IS
APOSTATE
Christianity boasts that the true faith,
or at least enough of it to keep salvation possible, will always exist on the earth. This is a boast for they have a Bible that
accuses everybody of hating God’s ways (Romans 3) and people of being experts
at looking as if they are true disciples of the God they loathe. They all agree
that loving God and believing what he has revealed is so unnatural to us
because we were born fallen beings as a result of the rebellion of Adam and Eve
that God has to give us his grace, that is his supernatural help, so that we
might please him. Clearly then we should
not be too surprised if we find the whole world is apostate from divine truth.
THE CASE
AGAINST COMPLETE APOSTASY
THE CASE AGAINST COMPLETE
APOSTASY
Let us look at the verses in the Bible
that are supposed to justify the Christian boast that the true faith will
always be preserved by God on the earth.
Matthew 16:18, Jesus says that he will build his Church and the jaws of death will never triumph over it. According to some this merely says that the gates of Hell will never destroy the true Church so God will keep some Christians in enough truth to bring them to salvation. (This can be achieved without conferring infallibility – the Catholic Church uses verses like this to claim to be infallible.) The Roman Church says that the Church on earth and the Church in Heaven and Purgatory are one and the same Church. We reason then that even if the Church fails on earth that does not mean that the Lord has failed for he still has the Church elsewhere. Jesus never clearly said he meant his Church on earth would never fail. Catholics may answer that he told Peter he would build his Church on him meaning the earthly Church for the heavenly one existed then among the angels. Peter being the rock the Church was built on does not necessarily mean that he would have to be the head of the Church or that he would live up to this role. At that time, Peter was the first proper Christian. There were no saints in Heaven yet. There was no Catholic Church in Heaven or Purgatory for Jesus hadn't made saints yet. He hadn't cleaned the human race, living or dead, yet of their sin - except Peter - and formed them into the Church. Peter was the first member of the Church. So if Jesus said he was building his Church on Peter he was saying only that the Church now exists but not that it will necessarily always be on earth.
Jesus
could still have meant that he would extend his Church to earth and build it on earth
and that the Church would never be destroyed which would not necessarily mean
the earth branch would be preserved forever for it is all the one Church. Some say that the true Church never fails but
that men fail the true Church and let it die.
This is agreeable with what Jesus said.
God could
let the true Church on earth die for a good purpose for his ways are odd like how he
waited until human beings were on the planet millions of years before
establishing the true Church. This would
not contradict the promise of Christ for this is not Hell overcoming the Church
for it is God’s will.
The Catholic Church says that in Matthew 16 Jesus said that the gates of Hell would never prevail against his Church that Peter was the rock of. Some say that it means just the Church that Peter was the rock of that it would not be destroyed but once he would die or fail to be the rock through neglect it would have no rock and the promise would not apply then. It would be conditional on Peter's obedience. Some say Matthew 16 means that the Church that teaches the truth will never be taken from the earth and overcome by evil. Some say it means that that the Church does not fail but men fall away. In that case, the gates of Hell did not prevail against the Church but evil and stupid men did. Some say it means that enough truth would always be taught to enable some to become true Christians. This view would say that when the Roman Catholic Church taught paganism there would be some who would misunderstand it and come to the pure truth accidentally but would have been helped on the way by the Catholic doctrines that were right.
Jesus, as the Mormon Church has pointed out, says nothing at all about the Church built on the rock as being a Church on earth. The Mormons believe that Jesus when he said that the gates of Hell would never overcome his Church meant that even if the Church ceased to exist on earth it would exist in Heaven. Catholics assume that Jesus meant the Church would always exist on earth and be built on the rock of Peter and the papacy. Mormons say that Jesus spoke of the gates of Hell fighting his Church which means he was thinking primarily of the Church in the spirit world for Hell was part of the Spirit world. They say that Satan need not necessarily approve of every human effort to destroy the Church. They say there is no need to believe he is behind all such activity. They say Jesus mentioned only Hell fighting the Church and not people which implies he was not primarily thinking of the Church on earth. If so, then Peter was not the earthly rock that the Church was built on. Jesus talks about giving Peter the keys of the kingdom of Heaven - again seemingly thinking of the spirit world. The idea of Peter being pope in the spirit world is ridiculous.
Many considering the Roman Catholic
claim to be the true
If you believe that sincere people are
members of the
Matthew 16 is the only place in the Bible that
really seems to predict that complete apostasy from the faith will never
happen. It doesn’t so the idea that
Christians would leave the faith as a whole is compatible with the Bible.
Matthew
28:20, Jesus tells the apostles that he will be with them until the end of the
world. But it can be translated as end
of the age. End of the age does not mean
end of the world but the end of the Christian age. And Jesus can be with the world and guide it
without there being a true Church.
Philippians 1:6 has Paul the apostle declaring that he is sure that Jesus who has begun good works in his people will perfect them until he comes in the Day of the Lord. This verse does not eliminate the view that people will stop letting Jesus perfect them. It only promises that the perfecting power is there for those who will co-operate and will be there forever until the coming of Christ.
John
14:16,17,26. Jesus tells the apostles
that they will be led into all truth and be reminded of all Jesus’
teaching. The Church says that because
the apostles didn’t develop all Jesus’ teaching that the Church had to come
after them and complete the job that this is promising that the Church will
grow in truth not error. But we know so
little about the apostles. Perhaps they
knew loftier things that they didn’t teach for the world wasn’t ready. And perhaps the promise was for them alone
that on earth and in Heaven they would see the truth in full. It may have nothing to do with the broader
Church. It would say if it did. The Catholic Church does not have all truth
for there are many things that theologians are at loggerheads over. How could the Catholic Church remember
everything that Jesus said as the last verse promises? The Church says that Jesus’ promise must be
fulfilled in her tradition for the gospels say they only report some of Jesus’
teaching and statements which is not true.
The fact that no tradition is reliable or can be traced back to Jesus
proves that he didn’t promise that if he was God.
Jesus is
saying that the scriptures have all the truth you need. He could have been promising the apostles the
power to write scripture or to give divinely inspired teachings which will
become scripture. This is the sensible
interpretation for the New Testament is the closest we can get to the apostles
and anything else is too far off to be trusted.
He is not
telling the Catholic Church that he will help her remember what he did for she
was not around to see what he did.
If Jesus
meant that the apostles and their successors would enjoy protection against
error then he would have mentioned those who would succeed them. Infallibility would have to be superior to
the Bible and to tradition for it interprets and judges them. It is unthinkable that Jesus would have passed
over such an important charism – unless the Church is lying and there is no
such charism.
Jesus
never said that the councils of the Church were beyond error. If he had he would have laid down conditions
for this infallibility to take effect.
The idea
that Jesus is promising infallibility in the production of new scripture is the
most likely meaning for Jesus never said that there would be a Church that
could not err but it stands to reason that additions to the Jewish Bible were
required.
When
Jesus promised to use the spirit of God to make the apostles remember he must
have been a fraud for that should not be necessary – there was pen and paper in
those days - and so he was promising an unreasonable miracle. If God does daft miracles who knows what he
is up to? The Church could not have
picked a worse text to make her excuse for claiming to be inerrant.
At the
end of Matthew’s gospel when Jesus told the apostles to teach all nations he
meant through producing scripture for word of mouth is unsafer. That was how they could literally teach all
nations. By implication, the Church had
to distribute their new Bible for they could not be everywhere. Yet some Catholics saw evidence of the
infallibility doctrine in that episode!
If they were right then only the apostles had the kind of infallibility
that the Roman cult boasts that it has.
Jude 3
says that the faith is delivered once and for all to the saints but there is no
reason to believe that he was thinking of future Christians as well. He means the apostles delivered it once and
for all which remains true if the Church left the faith after it got rid of the
apostles. He instructed the Christians
to contend for this faith showing that its future depended on them. Jude 3 is always taken by Christians as proof
that the faith would never disappear completely. God could intend to deliver the faith once
and for all and it could be lost and then found again. If Jude 3 were thinking of the future it
would only mean that the means of restoring the faith would always exist.
1 Timothy
3:15. The Church is called the pillar
and ground of the truth. Surely,
The
Church knows fine well that her interpretation of the texts is unwarranted for
it is only necessary to skim over them to see that this is so.
Her
apologists reply that by themselves they don’t look like much but when one
considers them in the light of the fact that an infallible interpreter is
needed they must mean the Church. But
this is the fallacy that since Jesus needed one he commanded one. Perhaps he did not know he needed one.
THE CASE FOR FULL APOSTASY
The Bible
certainly says that most of the Church will leave the faith and create a fake
Church. And it also says that after this
everybody else with throw in their lot with the apostates as well.
Ezekiel 7:26 speaks of a time when prophetic visions will be desired and when the law will perish from the priest meaning that the priest ignores it. Context in verse 21 shows the prophecy has not been fulfilled. It says the wicked of the earth will take the spoil of Israel. This never happened. Christians will have to believe the time for this is yet to come. It speaks of apostasy.
Amos 8:11,12 has God saying that he will
send a famine on the land, not a famine of food but of hearing the word of God
and that the people will be scattered and search all over the world for the
word of God and not find it. Catholics
say these verses simply say that because
Micah 3 also predicts that nobody will
get an answer from God one day. It
refers to the prophets of those days who were leading the people astray but can
be read as referring to all the false prophets throughout all time as well. The prophets who will cover their lips for
shame for God is not speaking to them and they have no way of hearing from him
meaning there are no true prophets are in the future. This could only be fulfilled after the time
of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 24:5-9 says that the people of the earth have changed the ordinances of God which means a change of religion. God strikes the earth with a curse for all have gone astray and the curse devours the earth and punishes the world with fire leaving only a few left. Those that are left are said to have no joy. The true faith gives joy so they don’t have it or anything like it. This section predicts total apostasy.
Jesus told his twelve apostles in Matthew 10 that they will be persecuted for believing in and serving him in the future and that all will hate them.
Paul said that in the last days, people
would depart from the faith and obey the doctrines of devils. This is a prediction of a huge apostasy worse
than any other for Christians have always been corrupting the faith. The last days refers to the whole period
after Christ for John said that the people living in the first century were
living in the last days (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3; 2 Peter 3). Apostasy would start as soon as Paul dies
(Acts 20). Catholics would say that this
refers to the small bands of heretics who left the Church during the early
years. But the epistles mention that
Paul had extremely serious problems with heretics before he died so when Paul
warned the people about what would happen after he died even though apostasy
was common before it he must have had a huge and terrible and unimaginable
apostasy in mind. It must have been
unique when it was spoken of as if it was worse than the apostasy that was
taking place when he was speaking.
There can be no doubt that since
apostasy is something that happens all the time in every sect and is the
scourge of every religion that the big apostasy in Christianity must be massive
and involve nearly everybody if not all.
The big apostasy must be worse than any other apostasy for men are not
attracted to the gospel message by nature (1 Corinthians
Acts 20:29-31 has Paul saying that after
he dies wolves will arise even within the Christian fold to corrupt the faith
and he has warned them about this for three years with tears. The way Paul teaches this as so urgent and something
to be constantly remembered shows that it was to be a very serious apostasy
indeed and not far away. He said this to
the Church in
2 Thessalonians 2:3 states that you must let nobody deceive you by any means for the day Christ will come cannot come unless a falling away or apostasy happens first. Now the letters of Paul, and indeed lots of places in the New Testament, talk about believers who turned away from the faith and started teaching heretical doctrines including such ideas as that the resurrection of Christ was doubtful and that Jesus died and rose again so that we could sin as we wished and so on. The Church had its apostates from the beginning. Christians today would have you think that it is saying that some people will try to deceive you into thinking nobody will apostatise. That makes no sense. If you take the verse to be referring to complete apostasy then it makes perfect sense.
2 Thessalonians 2 speaks of a future
apostasy of the Church with no hint that it will involve only some members of
the Church and not all. It says the
deceiver the son of perdition will sit in the
1 Timothy 4 says that the Holy Spirit
says that in the latter days
some will leave the faith and start listening to Devils. These doctrines
include banning marriage and forbidding to eat meat. Some say this refers to those who commit these
specific heresies. It describes one part
of the apostasy which will take many forms.
It does not imply that the rest will remain true to the faith and that
the apostasy will be incomplete.
2 Timothy 3 speaks of how men in the last days will have a form of godliness but deny the power of God by the way they teach and live their lives. 2 Timothy 4 tells Timothy to preach the gospel fervently for the time will come when they won’t listen to it. He gives no hint that he means some and not all so he means all.
The First Epistle of John, an apostle or authorised teacher created by Christ, taught that it was the final hour. He mentioned that antichrist was to come during the last hour. He says nothing about him being there yet. But he said that the proof that it was the last hour was the huge number of antichrists, people who denied that Jesus was the Christ or that he was a real man going about after having left the Church (2:18,19). This must have been one huge apostasy to make him think it was near the end especially when the Church had been suffering apostates from the beginning. He was certain that antichrist wasn't far off. Antichrist means not one who necessarily opposes Christ but one who stands in his place - in other words, one that acts like a Christ without his authority. The pope claims to be Vicar of Christ (one who stands in the place of Christ and who has his authority to teach and bar people from Heaven and control their salvation) and his priests and bishops claim to be other Christs. It is uncanny how there is a good match. If you believe the letter of John was written by God then you have to believe the Roman Catholic Church fulfilled his prophecy. The idea that apostasy was so great that it had to be the final hour or final time before the end of the world suggests that the apostasy will remain very powerful until the very end. It means most Christians will be fakes.
John writes that the antichrist is the one who denies that Jesus came in the flesh. The Roman Catholic Church says that the physical body of Jesus was not really his body. The real body is his substance which is not material at all. A body that has no parts or appearances is not a body at all. The Church uses its doctrine of substance being immaterial to "explain" how the priest can turn bread and wine into Jesus's body without anything physically changing. The Church is the antichrist.
Here is another way to put all this: The Roman Church says that the body of Jesus is not what saves us but a spiritual force that it falsely calls a body is. The bread at communion is turned into Jesus without any physical change taking place. This means that the real Jesus is not his body but a spiritual entity. It is this Jesus who saves us and who feeds us at communion. This matches the teaching of the heretics in the first century who said that Jesus did not come in the flesh. The First Epistle of John says that these heretics are antichrists. The Catholic Church is antichrist. It denies that the physical Jesus saves or is of any importance despite pretending that it believes Jesus came in the flesh. It pays lip-service to that teaching. It is only lip-service. John 6 then should not be taken by the Catholic Church to be saying that Jesus intended to turn bread into his body and drink into his blood.
John's same epistle said that because God lives inside true believers they don't need a teacher for God teaches them. Christianity today depends on academics and priests and theologians and pastors and popes to teach. That need is a sign of apostasy. It is a sign that the Church prefers what men say to what God says. If Peter was the rock the Church was built on, then later on he was not the only one. The papacy is a sign of apostasy for it claims to exist for the sake of teaching the people.
There is no Bible text that says there will be any believers on earth when Jesus comes. The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians chapter 4 says that the dead will rise first when Jesus returns and the living will be caught up to him. This can be taken as hypothetical and Paul uses "we" to describe the living believers which appears to support this. Paul was hypothesising what form the coming would take if it happened in his lifetime. Some say it does not contradict the view that there will be a total apostasy and that there will be true believers at the time Jesus returns.
The Bible says that a huge apostasy
will occur. It must mean a huge apostasy
of the vast majority for apostasy has been happening since the start. So the one it refers to is an extremely bad
one. Perhaps a complete one. The complete apostasy idea is what fits the
Bible the best and is explicitly taught.
JESUS PREDICTED APOSTASY
When the
Catholic Church is so big and Churches like the Orthodox Churches of the east
and many forms of Anglicanism are Catholic and the Bible says we must expect
Jesus back anytime that is a warning bell because the Bible tells us that a
huge apostasy must happen before Christ can return. Jesus said that we must be
ready at all times for the Son of Man will return when we least expect it. These Churches because of their immense size
must be apostate.
Roman Catholicism is not apostolic or
built on the foundation of the apostles but is apostate. Any religion that claims to be apostolic
condemns itself just by making that claim because it can’t be built on the
apostles but on what people have said the apostles taught. The difference is huge.
Jesus once wondered if there would be any faith on earth when he came back.
Jesus told the Jews that if he alone says he is the Son of God and the mouthpiece of God his testimony is invalid so he cited John the Baptist's testimony. Jesus says he cites it not that he accepts human testimony but that the people may be saved (John 5:31-33). He didn't regard his own disciples who supposedly witnessed his miracles as any good for providing testimony. That is significant. And it is dishonest to say, "This testimony is human and its no good but I will quote it anyway to save you." Mercenary! Anyway Jesus was asserting that real followers were nearly impossible to come by! He even said that the Jews did not have the love of God in them! That is very strong! We would expect him to say that they didn't have much love for God in them but he says they didn't love God at all!
Matthew says that a man asked Jesus to tell him the way to eternal life. The man called him good teacher. Matthew says Jesus retorted, "Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good!" Jesus meant that there would be a very very powerful tendency in humankind to distort God and God's ways. He was stern. The Churches say he didn't like the man calling him good because it implied that he was just a man who really cares and can teach what is good in spiritual affairs. They say he was being approached as good in the human sense and he didn't like that. They say he wanted to be called not good in the way a man can be good but good in the way God is good. The alternative is to say that Jesus denied he was good and so that he was God - the Churches of course reject that interpretation. If Jesus didn't like being called good in the human sense, he must expect us to hate being called good or thought good or relied on as an authority for knowing what good is. If he couldn't stand it and he was the Son of God, then we who are not like him should find it even more intolerable than he did! If the Church interpretation was right, then Jesus was indicating that it is dangerous to treat any man as an authority on God or God's ways. He was saying grave apostasy would be inevitable and most would go for it. Of course the Church ignores the logical conclusion of its interpretation!
Jesus
said that the way to damnation is wide and the way to salvation is narrow and
that many would try to enter the narrow gate and not be able. You are not really trying to enter if you are
bent on rejecting God’s ways so Jesus is saying that you can try and still not
get in because you are in the wrong religion.
An all-powerful God could arrange things in such a way that most will
have the truth or enough of the truth so God must want most people to be in
error. God could have made all people
believe that they have been born Catholics even if they have not been for he is
almighty and lets us be deluded anyway.
Thus, he is antichrist and anti-religion.
Jesus
said in Matthew 12 that if a demon leaves the body of a man and the man stays
evil that he will come back with more demons after wandering the earth looking
for a place to stay and it is like this with his generation. Clearly there was
no scarcity of people fit for possession when the whole generation was evil and
in danger of possession. They must have
been very evil indeed. Jesus talks as if
the demons go looking to live in somebody worse and if they find none they go
back to the man they left and recommend that other demons join them so the man
ends up worse than at the beginning. So
Jesus is saying the evil will get worse and worse and worse. When the Jewish leaders said he was casting
out demons by the power of the prince of devils Jesus replied that if the
prince does that his kingdom will fall down.
So Satan needs to possess to have a kingdom and the Bible describes him
as king of the world and the god of this world.
So he must possess most people.
Demons
have the destruction of the truth brought by Jesus as their supreme goal
therefore Christianity would be apostate with only a handful of true believers
if any. Demons have no need to dwell
inside anybody for tempting is enough unless they are planning supernatural
fraud and to make the person see false visions and to give the person
delusional experiences of God. Not many
visions are reported so the latter is what they are up to.
The
Catholic claim that Protestantism is a hoax for it was not known before the
Reformation would prove nothing even if it were correct for Jesus could
preserve enough truth so that some could get saved by faith alone by accident.
REVELATION AND APOSTASY
The Bible says that most of the Church will leave the faith and create a fake Church. The Book of Revelation is clearest on this.
Revelation 1:7 says ALL the tribes of the earth will grieve when Jesus returns. Obviously he is not too welcome! Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 24:3, 30. Revelation speaks of Jesus having seven stars which it explains are the seven churches. These stars are in his right hand meaning these Churches despite the scathing criticism he has for them are precious to him. Jerusalem and Rome are excluded from the list of Churches as if they were already considered apostate and given over to Satan. Revelation uses the number seven to signify completeness and perfection. All scholars agree with this.
Some think that the seven churches is just a device that means whole Church though only seven places where the Church was were mentioned. But that is stretching the symbolism too far. If that was all the book meant then why name the Churches? Why did Jesus tell the author to send a different letter to each Church? Some believers will say that the author choosing some centres and not others proves nothing. The author selected those centres and did it in such a way as to make up seven centres. Each centre had a letter to promote. His selection proves that these places were thought to have the correct Christian doctrine and to be part of the true Church. Far from thinking that Peter who reigned over the Church in Jerusalem was a pope, far from thinking that Peter went to Rome to rule the whole Church as pope, Revelation indicates that the Church in Jerusalem and Rome was apostate.
Two prophets are described as being slain in Jerusalem "where their Lord was crucified" in Revelation 11. Revelation says they have the power to strike the earth with any torment or plague they wish. They destroy their enemies by doing miracles. But after they have given their message from God, the beast of the abyss will come and kill them. Their bodies will lie in Jerusalem and be viewed by every tribe on earth for three days and a half. They are refused burial. Then the prophets rise from the dead at the end of the three and a half days in the sight of their enemies and ascend to heaven on a cloud. It is plainly said the whole earth rejoiced and exchanged gifts in celebration of their death for the prophets TORTURED everybody on earth (Revelation 11:10). The hatred roused against them shows that attempts to say they harassed rather than tortured are dubious. Some translations try to soften the fact that the prophets were very cruel and vicious. The Christian God is essentially vindictive. God is described as having begun to reign after the prophets give their message and die and go to Heaven (11:17). This implies that apostasy was rife. He barely had a Church when the prophets lived.
None of this has happened It shows that only two people will belong to God or speak for God during the time of darkness and apostasy. So the prophets have to teach not the pope. The prophecy exposes the Catholic lie that the papacy will never pass away until the end of the world and will never lead the Church into apostasy.
The New American Bible Catholic Edition surmises that the two prophets were Peter and Paul. But it was never claimed that their bodies were displayed anywhere let alone in Jerusalem or that they rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven. Also, they were not the only prophets. And Paul did not die in Jerusalem but Rome. Peter was more low-key than Paul so why would Peter be singled out for mention? And how could Christians be expected to believe that there were only two real apostles or prophets then? What about the others? What about the author of Revelation the contemporary of Peter and Paul who claimed to be a prophet?
Revelation 6:14 speaks of the heavens rolling up like a scroll and vanishing and all the islands and mountains being moved around. This happened as a result of Jesus the Lamb opening the sixth seal causing the sun to become black and the moon to look like blood. We read that all the kings of earth hid as a result. It says all those who had power and authority did the same - meaning those who had religious power as well. That would include the pope. Revelation uses much symbolism. The heavens and the mountains are Old Testament images representing godless religious powers (Isaiah 34:4 and Nahum 1:5). If we read Isaiah 34:4, 5 which inspires the symbolism we read how the heavens are scrolled up and then when God's sword has drunk its fill in the Heavens it will descend in judgement. So the heavens are scrolled up - this must be the heavens where God dwells meaning there is no way in there anymore and the word of God is not taught and only apostasy is taught. In Revelation, the sun becoming black refers to the word of God being covered up so that there is no religious light in the world.
Revelation speaks of a world
superpower headquartered by
Roman Catholicism refers to herself as her and she and mother Church. Pagan Rome never used the feminine symbolism. Roman Catholicism is the harlot.
Pagan Rome forced itself on the kings of the ancient world. Catholic Rome presented herself to the kings and the kings came to her. This matches the statement of Revelation that the harlot prostituted herself with the kings of the world. The kings were her clients.
The Catholic teaching that Jesus is fully in all the wafer makes it fully plain that people can believe that Jesus' penis is in their mouths when they receive communion. The Eucharist can be described as being Jesus' penis. This is religious style sex abuse. Pagan Rome never used temple prostitutes or perverse erotic rites. No wonder Revelation uses the sexual and religious connotations of a harlot to describe Catholic Rome.
The whore works with the great beast her god who forces the whole world to worship a false god and kills anybody that doesn't. The number of the beast is 666. This is usually thought to refer to the Roman Emperor Nero. Let's suppose that. If its Nero then it is not Nero as he was back then. Nero committed suicide by cutting his own throat but we read that the beast has this wound healed so this is resurrected Nero we have. This is a Nero with tremendous occult powers (Revelation 13:14). For a Christian, it predicts the return of Nero and his becoming pope. Satan had a throne and gave it to this resurrected Nero (Revelation 13:2). This throne must be in Rome meaning the papal throne. Revelation 14:12 says the saints are sustained and comforted in Heaven by the thought that the worshippers of the beast will suffer great torment in a pool of sulphur. The book indicates that it is a duty to hate the whore and the beast. Revelation 18:6 quotes a voice from Heaven commanding that the whore be paid back double for all the evil she ever did.
Page 37 of The Book of Revelation for Dummies rejects the idea that the 666 is about Nero. The reasons it says this is because the book was designed for a non-Jewish audience so Revelation translating Nero Caesar's name into Hebrew to add the letters to come up with 666 doesn't seem plausible. But on page 218 we read that non-Jews did know the system. Also Revelation depends heavily on Old Testament prophecy and the Jewish scriptures. It uses Hebrew devices despite being written for non-Hebrews. Another problem is how you have to change the usual spelling of Caesar to get the 666.
7 in Revelation stands for perfection and so 6 stands for imperfection and fallen from God (page 218, The Book of Revelation for Dummies). The 6 is next to the 7. This suggests that the evil may not be very obvious and may even look good. That is why it is best described as imperfect than evil. Imperfection is less easy to spot than evil is. The best evil masquerades as imperfection if it cannot manage to masquerade as good. The 666 suggests imperfection or defiance of God three times over. If 6 stands for imperfection and hidden evil then the 666 man or men must stand for imperfection that is three times more subtle and clever. The papacy has certainly managed to look fairly good despite its evil. Revelation says that the beast kills all who refuse his name or the number of his name. The name suggests that we have here a spiritual leader who wants all to accept him and the number of his name being the 666 suggests he wants people to receive evil sacraments from him to become captive to the supernatural power of evil. This fits the pope and his insidious and superficially innocuous evil better than the Roman Emperor who was evil outright.
Incidentally Rome was always stronger and more advanced than Jerusalem as a city which is why Revelation 18:18 proves the falsity of Catholic claims that the whore is Jerusalem. There we read that the mourners of the destroyed whore were saying no other city could ever have compared with her. Jerusalem is thought to be meant when the book condemned a city as Sodom or Egypt but at the same time the city is referred to as the beloved city (Revelation 20:9.
The Book
of Revelation predicts that when the Whore of Babylon controls religion on
earth that God’s angel will proclaim the gospel by appearing to everybody on
earth who will see him in Heaven (Revelation 14:6). God does not teach the gospel this way unless
he has no friends on earth who would do it.
Jesus said that those who don’t see his miraculous self and believe are
more blessed than those who do (John
Revelation
says the whore is drunk on the blood of the saints. The Roman Catholic Church killed far more
Christians than pagan
Most Christians take Revelation 20 in a figurative sense. It says that an angel came down from Heaven and bound Satan for a thousand years so that during that time he would not be able to fool the nations. Then we read that those who had died for Jesus and had not received the mark of the beast on their foreheads and hands came to life and reigned with Jesus for one thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until after this time. Of those who rose first, Revelation says that the second death has no power over them but they shall be priests of God and of Christ. The second death is being thrown into the pool of burning sulphur (Revelation 21:8). After this reign Satan is released and deceives the world and gathers the nation for a world war. After that the last judgement takes place.
This chapter stands by itself.
Satan was bound but it never says when this binding took place except that it took place after the martyrs died. Those martyrs who refused to accept the mark of the beast reign with Jesus but we are not told where. It may mean in Heaven. But we read that no additions to their number were made in the thousand years. This implies that apostasy reigned on earth. God bound Satan up so that the apostasy is simply inexcusable and means that the religions of the world preferred to deceive themselves than to honour the truth. The dead that rose at the end of the thousand years are not said to be holy. In fact Satan gets released when they rise and he uses them in his world war.
The binding of Satan is traditionally and logically surmised to refer to the truth of God being issued throughout the world. There being no true Christians on earth while the martyrs reigned would indicate that the Churches were distorting and keeping people away from that truth and away from salvation.
The Mark of the Beast indicates some kind of religious ritual that prevents salvation and marks one as damned. The Roman Church claims to mark people's souls with its sacraments. Catholic baptism is supposed to mark the soul for all eternity.
The Church did kill people for refusing its baptism. Revelation indicates that rejecting the Mark of the Beast is of supreme importance for it singles this out.
CONCLUSION
The Bible says Christianity as it came
from Christ has vanished from the earth.