The contrasting text asserts that the antichristian kingdom of the papacy is built entirely upon external things like clothing, festivals, consecrations, and religious hierarchies, to the exclusion of the laity and against the witness of scripture. The image shows religious leaders, monks, nuns, and lay people bowing in adoration to the pope. With scepter and crown, he blesses them from his throne.

The reference to 1 Timothy 4:1-4 with which the text concludes was one of the foundational passages for the Protestant accusation that the papacy was antichristian. “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods.” For the reformers, this passage’s words connecting the Antichrist with the papal insistence on forced celibacy and religious rules about feasting and fasting could not be clearer, especially combined with the extravagant worldliness of the Renaissance popes.