Revelation: The Bride, the Beast & Babylon Page #6

Would have people

going out to raise money

And encourage people

to give their money to the church,

Buy people out of purgatory,

So they could fund

these elaborate buildings.

This belief in purgatory

Is also built

on the dangerous concept

That the works

and the prayers of the living

Can somehow alter

the destiny of the dead,

Yet Jesus made it very clear

there is no limbo or purgatory.

After death, a person's

next conscious thought

Was the resurrection

and their eternal reward.

"Do not marvel at this;

For the hour is coming

"In which all

who are in the graves

"Will hear his voice

and come forth;

"Those who have done good,

to the resurrection of life,

"And those who have done evil

To the resurrection

of condemnation."

Central in the gospel message

Is the teaching

of how we obtain forgiveness.

This was another

major bible truth

That suffered

during this age of compromise.

It was taught that if a person

wished to be forgiven,

He or she must first confess

their sins through a priest,

Through a rite called

the sacrament of penance,

More commonly known

as "confession."

So in order to make up

for our insufficient goodness

And our actual wrong actions,

We must all-

Laypeople as well as clergy-

We must all confess our sins

at least once a year,

And preferably more often

than that, to a priest.

This was a negative development

on several counts.

First of all, it's taught

nowhere in the bible.

Secondly, it puts a mortal man

in the place of Christ

And it made god seem detached

from the average person.

Of course, at the time,

it also placed the priest

In an awkward position

To hear about

all the wicked deeds

Of his parishioners.

When one goes to a priest

in the middle ages,

There are really three things

that are accomplished

Through confessing one's sin.

First of all,

you make the confession,

The priest grants

the words of assurance

That the sin

is absolved-It's gone-

But a person,

because they have violated

The laws of the church

and the teachings of Christ,

Has to perform

a work of satisfaction

In order to make up

For the fact

that they have sinned.

The bible teaches that mankind

is helpless to save himself.

This is why Jesus

came to this world.

The scriptures teach

that salvation depends entirely

Upon our trust in god

for mercy and grace,

That we don't deserve it;

It's a magnificent gift

That can never be earned

by our efforts or good works.

Even obedience

comes through a gift of grace.

The new testament doctrine

of salvation by faith

Is widely taught

and understood today,

But during the darkness

of the middle ages

It was easier to convince

the illiterate masses

That they needed

to perform good deeds

In order to earn god's favor.

The people were taught

that if a sinner

Was to have any hope

of appeasing god,

He or she would need to pay

huge sums of money,

Perform painful acts of penance,

Or make some weary pilgrimage.

This would often include

An assignment to recite

certain prayers over and over

As a requirement

to obtain forgiveness.

Forty "hail Marys"

and ten "our fathers"

And putting a coin

in the collection box.

In the heathen religions

of the world

The idea

of repetitive prayers or chants

Was nothing new.

It was believed that you could

appease or influence the gods

By constant echoing of prayers

Or by using

special magical words.

Jesus clearly warned

against this form of prayer.

"And when you pray,

"Do not use vain repetitions

as the heathen do.

"For they think

That they will be heard

for their many words."

Corrupt church leaders knew,

In order to maintain any

lasting power over god's people,

They would need to separate them

From the one thing

That they knew

could expose these deceptions:

The holy scriptures.

The bible was not initially

withheld from the people,

It was accessible.

But, in time,

when people saw differences,

They challenged the clergy.

And so it was

in their interest, over time,

Not to make available

the bible to the people.

Only the priests

can interpret scripture

Because they combined

scripture with tradition

And so tradition

interpreted scripture

And the only ones

Who understood this long

tradition were the priests

And they could read

the scriptures

Many of the common people

couldn't even read the scriptures

And they wanted to make sure

that they interpreted scripture

In a way that would

harmonize with tradition.

So from the 5th century

to the 15th century,

1,000 years of history,

It was taught and accepted

that only religious leaders

Were qualified enough

to explain the sacred texts.

The common man was told

He could never hope

to understand the scriptures

Without

the assistance of a priest.

With this lethal deception,

The church laity

was kept in darkness.

Meanwhile, the visible church,

Once a biblical

bastion of truth,

Had degraded into a corrupt

political organization

Trimmed

with spiritualistic ceremonies.

It's no wonder

that this time period

Of cultural, economic

and spiritual deterioration

Is known as "the dark ages."

It's tragic how,

in just a few short centuries,

The wonderful light

that had been blazing

From the luminous

bride of Christ

Had been eclipsed

by pagan traditions.

Now a very different

kind of woman

Emerged to take her place.

"And I saw a woman

sitting on a scarlet beast,

"Which was full

of names of blasphemy,

"Having seven heads

and ten horns.

"The woman was arrayed

in purple and scarlet

"And adorned with gold

and precious stones and pearls,

"Having in her hand a golden cup

full of abominations

"And the filthiness

of her fornication.

"And on her forehead

a name was written,

"'Mystery, Babylon the great,

the mother of harlots

"And the abominations

of the earth.'

"I saw the woman drunk

with the blood of the saints

"And with the blood

of the martyrs of Jesus.

And when I saw her I marveled

with great amazement."

In revelation chapter 17,

John sees a woman

Who he describes

as strikingly different

From the pure woman

of revelation 12.

Who is this new

bloodthirsty harlot

And what about

the bizarre beast that she's riding?

If you're not sitting down,

this might be the time to do so.

You may find what you're about

to hear a bit shocking.

There's only one empire,

one church,

One institution that matches

the criteria in this prophecy:

The roman catholic church.

This does not mean that

all the people within this faith

Are bad, insincere, or lost.

The catholic people

are among the most kind

And have accomplished

a phenomenal amount of good

Throughout history.

This is really

about a bigger struggle

Between spiritual powers

and institutions

Battling over the truth

of scripture.

But now we need

to pull back the veil

And really

take a hard look at the facts.

In revelation 17:1,

We observe this harlot woman

sits on "many waters."

Fortunately the angel explains

The meaning of this symbol

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