Identifying Babylon the Great

"The Earth Belongs to HaShem and the Fullness Thereof." Identifying Babylon The Great Part One By Ben Ruach ha Kodesh (John of AllFaith) © 3.15.08 Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots (image from the works of Dr. Charles Larkin) 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 show 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. Who is this mystery woman who wields such awesome power over the human race? The prophets are clear. For the sake of clarity I will identity the woman at the outset rather than gradually build my case and identify her later: Babylon the Great will be the future of that religious body established by Emperor Constantine and the hierarchy his imperial orders spawned. In simple term this means the Roman Catholic Church, however things are seldom so simple. The Roman Catholic Church that exists today is the result of 1600 years of ecumenical and political development. There is also an ongoing debate between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy about who holds the older position. Also, within both the Roman and Orthodox Christian communions are a great many sincere Christians who would never accept the things proposed by Babylon the Great. For this reason, as well as for basic accuracy, I want to make it very clear that while the structures that will become Babylon the Great have existed since the third century CE, Babylon the Great herself does not yet exist. It is inaccurate to refer to the papacy as the Great Harlot for instance. While many of the popes have been evil men (and women in drag), there have also been several devout and holy Popes. Babylon the Great does not today exist. I'll discuss this more below. Having tentatively identified the whorish mother, the daughters would obviously be all those denominations and movements she spawned over the years. However, as above, as Babylon the Great, in this prophetic sense does not yet exist, neither do her daughters. As we continue our study on this topic it will be clear that we are looking at a very long and gradual development. It can be argued, and many do, that Babylon the Great, in the form of the Roman Papacy, has existed since the end of the First Church Age (church of Ephesus), its really a matter of semantics I think. The prophecy of Great Babylon occurs at a key time in the prophecy of John and I'm mainly focusing on John's presentation here. Biblical prophecies are often written in a parenthetical style. This means that the story line is not always chronically exacting. To understand these prophecies it is therefore very helpful to have an overview of the prophetic landscape in mind. Of course one must begin somewhere. This chapter references 'seven angels which had the seven vials,' these are period markers to earlier events that don't directly bear on this section of John's prophecies. The great whore (or porne) references the woman's spiritual fornication. In a biblical context such fornication occurs when one 'goes after other gods': Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; A whore sells her/his favors for money, power or fame. This woman has had illicit relations with the kings of the earth in order to curry their favors. She has taken the reformed Jewish teachings of Master Y'shua and blended them into something quite different. Several of the doctrines developed and codified by Catholic (Universal) Church are fundamentally different and at times at time in direct violation of the Torah, Tanach and teachings of Master Y'shua. I discuss many of these elsewhere on this site. For now I will simply say that in order to gain acceptance from the widest possible audience for Constantine's new religion deals were cut with many of the Pagan religions of Rome and the resulting new doctrines were codified at Nicea and elsewhere and made mandatory. Failure to embrace these new doctrines led to the death of millions of sincere people, both Jews, Pagans, and the followers of Master Y'shua who held firm to the faith. The Papacy 'played the harlot' with the Pagan world and developed not only Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox dogma, but the essential beliefs of the Anglicans, Protestants and much of Christian heterodoxy. No other institution in history has so successfully and effectively managed to create and maintain a global organization based on the establishment of piece-meal doctrine as has the Roman Papacy. MYSTERY: She speaks of great mysteries and bases her claims to authority on her possession of these mysteries. According to Catholicism, the Bible alone is insufficient to discover the truth. Church teaching and Papal authority are required to properly understand the Bible and God's will. In those areas where Church doctrine contradicts the Bible, Church tradition always takes precedence. The essential doctrines of the Church are often directly referred to as mysteries and come from Pagan sources. These include: The Trinity: an unbiblical and un-Jewish doctrine that compromises the absolute oneness of HaShem as repeatedly declared in scripture but one that is common throughout the Pagan religious world. The Immaculate Conception (of Mary AND her mother): This teaching has absolutely no biblical basis but is a required dogma for all Catholics. The virgin birth of Jesus: I discuss this popular dogma elsewhere. On brief, Augustine developed his doctrine of Original Sin, which was later applied to give the Church absolute authority over the people of the planet (because the Papacy held the power to grant or deny forgivness of sins, hence eternal salvation) but it posed a serious doctrinal difficulty. If everyone is conceived in sin, how did Jesus escape? The given answer is that sin passes through the father and Jesus had no human father. This led to another difficult question, as his mother Mary would have been born into sin and hence at least potentially contaminating her child. The answer: The Immaculate Conception of Mary as well! But just to be safe, Mary's mother was also immaculately conceived! Again with absolutely no biblical justification. The transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the flesh and blood of Jesus literally: According to the New Testament Master Y'shua frequently spoke in parables. There is no biblical reason to take this one literally, however... Pagan groups often ritually consume their gods and goddesses, especially around the time of Eostar (about the same time as the Jewish Passover) and including this rite appealed to many Pagans. The celebration of the Pagan holidays like: Yule: The Christ Mass or Christmas. It is noteworthy here the ritual decorating of trees like the Tannenbaum (the sacred fir tree) is specifically condemned in the Torah: Jeremiah 10:1-5 "Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Eostar: Easter with its Pagan bunnies and eggs Luperaclia: Valentine’s Day, a day for honoring Faunus, god of fertility. Carnival (Marde Gras: "Fat Tuesday") and Ash Wednesday: The Christianized Saturnalia festival. Beltane: May Day: The feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Samhain: All Saints Day or All Hallos Eve or Hallowe'en. Etc. The clothing worn by Catholic priests are of Pagan origin as well, the exposed white collar signifies that the words they speak come from Sol Invictus, the Sun God, whom Constantine worshiped until the day he died (for more on this see my study on the IHS symbol. Terminology: Master Y'shua specifically forbade calling any man "father" and yet the Church references its priests this way (Matt 23:9). Shabbat: Perhaps nowhere is the Roman Pagan usurpation of the religion of Master Y'shua more evident than in the desecration of the Sabbath. The Ten Commandments command the observance of the Sabbath, its proper observance is shown throughout the Bible, and yet the Roman Papacy forbade its observance and demanded that Christians worship on the day of Sol Invictus, Constantine's Sun God. A few Christian sects have returned to Sabbath observance (at least to the degree of holding their main weekly services on the Sabbath), this includes the Seventh Day Adventists and Seventh Day Baptists, but the vast majority of Christians continue to view the biblical Sabbath as a day for yard work, ball games and relaxation and the day of the Sun God as the day (or hour) of worship. There are many good books and websites that fully illustrate the Pagan roots of much of Christianity and Christian doctrine so this small overview should suffice. Such Pagan elements are what is being referenced here when Babylon the Great is called the Mother of harlots. She has prostituted the God of Israel in exchange for political power and religious authority. Today the religion that claims to represent the teachings of the "Jewish Messiah" bears precious little similarity to Judaism, the religion of Master Y'shua's people. More on this below, but I want to repeat, this is NOT meant as a condemnation of all Christians (including Catholics) nor their beliefs, but merely to amplify what the prophet is referencing with this key terminology. When we turn our attention to the Seven Church ages this historic development of the "woman" will become more clear. We can learn a lot simply from this descriptoon of the woman: Babylon the Great: She is not old Babylon, the city in Iraq (as some teach) nor is she the ancient world (first of the global governments discussed by Daniel), the seat of King Nebuchadnezzar (as others maintain), nor yet the United States, American Christianity, nor false religion in general. This "woman" is the fullness of the Seven Churches referenced in Revelation 2 and 3 that arose in Rome. The word "great" here is megas, a feminine word predicated on rank and the possession of authority, power and influence, derived from, by and for persons of eminent abilities, virtues and authority (harmonious with her own terms). Megas references the powerful things that are esteemed highly for their importance, stemming from some great moment, something of great weight, the importance of a thing highly esteemed for its excellence and glory: it is something deemed to be most excellent, splendid, glorious, something prepared on a grand scale, stately, above the rest. The word references the external form of the sensible appearance of things (or of persons) and thus implies moral and legislative authority to define appropriate limitations and to guide those not so qualified. This is precisely the role the Church has usurped for itself since the days of Constantine and the Nicean Counsel. Babylon the Great will therefore be the end result of this egotistic Christian world view as described thusly by Master Y'shua for Prophet John and delineated with the Seven Church Ages (discussed later in this study): Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. But as an institution she will not. The Mother of Harlots: She gives birth to many daughters who follow in her whorish footsteps. Through the split between the Roman and Eastern Church, the leaving of the English (Anglican) communion, the Protestant Reformation and so on, Constantine's whorish Church has produced countless "daughters." The Anglican and Protestant reformers sought to return the Church to its historic roots but by the time these priests rebelled against the Papacy the Pagan teachings and influences, the edited Catholic Bible, as well as Antisemitism and fears of "judaising", had become so thoroughly entrenched within Christian dogma and society that that they failed to accomplish their goal. This failure resulted in constant Protestant Church splits and the gradual development of competing sects and heterodoxy that largely emerged from Protestant sources. This confusion became so severe that people rightly scratch their head and wonder if there is any truth to be realized in Christianity at all! There is. And lastly, Abominations of the Earth: The Mother harlot perverts that which was pure by mixing it with the impurities of the world. "Earth" here can reference both the physical planet and the human customs and societies that occur upon it. Arguably the darkest and most horrific period in human history thus far was the time during which the Christian Church ruled supreme. We call this period the Dark Ages. So, who is this woman? Only the Christian Church, founded in Rome by the the Roman Papacy and its daughters fits the description. Part Two Coming Soon