. Grattan Guinness, History Unveiling Prophecy or Time as an Interpreter (New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1905): 289.