Lesson 28
Who is the Babylonian WHORE of the Book of Revelation?
AMBASSADOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGE‐ Dr. Keith Slough
INTRODUCTION Surprising Truth the World's Churches Do Not Have!
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T IS SURPRISING, BUT MOST Christians do not have the truth you are about to learn in this lesson. FEW "Believers" truly understand Jesus' command to "come out" of this apostate system represented by a "fallen woman" who sits upon the "Beast" in Revelation 17! Don't be too sure you fully understand until you carefully read this entire lesson. Most of this information is hard to believe. You are about to read of an organization who controlled (or "sat on") the "Beast" System for many centuries. You are going to learn how this "fallen" (or apostate) system was Satan's instrument to MURDER literally millions of faithful Christians who tried to hold to God's Truth ‐ the True Religion of the New Testament Era. It sounds like fiction, yet this is documented history. An organization that supposedly worshipped God was the main instrument of SATAN'S WRATH against the true Holy Spirit‐filled saints of God during the Middle Ages because they refused to join this apostate system preferring instead to believe only the Bible. Most of you were born into this apostate system. Jesus commands you to "come out"! BUT MOST OF YOU HAVE NOT OBEYED JESUS! Instead you have remained ignorant of the true identity of Babylon. It is a "system" not just one organization. It is a collective group of organizations that have inherited traditions and belief systems that actually originated in ancient Babylon! Alexander Hislop who lived in the 19th century wrote a well documented book entitled, The Two Babylons which showed documented proof that a modern system has inherited the ancient Babylonian religious system and has perpetuated it into our day! Though the ancient city of Babylon was utterly corrupt and was eventually destroyed along with a curse on it that it would never be rebuilt, its religious system of pagan, heathen doctrines and holidays have survived to this day in the western world due to the "whore" ‐an organization that controlled the Roman Empire and has foisted this system of false Babylonian religion on Europe and the entire western world! This is not opinion. It is not theory. Rather you are being asked to "prove all things" by reading this documented history. Jesus explains that this organization that is spiritually "whorish" in the sight of God has become famous for MURDERING countless saints of God. Only one organization in history has ever done that. Only one system of religion has ever been so hell‐bent and satanically inspired to have perpetrated such atrocities on innocent men, women and children whose only crime against them was their faith in Jesus and their love for the truth of Scripture. Tragically this false religious system with its apostate religious traditions and customs
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originating in the ancient pagan religions of Babylon was passed on to future generations through its offspring referred to as "daughters." In this lesson you will learn the identity of the "whore" and the identity of the "daughters" that have perpetuated this ancient Babylonian false religious system. It is long overdue that the people of God learn the identity of the whore of Babylon and her daughters. What you will read here is actual documented history. Jesus commands His true people to come out and be separate. Will you obey Jesus Christ? Do you love Him with all your heart? Read this lesson carefully. Perhaps God is calling YOU out of the world's false religions to be a part of His true Religion.
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Who is the WHORE of the
Book of Revelation? Who is the "WHORE" of Revelation 17? Here is surprising, even shocking, PROOF of her identity! Jesus commands: "COME OUT of her, MY people"! (Revelation 18:4). The people of Jesus Christ are Christians, yet many of His own people are still in this evil, apostate system of religion. It is time to obey Christ. It is time to COME OUT! We must be able to correctly identify who this organization is in order to obey Jesus' command to come out and have nothing to do with this system. Are you still a part of this whorish system of religion? Could YOU still be IN this Babylon of religious confusion which will be punished with great PLAGUES in the Last Days? (verse 4). If you do not identify this apostate system then when God punishes this modern day "Babylon" YOU will also be PUNISHED along with those in this system, even if you ARE one of HIS people. To His true followers He commands "COME OUT OF HER "!
CHAPTER 1:
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HE "WHORE of Revelation" can be easily identified! But, to many professing Christians, the truth will come as a shock! It is also true that MOST Christians are connected to this whore in some way! And Jesus Christ commands us to have nothing to do with her! Are you part of this system? It is now time to reveal the identity of this whore and her harlot daughters. For many of you, the truth will be unpleasant. But God's true servants are commanded to "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins"! (Isaiah 58:1). Today God's people and the House of Jacob are very much a part of this Harlot system. Many of you reading this are also involved and Christ commands you in the last days to come out! For in the last days God will punish this whorish system that got its reli‐ gion from Babylon! Symbolism in Revelation The book of Revelation is written in symbolism yet it is not difficult to see what these symbols stand for. For example, in Revelation 1 we see seven golden candlesticks and seven stars (verses 12 and 16). There is no need to give in to wild speculation about the meaning of these symbols. The Bible tells us what they mean. In verse 20 we are told: "The seven stars are the ANGELS of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven
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CHURCHES"! There is the interpretation! The Bible interprets its own symbols. Another example is the "great red dragon" of chapter 12. Speculation can abound about the identity of this red dragon. Some may think it represents Red China, whose national symbol is a red dragon. Others may assume it represents red communism around the world. Others may think it symbolizes warfare or any number of other things. However the Bible tells us what this "red dragon" symbolizes in Bible prophecy. Notice Revelation 12:9. "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” There you have it! The red dragon is a symbol of Satan! It is not Red China or communism or any other thing. It is the devil. So says your Bible! Who is the Beast? The Bible speaks of four "beasts" in prophecy. And in the Book of Revelation it mentions this fourth and final "beast.” What is this beast? Who is it? How can we identify it? Let's not speculate. Let's get the truth of God from the Bible itself! The traditions, speculations and personal interpretations of men are not the truth we are to believe. Remember Jesus said God's WORD is truth! (John 17:17). So now we must look to the Scriptures to learn who the "beast" is. In the Book of Daniel we read of four "beasts." Rather than privately interpret what a "beast" represents in Biblical and prophetic symbolism, we only need to go to the Bible for the answer. Daniel writes about an inspired dream God had given him (called a "vision" in the Bible) where he saw four "beasts." These four "beasts" are connected to the "great image" seen by King Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2. The Four Kingdoms In Daniel 2:31‐35, we read of the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had and the inspired interpretation is given by Daniel in verses 36‐45. Historians agree to the accuracy of Daniel's prophecy. This image represented four kingdoms (or empires). The first kingdom was Babylon which existed in Daniel's day (verses 37‐38). The second kingdom was the Medo‐Persian Empire long after Daniel's death, and the third kingdom was the Greco Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Great. With this understanding all scholars and historians agree. In verse 40 Daniel speaks of the fourth kingdom which is different than the first three. It has been said by Bible Scholars that the book of Daniel is the key to the book of Revelation as this
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fourth and final empire is the same one mentioned in the book of Revelation. This fourth empire will exist when the Messiah comes to rule all nations! In the final resurrection of the Roman Empire there will be 10 divisions or sovereignties ‐10 kings, who will then give their authority and power to the Antichrist in the last days! (Revelation 17:12‐13). Daniel then adds in verse 44: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up Kingdom [the "Kingdom of God"] which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever"! This refers to the world‐ruling KINGDOM OF GOD that will be established by Jesus Christ at His return which the saints will participate in for 1000 years! (Revelation 2:26‐27; 3:21; 5:10; and 20:4). All Bible scholars agree that the four kingdoms Daniel specifies in chapter two are synonymous with the four" beasts" in chapter 7 where God gives us additional information about these world‐ruling empires. Now let's read about the four beasts of Daniel's dream. "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another (Daniel 7:2‐3). He then describes these four beasts in verses 4 through 8. These four beasts correspond perfectly with the great image of Daniel chapter 2. Notice the four "beasts" also symbolize kingdoms. In Daniel 7:19 we read: "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful..." Daniel is then given the interpretation in verse 23: "Thus he said, ‘The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse ‘" Notice that this beast described here is the fourth of four KINGDOMS! All scholars are in agreement as to the identity of these four kingdoms. . Daniel 7:4 refers to Babylon. Verse 5 refers to Medo‐Persia. Verse 6 refers to the Greco‐ Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Great and verse 7 speaks of the fourth empire: ROME. Many reference Bibles such as the Scofield Reference Bible even gives headings for each of these verses labeling these empires. The fourth empire was to receive a "deadly wound" but then to revive (Revelation 13:3). The Roman Empire was technically destroyed in A.D. 476 but then was revived under Justinian in 554. However in its revival it was then known as the "Holy" Roman Empire as the entire revived Roman Empire was now ruled over by a large universal or "catholic" church. The Catholic Church sat at the reins of power over all the kings of Europe and dominated the empire. Even the Roman Catholic Douay Reference Bible notes under Revelation 13 that this "beast" is the ROMAN EMPIRE! It cannot be denied. The celebrated Jamison, Fausett, and Brown Commentary says on page 747 concerning this fourth kingdom: "The ten kingdoms, therefore, prefigured by the ten ''toes'' (ch.2:41; cf Rev 13:1; 17:12), are the ten kingdoms into which Rome shall be found finally divided when Antichrist shall appear [Tregelles].”
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In reference to all four of these "beasts" or kingdoms, the same Commentary states: "The first three [kingdoms] together take up a few centuries; the fourth, thousands of years"! (ibid. page 747). The Roman Empire did indeed receive a "deadly wound" in A.D. 476 but then was revived multiple times. First it was revived under Justinian in 554. Later it was revived under other kings who attempted to "revive the Roman Empire" but did so under the authority and rule of the Roman Catholic Church. It became a revival of the Roman Empire calling itself "Holy" due to being a union of "church and state." But with each revival the Roman Catholic Church again dominated the empire. Revivals of the Roman Empire occurred under various emperors such as "Otto the Great." A revival occurred under Charlemagne. After his fall, Charles the fifth resurrected it once again. Then later Napoleon attempted to resurrect the ancient "Holy" Roman Empire by once again uniting church and state in his Concordant of 1801. He built the Roman architectural wonders found to this day in the city of Paris! It was his attempt to revive the ancient Roman Empire placing himself as the Emperor! The last revival of the Ancient Empire to date is the union of church and state under Mussolini when he formally announced that the Roman Catholic Church would be the official state religion of Europe allied to the Axis Powers with Nazi Germany! Each time such a revival has come about it has created mortal fear in the hearts of true Christians who know that freedom of religion is outlawed in Europe when Rome is the official religion. True Christianity cannot be practiced where freedom of religion does not exist. There is yet to be a seventh and final revival of this ancient so‐called "Holy" Roman Empire, dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. Jesus Christ calls this period, yet to come, the worst time in history. Historians referred to the middle ages when the Roman Catholic Church ruled all of Europe, "the Dark Ages"! The time yet to come will be worse. In fact it will be the worst time in human history! Jesus calls this period yet future, the "Great Tribulation"! "For then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be"! (Matt. 24:21). Once again there will be a revival of this ancient Roman Empire and the world's largest church organization will dominate it just as it has in previous "revivals" of this ancient empire. The reference note in the Scofield Reference Bible under Daniel 7:26‐27 states: "The ten kingdoms, covering the regions formerly ruled by ROME, will constitute, therefore, the form in which the fourth or ROMAN EMPIRE will exist when the whole fabric of Gentile world‐ domination is smitten by the "stone cut out without hands" ‐Christ (Dan. 2:44,45; 7:9)" (Scofield, page 911). In the same reference Bible under Revelation 13 we read: "Daniel's fourth beast (Daniel 7:26, note). The "ten horns" are explained in Dan. 7:24, Rev. 17: 12, to be ten kings, and the whole vision is of the last form of Gentile world‐power, a confederated ten‐kingdom empire covering the sphere of authority of ancient Rome. Rev. 13:1‐3 refers to the ten‐kingdom empire; verses 4‐10 to the emperor, who is emphatically "the Beast" (Rev. 19:20 note) (Scofield, page 1341, emphasis in the original). The "beast" refers both to the Roman Empire as well as to
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the leader or Emperor of the empire. The final Emperor of the last prophesied revival of this ancient empire is the one; evangelicals refer to as ''the ANTICHRIST"! ‐called the son of perdi‐ tion by the Apostle Paul! (II Thess. 2:3‐4). It is absolutely clear then from many authorities throughout history that the fourth "beast" of Daniel is the same "beast" or kingdom spoken of by Christ in the book of Revelation. The Roman Catholic Church agrees! What does a WOMAN symbolize in Bible Prophecy? Again we must not interpret the Bible ourselves. We must go to the Bible itself to learn the prophetic meaning of a "woman" in Bible prophecy. Throughout Bible Prophecy God pictures His Covenant as a marriage covenant. In Acts 7:38 the nation of Israel is referred to as ''the church" in the wilderness. As a "church" Israel was also referred to as a woman! Christ was the "husband" and Israel was His covenanted "wife." In previous lessons of this Study Course, we have proved that Christ was "the Lord" ‐ the GOD of the Old Testament (I Corinthians 10:4). Notice what God says through the prophet Jeremiah: "Turn, O backsliding children [of Israel], saith the LORD; for I am MARRIED Unto you..."! (Jeremiah 3:14). Notice, Israel here, the "church" in the wilderness, is pictured as a woman who is covenanted in marriage to God. Israel later mixed rank PAGANISM with the true Religion of Almighty God, thus creating infidelity in her relationship to God! This infidelity is likened to "adultery"! Eventually God "divorced" His wife ‐the nation of Israel ‐for her mixing of paganism with the true worship of God ‐which in the sight of God is spiritual adultery! ‐unfaithfulness to her spiritual husband which was God! (Jeremiah 3:8). God put away or "divorced" His first wife Israel because of her adultery or spiritual whoredom, represented by her choosing the "days of Balaam" or PAGAN religious festivals which she mixed together with the worship of the true God. (Isaiah 50:1, Hosea 2:2, 13). Israel had violated the Old Covenant which Biblical scholars agree is likened to a "marriage contract" between God and the people of Israel. Likewise the New Covenant is also a "marriage contract" but it is between Christ and the spiritual church! In John 3:29 Jesus Christ refers to Himself as the Bridegroom over the church. The true Church of God is likened to a chaste virgin who is espoused to Christ but waiting on the "marriage supper" and therefore not yet married until that event (II Corinthians 11:1‐2; Revelation 19:6‐9). She is to remain a virgin until Christ comes for her at His second coming. The Apostle Paul refers to the marriage relationship and gives instruction for the duties of husband and wife. "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything" (Ephesians 5: 23‐24) Then he adds, "This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (verse 32). This entire passage in Ephesians 5:22‐33 likens marriage to the covenant relationship between Christ and the true Church. The true Church is again referred to in symbolism as a chaste woman in Revelation 12.
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While this refers typically to the Old Covenant Church of Israel, it anti‐typically refers to the New Covenant Church as well. Notice that the remnant of her seed refers to the New Covenant Church for they "keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ"! (Revelation 12:17). Now, we see that the true Church of God is referred to as a virginal woman not yet married, but an espoused bride waiting for the return of her Lord, the husband, the King of kings. Finally, who is the WHORE that Dominates the Beast? Finally, who is the woman, called a "WHORE" and "Mystery Babylon," that "sits on" or rules over the beast, the Roman Empire, in Revelation 17? Some may think it is fallen Israel. Some have even said she is the United States. However let's read carefully what clues the Bible itself gives us as to her identity. First this woman is not a pure virgin as is the true Church. She is a fallen woman. She has not remained true to Christ. Second she sits upon the seven mountains or seven hills, which many Bible Scholars have pointed out, coincide with the Seven Hills of Rome! the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church! Next we read that this woman is sitting upon the beast! (Revelation 17:3). Even a little girl can control a huge beast (such as a horse) by sitting on its back at the reins. So this woman sits upon this beast controlling it! We have already seen that the true Church is likened to a woman in Bible prophecy! A woman is a CHURCH! This "woman" then is a fallen or apostate CHURCH! But the true Church of God is called a "chaste virgin" in prophecy. Who then is this whore that sits astride the beast, the Roman Empire? Since she is a "whore" she has proven to be unfaithful to God. There is only one organization that has ever "sat on" or dominated the kings and nations of Europe. And that organization is undisputedly from the record of history, the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH! Further Proofs When sitting atop the beast, she controlled the entire Roman Empire causing it to commit blasphemy (Revelation 17:3). To this day the priesthood or clergy of this church refer to themselves as "fathers." In Matthew 23, Jesus forbids us to call any man on earth by the spiritual title of "Father" which is reserved for God Himself alone! (Matt. 23:9). The leader of the Catholic Church is called "the MOST holy father." Where does that leave God? Notice in John 17:11 Jesus calls God the Father by the title "Holy Father." No man can take this title to himself without certainly committing BLASPHEMY!
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But another very real identifying sign of this whorish "woman" who sits on or rules over the Roman Empire is her incredible wealth! Only one such organization fits the description given in the Book of Revelation! Notice in Revelation 17:4 that her symbol is a golden cup in her hand (which God says is full of abominations and filthiness). If the reader has access to the Internet, numerous artworks can be found showing Roman Catholic paintings portraying the Catholic Church as a woman holding just such a cup! There are numerous such paintings and pictures. To find this website the reader may go to http://triumph.simplenet.com/Vatican html. In the next chapter, we will give abundant proofs as to the identity of the "Whore" of Babylon! Meantime, you may search the World Wide Web under the above web site and other links establishes. It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction. We will soon learn what the Bible means when it states that the whole world has been deceived (Revelation 12:9).
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Chapter 2: THE FALLEN “WOMAN” This “fallen woman” SITS on, or RULES over, the Beast which we know to be the Roman Empire! Jesus COMMANDS us to COME OUT of this apostate system! Have you come out?
THE BIBLE SHOWS THAT in prophecy, a "woman" symbolizes a "church." The true Church is symbolized by a chaste, pure virgin because she has kept herself doctrinally pure. Then who is the "fallen woman" who rules over the beast ‐the Roman Empire? –who has not kept herself doctrinally pure? Only one church has ever ruled over the Roman Empire! No other has. All historians agree. It is the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH! The Whore is Wealthy! Notice that John sees this "woman" clothed in expensive clothing, an obvious sign of great wealth. "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with GOLD and precious stones and pearls, having a GOLDEN CUP in her hand" (Revelation 17:4). In ancient times only kings could afford purple. Notice her colors are purple and scarlet (red) and she is literally "decked" with gold! Her symbol is a golden cup! If you have access to the Internet and the World Wide Web you should check out the following website. It shows many pictures of ancient art and sculptures portraying the Roman Catholic Church exactly as Revelation 17 portrays her: with a golden CUP in her hand! A Wealthy Church We are also given additional information to help us in identifying the "whore" that sits on the beast, the Roman Empire. In verse 4 we read: And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." The Roman Catholic Church is considered to be one of the richest organizations on the face of the earth! From the website http://triumph.simplenet.com/7hills.html we get this information showing that the Catholic Church perfectly identifies with the description found in the book of Revelation for the whore who sits on or dominates the fourth beast or kingdom, the Roman
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Empire. Remember, it is because of the tremendous wealth and influence of this church that she was able to gain total control over an empire! The quotation follows (Emphases mine throughout): You may go to the website for additional information. The web site is: http://triumph.simplenet.com/vatican.htm. From this website comes the following quotation: Wealth from ILLGotten Gain "The incredible wealth of this woman caught John's attention next. She was dressed "in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication" (Revelation 17:4). The colors of purple and scarlet once again identify the woman with both pagan and Christian [or rather, Catholic] Rome. These were the colors of the Roman Caesar's with which the soldiers mockingly robed Christ as "King" (see Matthew 27:28 and John 19:2,5), which the Vatican took to itself. The woman's colors are literally still the colors of the Catholic clergy!”
"The "GOLDEN CUP [chalice] in her hand" again identifies the woman with the Roman Catholic Church. Broderick's edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia declared of the chalice: "[It is] the most important of the sacred vessels... [It] may be of gold or silver, and if the latter, then the inside must be surfaced with GOLD" (Robert Broderick, ed., The Catholic Encyclopedia, Thomas Nelson, 1976, pp. 103‐4). The Roman Catholic Church possesses many thousands of solid gold chalices kept in its churches around the world. Even the bloodstained cross of Christ has been turned to gold and studded with gems in reflection of ROME'S GREAT WEALTH. The Catholic Encyclopedia says: "The pectoral cross [suspended by a chain around the neck and worn over the breast by abbots, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the pope] should be made of GOLD and ... decorated with gems..." (Ibid., p. 466). "Rome has practiced evil to gather her wealth, for the "golden cup" is filled with "abominations and filthiness." Much of the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church was acquired through the confiscation of the property of the pitiful victims of the Inquisitions. Even the dead were exhumed to face trial and property was taken from their heirs by the Church. One historian writes: "The punishments of the Inquisition did not cease when the victim was burned to ashes, or immured for life in the Inquisition dungeons. His relatives were reduced to beggary by the law that all his possessions were forfeited. The system offered unlimited opportunities for loot. ... Stealing From the Wealthy "This source of gain largely accounts for the revolting practice of what has been called' corpse‐trials.' ... That the practice of confiscating the property of condemned heretics was
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productive of many acts of extortion, rapacity and corruption will be doubted by no one who has any knowledge either of her nature or of historical documents. ... no man was safe whose wealth might arouse cupidity, or whose independence might provoke revenge" (William Shaw Kerr, A Handbook of the Papacy, London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, p. 241) "Most of Rome's wealth has been acquired through the sale of salvation. Untold BILLIONS of dollars have been paid to her by those who thought they were purchasing heaven on the installation plan for themselves or loved ones. The practice continues to this day‐blatantly where Catholicism is in control, less obviously here in the United States. No greater deception or abomination could be perpetrated. When Cardinal Cajetan, sixteenth‐century Dominican scholar, complained about the sale of dispensations and indulgences, the Church hierarchy was indignant and accused him of wanting "to turn Rome into an uninhabited desert, to reduce the Papacy to impotence, to deprive the Pope...of the pecuniary resources indispensable for the discharge of his office" (J.H. Ignaz von Dollinger, The Pope and the Council, London, 1869, pp. 307‐08). "In addition to such perversions of the gospel which have led hundreds of millions astray, there are the further abominations of corrupt banking practices, laundering of drug money, trading, in counterfeit securities, and dealings with the Mafia (fully documented in police and court records), which the Vatican and her representatives around the world have long employed. Nino Lo Bello, former Business Week correspondent in Rome and Rome bureau chief for New York Journal of Commerce, writes that the Vatican is so closely allied with the Mafia in Italy that "many people...believe that Sicily.., is nothing more than a Vatican building" (Nino Lo Bello, The Vatican Empire, Trident Press, 1968, p. 167; see also David A. Yallo, In God's Name, Bantam Books, 1984; Richard Hammers, The Vatican Connection, Penguin Books, 1983). "The Roman Catholic Church is by far THE WEALTHIEST INSTITUTION ON EARTH. Yes, one hears from Rome periodic pleas for money‐‐persuasive appeals claiming that the Vatican cannot maintain itself on its limited budget and needs monetary assistance. Such pleas are unconscionable ploys. The value of innumerable sculptures by such masters as Michelangelo, paintings by the world's greatest artists, and countless other art treasures and ancient documents which Rome possesses (not only at the Vatican but in cathedrals around the world) is beyond calculation. At the World Synod of Bishops in Rome, England's Cardinal Heenan proposed that the Church sell some of these superfluous treasures and give the proceeds to the poor. His suggestion was not well‐received. Laying Up Treasures on Earth "Christ ... told His followers not to lay up treasure on this earth but in heaven. The Roman Catholic Church has disobeyed that command and has accumulated a plethora of riches without equal, of which "the Roman Pontiff is the supreme administrator and steward. ..." (James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Donald E. Heintschel, eds., The Code of Canon Law, Paulist Press,
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1985, Canon 1273). There is no church, no city which is a spiritual entity, no religious institution past or present which even comes close to possessing THE WEALTH OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. A recent newspaper article described only a fraction of that treasure at one location: "The fabulous treasure of Lourdes [France], whose existence was kept secret by the Catholic Church for 120 years, has been unveiled. ...Rumors have been circulating for decades about a priceless collection of GOLD CHALICES, diamond‐studded crucifixes [a far cry from the bloodstained cross on which Christ died], silver and precious stones donated by grateful pilgrims. "After an indiscreet remark by their press spokesman this week, church authorities agreed to reveal part of the collection... [some] floor‐to‐ceiling cases were open to reveal 59 solid gold brooches, many encrusted with precious stones. “Almost hidden by the other treasures, in the "Crown" of Notre Dame de Lourdes, made by a Paris goldsmith in 1876 and studded with diamonds. Church authorities say they cannot put a value on the collection. 'I have no idea,' says [priest] Pierre Marie Charriez, director of Patri‐ mony and Sanctuaries. 'It is of inestimable value.’...” End of Quotation. Incredible, isn't it? Here is documentation not only of the wealthy "purple and scarlet colour" the whore wears, but also proof that she is indeed "DECKED with GOLD and precious stones and pearls, having a GOLDEN CUP [or chalice] in her hand"! And now the reader can understand why Christ reveals to John in the Book of Revelation that this golden cup is nevertheless "full of abominations and filthiness of her [spiritual] fornication"! The great wealth of the whore came from ill‐gotten gain! The Roman Catholic Church perfectly identifies with the description found in the book of Revelation for the whore who sits on or dominates the fourth beast or kingdom, the Roman Empire. Remember, it is because of the tremendous wealth and influence of this church that she was able to gain total control over an empire! A Day of JUDGMENT is coming! But a Day of Judgment is coming on the apostate Roman Catholic Church! Not only is the Roman Church extremely wealthy but there is yet another frightening identification of the whore. Through the centuries she has MURDERED the saints of God and has become drunk on the blood of the true saints of God who were martyred for standing up for the truth of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ! The Whore Identified! It is time you learned the truth! Anyone who has ever read Foxes Book of Martyrs will have a hard time falling asleep afterwards. The inhumanity of man in the name of religion is
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astonishing. Yet the one organization that has spilled the blood of the very saints of God far more than any other body is the Roman Catholic Church! Why should a "church" commit murder? Yet the Roman Catholic Church by far, leads the world in the murder of innocent men, women, and children, whose only crime was that they refused to bow their knees to the Pope of Rome wishing only to serve the Lord Jesus Christ! And for this, the Roman Catholic Church caused the tragic deaths of genuine, truly converted, commandment‐keeping Christians down through the centuries! The following accounts represent only a minute portion of the many, many true stories of Roman Catholic persecution and torture of the saints of God who worshipped Jesus Christ. These are the ones referred to in the book of Daniel when he said: "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast [Rome], which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful..." Wearing Out the Saints "Daniel saw this power emerge which would get a reputation as a destroyer of saints. The blood of God's people would flow as never before. Pagan Rome tried to exterminate New Covenant Christianity by its many purging persecutions of the Christians. They began with Nero in 67 A.D. and continued through Diocletian's persecutions which began in 302 A.D. However, history reveals that the Roman Papacy Catholic church exceeded all others in the systematic, barbaric TORTURE AND MURDER of those who confessed Jesus Christ in opposition to her perversions of worship and scripture. "This continued for well over 1200 years. "The Mother Harlot spirit became intoxicated on the blood of martyrs as she declared an "open season" on all people she labeled as ..."heretics". (The true Christians attempted to abide in the Apostles doctrine of the New Testament). All of this transpired with the sanction of the Roman Catholic Church. History records how Catholic clergymen and church empowered civil‐ servants burned, massacred, hacked, hunted, butchered, shot, stabbed, drowned, beheaded, quartered, impaled, buried alive, baked, threw from cliffs, starved, suspended, stuffed, blew up, ripped, dragged, bored with hot irons, choked, trampled, and performed other unmentionable barbarities upon men, women and children who opposed Catholicism. A Church that Murdered Christians ''Roman Catholic Inquisition efforts were made to extinguish the Waldenses, the Lollards, the Bohemians, the Hussittes, the Huguenots, and other innumerable Protestants. It has been estimated that close to 50 MILLION SOULS WERE KILLED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE ROMAN PONTIFFS. The executioners of this torment and torture were given absolution of all their sins and a promise of immediate entrance into heaven if they should die in the pursuit and
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MURDER of ''heretics''. "Truly for well over 1200 years the Great Whore "wore out the saints" and became "drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” (Rev. 17:6)." End of Quotation. There is still more from the website www.chick.com/reading/books/153/153cont.asp. Click on chapter 3 entitled "A 20th Century Inquisition." There you will read actual quotations from Adolph Hitler who publicly stated his loyalty to the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH as his reason for the holocaust, murdering six million innocent Jewish men, women and little children! Professing Christians have wondered for years why Catholic leader, Pope Pius did not step in and condemn the Nazis in World War 2. It is now obvious that the Vatican was allied with the Nazis and Hitler had the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church in his attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish race!!! It sounds incredible, but the facts have recently been published in books in the secular press. The reader is advised to look at the various chapters of the book on this web site and read them thoroughly. The information, the truth that you will get from documented historical sources, is more than many of you may be prepared for. But God wants His people to know the truth. In the next chapter we will examine verse 6 of this 17th chapter of the book of Revelation to see undeniable proof as to the one and only possible identity of ''the great whore" that has sat on and dominated the beast power ‐the Roman Empire for over 1000 years! This whore will yet figure prominently in prophecy in the coming years! You must be prepared! Now is the time to learn all you can learn and study the Word of God as never before so that when these events in the Book of Revelation occur in the last days, you will know who the "whore" of Babylon is and will have long before already "come out" before it is too late!!.
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Chapter 3: THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
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ESUS SAID YOU WILL KNOW the truth and the truth will set you free! Today the whole world has been religiously deceived by Satan whom the Bible calls the "god" of this world! (II Corinthians 4:4). We were born into this deceived world. And now Christ calls us to come out! (Revelation 18:4). We have seen that Satan has counterfeited true New Testament ‐BIBLICAL ‐Christianity with a pagan version utilizing the Babylonian Mystery SUN‐ WORSHIPPING religion but calling itself "Christian"! Babylonian festivals (later adopted by the Romans) in honor of the sun god were the winter solstice (which occurred each year on December 25th on the old pagan Julian calen‐ dar); Easter, where women would worship the SUN toward the east (in a sunrise service; see Ezekiel 8) and other equally pagan or heathen festivals. These were brought into the apostate "church" with headquarters at Rome and was forced upon those living in the empire under the various revivals of the Roman Empire beginning with Justinian's revival in A.D. 554 Since the true Church is called the virgin bride of Christ, this fallen woman is definitely a counterfeit of God's true church. Since this powerful apostate church has not kept herself doctrinally pure as has the one true church, it is the opposite of a virgin. In fact, Christ calls this counterfeit church a "WHORE.” Not only has this counterfeit church not kept herself doctrinally pure, but she also has not kept herself morally pure and has actually become the largest criminal organization in the world, having brutally MURDERED thousands upon thousands of God's true saints over many centuries, who continued to keep themselves pure from the paganism and corruption of the world. Jesus prophesied the actions of this "whorish" religion in Revelation 17. After reading this chapter of this lesson, there can be absolutely no doubt as to the identity of the "whore" of the book of Revelation! Brace yourself for some very unpleasant, but true facts of history! Drunken with the Blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Next, notice Revelation 17:6. John writes: "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration"! (Notice that in old English the word "admiration," originally meant "wonder." The NIV translates this, "And when I saw, I was greatly astonished." The Amplified says, "I was utterly amazed"). When you know the true facts of history, you will also be utterly amazed and greatly astonished! The reader should avail himself of the abundance of information available over the Internet.
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By typing into the browser the words, "A Woman Rides the Beast" the reader will find information about Dave Hunt's latest book by the same title and articles by other authors as well about the same subject. From www.chick.com/bc /1999 / martyrs blood asp comes the following lengthy quotation taken from A Woman Rides the Beast by Dave Hunt, concerning the whore of Rome." (Emphases are mine throughout): "John next notices that the woman is drunk‐ and not with an alcoholic beverage. She is drunk with "the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus..." (Revelation 17:6). The picture is a horrible one. It is not merely her hands that are red with this blood, but she is drunk with it! The slaughter of innocents who, for conscience' sake, would not yield to her totalitarian demands has so refreshed and exhilarated her that she reels in ecstasy. "One thinks immediately of the Inquisitions (Roman, Medieval, and Spanish) which for centuries held Europe in their terrible grip. In his History of the Inquisition, Canon Liorente, who was the Secretary to the Inquisition in Madrid from 179092 and had access to the archives of all the tribunals, estimated that in Spain alone the number of condemned exceeded 3 million, with about 300,000 BURNED AT THE STAKE. A Catholic historian comments upon events leading up to the suppression of the Spanish Inquisition in 1809: "When Napoleon conquered Spain in 1808, a Polish officer in his army, Colonel Lemanouski, reported that the Dominicans [in charge of the Inquisition] blockaded themselves in their monastery in Madrid. When Lemanouski's troops forced an entry, the inquisitors denied the existence of any TORTURE CHAMBERS. "The soldiers searched the monastery and discovered them under the floors. The chambers were full of prisoners, all naked, many insane. The French troops, used to cruelty and blood, could not stomach the sight. They emptied the torture‐chambers, laid gunpowder to the monastery and blew the place up." "To wring out confessions from these poor creatures, the Roman Catholic Church devised ingenious TORTURES so excruciating and barbarous that one is sickened by their recital. Church historian Bishop William Shaw Ken" writes: "The most ghastly abomination of all was the system of torture. The accounts of its cold‐blooded operations make one shudder at the capacity of human beings for CRUELTY. And it was decreed and regulated by the popes who claim to represent Christ on earth.... "Careful notes were taken not only of all that was confessed by the victim, but of his shrieks, cries, lamentations, broken interjections and appeals for mercy. The most moving things in the literature of the Inquisition are not the accounts of their sufferings left by the victims but the sober memoranda kept by the officers of the tribunals. We are distressed and horrified just because there is no intention to shock us." "The remnants of some of the CHAMBERS OF HORROR remain in Europe and may be visited today. They stand as memorials to the zealous outworking of Roman Catholic dogmas which remain in force today, and to a Church which claims to be infallible and to this day justifies such barbarism. They are also memorials to the astonishing accuracy of John's vision in Revelation 17. In a book published in Spain in 1909, Emelio Martinez writes:
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"To these three million victims [documented by Liorente] should be added the thousands upon thousands of Jews and Moors deported from their homeland In just one year, 1481, and just in Seville, the Holy Office [of the Inquisition] BURNED 2000 PERSONS; the bones and effigies of another 2000...and another 16,000 were condemned to varying sentences." "Peter de Rosa acknowledges that his own Catholic Church 'was responsible for persecuting Jews, for the Inquisition, for SLAUGHTERING HERETICS BY THE THOUSANDS, for reintroducing TORTURE into Europe as part of the judicial process.' Yet the Roman Catholic Church has never officially admitted that these practices were evil. Nor has she apologized to the world or to any of the victims or their descendants. Nor could Pope John Paul II apologize today because “the doctrines responsible for those horrible things still underpin his position.” Rome has not changed at heart no matter what sweet words she speaks when it serves her purpose.”
End of Quotation. Many true Christians today are unaware of the horrible sins, perversions and crimes of the "mother" church of all of "Christendom." Jesus calls us to come out of this system! Some will remember that pagan Rome also killed Christians shortly after the time of the apostles. However, Dave Hunt shows that the Roman Church has killed more true Christians than any other organization on earth, including pre‐Catholic Rome!! From this same website, under the section, "More Blood than the Pagans" we get this interesting quotation: (Emphases mine throughout). "Pagan Rome made sport of throwing to the lions, burning and otherwise killing thousands of Christians and not a few Jews. Yet "Christian" Rome slaughtered many times that number of both Christians and Jews. Beside those victims of the Inquisition, there were Huguenots, Albigenses, Waldenses, and other Christians who were MASSACRED, TORTURED, AND BURNED AT TIIE STAKE BY THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS simply because they refused to align themselves with the Roman Catholic Church and its corruption and heretical dogmas and practices. Out of conscience they tried to follow the teachings of Christ and the apostles independent of Rome, and for that crime they were maligned, hunted, imprisoned, tortured, and slain. "Why would Rome ever apologize for or even admit this holocaust? No one calls her to account today. Protestants have now forgotten THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE BURNED AT THE STAKE for embracing the simple gospel of Christ and refusing to bow to papal authority. Amazingly, Protestants are now embracing Rome as Christian while she insists that the "separated brethren" be reconciled to her on her unchangeable terms! Many evangelical leaders are intent upon working with Roman Catholics to evangelize the world by the year 2000. They don't want to hear any "negative" reminders of the millions of people tortured and slain by the Church to which they now pay homage, or the fact that Rome has a false gospel of sacramental works. "Christian" Rome slaughtered Jews by the thousands ‐far more than pagan Rome ever did. The land of Israel was seen as belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, not to the Jews. In 1096 Pope Urban II inspired the first crusade to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims. With the cross on their shields and armor, the Crusaders massacred Jews across Europe on their way to the Holy Land. Almost their first act upon taking Jerusalem "for Holy Mother Church" was to herd all of the Jews into the synagogue and set it ablaze. These facts of history cannot be swept under the carpet of ecumenical togetherness as though they never happened. Nor can the Vatican escape considerable responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust, which was
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thoroughly known to Pius XII in spite of his complete silence throughout the war on that most important of subjects. The involvement of Catholicism in the Holocaust will be examined later. Had the pope protested, as representatives of Jewish organizations and the Allied Powers begged him to do, he would have condemned his own church. The facts are inescapable: In 1936, Bishop Berning of Osnabruch had talked with the Fuhrer for over an hour. Hitler assured his lordship there was no fundamental difference between National Socialism and the Catholic Church. Had not the church, he argued, looked on Jews as parasites and shut them in ghettos? "I am only doing," he boasted, "what the church has done for fifteen hundred years, only more effectively." Being a Catholic himself, he told Berning, he "admired and wanted to promote [Catholic] Christianity." There is, of course, another reason why the Roman Catholic Church has neither apologized for nor repented of these crimes. How could she? The execution of heretics (including Jews) was decreed by "infallible" popes. The Catholic Church herself claims to be infallible, and thus her doctrines could not be wrong.”
End of quotation. How utterly incredible that such an organization as the Roman Catholic Church with its history of tortuous persecutions and outright MURDER of thousands ‐ no, tens of thousands ‐ no hundreds of thousands ‐ NO! ‐Literally tens of MILLIONS over a 1200‐plus year period – how utterly incredible that such an organization could call itself "Christian." Yet this apostate pagan church claims to be the true church, the "virgin" bride of Christ who has kept itself pure and holy! For this reason Christ has a response to that. Jesus calls it a ''whore''! From Jack T. Chick's Internet page comes this lengthy quotation. It is actually chapter four of a book which can be read on the Internet. The title is: "The Whore of Revelation" "Do you believe this monster is simply a backslidden or apostate church like many of our Christian leaders tell us, or is she the whore of Revelation? Let's look at scripture and check it out for ourselves. We find in chapter 17 of the Book of Revelation the Bible says, "I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:" And, of course, in scripture the reference to many waters means multitudes of people. Today the Vatican boasts almost one billion followers. What’s that, almost a quarter of the earth's population? And it says, "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication." If you look back in history you will see that almost every king has had political, economic or religious ties with the Vatican, starting with Constantine the Great, who was actually the first pope, and presided over the first council. Constantine was never saved. (That was another smokescreen.) Most nations today have diplomatic representatives in the Vatican. "And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." We have just looked at the madness of World War 1 and how it was set up by the Jesuits. And the Bible goes on to say, "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet." These are the official colors of the Vatican. "And decked with gold and precious stones and pearls." Did you know the Vatican is the wealthiest organization on the face of the earth? Later in the book I'll go into this in more detail. The Bible goes on to say, "And on her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT." Where did Catholicism come from? If you do a little research you'll find it came from the ancient Babylonian mysteries, and you can trace it right back to Nimrod and Semiramis. Only the names were changed to make it look like a Christian organization. "...Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Rev. 18:2 "The Mother of Harlots and ABOMINATIONS of the earth." Can I name a few abominations
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that came from Rome? We have the Nazi Party, which was staffed with Jesuits and high ranking Catholics. And then we have the communist party, another offshoot, or branch of the mother of harlots. Listen to these names: Marx, Engels, Stalin, Lenin, and Fidel Castro. All were trained and guided by Jesuits ... not to mention some of the spirit cults like voodoo. In the voodoo creed they state that, along with their religion of demon possession, they believe in "the holy Roman Catholic church." The Bible goes on to say, "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints." The Roman Catholic Institution tortured, maimed and MURDERED 68 MILLION PEOPLE during the Spanish Inquisition alone, and many of these were Bible‐believing Christians. "Who would you say the whore of Revelation is? Is it something that will come in the future, or are we stuck with it right now? Beloved, it is obvious the whore of Revelation is the ROMAN CATHOLIC Institution, and God hates it! He wants His people to come out of it so that His love can be manifested. God says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15) "At the end of the Dark Ages, when the popes ruthlessly controlled Europe, God raised up Christian men and women who knew the Bible and loudly proclaimed that the deadly Roman Catholic Institution was the whore of Revelation."
End of Quotation. The proofs are abundant. Understand: we are not attacking the people who belong to this apostate system. This article is written in order to lovingly save the souls of those who are so deceived by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and its Babylonish and false religion. It is our desire to see those entrapped by this wicked system to come out before it is too late! Jesus said in Revelation 18:4 "Come out of her My People, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." When judgment comes on the Babylonian system of religion in the last days, you must not be part of that system! If you are part of it today then Jesus commands you to come out now ‐ while there is still time. Repent and ask God's forgiveness for being a part of the Babylonian mystery religion. For if you share the same doctrines as that of "Mother Rome" then when the whore is judged and punished (Revelation 17:1), you will not escape! God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11). Can anyone deny the identity of the whore who sits on the beast in the Book of Revelation? I think not! It has also been abundantly shown in various publications such as The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, Mystery Babylon, by Ralph Woodrow and many others, that the religion of Roman Catholicism was nothing more than "Christianized" PAGANISM! It was the religion of ancient Babylon which is condemned in the Bible. The Roman Catholic Church became so large by absorbing literally millions of heathen peoples in Europe. That it was unable to prevent their continued pagan practices. The solution arrived at was to allow the new "converts" to continue to practice their centuries old pagan practices but simply create some sort of "Christian" significance for it. The city of Rome itself, being the capitol of the Empire, both prior to A.D. 476 and in all its many revivals under various dictators all the way down to the last revival under Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, had always been the focus for all pagan religions which naturally gravitated to the capitol city. Thus all the pagan Babylonian traditions primarily of SUN
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worship gravitated to Rome. The pagans counterfeited God's true religion just as Satan is a counterfeit of the true God, being called the "god of this world" (ll Cor. 4:4). God's true Religion required a weekly observance of rest and worship. God also added several annual Festivals to be observed both by rest and worship. Both the weekly and the annual days of worship were called "Sabbaths" or "Holydays." It is well known that Roman Catholicism has a host of pagan holidays which they blasphemously refer to as "holy days." The weekly day of rest among the PRE Christian pagans was the day of Sun worship, celebrated on the first day of the week. The annual Roman festivals were also festivals held in honor of SUN WORSHIP, the most important and most beloved being the one held at the Winter Solstice for approximately 12 days culminating on the solstice itself: which on the Julian calendar was December 25th. This pagan festival, never celebrated by the true New Testament Church of God, was called Sotumalia, in honor of the pagan Roman god Saturn (from which one of the planets have been named). December 25th was also the birthday of the pagan god Mithra The early true Church had Jerusalem as its headquarters. According to both Biblical and secular history, the early true Church never celebrated these ancient pagan sun festivals. However when the Roman Church began to succeed in its goal of becoming "universal" or catholic, it had to deal with the multitude of pagans now coming into this apostate Church with headquarters at Rome. Their solution was to ignore the Scriptural prohibitions against learning the ways of the heathen and not only allow the pagans to call themselves "Christian" while continuing to observe these pagan or heathen festivities, but they also began to teach professing Christians who had never observed these pagan celebrations to learn them!!! God thunders through the prophet Jeremiah: "Learn NOT the way of the heathen"!!! (Jeremiah 10:2). Other festivals the Roman Church brought into apostate "Christianity" was Ash Wednesday, the well known pagan 40 days of Lent, Valentine's Day (also called Lupercalia by the pagans) and of course one of the major festivals from ancient Babylon, EASTER. Believe it or not, the Roman festival of Easter originally came from Babylon and is named after the heathen sex god‐ dess by the same name! Easter was known as the "queen of heaven." Various cultures worshipped her as the fertility goddess. In Babylon the name was actually pronounced "Easter" though spelled anciently as Ishtar. The "I" was pronounced as a long "E" and the "h" were silent, not only in ancient Aramaic, the Babylonian tongue, but even in ancient Hebrew. Other names for Easter were Ashtoreth (Hebrew; notice the similarity with Ishtar); Aphrodite (Greece), Venus, (Rome), Isis (Egypt) and many other names in other cultures for this goddess who was the "queen of heaven" (see "The Two Babylons" by Alexander Hislop). Believe it or not Jesus Christ did not rise on "Easter" Sunday morning!! This is a myth perpetuated by the Catholic Church to JUSTIFY its observance of an obviously pagan festival from ancient Babylon! While the Bible teaches that Christ did indeed rise from the dead, no where does the Scripture call that day "Easter"! This is a Roman Catholic invention. This is why
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in Revelation 17; the Roman Catholic Church is called "Mystery BABYLON." Its "mysteries" (a word the Catholic Clergy uses often) come directly from ancient pagan Babylon! The Mother of Harlots Now we come to one final, frightening piece of information. Notice verse 5: "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OFHARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH"! We know that Roman Catholicism takes the title of a "mother church." Just how is she the Mother of all "Christendom"? Who are the "harlot daughters" that came out of her in protest? You have probably never heard a sermon fully explaining Revelation 17. Be sure to read the chapter, "Who are the Harlot Daughters of Rome?" toward the end of this lesson. It is an eye‐opener. You cannot afford to be without this information in the last days! The vast majorities of professing Christians are IN this whorish Babylonian system but are totally ignorant of these facts. They are ignorant of the fact that most of the doctrines which they believe did not come from the Bible but from PAGAN Roman Catholicism! They assume that the beliefs they hold are found in the pages of Scripture, yet they are not! Many of the doctrines you and I have been taught are not found in the Bible but came from pagan Rome! We have all been deceived by this false apostate system, ruled over by Satan! (Revelation 12:9). We have all learned pagan ways from "Mother Rome" and have been ignorant of these facts. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at [or overlooked]; but now commandeth all men everywhere to REPENT" (Acts 17:30). Remember Jesus' blanket command: "COME OUT of her, My people"! Christ's own people ‐ Christians!! Are you one of His people? Are you willing to repent, and leave all false religion behind? Are you willing to "come out"? You have been shown the truth. You have now learned the facts. And remember this lesson only skims the surface of the atrocities committed by "Mother Rome." But you have learned enough now that there can be no doubt. In the chapter entitled, "Who are the Harlot Daughters of Rome?" we take a serious look at one final identifying feature of Rome, of the Mother Church: its daughters! This information will be most unpleasant for the majority of our readers. Yet God commands His true ministers to "cry aloud, spare not! Lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and ... sins"! (Isaiah 58:1). We hope you will read these chapters prayerfully, with an open mind and an open heart. Jesus wants you to know the truth (I Timothy 2:3‐4). And He wants you to obey His voice to leave this system. The condemned Whore of Revelation 17 is indeed modern day Romanism in the guise of professing "Christianity"! Will you come out? The decision is now yours.
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Chapter 4: AN APOSTATE RELIGION In this chapter we examine the final identifying feature of the Whore of the Book of Revelation: "And I saw the woman DRUNKEN with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the MARTYRS of Jesus." What organization on Earth has persecuted true Christians more than any other? What organization has MURDERED the true Saints of God down through the centuries? Only one! Here is the answer!
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here is only one candidate. She is upon the beast, the Roman Empire and controls it. No other organization has done this except the Roman Catholic Church. No other organization on earth has ever come close in their persecution, torture and murder of the saints of God as has the Roman Catholic Church! We now continue the unpleasant history of this WHORE of Babylon! From chapter 14 of the book, Babylon Mystery Religion, Ancient and Modern by the Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association comes this lengthy quotation about Roman Catholic murder and martyrdom of God's saints: "One of the documents that ordered such persecutions was the inhuman 'Ad exstirpanda' issued by Pope Innocent IV in 1252. This document stated that heretics were to be 'crushed like venomous snakes.' It formally approved the use of torture. Civil authorities were ordered to bum heretics. 'The aforesaid Bull 'Ad exstirpanda' remained thenceforth a fundamental document of the Inquisition, renewed or reinforced by several popes, Alexander IV (1254‐61), Clement IV (1265‐68), Nicholas IV (1288‐92), Boniface VI (1294‐1303), and others. The civil authorities were enjoined by the popes, under pain of excommunication to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the stake. It is to be noted that excommu‐ nication itself was no trifle, for, if the person excommunicated did not free himself from the excommunication within a year, he was held by the legislation of that period to be a heretic, and incurred all the penalties' that affected heresy.'" (from The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol 7, page 796, article: "Infallibility.") "Men pondered long in those days on how they could devise methods that would produce the most torture and pain. One of the most popular methods was the use of the rack, a long table on which the accused was tied by the hands and feet, back down, and stretched by rope and windlass. This process dislocated joints and caused great pain. "Heavy pincers were used to tear out fingernails or were applied red‐hot to sensitive parts of the body. Rollers with sharp knife blades and spikes were used, over which the heretics were rolled back and forth. There was the thumbscrew, an instrument made for disarticulating fingers and 'Spainish boots' which were used to crush the legs and feet. The 'iron virgin' was a hollow instrument the size and shape of a woman. Knives were arranged in such a way and under such pressure that the accused were lacerated in its deadly embrace. This torture device was spared with 'holy water' and inscribed with the Latin words meaning, 'Glory be only to
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God.'" (From Smith's Man and His gods, page 286). "Victims after being stripped of their clothing had their hands tied behind their backs with a hard cord. Weights were attached to their feet. The action of a pulley suspended them in mid‐ air or dropped and raised them with a jerk, dislocating joints of the body. While such torture was being employed, priests holding up crosses would attempt to get the heretics to recant. "Ridpath's History of the World includes an illustration of the work of the Inquisition in the Netherlands. Twenty‐one Protestants are hanging from the tree. A man on a ladder is about to be hanged, below him is a priest holding a cross" (Ridpath's History of the World, Vol. 5, page 304). "'In the year 1554 Francis Gamba, a Lombard, of the Protestant persuasion, was apprehended and condemned to death by the sentence of Milan. At the place of execution, a monk presented a cross to him, to whom Gamba said, 'My mind is so full of the real merits and goodness of Christ that I need not a piece of senseless stick to put me in mind of Him.' For this expression his tongue was bored through and he was afterwards burned. '" (Foxes Book of Martyrs, page 103). "Some who reject the teachings of the Roman church had molten lead poured into their ears and mouths. Eyes were gouged out and others were cruelly beaten with whips. Some were forced to jump from cliffs onto long spikes fixed below, where, quivering from pain, they slowly died. Others were choked to death with mangled pieces of their own bodies, with urine, or excrement. At night, the victims of the Inquisition were chained closely to the floor or wall where they were a helpless prey to the rats and vermin that populated those bloody torture chambers. "The religious intolerance that prompted the Inquisition caused wars which involved entire cities. In 1209 the city of Beziers was taken by men who have been promised by the pope that by engaging in the crusade against heretics they would at death bypass purgatory and immediately enter heaven. Sixty thousand, it is reported, in this city perished by the sword while blood flowed in the streets. At Lavaur in 1211 the governor was hanged on a gibbet and his wife thrown into a well and cursed with stones. Four hundred people in this town were burned alive. The crusaders attended the high mass in the morning, then proceeded to take other towns of the area. In this siege, it is estimated that 100,000 Albigenses [a pre‐Protestant group] fell in one day. Their bodies were heaped together and burned. "At the massacre of Merindol, five hundred women were locked in a barn which was set on fire. If any leaped from windows, they, were received on the points of spears. Women were openly and pitifully violated. Children were murdered before their parents who were powerless to protect them. Some people were hurled from cliffs or stripped of clothing and dragged through the streets. Similar methods were used in the massacre of Orange, in 1562. The Italian army was sent by Pope Pius IV and commanded to slay men, women, and children. The command was carried out with TERRIBLE CRUELTY, the people being exposed to shame and tor‐ ture of every description. “Ten thousand Huguenots (Protestants) were killed in the bloody massacre in Paris on 'St.
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Bartholomew's Day," in 1572.” The French king went to mass to return solemn thanks that so many heretics were slain. The papal court received the news with great rejoicing and Pope Gregory XIII, in grand procession, went to the Church of St. Louis to give thanks! He ordered the papal mint to make coins commemorating this event. The coins showed an angel with a sword in one hand and a cross in the other, before whom a band of Huguenots, with horror on their faces, were fleeing. The words 'Ugonottorum Strangea 1572' which signify 'The slaughter of the Huguenots, 1572' appeared on the coins. "An illustration from Ridpath's History of the World ... shows the work of the Inquisition in Holland. A Protestant man is hanging by his feet in stocks. The fire is heating a poker to brand him and blind his eyes" (From Ridpath's History of the World, page 297). Some of the popes that today are acclaimed as 'great' by the Romish church lived and thrived during those days. Why didn't they open the dungeon doors and quench the mur‐ derous fires that blackened the skies of Europe for centuries? If the selling of indulgences, or people worshipping statues as idols, or popes living immorally can be explained as 'abuses' or excused because these things were done contrary to the official laws of the church, what can be said about the Inquisition? It cannot be explained away as easily, for though sometimes torture was carried out beyond what was actually prescribed, the facts remain that the Inquisition was ordered by papal decree and CONFIRMED by pope after pope! Can any believe that such actions were representative of Him who said to turn the cheek, to forgive our enemies, and to do good to them that despitefully use us?" (emphasis added). End of Quotation. What total hypocrisy for this murderous and idolatrous organization to call itself "Christian"! No wonder Jesus calls this so‐called "church" a WHORE! From "The Countdown Magazine" published in Famborough, England, editor and researcher Alex Cain details some of the horrors of the Roman Catholic persecution of Christians! "The Inquisition or Holy Office, as it was styled, was founded during the reign of Pope Innocent Ill by the Monk Dominic who was subsequently elevated to sainthood by the Papacy.... He was to form the dreaded Dominican Order which spawned the Inquisition. No amount of stories of his personal virtue or saintliness can compensate for the cruelty he was responsible for instigating against those who dared to follow Jesus instead of the Pope. The Inquisition became synonymous with terror and cruelty of the worst kind. "Responsible for the deaths of MILLIONS, the Inquisition was [finally] suppressed, in Spain, during the Napoleonic era of history. When French troops occupied the headquarters of the Inquisition about five miles outside Madrid, they uncovered the Hall of Judgment, in the centre of which was a large block and a chain fastened to it. On this the accused had been placed chained to the seat. On the other side of the room was the elevated Throne of Judgment which was occupied by the Inquisitor General. Adjacent to the hall of Judgment were the cells, wretched places of solitary confinement, where the victims were confined until death released them. In many of the cells the French soldiers found skeletons of Rome's victims still chained to: "1. A machine by which the victim was confined, and then beginning with the fingers, every
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joint in the hands, arms and body was broken until the victim died [in cruel pain]. "2. A box in which the head and the neck of the victim were confined by a screw so that they could not move either way. Over the box was a vessel from which one drop of water fell upon the head of the victim. Every successive drop fell on precisely the same spot, and soon circulation was suspended putting the victim in the most excruciating agony. "3. A machine laid horizontal to which the victim was bound. The machine was then placed between two beams, in which there were scores of knives, so fixed that by turning the machine with a crank, the flesh of the victim was torn from the limbs in small pieces. “4. More fiendish than all the other instruments of torture was that sometimes called the Iron Virgin, another of which was discovered in Nuremberg. The machine appeared on the exterior like a beautiful woman, arms extended to embrace her victim, who upon passing a semi‐circular line around the machine, touched a spring which caused the diabolical instrument to open; the victim was clasped by its iron arms and cut to pieces by the multiplicity of sharp knives which were now revealed.” End of Quotation. From the book, “The Brand of Dominic,” by theologian W.H. Rule we get this quotation about the Roman Catholic Inquisition’s tortures: “Donna Juana Bohorques was suspected of heresy…instantly seized and thrown into the castle of Triana. As they found that she was soon to become a mother they allowed her to remain in an upper apartment until the birth of a male child which was taken from her and after a lapse of seven days she was thrown into a dungeon… they were not slow in applying torture …to bind her arms and legs with cords, and to gash the limbs with successive straining by the levers, or to dislocate her joints by swinging her from pulleys …the savage tormentors passed a chord over her breasts, thinking to add new pangs …her form gave way, the ribs crushed inwards, blood flowed from her mouth and nostrils and she was carried to her cell, where life lingered for another week …the accusation of heresy had not been proved. If hell can be upon earth, it must be in an Inquisition.” Roman Catholic “Bloody” Mary Alex Cain offers this history of the rule of “Bloody” Mary who as a loyal Roman Catholic, hated, persecuted and murdered hundreds of saints with the blessing of the Pope! “With the death of King Edward VI, England passed under the control of his sister Mary Tudor, known in history as Bloody Mary. During her brief reign (1553‐1558) some 300 men, women and children were martyred for their [Biblical] beliefs, almost all of them being burned alive… “On the 14th July 1556, in the town of St. Peter Port, on the island of Guernsey, three women were tied to stakes to be burned alive for their [Biblical] faith, and for their denial of Transubstantiation and the so‐called ‘Real Presence.’ “The women were Katherine Cawches and her two daughters Guillemin and Perotine. The latter of these was pregnant at the time of her burning, and she gave birth in the fire. A man
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called House at once pulled the baby boy from the flames and laid it on the grass; but the Romish persecutors ordered it to be thrown back into the fire to be roasted alive with its mother, aunt and grandmother. So the little boy was both born and died a martyr. Foxe the great martyrologist describes the Gurneys Burnings as: ‘a spectacle wherein the whole world may see the Herodian cruelty of Popish tormentors.’ Surely we can add no more to prove our point; the hands red with [Christian] blood are ungloved at last. They are the hands of the Papal beast” [the Roman Catholic Church]. End of Quotation. Remember Jesus’ description of the woman in Revelation 17:6. It should be crystal clear now to the reader as to the true identity of the “whore”! The Pergamos Era Now we come to a question concerning Church eras. It is important to realize that the seven churches in Revelation represent more than mere congregations then extant. The book of Revelation is a prophetic book. Down through the centuries Biblical scholars and theologians have been in agreement that these seven literal congregations were representatives or prophetic of seven church periods, ages of epochs of church history before the return of Christ. While there is disagreement among Sunday observing Protestantism as to which church of Revelation chapters two and three represents which specific historical period, research has now shown that the middle ages are represented by the Pergamos church. Notice what Jesus prophesied to the Pergamos era of His Church: “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write…I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and have not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth” (Revelation 2:12‐13). Notice God’s people dwelled where Satan’s “seat” ruled over them. The Liberty Commentary explains “Satan’s seat” as a THRONE. “Satan’s seat is literally Satan’s throne (Gr thronos). This reference is included to indicate the influence SATAN had in this city” (Page 754). We get the English word “throne” from this Greek work here translated as “seat.” Satan had a THRONE that as we have seen, stretched over all of Europe! As long as true Christians DWELLED IN EUROPE during the Middle Ages, they dwelled where Satan ruled –where Satan’s “seat” or throne was –for all Europe was ruled over by the Vatican and the throne on which the Pope sat! The Roman Catholic Popes ruled all Europe from the papal throne in Rome, Italy and made Europe a nightmarish Hell for all who tried to serve Jesus Christ according to the Bible. The 1260 Years in the Wilderness Most Prophesy teachers and scholars agree that the 1260 days of Revelation 12:6 are dual. That is, it has a dual meaning. It refers to the end time when God’s true saints will be protected
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from the Tribulation for 1260 literal days or 42 months. This is the three and one half year period known as "The Great Tribulation" which will occur just immediately before the second coming of Christ and so is yet in the future! (Matthew 24:21, 29‐31). But this 1260 day period is also in itself prophetic just as the 70 weeks of Daniel were prophetic, each day representing a year in prophecy. 70 weeks, times 7 days in a week is 490 days. All Biblical scholars in prophecy agree that the "day for a year principle" does indeed apply here and the prophetically referred to 490 days. The 70th week of Daniel therefore is not merely a seven day week but a period of seven years! The last half of this seven year period is the three and‐one‐half year "Great Tribulation." In the Smyrna Church Christ prophesied that they would have 10 "days" of persecution. No historical records show where that specific congregation had 10 literal days of such persecution. However the church period after the apostolic period suffered through the "reign of terror" under Roman Emperor Diocletian was exactly 10 years (See Jamieson Fausset and Brown Com‐ mentary page 1533.) Also on page 1526 of this same commentary (emphasis theirs) we read: "John in Revelation itself uses days in a sense which can hardly be literal. Ch. 2; 10, "Ye shall have tribulation ten days:' the persecution of ten years recorded by EUSEBIUS seems to correspond to it." Those ten years were from A.D. 303 to 313. The prophetic "day for a year principle" is seen also in Ezekiel 4:6 and in Numbers 14:34 which the reader can study at his leisure. Thus while the 1260 days of Revelation 12 do indeed symbolize actual days in the Great Tribulation which is yet to come, they also symbolize a 1260 YEAR period beginning in the time of Constantine who began to persecute true Christians forcing them to join the Roman Catholic Church or flee Italy. Thus God’s true saints fled into the wilderness for 1260 long years. This is the period of time known as the dark ages, or scripturally, the "Pergamos Era"! Jamieson, Fausett and Brown also agree but add: "... we cannot say precisely when the 1260 YEARS begin..." (page 1526). Modern day research in church history plus guidance from God in truly understanding prophetic events would place the beginning of this 1260 year period in the time of Constantine! This is not to say that the Pergamos era lasted only 1260 years but it does suggest this "church age" lasted at least that long! Now what did the WHORE of Babylon do to God's saints during this "Pergamos" era? John said he saw the whore "drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (Revelation 17:6). During this Pergamos era many saints of God and other religious non Catholics died under the Papacy of Rome ‐ the throne of Europe that reigned over kings of this period. Researcher Alex Cain in his August 1997 issue of The Countdown Magazine, published in England reveals additional details of the fulfillment of this prophecy in the book of Revelation: "The Albigenses were a PRE‐Reformation Protestant group which flourished in the south of France, somewhat similar to the Waldensians of Northern Italy"(Page 8). Actually, the AIbigenses were NOT a protestant group at all. Protestantism did not exist until
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certain Roman Catholics such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and others left the "Mother" Roman Church in protest. That is the "birth" of the Protestant DAUGHTER CHURCHES. The Albigenses and Waldenses were NEVER "protestant" in that they never came out of the whore in protest ‐ were never "daughter churches" of Rome, but according to the history of these groups, bad always been SEPARATE AND APART from them! History also shows that several groups at this period with different names shared the same doctrinal faith and beliefs. For example these NON Catholic saints of God, who existed centuries before the first Protestant left the "mother" church of Rome, kept the Sabbath on Saturday, observed Passover in April, whereupon they took Communion (rather than a weekly Eucharist or "Lord's Supper") and kept the other annual Holydays of the Bible such as the Day of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the reasons the whore of Babylon wanted to kill these true saints of God was because they were seen as "Judaizing" ‐or keeping the Laws of God as did the Jews. Antisemiticism was rampant in the Roman Catholic Church. In the fourth Century, Constantine specifically condemned all Christians who were found "Judaizing" ‐that is, keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week, the Passover, and the annual holydays. It is well known among theologians and church historians that the early New Testament Church continued to keep the ten commandments in the literal sense including the literal seventh day Sabbath and the annual Holydays of God. When Constantine came into power, he attempted to make the Roman religion the official STATE religion and the Truth was suppressed. The TRUE RELIGION of Jesus Christ, as taught by the apostle Paul and other apostles, was branded "Judaizing." And the WHORE of Babylon ‐the apostate Roman Catholic Church became the official "state religion" of the Roman Empire! What is not generally known about God's true religion is that Christ prophesied that it would not die out (Matthew 16:18). The Greek word in this passage for "hell" is identical to the word translated "grave" in I Corinthians 15! The very gates of the grave, death itself ‐ would not prevail against, or overcome the TRUE Religion! Thus the Waldenses kept the true Faith and so did their counterparts, the brethren in other countries such as the Albigenses, Lollards, and other saints of God. These groups considered themselves to be the remnant of the one true New Testament Church which had kept the true Faith down through the centuries. The Waldenses’ own legend as to their origin was that they were established by the Apostle Paul in northern Italy when he passed through that area on his way to Spain! Other legendary origins say their history dates back to the early second century! But certainly the Waldenses (called Albigenses and Lollards and other names dependent upon geographical location) were all the same church! This is why the ''whore of Rome" so hated them and persecuted them. Remember: the Protestant Reformation did not start until the 16th century! Yet Rome had persecuted NON Catholics long before that time! Historians today who do not know the identity of the true church in the Middle Ages lump them all together and refer to them as "Protestants" even before the first protestant was born!
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Remember that these true saints never came out of the whore in protest! They were not "daughter churches" of Rome for they had never been IN the Roman Catholic Church but had always been SEPARATE and apart from it! Alex Cain continues his comments about the Roman Catholic hatred of God’s saints in the middle ages: "By 1209, the Papal armies were on the move and an era of unprecedented slaughter commenced. We read how after the Siege of the Chateau de Lavaur, the Albigensian leader was hanged, eighty of his knights beheaded, and his sister, a woman 'noted for heresy,' was thrown down a well and boulders hurled down upon her body. We read of the occasion when after the Battle of Castres, two Albigenses were captured, one recanted and agreed to join the Church of Rome, one did not. The response of the Papal commander de Montfort was: 'Take them both to the stake and let them suffer death by burning.... "The most dreadful event however was probably the extermination of the people of Beziers by fire and the sword in July 1209. The Albigensian stronghold having been captured the Papal Legate was asked how his soldiers might distinguish between heretics and faithful papists [Roman Catholics] in the city replied: “‘Kill them ALL, man, woman and child; the Lord will know His own." Thus even faithful and loyal Roman Catholics were killed by their own church when it pleased the pope of Rome to do so! Surely, they were dwelling ''where Satan’s seat [throne] was! Continue the history: "The result of his ruthless command was the slaughter of some sixty thousand people. The Papal Crusaders pillaged the homes of their victims, and then having massacred every living creature they put the city to the torch, reducing it to one vast funeral pillage. This ghastly BUTCHERY was carried out by 'Soldiers of the Holy Cross,' the armies of the Papal Beast"! The Huguenots were considered French Protestants. Many Waldenses (true saints of God) were counted among the French Huguenots. In August 1572, under orders of the throne of Rome (the Papacy, the "seat of Satan") church bells rang out. Not to glorify Christ, but to signal the pope's time had come to MURDER the saints of God who refused to join the Roman church, the Catholic Whore of the book of Revelation! Alex Cain gives the historical details: "On August 22nd 1572, the Church bells rang out as the signal for the Papists to rise up and slaughter their fellow citizens. The first to be murdered was the veteran Huguenot Admiral Coligny, who having been stabbed many times was thrown from his window, his head and arms cut off and his body hung by the feet from a gibbet. The head was subsequently sent to the Pope as a symbol of the Papal triumph. Throughout that dreadful night and the day that fol‐ lowed the papists butchered in cold blood tens of thousands of protestants, neither age nor sex were spared. The killings spread out from Paris over all of France until an estimated 100,000 Huguenots had perished"!
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DRUNK on the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus! "When the news of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew reached Rome (the seat of the Beast) the exultation among the clergy knew no bounds. The great cannon of St. Angelo Castle thundered out its joyous salute, the bells rang from every church steeple, bonfires blazed into the night and Pope Gregory, his cardinals and clergy" celebrated. They were literally "drunk" in revelry and joyous celebration on the blood of innocent men, women and little children being shed! Incredible! Now we can understand why John describes the whore as being "DRUNK" on the blood of the saints! In October 1685 at the order of the Papacy in Rome, King Louis XIV of France revoked all religious liberty and killed pastors of all non Catholic churches, sent non Catholic men to the galleys as slaves, women were imprisoned in convents and their children forcibly taken away and "baptized" as Roman Catholics. Cain states: "An estimated million fled abroad to Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia, England, and Scotland, Northern Ireland and even to what is now South America. Thus did the persecutions of Papal Rome pave the road to the French Revolution, just as centuries of Papal Power in Western Europe and Latin America have paved the road for Marxist [Communist] Revolution"! (The Countdown Magazine, August 1997, page 9). Now you can understand why this “whore” is referred to as the mother of abominations of the earth! Roman Catholicism is also the mother of Communism! And Communism is, in the sight of God, a great ABOMINATION enslaving hundreds of millions of deceived and helpless souls who, under communism, can never hear the Gospel of Christ and will die in their sins!! (John 8:24). Such a ghastly crime against the souls of men can honestly be laid at the door of the Roman Catholic Church. In the next two chapters, we will conclude this lesson and ask the question: Who are the “harlot daughters” which came out of Rome? Are you willing to admit the truth? Are you willing to be open‐minded and repent of associating with this pagan “Babylonian mystery religion” known as the Roman Catholic Church and her daughters? Remember, we are not attacking Catholic people. On the contrary, this article is written in the loving hope that all those who have been deceived by the false doctrines perpetuated by Romanism will repent and “come out” in order to be spared the horrors of the Great Tribulation! Jesus commands us to come out of this “system”! (Revelation 18:4). Perhaps you have never been a member of the Catholic Church, the MOTHER or harlots. But maybe you have still imbibed of her false religion. If so, you are still participating in religious practices and doctrines that came from mother Rome, which originally came from pagan Babylon! Examine the doctrines you believe and practice. Did ANY of them come from pagan Babylon? Are you participating in festivals and holidays and religious practices NOT found in the New Testament? Are you a part of Babylon? You are, if you are worshipping God with the traditions of men using
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holidays and customs not sanctified by the Bible but which came from ancient BABYLON!!! This is EXTREMELY SERIOUS! Now is the time to “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Now is the time to “come out” of the Babylonian doctrines we have inherited from Rome and repent before the plagues Jesus spoke of, fall on those who partake of her filthiness (spiritual fornication). Be sure to really STUDY every lesson of this Bible Study Course so that you may get ready and be truly prepared for the coming Day of the Lord! That day may come sooner than many of us have anticipated. Are you ready?
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Chapter 5: Drunk on the Martyrs of Jesus! How has the “whore” of Revelation deceived the whole world with her sorceries? What is the Biblical definition of Spiritual Whoredom? And what is she doing today?
T
he “whore” of the Book of Revelation must be identified as Jesus commands His people that are still associated with her to COME OUT! Are you a part of this Babylonian apostasy that calls itself “Christian” but perpetuates pagan customs and holidays that came straight from Babylon? Are you a true Christian? If so, Christ COMMANDS you to “come out of her…that ye be not partakers of her sins. And that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4). Judgment is going to fall on the “whore” and her daughters (also called HARLOTS) and on all those who belong to this religious system which originated from Babylon! Woe is to any of us who still belong to this system when judgment upon the whore falls! This punishment will fall upon the harlot Babylonian religious system in the last days! The Blood of Martyrs Next, Jesus revealed to John that this woman was literally drunk on the blood of the martyrs of Christ‐ true Christians, who were murdered by the whore! No other organization in history has killed true Christians more than the Roman Catholic Church! This is simply an undeniable historical fact! Notice this historically documented information from The Countdown Magazine published in Great Britain by researcher Alex Cain: In the following years the Roman Catholic Church drenched Europe in the blood of God’s people –true saints who refused to bow the knee to the Pope! In 1208, tens of thousands of Albigenses (French Waldenses) were MASSACRED in a so‐ called “Holy” crusade against heresy. These pre‐Reformation Christians WERE NOT “Protestants” who were birthed from the whore. For Martin Luther’s attempted “Protestant Reformation” had not as yet occurred. There were no “Protestants” at this date! Rather these were true saints who had never been a part of the Babylonian religious apostasy living under the guise of “Christianity”. The Albigenses were a part of God’s true Church of the Middle Ages who continued to “keep the Commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17). For this, the Roman Catholic Church accused them of “Judiazing” and decided to wipe them out in a genocidal policy of mass murder! Supposedly they did this to stamp out heresy. But Satan used the Catholic Church to stamp out God’s TRUE RELIGION and His True Church in the Middle Ages!
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Notice Jesus warned His True Church in John 16:2 that, “the time cometh that whosoever KILLETH you will think that he doeth God service.” From 1237 to 1342, tens of thousands of Vaudois (yet another name for Waldenses, meaning “valley dwellers” –the prophesied “church in the wilderness”) were intentionally killed in additional crusades supposing to stamp out heresy! Again the Vaudios or Waldenses were known “commandment keepers.” Not only did they keep all ten of the commandments (and therefore were considered “Judiazers”) but they also were known to keep the Passover in the month of April. They also were known to have a weeklong festival of some kind in the autumn. Some historians believe this may have been the autumn festival commanded in Leviticus 23. The Bible commands a week long camp meeting every autumn. It is called the “Feast of Tabernacles” and the whole world will observe it after Christ returns and sets up the Millennial kingdom! (See Zechariah 14:16‐19). The Waldenses (or Vaudois) kept these ancient and God‐ordained Feasts and were therefore considered heretics by the apostate church of Rome. These were true saints of God and were martyred for continuing to practice the true Faith down through the centuries, which they had received from the Apostle Paul according to their own records! Jesus said that the party responsible for martyring His true saints is a spiritual “whore”! The party responsible for martyring these saints of God was the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH! In 1421 (long before the Protestant Reformation) thousands of Hussites were slaughtered in Bohemia as the Papacy continued in its relentless campaign of murder of the saints of Gods True Church of the Middle Ages! In 1488 in the Piedmont area of Italy, an estimated 3,000 Vaudios (valley dwellers, or Waldenses) were burned and suffocated to death in one incident alone! In 1546 Emperor Charles the Fifth (called “Charles the Great” by Rome) caused 50,000 Flemish and German Christians to be hanged, burned and buried alive as he sought to extirpate heresy from the Hapsburg dominions, at the behest of the Pope! In 1567 thousands more non Catholic Christians were martyred under the rule of Duke of Alva and his so‐called “Council of Blood” at the behest of the Pope. In 1572 the infamous Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre occurred, killing 60,000 French Christians who refused to succumb to the evil dictates of the whore of Rome! In 1631 during the Thirty Years War, another Papal inspired religious “crusade” against the saints of God drenched Europe in blood. In Magdeburg, Germany alone, some 29,000 innocent men, women, and children were brutally killed by Rome! In 1641 in the Uprising and virtual Civil War declared by the Irish Roman Catholic Hierarchy, 100,000 non Catholic Christians were tortured and murdered in Ireland alone! In 1685 in the years following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (which granted liberty to the saints of God), 400,000 French Christians were brutally MURDERED in the name of the Roman Catholic Church! According to Halley’s Bible Handbook, page 777 in one thirty‐year period alone almost ONE MILLION SAINTS perished at the behest of the Papacy! Halley states:
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“…the Inquisition was the main agency in the Papacy’s effort to crush the Reformation. It is stated that in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no fewer than 900,000 [Christians] were PUT TO DEATH in the Pope’s war for the extermination of the Waldenses [Non Protestant “Commandment keeping” Christians of the true Church of God]. Think of monks and priests, in [so‐called] holy garments (sic), directing, with heartless cruelty and inhuman brutality, the work of torturing and BURNING ALIVE innocent men and women, and doing it in the name of Christ, by the direct order of the ‘Vicar of Christ’” –the Pope of ROME!!! (page 777, emphasis mine). The 20th Century Also! Most people are unaware that during World War II between 1941 and 1944 that literally hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Serbs (professing Christians but non Catholic) were systematically put to death at the hands of the “Ustashi” ‐which recent news magazines have now identified as agents of the Vatican! This martyrdom of non Catholic Christians occurred in the Catholic State of Croatia, which enjoyed full diplomatic relations with the Vatican while also being an ally of Hitler and the Axis powers. Recently a news magazine such as Newsweek, documented that Rome smuggled Ustashi soldiers out of Europe to Argentina at the end of World War II, as they were loyal Catholics who had merely done the bidding of the Pope! No, the whore of Rome has NOT repented of her sins! This in why in the last days judgment will fall! Now do you see why you must come out of this religious system? Now finally, why does Jesus call this church a “whore”? Let’s see God’s own definition from the pages of Scripture. What is Spiritual Whoredom? In Exodus God said He was a jealous God and would not allow His people who are in covenant with Him to indulge in any pagan customs around them. Why? God answers in Exodus 34:15: “Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a WHORING after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods…!” Participating in religious observances originally dedicated to other gods was considered to be ‐spiritually speaking ‐ “whoredom!” Leviticus 20:5 speaks of committing “whoredom with Molech” ‐a pagan god. In Deuteronomy 31:16 God warned Moses that after his death, “this people will rise up, and go a WHORING after the gods of the strangers [Gentiles] of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.” Judges 2:17 shows that to turn “out of the way… [in not] obeying the commandments of the Lord” comes from “whoring after other gods.” So departing from God’s Law and participating in
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pagan customs where other gods and their festivals are honored constitutes spiritual whoredom. Judges 8:33 says that after Gideon’s death, “the children of Israel turned again, and went a WHORING after Balaam.” This term is plural for “Baal,” the name of a pagan god. We see therefore that turning from the Law of God and substituting pagan religious practices is a form of spiritual whoredom. This is the Biblical definition of spiritual whoredom. Physical whoredom is unfaithfulness to one’s husband. God told Israel in Jeremiah 3:14, “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you.” God’s covenant with Israel was likened to a “marriage covenant” where He was the “husband” to them! When Israel began to substitute pagan customs and pagan holidays and practices for the true worship of God as revealed in the Bible, God considered this to be a form of “marital infidelity” for she was not faithful to her spiritual Husband –Almighty God! Now we have God’s definition of spiritual “whoredom.” It is unfaithfulness to God by being unfaithful to His true form of worship and turning “out of the way” from keeping the commandments of God. Throughout the Old Testament where whoredom is mentioned, the majority of times it is referring to Israel’s unfaithfulness to her spiritual Husband, Almighty God. In like manner, Jesus Christ is called the Bridegroom of the church which He likens to a chaste and pure virgin awaiting her marriage to Him! How does a church remain chaste and pure spiritually? By being FAITHFUL to God’s Word and not participating in PAGAN customs which honor other gods! Even though the Roman Catholic Church has supposedly sanitized or “Christianized” the pagan customs she received from ancient Babylon, Jesus nevertheless has not accepted her worship and still calls her a “whore” because she has turned away from God’s Law (sometimes called the Law of Moses) and substituted pagan holidays and pagan days of worship for the commandments of God. This is the very prohibition Jesus Christ gives in Mark 7:7‐9 and 13. He said, “Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men… “And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition!” The holidays not found in the Bible most of us inherited from the Roman Catholic Church were borrowed from ancient Babylonian PAGANISM and therefore makes the participants guilty of spiritual “whoredom.” We should analyze each of the doctrines and customs –the traditions we received from men, to see if they really are commanded by God in the Bible. What holidays and religious customs you and I observe that are not commanded in the Bible should be abandoned! Inevitably such customs are borrowed from Babylonian, Egyptian and other PAGAN religions! This is why Jesus commands us to “come out!” (Revelation 18:4).
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The Mistress of Sorceries In Revelation 18:23 it is revealed that the entire city (Rome) will be destroyed. Today Rome is considered a very romantic place in Europe where many people go to get married. Jesus says that this will change. The city will be utterly destroyed. He explains. “For by thy SORCERIES were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of SAINTS, and of all that were slain upon the earth” (Revelation 18:23‐24). As we have seen from documented history, this can be referring to no one but the monstrous ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH! There is no other candidate! In my Bible beside verse 23 is a cross reference to Nahum 3:4 which Bible Scholars believe is a reference to this end time apostate church. Nahum 3:1‐4 reads: “Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery; ...and there is a multitude of slain, …and there is none end of their corpses; …because of the multitudes of the whoredoms of the well favoured HARLOT, the mistress of witchcraft [sorceries], that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.” While this typically referred to Nineveh, some theologians and scholars believe this anti‐ typically foreshadows the end time mistress of sorceries and witchcraft –the “whore” of the Book of Revelation! You Now Know the Truth! You now have the truth concerning the identity of the ''whore'' of Babylon! It cannot be denied! Read again Revelation 17:1‐6. There is only one organization IN ALL HISTORY that fits this description. It is undeniably the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH! Now you have no excuse! For it is time to examine the religious beliefs we have inherited from the "mother church" and see if they agree with the Law of God found in the Bible. If they do not, then we must abandon all false doctrines and pagan traditions of men and embrace the one true religion of Jesus Christ. We must "earnestly contend for the Faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). Today we see a fulfillment of Revelation 12:9 that says the whole world has been deceived! That means YOU and I have also been deceived!!! How do we come out of the deception? How do we “cleanse our way?” God tells us! “By taking heed thereto according to THY WORD”! (Psalm 119:9). It is time to COME out of Babylon and her harlot daughters completely and begin believing only the Word of God! The Bible itself must become our sole source of doctrine and not the Babylonian traditions which most professing Christians inherited from the “Mother Church”! –the “mother” whore! Will you repent? Will you “come out” before it is too late? You have been shown the truth!
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You will now be held accountable for what you know. Don’t put this truth aside and allow yourself to remain in this false religious system any longer! The Bible commands” “COME OUT from among them, and be ye separate!!” Will you come out? What will you decide?
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Chapter 6: “Mystery BABYLON the Great, the Mother of HARLOTS”! Why is the Roman Catholic Church referred to as a "mother church" and what "offspring" came from her? To whom did she give "birth"? WHO are the Harlot Daughters?
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nd upon her forehead was a name written, ‘Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of Harlots’”! (Revelation 17:5). When did the whore of Revelation 17 become a “mother?” And who are the whore’s offspring? Notice that her “daughters” are also “whorish.” It is important to realize that the same Greek word is used here for “harlots” as for “whore.” The harlots are therefore no better than the mother in the sight of God ‐and are themselves spiritual whores!!! When Jesus commands His people to “come out” of Mystery Babylon, He obviously is referring to a religious SYSTEM borrowed from pagan Babylon religion. Alexander Hislop, historian and theologian, in his celebrated book, The Two Babylons, shows in detail how the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH borrowed excessively from the religion of PAGAN Babylon which God condemned in the Bible and became a “second Babylon.” While the reference in Revelation 17, is primarily to the “mother church” of today’s “Christendom,” who then are the “daughter” harlots of Rome? It is an interesting fact of nature that kind produces like kind. Just as dogs produce puppies (but they are still very much “dogs”) and cats produce kittens, which are themselves cats, so organizations also have offspring –by producing additional organizations. Large corporations sometimes produce “offspring” we call “subsidiaries.” In like manner, even churches produce “offspring,” by producing other churches! Thus Jesus is revealing in the Book of Revelation that this WHORE of Rome has become a MOTHER CHURCH, because she is the mother of churches! The Harlot Daughters We have already seen from scripture that a woman in prophecy symbolizes a church (See II Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:23‐24, Revelation 12 and John 3:29 where Jesus refers to Himself as the Bridegroom of the virginal church). We have also seen proved that a fallen woman (called a “whore”) represents a spiritually fallen church –one that has fallen into apostasy! It is evident therefore that in prophecy when a “woman” is referred to, it refers to a church. In Revelation 17:5, Christ reveals the old whore that rules the beast is a mother to OTHER whores (or harlots). These “women” therefore, to be consistent with scripture, obviously refer to daughter CHURCHES which were birthed from the whore out of PROTEST!
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What Martin Luther Failed to Do In attempting to reform the whore of Babylon, Martin Luther started a movement referred to as “the Reformation.” It failed. The Roman Catholic Church resisted any attempts of reform and so, many Catholics left the Roman Church and reveled against the Pope! In addition to Luther there were other “reformers” who equally failed to reform the “mother church of Rome.” Men like John Calvin had his own ideas regarding doctrine and wrote extensively in his Institutes of the Christian Religion concerning his own beliefs. Yet each of these men and all such reformers failed because they did not heed the advice of Jude 3 which commands true Christians to “earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the saints”! A friend of Luther named Carlstadt contended with him over the issue of “commandment keeping.” Martin Luther knew of the true Church in his day and time that continued to cling to the “primitive” religion of the Apostle Paul and the early first century true Church of God. These people in his day were known variously as Waldenses, Albigenses and Lollards, depending on their geographical location, yet among themselves in their own literature as “The Church of God.” But Luther felt that to go back to the literal letter of the Ten Commandments would make it harder to get additional Catholics to leave the fold and join his “Protest” movement. So he failed to contend for the original primitive Faith that the Waldensian Christians –the church that was isolated in the wilderness but well known to Rome –had maintained for nearly 1500 years! Thus the Protestant Churches continued to keep the same traditions, observing the same holidays and same weekly day of worship as “Mother Rome” –the Roman Catholic Church –the Mother of all “Christendom” and the “Mother of HARLOTS.” Why does Jesus call these daughter churches “harlots” (the same work translated as “whore”)? Because they have retained the ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION regarding the pagan holidays and customs originating in Babylon are concerned. True, each Protestant group made some variations in doctrine. Luther saw the doctrine of Justification by faith and made that his major contention with Rome. Later John Wesley came along and added his own understanding of sanctification. Each Protestant “reformer” began to study and saw certain truths that had been buried since the whore of Babylon had taken control of the Beasts power –the Roman Empire, yet they failed to “earnestly” contend for the true Faith. We should compare the doctrines of “Mother Rome” with those of her Protestant daughters to see what they each have in common that differs from the early true New Testament Church of God. The early Church was looked upon as a sect of Judiasm because they continued meeting for rest and worship on the seventh day of the week, keeping the Sabbath according to the
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commandment (Luke 23:56). They continued observing the Spring Festival of Passover, the seven day Feast God commanded His people to keep (Ezekiel 45:21, 1 Corinthians 5:7‐8). Since God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11), God inspired Paul to write that Gentiles become (spiritually) the seed of Abraham upon conversion. A Gentile becomes a spiritual JEW (Galatians 3:28‐29). This is why Paul told the Gentile Churches in Thessalonica to IMITATE the Jewish Churches in Judaea (1 Thessalonians 2:14. See the margin where the word “followers” should be translated “imitators”). If the Greeks in Thessalonica were following and imitating the Jewish Christians in Judaea, then they also were keeping Passover and all the annual Festivals of God, that he had given initially to Israel, but commanded even Gentiles to keep if they wish to serve the true God (Isaiah 56:1‐7, Zechariah 14:16‐19). Paul told the Gentile Colossians not to let it bother them when they were judged (persecuted) by their UN‐believing Gentile neighbors for obeying the Laws of God regarding meat and drink and observing the Holy Days, new moons and the Sabbath (Colossians 2:16). It is obvious therefore that Paul taught the Gentiles to imitate the Jews in their religion, which is, obeying the Law of Moses, since Christ did not do away, destroy, or abolish or in any way abrogate the Law of Moses! (see Matthew 5:17‐19). Paul himself kept the whole Law believing literally ALL things written in the Law! (Acts 24:14 and Romans 3:31). Secular history records that the first century church was a “law‐keeping” church. It wasn’t until in the late 3rd and 4th centuries that apostasy became rampant in Rome. With the apostasy in full swing, the church at Rome adopted the Roman weekly day of rest as a day of worship despising the 4th commandment because of extremely strong anti‐Semitism in Rome at that time. Even in Paul’s day, anti‐Semitism was so strong that Claudius Caesar “had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome”! (Acts 18:2). This lessened the confusion or Romans who celebrated the first day of the week as a day in honor of the SUN god, and those Jews who insisted on keeping the Sabbath day as a day of rest to God. Eventually after a congregation of the true Church was established in Rome, it apparently caved into the pressure and abandoned the Sabbath and adopted the Roman Sunday, a day of sports and revelry. Other sun‐worshipping days of PAGAN Rome were Easter (in the spring) and Saturnalia (in late December culminating on the 25th). The reader is advised to purchase a copy of Alexander Hislop’s celebrated work, The Two Babylons which documents this information. In a few centuries, the Roman church had completely abandoned first century New Testament religion in favor of the more familiar Roman customs among the pagans. This is why you find no Scriptural evidence for the “Good Friday‐ Easter Sunday” tradition (which contradicts Jesus’ own words in Matthew 12:40). You find no scriptural support to pray to the Virgin Mary, or for her supposed perpetual virginity! You find no scriptural support for the celibacy of the priesthood, praying to dead saints (strictly forbidden by the Law of Moses), of priest wearing pagan fish hats or even having a “priesthood” since the apostles did not call themselves “priests.” You find no scriptural support for the 40 days of “Lent” which came from Egypt and other pagan cultures or for a myriad of other Roman doctrines in the Roman Church, most of
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which were passed down from “Mother Rome” to her Protestant “Daughters” and is now found in Protestant Churches as well. This is why Jesus calls the daughter churches of Rome, “Harlots”! Jesus commands His people: “COME OUT of her [this Babylonish SYSTEM] my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins”! Are you participating in customs that originated with heathen religions? Did you know that the very name “Easter” is the name of the Babylonian SEX goddess and never had anything to do with the resurrection of Christ? While Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, the apostles never named the day of His resurrection “Easter” after the name of a pagan Babylonian goddess! Do you keep Halloween which originated with the witches and devil‐worshipping Druids? How do you justify clearly transgressing a command from Almighty God to: “Learn NOT the way of the HEATHEN… for the customs of the people are VAIN”! (Jeremiah 10:2‐4). There are many excuses. “Well,” say some parents, “we only do it for the children!” Why do parents lie to their children in December, participating in the PAGAN PAGENTRY of the winter Solstice (December 25th) and call it “Christian”? They do it because MOTHER ROME did it! And they belong to one of the daughter (Protestant) churches that came out of Rome. Why do parents teach their children about Satan –excuse me, I transposed those letters by accident; I meant to write “Santa” –and the pagan Easter bunny and Halloween (which glorifies witches and devils)? It is because they have not yet understood Christ’s clear command to “COME OUT” FROM THE HARLOT SYSTEM represented by “Mother” and Protestant “Daughter” churches!!! What I have shared with you is difficult for many to accept. The truth, when first heard, sounds so unusual and so strange! Especially God’s Laws! (Hosea 8:12). It is time you sought out God’s true Religion which still does exist on this Earth and has never died out in 1900 years. Find the TRUE Religion in the pages of your Bible and then find a church that teaches THAT Religion and support it fully. It does exist. Would you like to be a part of it?
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