A PROTESTANT VIEW THAT THE PAPACY IS ANTICHRIST

THEIR DOCTRINE:

The papacy represents a distorted gospel message that puts Catholics in Hell. Catholics cannot be saved without repudiating the doctrines taught by the Pope.
 
It is better to be an outright atheist or pagan than to be in a fake Christian Church. Satan needs to make people think they are safe from Hell and he does that best by luring them into or keeping them in false Christian Churches. Such would be harder to convince than atheists or pagans than they are in need of the saving work of Jesus Christ. That is why the Lord God in the Law he gave Moses, never commanded the vanquishing of pagans unless they were a direct threat to Israel but he did insist that if any one of his people started to change the word of God in any way they had to be immediately destroyed.
 
The pope is an instrument of Satan. Whether he is aware of it or not, he is doing a far greater evil than Hitler. He is taking souls with him to Hell. Jesus said not to fear the Hitlers but those who lead you to Hell.  If you are to fear him who can destroy body and soul in Gehenna - as Jesus said -you are to fear the allies of Gehenna on earth.
 
If you read the internet on the Catholic Church, you will find that every doctrine is an extremely complicated subject. For example, the arguments of Catholics who believe that the current popes are impostors, or heretics are strong. This complexity cannot be the will of God who hates confusion according to scripture.
 
The pope claims to be the vicar of Christ the one who stands in the place of Christ. According to the Bible, one who makes such a claim is antichrist. Antichrist does not mean against Christ but in the place of Christ. But as there should be nobody taking the place of Christ by implication this implies that the pope is against Christ.  Jesus said to call no man your spiritual father.  Paul said he was a father to his flock but this was a metaphor.  He did not ask them to treat him as they would a father.
 
The Bible says that anybody who denies that Jesus is the Christ is antichrist. None of these people claimed to stand in the place of Christ. The pope does which makes us certain he is antichrist.
 
The Bible says that whoever denies the coming of Jesus in the flesh is antichrist.  In Catholicism, Jesus' real self is something invisible and non-physical.  They say a body is some kind of entity that is not the physical.  That is how they can say that Jesus is literally present in holy communion.  The bread is literally his body.  It is even his blood.  And the wine is his body and blood too despite his saying the bread is his body and the wine is his blood!
 
The pope doesn't claim to be a prophet. But he does claim the power to infallibly declare that a doctrine has been revealed by God. He says that this infallibility is merely protection from error and is not inspiration. Prophets claim to be inspired by God.  As the Pope says he can tell you what a prophet meant then he is claiming to be better than the prophet.  He decides what Jesus meant so he is the real authority not Jesus.  In practice he is a prophet.  He narrowly defines prophet as somebody inspired by God but surely there are prophets out there who merely claim to be immunised against errors?
 
The pope is a false prophet and a liar and under the condemnation given by God in . Moses if he were alive today would proclaim the death penalty against the pope.

The pope claims to have the power to block the forgiveness of sins.  Some sins cannot be removed by confession to a priest and you have to go to the bishop.  If God really forgives and welcomes then forgiveness cannot be controlled like that.  The husband who forgives his wife's betrayal will not say, "I will pardon you at 10am tomorrow morning."  That is not how it works.  And if it is as regimented and impersonal as that it will deprive her of any chance of appreciating it and being inspired by it.  The papacy uses a subtle method of stopping proper redemption.
 
Water baptism does not forgive sins though the Church and the Pope say it does.  Roman Catholicism treats forgiveness like it was something that could be got out of a tap.  If you are ready and God is merciful God will forgive then and will not wait until somebody puts water on you.

Even on the human level, there are reasons for dismissing the pope.  But biblically, there are religious reasons too.