city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more— cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves [literally bodies] and human lives [souls of people]. “The fruit of your soul’s desire you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them. “The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘aWoe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance,” (Revelation 18:10-17). Who were the greatest of merchants than the nations who made themselves rich by the blood of the saints and the atrocities committed in the name of religion by the church?
At the beginning of Chapter 17, God identified the church as follows: “And he carried me [John] away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:3-5).
“Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, [commonly interpreted as Rome] and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. “These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast” (Rev 17:9-13).
The woman, Babylon the Great, Mother of harlots and abominations is seated on the beast who represents Kings and Kingdoms of the earth. In actuality this woman is Satan. Satan is first and foremost a religious spirit, propagating false religion. Paul identifies this: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even SATAN DISGUISES HIMSELF AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:11-13). Satan’s angelic name is Lucifer which means “light bearer” or “star of the morning”. It was obviously his plan from the beginning to try to foil God’s plan by deceiving nearly all the world to follow after a false, unscriptural, paganistic, mystery religion.
What started out as Babylon spread over the entire world and ended up appearing in many forms throughout the earth (India, Egypt etc). It also ended up as the Universal church, which was worldwide. This universal (Catholic) church used many of the same rituals, symbols and doctrines that used in the mother of all religions, Babylon. Mother and child worship, in any form, is just a continuation of those rites.
There is very much more we can say on this subject. This article doesn’t speak for any religion or organization. It is just an explanation of what is really the truth.
Bibliography:
McClintock and Strong Bible Handbook pp. 947-48
Halley Bible Handbook, p.696
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, Ed. “Babylon in the New Testament”
Ancient Pagan Symbols, Elizabeth Goldsmith
Ancient Cities and Temples-Babylon, Albert Champdor
Harper’s Bible Dictionary
Dictionary of Symbols, J.E. Cirot
The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall
Rise and Fall of the Roman Catholic Church, F. Paul Peterson
Satan’s Great Deception, C. Paul Meridith
This is the Catholic Church, Joseph E. Ritter
The Wine of Roman Babylon, Mary E. Walsh
Encyclopedia of Religions, J.C. Forlong
Babylon Mystery Religion, Ralph Woodrow
An Appeal to the Christian World, Alexander Denovan
Rome the True Church?, S.E. Anderson
Does Our Faith Need Too Much Reassurance?
Our faith in the Lord seems to have need of reassurance from time to time. God will speak something to us and we believe it at the time but when that circumstances or conditions arise we often react with unbelief. Then we must go back to the Lord, or to our brother, to be reassured again in our faith. This process may repeat itself a multitude of times and we still walk away without the abiding faith that God really wants.
Reassure means variously to: “assure anew or reassure, to relieve of anxieties, to restore to confidence or to encourage”. Synonyms may include “encourage, guarantee, convince, bolster, comfort, console or inspire” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, 11th Ed.). Reassurance implies that we are seeking something we have lost and we have to be reminded again of its existence.
Abiding faith is: “enduring, abiding; pertaining to, continuing to exist and so remain in a (sure) state”. It can also mean a resumption of a prior state. (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages : Aramaic (Old Testament). In Greek the word is μένω (menō): “to stay, remain, abide; to wait for, remain in a place or state, and expect something in future; continue to exist, remain in existence; keep on, continue in an activity or state, as an aspect of continuing action or permanence of position” (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament) With Semantic Domains).
Why is there such a wavering in our faith that we have to be reminded of God’s word over and over again? Jesus was not unconvinced of His Father’s love for Him. Jesus didn’t waver in faith. His heart was fixed on the Father. He was, however, aware of the instability and unbelief of man who wavered at every turn of the wind.
He commanded: “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet you’re heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’
