One of the biggest arguments against the exposing of Rome's sinister nature and its role in Bible prophecy is that we don't see this aggression today. As Pope John Paul II traversed the globe in his white frock building alliances and building bridges between old enemies, he became known as the peacemaker.

A great change of heart seems to have come over the Roman Church. No longer spouting the hard-line aggressive opinions of previous Popes, it would seem that Rome has given up her old attitudes, and caught up with the times—times of tolerance and unity.

However, this is not the case. As Roman Catholic priest Bartholomew F. Brewer says, “Post Vatican II euphoria has bewitched Protestants into thinking that the ‘new Catholicism’ is not the ‘old Catholicism’. Yet an examination of Vatican II documents makes it clear that there has been a change of ‘image’, but not substance; that there has been no real change in any of the basic doctrines that caused Luther to stand against the Roman Catholic denomination.”

The Papacy itself says that no doctrines were changed during Vatican II:

FIRST QUESTION: Did the Second Vatican Council change the Catholic doctrine on the Church?

RESPONSE: The Second Vatican Council neither changed nor intended to change this doctrine, rather it developed, deepened and more fully explained it. This was exactly what John XXIII said at the beginning of the Council. Paul VI affirmed it and commented in the act of promulgating the Constitution Lumen gentium: “There is no better comment to make than to say that this promulgation really changes nothing of the traditional doctrine. What Christ willed, we also will. What was, still is. What the Church has taught down through the centuries, we also teach. In simple terms that which was assumed, is now explicit; that which was uncertain, is now clarified; that which was meditated upon, discussed and sometimes argued over, is now put together in one clear formulation (emphasis added).ⁱ

Words and images have changed, but the intentions of the Papacy remain the same. Protestant beliefs have been watered down through the ecumenical movement, but Roman Catholic doctrines have not been altered.

A Change in Perspective

Perhaps one of the reasons why Rome today is not seen as a threatening power is because people themselves have changed. Many of the issues the reformers died for don't matter to modern-day Christians anymore. Tolerance, or what is often mislabeled as "peace," has become more important than the Word of God.

Our faith in the truth found in the Bible has been undermined and given up. The Bible has become nothing but a book of well-intentioned proverbs and fantastic fairy tales that belong to another era. It has become "old-fashioned" to believe in Moses, Noah, and the rest of the Bible. It certainly has become old-fashioned to govern one's life by its precepts.

Through higher criticism, the aggressive propaganda behind the theory of evolution, and through the ecumenical message of tolerance, the Bible has become the least tolerated religious book in our society. Although the Bible can be found in every hotel room across North America, Satan has done a masterful job of nullifying our faith in the Word of God.

When Roman Catholicism ruled the world more than 700 years ago, the Bible was outlawed, and ignorance was the order of the day. Today, with the Bible so prevalent, Satan has still managed to achieve almost the same stupor as so long ago—with the Bible readily available, but few daring to believe it. The context may have changed, the details and the mechanisms may be different, but the result is still the same: with soft words that sound so gentle and peace-loving, the Papacy can make itself again the spiritual leader of the world while still being one of the most intolerant of religious orders on this planet.

If people were to get back to the Word of God asking the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, it would never be possible that such unBiblical teachings as Mary worship, transubstantiation, purgatory, relic worship, and indulgences would be accepted. We don't know exactly how history will unfold, but it is clear that the inhabitants of Earth are being duped with a deception far greater than it was during the first papal reign.

The following articles discuss the ways Rome is pretending to compromise but is instead enforcing papal supremacy:

Unity of Church and State
Unity after the Reformation
Ecumenism across Religions
Religious Doublespeak

i. Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church, Vatican.va.