Mystery Babylon
The True Religion Of God Is Holiness
And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication”
(Revelation 14:8).
"Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication'" (Revelation 17:1-2).
(The Pope being arrayed in purple, with a scarlet background, and adorned with gold, who's crown (the Papal tiara) having precious stones and pearls)
"So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH" (Revelation 17:3-5).
(Millions of victims tortured and killed in the name of the Pope, Mary goddess, and the eucharist wafer)
"I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement" (Revelation 17:6).
The Roman Catholic Church throughout the years has killed millions of innocent people through their crusades and the Inquisition. They considered Bible reformists (those who base their faith on the authority of the Bible alone) to be a threat to their religion.
Here is a short historical summary of some of the horrific actions taken upon by the Roman Catholic Church:
• 1184 ad - Synod of Verona says you can burn heretics at the stake.
• 1215 - 4th Lateran Council: Burn heretics and take their property. The "Inquisition" is formed.
• 1220 - Inquisition is handed to the newly-formed "Dominican" order.
• 1229 - Synod of Toulouse makes the Inquisition a systematic process. Guilty until proven innocent!
• 1252 - Pope "Innocent" IV: Torture is doctrinally acceptable to make an accused heretic "confess."
• 1487 - Pope Innocent VIII promises to forgive the sins of anyone who kills Vaudois (Bible-believing Christians) labeling them as "heretics." He hands over their property, too.
- "Did the Catholic Church Give Us the Bible?" by David W. Daniels
“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits" (Revelation 17:9).
Rome has obtained the title City of Seven Hills, as it was literally founded on seven hills. It was established when a wall had been built around houses that had been built on the seven hills of Rome.
(The Pope being greeted by many of his followers in Vatican City)
"Then he said to me, 'The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth'” (Revelation 17:15-18).
Shown right in the photo is the tiara, the crown of the Pope. According to the Vatican, the three layers symbolize “the triple power of the Pope: father of kings, governor of the world and Vicar of Christ.”
“The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man...he is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power.” -Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, 1763, Volume VI, 'Papa II', pp.25-29
"The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come"
(Revelation 18:9-10).
"And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men" (Revelation 18:11-13).
As you can see in the photo above, being displayed are numerous amounts of merchandise made out of all kinds of materials that the Roman Catholic Church makes riches off of selling to their followers. These items are made from those same materials mentioned in the verses above in bold. Some of these items, such as fragrant oil and frankincense, wine, and oil, are used during Church ceremonies.
There are an estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world whose households contain items such as these, along with the thousands of Catholic Churches around the world that use many of these products. So you can understand how the merchants of the world will weep and lament over the destruction of Vatican City and the fall of the Roman Catholic Church which will finally receive her due justice from Yahweh God Almighty.
(Notice how Mary is pointing at her chest, having the sun behind her head. This represents pagan sun worship. Compare to photo of Isis statue)
"In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow'" (Revelation 18:7).
The Roman Catholic Church is also known as "Mother Church", declaring Mary mother of Jesus as Queen of Heaven. The only time the title "Queen of Heaven" is directly used in the Bible is written by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19). He speaks of a pagan goddess worshiped throughout the ancient Mediterranean and Near East during ancient times. God detests all pagan worship.
The Roman Catholic Church has passed down this pagan worship of goddess' masking her in the image of Mary the mother of Jesus, making her into an idol of worship--as demonstrated in the image of Mary and Isis the pagan goddess and their captions.
(Notice this statue of Isis a pagan goddess pointing at her chest, having the sun on her head. Compare to the photo above of Mary)
They went as far as to change the second of the 10 commandments from "You shall not make idols", to "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them" (Exodus 20:4-5).
Read Deuteronomy 5:6-21 to see the list of the 10 commandments given by God to the children of Israel. You will see that the Roman Catholic Church split the 10th commandment "You shall not covet" in two making the 9th commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife", and the 10th, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods." They then went ahead and tucked away the second commandment "You shall not make idols" combining it with the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me."
The Roman Catholic Church has made many idols out of the saints mentioned in the Bible, the most popular being Mary.
Many statues of Mary have been erected throughout the Roman Catholic Churches where people will come to light a candle at her feet, bowing and praying to her. Not only is this idolatry, breaking the second of the 10 commandments, but we are never instructed to pray to any of the saints in the Bible; only to Jesus or the Father. Only God alone has the power to hear our prayers.
The Roman Catholic Church has also given Mary the status of co-redeemer and co-mediator with Jesus. But this is nothing more than heresy to elevate Mary to a status of worship that God never intended:
"For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).
The Roman Catholics chant this prayer to Mary:
"Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen."
Firstly, the Bible forbids us to make inquires of the dead, as told in these verses:
"There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 18:10-13).
"And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn" (Isaiah 8:19-20).
As seen in bold above, we should inquire God alone. Jesus makes this clear when He instructs His disciples in what manner they (as well as we) should pray:
"In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:9-13).
To those who come and bow down before a statue of Mary, hailing her, inquiring for her to make intercession by praying for them is nothing but foolishness to God:
"Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
They have ears, but they do not hear..." (Psalm 115:4-6).
"...They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.
They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it
And set it in its place, and it stands;
From its place it shall not move.
Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer
Nor save him out of his trouble" (Isaiah 46:6-7).
Only God has the power to hear all the prayers of the people. To say Mary possesses this power is to make her like God.
To say she is "full of grace" is to raise her on the status of someone who has redeeming power in some sense. And this is blaspheme, for only God possesses this status through His Son Jesus Christ:
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree')" (Galatians 3:13).
Mary is called blessed in the Bible among women, for she was a chosen vessel to conceive the only begotten Son of God Jesus, and we should not take it any further than that. To say she is the 'Mother of God' has the potential to elevate her to a status of worship where it becomes idolatry, breaking the second commandment of God.
"And it happened, as He (Jesus) spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!'
But He said, 'More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'" (Luke 11:27-28).
You can see that while Jesus acknowledges that Mary was blessed, He further states that even more blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. For Mary, just like the rest of us, was in need of a savior, and without Him, we are cursed unto death.
"And Mary said:
'My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior"' (Luke 1:46-47).
We can clearly see that Mary calls Jesus her "Lord." Why am I bringing up this point? We read in the book of Matthew chapter 22:
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
'The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’?
If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.
So, then, If Mary calls Jesus "Lord," how can He truly be her son? Even more, she calls Him "God my Savior"!
When Jesus was on the cross, spoken of in John chapter 19, some believe He told Mary to behold her son, but following the logic of my previous point, I believe what is actually being portrayed here is that Jesus is telling Mary to behold her son (Apostle John who was before Him as well at that moment), and for John to behold his mother Mary. This point will be even more clear as we read on going unto Matthew 12:46-50 very shortly.
"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple (John) whom He loved standing by (you can see the focal point is now on Jesus' disciple John and Mary His mother), He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son!” (not once in the Gospels does Jesus call Mary "mother," but rather He uses the word "woman," which is equivalent in modern terms to "ma'am" used as respect towards somebody). Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!' And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home" (John 19:25-27).
The Roman Catholics like to say, because Jesus told John who was before Him as He was on the cross, "behold your mother," that this means that Mary is the mother of the Church. This is outright false. What Jesus was stating is what is taught throughout the Bible, that in the family of God, of His Kingdom, those in the body of Christ should be considered our mother, father, brothers, and sisters. As Jesus clearly states in His words:
"While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”
But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50).
Is this any way for Jesus to treat the mother of God, the Queen of Heaven as the Roman Catholics call her?
Yes, Mary gave birth to Jesus, but truly God has no mother. This is because God has no beginning, who is from everlasting to everlasting. It is God who created Mary, and Himself through her in the child of Jesus (conceived by the Holy Spirit through the miraculous virgin birth).
When a Roman Catholic is pointed to the verses in Jeremiah concerning the pagan worship of sun goddess', they may object by pointing to Revelation 12:
"Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth" (Revelation 12:1-2).
They make the claim that this woman "...clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head, a garland (crown) of twelve stars" is speaking of Mary. But is this really the case? I will show you why this woman spoken here is not Mary but in fact the wife of the Lamb, the heavenly Jerusalem. Or in other words, this is the true Queen of Heaven that the devil has tried to pervert in various ways.
"In Roman Catholic Mariology, Mother of the Church (in Latin Mater Ecclesiae) is a title, officially given to Mary during the Second Vatican Council by Pope Paul VI. The title was first used in the 4th century by Saint Ambrose of Milan, as rediscovered by Hugo Rahner."
The issue with this proclamation is that Mary is never once referred to as the mother of the Church anywhere in the Bible. We do find this title given by Apostle Paul, but to the holy city New Jerusalem that is in heaven:
"but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26).
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem..." (Hebrews 12:22).
Apostle Paul speaks of a mystery about a heavenly Jerusalem that exists in heaven. When God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle, he was building a copy of what was in heaven (Hebrews 8:5). So there is this heavenly Jerusalem with the temple of God that dwells in heaven that existed before the creation of the heavens and Earth.
We get more detail about this heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation 21 identifying this city as the Lamb's wife:
"Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Revelation 21:2).
"Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God" (Revelation 21:9-11).
To figure out the identity of this woman, let us go back to the start of Revelation chapter 12:
"Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth" (Revelation 12:1-2).
The reference here to the sun, moon and stars is tied with Israel, as seen with a dream that Joseph shared with his family:
"Then he (Joseph) dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me" (Genesis 37:9).
In his dream, the sun represented his father Jacob (Israel), the moon his mother, and the eleven stars his brothers, and Joseph himself was the twelfth star. Jacob's twelve sons are where we get the twelve tribes of Israel.
So the twelve stars on the crown this woman is wearing show that she represents Israel. But since she was a sign who appeared in heaven, she represents heavenly Jerusalem. The reason for her being a woman symbolizes her as the Lamb's wife who is "...the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26).
"Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (Revelation 12:6).
Here we see the woman in the end times during the reign of the beast flee into the wilderness tow escape the persecution of the Antichrist. This is another reason why we can know this woman doesn't represent Mary, for Mary has already passed on and is not present on earth in the last generation during the reign of the beast.
So who this woman represents is the 144,000 who are described as being sealed from the earth from the twelve tribes of Israel in Revelation chapter 7, and seen standing on Mount Sinai (heavenly Jerusalem) in Revelation chapter 14; the twelve tribes of Israel, from the Heavenly Jerusalem.
The devil's job is to twist and distort the image of God on Earth, perverting the ways of righteousness through deceit, and making counterfeits of what is in heaven. He has done this with the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Islam, and more. But above all, you can say the Roman Catholic Church is his masterpiece.
"Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here'" (John 18:36).
"Again, the devil took Him (Jesus) up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve'" (Matthew 4:8-10).
"And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her'" (Revelation 18:4-6).
There are many who believe that Mystery Babylon is America or Jerusalem. Though you can make a case for it, it can only go so far. Revelation 18:7 says, "...I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow". Jerusalem has been destroyed multiple times, so it has indeed seen many sorrows. America has seen many sorrows as well, from a civil war to a great depression. The Vatican on the other hand has yet to see any sorrow of the like but rather is the one who has instigated many sorrows upon others, even to death.
You will also read that the beast that this woman rides on will hate her, and destroy her, and the kingdom will be given to the beast. We know in Revelation that the Antichrist will seat himself in the temple of God that will be built in Jerusalem. So once again, Mystery Babylon could not be Jerusalem for this very reason.
Many people like to make the claim that the Roman Catholic Church is the oldest, and thus the true Church of God. But when did it really start?
The true Church of God was established by Jesus Christ with His twelve Apostles as the foundations:
"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).
The Apostles James, Paul, and Peter helped maintain and spread God's Church, and we do not see the Roman Catholic Church appear until the 4th century, in 313 ad. Constantine merged all the Pagan priests of the state church, and he added them to all of the successors of the biblical church and merged those two together.
To this day, we can see many pagan symbols used throughout the Vatican church.
Starting with the Mitre hat worn by the Pope. You can see this resembles a pagan tradition passed down throughout the centuries worn by a priest who practiced worship of the ancient pagan god Dagon.
As mentioned previously, the Roman Catholic Church was founded in 313 ad when Constantine merged all the pagan priests of the state church.
As previously mentioned with the image of Mary and Isis the sun god, the Roman Catholic Church has adopted this history of pagan sun worship, and you can see clear evidence throughout the Church's history.
Shown in the photo to the left is one example of this sun worship, showing Pope Francis gazing into a sun idol. This has nothing to do with the Bible and everything to do with pagan sun worship that God abhors.
Clearly shown in this photo is the "all-seeing eye" that we find present on the US 1 Dollar Bill. We know in the Bible that an "eye" represents a "spirit" and that "spirits" represent angelic beings. Who this eye represents is Lucifer, the fallen angel commonly known as the devil or satan.
This eye symbolism can be seen throughout different avenues that the devil has his hands on being the god of this world (for now). Such as popular musicians and actors placing both hands in a pyramid shape with one eye looking through it. These are people who have sold their souls to the devil and given him the glory through the gifts and talents that God has given them.
This is not to mention the false doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church which teaches purgatory (never mentioned in the Bible), and the rosary, mass, also man-made doctrines not taught in the Bible. If anyone can add anything they want to the Bible, where does it end, and how do we know the truth? We must trust in God's revealed word alone.
What is interesting is that the book of Isaiah is said to be a mini Bible that contains 66 chapters. How many books does the Bible contain? 66. So I see this as God's confirmation that the 66 books of the Bible are the totality of His revealed word to mankind for us to know Him in spirit and truth.
God is perfect and He would have gotten the job done right the first time. It is the devil who adds to God's word creating false final revelations after the last book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. This can be seen below exposing the other false religions that aim to distort the truth of God.
Just as in this life, we have this term we use to label something as "counterfeit." Why? Because there is the real deal. Counterfeits tend to appear to mimic something that is a big part of human life. One quick example is money. How much more is the aspect of humanity's spirituality? So, because we see all these religions in the world does not mean they are all false, instead, just as with money, it is an indication that there is the real deal out there, and all others are there to be deceptions. So do not let this information cause you to fall away from the Bible, but draw you closer to the real deal.
You may ask, why would God who is sovereign, allow man to pervert His word and create these deceptions? My best answer is He allows it so that the hearts of man may be tested to see who loves the truth or the lie. They are as filters to sort out the hearts of man to see who loves the darkness or the light. For it is the darkness that has manifested these false religions, and for someone to deny the truth of God's word clearly made shown to them in favor of this darkness, exposes their heart that they do not want the light of the only begotten of the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy and true One. Simply put, this is what it comes down to:
"And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God" (John 3:19-21).
So what can we say? Can we find any other candidate greater than the Roman Catholic Church concerning the identity of Mystery Babylon revealed by Jesus Christ?
