Spirit of Truth Christian Ministries
Why Many Don't Believe (cont.)
Copyright © 2009
Spirit of Truth
Christian Ministries
Verse 5: This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Notice in this verse that something was written on this woman’s forehead. The forehead, in symbolic or prophetic language, represents what’s going on in one’s mind so we should not expect to see this literal title on anyone’s head.
This “mystery” that’s imbedded into the thinking of the woman is symbolic of all pagan religions that had their inception on the plains of Shinar, in Babylonia, where the Tower of Babel was constructed. It was there that the mystery religion of astrology began and the inhabitants of the land worshiped Nimrod and his wife Semiramis (who were later deified as Baal and Ashtoreth, god and goddess of the sun and the moon, respectively). After Nimrod’s death, and his supposed ascension into the sun, Semiramis later became pregnant and had a child named Tammuz. It was believed that Nimrod, in spirit form, impregnated Semiramis making the child Tammuz a holy child. After Semiramis’ and Tammuz’s death, they were believed to have ascended to the moon and the planet Venus, respectively.
The priests of this mystery religion devised an astrological chart with six rows and columns with numbers that totaled 111 in each direction. By adding these rows and columns together, the numbers would add up to 666. This is the origin of this mystical number. It can be applied to the first beast power of Revelation 13 and Daniel 7 because this power has continued in the pagan practices that existed through the state powers of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and imperial Rome. But what’s happened now is the papacy has taken these pagan practices and assimilated them into Christianity. To go into the many aspects of how this was done would require a completely separate study but suffice it to say that much of what’s been incorporated into Christianity is of pagan origin, including December 25th (the date of Tammuz’s birth) and the “celebration” of Easter (which honored the fertility goddess, Ishtar, who was named after Ashtoreth…i.e. Semiramis) . While it is important for Christians to acknowledge the birth of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, care needs to be taken so we don’t blindly follow in the footsteps of paganism. The point is that this mystery religion is false and sought, through Satan’s influence, to substitute itself for worship of the true and living God of heaven Who created all things.
It’s this mystery religion that is the mother of all false religions and practices that now exist on the earth that God created.
Verse 6: I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
This woman (symbolic of the Catholic church with its pagan roots) had killed millions of people who simply wanted to follow the Bible as their only authority in religious matters.
Verse 7: Then the angel said to me: Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.
The angel tells John to not wonder with amazement at this beast and that the “mystery” of this woman, as well as the beast will now be made known.
Verse 8: The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
This beast, that represents a collection of satanically-influenced powers, in the time in which this prophecy applied (after 1798), was no longer wielding his power as he’d done before through the various states (Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, Rome and the papacy); this is because of the separation of church and state. But note that he will make his appearance once again to the astonishment of those who will make the choice to worship him.