“Judgment of the Great Whore”
Mystery Babylon-Who is it?
From Revelation Commentary
By: Irvin Baxter Jr.
Revelation 17 and 18 contain one of the most incredible prophecies in the entire Bible. Revelation 17:1 says, "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." Now this is outstanding because it is foretelling judgment. The prophecy we are studying in this lesson is one of the most dramatic judgments in all of Scripture. There is a specific something or someone that Almighty God, 2,000 years ago, foreknew would be a recipient of His hot judgment. So, there is going to be judgment upon someone and I am sure you are interested in knowing who it will be. You are going to find in this lesson that that someone is on the earth right now, and we will see this judgment poured out in the very near future.
Revelation 17:2-3 continues, "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. 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." Our first question is, who is the harlot that will receive this horrible judgment? We don't have to guess. You will find in this prophecy that the explanations are given for us in the very same chapter that the prophecy is given. Revelation 17:18 says very clearly, "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Clue number one, the woman is a city. There is a city on this earth right now that 2,000 years ago through the foreknowledge of God, God said, ‘I will show you the judgment that will come in the end time on this great city.’ You don't have guess about it. You don't have to question it. In plain language here in verse 18 it says, "the woman is that great city that reigneth over the kings of the earth."
Question number two. In verse one it says that the woman sat upon many waters. All of the things in this prophecy are symbols that are interpreted for us. Revelation 17:15 tells us what the waters are, "And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Now, let's see if we can reconcile this. First we are told the woman is a city. Then we are told that she sits on peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. How do we pull these two things together? Well, when you look at it right, it is simple. The woman is a city that is the headquarters for an international system that actually presides over peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. So, we see that the woman is a city, but a city that has authority over a vast international system.
Finally, in verse three we see the seven-headed, ten-horned beast that we have studied about before. However, in this passage it says the beast had seven heads as it did before, but in Revelation 17:9, it says, "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth." Many modern translations of the Bible, including the NIV, render this passage, “the seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.” Now what is the woman? It is a city, right? So we can read this, ‘the seven heads symbolize seven hills on which the city sitteth.’ I have been taught all of my life that Rome is the city of seven hills, but when I began to try to understand this passage, I didn't want to teach something irresponsibly. I wanted to make sure I did my homework. So I went to Morrison Reeves Library, ready to dig in for weeks, if necessary, to find out if I could prove that Rome is the city of seven hills. As I entered the library…I will never forget that day because I had spent many long weeks in the library before looking for one thing. So I didn't know how long I was going to be there for, but the most logical place to begin in my mind was the encyclopedia. So I went to the encyclopedia, thinking this would be too easy, but I was pleasantly surprised because when I opened the encyclopedia to Rome, in big bold letters it said, "Rome, the City of Seven Hills." I couldn't believe my eyes. Now, in case you would like to look this up for yourself, I have recently looked this up again and found it in Collier's Encyclopedia; Volume 20, page 168 tells you that Rome is the city of seven hills. I was standing in Rome, I think it was 1993 that we went there with our prophecy tour, and as we were standing at the base of the Roman Coliseum, our Roman Catholic guide proudly said to us, "From here you can see several of the famous seven hills of Rome," and my ears perked up. He said, "There is Palatine Hill, there is Avignon Hill ..." and he went around and he started to name all the hills that surrounded the Roman Coliseum and I thought to myself, if you knew who you were talking to, you wouldn't be saying this to me because I am going to go tell it. These hills are so famous that every single one of them has a name. So, the seven hills of Rome have been famous for a long, long time. Now, let's pause before we go too fast here. Do you understand if we would stop right here, that you are right now thinking about absolutely supernatural material? This prophecy was written before Rome was the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It was written before Roman Catholicism ever became a vast international organization, and yet, Almighty God explicitly stated that there would be an international power from Rome that would rule over multitudes, nations, and kings. You say, now hang on just one minute. Does Rome, in fact, rule over kings of the earth? In 1951, the Roman Catholic Church passed a Cannon Law which stated that the Pope has the right to guide the political thinking of any and all of its members and it has been a long standing doctrine of the church that spiritual should always rule over temporal. I have a biography of one of the Popes, and I read that at the coronation ceremony, when the Pope is crowned, they say, “We now crown you as King of Kings and Ruler of Rulers of the earth.” It is believed that the time will come when Roman Catholicism's influence will grow to the extent that the Pope will actually rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the ‘Vicar of the Son of God.’ That is the inscription on his crown—Vicarius Filii Dei. They fully believe that he should rule the world and that he will, in fact, rule the world when the Kingdom of God is finally ushered in upon the face of this earth.
Now, I know I am going to be very open. I made up my mind as I was preparing this lesson that I was just going to be totally open with you. I hope you love the truth because I don't know what all of your religious backgrounds are, and I certainly wouldn't want to hurt anyone, but I can't be a help to you if I’m not just totally candid with you. I hope that is okay with you because this is not against Roman Catholic people or any other people. This is dealing with a system that Almighty God foresaw 2,000 years ago, and He was concerned enough about it to put two chapters, at least, actually it is more than two, but two chapters are devoted in their entirety to Rome as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. Out of 22 chapters in the book of Revelation, the Roman Catholic Church and its hierarchy are abhorred enough by God that He made a decision to devote two entire chapters out of the 22 chapters of His unveiling to them. He wants everybody to know exactly what this powerful organization upon the face of this earth is and the role that it will play.
There is more. Revelation 17:4 says, "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." First of all, the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet. As I was trying to understand this, on a whim, we toured a Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri. It was supposed to be beautiful and someone said that we should see it. So I stopped by, and while we were going through the church, they had some papers there for sale on a little table, and one of the papers was called, The Criterion. It was 50 cents and I thought, ‘I can afford that.’ So I bought one of them. I was just curious as to what kind of literature they had, and what they had to say. Well, I got a whole lot more than I bargained for. They had an article in there titled, "More Than You Want To Know About Cardinals." This was the July 1, 1988 edition of The Criterion, and there was a statement in the article that blew me away. I saved the entire article, and I still have it. It said, "Cardinals wear red, while non-Cardinal Bishops and Archbishops wear purple." Now Revelation 17:4 says that she would be clothed in purple and scarlet. Scarlet is red; of course, all of you are aware of that. So the scripture says she would be clothed in purple and red. The Cardinals are like the senate of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bishops and Archbishops are like the House of Representatives. There are two ruling bodies of the Roman Catholic Church, and the official color of the Cardinals is red and the official color of the Bishops and Archbishops is purple. Your Bible said 2,000 years ago, that when this power appeared on the earth she would be clothed in red and purple, she would be headquartered in a city on seven hills, and she would also preside over peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. Right now, the Roman Church claims about 985,000,000 to over a billion adherents around the world, and it is found on every continent that people live.
Revelation 17:6 says, "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Why would it say this? Drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus? Well, it has been estimated that there have been 68,000,000 Christians that have been put to death at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. During the Middle Ages, during the time of the Reformation, the Pope actually had standing armies, and he would send his armies into nations to fight against the enemies of the Catholic church. I read with my own eyes an order issued by one of the Popes to put 6,000,000 people to death. He actually ordered the total extermination of the nation of Norway except for fifty-five people specifically named. During those times of the Reformation, in one six-year period 6,000,000 died. Now, to get more specific, Charles Tyndale (you may recognize the name) was the translator of the Tyndale Bible. It was a crime under the Holy Roman Empire when the Roman Catholic Church was in power to translate the Bible. The church held that the Bible was dangerous in the hands of the common man, and so it was a crime punishable by death for you to put the Bible in the common language of the average person. Charles Tyndale however, felt like every person should be able to read the Bible. Now, there were several reasons why this was happening. By keeping the people in ignorance, the professional clergy were able to tell the people whatever they wanted to tell them and it kept the people under servant hood. However, Charles Tyndale translated the Bible into the language of the common man. It so infuriated the Catholic church that they placed him on a church trial, he was found guilty, and burned at the stake! You can go to your library and check out what I am telling you. He was on trial in a church trial, an ecclesiastical trial, and burned at the stake. Now, why would the church be afraid of the Bible? Because by this time, every major doctrine of the Bible had been perverted and changed by Rome. By then their churches were full of statues, which was forbidden by God's Word. By then they were praying to Mary. By then they were baptizing babies. By then they were baptizing by sprinkling. These are all doctrines that are exactly opposite the doctrines that are taught in your Bible and mine. So, as long as the people didn't know this, there were no problems, but they desperately feared the time when the people would discover better. Martin Luther, the famous reformer, was also placed on trial by the Catholic church at the Diet of Worms, Germany. He was there found guilty and condemned to die. However, he escaped into the Protestant controlled portion of Germany and that sentence was never executed. Now remember this was written before any of this transpired. History only proves what Almighty God foresaw and placed in the prophecies of the Bible so you and I can know that, in spite of prevailing opinion, we need to have some insight on how God looks at this. Sometimes we look at things going on amongst different religions and say, “Oh isn't that wonderful.” We see right now a tremendous harmonizing of religions, and the Roman Catholic Church has become the core and the center of all that. If you want to know what God thinks of that, keep studying this lesson. We are going study what God thinks of it in this lesson. He says, “I will show you the judgment of the great whore, that sitteth upon many waters.” I know this is plain language in this lesson, but it is so important that we really teach the truth. Aren't you just hungry for people to quit beating around the bush and just lay it on the line? Wouldn't you just like to hear a preacher/teacher just lose all of his tact and just preach/teach straight from the Word of God?
Now keep all of this in mind. To me, just the proof I have given so far is conclusive proof. There is too much. It is too accurate. Almighty God had the Roman Catholic Church in mind.
The next thing we need to see is that this prophecy also prophesies a marriage between Catholicism and Communism. Now, that may startle some of you because what has happened has been done largely undercover. Most people don't even realize what has been going on in our world. Notice that the woman is sitting on the seven-headed, ten-horned beast that we studied back in Revelations 13--that was the symbol of the New World Order, the one world government of the Antichrist. We talked about the mouth of the lion representing Great Britain, the feet of the bear representing Russia, the body of the leopard representing Germany, the ten-horned kingdom and the seven heads. We talked about all of that in lesson-that is the unified power that will rule the world and is actually moving in to rule the world right now. Let me remind you, in case you are skeptical, that all the powers symbolized in this beast were already serving in a world government force in Bosnia in 1997. People say world government is a long way away. This could not happen. The truth of the matter is, it is already happening and most people are unaware. Now, when you move from Revelation 13 to Revelation 17, the exact same beast is there. However, two things are added. Number one, we are told in Revelation 17 that the beast is a scarlet colored beast, a red beast. Revelation 12:3 again goes of the way to identify the seven-headed, ten-horned beast as red. There has to be a point to the way God is symbolizing this world governmental structure as red. We learned, when we were studying Revelation 6, about the four horses, what the color red is used to symbolize. We studied about the white horse, the red horse, the black horse, and the green horse. The color red is the official color of Communism. You don't have to be a political genius to know that—‘Red China and Red Russia-’ it has been used that way for many years. God is telling us that the end time one-world government is going to be a Communistic government. Now, I know you have been told that Communism is dead and you don't have to worry about that anymore, but I just heard the unsettling news that the average American now works until the middle of July in order to pay his tax bill, which means that over 50% of the average American's income now goes to paying taxes. Now when that is true, when the government is spending half or more of your money for you, you are in a heavily Socialistic state; but they are not going to tell you. As long as you will stay happy and not cause problems, then everything is fine as far as they are concerned. Before you reject that, let’s do a quick poll. For how many of you is the government now taking a lesser percentage out of your check than they were ten years ago? For how many of you, is the government taking more out of your check than they were ten years ago? It has been said between city tax, county tax, state tax, federal tax, excise tax, sales tax, property tax, gasoline tax, and several others that I don't even know about and you probably don’t either, hidden somewhere in the prices that we pay, that right at 50% of the income of the average American goes in taxes to the federal government. Now, that is America, and we are one of the best case scenarios. In Great Britain it is 65%, in Sweden it is 75% and so, whoever told you that Socialism is dead has the wool pulled over their eyes. Most, if not all, European nations have Socialists running the government right now, and this is where the greatest power will be during the final seven years, in the European Union.
Now, if this beast is a world Socialistic government, and if the woman riding the beast is Catholicism, this means that there would be a coalition in the end time between Catholicism and Communism. The fact is, it already has occurred. I want to take you back to 1962 when Pope John XXIII was the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected in October of 1958 at the age of 78. Although he was considered too old, at the time there was no front runner worthy in Rome’s eyes to serve as long-term Pope. With that in mind, Pope John XXIII was elected to serve for a short time. However, despite his age, he still had big dreams and had been waiting all his life to get his hands on the reigns of power in the Roman Catholic Church. He startled the world by calling a Vatican Council, the first one in 400 years, and launched an offensive to bring the departed Protestant churches back under the banner of Roman Catholicism. Furthermore, he surveyed the political scene. Popes have traditionally been very involved in politics, for they feel there are two swords in the hands of the Pope--one sword represents temporal power, and the other represents spiritual power. There were such things as Papal States through the Middle Ages, and the Popes maintained armies for many years to defend the interests of the faith. As Pope John XXIII surveyed the world, he observed that in 1942, 6% of the world’s population lived under Communism. By 1962, the figure had increased to 50%. That is a revolution of outstanding magnitude. He reached the conclusion that Communism would, inevitably, rule the world, and realized he had two choices: either fight it and be consumed in the conflict, or make a coalition or a marriage with Communism. The Pope opted for the latter. In 1962, he appointed a young diplomatic star in the Vatican by the name of Agostino Casaroli to forge a marriage with Communism. He was to start building bridges with Socialism so the Catholic church would be able to coexist with it until the political climate improved. Pope John XXIII died in 1963 and another Pope, Paul VI was elected. He ruled the Catholic church from 1963 until 1978, continuing this policy of cooperation and coexistence with Communism. In 1978, a Jesuit priest and intimate friend of Pope John XXIII, named Malachi Martin, wrote a book called The Final Conclave. A conclave is a meeting that is held by all the prelates of the Roman Catholic Church to elect a Pope. Faced with the coming death of Pope Paul VI to terminal illness, Martin was projecting the possibility of electing one final Pope. In an interview, he said there are powerful forces inside the Roman Catholic Church that believe we must elect a pro-Marxist Pope, Communism’s power is growing rapidly and its ideology is infiltrating non-Communist nations, Socialism is infiltrating the highest halls of America, and therefore, it looks inevitable that we will have a one-world socialistic government. Within a matter of a few months, the news came that the Pope had died. Malachi Martin believed that the next Pope would need to get the church out of politics because it was corrupting the church, and that the next Pope should return the church to its real spiritual mission. He believed a pro-Marxist Pope would form a coalition with Communism that would help the Communists gain power. He feared that the Communists would then turn on the church and destroy it, plunging the world into a new godless Dark Age. Revelation 17:16 said it would happen. It says, “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” That means the ten-horned kingdom, or union of ten nations, will become the most powerful coalition in the end time. They will form a coalition with the woman, the Roman Catholic Church, and allow her to ride their back for a while. After their world government is established, the Bible says they will hate the harlot, they shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Malachi Martin, from the standpoint of an astute political observer, believed what the scripture said would happen.
When Pope John VI died, they elected a man who took the name Pope John Paul I. After reigning for only 33 days, he died during the night. The official story was that he had a heart attack. Within two or three months, books began to appear claiming that he had been assassinated. One book is Pontiff by Gordon Thomas and Max Morganwitz. Another is In God’s Name by David Yallop, and finally, a book called Vitican by Malachi Martin. All three stated unequivocally that the Pope had not had a heart attack, but he had, in fact, been assassinated. The pro-Marxists felt they were so near their goal that they could not tolerate defeat. They took matters into their own hands and assassinated him. Here is some proof offered in these books. The day he died, Pope John Paul I had issued two very important orders. There had been long- rumored corruption in the Vatican Bank which controls billions of dollars per year. These rumors had reached the Italian government. The head of the Vatican Bank was an Archbishop by the name of Paul Marcincus. The Italian government became convinced that Marcincus was corrupt and had been involving the Vatican in illegalities for many years. They actually issued a warrant for his arrest. He avoided arrest by staying within the walls of the Vatican, which is a sovereign state within Rome. Roman police did not have access to him. Pope John Paul I ordered his removal. Also, in Chicago there was a very powerful Roman Catholic prelate called Archbishop Cardinal Cody. In the mid-70’s, articles began to appear in the news that Cardinal Cody had funneled over $1,000,000 to a woman in Florida who was rumored to be his mistress. The day the Pope died, he gave the order to discipline and remove Cody. Neither order was ever carried out. He was killed that day, and with the death of the Pope, another had to be elected. Well known within the church, a Polish Cardinal, Karol Wojtyla, was chosen. He was the youngest Pope in 154 years, the first non-Italian in 450 years, and most significantly, the first Pope ever from a Communist country. Not only had he presided over the Catholic Church in Poland under 40 years of Communism, but the church there had thrived. He obviously knew how to get along with the Communists. It appeared that the pro-Marxists finally got the man they wanted, thus cementing the marriage that John XXIII had foreseen when he appointed Agostino Casaroli to build bridges to Communism.
In 1979, the time came for the Pope to speak before the United Nations. He is the only religious leader allowed to do so. In his speech, he said the time had come for significant wealth redistribution. The number one plank in the platform of Communism for the past 70 years has been wealth redistribution, and that was the core of Pope John Paul II’s speech before the UN. In 1979, John Paul II pulled his closest aids about him in and said he planned to deal with the Soviets not by announcing that the church will bury them, but by showing them how to solve the problem that they themselves will bury them with. He planned to give them a model where religion, morality, and sociocultural life are totally detached independent of political control. That model would be Poland. It would not only be a model for the Soviets, it would also be a model for Europe. By allowing the church to provide family and moral values, it would motivate the workers to work. The Pope told the Communists that if they would cooperate with the church, the church would teach people that when they work hard, they serve their families, God, and the church. The church would make Socialism work. In addition, the new Pope wasted no time elevating Agostino Casaroli to the position of Secretary of State of the Vatican, to be in control of the Vatican’s foreign affairs. On October 12, 1986, an article appeared in the National Catholic Register, an official paper of the Catholic Church. The title of the article was, “Catholics, Marxists Need Dialogue.” It said, according to a top Vatican official, “Catholic, Marxist dialogue could bring two powerful world forces together despite some irreconcilable differences.” Here is one more piece of the puzzle. In 1980, there was a small labor union formed in Poland called Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa, a devout Roman Catholic. At first he was rejected by the old Stalinist rulers of Poland and placed under house arrest. However, Agostino Casaroli convinced Mikhail Gorbachev that a coalition with Catholicism was in favor of the international Communistic ideal. By 1989, they allowed Solidarity to field a full slate of candidates for that year’s elections. With the support of the Catholic Church, they swept the country. The whole world held its breath. Now known as the Velvet Revolution, it culminated with the incredible fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1986, and the birth of the New World Order. On November 30, 1986, USA Today ran a photo of the Pope and Gorbachev meeting together. The article said that both wanted to strike a deal that could hasten the fulfillment of a United Europe. Later in the article, it said, “The church has been a behind-the-scenes advisor to Solidarity from its inception.”
On December 8, 1989, The Indianapolis Star featured an article by Cal Thomas entitled, “Using Religion to Rescue the Soviet Economy.” Thomas wrote, “When the Vicar of the former evil empire met the Vicar of Christ in the Vatican last week, what he said concerning religion would have been ideological heresy to Lenin and all the other Soviet leaders who followed him. Mikhail Gorbachev told Pope John Paul II, ‘We have changed our latitude on some matters such as religion. Now we not only proceed from the assumption that no one should interfere in matters of the individual’s conscience. We also say that moral values that religion generated and embodied for centuries can help in the work in renewal in our country too.’” The article continued by saying, “These remarks are nearly verbatim what Evangelist Billy Graham told several high ranking Soviet officials during his 1987 visit to Moscow. It appears that Gorbachev, whether for pragmatic or other reasons, has become a believer in religion’s capacity for motivating the Soviet people to pull their country out of its economic doldrums.” Within ten years, Gorbachev was undeniably a believer. A cartoon picture of Mr. Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II appeared in US News and World Report on May 18, 1982. The caption said, “Papal Prompter.” Pope John Paul II was promoting Mikhail Gorbachev, whom he considered a crypto-Christian, to head a new institution designed to speed the unity of all of all of Europe. Gorbachev had apparently confided to the Pope that he is a ‘crypto’ or secret Christian having been baptized as a Christian, and therefore, now felt it was in his favor to claim to be a Christian. According to Malachi Martin, the Pope dislikes the existing institutions of European unity, such as The Common Market, because they are dominated by the materialism of the British and the Germans. The Polish-born pontiff feels that only in an international organization that includes eastern, central, and western Europe, can the influence of Slavic spiritually assert itself. Gorbachev, a fellow Slav, and one of his most frequent pen pals, would be the ideal presiding officer. The New York Times, on March 9, 1992, ran an article entitled, “My Partner the Pope,” written by Mikhail Gorbachev. He said, “I have carried on an intensive correspondence with Pope John Paul II since we met at the Vatican in December of 1989, and I think ours will be an ongoing dialogue. The sense of mutual affection and understanding that resulted from our meeting is to be found in each of our letters. I cannot help buy say we share a desire to move forward and complete what we began together.” They have certainly worked together to bring about the Velvet Revolution, to end the Cold War, and to usher in the New World Order.
Religion is God’s means of saving His prize creation, the human race, while false religion is Satan’s master plan for deceiving the human race. In order to deceive mankind, Satan has taken the truth and he has changed and perverted it. God will come down violently and full of wrath against the Roman Catholic Church and false religion throughout the world. One of the most severe condemnations that Jesus Christ spoke in his earthly ministry was against those who do not preach the truth. It is found in John 10:12: “But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.” In Revelation 18:17-19, we read of the total devastation of Rome, more specifically, the Vatican. None of its pomp and splendor, its false spirituality, its incense, candles, and statues are of God. They are false. Notice God’s attitude towards this false religion in Revelation 18:20-21, “Rejoice of her thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” False religion is more deceptive than any drug because people who are looking for the truth are often deceived and sidetracked by false religion. That is the reason God said He would throw it down with violence. Revelation 18:23 talks about sorcery. It says, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” A guide at the Vatican Museum informed our tour group that we were on Vatican Hill, and the word “Vatican” means the hill of the fortune tellers and the soothsayers. Yet, when it became the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, they chose to keep the name. The headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church is called the hill of the fortune tellers and the soothsayers, and why should it not be? This is a church that says a person can pay money to free a loved one from purgatory. That is nothing but sorcery. Revelation 18:24 says, “And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of the saints.” Revelation 17 talked about the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and it is repeated here in Revelation 18:24. As we learned, it has been estimated that 68 million people have been put to death by the Roman Catholic Church for the crime of heresy. Revelation 19:1-2 says, “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the whole earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.”
In conclusion, God’s anger toward Catholicism and other branches of false Christianity is best described with Revelation 19:3, “And again they said Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever.” God gave His life to purchase a church, and out of it, Satan birthed a false church. Jesus Christ built His Church on the truth. He said, “The truth shall make you free.” We must have a love for the truth or we will be deceived. The scripture states in II Thessalonians 2:10, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”
Here is a bit more important information on Mystery Babylon, the Roman Catholic Church. Mike Gendron, a former Catholic, explains one of the greatest abominations of this false religious system. He was a part of it for thirty-five years. Then, he started studying the Bible and was confronted with the truth.
Eat My Flesh and Drink My Blood?
By Mike Gendron
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). Are these words of Jesus from John 6:53 to be taken literally or figuratively? The Roman Catholic Church teaches the context of John chapter six is to be interpreted in a literal sense, and thus believes Jesus is giving absolute and unconditional requirements for eternal life. The Vatican’s literal interpretation forms the foundation for its doctrine of transubstantiation — the miraculous changing of bread and wine into the living Christ, His body and blood, soul and divinity, which wasn’t created until 1,000 A.D. Each Catholic priest is said to have the power to call Jesus down from the right hand of the Father when he lifts the wafer and whispers the words “Hoc corpus meus est.” Catholics believe, as they consume the lifeless wafer, they are actually eating and drinking the living body and blood of Jesus Christ. In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained (Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 1374). The partaking of the Eucharist is essential to their salvation and a doctrine they must believe and accept to become and remain a Catholic. The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenent are necessary for salvation. (Ibid 1129) Prior to consuming the Eucharist, Catholics worship the wafer as if it were Jesus Christ being lifted up. “Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord” (Ibid 1378) “The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The other sacraments are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ Himself.” (Ibid, para. 1324)
If priests indeed have the exclusive power to change finite bread and wine into the body and blood of the infinite Christ, and if indeed, consuming His body and blood is necessary for salvation, then the whole world would have to have become Catholic after 1,000 A.D. to escape the wrath of God and no one was saved before that. On the other hand, if Jesus was speaking in figurative language, then this teaching becomes the most blasphemous and deceptive hoax any religion could impose on its people. There is no middle ground. Therefore, we are left with a question of utmost importance: Was the message Jesus conveyed to the Jewish multitude to be understood as literal or figurative? There are at least seven convincing Biblical reasons why this passage is to be taken figuratively.
Counterfeit Miracle
Nowhere in the Bible do we ever see a miracle performed where the evidence indicated no miracle had taken place. Yet, after the priest performs his supernatural act of transubstantiation, the wafer and wine look, taste, smell and feel the same. It has the appearance of a counterfeit miracle because no noticeable change has occurred. When Jesus changed water into wine, all the elements of water changed into the actual elements of wine. “Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”
Drinking Blood Forbidden
The Law of Moses strictly forbade Jews from drinking blood. A literal interpretation would have Jesus teaching the Jews to disobey the Mosaic Law. This would have been sufficient cause to persecute Jesus. “Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
Biblical Disharmony
When John 6:53 is interpreted literally it is in disharmony with the rest of the Bible. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you,” gives no hope of eternal life to any Christian who has not consumed the literal body and blood of Christ. It opposes hundreds of Scriptures that declare justification and salvation are by grace through faith in Christ. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2)
It Produces A Dilemma
It is stated that the “eating and drinking” in verse 6:54 and the “believing” in verse 6:40 produce the same result - eternal life. If both are literal we have a dilemma. What if a person “believes” but does not “eat or drink”? Or what if a person “eats and drinks” but does not “believe?” This could occur any time a non-believer walked into a Catholic Church and received the Eucharist. Does this person have eternal life because he met one of the requirements but not the other? The only possible way to harmonize the interpretation of these two verses is to accept one as figurative and one as literal.
It Was Figurative in the Old Testament
The Jews were very familiar with “eating and drinking” being used figuratively in the Old Testament to describe the appropriation of divine blessings to one’s innermost being. John 1:1 says very clearly, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus intended for us to feed off of Him through spending time in His Word. It was God’s way of providing spiritual nourishment for the soul (Isaiah 55:1-3; Ezekiel 2:8, 3:1).
“You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.”
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty.”
We see this used yet again in the New Testament. (Revelation 10:8-11)
“Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”
Jesus Confirmed It To Be Figurative
Jesus informed His disciples there were times when He spoke figuratively and He often used that type of language to describe Himself. The Gospel of John records seven figurative declarations Jesus made of Himself: “the bread of life” (6:48), “the light of the world” (8:12), “the door” (10:9), “the good shepherd” (10:11), “the resurrection and the life” (11:25), “the way, the truth and the life” (14:6), and “the true vine” (15:1). He also referred to His body as the temple (2:19).
“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.”
His Words Were Spiritual
Jesus ended this teaching by revealing “the words I have spoken to you are spirit” (6:63). As with each of the seven miracles in John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the miracle to convey a spiritual truth. Here Jesus has just multiplied the loaves and fish and uses an analogy to teach the necessity of spiritual nourishment. This is consistent with His teaching on how we are to worship God. “God is Spirit and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). As we worship Christ He is present spiritually, not physically. In fact, Jesus can only be bodily present at one place at one time. His omnipresence refers only to His spirit. It is impossible for Christ to be bodily present in thousands of Catholic Churches around the world. When Jesus is received spiritually, one time in the heart, there is no need to receive him physically, over and over again in the stomach.
Jesus began the discourse by saying whoever comes to Him and believes in Him will not hunger or thirst. Thus the eating and drinking are symbolic of coming to Him in faith. Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
There is another serious problem for Catholics who insist on a literal interpretation.
They must realize that after they have consumed the physical body of Christ, it then decomposes during the digestive cycle. This goes against God’s promise to never let His Holy Son see decay (Acts 2:27).
Perhaps Matthew 4:4 clarifies this whole misunderstanding in the most blatant way. Jesus said, “People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
In conclusion, it is clear from the Scriptures that the words referring to the eating and drinking of the body and blood of Jesus are to be understood in a spiritual or symbolic sense and not literally. Worshiping a wafer carries the same consequence for Catholics as worshiping a golden calf did for the Israelites.
The Catholic Church is indeed the Harlot that is described in the book of Revelation, and I think of this verse every time I see the priests on television with their big golden cups full of what they think is their savior: Revelation 17:4 says, “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.”
A final Biblical checklist for Mystery Babylon-The Great Whore-The Roman Catholic Church:
1. Rev. 17:18. Does it reside in a great city that reigns over the kings of the earth? YES
2. Rev. 17:9. Does it sit on seven hills? YES
3. Rev. 17:15. Does it preside over multitudes, peoples, nations, and languages? YES
4. Rev. 17:4, 18:16. Is it clothed in purple and red? YES
5. Rev. 17:4. Does it contain a great golden cup full of abominations? YES
6. Rev. 17:16. Has it merged with the political realm, only to be used and hated? YES
7. Rev. 17:6, 18:24. Has it put to death a vast multitude of Christians? YES
8. Rev. 18:23. Does it have sorceries that have deceived many people? YES
9. Rev. 18:3. Have the world’s leaders used it to grow in power and wealth? YES
10. Rev. 17:3, 12:3. Has it merged with the red spirit of Communism? YES
It all fits too perfectly.
Clearly, God despises the Roman Catholic Church, and He will destroy it completely.
It is quite interesting to note what St. Malachy had to say about the end times. Even the Catholic prophet foresaw the great destruction that would come upon Rome. Here are Malachy's final words regarding the last Pope and the last days, which he wrote several hundred years ago: "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people." He is certainly right, at least, about the future destruction of the seven-hilled city.
I hope it’s quite clear that there is no other option for the fulfillment of this prophecy. This is actually what Christians have taught for over a millennium now. No other world system fits into all of these categories. There is simply no other possible explanation. God knew the deception that would come from this false religion, and he wants to give you a huge warning about it in His Word. That’s why He devoted two entire chapters to its judgment, which is to come, inevitably, very soon.
If you are in the Roman Catholic Church, I want you to know that I care about you very deeply. I am not saying anything bad about you at all. What I am saying, in love, is that God is saying in love, “Come out of her my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes” (Revelation 18:4-5). Please come out of her.
Here are two excellent sites for Catholics by former Catholics:
http://www.excatholicsforchrist.com
Here's a site with some more Biblical understanding of Catholicism:
https://mustbebornagain.wordpress.com/roman-catholicism
How can I have eternal life? This is the most important thing you could ever read: Why Must I Be Born Again?
More information regarding the Mark of the Beast and why you must NOT take it: The Mark of the Beast
A detailed explanation of the 7 trumpets of Revelation and why 2 billion people will soon die in a nuclear war: The 7 Trumpets
Revealing of the identity of the four horsemen (first 4 seals) which are affecting you right now: The 7 Seals
Understand how/why the Holy Roman Empire is being revived: The Holy Roman Empire-Revived
The most recent news stories fulfilling prophecies in your Bible: In the NEWS