Study 7:
The Great Whore and the Beast She Rides of Revelation 17
The Great Whore and the Beast She Rides of Revelation 17
In this study we will
consider the prophecies related to the great whore mentioned in Chapter 17 of the Book of Revelation, along with the beast upon which she rides. In so doing, we will be covering a multitude of other biblical passages relating to the same subjects; and, at the same time, uncover who or what this woman is and what the beast represents.Up front, concerning the thesis of this paper, I will simply say that the woman who rides the beast in Revelation 17 represents an apostate church, and the beast represents a kingly or political power, that of Rome. As scripture and history will attest, there is a striking resemblance between the depictions of the woman riding the beast and that of the Roman Catholic faith; also noted is the resemblance between the description of the beast and that of the civil/political government, the seat of the Roman. Some students of the subject believe the beast is also the apostate church; but that is not so, for it does not fit. This difference should become obvious towards the beginning of our study.
The statement just made may be surprising, even shocking, to some readers who have not considered the comparison. Nevertheless, this is as I, myself, view the prophecies; realizing that along with those who already agree with this thesis, there are many who have views quite divergent from the forgoing study.
At this point I must say that this is not a criticism of the many faithful members of the Roman Catholic Church who have been devotedly trying to serve their Savior Jesus Christ with all their heart and with good intention, and who are unaware of the sinister designs of those who set the policies of the Church in general.
Also, it must be made clear, here, that when speaking of the pope or the papacy in this study, the term is to be applied to the OFFICE of pope, not any specific pope, even though some names of popes will be used during the discussion of the subject at hand. Therefore, the term “pope” and “papacy” refers to an “office” and not an individual; and, likewise, the term “Roman Catholic Church,” or any other appellation applied to it, refers to a “structure” and not any specific person.
Furthermore, we know from other studies that Rome is the beast mentioned in Revelation 13, and that a civil/political government, or kingdom, is metaphorically referred to as a beast by both Prophets, Daniel and John the Revelator. But since Vatican City is a political entity, wielding political influence in the world today, it can also be considered a beast. In reality, it is an “image” of the original beast — that of Rome. Therefore, we will simply be considering Vatican City as being the beast for the sake of this particular study.
Now, there are also other related prophecies, relevant to the ones we will be considering, that could be covered, but some of them have such divergent interpretations that I, personally, have not been able to come to any set conclusion to their exact meaning or honestly reconcile them with Holy Writ. I feel that I cannot present them as proper interpretations of relevant scripture without some further proof or personal spiritual insight on the subjects; although there are those who feel they have received such spiritual enlightenment. With this in mind, I will not be including those prophecies in this study, but will present them in another study.
Although other scriptures will be considered in this study, I will primarily be taking Revelation Chapters 13 and 17, along with Daniel 7 as the major scriptural references. Along with these, I will be using numerous outside references, most from the Catholic Church itself, to help substantiate the thesis presented.
There are many prophecies that point to the fact that the Great Whore of revelation is the Roman Catholic Church; therefore, it will be noticed that the prophecies discussed will have a number by them. These numbers will be referred to at the end of this study, which will explain the reason for numbering Also, some verses mention more than one prophetic characteristic; therefore, each separate characteristic will be considered as a separate prophecy which will receive a corresponding number. Any emphasis, such as bolding, italics, capitalizations, or underlining not offered in original text is totally my responsibility.
As a necessary background, we will go into Daniel Chapters 2 and 7 to help set the stage and help us understand what John saw in his Revelation. From there we will be going through Revelation 17 in a chronological order, for the most part, with minor variations here or there; the other references will be used wherever they seem to fit the relevant subject at hand. So, to begin with, let’s open our King James Bible to Revelation 17, verses 1 and 15.
Prophecy 1: The Great Whore that sitteth upon many waters.
(Rev. 17:1, 15) 1. “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.”15. “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”
(Rev. 13:1) 1. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”
The woman, the “great whore,” mentioned in this 17th chapter of Revelation represents the apostate church, the direct opposite of God’s Church symbolized by the woman we read about in the Twelfth Chapter of Revelation, which woman represents the true Church of Christ. Also, this Great Whore, the apostate church, sits upon many waters. In other words, it represents authority over many nations of people. The Catholic Church rose up from a densely populated Europe, and continues, today, to preside over most of the earth. So as we find in verse 15 of Chapter 17, the word “waters” is a metaphor for “nations” and multitudes of “people”, of many “tongues” or languages.
Prophecy 2: Woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast.
(Rev. 17:3) 3. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”
The woman of Revelation
17 riding a beast is symbolic of the combining of the ecclesiastical power of church (the woman) and political power of the state (the beast). Examples of these metaphors can be found in Jeremiah 6:2 where we find that a woman is a church: “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman”; and in Daniel we read: “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.” (Dan. 7:17, 23.) It should be observed that in the entire Chapter 7 of Daniel, that Prophet does not make any reference to a woman. He is strictly prophesying about political kingdoms, not churches. It should also be noted that this woman who rides the beast should not be confused with the woman mentioned in Chapter Twelve of Revelation who fled into the wilderness, which woman represents the Church of Christ.
In mythological history, the woman riding a bull, of course, represents the mythical Europa: according to legend, Zeus was enamoured of Europa and decided to seduce or ravage her, in the Greek mythology. He transformed himself into a bull and mixed in with her father’s herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus later re-created the shape of the bull in the stars, which is now known as the constellation Taurus. Why this mythological history? To let you know that God often used that which was familiar to the people as metaphors in Bible Prophecy, as we will discover when we touch upon the horns in this same verse.
A church has no earthly power of its own, but a political entity does; so we see here that a woman, the Roman Catholic Church, is riding a beast, the political power she controls. The original beast is Rome. But today, the beast could be considered to be Vatican City, for Vatican City is a civil/political entity just as Rome once was. In fact, it is a copy or the “image” (Rev. 13:14-15) of the beast of Rome. It must be realized that the woman (the church) rides the beast (the state), not the other way around. The beast does not control and direct the woman. Because the woman rides the beast, she is in the controlling position to direct the beastly state. The beastly state provides only the vehicle for the woman-church to implement her Satanic and deceptive agenda. So it is a church that wants to control the governments of the world.
Also, Vatican City is the seat of Roman Catholicism, and since the Lateran Treaty, the Concordat of 1929 signed with Mussolini, it is also an independent country with diplomatic relations with nearly every other nation on earth. The Pope is the head of the church, and he is also the head of state, the “image” of the old civil Roman Emperor, if you will, the epitome of Church and State combined, it is the woman riding the beast. Their full title in Italian is STATO DELLA CITTÁ DEL VATICANO, which means, “The City-State of Prophecy.”
(Right: On the
back side of some coins minted at Vatican City, the Italian inscription reads, “CITTÁÁ DEL VATICANO”, which means City of Prophecy. The 1958 coin displayed has a likeness of the Pope responsible for WWII, that of Pope Pius XII.)
Interestingly, one of the seven hills upon which Rome and Vatican City are built, was originally called Vaticanus. The word anus in Latin also means “old woman,” so Vaticanus is a combination of two words that also means “The Old Woman of Prophecy.” This woman is symbolic of the Roman Catholic Church. There is also a woman on the reverse side of the coin shown above, and at her feet is her title, FIDES, which means faith. This woman is symbolic of the Roman Catholic faith as well.
Prophecy 3: Kings and people intoxicated with the wine of her fornication.
(Rev. 17:2, 4) 2. “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” 4. “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:”
(Rev 18:3) 3. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”
In this revelation (Rev. 17:2, 4), the term “fornication” means unlawful relation or intercourse. Websters Dictionary give us a definition of intercourse, which is, “communication or dealings between or among people, countries, etc.; interchange of products, services, ideas, feelings, etc.”
The kings of the earth have committed fornication with this whore, and the people of the earth, meaning the multitudes of nations, have become “drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Now then, why is this woman, this church, considered a whore? A whore is one that entices others into an illicit relationship. The term fornication is usually reserved for an illicit sexual relationship, or illicit sexual intercourse. Babylon is the world of, not only of pagan religious practices, but also that of economic enterprise. Therefore, the kings of the world, along with all peoples and nations, have become drunk (beguiled, giddy, in a stupor) by the enticements of the worldly transactions of economic intercourse which is internationally controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. (See prophecy on Babylon below.) Most people do not realize that the Catholic Church is the most wealthy entity upon the face of the earth today. Unbeknownst by most people today, this Universal Catholic Church wheels major influence and much control over all the dominant banking concerns, major corporations, and even national governments of the world. It wields power over kings and presidents with the never-ending purpose of world domination.
The definition of intercourse in Webster’s Dictionary brings the term home, and it is in this sense that the kings and nations of the earth have committed fornication, an unholy alliance, with the great whore of Babylon, the Church of Rome, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her “commerce” and false doctrine and deception. Is it any wonder that the Lord said in the next chapter, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4.)
Prophecy 4: Seven heads & seven mountains.
(Rev. 17:3, 9) 3. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” 9. “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”
From the revealed word we learn that the seven heads of verse 3 are actually seven mountains. Strong’s Concordance of the Bible (#3735) equates mountain with hills, such as the Seven Hills of Rome upon which Vatican City is located.
Rome is known as the city of seven hills, or seven mountains. The word VATICAN, as in Vatican City, comes from two Latin words “vati” and “anus.” Vaticanus is another name the Etruscans gave to this one of the seven hills of ancient Rome situated on the west bank of the Tiber river. Vatican City, and St. Peter’s Basilica, were built upon what was called, in Latin, vaticanus mons or vaticanus collis. The words mons and collis mean hill or mountain. You will also find in dictionaries that the words vatic/vates/vatis all relate to prophecy. As mentioned above, one of the seven hills upon which Rome and Vatican City are built, was originally called Vaticanus. The word anus in Latin meaning, “old woman.” Vaticanus is a combination of two words that means “The Old Woman of Prophecy.”
Left: A coin
in the collection of the British Museum, minted in 71 A.D. during the reign of Vespasian (69-79 A.D.), which depicts the city of Rome as both a woman seated on 7 hills, and a wolf suckling Romulus and Remus (just above the R in ROMA). It is likely that any encyclopedia will confirm that Rome is known as the City of Seven Hills.
In the introduction of the Catholic Encyclopedia online article on the Vatican it reads: “The territory on the right bank of the Tiber between Monte Mario and Gianicolo (Janiculum) was known to antiquity as the Ager Vaticanus, and, owing to its marshy character, the low-lying portion of this district enjoyed an ill repute. The origin of the name Vaticanus is uncertain; some claim that the name comes from a vanished Etruscan town called Vaticum. This district did not belong to ancient Rome, nor was it included within the city walls built by Emperor Aurelian. In the imperial gardens situated in this section was the Circus of Nero. At the foot of the Vatican Hill lay the ancient Basilica of St. Peter. By extensive purchases of land the medieval popes acquired possession of the whole hill, thus preparing the way for building activity. Communication with the city was established by the Pons Ælius, which led directly to the mausoleum of Hadrian. Between 848 and 852 Leo IV surrounded the whole settlement with a wall, which included it within the city boundaries. Until the pontificate of Sixtus V this section of Rome remained a private papal possession and was entrusted to a special administration. Sixtus, however, placed it under the jurisdiction of the urban authorities as the fourteenth region. (Catholic Encyclopedia, online article on the Vatican.)
Interestingly, the Vaticanus hill, or mountain, was a place where the people not only deposited garbage but also the dead. It was a place where dogs would go and gorge themselves upon the refuse. Because of this, there are those who say that the suffix word, “canus,” comes from the word, “caninus,” meaning “dog.” In reality, the Vatican stands on a giant graveyard. Some say this might not be true. Whatever the case, Vaticanus is a combination of Vatic + anus. Therefore, vaticanus collis, or vaticanus mons, mean “the prophetic hill or mountain”, which can be rephrased as the hill or mountain of prophecy. The word Vatican is just a shortened form of the word Vaticanus.
The Roman Emperor Caligula drained this site, and held orgies, drunken parties, and popular “carnivals,” a Latin word for flesh raising. In ancient times, the followers of the pagan Mithraic religion had a temple situated in a cave in the hill Vaticanus. It was this same Vatican Hill that was seized by early Catholic Fathers in AD 376 for the purpose of establishing a center for their new paganized-Christian religion. Perhaps a fitting place.
The pope fortified
Vatican hill against future attacks and included it within the perimeter of the newly strengthened city walls, the remains of which can still be seen today around the Vatican and the rest of the city of Rome. (Photo at right.) So under ecclesiastical papal Rome, the Vatican has been considered within the city limits of Rome since the middle of the 9th century.
Prophecy 2: Woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast.
(Rev. 17:3) 3. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”
The woman of Revelation
17 riding a beast is symbolic of the combining of the ecclesiastical power of church (the woman) and political power of the state (the beast). Examples of these metaphors can be found in Jeremiah 6:2 where we find that a woman is a church: “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman”; and in Daniel we read: “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.” (Dan. 7:17, 23.) It should be observed that in the entire Chapter 7 of Daniel, that Prophet does not make any reference to a woman. He is strictly prophesying about political kingdoms, not churches. It should also be noted that this woman who rides the beast should not be confused with the woman mentioned in Chapter Twelve of Revelation who fled into the wilderness, which woman represents the Church of Christ.In mythological history, the woman riding a bull, of course, represents the mythical Europa: according to legend, Zeus was enamoured of Europa and decided to seduce or ravage her, in the Greek mythology. He transformed himself into a bull and mixed in with her father’s herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus later re-created the shape of the bull in the stars, which is now known as the constellation Taurus. Why this mythological history? To let you know that God often used that which was familiar to the people as metaphors in Bible Prophecy, as we will discover when we touch upon the horns in this same verse.
A church has no earthly power of its own, but a political entity does; so we see here that a woman, the Roman Catholic Church, is riding a beast, the political power she controls. The original beast is Rome. But today, the beast could be considered to be Vatican City, for Vatican City is a civil/political entity just as Rome once was. In fact, it is a copy or the “image” (Rev. 13:14-15) of the beast of Rome. It must be realized that the woman (the church) rides the beast (the state), not the other way around. The beast does not control and direct the woman. Because the woman rides the beast, she is in the controlling position to direct the beastly state. The beastly state provides only the vehicle for the woman-church to implement her Satanic and deceptive agenda. So it is a church that wants to control the governments of the world.
Also, Vatican City is the seat of Roman Catholicism, and since the Lateran Treaty, the Concordat of 1929 signed with Mussolini, it is also an independent country with diplomatic relations with nearly every other nation on earth. The Pope is the head of the church, and he is also the head of state, the “image” of the old civil Roman Emperor, if you will, the epitome of Church and State combined, it is the woman riding the beast. Their full title in Italian is STATO DELLA CITTÁ DEL VATICANO, which means, “The City-State of Prophecy.”
(Right: On the
back side of some coins minted at Vatican City, the Italian inscription reads, “CITTÁÁ DEL VATICANO”, which means City of Prophecy. The 1958 coin displayed has a likeness of the Pope responsible for WWII, that of Pope Pius XII.)Interestingly, one of the seven hills upon which Rome and Vatican City are built, was originally called Vaticanus. The word anus in Latin also means “old woman,” so Vaticanus is a combination of two words that also means “The Old Woman of Prophecy.” This woman is symbolic of the Roman Catholic Church. There is also a woman on the reverse side of the coin shown above, and at her feet is her title, FIDES, which means faith. This woman is symbolic of the Roman Catholic faith as well.
Prophecy 3: Kings and people intoxicated with the wine of her fornication.
(Rev. 17:2, 4) 2. “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” 4. “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:”
(Rev 18:3) 3. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”
In this revelation (Rev. 17:2, 4), the term “fornication” means unlawful relation or intercourse. Websters Dictionary give us a definition of intercourse, which is, “communication or dealings between or among people, countries, etc.; interchange of products, services, ideas, feelings, etc.”
The kings of the earth have committed fornication with this whore, and the people of the earth, meaning the multitudes of nations, have become “drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Now then, why is this woman, this church, considered a whore? A whore is one that entices others into an illicit relationship. The term fornication is usually reserved for an illicit sexual relationship, or illicit sexual intercourse. Babylon is the world of, not only of pagan religious practices, but also that of economic enterprise. Therefore, the kings of the world, along with all peoples and nations, have become drunk (beguiled, giddy, in a stupor) by the enticements of the worldly transactions of economic intercourse which is internationally controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. (See prophecy on Babylon below.) Most people do not realize that the Catholic Church is the most wealthy entity upon the face of the earth today. Unbeknownst by most people today, this Universal Catholic Church wheels major influence and much control over all the dominant banking concerns, major corporations, and even national governments of the world. It wields power over kings and presidents with the never-ending purpose of world domination.
The definition of intercourse in Webster’s Dictionary brings the term home, and it is in this sense that the kings and nations of the earth have committed fornication, an unholy alliance, with the great whore of Babylon, the Church of Rome, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her “commerce” and false doctrine and deception. Is it any wonder that the Lord said in the next chapter, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4.)
Prophecy 4: Seven heads & seven mountains.
(Rev. 17:3, 9) 3. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” 9. “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”
From the revealed word we learn that the seven heads of verse 3 are actually seven mountains. Strong’s Concordance of the Bible (#3735) equates mountain with hills, such as the Seven Hills of Rome upon which Vatican City is located.
Rome is known as the city of seven hills, or seven mountains. The word VATICAN, as in Vatican City, comes from two Latin words “vati” and “anus.” Vaticanus is another name the Etruscans gave to this one of the seven hills of ancient Rome situated on the west bank of the Tiber river. Vatican City, and St. Peter’s Basilica, were built upon what was called, in Latin, vaticanus mons or vaticanus collis. The words mons and collis mean hill or mountain. You will also find in dictionaries that the words vatic/vates/vatis all relate to prophecy. As mentioned above, one of the seven hills upon which Rome and Vatican City are built, was originally called Vaticanus. The word anus in Latin meaning, “old woman.” Vaticanus is a combination of two words that means “The Old Woman of Prophecy.”
Left: A coin
in the collection of the British Museum, minted in 71 A.D. during the reign of Vespasian (69-79 A.D.), which depicts the city of Rome as both a woman seated on 7 hills, and a wolf suckling Romulus and Remus (just above the R in ROMA). It is likely that any encyclopedia will confirm that Rome is known as the City of Seven Hills.In the introduction of the Catholic Encyclopedia online article on the Vatican it reads: “The territory on the right bank of the Tiber between Monte Mario and Gianicolo (Janiculum) was known to antiquity as the Ager Vaticanus, and, owing to its marshy character, the low-lying portion of this district enjoyed an ill repute. The origin of the name Vaticanus is uncertain; some claim that the name comes from a vanished Etruscan town called Vaticum. This district did not belong to ancient Rome, nor was it included within the city walls built by Emperor Aurelian. In the imperial gardens situated in this section was the Circus of Nero. At the foot of the Vatican Hill lay the ancient Basilica of St. Peter. By extensive purchases of land the medieval popes acquired possession of the whole hill, thus preparing the way for building activity. Communication with the city was established by the Pons Ælius, which led directly to the mausoleum of Hadrian. Between 848 and 852 Leo IV surrounded the whole settlement with a wall, which included it within the city boundaries. Until the pontificate of Sixtus V this section of Rome remained a private papal possession and was entrusted to a special administration. Sixtus, however, placed it under the jurisdiction of the urban authorities as the fourteenth region. (Catholic Encyclopedia, online article on the Vatican.)
Interestingly, the Vaticanus hill, or mountain, was a place where the people not only deposited garbage but also the dead. It was a place where dogs would go and gorge themselves upon the refuse. Because of this, there are those who say that the suffix word, “canus,” comes from the word, “caninus,” meaning “dog.” In reality, the Vatican stands on a giant graveyard. Some say this might not be true. Whatever the case, Vaticanus is a combination of Vatic + anus. Therefore, vaticanus collis, or vaticanus mons, mean “the prophetic hill or mountain”, which can be rephrased as the hill or mountain of prophecy. The word Vatican is just a shortened form of the word Vaticanus.
The Roman Emperor Caligula drained this site, and held orgies, drunken parties, and popular “carnivals,” a Latin word for flesh raising. In ancient times, the followers of the pagan Mithraic religion had a temple situated in a cave in the hill Vaticanus. It was this same Vatican Hill that was seized by early Catholic Fathers in AD 376 for the purpose of establishing a center for their new paganized-Christian religion. Perhaps a fitting place.
The pope fortified
Vatican hill against future attacks and included it within the perimeter of the newly strengthened city walls, the remains of which can still be seen today around the Vatican and the rest of the city of Rome. (Photo at right.) So under ecclesiastical papal Rome, the Vatican has been considered within the city limits of Rome since the middle of the 9th century. Even the Catholic apologist Karl Keating confirms that Rome was known as Babylon and cites 1 Peter 5:13. The Catholic Encyclopedia states, “It is within the city of Rome, called the city of seven hills, that the entire area of Vatican State proper is now confined.”
Prophecy 5a: Four beasts rise up from the Sea.
(Rev. 13:1-2) 1. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” 2. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
(Dan. 7:3-7, 17) 3. “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” 4. “The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.” 5. “And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.” 6. “After this I beheld, and lo another [third beast], like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” 7. “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” 17. “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.”
This beast
that John saw, while he “stood upon the sand of the sea,” is the same beast which is mentioned in Daniel 7:3 that “came up from the sea.” I will briefly dwell on these beasts because they are the foundation of the current beast of John’s Revelation. Because I feel this is not a direct prophecy of the beast of Revelation, I am numbering it Prophecy 5a. Prophecy 5b will follow which will complete Prophecy 5.
Most students of prophecy know that this vision of Daniel is related to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream found in Chapter 2 of Daniel. There are many interpretations of that dream, but I believe that history bears out the most prevalent one as mentioned here. The head of Gold (Dan. 2:32, 37-38; 7:4) represents the Babylonish Kingdom (671-538 B.C.), the breast and arms of silver (Dan. 2:32, 39; 7:5) the Medo-Persian Empire (532-331 B.C.), the belly and thighs of brass (Dan. 2:32, 39) the Greco-Macedonian Kingdom (331-160 B.C.), the legs of iron (Dan. 2:33, 40; 7:7), symbolizes the Imperial Roman Empire (160 B.C.-476 A.D.) and the feet and toes of part iron mixed with clay (Dan. 2:33, 41-43; 7:7-8; Rev. 13:1-2).
We have learned from our discussion thus far that “seven heads” is a metaphor for the seven hills of Rome. Now we come to the ten crowns upon ten horns. During the early fifth century A.D., the swift invasions of the early Germanic tribes totally devastated the political structure of the once mighty “Imperial” Roman Empire. As of 476 A.D., the Empire officially came to an end, but what remained were ten kingdoms. These were the Alamanni (Germany), Franks (France), Burgundians (Switzerland), Suevi (Portugal), anglo-Saxons (Britain), Visigoths (Spain), Lombards, (Italy), Vandals (North Africa), Ostrogoths (Italy), and Heruli (Slovakia). It’s important to understand that these ten horns or kingdoms, which are the same as those mentioned in Revelation 13:1 and Daniel 7:7, should not to be confused with the ten horns found in Revelation 17:3.
It’s important to mention, though, in Daniel 2:34 a stone was cut out and smashed the image upon his feet and broke it to pieces. In verse 44 we find that this stone is the Kingdom of God. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, 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 for ever.” Here we find that in the days of these ten-toed kingdoms God will set up His Kingdom. These ten kingdoms cannot be the ten kingdoms we just mentioned that existed in 476 A.D., for three of these kingdoms were plucked up, as we will discuss next. But we know that God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, so we know the ten kingdoms referred to are end-time kingdoms, not the former-day kingdoms.
Also, the interpretations of these end-time kingdoms, represented by the feet and toes mixed with iron and clay, have been many and varied, with great controversy concerning them. I feel there is a correct explanation, which is not unlike the findings of some other researchers who believe the same. However, because of the controversy, a discussion on these kingdoms will be reserved for another study.
Prophecy 5b: Another little horn comes up diverse from the first four.
(Dan. 7:8, 24) 8. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them [the previous ten horns of 476 A.D.] another little horn [or kingdom], before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” 24. “And the ten horns out of this kingdom [the fourth kingdom of Rome] are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
As an introduction
to the little horn, let’s discuss what a horn represents. Nimrod was a strong, fearless, and a “mighty hunter” who helped deliver the people from the fear of beasts. Historians tell us that Nimrod developed a following because of his ability to protect the people. He built the first city with walls, establishing himself as the world’s first king, and founded the first religion, a pagan religion which held him up as a god. As a display of his power and authority, he wore what some believe was the first crown of royalty. What was this crown? It was the top part of the skull of a bull with a HORN still attached. (See artists conception at right.) It was probably from this beginning that we find in scripture that a horn is a metaphor for king, ruler, president, dictator or head of a political kingdom, empire, or nation.
Now back to the prophecy at hand:
Prophecy 5a: Four beasts rise up from the Sea.
(Rev. 13:1-2) 1. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” 2. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
(Dan. 7:3-7, 17) 3. “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” 4. “The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.” 5. “And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.” 6. “After this I beheld, and lo another [third beast], like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” 7. “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” 17. “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.”
This beast
that John saw, while he “stood upon the sand of the sea,” is the same beast which is mentioned in Daniel 7:3 that “came up from the sea.” I will briefly dwell on these beasts because they are the foundation of the current beast of John’s Revelation. Because I feel this is not a direct prophecy of the beast of Revelation, I am numbering it Prophecy 5a. Prophecy 5b will follow which will complete Prophecy 5.Most students of prophecy know that this vision of Daniel is related to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream found in Chapter 2 of Daniel. There are many interpretations of that dream, but I believe that history bears out the most prevalent one as mentioned here. The head of Gold (Dan. 2:32, 37-38; 7:4) represents the Babylonish Kingdom (671-538 B.C.), the breast and arms of silver (Dan. 2:32, 39; 7:5) the Medo-Persian Empire (532-331 B.C.), the belly and thighs of brass (Dan. 2:32, 39) the Greco-Macedonian Kingdom (331-160 B.C.), the legs of iron (Dan. 2:33, 40; 7:7), symbolizes the Imperial Roman Empire (160 B.C.-476 A.D.) and the feet and toes of part iron mixed with clay (Dan. 2:33, 41-43; 7:7-8; Rev. 13:1-2).
We have learned from our discussion thus far that “seven heads” is a metaphor for the seven hills of Rome. Now we come to the ten crowns upon ten horns. During the early fifth century A.D., the swift invasions of the early Germanic tribes totally devastated the political structure of the once mighty “Imperial” Roman Empire. As of 476 A.D., the Empire officially came to an end, but what remained were ten kingdoms. These were the Alamanni (Germany), Franks (France), Burgundians (Switzerland), Suevi (Portugal), anglo-Saxons (Britain), Visigoths (Spain), Lombards, (Italy), Vandals (North Africa), Ostrogoths (Italy), and Heruli (Slovakia). It’s important to understand that these ten horns or kingdoms, which are the same as those mentioned in Revelation 13:1 and Daniel 7:7, should not to be confused with the ten horns found in Revelation 17:3.
It’s important to mention, though, in Daniel 2:34 a stone was cut out and smashed the image upon his feet and broke it to pieces. In verse 44 we find that this stone is the Kingdom of God. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, 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 for ever.” Here we find that in the days of these ten-toed kingdoms God will set up His Kingdom. These ten kingdoms cannot be the ten kingdoms we just mentioned that existed in 476 A.D., for three of these kingdoms were plucked up, as we will discuss next. But we know that God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, so we know the ten kingdoms referred to are end-time kingdoms, not the former-day kingdoms.
Also, the interpretations of these end-time kingdoms, represented by the feet and toes mixed with iron and clay, have been many and varied, with great controversy concerning them. I feel there is a correct explanation, which is not unlike the findings of some other researchers who believe the same. However, because of the controversy, a discussion on these kingdoms will be reserved for another study.
Prophecy 5b: Another little horn comes up diverse from the first four.
(Dan. 7:8, 24) 8. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them [the previous ten horns of 476 A.D.] another little horn [or kingdom], before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” 24. “And the ten horns out of this kingdom [the fourth kingdom of Rome] are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
As an introduction
to the little horn, let’s discuss what a horn represents. Nimrod was a strong, fearless, and a “mighty hunter” who helped deliver the people from the fear of beasts. Historians tell us that Nimrod developed a following because of his ability to protect the people. He built the first city with walls, establishing himself as the world’s first king, and founded the first religion, a pagan religion which held him up as a god. As a display of his power and authority, he wore what some believe was the first crown of royalty. What was this crown? It was the top part of the skull of a bull with a HORN still attached. (See artists conception at right.) It was probably from this beginning that we find in scripture that a horn is a metaphor for king, ruler, president, dictator or head of a political kingdom, empire, or nation.Now back to the prophecy at hand:
What was left of this group of mismatched little empires of ten kingdoms, we just considered above, was the Roman Catholic Church. The church was the unifying and cohesive element that was left which held those kingdoms together. And now with a massive influx of Germanic people occupying most every conceivable post in the empire, this “Christian” religion became corrupted even more by pagan idolatry. Although “Imperial”Rome fell in about 476 A.D., the church lived on in the form of a religion, a pagan religion that was destined to dominate the world from that point to the present. It would have a man, a Pope, with “eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth” that would speak “great things” ... “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God.” (Dan. 7:8; Rev. 13:6 respectfully.)
Prophecy 6: Three horns plucked up by the little horn.
(Dan. 7:8, 24) 8. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them [the previous ten horns] another little horn [or kingdom, the Roman Catholic political structure], before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” 24. “And the ten horns out of this kingdom [the fourth kingdom] are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
Daniel tells us that “another little horn, or kingdom, will rise up which will be diverse, or unlike, the other kingdoms. This other different kingdom will subdue or pluck up, or destroy three of the former ten kingdoms. The Roman Catholic Church was different in that it was a church and not an actual kingdom, yet it had an ecclesiastical ruler that functioned as an emperor; this horn was indeed diverse from other kingdoms. What three kingdoms were plucked up by the roots? They were the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Heruli. They were destroyed or, “plucked up,” for refusing to become Roman Catholic “Christians.” Having been “plucked up,” or destroyed, today these last three have no modern names.
Prophecy 7: The name of “blasphemy” upon the head of the beast.
(Rev. 17:3) 3. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”
(Rev. 13:3, 5-6) 3. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” 5. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” 6. “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”
(Dan. 7:8, 25) 8. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them [the previous ten kingdoms] another little horn [or kingdom, the Roman Catholic Political structure], before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man [a pope], and a mouth speaking great things.” 25. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
In John 10:33 we learn one of the definitions of blasphemy, it is when a man claims to be God: “The Jews answered him [Jesus], saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” And in Luke we learn another definition, and that is when someone claims to be able to forgive sin: “And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (Luke 5:21.) There are many ways in which the term blasphemy can be applied to the Roman Pontiff, but for now we will just consider these two. Here are a few quotes showing that the Pope claims, not only to be equal with God, but God Himself, and that Catholic Priest’s claim of forgiving sin is equal to that of Jesus Christ. Such blasphemous claims as you will read below — the Pope declaring to be God on earth and putting himself in the place of Christ — shows the Catholic Pope to be at conflict with the Creator; making him an Antichrist.
“The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth.” (Quoted in the New York Catechism.)
“The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.” (Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, “Cities Petrus Bertanous”.)
“...We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty...” (Pope Leo XIII, in Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, (The Reunion of Christendom), Encyclical promulgated on June 20, 1894.)
“The pope
is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God...
“The Pope alone is called most holy...
“Hence the Pope is crowned with a TRIPLE CROWN, as king of heaven and of earth and of hell.
“Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertains only to heavenly things, but also earthly things, and to things under the earth, and even over the angels, whom he is greater than.
“So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope....
“...the Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power.” (Lucius Ferraris, in Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica, Volume V, article on “Papa, Article II”, titled “Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility”, #1, 5, 13-15, 18, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.)
“The priest does really and truly forgive sins in virtue of the power given to him by Christ.” (Joseph Devarbe’s Catechism, p. 279.)
“And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priest and either not to pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse to give absolution, provided the penitent is capable of it.” (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, in The Dignity of the Priesthood, p. 27.)
“Were the Redeemer to descend into a church, and sit in a confessional to administer the sacrament of penance, and a priest to sit in a confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent: ‘Ego te absolvo,’ the priest would likewise say over each of his penitents, ‘Ego te absolvo,’ and the penitents of each would be equally absolved.” (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, in The Dignity of the Priesthood, p. 34.)
Prophecy 6: Three horns plucked up by the little horn.
(Dan. 7:8, 24) 8. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them [the previous ten horns] another little horn [or kingdom, the Roman Catholic political structure], before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” 24. “And the ten horns out of this kingdom [the fourth kingdom] are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
Daniel tells us that “another little horn, or kingdom, will rise up which will be diverse, or unlike, the other kingdoms. This other different kingdom will subdue or pluck up, or destroy three of the former ten kingdoms. The Roman Catholic Church was different in that it was a church and not an actual kingdom, yet it had an ecclesiastical ruler that functioned as an emperor; this horn was indeed diverse from other kingdoms. What three kingdoms were plucked up by the roots? They were the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Heruli. They were destroyed or, “plucked up,” for refusing to become Roman Catholic “Christians.” Having been “plucked up,” or destroyed, today these last three have no modern names.
Prophecy 7: The name of “blasphemy” upon the head of the beast.
(Rev. 17:3) 3. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”
(Rev. 13:3, 5-6) 3. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” 5. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” 6. “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”
(Dan. 7:8, 25) 8. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them [the previous ten kingdoms] another little horn [or kingdom, the Roman Catholic Political structure], before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man [a pope], and a mouth speaking great things.” 25. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
In John 10:33 we learn one of the definitions of blasphemy, it is when a man claims to be God: “The Jews answered him [Jesus], saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” And in Luke we learn another definition, and that is when someone claims to be able to forgive sin: “And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (Luke 5:21.) There are many ways in which the term blasphemy can be applied to the Roman Pontiff, but for now we will just consider these two. Here are a few quotes showing that the Pope claims, not only to be equal with God, but God Himself, and that Catholic Priest’s claim of forgiving sin is equal to that of Jesus Christ. Such blasphemous claims as you will read below — the Pope declaring to be God on earth and putting himself in the place of Christ — shows the Catholic Pope to be at conflict with the Creator; making him an Antichrist.
CLAIM THAT THE POPE IS GOD ON EARTH
“The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth.” (Quoted in the New York Catechism.)
“The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.” (Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, “Cities Petrus Bertanous”.)
“...We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty...” (Pope Leo XIII, in Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, (The Reunion of Christendom), Encyclical promulgated on June 20, 1894.)
“The pope
is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God...“The Pope alone is called most holy...
“Hence the Pope is crowned with a TRIPLE CROWN, as king of heaven and of earth and of hell.
“Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertains only to heavenly things, but also earthly things, and to things under the earth, and even over the angels, whom he is greater than.
“So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope....
“...the Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power.” (Lucius Ferraris, in Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica, Volume V, article on “Papa, Article II”, titled “Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility”, #1, 5, 13-15, 18, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.)
CATHOLIC PRIESTS CLAIM SAME POWER AS JESUS IN FORGIVING SIN
“The priest does really and truly forgive sins in virtue of the power given to him by Christ.” (Joseph Devarbe’s Catechism, p. 279.)
“And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priest and either not to pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse to give absolution, provided the penitent is capable of it.” (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, in The Dignity of the Priesthood, p. 27.)
“Were the Redeemer to descend into a church, and sit in a confessional to administer the sacrament of penance, and a priest to sit in a confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent: ‘Ego te absolvo,’ the priest would likewise say over each of his penitents, ‘Ego te absolvo,’ and the penitents of each would be equally absolved.” (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, in The Dignity of the Priesthood, p. 34.)
“Were the Redeemer to descend into a church, and sit in a confessional to administer the sacrament of penance, and a priest to sit in a confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent: ‘Ego te absolvo,’ the priest would likewise say over each of his penitents, ‘Ego te absolvo,’ and the penitents of each would be equally absolved.” (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, in The Dignity of the Priesthood, p. 34.)
Prophecy 8: Woman dressed in purple and scarlet.
(Rev. 17:4) 4. “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:”
She, the Great Whore of Babylon, is clothed in “purple and scarlet,” the colors of the Catholic clergy. The Catholic Encyclopedia states:
“Cappa Magna - A cloak with a long train and a hooded shoulder cape...[it] was purple wool for bishops; for cardinals, it was scarlet watered silk....”
“Cassock - The close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by the Catholic clergy as their official garb....The color for bishops and other prelates is purple, for cardinals scarlet....”
The following series of photographs of the Pope and his followers can speak for themselves.
Right: Here you see
the Pope (political head of Vatican City – “scarlet coloured beast”) wearing scarlet and an Archbishop wearing reddish-purple. And on the12th of March 2000, during the Papal Apology Mass, the pope and other members of the Roman Catholic priesthood wore various shades of violet/purple because it also occurred during the Catholic festival of Lent, when the penitential color of purple is traditionally worn.
Cardinal Edward
Cassidy (At right), president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also participated in the unprecedented event at the Vatican, during which Pope John Paul II asked for forgiveness for the various persecution sins committed by Roman Catholics over the last two millennium. 
Cardinal Cassidy and other prominent Cardinals wore both prophesied colors of scarlet and purple! (Photo Left) from the October 31st, 1999, signing of the Joint Declaration on Justification by Faith between the Roman Catholic and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Churches in Augsburg Germany. The Roman Catholics were boldly wearing the prophesied colors of scarlet and purple.
Prophecy 9: Woman dressed in gold and precious stones and pearls.
(Rev. 17:4) 9. “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:”
One thing that most
people do not realize is that, when the Roman Catholic Church regained political control over the territory and people, it was still the same old mind set that infested the Imperial Roman Empire, but this time with a new religious facade of Christianity. The Roman Pontiffs still kept control of the vast gold and riches of the old Roman Empire which had been gathered from all the lands (such as the Holy Land, Asia, Africa, Asia Minor, India, Europe, Great Britain) that were conquered by the Roman Emperors and deposited in the Roman vaults.
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 installment 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 where (for example) one pays the Church to have a Mass card placed on the altar in the name of the deceased during Mass to reduce time in purgatory. The wealthy often leave a fortune for masses to be said for their salvation after their death.
She 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 by confiscating property of the Inquisitions’ pitiful victims. Even the dead were exhumed to face trial and property was taken from their heirs by the Church. That practice, one historian writes, offered “unlimited opportunities for loot.”
In 314 A.D.,
Pope Sylvester I was installed as Pope by the Emperor Constantine. This Constantine, who could be considered the last of the Roman Emperors, gave Pope Sylvester a beautiful palace with the finest furniture and art. Sylvester wore silk robes and had servants to wait on him. Near his palace was a cathedral which had seven altars made of gold, a canopy of solid silver above the main altar, and 50 chandeliers. Churchmen began to wear purple robes, which reflected the purple of Constantine’s court. The Church began to take on the pomp of the Roman Empire. Popes dressed and acted like Roman emperors with the same imperial attitude. They lived in luxury and eventually ruled over both church and state.
During the Middle Ages the papacy reached its peak with rich and powerful Popes who ruled over kings and emperors. The purple dye used to be extremely expensive. The color was a symbol of wealth and power. Purple was worn by Roman emperors and popes. During the Middle Ages, wealthy popes used gems and purple stones in papal architecture. Pope Paul II (1464 to 1471 A.D.) introduced the use of scarlet as another symbol of wealth and power. He called it “Cardinal’s Purple” because it was worn by his cardinals. Scarlet became a luxury dye during the Middle Ages.
There were gold,
jewels and pearls. The Papal Throne (Example at Right) is scarlet and is borne by twelve men clad in Scarlet Robes. Most of the images in the Roman Catholic churches are covered in gold and precious jewels. The Papal Palace has been among the most luxurious in all the world.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says, “The pectoral cross [suspended by a chain around the neck of abbots, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and the pope] should be made of gold and...decorated with gems....” The Catholic Encyclopedia calls the gold chalice “the most important of the sacred vessels....”, and the Church is known for its many thousands of gold chalices around the world. A recent newspaper article reported:
“The fabulous treasure of Lourdes [France], whose existence was kept secret by the Catholic Church for 120 years, has been unveiled....Rumours have been circulating for decades about a priceless collection of gold chalices, diamond-studded crucifixes, silver and precious stones....
“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 opened to reveal 59 solid gold chalices alongside rings, crucifixes, statues and heavy gold brooches, many encrusted with precious stones.
“Almost hidden by the other treasures is 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 Father Pierre-Marie Charriez. ... ‘It is of inestimable value.’
“Across the road is a building housing hundreds of [antique] ecclesiastical garments, robes, mitres and sashes—many in heavy gold thread....
“‘The Church itself is poor, insists Father Charriez. ‘The Vatican itself is poor.’ (Emphasis added) [And the treasure described here is only part of that which is kept in one location, the small town of Lourdes, France!]
Prophecy 8: Woman dressed in purple and scarlet.
(Rev. 17:4) 4. “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:”
She, the Great Whore of Babylon, is clothed in “purple and scarlet,” the colors of the Catholic clergy. The Catholic Encyclopedia states:
“Cappa Magna - A cloak with a long train and a hooded shoulder cape...[it] was purple wool for bishops; for cardinals, it was scarlet watered silk....”
“Cassock - The close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by the Catholic clergy as their official garb....The color for bishops and other prelates is purple, for cardinals scarlet....”
The following series of photographs of the Pope and his followers can speak for themselves.
Right: Here you see
the Pope (political head of Vatican City – “scarlet coloured beast”) wearing scarlet and an Archbishop wearing reddish-purple. And on the12th of March 2000, during the Papal Apology Mass, the pope and other members of the Roman Catholic priesthood wore various shades of violet/purple because it also occurred during the Catholic festival of Lent, when the penitential color of purple is traditionally worn.Cardinal Edward
Cassidy (At right), president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also participated in the unprecedented event at the Vatican, during which Pope John Paul II asked for forgiveness for the various persecution sins committed by Roman Catholics over the last two millennium. 
Cardinal Cassidy and other prominent Cardinals wore both prophesied colors of scarlet and purple! (Photo Left) from the October 31st, 1999, signing of the Joint Declaration on Justification by Faith between the Roman Catholic and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Churches in Augsburg Germany. The Roman Catholics were boldly wearing the prophesied colors of scarlet and purple.Prophecy 9: Woman dressed in gold and precious stones and pearls.
(Rev. 17:4) 9. “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:”
One thing that most
people do not realize is that, when the Roman Catholic Church regained political control over the territory and people, it was still the same old mind set that infested the Imperial Roman Empire, but this time with a new religious facade of Christianity. The Roman Pontiffs still kept control of the vast gold and riches of the old Roman Empire which had been gathered from all the lands (such as the Holy Land, Asia, Africa, Asia Minor, India, Europe, Great Britain) that were conquered by the Roman Emperors and deposited in the Roman vaults.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 installment 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 where (for example) one pays the Church to have a Mass card placed on the altar in the name of the deceased during Mass to reduce time in purgatory. The wealthy often leave a fortune for masses to be said for their salvation after their death.
She 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 by confiscating property of the Inquisitions’ pitiful victims. Even the dead were exhumed to face trial and property was taken from their heirs by the Church. That practice, one historian writes, offered “unlimited opportunities for loot.”
In 314 A.D.,
Pope Sylvester I was installed as Pope by the Emperor Constantine. This Constantine, who could be considered the last of the Roman Emperors, gave Pope Sylvester a beautiful palace with the finest furniture and art. Sylvester wore silk robes and had servants to wait on him. Near his palace was a cathedral which had seven altars made of gold, a canopy of solid silver above the main altar, and 50 chandeliers. Churchmen began to wear purple robes, which reflected the purple of Constantine’s court. The Church began to take on the pomp of the Roman Empire. Popes dressed and acted like Roman emperors with the same imperial attitude. They lived in luxury and eventually ruled over both church and state.During the Middle Ages the papacy reached its peak with rich and powerful Popes who ruled over kings and emperors. The purple dye used to be extremely expensive. The color was a symbol of wealth and power. Purple was worn by Roman emperors and popes. During the Middle Ages, wealthy popes used gems and purple stones in papal architecture. Pope Paul II (1464 to 1471 A.D.) introduced the use of scarlet as another symbol of wealth and power. He called it “Cardinal’s Purple” because it was worn by his cardinals. Scarlet became a luxury dye during the Middle Ages.
There were gold,
jewels and pearls. The Papal Throne (Example at Right) is scarlet and is borne by twelve men clad in Scarlet Robes. Most of the images in the Roman Catholic churches are covered in gold and precious jewels. The Papal Palace has been among the most luxurious in all the world.The Catholic Encyclopedia says, “The pectoral cross [suspended by a chain around the neck of abbots, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and the pope] should be made of gold and...decorated with gems....” The Catholic Encyclopedia calls the gold chalice “the most important of the sacred vessels....”, and the Church is known for its many thousands of gold chalices around the world. A recent newspaper article reported:
“The fabulous treasure of Lourdes [France], whose existence was kept secret by the Catholic Church for 120 years, has been unveiled....Rumours have been circulating for decades about a priceless collection of gold chalices, diamond-studded crucifixes, silver and precious stones....
“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 opened to reveal 59 solid gold chalices alongside rings, crucifixes, statues and heavy gold brooches, many encrusted with precious stones.
“Almost hidden by the other treasures is 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 Father Pierre-Marie Charriez. ... ‘It is of inestimable value.’
“Across the road is a building housing hundreds of [antique] ecclesiastical garments, robes, mitres and sashes—many in heavy gold thread....
“‘The Church itself is poor, insists Father Charriez. ‘The Vatican itself is poor.’ (Emphasis added) [And the treasure described here is only part of that which is kept in one location, the small town of Lourdes, France!]
Prophecy 10: The woman has a gold cup in her hand.
(Rev. 17:4) 9. “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:”
These are just a few of the many paintings, sculptures etc, with the Woman holding the cup. It would seem that no other Christian denomination but the Catholic Church has depicted itself in this manner. These pictures should speak for themselves.
Left: Note that
the woman’s hand is symbolically in a cupping shape, which is similarly illustrated in like statues of Catholic origin. The depiction of the Catholic faith (FIDES) as a woman holding a cup appears to be quite common, and yet is apparently unique to the Catholic Church.
Right: Pope John Paul
II, dressed in purple, holds a golden cup, during the Papal Apology Mass on March 12th, 2000. Some Cardinals in attendance wore both prophetic colors of purple and scarlet.
Left: FIDES
as portrayed over the pulpit of the Benedictine Melk Monastery on the Danube in Austria, built in the early 18th century. In FIDES’ left hand is the golden cup (in front of the cross), and behind her right shoulder is the pagan sunburst image of Mithra.
Right: This
is the reverse side of a papal medal minted by Pius XI in 1929 to commemorate the Lateran Treaty, which restored Papal sovereignty and made Vatican City an independent state. The sunburst wafer of the eucharist appears in the sky above the Lateran and St. Peter’s basilicas, over the cup of the Mass. Below are similar symbols of the golden cup with the Eucharist perched upon it.
The reader
will notice that the Eucharist displayed upon the top of the golden cup is actually a representation of the sun, as in the sun god, Mithra. In the illustration just above, as in many other examples, representation of the rays of the sun can be seen emanate from this round disk said to be the Eucharist. This is obviously NOT Christian, but pagan in origin. Can it be any plainer that the Catholic Church has indeed adopted the symbolism of a woman holding a golden cup, precisely as described, and in fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 17?
Prophecy 11-14: Mystery, Babylon, Mother of Harlots, Abominations of the earth.
(Rev. 17:5) 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
In this verse we can actually consider having four more prophecies concerning the Great Whore that John saw in vision, even though the four are displayed on the forehead of the woman. These four follow as Prophecies 11-14.
These are just a few of the many paintings, sculptures etc, with the Woman holding the cup. It would seem that no other Christian denomination but the Catholic Church has depicted itself in this manner. These pictures should speak for themselves.
Left: Note that
the woman’s hand is symbolically in a cupping shape, which is similarly illustrated in like statues of Catholic origin. The depiction of the Catholic faith (FIDES) as a woman holding a cup appears to be quite common, and yet is apparently unique to the Catholic Church.Right: Pope John Paul
II, dressed in purple, holds a golden cup, during the Papal Apology Mass on March 12th, 2000. Some Cardinals in attendance wore both prophetic colors of purple and scarlet.Left: FIDES
as portrayed over the pulpit of the Benedictine Melk Monastery on the Danube in Austria, built in the early 18th century. In FIDES’ left hand is the golden cup (in front of the cross), and behind her right shoulder is the pagan sunburst image of Mithra.Right: This
is the reverse side of a papal medal minted by Pius XI in 1929 to commemorate the Lateran Treaty, which restored Papal sovereignty and made Vatican City an independent state. The sunburst wafer of the eucharist appears in the sky above the Lateran and St. Peter’s basilicas, over the cup of the Mass. Below are similar symbols of the golden cup with the Eucharist perched upon it.The reader
will notice that the Eucharist displayed upon the top of the golden cup is actually a representation of the sun, as in the sun god, Mithra. In the illustration just above, as in many other examples, representation of the rays of the sun can be seen emanate from this round disk said to be the Eucharist. This is obviously NOT Christian, but pagan in origin. Can it be any plainer that the Catholic Church has indeed adopted the symbolism of a woman holding a golden cup, precisely as described, and in fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 17?Prophecy 11-14: Mystery, Babylon, Mother of Harlots, Abominations of the earth.
(Rev. 17:5) 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
In this verse we can actually consider having four more prophecies concerning the Great Whore that John saw in vision, even though the four are displayed on the forehead of the woman. These four follow as Prophecies 11-14.
Prophecy 11: Mystery.
(Rev. 17:5) 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
On the forehead of the woman dressed in purple and scarlet is written “MYSTERY.” This is a very significant clue as to who the whore is. Up until 1550 A.D. the Pope had written on his Crown (Mitre) the word “Mystery,” from the Greek word, “Mysterion,” meaning that which is made known to the initiated of God by divine revelation. It was meant to mean that he understood secret things. Luther pointed out to the Pope what the Bible had to say proving that the Pope was the “Antichrist,” and it was subsequently taken off. John Wesley also says in his “Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament,” of 1765; “This very word [MYSTERY] was inscribed on the front of the Pope’s mitre, till some of the Reformers took public notice of it.”
On her forehead were the words “Mother of Harlots”
This self-proclaimed “mother” church is Mystery Babylon, the apostate church of mysteries and the purveyor of Babylonian doctrinal confusion. Mystery is also the term used by the Roman Church to refer to the Mass, specifically the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It is a key part of Catholic dogma. These are the words of the priest in Latin or English: “For this is the chalice of my blood, of the new and eternal testament: the mystery of faith, which for you and for many shall be had unto the remission of sins.”
Note this quote of John Paul II from the Vatican Information Service press release dated 17 September, 1997: “Thanks to greater attention to the mystery of the Church and Mary’s relationship with her, the Virgin has begun to be invoked more frequently as ‘Mother of the Church.”
The Catholic is also well familiar with many “mysteries” through the recitation of their Hail Marys and the rosary. There are 15 decades of prayer (150 recitations) and during each decade of ten recitations, the Catholic contemplates on one of the “mysteries” of the church. The Fifteen Mysteries are divided into three groups: the “Joyful,” the “Sorrowful” and the “Glorious.”
The 5 Joyful Mysteries
The Mystery of the Annunciation
The Mystery of the Visitation
The Mystery of the Birth of the Lord
The Mystery of the Presentation in the Temple
The Mystery of Finding Jesus in the Temple
The 5 Sorrowful Mysteries
The Mystery of the Agony in the Garden
The Mystery of the Scourging at the Pillar
The Mystery of the Crowning with Thorns
The Mystery of Jesus carrying his cross
The Mystery of the Crucifixion
The 5 Glorious Mysteries
The Mystery of the Resurrection
The Mystery of the Ascension of Our Lord
The Mystery of the Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Mystery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
The Mystery of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin as Queen of Heaven
Prophecy 12: Babylon the great.
(Rev. 17:5) 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:13: “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.” Babylon, in this verse, is widely recognized as a code word meaning Rome, not Babylon, since there is no evidence that Peter ever ministered in Babylon. Roman Catholics have even acknowledged this association:
“‘Babylon,’ from which Peter addresses his first Epistle, is understood by learned annotators, Protestant and Catholic, to refer to Rome - the word Babylon being symbolic of the corruption then prevailing in the city of the Caesars.” (Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, 1980, p. 87.)
“... Babylon had been reduced to an inconsequential status by the march of years, military defeat, and political subjugation; it was no longer a ‘great city’. It played no important part in the recent history of the ancient world. The only truly ‘great city’ in New Testament times was Rome.” (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, by Karl Keating, 1988, page 201.)
Why, we might ask, is Rome referred to as Babylon when the city of Babylon is situated many hundreds of miles away over in Iraq? Is there any logical or historical reason why Rome should be referred to as Babylon? There is an answer, and one of them is that the name “Babylon” is not only the name of an ancient city, it is also a title. In his classic work, Dispensational Truth, Clarence Larkin traces this Babylon Mystery Religion down through history until it enters Rome.
On page 140 of his work we learn that the seat of Satan’s worldly empire was first centered in Babylon, then it shifted to Pergamos, and then it was bequeathed to Rome. Pergamos (whose more modern name is Bergama, about 3 miles north of the river Caicus) was the resident dynasty of Greek princes founded after the time of Alexander the Great. It was usually called the Attalie Dynasty from its founder, Attalus, its first Pontiff-King. Pergamos was one of the first cities of Asia Minor that was truly considered “sumptuous” due to the splendor of its princes. This city boasted of splendid temples of Zeus or Jupiter, Athene, Apollo, and Aesculapius. One of the seven churches of Asia was in Pergamos, and it was called “Satan’s seat” by John. This revelator wrote:
10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. ... (See Rev. 2:11-13.)
11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;...
12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is:...” (See Rev. 1:10-11.)
Even Catholic apologist Karl Keating admits that Rome has long been known as Babylon. “Babylon is a code word for Rome. It is used that way six times in the last book of the Bible [four of the six are in chapters 17 and 18 and in extra-biblical works such as Sibylling Oracles (5, 159f.), the Apocalypse of Baruch (ii, 1), and 4 Esdras (3:1). (Karl Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on “Romanism” by “Bible Christians”; Ignatius Press, 1988, p. 200.)
As stated above, the name “Babylon” is not only the name of a city but also a title as well. The woman upon the beast is the Roman Catholic Church, and the beast is that great city built upon seven hills or mountains — Babylon. Roman Catholicism gets her power and seat and great authority from the Ancient Roman Empire. Only one city is known as the city of seven hills — ROME! There is only ONE city that passes John’s description of Babylon — ROME, and more specifically, VATICAN CITY!
(Rev. 17:5) 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
On the forehead of the woman dressed in purple and scarlet is written “MYSTERY.” This is a very significant clue as to who the whore is. Up until 1550 A.D. the Pope had written on his Crown (Mitre) the word “Mystery,” from the Greek word, “Mysterion,” meaning that which is made known to the initiated of God by divine revelation. It was meant to mean that he understood secret things. Luther pointed out to the Pope what the Bible had to say proving that the Pope was the “Antichrist,” and it was subsequently taken off. John Wesley also says in his “Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament,” of 1765; “This very word [MYSTERY] was inscribed on the front of the Pope’s mitre, till some of the Reformers took public notice of it.”
On her forehead were the words “Mother of Harlots”
This self-proclaimed “mother” church is Mystery Babylon, the apostate church of mysteries and the purveyor of Babylonian doctrinal confusion. Mystery is also the term used by the Roman Church to refer to the Mass, specifically the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It is a key part of Catholic dogma. These are the words of the priest in Latin or English: “For this is the chalice of my blood, of the new and eternal testament: the mystery of faith, which for you and for many shall be had unto the remission of sins.”
Note this quote of John Paul II from the Vatican Information Service press release dated 17 September, 1997: “Thanks to greater attention to the mystery of the Church and Mary’s relationship with her, the Virgin has begun to be invoked more frequently as ‘Mother of the Church.”
The Catholic is also well familiar with many “mysteries” through the recitation of their Hail Marys and the rosary. There are 15 decades of prayer (150 recitations) and during each decade of ten recitations, the Catholic contemplates on one of the “mysteries” of the church. The Fifteen Mysteries are divided into three groups: the “Joyful,” the “Sorrowful” and the “Glorious.”
The 5 Joyful Mysteries
The Mystery of the Annunciation
The Mystery of the Visitation
The Mystery of the Birth of the Lord
The Mystery of the Presentation in the Temple
The Mystery of Finding Jesus in the Temple
The 5 Sorrowful Mysteries
The Mystery of the Agony in the Garden
The Mystery of the Scourging at the Pillar
The Mystery of the Crowning with Thorns
The Mystery of Jesus carrying his cross
The Mystery of the Crucifixion
The 5 Glorious Mysteries
The Mystery of the Resurrection
The Mystery of the Ascension of Our Lord
The Mystery of the Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Mystery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
The Mystery of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin as Queen of Heaven
Prophecy 12: Babylon the great.
(Rev. 17:5) 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:13: “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.” Babylon, in this verse, is widely recognized as a code word meaning Rome, not Babylon, since there is no evidence that Peter ever ministered in Babylon. Roman Catholics have even acknowledged this association:
“‘Babylon,’ from which Peter addresses his first Epistle, is understood by learned annotators, Protestant and Catholic, to refer to Rome - the word Babylon being symbolic of the corruption then prevailing in the city of the Caesars.” (Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, 1980, p. 87.)
“... Babylon had been reduced to an inconsequential status by the march of years, military defeat, and political subjugation; it was no longer a ‘great city’. It played no important part in the recent history of the ancient world. The only truly ‘great city’ in New Testament times was Rome.” (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, by Karl Keating, 1988, page 201.)
Why, we might ask, is Rome referred to as Babylon when the city of Babylon is situated many hundreds of miles away over in Iraq? Is there any logical or historical reason why Rome should be referred to as Babylon? There is an answer, and one of them is that the name “Babylon” is not only the name of an ancient city, it is also a title. In his classic work, Dispensational Truth, Clarence Larkin traces this Babylon Mystery Religion down through history until it enters Rome.
On page 140 of his work we learn that the seat of Satan’s worldly empire was first centered in Babylon, then it shifted to Pergamos, and then it was bequeathed to Rome. Pergamos (whose more modern name is Bergama, about 3 miles north of the river Caicus) was the resident dynasty of Greek princes founded after the time of Alexander the Great. It was usually called the Attalie Dynasty from its founder, Attalus, its first Pontiff-King. Pergamos was one of the first cities of Asia Minor that was truly considered “sumptuous” due to the splendor of its princes. This city boasted of splendid temples of Zeus or Jupiter, Athene, Apollo, and Aesculapius. One of the seven churches of Asia was in Pergamos, and it was called “Satan’s seat” by John. This revelator wrote:
10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. ... (See Rev. 2:11-13.)
11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;...
12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is:...” (See Rev. 1:10-11.)
Even Catholic apologist Karl Keating admits that Rome has long been known as Babylon. “Babylon is a code word for Rome. It is used that way six times in the last book of the Bible [four of the six are in chapters 17 and 18 and in extra-biblical works such as Sibylling Oracles (5, 159f.), the Apocalypse of Baruch (ii, 1), and 4 Esdras (3:1). (Karl Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on “Romanism” by “Bible Christians”; Ignatius Press, 1988, p. 200.)
As stated above, the name “Babylon” is not only the name of a city but also a title as well. The woman upon the beast is the Roman Catholic Church, and the beast is that great city built upon seven hills or mountains — Babylon. Roman Catholicism gets her power and seat and great authority from the Ancient Roman Empire. Only one city is known as the city of seven hills — ROME! There is only ONE city that passes John’s description of Babylon — ROME, and more specifically, VATICAN CITY!
Prophecy 13: Mother of harlots.
(Rev. 17:5) 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
It is interesting that only the Roman Catholicism claims to be the Christian “mother church.” As stated above, the scriptural metaphor for church is couched in the female form. The woman of Revelation 17 is the mother church — Roman Catholicism in this case. She has apostate daughters (other churches in this case), referred to as “harlots in this case, who pay homage to and go-a-whoring with the “mother church.”
So the woman mentioned in Revelation 17 is the whore mother, the Roman Catholic Church. Since the mother is referred to as the “whore,” it is appropriate that her apostate daughter churches should be referred to as “harlots.” Consequently, any religion that make contributions for the development, promotion, or maintenance of the false Christian church, the pagan Roman Church, in either money, service, or whatever, or pays honor or obeisance to it in any way, is considered, as per Revelation 17:2 & 5, an apostate daughter of said church and a harlot due to their whoring with Babylon.
The following quotes are just a few that could be cited that illustrates the Roman Church’s arrogant position they believe to have in relation to other churches. From a Catholic Bull of Pope Pius IV we can read:
“I acknowledge the holy Catholic and apostolic Roman Church as the mother and teacher of all churches; and to the Roman Pontiff, the successor of the blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ, I promise and swear true obedience.” (The Profession of Faith of the Council of Trent, from the Bull of Pius IV, Nov. 13, 1565, Thirtieth Edition, translated by Roy J. Deferrari in The Sources of Catholic Dogma, Copyright 1957 by B. Herder Book Co., pg. 303.)
Only the Roman Catholic Church claims to be the Christian mother church: In part 2 “Directives on the Use of the Expression,” it says in the Note on the Expression Sister Churches under point 10:
“10. In fact, in the proper sense sister churches are exclusively particular churches (or groupings of particular churches; for example, the patriarchates or metropolitan provinces) among themselves. It must always be clear, when the expression sister churches is used in this proper sense that the one, holy, catholic and apostolic universal church is not sister but mother of all the particular churches.” (Note on the “Expression Sister Churches” by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, SDB, June 30, 2000.)
Sadly enough, the Roman Catholic Church fits the description “THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS” as precisely as she fits the others. Much of the cause is due to the unbiblical doctrine of priestly celibacy. The doctrine of celibacy has been broken repeatedly by millions of priests and nuns, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and many popes such as Sergius III, John X, John XII, Benedict V, Innocent VIII, Urban VIII, Innocent X, etc. Celibacy has made sinners of the clergy and harlots out of those with whom they secretly cohabit. The Catholic Church has paid about $1 billion in out-of-court settlements in the last few years for sexual sins of its clergy in the USA alone.
Even Catholic historians admit that among the popes were some of the most degenerate and unconscionable ogres in all history. More than one pope was slain by a husband who found him in bed with his wife. To call such a man “His Holiness, Vicar of Christ” makes a mockery of holiness and of Christ. Yet the name of each of these mass murderers, fornicators, robbers, warmongers — some guilty of the massacre of thousands — is emblazoned in honor on the Church’s official list of Peter’s alleged successors, the popes.
A hideous discovery was made in Madrid, Spain, in 1932. Workmen digging on Catholic property uncovered hidden underground burial sites which were offshoots of a tunnel stretching from a monastery for priests to a convent for nuns. In these graves they found baby skeletons, supposedly from nuns who had become pregnant. Another discovery of the same sort was also found in Seville in 1934, and also in the Basque region of Northern Spain. Many more such grave sites were found, not only in Spain, but also in Rome. Doctors discovered that most of the babies died of suffocation.
By 1936 the Spanish Catholics became outraged and destroyed the church buildings where such graves were found. They showed contempt for papal power and started taxing Catholic church property and removing priests and nuns from teaching in public schools.Truly, the Roman Catholic Church can be considered not only the Great Whore of John’s Book of Revelation, but “THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS” as well.
Prophecy 14: Abominations of the earth.
(Rev. 17:4-5) 4. “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:” 5. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The terms of abominations and filthiness fit this church of Rome quite well. Early Catholic bishops in Rome stole the Mithraic high priest’s title of Pater Patrum, which became Papa, or Pope, and Gregory I. The title of Pope (father) is found in Mithraic sun worship doctrine, and according to Martin A. Larson, in The Story of Christian Origins (1977), the word mass (communion) also has significance in pagan Mithraism.
As mentioned
above, untold billions of dollars have been fraudulently pilfered from trusting believers in the quest of buying salvation for themselves or their loved ones. The abominable practice that continues today. It is claimed that one can pay the Church to have a Mass said in the name of the deceased reduce time in purgatory. The wealthy often leave a fortune for masses to be said for their salvation after their death.(LEFT: Woman holding golden cup with the wafer god sitting upon it.)
Chief among the pagan apostate Catholic doctrines is that of the round wafer god, the Eucharist, and transubstantiation. The abominable doctrine of transubstantiation is where the priest claims to turn bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ, who is allegedly re-presented at every mass as a continuing sacrifice, worshiped as though it were God Himself, and then consumed by the congregation. Eating the flesh of another human is defined as cannibalism. In truth, the communion of the Lord’s supper is merely a symbolic memorial, and not a sacrifice.
Instead of bread,
the Priest offers the recipient a round wafer, which is called the “host.” (pictures at left and right.) This pagan practice was stolen from Egyptian rites which priests turned supposedly turned water into their sun god, Osiris; hence, the wafer is in the shape of the sun. These little round “wafer god” have an inscription embedded in them which reads, “IHS.” These initials stand for three of the Egyptian gods (their three-in-one trinity god) Isis, Horus and Seb (or Set). Some wafers have a Roman Iron Cross inscribed on them.Roman Catholics believe that what they are partaking of is the true body, blood, and divinity of Jesus Christ. They claim they are sacrificing the very body of Christ over and over again at each mass. How abominable, to claim to sacrifice Christ all over again each time the mass is performed.
There are many other ways to demonstrate the abominations of this unholy Roman Catholic Church, but the above should be sufficient for this discussion. The reader can go back a few pages and see other illustrations of the woman holding the abominable gold cup with the “host” perched upon it, along with the round symbols of the pagan sun god, Mithra in the background, some with sun rays emanating from them. Also, pulpits in some Protestant Churches have the initials, IHS, engraved into the front of it; or, the same initials can be seen printed or sewn onto the fabric of drapes that cover the pulpits. The poor Protestants believe the initials stand for something Holy, instead of realizing they stand for that with is abominable to the Lord.
Prophecy 15: Make war on the Saints and drunken with their blood.
(Rev. 17:6) 6. “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus:”
(Rev. 13:7) 7. “And it was given unto him [the beast] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
(Dan. 7:21, 25) 21. “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;”
25. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
The Roman Catholic
Church during the “dark ages” is responsible for the persecution deaths of uncounted thousands of Christians who dared to read, translate, or preach the Bible, or denied the apostate Catholic doctrines or dogmas. The Roman Pontiff, March 12, 2000, felt, for one reason or another, to ask for forgiveness for her sins of persecuting the early Bible believing Christians during the inquisition in years past, March 12th, 2000. Such confession only confirms that she is the apostate persecuting mother church responsible for the blood of the saints as spoken of here in Revelation 17.
When thinking of the persecution of Christians, one thinks immediately of the Inquisitions (Roman, Medieval and Spanish) which for centuries held Europe in their terrible grip. Canon Llorente, who was the Secretary to the Inquisition in Madrid from 1790-92 and had access to the archives of all the tribunals, estimated that in Spain alone the number of condemned exceeded three million, with about 300,000 burned at the stake. A Catholic historian writes:
“When Napoleon conquered Spain in 1808, a Polish officer in his army, Colonel Lemanouski, reported that the Dominicans 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.”
Persecutions didn’t end at the death of the victim. As presented above, the Roman Church practiced evil to gather her wealth, which was acquired by confiscating property of the victims of the Inquisitions. Even the dead were exhumed by the church and put on trial so they could be found guilty and their property taken from their heirs.
Medieval Christian Rome has slaughtered many times the number of both Christians and Jews than old pagan Rome ever did. The butchery started hundreds of years before Martin Luther, John Calvin and Protestantism ever existed. Before those victims of the Inquisitions, there were Huguenots, Albigenses, Waldenses and other Christians, massacred, tortured and burned at the stake by the hundreds of thousands simply because they refused to align themselves with the Roman Catholic Church.
The Bohemian John Huss was burned alive at the stake for distributing Holy Bibles; he was inspired by John Wycliff who gave us the first English translation of the Bible in spite of Vatican reprisals. Sir Thomas More persecuted Bible believing Christians, burned all the English bible publications of Wycliff he could get his hands on, and eventually was responsible for having Wycliff put to death. For his zeal, Sir Thomas More was sainted by the Papacy and became known as St. Thomas More.
Why is it that the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t want people to read the Bible? Could it be because they are afraid that if people read the Bible, the people would discover how Roman Catholicism has changed the laws, instilled false doctrine, and, worse of all, would discover the prophetic signs that identifies the Great Whore and Beast spoken of therein? To avoid this, they persecuted the Bible-believing Christians and true followers of Christ.
Listen to the leading nineteenth-century Catholic professor of church history: “The view of the Church had been...[that] every departure from the teaching of the Church...must be punished with death, and the most cruel of deaths, by fire....”
(Left: Adolf Hitler proclaiming Papist-Nazi solidarity.)
The Nazi holocaust was thoroughly known to Pius XII in spite of his complete silence throughout the war on the slaughter of Jews. 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...? “I am only doing,” he boasted, “what the Church has done for fifteen hundred years, only more effectively.” [Adolf Hitler] Being a Catholic himself, he told Berning, he “admired and wanted to promote [Catholic] Christianity.”
Pope Gregory XIII, with the dragon of Satan as his heraldic symbol, was the pope who upon hearing of the wholesale slaughter of Protestant French Huguenots, known as St. Bartholomew’s massacre, had a medal struck to celebrate the bloody event.
The reverse side
of the medal (Shown at Right) depicts an angel with a cross and sword murdering the Huguenot heretics. (FRONT OF 1572 COIN: GREGORIUS XIII - PONT. MAX. AN. I – BACK OF COIN: UGONOTTORUM STRAGES (HUGUENOTS SLAUGHTERED.)
(Rev. 17:6) 6. “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus:”
(Rev. 13:7) 7. “And it was given unto him [the beast] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
(Dan. 7:21, 25) 21. “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;”
25. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
The Roman Catholic
Church during the “dark ages” is responsible for the persecution deaths of uncounted thousands of Christians who dared to read, translate, or preach the Bible, or denied the apostate Catholic doctrines or dogmas. The Roman Pontiff, March 12, 2000, felt, for one reason or another, to ask for forgiveness for her sins of persecuting the early Bible believing Christians during the inquisition in years past, March 12th, 2000. Such confession only confirms that she is the apostate persecuting mother church responsible for the blood of the saints as spoken of here in Revelation 17.When thinking of the persecution of Christians, one thinks immediately of the Inquisitions (Roman, Medieval and Spanish) which for centuries held Europe in their terrible grip. Canon Llorente, who was the Secretary to the Inquisition in Madrid from 1790-92 and had access to the archives of all the tribunals, estimated that in Spain alone the number of condemned exceeded three million, with about 300,000 burned at the stake. A Catholic historian writes:
“When Napoleon conquered Spain in 1808, a Polish officer in his army, Colonel Lemanouski, reported that the Dominicans 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.”
Persecutions didn’t end at the death of the victim. As presented above, the Roman Church practiced evil to gather her wealth, which was acquired by confiscating property of the victims of the Inquisitions. Even the dead were exhumed by the church and put on trial so they could be found guilty and their property taken from their heirs.
Medieval Christian Rome has slaughtered many times the number of both Christians and Jews than old pagan Rome ever did. The butchery started hundreds of years before Martin Luther, John Calvin and Protestantism ever existed. Before those victims of the Inquisitions, there were Huguenots, Albigenses, Waldenses and other Christians, massacred, tortured and burned at the stake by the hundreds of thousands simply because they refused to align themselves with the Roman Catholic Church.
The Bohemian John Huss was burned alive at the stake for distributing Holy Bibles; he was inspired by John Wycliff who gave us the first English translation of the Bible in spite of Vatican reprisals. Sir Thomas More persecuted Bible believing Christians, burned all the English bible publications of Wycliff he could get his hands on, and eventually was responsible for having Wycliff put to death. For his zeal, Sir Thomas More was sainted by the Papacy and became known as St. Thomas More.
Why is it that the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t want people to read the Bible? Could it be because they are afraid that if people read the Bible, the people would discover how Roman Catholicism has changed the laws, instilled false doctrine, and, worse of all, would discover the prophetic signs that identifies the Great Whore and Beast spoken of therein? To avoid this, they persecuted the Bible-believing Christians and true followers of Christ.
Listen to the leading nineteenth-century Catholic professor of church history: “The view of the Church had been...[that] every departure from the teaching of the Church...must be punished with death, and the most cruel of deaths, by fire....”
(Left: Adolf Hitler proclaiming Papist-Nazi solidarity.)The Nazi holocaust was thoroughly known to Pius XII in spite of his complete silence throughout the war on the slaughter of Jews. 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...? “I am only doing,” he boasted, “what the Church has done for fifteen hundred years, only more effectively.” [Adolf Hitler] Being a Catholic himself, he told Berning, he “admired and wanted to promote [Catholic] Christianity.”
Pope Gregory XIII, with the dragon of Satan as his heraldic symbol, was the pope who upon hearing of the wholesale slaughter of Protestant French Huguenots, known as St. Bartholomew’s massacre, had a medal struck to celebrate the bloody event.
The reverse side
of the medal (Shown at Right) depicts an angel with a cross and sword murdering the Huguenot heretics. (FRONT OF 1572 COIN: GREGORIUS XIII - PONT. MAX. AN. I – BACK OF COIN: UGONOTTORUM STRAGES (HUGUENOTS SLAUGHTERED.)Prophecy 16: Change times and laws.
(Dan. 7:25) 25. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
Primarily, the activities of the little horn are directed not merely against human authority, but against God Himself. The “times and laws” that he would “think to change” would therefore be “of the most High.” The papacy would actually claim the right to alter divine precepts. Consider the following statement made in Pope Nicholas’ time. “The pope has authority and has often exercised it, to dispense with the commands of Christ...He can dispense above the law, and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws.”Again, “The pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws.... The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts in the place of God upon earth, with the fullest power of binding and loosing his sheep.” (Lucius Ferraris, “Papa,” art. 2, in Prompta Bibliotheca.)
There have been various ways that Roman Catholicism has changed times and laws. Let’s consider one, such as a change in the basic law of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus Chapter 20.
Catholics bow down in front of statues and pray. They love to adore the host which is a piece of bread. They light candles and pray to the dead like it does some good. They also adore relics like a dead monk’s head or a dead saint’s finger. We also know that they gaze upon other “sacred” objects and images like pictures of a Madonna and naked baby Jesus, although salvation comes by way of a mature male. Finally we know that they think that there is benefit of having “a Jesus” hanging on the cross in their homes so they can visualize the object of their worship. They will vehemently tell you that they don’t worship the images, but yet they bow down to various images of the virgin Mary and other “Saints.”
What does the Bible say about worshipping images? Most of us know that the Ten Commandments prohibit even making images. This poses a problem for the Catholic religion. How does it get around this? They changed the Ten Commandments to fit their religious practices. Let’s compare the Catholic ten commandments to the real ten commandments found in the King James Bible.
The following is a list of the Ten Commandments. Those marked (A) are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible; those marked (B) represent the Ten Commandments as taught by the Roman Catholic Church.
FIRST COMMANDMENT
(A) I am the LORD thy God...Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
(B) I, the LORD, am your God...You shall not have other gods besides me.
SECOND COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
(B) You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
THIRD COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
(B) Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
(B) Honor your father and your mother.
FIFTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Honor thy father and thy mother.
(B) You shall not kill.
SIXTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not kill.
(B) You shall not commit adultery.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
(B) You shall not steal.
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not steal.
(B) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
NINTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
(B) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
TENTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not covet.
(B) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
Did you see it?
First, the Catholic Church deletes the second commandment altogether to justify their idolatrous worship practices; second, they break the 10th commandment into two, making it the 9th and 10th commandments to still show they have Ten Commandments. This is the truth! Just get a copy of both Bibles and compare them.
Prophecy 17: The dragon gives power and authority to the beast.
(Rev. 13:2) 2. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
In the New Testament,
the term “dragon” is found only in the Apocalypse of John, the Book of Revelation, as applied metaphorically to the devil, which is Satan “And the dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:...” (Rev. 12:9.)
Left: Curiously, one of the Popes adopted the winged serpent or dragon as his symbol on his heraldic shield. Here is the heraldic coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII, 1572-1585 A.D., who is most known for initiating the calendar reform in use today, the Gregorian calendar. The coat of arms of Gregory XIII shown here is one of two that can be found above the doors in the Gallery of Maps in the Vatican. Revelation 12 clearly tells us that the dragon is symbolic of Satan, so why did a pope use it as his symbol? In the fresco, note what is in the upper right-hand corner (shown Right). There you will see a winged serpent, or dragon. Raffaello was depicting a pivotal moment in the conversion of Pagan Rome to Christianity, the dragon he painted being symbolic of ancient Pagan Rome.
Prophecy 18: Great city reigns over kings of the earth.
(Rev. 17:18) 18. “And the woman [the great whore] which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
As stated at the beginning, it is the woman, or church, that rides the beast, which is the state, not the other way around. The beastly kingdom does not control and direct the woman; The womanly church has control over and directs the beastly state. The beastly state provides only the vehicle for the woman-church to implement her Satanic and deceptive agenda. The woman of Revelation 17 riding a beast is symbolic of the combining of the ecclesiastical power of the church (the woman) and political power of the state (the beast).
The woman of Revelation 17 claims authority over all the kings of the earth. The Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church historically claims authority over all secular rulers, and has exercised that assumed authority by deposing kings or queens who did not acknowledge his superior secular and ecclesiastical authority. Here are just two examples of this claimed authority over Kings. Let’s start with Pope Gelasius I (AD 494), who expresses his view on the natural superiority of the power of the papacy over the temporal power in a letter to Emperor Anastasius:
“There are two powers, august Emperor, by which this world is chiefly ruled, namely, the sacred authority of the priests and the royal power. Of these that of the priests is the more weighty, since they have to render an account for even the kings of men in the divine judgment. You are also aware, dear son, that while you are permitted honorably to rule over human kind, yet in things divine you bow your head humbly before the leaders of the clergy and await from their hands the means of your salvation. In the reception and proper disposition of the heavenly mysteries you recognize that you should be subordinate rather than superior to the religious order, and that in these matters you depend on their judgment rather than wish to force them to follow your will.” (Letter of Pope Gelasius I to Emperor Anastasius, Translated in J. H. Robinson, Readings in European History, (Boston: Ginn, 1905), pp. 72-73.)
That the papacy, the Bishop of Rome, attempts to rule the world from Rome hardly seems to call for any more documentation, but we will let a recent pope be heard on this issue:
“... the hand of God, who guides the course of history, has set down the Chair of His Vicar on earth, in this city of Rome which, from being the capital of the wonderful Roman Empire, was made by Him the capital of the whole world, because He made it the seat of a sovereignty which, since it extends beyond the confines of nations and states, embraces within itself all the peoples of the whole world. The very origin and divine nature of this sovereignty demands, the inviolable rights of conscience of millions of the faithful of the whole world demand that this sacred sovereignty must not be, neither must it ever appear to be, subject to any human authority or law whatsoever, even though that law be one which proclaims certain guaranties for the liberty of the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter UBI ARCANO DEI CONSILIO (On the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ), December 23, 1922.)
It’s interesting that the Vatican is recognized at the UN as a sovereign state and the Pope has full rights as head of state to address the UN General Assembly. The Vatican can therefore influence debate at the highest level. Also, the Vatican has diplomatic relations with many nations and affects the laws of these nations. Vatican City is the seat of Roman Catholicism, and since the Lateran Concordat of 1929, signed between the Fascist dictator Mussolini and the Vatican, it is also an independent country, the epitome of Church and State combined. (A concordat is a treaty between the Vatican and some political entity.) The Vatican’s full title in Italian is STATO DELLA CITTÁ DEL VATICANO, which means, “The City-State of Prophecy.”
The purpose of the Jesuit controlled Vatican is to rule the world. To accomplish this the Vatican has had nearly 2,000 years of experience in political duplicity learning what works and doesn’t work for them. They have found that subtle covert infiltration into governments and religions works better than overt and outright force.
THE FOREGOING OF THIS PROPHECY WAS TAKEN FROM THIS AUTHOR’S STUDY, “THE FOUR REICHS OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.” FOR MORE IN-DEPTH CONSIDERATION OF THIS PROPHECY, PLEASE SEE THAT STUDY.
Prophecy 19: One of the beasts had a bow.
(Rev. 6:1-2) 1. “AND I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.” 2. “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
In verse one
we find that the Lamb opened one of the seals and John saw a white horse with a rider who had a bow. This rider is different that the rider upon a white horse found in Chapter 19 of Revelation, which rider is Jesus Christ the King of king and Lord of lords.
The hooked cross, which looks like a bow, became a symbol of Christian Socialism. As a cross, it represented two separate pieces overlapping, and those pieces were S-shaped, and served as letters for “socialism” combined with the religious features of the cross. The symbol was then used to promote persecution of people of differing religious faiths and also people of differing philosophies. The socialist swastika was an anti-capitalist symbol to persecute anyone judged a “capitalist.” Could the crooked cross or bow-like cross held by the Pope, which is in stark disparity to the cross that Jesus was crucified upon, make it an anti-cross possessed by an antichrist?
Prophecy 20: A crown given to the beast .
(Rev. 6:2) 2. “And I saw,
and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
This rider on the white horse in Revelation 6 has a crown which is given to him. When a pope is crowned during his coronation, these are some of the words, among others, spoken: “Take thou the tiara adorned with the triple crown, and know that thou art the father of princes and kings and the governor of the world.” This crown is a triple crown which, each tier representing dominion over “Heaven,” “Earth,” and “Hell.”
When a man becomes pope, he is not born into it as in a royal dynasty, for he has no real line of authority. He is GIVEN a crown, and supposedly, a kingdom that is not his; which crown and Kingdom rightly belong to the King of kings and Lord of lord, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Also inscribed on the triple crown are the Latin words: “Vicarivs Filii Dei,” which translated means, “Vicar of the Son of God.” These Latin words, when worked out in Roman numerals, amount to “666.” (Rev. 13:18.) More on this in another study.
Prophecy 21: The rider of horses goes forth to conquer the world with death and hell .
(Rev. 6:1-8) 2. “And I saw
when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” 3. “And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.” 4. “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” 5. “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.” 6. “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” 7. “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.” 8. “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as they are often referred to, are the subject of these eight verses of Revelation. These same horses are mentioned in Zechariah 6:1-8 as well (notice the same chapter and verse configuration as in Revelation). In Zechariah 6:5 we find that, “... These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.” So these four horsemen of Revelation 6 represent spirits, and their colors are relevant to the time of fulfilment. These four horsemen have already been with us for a long, long time, and they will increase their devastating fury as we get closer to that great day of the Lord’s coming in glory. So, just who or what are these four horsemen?
The White Horse
In these verses we find that this rider on the White Horse in Revelation 6 went forth to conquer the world (v. 3). The rider on the white horse has a bow and a crown. Many usually assume this rider refers to Jesus Christ on His return. Christ will return on a white horse, as indicated by Revelation 19:11-16, but he will have a sword and not a bow, and He will have many crowns and not just “a” crown.
The one riding
the white horse in Chapter 6 represents FALSE and DECEPTIVE RELIGION, false Christian religion in particular. His “white horse” is a facade representing righteousness, while the horseman actually offers lies and deception of every kind. His crown is the triple crown worn by Popes of the Roman Catholic Church, and his bow is the bent or hooked cross as carried by the Popes.
This first horseman comes before the others because he causes the most suffering, and is the catalyst for the other horsemen. He goes forth “conquering, and to conquer,” conquering the mind, will, and spirit of mankind by deception. The deceived followers of this man on the white horse go forth “conquering” based upon their erroneous belief that their religion is of Jesus Christ, when it is actually Lucifer’s religion. The first and most deadly horseman is “religious deception,” and the other horsemen are an offspring of this false Christian religion.
The Red Horse
With a Red Horse the rider causes peace to be taken from the earth. “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
This red horse
represents WAR AGAINST TRUTH AND LIBERTY! And since the color of the horse is relevant to the time of fulfilment, we understand that the color red is the color of Socialistic Communism, such as Red China. Red is representative of bloodshed (2 Kings 3:22), and of sin in general. (Isa. 1:18.) The red dragon is symbolic of the Antichrist (Rev. 12:3), and the woman who rides the beast is dressed in scarlet (Rev. 17:3-4). Red was the color of the Russian flag of revolutionary socialism, and of course there is “Red Square,” and so forth. Red is always associated with something bad; for example it is a universal sign for the warning of danger, as our traffic “stop” signs and traffic lights indicate.
As difficult as it is for some to believe, the Roman Pontiffs, and their Jesuit Order, are responsible for and behind such terrible wars as the French Revolution, the War of 1812, the American Civil War, both WW I and WWII, both the Korean and Viet Nam conflicts, both invasions of the Moslem countries by the two Bushes, the creation of the Communist Party, the socialistic Fascist regimes of Franco of Spain and Mussolini of Italy, the establishment of Adolf Hitler and his social Nazi Party, not to mention the many wars before the French Revolution, and other wars and secret organizations created to overthrow the world from the very inception of Roman Catholicism.
The Roman church has close to two thousand years of practice and experience in deception and infiltrations into all governments, every industry, every major religion, all school and educational systems, as well as the legal and medical professions of the world. And all of this for the purpose of forcing the entire human population into believing in a false religion and worshiping a false god, which is Lucifer. The deceived warmongers believe that those who stand or get in the way are simply nothing more than “casualties of war.”
The spirit of the red horse is to take peace from the earth by way of military might, which the sword represents. The great majority of all wars, from the beginning of world history, have been religiously motivated. And Lucifer’s Socialism, with its military arm, Communism, has been the cause of most major wars and conflicts on the planet for the past 100 years.
The Black Horse
As the rider straddles
the Black Horse he carries a set of balances in his hand so he can judge the people of the earth with unrighteous judgement and controls of every kind. “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”
The “pair of balances” represent weights and measures, and the mention of wheat, barley, oil and wine illustrate commodities, and the exchange of money. This verse sounds something like a stock market report, “see thou hurt not the oil and the wine,” meaning don’t hurt the economy. This black horse, then, represents CAPITALISM, and the control of goods and services, through greed, pride, and covetousness. And through this control, great economic depression and eventual famine will plague mankind.
The Roman Catholic Church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator, property owner, and possessor of material riches in the entire world; more so than any individual, bank, corporation, trust, or government. The pope is the ruler of this immense wealth, and no one can realistically assess how much he is worth in any form of currency.
Socialism and Communism is represented by the color of RED, but many do not know that Capitalism also has a color. Its color is BLACK. To help illustrate, Time Magazine had an article about an election in Germany. Because of much strife between the parties, the Social Democrats (being socialistic) and the Christian Democrats (being capitalistic) finally got together and created a coalition party. The Time Magazine article said, “... a grand coalition of the two major parties - the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats, that have bitterly fought each other for years. A union of black and red. It was a marriage of convenience, but a stunning match nonetheless.” (Time Magazine, Dec. 9, 1966, p. 34.) Knowing that Socialism is represented by the color red, this article let’s us know that Capitalism is represented by the color black.
In this prophecy, this horse is black, which is also the color of the Jesuit Order, the Supreme Jesuit General being referred to as the “Black Pope,” who wears a black robe, and who is the real pope behind the pope.
One of the scales carried show this rider’s awesome power over the economy of the world and the power to control food and its distribution; resulting in the coming world-wide famine, especially in the continental USA. His other scale shows he administers both national and international laws, such as its influence over the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Great Britain, and all nations. He holds the scale of law in his hands to control, manipulate and legally destroy all opposition to his goal of world domination. It should be remembered, the United Nations, which was established from behind the scenes by Vatican influence, now has its ONE WORLD COURT SYSTEM.
The Pale Horse
As he rides the
Pale Horse death and hell follows him. “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
The word, pale, as used in this reference comes from the Greek word, Chloros, meaning, a sickly pale-green, such as in sickness and disease. Thus, we have not only natural diseases, but man-made biological diseases and plagues as well. This rider is also given power over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, with hunger, with torture, with inquisition. One might say that this horse represents the culminating effects of the first three horses.
As mentioned above, these Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent spirits, and these are the spirits that dominate most heated discussions worldwide — religion, politics and the economy — subjects that dominate the world news.
Winding it all up
There are many more examples that could be given to help prove each point that has been presented, but for the sake of time and space, the forgoing should be enough to satisfy the honest seeker of truth.
As we started this study, I mentioned that at the end of the paper we would address the need for numbering each prophecy. That need was for calculating the probability of the thesis presented in this work. For this calculation we will refer to a Professor Peter Stoner, who was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College, and his book, Science Speaks: Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible.
Professor Stoner calculates in his book, Science Speaks, that the probability of one person fulfilling just eight of the specific prophecies in the Holy Bible was one chance in 1017; that would be a one in one-hundred quadrillion (a 1 followed by 17 zeros: 100,000,000,000,000,000) chance that one man could fulfill all eight prophecies. (Professor Stoner’s calculations have received The American Scientific Affiliation stamp of approval, as you can read in the note below.) In order for us to be able to comprehend this staggering probability, Professor Stoner illustrates it by supposing that:
“… we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote in their own wisdom.
“This means that the fulfillment of these eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of those eight prophecies to a definiteness which lacks only one chance in 1017 of being absolute.” (Stoner, Peter W. Science Speaks. Chicago: Moody Press, 1963, pp 100-107.)
Professor Stone was using the eight prophecies to show that Jesus, indeed, was the promised Messiah. But his theory also holds true to other biblical prophecies. So let’s push his calculations a little further with the probability of one person or entity fulfilling, not just eight biblical prophecies, but 21 prophecies concerning the great Whore and Beast mentioned in the Book of Revelation. If eight prophecies is near impossible to fulfill, how much more impossible for 21 to be fulfilled? And that’s not all of them. If the calculation example above, of a man picking up a specific coin, is correct, could there be any doubt as to the accuracy of the theses presented in this work?
The qualifying data which John the Revelator gives us for identifying the Great Whore, the Beast, and great city of Babylon of the end times is specific, conclusive and should be irrefutable. There is no city, nation, or church upon this entire earth, past or present, which meets all of these criteria except Roman Catholicism and Vatican City.
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NOTE: Professor Peter Stoner (1888-1980) was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953, and Chairman of the Science Division of Westmont College from 1953 to 1957. In 1944, he published his research results in Science Speaks: Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible. The American Scientific Affiliation gave Stoner’s work their stamp of approval: “The manuscript for Science Speaks has been carefully reviewed by a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation members and by the Executive Council of the same group and has been found, in general, to be dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. The mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way.”
Primarily, the activities of the little horn are directed not merely against human authority, but against God Himself. The “times and laws” that he would “think to change” would therefore be “of the most High.” The papacy would actually claim the right to alter divine precepts. Consider the following statement made in Pope Nicholas’ time. “The pope has authority and has often exercised it, to dispense with the commands of Christ...He can dispense above the law, and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws.”Again, “The pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws.... The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts in the place of God upon earth, with the fullest power of binding and loosing his sheep.” (Lucius Ferraris, “Papa,” art. 2, in Prompta Bibliotheca.)
There have been various ways that Roman Catholicism has changed times and laws. Let’s consider one, such as a change in the basic law of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus Chapter 20.
Catholics bow down in front of statues and pray. They love to adore the host which is a piece of bread. They light candles and pray to the dead like it does some good. They also adore relics like a dead monk’s head or a dead saint’s finger. We also know that they gaze upon other “sacred” objects and images like pictures of a Madonna and naked baby Jesus, although salvation comes by way of a mature male. Finally we know that they think that there is benefit of having “a Jesus” hanging on the cross in their homes so they can visualize the object of their worship. They will vehemently tell you that they don’t worship the images, but yet they bow down to various images of the virgin Mary and other “Saints.”
What does the Bible say about worshipping images? Most of us know that the Ten Commandments prohibit even making images. This poses a problem for the Catholic religion. How does it get around this? They changed the Ten Commandments to fit their religious practices. Let’s compare the Catholic ten commandments to the real ten commandments found in the King James Bible.
The following is a list of the Ten Commandments. Those marked (A) are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible; those marked (B) represent the Ten Commandments as taught by the Roman Catholic Church.
FIRST COMMANDMENT
(A) I am the LORD thy God...Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
(B) I, the LORD, am your God...You shall not have other gods besides me.
SECOND COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
(B) You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
THIRD COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
(B) Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
(B) Honor your father and your mother.
FIFTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Honor thy father and thy mother.
(B) You shall not kill.
SIXTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not kill.
(B) You shall not commit adultery.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
(B) You shall not steal.
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not steal.
(B) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
NINTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
(B) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
TENTH COMMANDMENT
(A) Thou shalt not covet.
(B) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
Did you see it?
First, the Catholic Church deletes the second commandment altogether to justify their idolatrous worship practices; second, they break the 10th commandment into two, making it the 9th and 10th commandments to still show they have Ten Commandments. This is the truth! Just get a copy of both Bibles and compare them.
Prophecy 17: The dragon gives power and authority to the beast.
(Rev. 13:2) 2. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
In the New Testament,
the term “dragon” is found only in the Apocalypse of John, the Book of Revelation, as applied metaphorically to the devil, which is Satan “And the dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:...” (Rev. 12:9.)Left: Curiously, one of the Popes adopted the winged serpent or dragon as his symbol on his heraldic shield. Here is the heraldic coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII, 1572-1585 A.D., who is most known for initiating the calendar reform in use today, the Gregorian calendar. The coat of arms of Gregory XIII shown here is one of two that can be found above the doors in the Gallery of Maps in the Vatican. Revelation 12 clearly tells us that the dragon is symbolic of Satan, so why did a pope use it as his symbol? In the fresco, note what is in the upper right-hand corner (shown Right). There you will see a winged serpent, or dragon. Raffaello was depicting a pivotal moment in the conversion of Pagan Rome to Christianity, the dragon he painted being symbolic of ancient Pagan Rome.
Prophecy 18: Great city reigns over kings of the earth.
(Rev. 17:18) 18. “And the woman [the great whore] which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
As stated at the beginning, it is the woman, or church, that rides the beast, which is the state, not the other way around. The beastly kingdom does not control and direct the woman; The womanly church has control over and directs the beastly state. The beastly state provides only the vehicle for the woman-church to implement her Satanic and deceptive agenda. The woman of Revelation 17 riding a beast is symbolic of the combining of the ecclesiastical power of the church (the woman) and political power of the state (the beast).
The woman of Revelation 17 claims authority over all the kings of the earth. The Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church historically claims authority over all secular rulers, and has exercised that assumed authority by deposing kings or queens who did not acknowledge his superior secular and ecclesiastical authority. Here are just two examples of this claimed authority over Kings. Let’s start with Pope Gelasius I (AD 494), who expresses his view on the natural superiority of the power of the papacy over the temporal power in a letter to Emperor Anastasius:
“There are two powers, august Emperor, by which this world is chiefly ruled, namely, the sacred authority of the priests and the royal power. Of these that of the priests is the more weighty, since they have to render an account for even the kings of men in the divine judgment. You are also aware, dear son, that while you are permitted honorably to rule over human kind, yet in things divine you bow your head humbly before the leaders of the clergy and await from their hands the means of your salvation. In the reception and proper disposition of the heavenly mysteries you recognize that you should be subordinate rather than superior to the religious order, and that in these matters you depend on their judgment rather than wish to force them to follow your will.” (Letter of Pope Gelasius I to Emperor Anastasius, Translated in J. H. Robinson, Readings in European History, (Boston: Ginn, 1905), pp. 72-73.)
That the papacy, the Bishop of Rome, attempts to rule the world from Rome hardly seems to call for any more documentation, but we will let a recent pope be heard on this issue:
“... the hand of God, who guides the course of history, has set down the Chair of His Vicar on earth, in this city of Rome which, from being the capital of the wonderful Roman Empire, was made by Him the capital of the whole world, because He made it the seat of a sovereignty which, since it extends beyond the confines of nations and states, embraces within itself all the peoples of the whole world. The very origin and divine nature of this sovereignty demands, the inviolable rights of conscience of millions of the faithful of the whole world demand that this sacred sovereignty must not be, neither must it ever appear to be, subject to any human authority or law whatsoever, even though that law be one which proclaims certain guaranties for the liberty of the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter UBI ARCANO DEI CONSILIO (On the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ), December 23, 1922.)
It’s interesting that the Vatican is recognized at the UN as a sovereign state and the Pope has full rights as head of state to address the UN General Assembly. The Vatican can therefore influence debate at the highest level. Also, the Vatican has diplomatic relations with many nations and affects the laws of these nations. Vatican City is the seat of Roman Catholicism, and since the Lateran Concordat of 1929, signed between the Fascist dictator Mussolini and the Vatican, it is also an independent country, the epitome of Church and State combined. (A concordat is a treaty between the Vatican and some political entity.) The Vatican’s full title in Italian is STATO DELLA CITTÁ DEL VATICANO, which means, “The City-State of Prophecy.”
The purpose of the Jesuit controlled Vatican is to rule the world. To accomplish this the Vatican has had nearly 2,000 years of experience in political duplicity learning what works and doesn’t work for them. They have found that subtle covert infiltration into governments and religions works better than overt and outright force.
THE FOREGOING OF THIS PROPHECY WAS TAKEN FROM THIS AUTHOR’S STUDY, “THE FOUR REICHS OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.” FOR MORE IN-DEPTH CONSIDERATION OF THIS PROPHECY, PLEASE SEE THAT STUDY.
Prophecy 19: One of the beasts had a bow.
(Rev. 6:1-2) 1. “AND I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.” 2. “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
In verse one
we find that the Lamb opened one of the seals and John saw a white horse with a rider who had a bow. This rider is different that the rider upon a white horse found in Chapter 19 of Revelation, which rider is Jesus Christ the King of king and Lord of lords.The hooked cross, which looks like a bow, became a symbol of Christian Socialism. As a cross, it represented two separate pieces overlapping, and those pieces were S-shaped, and served as letters for “socialism” combined with the religious features of the cross. The symbol was then used to promote persecution of people of differing religious faiths and also people of differing philosophies. The socialist swastika was an anti-capitalist symbol to persecute anyone judged a “capitalist.” Could the crooked cross or bow-like cross held by the Pope, which is in stark disparity to the cross that Jesus was crucified upon, make it an anti-cross possessed by an antichrist?
Prophecy 20: A crown given to the beast .
(Rev. 6:2) 2. “And I saw,
and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”This rider on the white horse in Revelation 6 has a crown which is given to him. When a pope is crowned during his coronation, these are some of the words, among others, spoken: “Take thou the tiara adorned with the triple crown, and know that thou art the father of princes and kings and the governor of the world.” This crown is a triple crown which, each tier representing dominion over “Heaven,” “Earth,” and “Hell.”
When a man becomes pope, he is not born into it as in a royal dynasty, for he has no real line of authority. He is GIVEN a crown, and supposedly, a kingdom that is not his; which crown and Kingdom rightly belong to the King of kings and Lord of lord, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Also inscribed on the triple crown are the Latin words: “Vicarivs Filii Dei,” which translated means, “Vicar of the Son of God.” These Latin words, when worked out in Roman numerals, amount to “666.” (Rev. 13:18.) More on this in another study.
Prophecy 21: The rider of horses goes forth to conquer the world with death and hell .
(Rev. 6:1-8) 2. “And I saw
when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” 3. “And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.” 4. “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” 5. “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.” 6. “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” 7. “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.” 8. “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as they are often referred to, are the subject of these eight verses of Revelation. These same horses are mentioned in Zechariah 6:1-8 as well (notice the same chapter and verse configuration as in Revelation). In Zechariah 6:5 we find that, “... These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.” So these four horsemen of Revelation 6 represent spirits, and their colors are relevant to the time of fulfilment. These four horsemen have already been with us for a long, long time, and they will increase their devastating fury as we get closer to that great day of the Lord’s coming in glory. So, just who or what are these four horsemen?
The White Horse
In these verses we find that this rider on the White Horse in Revelation 6 went forth to conquer the world (v. 3). The rider on the white horse has a bow and a crown. Many usually assume this rider refers to Jesus Christ on His return. Christ will return on a white horse, as indicated by Revelation 19:11-16, but he will have a sword and not a bow, and He will have many crowns and not just “a” crown.
The one riding
the white horse in Chapter 6 represents FALSE and DECEPTIVE RELIGION, false Christian religion in particular. His “white horse” is a facade representing righteousness, while the horseman actually offers lies and deception of every kind. His crown is the triple crown worn by Popes of the Roman Catholic Church, and his bow is the bent or hooked cross as carried by the Popes.This first horseman comes before the others because he causes the most suffering, and is the catalyst for the other horsemen. He goes forth “conquering, and to conquer,” conquering the mind, will, and spirit of mankind by deception. The deceived followers of this man on the white horse go forth “conquering” based upon their erroneous belief that their religion is of Jesus Christ, when it is actually Lucifer’s religion. The first and most deadly horseman is “religious deception,” and the other horsemen are an offspring of this false Christian religion.
The Red Horse
With a Red Horse the rider causes peace to be taken from the earth. “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
This red horse
represents WAR AGAINST TRUTH AND LIBERTY! And since the color of the horse is relevant to the time of fulfilment, we understand that the color red is the color of Socialistic Communism, such as Red China. Red is representative of bloodshed (2 Kings 3:22), and of sin in general. (Isa. 1:18.) The red dragon is symbolic of the Antichrist (Rev. 12:3), and the woman who rides the beast is dressed in scarlet (Rev. 17:3-4). Red was the color of the Russian flag of revolutionary socialism, and of course there is “Red Square,” and so forth. Red is always associated with something bad; for example it is a universal sign for the warning of danger, as our traffic “stop” signs and traffic lights indicate.As difficult as it is for some to believe, the Roman Pontiffs, and their Jesuit Order, are responsible for and behind such terrible wars as the French Revolution, the War of 1812, the American Civil War, both WW I and WWII, both the Korean and Viet Nam conflicts, both invasions of the Moslem countries by the two Bushes, the creation of the Communist Party, the socialistic Fascist regimes of Franco of Spain and Mussolini of Italy, the establishment of Adolf Hitler and his social Nazi Party, not to mention the many wars before the French Revolution, and other wars and secret organizations created to overthrow the world from the very inception of Roman Catholicism.
The Roman church has close to two thousand years of practice and experience in deception and infiltrations into all governments, every industry, every major religion, all school and educational systems, as well as the legal and medical professions of the world. And all of this for the purpose of forcing the entire human population into believing in a false religion and worshiping a false god, which is Lucifer. The deceived warmongers believe that those who stand or get in the way are simply nothing more than “casualties of war.”
The spirit of the red horse is to take peace from the earth by way of military might, which the sword represents. The great majority of all wars, from the beginning of world history, have been religiously motivated. And Lucifer’s Socialism, with its military arm, Communism, has been the cause of most major wars and conflicts on the planet for the past 100 years.
The Black Horse
As the rider straddles
the Black Horse he carries a set of balances in his hand so he can judge the people of the earth with unrighteous judgement and controls of every kind. “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”The “pair of balances” represent weights and measures, and the mention of wheat, barley, oil and wine illustrate commodities, and the exchange of money. This verse sounds something like a stock market report, “see thou hurt not the oil and the wine,” meaning don’t hurt the economy. This black horse, then, represents CAPITALISM, and the control of goods and services, through greed, pride, and covetousness. And through this control, great economic depression and eventual famine will plague mankind.
The Roman Catholic Church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator, property owner, and possessor of material riches in the entire world; more so than any individual, bank, corporation, trust, or government. The pope is the ruler of this immense wealth, and no one can realistically assess how much he is worth in any form of currency.
Socialism and Communism is represented by the color of RED, but many do not know that Capitalism also has a color. Its color is BLACK. To help illustrate, Time Magazine had an article about an election in Germany. Because of much strife between the parties, the Social Democrats (being socialistic) and the Christian Democrats (being capitalistic) finally got together and created a coalition party. The Time Magazine article said, “... a grand coalition of the two major parties - the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats, that have bitterly fought each other for years. A union of black and red. It was a marriage of convenience, but a stunning match nonetheless.” (Time Magazine, Dec. 9, 1966, p. 34.) Knowing that Socialism is represented by the color red, this article let’s us know that Capitalism is represented by the color black.
In this prophecy, this horse is black, which is also the color of the Jesuit Order, the Supreme Jesuit General being referred to as the “Black Pope,” who wears a black robe, and who is the real pope behind the pope.
One of the scales carried show this rider’s awesome power over the economy of the world and the power to control food and its distribution; resulting in the coming world-wide famine, especially in the continental USA. His other scale shows he administers both national and international laws, such as its influence over the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Great Britain, and all nations. He holds the scale of law in his hands to control, manipulate and legally destroy all opposition to his goal of world domination. It should be remembered, the United Nations, which was established from behind the scenes by Vatican influence, now has its ONE WORLD COURT SYSTEM.
The Pale Horse
As he rides the
Pale Horse death and hell follows him. “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”The word, pale, as used in this reference comes from the Greek word, Chloros, meaning, a sickly pale-green, such as in sickness and disease. Thus, we have not only natural diseases, but man-made biological diseases and plagues as well. This rider is also given power over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, with hunger, with torture, with inquisition. One might say that this horse represents the culminating effects of the first three horses.
As mentioned above, these Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent spirits, and these are the spirits that dominate most heated discussions worldwide — religion, politics and the economy — subjects that dominate the world news.
Winding it all up
There are many more examples that could be given to help prove each point that has been presented, but for the sake of time and space, the forgoing should be enough to satisfy the honest seeker of truth.
As we started this study, I mentioned that at the end of the paper we would address the need for numbering each prophecy. That need was for calculating the probability of the thesis presented in this work. For this calculation we will refer to a Professor Peter Stoner, who was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College, and his book, Science Speaks: Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible.
Professor Stoner calculates in his book, Science Speaks, that the probability of one person fulfilling just eight of the specific prophecies in the Holy Bible was one chance in 1017; that would be a one in one-hundred quadrillion (a 1 followed by 17 zeros: 100,000,000,000,000,000) chance that one man could fulfill all eight prophecies. (Professor Stoner’s calculations have received The American Scientific Affiliation stamp of approval, as you can read in the note below.) In order for us to be able to comprehend this staggering probability, Professor Stoner illustrates it by supposing that:
“… we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote in their own wisdom.
“This means that the fulfillment of these eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of those eight prophecies to a definiteness which lacks only one chance in 1017 of being absolute.” (Stoner, Peter W. Science Speaks. Chicago: Moody Press, 1963, pp 100-107.)
Professor Stone was using the eight prophecies to show that Jesus, indeed, was the promised Messiah. But his theory also holds true to other biblical prophecies. So let’s push his calculations a little further with the probability of one person or entity fulfilling, not just eight biblical prophecies, but 21 prophecies concerning the great Whore and Beast mentioned in the Book of Revelation. If eight prophecies is near impossible to fulfill, how much more impossible for 21 to be fulfilled? And that’s not all of them. If the calculation example above, of a man picking up a specific coin, is correct, could there be any doubt as to the accuracy of the theses presented in this work?
The qualifying data which John the Revelator gives us for identifying the Great Whore, the Beast, and great city of Babylon of the end times is specific, conclusive and should be irrefutable. There is no city, nation, or church upon this entire earth, past or present, which meets all of these criteria except Roman Catholicism and Vatican City.
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NOTE: Professor Peter Stoner (1888-1980) was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953, and Chairman of the Science Division of Westmont College from 1953 to 1957. In 1944, he published his research results in Science Speaks: Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible. The American Scientific Affiliation gave Stoner’s work their stamp of approval: “The manuscript for Science Speaks has been carefully reviewed by a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation members and by the Executive Council of the same group and has been found, in general, to be dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. The mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way.”
