If the glorious figure of Jesus walked the streets today, how would the world react?
The Bible warns against this very thing. The apostle Paul cautioned the Corinthians against those who would seek to come among them as “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ” (II Cor. 11:13). He adds, “And no wonder! Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (verse 14).
From the beginning, God’s people have had to distinguish truth from error. And this was possible only by the Word of God. Isaiah warned that both houses of Israel could easily stumble and fall without God’s leading. Some would seek mediums and wizards to contact the dead for guidance instead of seeking out God for answers to their difficulties, trials, and questions (Is. 8:19).
Isaiah counsels, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Is. 8:20). Isaiah points in this text to the first five books of the Bible and to any succeeding messages from God’s other true prophets such as Isaiah himself, who lived at the end of the 8th and early in the 7th century B.C.
The last Old Testament book, Malachi, closed out the Scriptures by about 400 B.C. Well before Jesus’ time, then, there was a complete collection of the “law and the testimonies.” When Jesus refers to the Scriptures for evidence, He is following Isaiah’s counsel for knowing the truth.
If any messenger fails to agree with the Law and the Prophets, this person is a false prophet, even when appearances suggest otherwise. The Devil himself could masquerade as a heavenly being and express delusions and falsehoods.
We live in an age dominated by images as no other time in history. Media is saturated with photos and videos that are vivid and impressive. Imagery contains messages that we “see” with our own eyes, even if those images mislead, or are, in fact, unreal or fake.
In the religious world, imagery is key. Even faithful Christians can be misled by something they see. Catholicism has had centuries of experience with imagery of all sorts, not simply venerated images, but the general appearance of its churches, clergy, and ritual. Just because a priest dramatically raises a piece of bread toward heaven does not mean that that bread becomes the body of Christ. The law and the testimony supports no such conclusion.
Every Sunday at St. Peter’s Basilica, when possible, the pope celebrates the Angelus, a devotion practiced for centuries three times a day. The Angelus focuses on the incarnation of Christ. At noon from a window of the Basilica, the pope shares a gospel message, comments on world events, and admonishes the people.
Let’s examine the Angelus from St. Peter’s on July 6, 2025 before a large audience in St. Peter’s square. First, the pontiff spoke on the gospel message found in Luke 10, a Scripture concerning the missionary efforts of the early disciples of Jesus.
The pope urged his audience to practice their various vocations with eagerness in order to spread the gospel message. He warned against theoretical gospel plans, but counseled the need of missionaries to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers.
The pope’s message was pure gospel truth, until the end of his remarks. At that point, he turned his focus to the Virgin Mary. Catholics, he said, should ask Mary “to intercede for us and accompany us on the path of the Lord.” Instead of encouraging Catholics to seek the Holy Spirit, the pope tells them to seek the Virgin Mary.
Neither the law or the testimony supports such a practice. In fact, the prophet Isaiah warned against consulting the dead. The law and the testimony does not indicate that Mary the mother of Jesus would be translated to heaven nor does it suggest that Mary has the power to intercede for believers. The New Testament confirms this truth.
What the pope asserted during the Angelus is false even though the great bulk of his message was directly from the book of Luke. One lie plus nine truths does not equal truth. Together, they make one lie.
The devil, Jesus said, is the father of lies. We must conclude then, that despite the gentleness and kind words of Leo XIV on this occasion, he stood in the window of St. Peter’s and devilishly misled not only those in the square, but all those listening around the world.
Every element of the scene at St. Peter’s argues against this conclusion. The unmatched architecture, the centuries of existence of this institution, the attractive, kind pontiff–all mean nothing when compared with the Word of God. In light of what we see with our eyes, the statements I’ve made, the accusations I’ve leveled, seem cruel and bigoted.
Unfortunately for those who demand a “thus sayeth the Lord” for every religious claim, they must reject the words of the most powerful moral authority in the world, a colossus striding the planet with little opposition except from those who place the Bible above all worldly authority.
The apostle John writes, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” (I John 4:1). The papacy, on the other hand, claims that truth is external to the biblical “law and testimony.” Instead, the Roman Catechism says, “Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law [as expressed in the revised Ten Commandments consecrating Sunday observance] or the Magisterium of the Church (see paragraph 2039).
Satan himself can take on the form of an angel of light, even the lovely form of Jesus. May God preserve his people as they, through the power of the Holy Spirit, resist the Antichrist powers of today.
The Word of God says to you today, “Come out of her, my people.”