Satan (Part 25) - The Epic War: The Catholic Church and Her Protestant Daughters

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10. Satan sets up counterfeit churches to fill the world with false doctrine. A. Jesus Christ built His church at His first coming (Mat 16:18) which is the church of God (Act 20:28). i. Satan wants to be like the most High (Isa 14:14). a. God's Jews met in synagogues (Mar 1:21). b. Satan's Jews (Joh 8:44) also meet in synagogues (Rev 2:9; Rev 3:9). ii. Since God has a church, then Satan needed a church too. B. The Roman Catholic Church i. The religion of the Roman Empire had been paganism until the 4th century AD. ii. Christianity had been spreading through the empire since Christ ascended into heaven. iii. The Roman Emperor Constantine allegedly converted to Christianity in 312 AD. a. The Roman Catholic Church was founded by Constantine in 325AD at the Council of Nicea. b. He called all the bishops of churches throughout the empire to an ecumenical council to create a consensus in doctrine among the churches. c. The majority of the bishops did not attend the council. d. "Constantine had invited all 1,800 bishops of the Christian church within the Roman Empire (about 1,000 in the east and 800 in the west), but a smaller and unknown number attended. Eusebius of Caesarea counted more than 250, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, and Eustathius of Antioch estimated "about 270" (all three were present at the council). Later, Socrates Scholasticus recorded more than 300, and Evagrius, Hilary of Poitiers, Jerome, Dionysius Exiguus, and Rufinus recorded 318. This number 318 is preserved in the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria." (First Council of Nicaea, Wikipedia, 4-10-18) e. This was the beginning of Roman Catholic Church which was under the control of the emperor of Rome, Satan's sixth world empire. iv. The Roman Catholic Church is described in detail in Rev 17. a. She is a great whore that sits upon many waters (Rev 17:1) (i) The "many waters" are "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (Rev 17:15). (ii) This is true of the Roman Catholic Church; she is in nearly every country in the world. b. The kings of the earth fornicate with her (Rev 17:2). (i) Throughout history, political leaders have been in bed with the RCC. (ii) At times, kings controlled her, and at other times she controlled them. (iii) Even to this day the Vatican and the Pope are highly respected by the rulers of the world. c. She rides upon the beast (Rev 17:3). (i) The RCC rose to power on the back of the beast, the Roman Empire. (ii) This is why she was protected and was able to come to power. d. She is full of names of blasphemy (Rev 17:3). (i) The pope is called "Holy Father" which is God's name (Joh 17:11). (ii) Mary is called the "Mother of God", which is blasphemous paganism. e. She is beautifully arrayed and decked with gold and precious stones (Rev 17:4). (i) The buildings of RCC decorated ornately and colorfully. (ii) The Vatican is estimated to be worth between $10-15 billion. f. Her name is MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Rev 17:5). (i) Satan reincarnated the Babylonian mystery religion in the Roman Catholic Church and simply changed the names. (ii) The following are examples of how the RCC is reincarnated Babylonianism. (iii) The ancient pagan statues of the mother and son became Mary and Jesus. 1. "Mother and child worship was the basis of the ancient religions. In the various religions of the world, the same system of worship was perpetuated under different names. In Egypt, the mother and child were worshiped as Isis and Osiris or Horus, in India as Isi and Iswara, in China and Japan as the mother goddess Shing-moo with child, in Greece as Ceres or Irene and Plutus, in Rome as Fortuna and Jupitor-puer, or Venus and Adurnis, and in Scandinavia as Frigga and Balder. The mother and child were worshiped in Babylon as Ishtar and Tammuz, and in Phoenicia, as Ashtoreth and Baal. Moreover, the child was worshiped as both husband and son of the mother goddess." (Professor Walter J. Veith, PhD, Paganism and Catholicism: The Mother-Son Sun Worship System, 5-27-2009) 2. "The Babylonians, in their popular religion, supremely worshipped a Goddess Mother and a Son, who was represented in pictures and in images as an infant or child in his mother's arms (Figs. 5 and 6). From Babylon, this worship of the Mother and the Child spread to the ends of the earth. In Egypt, the Mother and the Child were worshipped under the names of Isis and Osiris. In India, even to this day, as Isi and Iswara; in Asia, as Cybele and Deoius; in Pagan Rome, as Fortuna and Jupiter-puer, or Jupiter, the boy; in Greece, as Ceres, the Great Mother, with the babe at her breast, or as Irene, the goddess of Peace, with the boy Plutus in her arms; and even in Thibet, in China, and Japan, the Jesuit missionaries were astonished to find the counterpart of Madonna and her child as devoutly worshipped as in Papal Rome itself; Shing Moo, the Holy Mother in China, being represented with a child in her arms, and a glory around her, exactly as if a Roman Catholic artist had been employed to set her up." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 20-21) (iv) Mary worship 1. Mary worship replaced the pagan mother goddess worship of the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. 2. "Queen of Heaven was a title given to a number of ancient sky goddesses worshipped throughout the ancient Mediterranean and Near East during ancient times. Goddesses known to have been referred to by the title include Inanna, Anat, Isis, Astarte, and possibly Asherah (by the prophet Jeremiah). In Greco-Roman times Hera, and her Roman aspect Juno bore this title. Forms and content of worship varied. In modern times, the title "Queen of Heaven" is still used by contemporary pagans to refer to the Great Goddess, while Catholics, Orthodox, and some Anglican Christians now apply the ancient title to Mary, the mother of Jesus." (Queen of heaven (antiquity), Wikipedia, 1-14-2019) 3. "This Babylonian queen was not merely in character coincident with the Aphrodite of Greece and the Venus of Rome, but was in point of fact, the historical original of that goddess that by the ancient world was regarded as the very embodiment of everything attractive in female form, and the perfection of female beauty; for Sanchuniathon assures us that Aphrodite or Venus was identical with Astarte, and Astarte being interpreted, is none other than "The woman that made towers or encompassing walls" - i.e., Semiramis. The Roman Venus, as is well known, was the Cyprian Venus, and the Venus of Cyprus is historically proved to have been derived from Babylon." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 74-75) 4. "The mother, in point of fact, became the favourite object of worship. To justify this worship, the mother was raised to divinity as well as her son, and she was looked upon as destined to complete that bruising of the serpent's head, which it was easy, if such a thing was needed, to find abundant and plausible reasons for alleging that Ninus or Nimrod, the great Son, in his mortal life had only begun." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 75) 5. "The primeval promise that the "seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head," naturally suggested the idea of a miraculous birth. Priestcraft and human presumption set themselves wickedly to anticipate the fulfilment (sic) of that promise; and the Babylonian queen seems to have been the first to whom that honour was given. The highest titles were accordingly bestowed upon her. She was called the "queen of heaven." (Jeremiah xliv. 17, 18, 19, 25.) In Egypt she was styled Athor - i.e., "the Habitation of God," to signify that in her dwelt all the "fulness of the Godhead." To point out the great goddess-mother, in a Pantheistic sense, as at once the Infinite and Almighty one, and the Virgin mother, this inscription was engraven upon one of her temples in Egypt: "I am all that has been, or that is, or that shall be. No mortal has removed my veil. The fruit which I have brought forth is the Sun."" (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 77) 6. "Instead, therefore, of the Babylonian goddess being cast out, in too many cases her name only was changed. She was called the Virgin Mary, and, with her child, was worshipped with the same idolatrous feeling by professing Christians, as formerly by open and avowed Pagans." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 82) 7. "This, however, is just the exact reproduction of the doctrine of ancient Babylon in regard to the great goddess mother. The Madonna of Rome, then, is just the Madonna of Babylon. The "Queen of Heaven" in the one system is the same as the "Queen of Heaven" in the other. The goddess worshipped in Babylon and Egypt as the Tabernacle or Habitation of God, is identical with her who, under the name Mary, is called by Rome "the House consecrated to God," "the awful Dwelling-place," "the Mansion of God," the "Tabernacle of the Holy Ghost," the "Temple of the Trinity."" (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 83) 8. God hates pagan Mary/Queen of Heaven worship (Jer 7:18; Jer 44:19). 9. Mary is not a goddess to be worshipped (Mat 12:46-50; Luk 11:27-28). (v) The Sovereign Pontiff (the Pope) 1. "If there be any who imagine that there is some occult and mysterious virtue in an apostolic succession that comes through the Papacy, let them seriously consider the real character of the Pope's own orders, and of those of his bishops and clergy. From the Pope downwards, all can be shown to be now radically Babylonian. The College of Cardinals, with the Pope at its head, is just the counterpart of the Pagan College of Pontiffs, with its "Pontifex Maximus," or "Sovereign Pontiff," which had existed in Rome from the earliest times, and which is known to have been framed on the model of the grand original Council of Pontiffs at Babylon." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 206) 2. "The Papal mitre is entirely different from the mitre of Aaron and the Jewish high priests. That mitre was a turban. The two-horned mitre, which the Pope wears, when he sits on the high altar at Rome and receives the adoration of the Cardinals, is the very mitre worn by Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines and Babylonians." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 215) 3. Jesus Christ is the only head of the church, not the imposter pope (Eph 5:23). (vi) The priesthood 1. "When the Pope ordains his clergy, he takes them bound to prohibit, except in special circumstances, the reading of the Word of God "in the vulgar tongue," that is, in a language which the people can understand. He gives them, indeed, a commission; and what is it? It is couched in these astounding words: "Receive the power of sacrificing for the living and the dead." What blasphemy could be worse than this? What more derogatory to the one sacrifice of Christ, whereby "He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified"? (Heb. x. 14). This is the real distinguishing function of the popish priesthood." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 219) 2. "Now, while Semiramis, the real original of the Chaldean Queen of Heaven, to whom the "unbloody sacrifice" of the mass was first offered, was in her own person, as we have already seen, the very paragon of impurity, she at the same time affected the greatest favour for that kind of sanctity which looks down with contempt on God's holy ordinance of marriage. The Mysteries over which she presided were scenes of the rankest pollution; and yet the higher orders of the priesthood were bound to a life of celibacy, as a life of peculiar and pre-eminent holiness. Strange though it may seem, yet the voice of antiquity assigns to that abandoned queen the invention of clerical celibacy, and that in the most stringent form. In some countries, as in Egypt, human nature asserted its rights, and though the general system of Babylon was retained, the yoke of celibacy was abolished, and the priesthood were permitted to marry. But every scholar knows that when the worship of Cybele, the Babylonian goddess, was introduced into Pagan Rome, it was introduced in its primitive form, with its celibate clergy. When the Pope appropriated to himself so much that was peculiar to the worship of that goddess, from the very same source, also, he introduced into the priesthood under his authority the binding obligation of celibacy. The introduction of such a principle into the Christian Church had been distinctly predicted as one grand mark of the apostacy (sic), when men should "depart from the faith, and speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron, should forbid to marry." The effects of its introduction were most disastrous. The records of all nations where priestly celibacy has been introduced have proved that, instead of ministering to the purity of those condemned to it, it has only plunged them in the deepest pollution." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 219-220) 3. There is no special class of priests in the NT church; all church members are priests (1Pe 2:9). 4. It is wicked to forbid men to marry (1Ti 4:1-3). (vii) The Mass 1. The "unbloody sacrifice" of the mass did not originate in the Roman Catholic Church. 2. "The sacrifice which the papal priesthood are empowered to offer, as a "true propitiatory sacrifice" for the sins of the living and the dead, is just the "unbloody sacrifice" of the mass, which was offered up in Babylon long before it was ever heard of in Rome." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 219) 3. Christ instituted communion which is a remembrance of His sacrifice, not the sacrifice itself (Luk 22:19). 4. Christ was only offered once for sins (Heb 10:10-14). (viii) The Rosary 1. The rosary was another pagan custom adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. 2. "Everyone knows how thoroughly Romanist is the use of the rosary; and how the devotees of Rome mechanically tell their prayers upon the beads. The rosary, however, is no invention of the Papacy. It is of the highest antiquity, and almost universally found among Pagan nations. The rosary was used as a sacred instrument among the ancient Mexicans. It is commonly employed among the Brahmins in Hindustan; and in the Hindoo sacred books reference is made to it again and again." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 187) 3. "In Thibet it (the rosary) has been used from time immemorial, and among all the millions in the East that adhere to the Buddhist faith." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 188) 4. "In Asiatic Greece the rosary was commonly used, as may be seen from the image of the Ephesian Diana. In Pagan Rome the same appears to have been the case. The necklaces which the Roman ladies wore were not merely ornamental bands about the neck, but hung down the breast, just as the modern rosaries do; and the name by which they were called indicates the use to which they were applied. "Monilé," the ordinary word for a necklace, can have no other meaning than that of a "Remembrancer." Now, whatever might be the pretence, in the first instance, for the introduction of such "Rosaries" or "Remembrancers," the very idea of such a thing is thoroughly Pagan." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 188) 5. ""Rosary" itself seems to be from the Chaldee "Ro," "thought," and "Sareh," "director." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 188) 6. Praying vain repetitions is pagan (Mat 6:7). (ix) Purgatory and prayers for the dead 1. Purgatory, like nearly every other belief and practice of the Roman Catholic Church, does not come from the Bible, but from Babylonian paganism. 2. "In every system, therefore, except that of the Bible, the doctrine of a purgatory after death, and prayers for the dead, has always been found to occupy a place. Go wherever we may, in ancient or modern times, we shall find that Paganism leaves hope after death for sinners, who, at the time of their departure, were consciously unfit for the abodes of the blest. For this purpose a middle state has been feigned, in which, by means of purgatorial pains, guilt unremoved in time may in a future world be purged away, and the soul be made meet for final beatitude. In Greece the doctrine of a purgatory was inculcated by the very chief of the philosophers. Thus Plato, speaking of the future judgment of the dead, holds out the hope of final deliverance for all, but maintains that, of "those who are judged," "some" must first "proceed to a subterranean place of judgment, where they shall sustain the punishment they have deserved;" while others, in consequence of a favourable judgment, being elevated at once into a certain celestial place, "shall pass their time in a manner becoming the life they have lived in a human shape." In Pagan Rome, purgatory was equally held up before the minds of men; but there, there seems to have been no hope held out to any of exemption from its pains." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 167) 3. "In Egypt, substantially the same doctrine of purgatory was inculcated. But when once this doctrine of purgatory was admitted into the popular mind, then the door was opened for all manner of priestly extortions. Prayers for the dead ever go hand in hand with purgatory; but no prayers can be completely efficacious without the interposition of the priests; and no priestly functions can be rendered unless there be special pay for them. Therefore, in every land we find the Pagan priesthood "devouring widows' houses," and making merchandise of the tender feelings of sorrowing relatives, sensitively alive to the immortal happiness of the beloved dead. From all quarters there is one universal testimony as to the burdensome character and the expense of these posthumous devotions." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 168) 4. "In Egypt the exactions of the priests for funeral dues and masses for the dead were far from being trifling. "The priests," says Wilkinson, "induced the people to expend large sums on the celebration of funeral rites; and many who had barely sufficient to obtain the necessities of life were anxious to save something for the expenses at their death. For, beside the embalming process, which sometimes cost a talent of silver, or about £250 English money (in 1853), the tomb itself was purchased at an immense expense; and numerous demands were made upon the estate of the deceased, for the celebration of prayer and other services for the soul." "The ceremonies," we find him elsewhere saying, "consisted of a sacrifice similar to those offered in the temples, vowed for the deceased to one or more gods (as Osiris, Anubis, and others connected with Amenti); incense and libation were also presented; and a prayer was sometimes read, the relations and friends being present as mourners. They even joined their prayers to those of the priest. The priest who officiated at the burial service was selected from the grade of Pontiffs, who wore the leopard skin; but various other rites were performed by one of the minor priests to the mummies, previous to their being lowered into the pit of the tomb after that ceremony. Indeed, they continued to be administered at intervals, as long as the family paid for their performance." Such was the operation of the doctrine of purgatory and prayers for the dead among avowed and acknowledged Pagans; and in what essential respect does it differ from the operation of the same doctrine in Papal Rome? There are the same extortions in the one as there were in the other. The doctrine of purgatory is purely Pagan, and cannot for a moment stand in the light of Scripture." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 168-169) 5. The wicked go straight to hell when they die where they will spend all eternity, and prayers will do them no good (Luk 16:22-23; Mat 25:46). (x) The sign of the cross 1. "The mystic Tau, as the symbol of the great divinity, was called "the sign of life;" it was used as an amulet over the heart; it was marked on the official garments of the priests, as on the official garments of the priests of Rome; it was borne by kings in their hand, as a token of their dignity or divinely-conferred authority. The Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome wore it suspended from their necklaces, as the nuns do now. The Egyptians did the same, and many of the barbarous nations with whom they had intercourse, as the Egyptian monuments bear witness. In reference to the adorning of some of these tribes, Wilkinson thus writes: "The girdle was sometimes highly ornamented; men as well as women wore earrings; and they frequently had a small cross suspended to a necklace, or to the collar of their dress. The adoption of this last was not peculiar to them; it was also appended to, or figured upon, the robes of the Rot-n-no; and traces of it may be seen in the fancy ornaments of the Rebo, showing that it was already in use as early as the fifteenth century before the Christian era." There is hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found. The cross was worshipped by the Pagan Celts long before the incarnation and death of Christ." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 198-199) 2. "It [the cross] was worshipped in Mexico for ages before the Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there, large stone crosses being erected, probably to the "god of rain." The cross thus widely worshipped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah, for his was represented with a head-band covered with crosses. This symbol of the Babylonian god is reverenced at this day in all the wide wastes of Tartary, where Buddhism prevails, and the way in which it is represented among them forms a striking commentary on the language applied by Rome to the Cross." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 199) 3. The cross was the instrument of Christ's suffering by which He atoned for the sins of His people (Col 1:20). a. It is not to be worn or worshiped. b. Reference to honoring the cross in the Bible refer to honoring the work that Christ did for us on the cross (1Co 1:18; Gal 6:14), not to the cross itself. (xi) Relic worship 1. "Not only does this show the real origin of relic worship; it shows also that the multiplication of relics can pretend to the most venerable antiquity. If, therefore, Rome can boast that she has sixteen or twenty holy coats, seven or eight arms of St. Matthew, two or three heads of St. Peter, this is nothing more than Egypt could do in regard to the relics of Osiris. Egypt was covered with sepulchres of its martyred god; and many a leg and arm and skull, all vouched to be genuine, were exhibited in the rival burying-places for the adoration of the Egyptian faithful." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 179) 2. "Rome, however, to carry out the Babylonian system, has supplied the deficiency by means of the relics of the saints; and now the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul, of St. Thomas A'Beckett and St. Lawrence O'Toole, occupy the very same place in the worship of the Papacy as the relics of Osiris in Egypt, or of Zoroaster in Babylon." (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 181) 3. God alone should be worshiped (Mat 4:10). 4. Relic worship is idolatry. g. She is drunken with the blood of the saints (Rev 17:6). (i) The RCC brutally persecuted, tortured, and murdered millions of Christians throughout the dark ages and especially during the Inquisition (read Foxe's Book of Martyrs). (ii) There is no organization on earth that fits this description better than the RCC. h. She sits on seven mountains (Rev 17:9). (i) Rome is known as the city that sits on seven hills. (ii) The headquarters of the RCC are in Rome. i. She is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth (Rev 17:18). (i) At the time of John's writing, Rome reigned over all the known world. (ii) The woman in Revelation 17 is Satan's church, the Roman Catholic Church. v. The Roman Catholic Church has served at least three major purposes in Satan's war with God and his people. a. It has been substituted for Christ's church in the minds of billions of people. b. It has filled the world with heretical doctrine and idols. c. It has viciously persecuted the saints. C. Her protestant daughters i. The Roman Catholic Church is the Mother of Harlots, which means she has harlot daughters. ii. These daughters are the Protestant "churches" that spawned from her such as the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist, etc. "churches." iii. All of these "churches" were either started by men who were Catholics (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican) or by men who broke away from other Protestant churches that were started by Catholics (Methodist, etc.). iv. These all have varying amounts of the characteristics of their mother, such as: a. Infant baptism. b. Salvation by works. c. Eternal sonship doctrine. d. Hierarchical church structure. e. Church and State merger. f. Incorporating pagan holidays into so-called Christianity. g. Tradition over scripture. v. The Protestant "churches" have served at least three major purposes in Satan's war with God and his people. a. They give people a false alternative to the Roman Catholic Church which appears to most non-Catholics to be true Christianity. b. They are Satan's imitation of God's true reformed church (Heb 9:10). c. They make it very difficult for God's people to weed through all of the false churches to find His true church. 11. Satan orchestrates bloody persecutions by these false churches. A. The Roman Catholic Church was drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs (Rev 17:6). i. A short survey of Baptist church history will show that God's true churches such as the Waldenses, Albigenses, and Anabaptists, suffered terrible persecution from the RCC throughout the middle ages. ii. These persecutions caused these churches to flee to the mountains of Europe, but they were not able to destroy them. B. Once the Protestant churches were organized, being daughters of the great whore, they too persecuted the saints. i. The Baptists were persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants after the reformation. ii. Even in America Baptists were persecuted by Protestants. iii. Eventually, religious freedom and the separation of church and State were established in America, and God's saints had rest for a while. iv. See series on Baptist Church History: https://www.excelsiorspringschurch.com/baptist-church-history. C. Satan lost the battle of persecution again.