Chapter 17: 7-18
“But the angel said to me, ‘Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. 12The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.’
15“Then he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. 16And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.’”
Once again, thanks for the emails and the responses to the articles. I have some dear friends who are Catholic, and in that group are some that are very devout. It gives me no pleasure to speak about their religion in such negative terms. There are millions of persons around the world who have lived committed lives to the Catholic church. They have given their time, their finances and indeed their entire families to the Catholic church. Some of them are dismayed by what they see happening to their beloved religion, and many simply did not know the extent of the corruption that was encased in the religious pomp and fair of the church.
Over the past decade, the depth of the sexual scandal with regard to children has risen to the surface; and we can see that, from the Pope down, they have known about the sexual abuse of children and have actively done all they can to cover up the crimes and to subvert justice as well. The Vatican has protected pedophiles by allowing them to live in Vatican City under the diplomatic protection of the church and free from the fear of prosecution.
For those of us that take the doctrinal purity of the Bible seriously, the Catholic church is the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing. She pretends to represent the Kingdom of Heaven but is fully surrendered to the darkness. It does not take one long to find these doctrinal errors, and they may seem like small things, but they are not; and when stacked one on top of the other, their effect is to damn one’s soul to Hell.
The idea that you can baptize a baby and, upon so doing, they are welcomed into the Catholic church and to ‘free’ them from the original sin that they were born with is absurd. Why then would our Lord have to come and suffer so gruesome a death if the simple act of baptism could wash away our sins? This is heresy. This doctrine has fooled millions and, for real, maybe billions of people over the centuries that they are saved and going to Heaven.
The Bible says that unless a man be born-again (John 3:3), he cannot see the kingdom of God. Later, in John 3:16-17, we are told that God sent His Son to die for us and that ‘whosoever’ believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. The thief on the cross in Luke 23:39-43 was never baptized; he simply placed his faith in Jesus, the innocent dying for the guilty; that day the thief entered Paradise.
Then we have the doctrine of “transubstantiation.” This is the belief that the bread and wine become the literal blood and flesh of Jesus. The Lord’s Supper or Communion is designed to be a symbolic commemoration of the Lord’s death until He returns for us. The idea that God would promote cannibalism and that He, contrary to the Bible, would have us drink blood is simply blasphemous.
In Genesis 9:4, we see this command: “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” This seems pretty clear that God does not permit the drinking of blood. But yet, so many simply go along. Sadly, many do not even understand what they are doing. They have been accustomed to this ritual and they are numb to it, not once thinking that this is what pagans do; they drink blood. But God`s people don’t do this as a part of worshipping our King.
Then there is the doctrine of praying to Mary. She cannot help you. She is a woman, a mere human who was the vessel through whom our Savior was born. She was a sinner just like you and I. And, she did not remain a virgin after Jesus’ birth. In Matthew 1:24-25…
“Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.” This clearly states that Joseph did not ‘know her’ to have sexual intercourse until after she had given birth to Jesus. In Matthew 13:55-56 we see these words:
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?”
Mary and Joseph had at least 6 children after Jesus: 4 brothers, and then we are told there were sisters as well. She did not remain a virgin eternally. As well, we are not allowed to have any other gods other that the God of Heaven, Jehovah. This is the very first commandment, and yet here we have a “church” telling people to pray to Mary. Please read Psalm 115; it describes the futility of idols.
In the Catholic church, Mary is called the ‘mother of God’ and the ‘Queen of Heaven.’ She is neither. In one of the writings, we see this: De Liguori in “The Glories of Mary,” page 566, quote: “At the command of Mary all obey, even God.” This is pure blasphemy to suggest that God is subject to Mary. She was just an obedient teenage girl whom God chose as the vessel for His son. She too had to believe on the Son, like you and I, to be saved. On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul 2 was shot, and it was reported that he could be heard crying, “Mary save me.” No cry out to Jesus or God. Thus, we can see here that Mary is his god, not the God of Heaven.
Then I want to draw your attention to the office of the pope. The word pope comes from the Latin, Papa, meaning Father. Then he is also called in Latin: Pontifex Maximus, the ‘greatest priest.’ As the pope, he is also the political head of Vatican City, a wholly independent nation that was formed in agreement with the country of Italy in 1929. So, we have a man called The Father, who is appointed as the Greatest Priest and is the King of Vatican City. Wow, how in God’s face can one man be!
We are told in Matthew 23:9 not to call any man Father, referring to the Heavenly Father. The religious leaders liked to substitute themselves in the place of God and have men petition them instead of God. If men thought you could be a Heavenly Father, then you could change the Bible, both adding and taking from it.
Then, the Pope is called the ‘greatest priest,’ but that role was in the person of Jesus. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus is our Great High Priest in Hebrews 4:14. In Hebrews 5:6-10 Jesus is appointed as our High Priest forever; and in Hebrews 6:13-19 we again find that Jesus is our High Priest forever. In both of these passages, Jesus is referred to as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. We first meet Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20:
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he gave him a tithe of all.”
Notice that Melchizedek is both the High Priest and King of Salem, later to be called Jerusalem. Jesus is the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, because He is from the tribe of Judah and has the right as the oldest living male in the tribe to the King of Israel through the line of David. So, he is not a High Priest like Aaron, as Jesus is not from the tribe of Levi. Jesus is the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek since he is the King of Jerusalem and the High Priest of God.
Do you think it is coincidence that the pope is the king of the Vatican and also wants to be called the ‘greatest priest’? This is idolatry at the highest level; the pope would have you think he is Jesus.
King of the Vatican and the High Priest of God – therein the pope is trying to negate the place of Jesus as the King of Israel and the High Priest of God. By the way, all the way through Hebrews, Jesus is the High Priest forever; no other man can take His place.
What, you may ask, has this to do with the Revelation and in particular the ‘Woman’?
The kingdoms of the earth are temporary kingdoms that have existed in time. Daniel talks about them, and we are reminded of them here Revelation 17:10 – the seven kings, saying five have been, one is and one is to come. We know in Daniel that the final empire is a mixture of iron and clay (Daniel 2:33), so the Roman Empire represented by the iron was still around to be mixed with clay and then destroyed by a stone not made with hands, verse 34. That stone being Jesus, of course.
What we have cocooned in the Vatican are the dregs of the Roman Empire waiting to flourish again, but only for a short time. They are very well-funded; in 2013 The Economist estimated that the Catholic Church in the USA alone had an operating budget of about $170 billion. For comparison, in the fiscal year of 2012, Apple had revenues of $157 billion. This money does not take into account the amount of real estate the Catholic church owns worldwide. They are simply one of the largest multinational corporations in the world masquerading as a church.
Satan knows that people need religion, something or someone to worship, and they are more likely to follow if they think Jesus is involved. So, we have an obviously pagan religion that has mixed in the name of Jesus, added prayers to the saints, Mary and all the Bible trappings, but is wholly evil. This is the same religion that promotes Islam as brothers and claims to worship the same god as Islam. This is NOT the God of the Bible. Allah is not God, so too, neither is the god of Catholicism. The only other being that commands worship is Satan.
Sadly, many billions of people have been blinded by the pomp and flare of the Catholic Church, having confidence that if they followed this church they would go to Heaven. I cannot imagine their dismay on the other side when they found out that Mary did not save them, and they had been lied to from birth. Heartbreaking. Sadly, too many modern churches are led by pastors who do not study the truth. Thus, they cannot see counterfeit doctrine when it is presented.
I was blessed to grow up in a truth-teaching church and now to associate with men, fellow brothers and pastors who take the study of the truth seriously. It is hard to call out the evil in the Catholic church; it may hurt some of my friends, but I would not be a true friend if I did not try to speak the truth to them.
We will explore more about the Woman and the Beast next week. But it was important for us to set the ground work so that we are properly equipped to understand where the scripture is taking us.
It is essential for us to see that the Woman in here, right in front of us, waiting for the Rapture just like us – she has a plan and needs the right circumstance to be in place. The sounding of the Trump will offer that opportunity and shuffle in the Ten-Toed kingdom of the statue seen in Daniel 2.
Are you ready to meet Jesus? He is coming soon.
Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca
We had some technical difficulties last week with our FB Live broadcast of our morning sermon. But, if you do not have a home church, or you are ill or you are not able to attend a church, we Live stream our morning sermons at about 11am on FB at Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church.