Who is Mystery Babylon?

David Mitts

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Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. - Matthew 24:3-5 NKJV

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Who is Mystery Babylon?

In His Most Famous Prophecy Chapter, Jesus Foretold That False Christianity would be Rampant in the End Time.

1. He prophesied that most Christians, both Catholics and Protestants would be deceived by this false Christian movement.

2. Jesus had just told His disciples the temple in Jerusalem would soon be totally destroyed.
His disciples asked Him two important questions in this passage, Matthew 24:3-5: (NKJV) …Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”

a. Jesus said concerning the sign of His coming and the end of the age to “take heed that no man deceives you.”
b. He said many would come under the name of Christianity and would deceive many.
True Christianity vs. False Christianity
1. Understanding this prophecy is absolutely essential in order to understand the difference between true Christianity and false Christianity. Revelation 17:1-2

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication."” (Rev 17:1-2, NKJV)

a. This prophecy foretells a decree of judgment against the great harlot who sits on many waters.

2. The woman is riding a beast in Revelation 17:3.
“So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” (Rev 17:3, NKJV)

a. In Revelation 13:1-8, the seven-headed, 10-horned beast symbolized the Antichrist and his one-world government.b. The beast referred to in this passage is the same beast.
c. The beast in Revelation 17:3 is depicted with this harlot riding on its back.
Six Specific Clues as to the Identity of This Woman, the Great Harlot
1. The woman is a great city on earth.
“And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."” (Rev 17:18, NKJV)

a. God Almighty has decreed horrible judgment on this great city.
b. This prophesied judgment will occur at the time of the Second Coming of Jesus to the earth.

2. The city is the headquarters for a vast international system.

a. Revelation 17:15 tells what the waters symbolize,
…“Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.” (Rev 17:15, NKJV)
b. She sits on many waters, which represent peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.
c. The headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church is in Rome.
d. The church presides over a billion people from almost every nation on earth.

3. The city sits on seven hills and the beast on which the woman sat had seven heads.
"Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.” (Rev 17:9, NKJV)

a. Rome is known as the City of Seven Hills.
b. The seven hills are so famous they each have their own name.
c. The property was called the Vatican before being purchased by the Roman Catholic Church.
d. “Vatican” literally means Divining Serpent and is derived from Vatis = Diviner and Can = Serpent.
... for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.” (Rev 18:23, NKJV)

4. The woman was arrayed in red and purple.
“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.” (Rev 17:4, NKJV)

a. There are two ruling bodies of the Roman Catholic Church:
1) The College of Cardinals
2) The College of Bishops
b. It is the official Roman policy that cardinals wear red, while bishops and non-cardinal archbishops wear purple.

5. The woman was drunken with the blood of the saints.
“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.” (Rev 17:6, NKJV)

a. Throughout the Dark Ages, the Roman Catholic Church was a great persecutor of all Christians who would not join themselves to the Catholic Church.
b. During the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued an edict that every person in Spain had to be baptized Catholic within four months or else leave the country. Their slogan was “be baptized or die.”
c. Estimates of the number killed by the Spanish Inquisition, which Pope Sixtus IV authorized in a papal bull in 1478, have ranged from 30,000 to 300,000.
d. John Huss was burned at the stake for his refusal to pledge allegiance to the pope of the Roman Church.
e. William Tyndale, the translator of the Tyndale Bible, was strangled and then burned at the stake for the crime of translating the Bible into the language of the common people.
f. Martin Luther was declared a heretic at the Diet of Worms, Germany and he was sentenced to die because he had dared question the teachings of the Roman Church.
g. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs records thousands of martyrdoms of Protestants by the Roman Catholic Church.
h. Estimates of the total killed by the Roman Church range from six million to 68 million.

6. God gave Roman Catholicism the name Mystery Babylon the Great.
“And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Rev 17:5, NKJV)

a. Roman Catholicism is modern day Babylon disguised under the name of Rome.
b. Babylon was the origin of man-made religion.
c. Over the years, the Roman Catholic Church has changed many central doctrines and teachings of the New Testament Church.
1) There was no sprinkling for baptism ever done in the New Testament Church and no baptism of infants recorded in the Bible.
2) Priestly celibacy has caused the Roman Church horrible heartache.
3) Forbidding to marry is a doctrine of devils according to this passage,:

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;” (1Ti 4:1-4, NKJV)

Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.” (1Co 7:2, NKJV)
Mother of Harlots
1. Not only is the Roman Catholic Church called Mystery Babylon but she is also the Mother of Harlots.

a. She has daughters that are also harlots.
b. A harlot is a woman of ill-repute.

2. In the Bible, a church is always portrayed as a woman.
The Apostle Paul explained in this scripture,
“For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2Co 11:2, NKJV)

a. The true church is symbolized as a woman, a virgin.
b. False churches in the Bible are also symbolized as women but they are referred to as harlots.
c. A harlot is someone who has been unfaithful and has gone out on her bridegroom.

3. Israel became a harlot in the Old Testament.
“Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so.” (Jdg 2:17, NKJV)

When Israel began believing in more than one god, or false gods, God said they went “a whoring after other gods.”

4. The Roman Catholic Church came up with a doctrine which teaches a plurality of deities.

a. The Roman Church decided there were three separate persons in the Godhead – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.
b. When the Roman Catholic Church hatched the doctrine called the holy trinity, they began believing they will see three deities when they get in Heaven.
c. The belief of three separate persons, three separate deities in the Godhead was injected into the church.
d. When this doctrine was formed, this is when Catholicism went a whoring after false deities.
e. The Bible is explicit there is one Lord.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” (Deu 6:4, NKJV)
f. The new doctrine of the trinity taught, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is three.”
The Birth of the Doctrine of the Trinity
1. The Roman Catholic Church called the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.

a. The doctrine of the trinity had been taking root in the church prior to this time.
b. At Nicea, the hierarchy of the church codified this new doctrine and incorporated it into the legal beliefs of the church.
c. In order to make their baptism match the belief in this plurality of deities, the church changed the formula for baptism from in the name of Jesus Christ, to Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

2. The following statements concerning these doctrinal changes are excerpts from several encyclopedias:

a. The Canney Encyclopedia of Religion documents this change on page 53: “The early church was always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus until the development of the Trinity Doctrine in the third century. Afterward they were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.”
b. The Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia in Volume 1, page 430 says, “The New Testament knows only the baptism in the name of Jesus.”
c. In Hastings Dictionary of the Bible on page 88, Hastings said, “It must be acknowledged that the three-fold name of Matthew 28:19 does not appear to have been used by the primitive church but rather in the name of Jesus or Lord Jesus.”
d. Hastings Encyclopedia of Religions, Volume 2, page 377 state: “Christian baptism was administered using the words, in the name of Jesus.”
e. Hastings Encyclopedia of Religions, Volume 2, page 389 says, “Baptism was always in the name of Jesus until the time of Justin Martyr.”
f. The Britannica Encyclopedia, the 11th edition, Volume 3, page 365: “The trinitarian formula and triune immersions were not uniformly used from the beginning.”
g. In the Dictionary of the Bible by Scribner on page 241, Scribner said, “The original form of words was into the name of Jesus Christ or Lord Jesus. Baptism into the Trinity was a later development.”
h. The New Catholic Encyclopedia, the 2nd edition, page 61 says: “With regard to the formula used for baptism in the early church, there is difficulty that although Matthew 28:19 speaks of the trinitarian formula, which is now used, the Acts of the Apostles speak of only baptism ‘in the name of Jesus.’”

3. The first church always baptized in the name of Jesus!

a. There is only one God, but He fulfilled three offices or roles.
b. God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost but He is one person, Jesus Christ.
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;” (Col 2:9, NKJV)
c. Jesus is not a member of the Godhead, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus.
Baptism is a Marriage Ceremony
1. Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is a covenant marriage ceremony.
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal 3:27, NKJV)

2. When we are baptized in the name of Jesus, we actually take on the name of our Bridegroom Jesus Christ.

a. Satan, knowing the importance of us taking the name of our Bridegroom, wanted to take the name out of the marriage ceremony.
b. The name of Jesus was taken out of the baptismal formula and replaced with a formula that has no name—Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Who are the Daughters?
1. On the harlot’s forehead was the name, Mother of Harlots. Not only is she a harlot but she has daughters who are also harlots.

2. When the Reformation took place, the Protestants were breaking off from the Catholic Church.

a. In an effort to stem the hemorrhage from the Roman Church, the pope called an emergency council—the Council of Trent.
b. The prelates condemned many of the practices that the Protestants had adopted after leaving the church.
c. They stated that Protestants at least had not forsaken the Mother Church’s baptism.

3. When the Protestants did not go back to the biblical form of baptism, they continued to believe in a plurality of deities.
Daughters Come Home
1. The Roman Church called the Vatican Council II from 1962 to 1965 and they referred to the Protestants as daughters of the mother.
This is the quote: “We the Mother Church are opening our arms to all of our daughters to return home. Anyone who holds to our baptism may return home without being re-baptized.”

a. If a person is baptized using the phrase Father, Son and Holy Ghost, that person can join the Catholic Church without re-baptism.
b. Those baptized using the Mother Church form of baptism are already considered part of the Catholic Church.

2. Without the name of Jesus in baptism, we cannot be in the bride of Christ!
Catholics and Protestants Moving Toward Reunification
1. A meeting was held in Austin, Texas on January 29, 2013.
The Huffington Post recorded the following: “Catholic leaders will join representatives from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Christian Reformed Church in North America, Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ at the ceremony in Austin, Texas to sign the agreement, which is called the “Common Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Baptism.” The event coincides with the national meeting of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. Tuesday’s agreement says that for our baptisms to be mutually recognized, water and the scriptural Trinitarian formula “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20) must be used in the baptismal rite.”

a. They are saying that everyone that uses the trinitarian formula for baptism is recognized as daughters of the Roman Catholic Church.
b. Baptism is the defining issue according to Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."” (Act 4:12, NKJV)

2. False Christianity baptizes using the phrase, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
a. This practice was not done one time in the Bible.
b. While it’s true that Jesus commanded His disciples to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, He assumed they knew by then what the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost was.
c. Notice the word “name” is singular. There is one name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

3. What is the name of the Father?
a. Jesus said in John 5:43, “I am come in my Father’s name...”
b. In John 14:8, Philip asked Jesus,…”Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."” (Jhn 14:8, NKJV)
c. Jesus replied to Philip in John 14:9,
“Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?” (Jhn 14:9, NKJV)
d. The name of the Father was always Jesus. It was simply kept secret until it was time for the birth of God’s plan of salvation to be revealed.

4. What is the name of the Holy Ghost?
a. The Holy Ghost is simply Jesus in us in Spirit form.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (Jhn 14:26, NKJV)

“the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (Jhn 14:17, NKJV)

“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (Jhn 14:18, NKJV)

b. The Holy Ghost is the Helper and Jesus is the Holy Ghost.
c. A few days before He left the earth, Jesus gave the Apostles the Great Commission,
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Mat 28:19, NKJV)
d. In obedience to the Lord’s instructions, the Apostles baptized every single time in the name of Jesus Christ.
e. They understood there is one God and His name is Jesus.

5. False Christianity baptizes with the phrase Father, Son and Holy Ghost and believes in three deities in the Godhead.

6. True Christianity baptizes in the name of Jesus Christ as was done every time in the New Testament church and believes in one God manifest in three roles.
Catholics and Protestants Move Toward Unity
1. On March 30, 1994, the Indianapolis Star published this story about the ecumenical movement.
The headline was “Catholics, evangelicals affirm ties that bind.” The subtopic said, “Statement recognizes that all are Christians, seeks to end attempts to convert each other.” The article reported, “In what’s being called a historic declaration, evangelicals, including Pat Robertson and Charles Colson, joined with conservative Roman Catholic leaders Tuesday in upholding the ties of faith that bind the nation’s largest and most politically active religious groups. They urged Catholics and evangelicals to increase their efforts against abortion and pornography and to lobby for value-laden education but to no longer hold each other at theological arm’s length and to stop aggressive proselytizing of each other’s flocks.”

2. On June 17, 1994, again in the Indianapolis Star, this story was carried:
“Southern Baptists embrace Catholics.” The subtopic: “National convention overwhelmingly endorses declaration of unity despite theological differences.” The article said, “Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics can be more than political soul mates, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination declared Tuesday. In a major step toward ecumenism, the Southern Baptist Convention said born-again believers may be found in all Christian denominations and endorsed Baptist-Catholic dialogue.”

3. Ecumenism is being accomplished by compromising beliefs that have been long held.
a. People no longer believe what they used to believe.
b. Most religions are in a state of compromise.
Interfaithism – The Next Step
1. Once the art of compromise has been learned, the compromises become bigger and easier to achieve.

2. In 1994 the Roman Catholic Church published its first new catechism in 400 years.
On pages 242 and 243 (Section 841) it said, “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

a. The Roman Church says Muslims are included in the plan of salvation.
b. Muslims do not believe Jesus is God and they also do not believe He died on the cross to redeem us from our sins.
c. The church has become so adept at compromise that they have found a way to say Muslims are saved without believing in Jesus as their Savior!

3. We are moving toward a one-world religion that will hold hands with the one-world government of the Antichrist.

4. The Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in Chicago, 1993.
Those attending put together a Global Ethic, which they hoped would join mankind together.

5. The Global Ethic was published in the National Catholic Reporter and the following statements are a few bullet points:

“We are women and men who have embraced the precepts and practices of the world’s religions.

We affirm that a common set of core values is found in the teachings of the religions, and that these form the basis of a global ethic.”

“There already exist ancient guidelines for human behavior which are found in the teachings of the religions of the world, and which are the condition for a sustainable world order.”

“We must sink our narrow differences for the cause of the World Community [for the one-world government], practicing a culture of solidarity and relatedness.”

a. Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Jews, Wiccans, Zoroastrians and many others attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
b. Zoroastrians, Buddhists and believers in Judaism don’t believe in Jesus Christ at all but these global planners claim we must “sink our narrow differences.”
c. Wiccans are witches, so must we accept them as well?
d. These religious leaders are saying we must compromise for the sake of the World Community.
What should We Do?
1. Most Catholics and Protestants will follow the False Prophet into an alliance with the Antichrist and his one-world government.
“And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (Rev 18:4, NKJV)

2. God has many people who love Him in these harlot churches slated for judgment.

a. God’s instruction to His people is, “...Come out of her, my people...”
b. In the times just ahead, there must be a mass exodus out of false churches into churches that are teaching true biblical Christianity.
c. God did not say stay in these churches and try to change them.
The Judgment of the Great Harlot
1. God describes the judgments that will be poured out upon Mystery Babylon, the Mother of Harlots,
“In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.'” (Rev 18:7, NKJV)

a. Why does the Mother of Harlots say, “I sit a queen and I’m not a widow. I shall see no sorrow?”
b. The true church will be preaching the message around the world that you (the church) forsook your husband; you took the name out of baptism and adopted a plurality of deities.
c. The message will become so loud that it will ricochet around the world and people will realize they need to get out of the false church.
d. Catholicism will defend herself by saying, “I’m a queen and am no widow! I’m not going to see judgment or sorrow!” After she makes this statement,
“Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” (Rev 18:8, NKJV)

2. God’s judgment will soon fall on all of false Christianity.

3. His judgment will happen at the end of the Great Tribulation at the time of the Battle of Armageddon and Rome (Mystery Babylon) will be completely destroyed.

4. God spent two chapters, Revelation 17 and 18, describing in detail the judgment against these false religions which deceived the world and turned people away from true Christianity.

a. God hates false Christianity and He hates the fact that so much of the original teachings of the Bible have now been changed by modern Christianity.
b. God instructed His people to, “Come out of her my people lest you be a partaker of her sins and lest you receive of her plagues.”
Is the Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18 the Same Entity?
1. Many people have taught that the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 are two different entities.

a. Some have claimed the Babylon of chapter 18 is the United States but this teaching is absolutely false.
b.We can prove by these scriptures that both chapters 17 and 18 address the very same woman called Mystery Babylon.
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication."” (Rev 17:1-2, NKJV)
c. The very same descriptions are given about the woman in the following two passages:
“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.” (Rev 17:4, NKJV)

“and saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!” (Rev 18:16, NKJV)
d. In both of the following scriptures, the woman was drunken with the blood of the saints and prophets
“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.” (Rev 17:6, NKJV)

“And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth."” (Rev 18:24, NKJV)
e. The woman is referred to as that great city in the following verses:
“And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."” (Rev 17:18, NKJV)

“Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore.” (Rev 18:21, NKJV)

2. There is no doubt that both chapters 17 and 18 are speaking of the same Mystery Babylon.
Why will the Merchants Mourn at Her Destruction?
1. Revelation 18:11-23 describes the kings and the merchants of the earth mourning because of the destruction of the wealth of Mystery Babylon.

a. The Roman Church is one of the wealthiest organizations in the world.
b. The article, “The Catholic Church is the Biggest Financial Power on Earth” by Zubeida Jaffer disclosed the following statements:

1) “The Vatican has large investments with the Rothschilds of Britain, France and America, with the Hambros Bank, with the Credit Suisse in London and Zurich. In the United States, it has large investments with the Morgan Bank, the Chase-Manhattan Bank, the First National Bank of New York, the Bankers Trust Company, and others.”
2) “The Vatican has billions of shares in the most powerful international corporations such as Gulf Oil, Shell, General Motors, Bethlehem Steel, General Electric, International Business Machines, etc.”
3) “Some idea of the real estate and other forms of wealth controlled by the Catholic Church may be gathered by the remark of a member of the New York Catholic Conference, namely ‘that his church probably ranks second only to the United States Government in total annual purchase.’”
4) “Another statement, made by a nationally syndicated Catholic priest, perhaps is even more telling. ‘The Catholic church,’ he said, ‘must be the biggest corporation in the United States. We have a branch office in every neighborhood. Our assets and real estate holdings must exceed those of Standard Oil, A.T.&T., and U.S. Steel combined. And our roster of dues-paying members must be second only to the tax rolls of the United States Government.’”

2. It’s no wonder the merchants and the kings of the earth will mourn at her destruction!
Conclusion
1. It’s important to know the truth because most of Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, are moving straight toward the arms of the Antichrist.

2. Millions will follow the False Prophet into an alliance with the Antichrist.

a. Whoever is pope at the time of the Antichrist will be the False Prophet.
b. The Antichrist and the False Prophet will form a league together like they always have under the Holy Roman Empire.
c. The political leader will be from Europe and the spiritual leader will come from Italy.

3. We must not blindly remain a part of apostate Christianity.

a. Not only should we obey what we have just learned but we need to spread this message. Jesus said in this scripture, Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
b. We must break away from tradition and return to biblical Christianity.
c. This truth is going to ignite a revival that will travel around the world.

4. Jesus is coming back after a people who have been baptized in His name.

a. When we are baptized in Jesus’ Name, we become a part of the bride of Christ.
b. Jesus is coming back soon and when He returns, His bride will be caught up to meet Him in the air.