Doctrines From the Dark Ages

The pope claims to be the vicar, or representative, of Christ. But was Christ ever known to put people in prison because they did not worship Him as the King of heaven? Was His voice heard condemning to death those who did not accept Him?LF 232.5

The Roman Church now presents a pleasing front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments, but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy in past ages exists today. The church still holds the doctrines devised in the Dark Ages. The papacy that Protestants now honor is the same that ruled in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up at the risk of their lives to expose her evils.LF 232.6

The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the end times. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.) Under the changeable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the changeless venom of the serpent. Shall we now acknowledge this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, as a part of the church of Christ?LF 232.7