the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, [commonly interpreted as Rome] and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. “These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast” (Rev 17:9-13).
The woman, Babylon the Great, Mother of harlots and abominations is seated on the beast who represents Kings and Kingdoms of the earth. In actuality this woman is Satan. Satan is first and foremost a religious spirit, propagating false religion. Paul identifies this: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even SATAN DISGUISES HIMSELF AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:11-13). Satan’s angelic name is Lucifer which means “light bearer” or “star of the morning”. It was obviously his plan from the beginning to try to foil God’s plan by deceiving nearly all the world to follow after a false, unscriptural, paganistic, mystery religion.
What started out as Babylon spread over the entire world and ended up appearing in many forms throughout the earth (India, Egypt etc). It also ended up as the Universal church, which was worldwide. This universal (Catholic) church used many of the same rituals, symbols and doctrines that used in the mother of all religions, Babylon. Mother and child worship, in any form, is just a continuation of those rites.
There is very much more we can say on this subject. This article doesn’t speak for any religion or organization. It is just an explanation of what is really the truth.
Bibliography:
McClintock and Strong Bible Handbook pp. 947-48
Halley Bible Handbook, p.696
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, Ed. “Babylon in the New Testament”
Ancient Pagan Symbols, Elizabeth Goldsmith
Ancient Cities and Temples-Babylon, Albert Champdor
Harper’s Bible Dictionary
Dictionary of Symbols, J.E. Cirot
The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall
Rise and Fall of the Roman Catholic Church, F. Paul Peterson
Satan’s Great Deception, C. Paul Meridith
This is the Catholic Church, Joseph E. Ritter
The Wine of Roman Babylon, Mary E. Walsh
Encyclopedia of Religions, J.C. Forlong
Babylon Mystery Religion, Ralph Woodrow
An Appeal to the Christian World, Alexander Denovan
Rome the True Church?, S.E. Anderson
Does Our Faith Need Too Much Reassurance?
Our faith in the Lord seems to have need of reassurance from time to time. God will speak something to us and we believe it at the time but when that circumstances or conditions arise we often react with unbelief. Then we must go back to the Lord, or to our brother, to be reassured again in our faith. This process may repeat itself a multitude of times and we still walk away without the abiding faith that God really wants.
Reassure means variously to: “assure anew or reassure, to relieve of anxieties, to restore to confidence or to encourage”. Synonyms may include “encourage, guarantee, convince, bolster, comfort, console or inspire” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, 11th Ed.). Reassurance implies that we are seeking something we have lost and we have to be reminded again of its existence.
Abiding faith is: “enduring, abiding; pertaining to, continuing to exist and so remain in a (sure) state”. It can also mean a resumption of a prior state. (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages : Aramaic (Old Testament). In Greek the word is μένω (menō): “to stay, remain, abide; to wait for, remain in a place or state, and expect something in future; continue to exist, remain in existence; keep on, continue in an activity or state, as an aspect of continuing action or permanence of position” (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament) With Semantic Domains).
Why is there such a wavering in our faith that we have to be reminded of God’s word over and over again? Jesus was not unconvinced of His Father’s love for Him. Jesus didn’t waver in faith. His heart was fixed on the Father. He was, however, aware of the instability and unbelief of man who wavered at every turn of the wind.
He commanded: “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet you’re heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But [continually] seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-34).
The Lord is not suggesting that we have faith and not worry about the material things of this life; He is COMMANDING IT! God wants our time to be His and not moved by trivial, worldly and temporal distractions. He said we could gain the whole world and forfeit our soul by amassing possessions and forgetting to have faith in God. He wants us to be perfect like the heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
Yes our faith seems to be constantly challenged. Perhaps challenged isn’t the right word. God is constantly expanding our faith. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance [steadfastness]. And let endurance [steadfastness] have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, [mature] lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).
Steadfastness means: “consistent, immoveable, constant, firm, persevering, sure, true, unflinching, stable, unfaltering and never failing,” to name a few (Merriam-Webster’s Thesaurus) We need to be mature as Paul described: “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;” (Ephesians 4:13-14).
Jesus Himself said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock [a solid steadfast foundation] “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Why do we continually have to be reassured by God or others