This part of our Bible study is truly revealing to me, because I was raised by Catholic parents. They truly believed in everything the church taught and weren't what I would call devout Catholics in their church attendance, but based on their traditions, rituals and beliefs, they were whole heartedly devoted to their religious beliefs. In fact, part of those beliefs and practices became part of my faith at one point and included all that went with it, from going to class for my holy communion and confirmation to everything that the Catholic church taught. It was the only thing I knew because it was what my parents taught me and I never considered researching its backgrounds because I truly felt what I was doing was right. Until I met the Jesus of the Bible and not of the Catholic church. I ask you to do your own research on what you will find her today and see if it all doesn't make sense and cause you to reconsider all that you may believe and what the roots are in the religion you might be following.
I believe in our own lives there comes a time when we simply want to do what we want to do and every single time we do that, we run into trouble. See when you follow what the Bible says, you can never go wrong. We can never regret following God. One thing is for sure, we will always fill that God-shaped hole in our life with a god or gods. It is simply human nature to want something in our life that approves of what we want to do without being told differently. The God of Heaven won't do that because He simply loves us too much to leave us alone.
In our study in identifying the worship system of Babylon, we know that it is a system having "global" powers. Remember the Euro coin we looked at yesterday, about the woman riding a beast over the waters? These are the waters of the world or the sea of humanity.
Her identity is clear.
Revelation 17:18 ~ "And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth."
In John's day it was reigning over the kings of the earth, the city of Rome and the Roman Empire. The Babylonian worship was already around the world at this point. That "great city" was its center and it can be no other than Rome. It was the seat of power during John's time. That can be no other city that commanded that much power and influence in the world at that time. It was and is the religious and political power of the world in that time and it will be once again.
Her location is clear.
Revelation 17:9 ~ "This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;"
The seven heads are seven mountains or hills on which the woman sits. Since we know the city is Rome, we can gain an understanding of the hills or mountains that are named. They are Avantine, Kalian, Capotalin, Palatine, Escholine, Quarinal, and Viminal. These are the names of the hills of the city-state called Vatican City. See the map for the locations of these hills and you can see that Capotalin is the city of Jerusalem that was renamed by the Romans. Palatine is the renamed city of Palestine, named in honor of the Philistines.
The church mated with the Babylonian powers of the Roman Empire and completely attempted to remove themselves from all forms of Christianity. If you remember "The Way" was an effort to assimilate the Christianity of the time into the Babylonian empire. One Emperor managed to do just that. Emperor Constantine (300-315 A.D.) did this perfectly. He created amnesty and stopped the persecutions of the Christians if they conformed to this new belief system, which many did. This is dangerous when the church flirts with and dates the powers of the world.
Her attire is clear.
Revelation 17:4 ~ "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality."
Notice the colors purple and scarlet, those are the key colors. The priests of the Babylonian cult wore exclusively purple and red. Semiramus made sure all of these things were used in her worship services. She is dressed very seductive (spiritually) speaking.
Her influence is clear.
Revelation 17:12 ~ "And the ten hours that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received their royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast."
A global ecumenically coalition: one world, one faith and one religion. Remember the image on the coin of the "waters" the beast and the woman were riding over? The sea of humanity to conquer the world.
In identifying the worship of Babylon, it's a system having a "glorious" position. She will have swift access to the world.
Revelation 17:3 ~ "And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns."
Notice in the picture of this famous painting that is hanging in a museum depicting the last days of earth. Notice the geometry of the shape of the cup. Do some research on this and you might be shocked at what you will discover. This is a depiction of the church in the last days, but it has its roots from the creation of the world.
She will dominate the world's religions
Revelation 17:3 ~ "And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns."
Notice that in the picture and in the Bible verse, she is sitting. It means she isn't worried about anything, she is very comfortable with the way things are going. If you do some research into the Minoan civilization, you might find some very interesting things. This was during the time period of roughly 2500 B.C. in Ancient Greece and recent archaeological discoveries have unearthed some temples depicting a scarlet beast or bull. This is the god Zeus with the great horns. Not the colors used in these temples and paintings. They are again key in our study.
This was a satellite worship center with the head of it being in Babylon which then moved to Greece, then Turkey and there we find the city of Pergamum or Pergamus as noted in the Bible. These were all about temple worship. Do more research like I did and see who they worshiped there.
It's a system of "grand" prosperity. It had unlimited wealth and has always had it. They believed in rituals or rites that were necessary to get you into heaven. As Christianity utilized the British pound, then the U.S. dollar, she will utilize the Euro. This religious system believed that you had to confess your sins to priests in order to be forgiven and gain entrance into heaven.
Watch for a dominant European currency.
Revelation 17:4 ~ "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality."
Revelation 14 tells us that it is a membership economy. The restructuring of Europe will happen. Consider these questions.
Where is the largest church on the planet located right now? Rome.
Do you know that it is excluded from the governments of the world and its laws?
The Vatican City issues its own passports. Nations of the world have to have ambassadors not to Italy but they need another one from Rome, to Vatican City?
Did you know that the Pope, the Cardinals and the Nicolaitans are exempt from government laws worldwide?
Consider the Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal in the church, was anyone ever arrested? If this happened in any other church group, people would have gone to jail.
If you study your Bible, you'll realize that you don't need to go through anyone but Jesus to confess your sins to. Who did the thief on the cross go through? No one but Jesus. The same is true today. If any religious system tries and stands in the way of Jesus, it is a false one.
It's wealth will elevate its status in the world. One church stands alone when it comes to its monetary worth in the world. Only one.
It's a system having "gross" passions. She is a spiritual harlot. She doesn't hook up with people, but with nations and power to infiltrate them. Think of it as spiritual pornography, if you will, flirting with the world's religions.
She is unholy to God.
Revelation 17:2 ~ "with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immortality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk."
The "kings of the earth" are political leaders and their representatives.
She is indulgent.
Revelation 17:5 ~ "And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."
An unholy marriage, the Babylonian worship system to the church of God.
It's a system of having "given" persecutions.
Revelation 17:6-7a ~ "And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, "Why do you marvel?"
She has historically martyred Christians. She will repeat her historic actions. Her actions are shocking to John because he never imagined that something called the church could consume others. Think back to the Inquisitions from the 1500's to the 1800's. More people were killed in the name of Jesus and such people like Martin Luther, Tyndale and Woodcliffe were attacked or killed for simply telling people not to listen to the church but to read the Bible for themselves to learn the truth.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 ~ "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth."
2 Corinthians 11:2 ~ "For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ."
James 4:4 ~ "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
2 Timothy 4:2-4 ~ "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teaching to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths."
Do you have religion in your life, keeping God in a box, only taking Him out when You need Him or do you have a real relationship with God?
It is hard not to look at all this convicting evidence like I did and not realize how easily it is to be led astray simply based on traditions and rituals based on how you were raised to believe. You can't claim once reading this and doing your own research that you didn't know anymore. God will forgive us if we simply ask him and we don't need to go through anyone else to get there.
We can pray to God through His Son Jesus, and ask for forgiveness for any sin. There is none so great He won't forgive you for, if you simply believe in Him and ask. If you agree with Jesus that your sin is the only thing separating you from God and that Jesus came to save you by dying on the cross for You, being raised from the dead and now through asking Him into your life, you can experience a relationship that is life changing not a religion to hold you back!
Will you ask Jesus into your life today? The Bible promises that those who call on the name of Jesus will be saved!
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