Have you ever noticed that the bible predicts the Antichrist will use one religious group to gain power, and then he will destroy that group? Why would he destroy his “friends”? Who are these people?
This woman “rides” the beast, which implies that she thinks that she can control him, and she is using him to gain power. I think the evidence is that they are using each other to gain power. She is called “the mother of harlots” but where are these daughters in this picture? I think the evidence is that they are allied with her, though perhaps not quite absorbed into her.
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.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 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. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17:3-5, & 15-18
Have you ever wondered just who this group is? Most people focus on the woman in question, and most would state that she is the Roman Catholic church, or Rome. I would have to agree to a point. She certainly has an association with Rome, but I don’t believe the city in question is Rome. The only city named in this passage is actually Babylon, Iraq. I would suggest that ultimately the Church of Rome will have to move its headquarters, but that’s not what this article is about.
Notice in verse 6, John says “ I wondered with great admiration”. Why would John have such wonder over this woman and her daughters? The answer is that she, and they, proclaim themselves to be the Church of Jesus Christ! John saw a woman who looked somewhat like the bride of Christ, and yet she is guilty of the blood of the martyrs of Jesus!
What is a daughter? It may seem a strange question, but the answer identifies the daughters of the Harlot. A daughter is the same kind of entity as her mother. If the mother is a woman, her daughters will be women like their mother. If the mother is a church, then her daughters will also be churches, like their mother. Who are the churches who came out of Rome? These are the protestant denominations, including the Baptists!
While loudly decrying some of the errors of Rome, these Churches have all clung to other of her errors.
This fact explains why the Antichrist and his cohorts will destroy this woman and her daughters, even though they will support him, and persecute the true believers with him. These churches have an allegiance to a Jesus Christ! While they initially support the Antichrist, and work with him to form a world government, they will balk when he declares himself to be the Son of God, and he knows this. They will never accept him as the Son of God. This is why they must be destroyed before he declares himself God in the flesh!
This is exactly the same reason why Jesus hates these harlots. Their allegiance is to another Jesus, and not to the Jesus of the bible! Over the centuries they have created a Jesus in their own image! Slowly, they have added characteristics to Jesus which He never claimed as His, and removed characteristics which He does claim, so that eventually their Jesus became a creation of their own minds! Their Jesus looks a lot like them, and doesn’t have the power to save!
Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. II Corinthians 11:1-4
It’s like this; lets say, for argument’s sake, that I was preaching the gospel of Shiva (I’m not, but please bear with me for a moment). Let’s suppose that I said that Shiva was the only begotten son of God, that he came to earth and lived a perfect life, was crucified for your sins, and was raised the third day.
Any Christian would say that I have ascribed the biblical gospel to a false god, and they would be correct.
Now what difference is there if I preach that same gospel, and say it is about Jesus Christ, but then I add characteristics of Shiva to Jesus, while still calling him “Jesus”? Can that gospel save? I don’t think so. That would be another gospel, even though is has a surface similarity to the biblical gospel.
So, what if someone preaches a Jesus, but adds characteristics of the pagan god Tammuz, to Him? This is the same thing, and this is exactly what the Roman Catholic church has done. December 25 was the ancient celebration of the birth of Tammuz, the son of the “virgin” queen Semiramus, and it was a celebration of conspicuous consumption. This celebration took place in Rome at the time of Christ, and you will not find it in the bible, because Jesus and His disciples did not take part in pagan celebrations!
Jesus is the name above all names, but the name itself is not a magical name! Getting saved is not a magic spell you say in the name of Jesus! It is the person behind the name who does the saving! He has revealed Himself in His word, the Holy bible, and any deviation from that text is adding characteristics to Him that He does not approve of! This is a very dangerous thing, yet most “Christians” do it with impunity. They do it so often that they don’t even know they are doing it!
Take for example the subject of wine. The bible declares that Jesus made wine at a wedding in Cana, in John chapter 2. There is a certain body of “Christians” who will tell you that Jesus did not make wine at this wedding, “because wine is sinful”. They will tell you that the word “oinos” could mean wine, or it could mean grape juice, depending on the context. Then they will tell you that if Jesus made it, the context would dictate that it must be grape juice! This is a lie.
These men ignore the fact that there was a Greek word for grape juice, “trux”, which was available to the bible’s authors, if that was what they meant. They also ignore the fact that the master of the feast thought the beverage was wine. “the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,10And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: butthou hast kept the good wine until now.” John 2:9b-10
These men ignore the fact that Jesus Himself declared that he drank wine;
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children. Luke 7:33-35
Think about what He is saying here. He is contrasting himself with John the Baptist (Baptizer). What John did not do, Jesus did, and it did not matter to the Pharisees; they condemned both! These men, who deny the plain teaching of the word of God, have made themselves enemies of this same Jesus, even while pretending to be His ministers!
What are they actually saying? Aren’t they saying that God was unable to say what He really meant, and that it is up to them to correct Him? Aren’t they asking us to deny the plain teaching of the Word of God, and put their interpretation ahead of that of the Holy Spirit! Aren’t they actually lifting themselves above God? Some of these men will go to great lengths to show us that we should believe the plain-sense, literal teaching of the bible, and then they go and contradict themselves on this subject!
I’m afraid these men would not recognize the real Jesus if He were in a room with them! They have created a false Jesus for the sake of the “good cause” of preventing men from drinking alcohol! Jesus never commanded them to do this, they took it upon themselves! In other words; Who determines right and wrong for these people? Is it God, or is it themselves? By going above and beyond the Scriptures they have put themselves in God’s place! Scripture actually forbids men from doing this, yet these men have no fear of God!
This is a technique the protestant, and Baptist, churches learned from Rome. It is one thing they clung to, when they left their mother! They employ the same kind of Scripture twisting methods whenever the plain teaching of the Word of God conflicts with their traditions! The same kind of rationale is used on a number of subjects such as Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter celebrations, and in a wide range of subjects. By doing this they have created a Jesus in their own image!
The Word of God is sandwiched between two commands not to tamper with God’s Word in any way;
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, andfrom the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19
I know that many professing Christians would protest “But that’s not us”! But it is! I was raised in such a church, and it has taken some 50 years to realize that their Jesus is significantly different than the Jesus depicted in the Scriptures! This is the “falling away” that Paul wrote of in II Thessalonians 2:3. It didn’t happen over night, but has taken centuries to blossom into full-blown apostasy.
This is why the Lord puts it into the hearts of the Antichrist, and the ten kings of Revelation 17, to destroy the Harlot and her daughters. This, amazingly, is the one thing the Lord Jesus and the Antichrist have in common…a burning hatred of the Harlot. The Antichrist hates her because he knows she has an allegiance to a Jesus, albeit a false Jesus, and Jesus hates her because her allegiance is to another Jesus!
So how will the Antichrist enlist the support of this Harlot? He will talk about “Christ” and will espouse a form of morality commonly practised by “Christians”. Christians will jump on these as signs that he is a Christian, and will climb on his bandwagon without carefully investigating what he is really about. Many German, and some western, Christians followed the same pattern with Hitler!
The Beast will be from a Muslim nation and this change in an Arab leader will lead professing Christians to welcome him as a “Man of God”.
True believers will stand firm against this man, and they will be persecuted by the Harlot because they are fighting against “God’s man for the world”! The Antichrist will not reveal his true intentions, until after the Harlot and her daughters have been destroyed! By then it will be too late!
Dan
Think what I am saying is wrong? Check out Judah’s Lion’s analysis on the state of the modern Church.
housetops 
Reblogged this on servehiminthewaiting.
Baptists are not Protestants they never came out of the roman catholic institution.
My Mother used to tell me that, but then I discovered that modern Baptists, along with Menonites, trace their roots to Menno Simons, a former Cathololic priest.
Years ago I was reading a history of Baptist churches by David Cloud, and he stated that the reformation was largely Baptist. I’m sorry I can’t remember which article he said that in, but I did see it on his website.
Whether the movement itself did or not is really immaterial, most of the Baptists during the reformation came out of the Catholic Church. The training they received as Catholics had an effect on their interpretation of the bible. While they did champion Salvation by grace through faith, there were other elements of error that they clung to.
It is my contention that the Catholic errors which were incorporated into the Baptist understanding of Scripture, constitute a seed of apostasy. While many true believers were among them, this seed sprouted, and over time grew into full blown apostasy. It could be argued that it has not quite grown into full blown apostasy, but it is close.
The Catholic church changed the Sabbath to Sunday worship, which they plainly state in their catechism, and which day do most Baptists meet on? Their reasoning is exactly the same as Catholics.
Baptists claim, correctly, that the OT laws repeated in the New Testament were meant to be kept by the church, and yet they ignore several statements in the New Testament, which directly relate to the Sabbath. Jesus stated that He is Lord of the Sabbath, so which day do Baptists set aside for worship? Does this honour Him?
Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Mark 2:28
Which day did He rest in the grave? Was it not the Sabbath?
“4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Hebrews 4:4-9
No, the “Christian” practise of Sunday worship is not found in the bible. The “Lords day” was always the Sabbath. It is not wrong to worship the Lord any day of the week, but to change the command of the Lord indicates a certain arrogance. Baptists didn’t make the change themselves, but their acceptance of the Catholic right to do it, would indeed indicate that they are daughters of Rome, their protests notwithstanding!
Dan
Dan,
Your use of a strawman has no validity. The reformation was started by Luther in which he separated himself from the error of Rome. There have always been a born again Bible believing people that can be traced to the time of Christ, also there are today that practice the doctrines of the scripture. Baptists believe by faith that the Word of God is the final authority of all matters of faith and practice and for that very reason have been persecuted through the ages, also the argument that the Baptist worship on Sunday is adopting catholisim is ridiculous, Read the Scriptures in context Hebrews is speaking of Salvation not following the law. The disciples met on the first day of the week . Kip
Kip,
You are correct that there have always been born-again bible believing people. There are even some in Baptist churches, Lutheran churches and Presbyterian churches. After the remnant is raptured the churches will be full of religionists.
The denomination today that did not come out of Rome is the Waldenses. Nevertheless, they too have become somewhat ecumenical. If a denomination adopts any doctrines of Rome they become daughters of Rome, regardless of their origins.
While there were Baptists who truly were born-again, the majority is not. I don’t think the majority of any denomination has ever been born-again. Our modern churches are fulfillment of Jesus parable of the mustard seed. Most churches are full of “birds”, who come in to take shelter, but are not born again. (Matthew 13:32)
You said “Baptists believe by faith that the Word of God is the final authority of all matters of faith and practice”. Having first-hand experience with fellowship Baptists, as well as independent Baptists, I have observed that Baptists often cherry pick, or twist Scripture when their traditions contradict the Word of God. They say that the Word of God is the final authority, but in practice the pastor is the final authority in many Baptist churches.
Luther did separate himself from SOME of the errors of Rome. He hung on to other errors, like infant Baptism, and a form of transubstantiation.
As for the statement that the early church met on the first day of the week you have to realize that they were Jews. The Jewish day begins at sunset, not at midnight. Thus when the early church met in the evening of the first day of the week it was actually Saturday evening! They likely had services on Saturday afternoon, and stayed there into the evening. This is why Genesis 1 has evening before the morning.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5
In the bible the evening comes before the morning. They didn’t count time as we do today. Jews, including many Messianic Jews, often have their first Sabbath service on Friday evening, just after sundown. So the evening service on the “first day” of the week actually occurred on Saturday evening:
Acts 20:7
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
The “morrow” that Paul was departing on was actually Sunday morning.
Your error is assuming that they counted time as you and I do today.
I do believe that there was a spiritual awakening at the time of the reformation. I think there were many saved at that time, but their practice of adhering to “minor” doctrines of Rome ultimately is leading their descendants into apostasy. Their acceptance of these doctrines did not lead them to improve doctrine, but started a slippery slope downhill.
Thanks for writing,
Dan
Kip,
One thing I need to add is the context of Hebrews 4. The author is talking about the millennial reign of Christ. He is using the seven day week as an analogy, with the seventh day, the day of rest, the Sabbath, as an analogy for the millennium.
In other words, the Lord has planned a seven day week for fleshly humanity. The days of this week are the “day as a thousand years”, spoken of in Psalm 90, and 2 Peter 3:8. You can also find these days in Hosea 6:1 & 2.
The “Christian” practice of Sunday worship destroys this holy week, just as surely as the practise of sprinkling destroys the picture of death, burial, and resurrection we find in baptism by immersion. The seventh day as spoken of in Hebrews 4 is the seventh day of earth’s history, not some numberless day way off in the future.
It was Jesus who gave us the Sabbath as a day of rest in the Garden of Eden.
Of my 51 years I have spent some 45 in Baptist churches. I know what they say.
I was surprised when the church where I was a member, Emmanuel Baptist of Barrie, Ontario, called a Presbyterian pastor to our pulpit, one Arnold McNeil, sometime around 1990. It seems that pastors flip around between denominations all the time. I have also seen members change denominations even more often. Most don’t see any difference between churches, and truly there isn’t much. It doesn’t prove it, but it certainly is evidence that Baptists are indeed daughters of the harlot, just like the other protestants.
Dan
Dan, I attended the Southern Baptist church from birth to my early twenties, and never got saved! My parents were nominal Christians IMO – Dad was a deacon tho, but my Mother seemed to be more passionate about her faith in Christ. NO ONE EVER ASKED ME IF I DIED IF I WOULD GO TO HEAVEN – NO ONE! I walked the aisles in revivals, many times, and rededicated my life, but still no one ever asked me any pertinent questions about my salvation, or the lack of it! I had been baptized at age seven, because there was a Sunday School lesson about “no man has ever seen God and lived” – scared the heck out of me, so when I went crying to my Mom, that I thought I was going to die because I asked God if I could see Him, she had me baptized shortly after – I was just a wet unsaved seven year old child when I came up out of that baptismal pool!
At age twenty-three, I was attending an Independent Baptist church, and wanting so desperately to live for the Lord, so I got baptized again, and still no one dealt with me on a personal level. I heard the Gospel, I think, but it didn’t register in my understanding – I don’t know any other way to describe it. There was a lot going on in that church, and many families stumbled because of it…
I got saved one afternoon after putting my two toddlers down for a nap. I was always in fear of one of them dying, because my Mother had died suddenly when I was sixteen, and I was traumatized for many years after her death, thus my fears of losing a child. I was standing over my youngest gazing down at him on the verge of tears at the thought of ever losing him when I clearly heard in my spirit, that’s the only way I can describe it, the voice of the Lord, and He said ” if this child died, you would never see him again because you have never known Me” – I was in like shock! I just kept crying out I’m lost!? I’m lost!? I literally felt like scales were ripped off my eyes – literally! I ran to my bedroom, and was on my knees, and then almost on my face, and I remember asking Him to please come into my heart and save me, and He surely did! I’m crying right now just retelling this, and it always makes me cry to give my testimony. When I finally got off my knees, it was like I was in a cloud or something – I had just been born again! I walked into my kitchen, and saw my neighbor sitting in her big swing across the street, and I was led out the door across the street, and my neighbor came running to her fence, and asked me if I was okay, and I looked at her, and said “Shirley, I just got saved!” I don’t think I said much more – don’t remember, but just turned around and went back across the street, babies still asleep all that time lol! All those years! All the confusion in my heart, was because i didn’t know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Much more to say, but it would be a book lol!
Lastly, my sister and I were persecuted in a New Orleans, public school when a teacher said, we as Baptists, came out of the Catholic church – she whacked our hands if we denied it! My Mother stood her ground that Baptists didn’t come out of the Catholic church, and finally, the school administration and the teacher backed off; however, my Mother never dealt with me personally about my relationship with Christ or my sisters either – perhaps, she wrongly believed that was the churches’ responsibility and not hers…my two sisters are still lost…
More thoughts, Dan, where we live, there is a Masonic Lodge next door to all the older Baptist churches, and also the Methodist churches – I don’t know about any of the other denominations, because I haven’t checked on them. I know personally, that the majority of the Sheriff’s Dept. higher ups, are Baptist, and are Masons too, so I highly suspect they aren’t the only police agencies like this one…my husband never made rank because he turned down the invitation by a higher up, to join the Masons…
When Billy Graham, came to our city many years ago, I thought it was wonderful that the Catholic churches didn’t oppose him, and years later I found out why! If a person came forward at the invitation, and they were Catholic, they were referred back to the Catholic church in their community. If they received Christ during the message, and were saved on the spot, then they were saved, but when they went forward, no one counselled with them , but referred them back to the CC that they attended…
Hi Sheryl,
Thanks for your testimony.
Mine is a little different; We attended a Fellowship Baptist church and the gospel was preached frequently when I was young. I frequently heard how people felt so clean, and like a “brand new person” when they accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
I prayed the “sinners prayer” several times as a child, but I never felt as it had been described to me, so I thought I must have said it wrong. I was depending on my own subjective experiences, and my focus was on myself.
Later on, after the break-up of my first marriage, I fell on my knees and confessed my sin, and Christ as my Saviour. I still didn’t feel different, but I have learned that salvation is by FAITH and not by sight. I received Christ by faith, and laid my sins on Him, by faith.
I no longer need to feel my salvation, but am learning to lean on Him by faith.
In the years since I have found that He wants to have a relationship with me, and I am learning to listen to Him through His word! I have been amazed at the way He speaks to me through His Word, the bible. Whenever I find myself listening to the “scholars” the next thing I know is He corrects me, and points me back to the Word!
My mother used to say that Baptists didn’t come out of Rome. I find I can no longer agree with her on this. Maybe Baptists don’t trace their lineage through Rome, but there is a certain extent to which they have adopted some of Rome’s theology and methodology.
The biblical system of Church governance is one of a plurality of elders, of whom the pastor is one. An equal among equals, or a brother among brothers. The Baptist system of having one “Elder” who is the ultimate authority, and only teacher, is not found in the pages of the bible, but actually traces its roots to the Catholic system of one man in charge of the local church. This is why Baptist churches are truly daughters of the Harlot, deny it though they will.
There are a number of other areas and doctrines that Baptists practice that have their origin in Rome. This is not to say that there aren’t a few saved individuals in Baptist churches. I think there might even be some true believers in Catholic churches as well. This is why Revelation 18 tells them;
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4
You are right that Baptists and Catholics, and just about all the other denominations, have been infiltrated by Masons. Their goal is to create the New World Order of the Antichrist, and they will have the help of these churches when the time comes!
Billy Graham was preaching the gospel on the one hand, and working against it on the other.
Thanks again, Your thoughts are appreciated,
Dan
Over and over again I read “I got saved”. You have no say so in your salvation. Jesus said so much because you would be able to boast if you did. He saved us without one action on our part. I’m curious as to why you are still in Babylon (going to a church that openly denies the word of God) when clearly you should have come out. You cannot grow in that church because of your own heart seeking God’s truth has blossomed in you. Have you not considered the Antichrist is in all of us.”Low there are many Antichrist already here”? We all proclaim king of our own hearts and sit on God’s throne. The bible does say God dwells not in temples made by our hands and is in us. You have have quite a bit of great knowledge and enjoyed reading your site. Thank You
Hi Kevin,
I believe it is acceptable to say “He saved me.” Because He did!
Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
II Timothy 1:9
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
While there are many antichrists, there is one Antichrist. There is one final man of sin, who is man’s best attempt at a Messiah.
Our flesh works against the spirit, and we are called to put the flesh down, and to make it yield to the spirit.
Still, I think there are a smattering of believers among the Churches. I think God wants a few there so they will be missed on the day of the Rapture.
Nevertheless, I have indeed come out of organized religion. I have home bible studies with my wife and sons, but we don’t attend any Church at this point. I would like to start one, if I could find some believers to fellowship with.
Dan