The world has been led to believe the Pope is God’s man and is the one chosen by God as the continual successor to Peter – who the world believe was the first Pope. But would you be surprised to know that Peter was not at all the first Pope and that the Papal institution or Catholic religion is a false religion system spoken of in the Bible as such?

The Primacy of the Catholic Church is based on a LIE

The doctrine of the Catholic Church is that Peter was the Bishop of Rome and is the founder of the Catholic Church. Catholic historians would have people believe that Peter went to Rome during the time of the reign of the emperor Claudius and then Peter became the bishop of Rome and then ruled until the time (A.D. 68) – when Nero persecuted the Christians and Peter was supposed to have been crucified on Vatican Hill. But did you know that the Bible or word of God – which Jesus said, “… is truth” (John 17:17), disprove what these Catholic writers say or would have you believe?

I want you to show you a very important Bible verse – which proves that Peter was never in Rome at the time the Catholic writers would have you believe that he was in Rome, and that he was not the first Bishop of Rome.

Notice what the apostle Paul said: “But contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of circumcision was unto Peter. For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:7,8).

If you notice, the above quoted scripture is telling us that it was the apostle Paul - who was commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles and was to be the chief apostle to the non-Jewish people - hence, it was the apostle Paul, not Peter, who wrote the epistle to the Romans. You would think if Peter was the Bishop of Rome, he would have been the one to address or write an epistle to them.

in 2nd Timothy 1:11, Paul makes known that he is “appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” You will not find any- place in the Bible where Peter is called an apostle to the Gentiles; and that is evidence that it would have been contradictory for Peter to have gone to Rome to rule or preside over a Gentile community.

In addressing the Romans, Paul writes: “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God …” (Romans 15:16). Notice also that Paul wrote in verse 20 (of Romans 15): “… so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.” Think about what Paul is saying here: If Peter had gone to Rome to become Bishop or first Pope in Rome, then Paul would be building upon a foundation already established by Peter, but since Peter was never in Rome at such time, the apostle Paul was not building on any man’s foundation – meaning Peter was not in Rome and neither was he the first Bishop of Rome; it is LIE the Catholic Church would have people believe when they say Peter was in Rome as the first Bishop.

In writing to the Romans, Paul said: “for I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established” (Romans 1:11). The Church at Rome was not officially established; and if Peter had been in Rome earlier and set up as Bishop, then there: would have been no need for Paul to write as such. Can you see that?

Also take note that Acts 28 records that when Paul finally came to Rome and got together with the chief of the Jews it seemed that they had very little knowledge about the gospel or the true teachings of Christ – for they said, “But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know everywhere it is spoke against” (verse 22). This meant these people knew very little and had not been taught about God’s way of life – until Paul came to them; if the apostle Pater had been Bishop in Rome at this time, do you think the people would have been in such ignorance of the Christian faith and doctrine – so that Paul had to teach them?

Also, the apostle Paul wrote several epistles from Rome and in 2nd Timothy 4:11, he wrote, “Only Luke is with me …” Why would Paul say only Luke is with me if Peter was in Rome at this time? Can you see that no mention of Peter is made? This meant Peter was not in Rome, and the Catholic teaching that Peter was first Bishop of Rome is a lie; it is not true. The Bible says, “… no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:21).

Contrary to being in Rome, the scripture shows Peter was elsewhere ministering not to Gentiles but to the circumcised. Galatians 2: showed that instead of being in Rome, Peter was in Antioch of Syria -where he and Paul had disagreement over the matter of sitting with gentiles. Do you not find it strange to believe that if Peter was the first bishop in Rome, he would have been a Roman bishop who would not have wanted anything to do with gentiles? Why be a bishop in Rome when you wanted nothing to do with the gentiles living there? The truth is that Peter was not the first bishop of Rome.

Who Really went to Rome as a False Peter

Most people are not aware that a man named Simon Magus (not Simon Peter) when to Rome to start a false religion.

The actual founder or originator of the Catholic Church began with this Simon Magus – mentioned in the book of Acts.

Simon Magus was a Babylonian priest – who practiced sorcery; verse 9 of Acts 8 says this Simon used sorcery and bewitched “the people of Samaria, giving out that he was some great one.” verse 10 tells us that the people stood in awe of this man - believing that this man was “the great power of God;” This is what people think of the Pope’ they believe the pope is God’s representative. This Simon swayed or deceived the entire Samaritan nation. When this Simon heard of Christianity, he saw this as an opportunity to enlarge his influence; and so, he wanted to buy a position of high authority in the true Church of God; he wanted to buy a position of apostleship, but was rebuked by Peter who told him that the spirit of God could not be brought with money (Acts 8: 18 -22).

After being rebuked by the apostle Peter, this Simon Magus went about starting his own brand of the Christian church; it was to be a church appearing to be Christian, but it would be a church blending the Babylonian heathen practice with that of the teachings of Christ. Simon wanted to appeal to a wider audience, and blending heathen practices and belief with Christianity placed Simon on the path to enlarging his influence – or desire for worldwide status – hence it was to be a universal church (Catholic means universal).

Simon Magus has been known and spoken of by writers of the 2nd century and 4th century as being a deceiver; he has been described as the “Father of all heresies.” Justin Martyr wrote of this Simon stating that this man was a formidable magician who came to Rome in the days of Claudius Caesar (A.D. 45) and made such a great impact or impression that he was revered as a god and that a statute was erected in his honor – with the words “Simoni deo Sancto” (which means holy god Simon). Simon’s influence and teaching was spread abroad in Rome – where Simon – under the guise of being a Christian, made the city of Rome his headquarters.

This Simon Magus believed in praying to images, doing incantations - whereby the followers of Simon made it a practice to worship before images, praying to female deities – using incense and even worshipping and giving great honor to Simon Magus; and today, the Catholic Church continues to use images and incense - even calling Mary the queen of heaven-as a kind of female deity and intercessor for men and women to pray to.

There were those in the days of Jeremiah the prophet who worshipped and honored false Babylonish female deity - which they regard as the queen of heaven. Notice what God says about this: "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger" (Jer. 7:11),

God was angry with the people for calling upon the queen of heaven; and do you not think God is angry with this great false church who adopted this pagan practice of calling upon a female deity?

Simon Magus was a skilled magician who was deeply involved in the paganistic Babylonian practices that it became part of the Catholic church teachings and beliefs; and this is why God calls this great false Church – “… Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots …” (Revelation 17:5). The Catholics would not want to believe that this is talking about their church, but it is it is this church that has incorporated many Babylonish beliefs and practices, but people are just unwilling to see or believe the truth; and even when they see the truth, they will still reject it - as people are willing to put the false beliefs and doctrines of the Catholic church above the truth of the Bible.

The Pope is Loved by the World

In bringing this article to a close, I just wanted to point out just how much the world loves and embraces the Catholic Church - and its leaders. For example, we can see how the world seems to be so touched and moved to tears over the death of Pope Francis – who died on April 21, 20025. It seems just about everyone - including presidents, prime ministers and the people of the world - all just seem to love and adore the Pope. But contrary to being loved and embraced by the world, Jesus said his true servants would be hated by the world; He said: "If the world hates you, ye know it hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18).

The world will always hate the true servants of God because God’s truth and ways are not welcomed in this world and people of opposite mind are always going to find God’s truth an unwelcome thing; and I can say that if I was a famous or well - known person writing these things, you can be sure I would be hated on a wide level – with people becoming very angry with me for speaking the truth; and the truth is the Pope and the Catholic Church is loved by the world because it is of the world; Jesus said: “if ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, the world hateth you” (John 15:19).

You can look at the Bible and see that God’s true servants have always been hated by the world; they have been killed, maligned, despised, put in dungeon, and cast out - not welcomed by those who believe, teach and live the opposite of God’s truth.

I would say that the person who profess to be a true Christian and you are in fellowship with this world – to the extent that the world loves you for being in fellowship with it, then such person needs to examine if they are truly following God and being obedient to Him and Christ - because the world is not going to love you; it is going to hate you just as Christ was hated.