Revelation 17:1 ¶ And there came one of the
seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me,
Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters: 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. 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. 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. 6 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.
In the time of the Emperor
Vespasian, in the era of the fall of Jerusalem
and destruction of the temple by his son and general and future emperor
Titus, there are coins still existing that show the goddess Roma as a woman
seated on seven hills. Rome, as an entity, spiritual or temporal, spiritual or
political, has existed from the eighth century BC onward and exists now as the
Roman Catholic Church.
The founding of Rome in the middle
of the eighth century BC led to the Roman Empire, whose western half splintered
into kingdoms in the middle of the fifth century “ruled” by the bishop of Rome
who would become to be called The Pope, still reigning over a spiritual kingdom
today, claiming to do it as the Vicar of Christ, His very presence on earth. For
nearly 2800 years this physical, then spiritual empire, has reigned in power. The
Pope represents the ancient Emperor, the Cardinals the Senate, on down to the
Priests representing the lowest level magistrates of Rome. The ancient pagan
title of chief of priests the pontifex
maximus is the Pope’s title now as Supreme Pontiff. The Catholic Church
adopted, as well, many of the practices of the pagans they attempted to convert
and is a mixture of pagan and Christian influences. Also, it is estimated that,
through history, the Roman Catholic Church has persecuted and murdered millions
of Christians and persons of other religions. Certain Roman Catholic personages
have declared that even Satanism has been practiced in the Vatican.
Interestingly, though, Moscow,
Russia is said to have seven hills and Moscow was titled “The Third Rome” in
history as the legitimate heir to the ancient Roman Empire. But, then Europe
also, beginning with Charlemagne’s empire, believed it was the heir to Rome.
However, there is another
alternative that should be considered. With the French Revolution a
revolutionary faith began to show itself as a political reality. This ideology
put into practice in the late 1700s goes by several names; communism,
socialism, Marxism, globalization, etc. etc.
It is collectivism whereby the
state itself is a divine agent, albeit an atheistic, secular divinity and
mankind’s identity and his or her very existence depends upon the modern
nation-state, a concept unheard of in the ancient world. In globalization it
has spread across the earth with a hybrid of capitalism and socialism enslaving
billions of people. It demands worship or it will crush anyone who refuses to
do so.
It is fundamentally a denial of
God’s sovereignty and a glorification of an elite who uses democracy-by-proxy
to rule. Does it have a headquarters seated on seven hills? Can it be likened
to a harlot? Is it murderous? Well, in the last century it has slaughtered over
a hundred million people, mostly in the countries where it is the ideology of
the ruling elite. It is something to consider.
Scholars note that this
“revolutionary faith”, as they call it, was heavily influenced by occultism in
Germany in the 1700s. The faith was incubated in France during the French
Revolution by intellectuals and journalists who preferred ideology over
religious belief and grew to the monster it has now become over the last two
hundred years.[1]
Many note that it is a form of the ancient Gnosticism, part of which John
condemns in his letters.
In a country like the United
States of America, founded in part on free speech, free speech has become a
token of oppression and strictly limited. Freedom of association and freedom of
religion, two other fundamentals are strictly limited. You cannot earn money to
support yourself without bowing to the dictates of this many headed hydra, this
communism. We must think about it in our look at Revelation.
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