The Wine of Babylon

The Wine of Babylon

Paganism is the hot new religion, and thousands are embracing it  -- Fabulous Magazine

Hello dear readers, since I have written about some festivities that are practiced today around the world and also in christian communities, I will augment on the subject of “the wine of Babylon” that I started on my previous article “easter”.

This is going to be the first part of a very interesting study where we will examine what is this so called “Babylon” and its “wine”.

I strongly believe that this subject is very important, because it unveils the origin of many beliefs and teachings that sometimes we don't know about. Thus, bringing us to a crossroads, where we will have to make a decision to either ignore this knowledge or embrace it.

The main verse is found in:

Revelations 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

So, what is the wine of Babylon ?

Well, let us first see what or who Babylon is.

Babylon was the first kingdom mention in the bible and the first king was Nimrod as mentioned in:

Genesis 10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Nimrod rebelled against God, inspired by the devil, he wanted to be like God and build his throne in the heavens. That is why he started to build a tower (ziggurat) so tall that he wanted to reach the heavens as mentioned in:

Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

History continues the legend of Nimrod, a great builder and hunter, and his kingdom Babylon, Nimrod marries Semiramis, the queen of Babylon. They begin to build a kingdom so great and a religion so powerful that are still alive today, more alive than you might think.

Basically Nimrod dies and according to his wife Semiramis, Nimrod ascends to heaven and become the sun god (Baal, Bel). Semiramis (Ashtoreth) then, conceives a son whom she claims is the son of the sun god. Tammuz, the son of the sun god is born. Semiramis, who is the mother and wife of Tammuz eventually dies and also ascends to heaven and becomes the moon goddess (Ashtoreth, Astarte), the “queen of heaven”. These 3 entities are mention in the bible as well, in :

1 Samuel 12:10 "Then they cried to the LORD again and confessed, 'We have sinned by turning away from the LORD and worshiping the images of Baal and Ashtoreth. But we will worship you and you alone if you will rescue us from our enemies.'

Jeremiah 51:44 And I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon, and make him vomit up all he has eaten. The nations will no longer come and worship him. The wall of Babylon has fallen!

Jeremiah 32:35 They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech.

1 Kings 11:5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.

Ezekiel 8:14 He brought me to the north gate of the LORD's Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz.

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Before the death of the great queen Semiramis, Tammuz dies a horrible death and his wife/mother Semiramis, brings him back to life. Tammuz then becomes a deity a god, the son of the sun god and is also worshiped. Since then these gods, beliefs and teachings have been seen in pretty much every civilization. The reason is that, before they could finish that great tower, God noticed what they were doing and saw their intention so, for the good of humanity, He confused the language among them. Since then, people were scattered around the globe as the bible mentions in:

Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

From there on, these deities were still worshiped by the different civilizations, but with different names. For example Nimrod (who is also known as Ninus or even Gilgamesh among others) who became 'Baal' which means 'Lord', was also known as Bel, Belus, Beelzebub, Moloch, Hadad, Zeus, Osiris, Jupiter, Marduk, Odin, etc, etc, etc.

Semiramis the 'moon queen', the 'great mother' the 'queen of heaven', became Ashtoreth also known as Ishtar, Astarte, Cybele, Rhea, Demeter, Ceres, Aphrodite, Isis, Venus, Diana, Fortuna, Freya, etc, etc, etc.

And Tammuz, the son of the sun god, was also worshiped as Horus, Mithra, Krishna, Attis, Dionysus, Saturn, Cronos, Thor and even Quetzalcoatl among many others.

That basically is a brief description of the literal Babylon of the bible and history. And Babylon's teachings are seen all around the world today as you study history and different civilizations.

Now you can start to see what it means when it says: “she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication”.

The wine of Babylon

Now, in the bible, the wine of Babylon represents false teachings and beliefs. Jesus is the true vine and out of Him flows pure and uncorrupted wine, true teachings. But out of Babylon only comes false teachings, error confusion and apostasy and abominations. The bible teaches this:

Revelations 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication

And we can even see how the bible describes 'abominations' as lies, in:

Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.

In other words, Babylon's wine of abominations = lies, false teachings and beliefs.

Many of those teaching you can see even today still practiced around the world, if you do your own research and compare them you will be amazed.

But let me just mention that since the days of Nimrod the pagan religion has been alive in every culture, worshiping pagan gods, and today is no exception, just take a look at the article mentioned above and other similar ones...

Paganism is the hot new religion, and thousands are embracing it – FabulousMagazine

Pagan culture has arrived in the 21st century – and young women are behind its
growing popularity. Intrigued by its mystery and underlying sexuality,
20-somethings are converting in their droves, making paganism the UK’s
fastest growing religion.

New York University Press published a book written by Michael York

Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion  – GoodReads (Pagan Theology)

In Pagan Theology, Michael York situates Paganism--one of the fastest-growing spiritual orientations in the West--as a world religion

Online Witch School Claims Wicca Fastest Growing Religion – The ChristianPost

Wicca, The country’s fastest-growing religion – The New YorkTimes

Notice how Revelations says that Babylon has given her wine of abominations to all nations, kings and merchants:

Revelations 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen...

3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Revelations 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Very well, so we know and understand what “the wine of Babylon” is. We also know that she made all nations drink of her abominations and lies.

Now let's examine the most important part of this article, where we will identify the other face of Babylon. We know and understand what the literal Babylon is, but it has another face.

That is the biblical, spiritual or symbolic side of Babylon.

Spiritual side, because it has infiltrated Christianity!

You know what they say: if you can't beat them, join them!

Could it really happen? Could paganism infiltrate Christianity? Or even worst, could paganism disguised itself as a Christian church and teach all nations lies and false teachings?

You better believe it and the book of Revelations is specifically intended to warn us, the faithful followers of Yeshuah the messiah.

Spiritual or symbolic Babylon

Fist of all, we should know that a woman in bible prophecy represents a church

Jeremiah 6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

And Isaiah clearly tells us that Zion is God's people:

Isaiah 51:16 ...and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

Paul also writes about this:

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

But as we read earlier, Babylon is a harlot woman, an unfaithful woman, an unfaithful church. A church that has betrayed Jesus with paganism.

Here is a full description of her:

Revelations 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

So, let us identify this church, this woman named Babylon, once and for all.

To do that we are going to examine the some verses in Revelations chapter 17. I will limit my self to say nothing at all at first, I'll just ask questions.

So first of all we saw that a woman in the bible represents a church, so I'll substitute the word “woman” for the word “church” so we'll have a better idea. By the end of the study, it will be very clear, so let's play Sherlock Holmes for a moment and let's see what we can discover...

A woman named “Mystery Babylon”, Revelations 17

I. Revelations 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

So this church sits “upon many waters”, What does many waters mean ? The answer is in:

Revelations 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

– So we are looking for church that “sits” or is on top or oversees many peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues, in other words, a church that is all over the world, an universal church.--

II. Revelations 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

– So this church, has been in relationship with the Kings of this earth. Now kings ruled in the medieval times, so this church had been doing businesses with the kings of the old world.

And if this church is still alive (which still is) it has to be involved with the rulers of today.

– It also says that the inhabitants of the earth have been expose to this church's false teachings and believes.

III. Revelations 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

– Wow, this is a big subject by itself. I won't go into “the beast” subject, but I'll just mention that a beast is a kingdom as Daniel says in :

Daniel 7:23 He gave me this explanation: 'The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth...

– So this church also has a kingdom, today we can call it a country or state, “a political ruler”, someone how has political power , but what is very, very impressive, is that this “beast” has names of blasphemy. I'll mention some of these names at the bottom of the article to see if they match. But let us see what the bible calls blasphemy:

Mark 2:7 What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!

John 10:33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.

– So this beast's blasphemies also include: Forgiving sins, when only God can do this, and claiming to be God on earth being a mere man.

IV. Revelations 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

– This church also wears purple and red colors, with gold, precious stones and pearls. Not many churches' outfits use these colors with all these jewels.

– The verse also mentions again a cup full of false teachings and believes.

V. Revelations 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

– In this verse we see that this church is “a mother church”, a church that has many daughters that came out of her. Are you getting an idea yet?

VI. Revelations 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

– Wow, as we can see, this church has also persecuted and killed Christians, it has spilled the blood of many saints and martyrs of Jesus.

VII. Revelations 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

– Here it says that the heads are mountains on which the church sits. So do you know any church that is located in an area of seven mountains or seven hills ?

Well, those are enough clues to help us recognize who this church is. The bible is warning us that the Babylon of old has infiltrated Christianity, after going from civilization to civilization, and it wants us to know who and where this Babylon is.

Well my dear readers, I think the bible is very specific about this. You don't have to be a bible scholar to figure this out.

We have played the detective today and I strongly believe there can only be one conclusion.

Are you ready ? I am sure many of you have come to the same conclusion, and after I tell you, let us see if it really matches.

The only church that fits every description of this woman named Babylon is the Catholic Roman church.

Let us review the points that the bible mentions in Revelations and see if it matches with this church.

I. The great whore that sitteth upon many waters.

We saw what that means, so is the Roman Catholic church over many nations, peoples and tongues, is it a universal church ?

Undoubtedly, the answer is yes, it is. In fact, the very meaning of the word “Catholic” means “universal” (Catholic.com)

Roman Catholicism is by far the largest Christian group. With more than one billion adherents, Catholics constitute about half of the world's Christians. -- Religion Facts

II. The kings of the earth and inhabitants of the earth

Has the Roman Catholic church been involved with the literal kings of this earth in the medieval times?

Absolutely! If you know something about history you know how much power the pope and the church had over the different kingdoms of Europe and their kings.

And today? Does the Roman Catholic church have relationships with the presidents and rulers of today ?

This is obviously an positive answer as well. In the last decades we have seen how the pope, who is the head of the church, has been involved in someway or other with pretty much every president or leader of the world.

World leaders gather for Pope's inauguration mass – The Telegraph

200 WORLD LEADERS ATTEND FUNERAL OF POPE JOHN PAUL II – Order of Malta

The Holy Alliance: Ronald Reagan and John Paul II – Time Magazine

III. A woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy

Well, this one is a whole article by itself. But we mentioned that a beast represents a kingdom, so the Roman Catholic church should have had a kingdom and a political leader. Again, if you know something about history, you know that the Roman Catholic church ruled the medieval times and the pope was its leader.

Actually, the Roman empire was the 4^th beast of Daniel 7:7 that later became Christian and kept ruling.

Today it is still a kingdom, not as powerful as it was, but it still has a territory to rule, a country called The Vatican City State.

But the other part of the verse mentioned that this kingdom was full of names of blasphemies.

First we saw that the bible says that claiming to be God being a mere man is blasphemy, and to claim the power to forgive sins is also blasphemy. So, does the Roman Catholic church claims this?

There are many quotes you can research, I'll give you some links, and these are just a few of them:

Pope Leo XIII stated that the pope holds "upon this earth the place of God Almighty. – The Interactive Bible

Pope Leo XIII said:...But since We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty … – Amazing Discoveries

And also as you know, the Roman Catholic church claims it can forgive sins.

Other names of blasphemy:

Pontifix Maximus is a papal title meaning in Latin "chief bridge maker" between earth and heaven.

The bible says:

1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one who brings God and human beings together, the man Christ Jesus, (GNB)

Holy Father is a title the pope claims for himself.

The bible says:

Matthew 23:9 And you must not call anyone here on earth 'Father,' because you have only the one Father in heaven. (GNB)

John 17:11 And now I am coming to you; I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one. (I don't think Jesus was talking to the pope here) (AAM) 

Vicar of Christ: For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise. – Christian Answers 

But the bible says something different:

John 14:16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever.

John 15:26 "The Helper will come---the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father, and he will speak about me.

John 16:7 But I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I go away, because if I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him to you.

So as you can see, not only these names are blasphemous, but if you noticed, these names take the titles of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit upon the pope! If this in not blasphemy, I don't know what is.

IV. the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup 
in her hand.
 

Is the Roman Catholic Church dressed in purple and red? Adorned with gold precious stones and pearls?

Well let me just show you these pictures and we will see...



The tiara is a crown that the popes use, and it its filled with precious stones and pearls...

And the verse ends mentioning that this woman has a cup in her hand. It is very curious that the Roman Catholic Church is the only church, that I know, which uses the woman with a cup in her hand as one of their symbols! Isn't that so coincidental?

V. The mother of harlots

Is the Roman Catholic Church a “mother church”. Perhaps many of you have heard this “title” applied to this church before, but let us see what they themselves say about it:

It must always be clear, when the expression sister Churches is used in this proper sense, that the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Universal Church is not sister but mother of all the particular Churches.

Joseph Card. Ratzinger (previous pope) From the Vaticanweb page.

VI. drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus

The question again is: Has the Roman Catholic Church persecuted and killed Christians, spilled the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus?

The answer is not a conspiracy theory but a fact in history called “the holy inquisition” and also “the crusades”

The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy. – Wikepedia

The Crusades were religiously motivated campaigns conducted between the 11th and 16th centuries predominately but not exclusively against Muslims in the near east but also against pagans, heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons. – Wikipedia

Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same. – Catholic.com 

In other words a heretic is anyone who does not accept the “wine of Babylon”, and they were killed without mercy.

“Anyone who attempts to construe a personal view of God which conflicts with Church dogma must be burned without pity." - Pope Innocent III 
 

Many faithful followers of Jesus died just because they did not want to drink from the wine of the harlot.

Undoubtedly we have, again, a positive answer to our question.

VII. seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

Does the Roman Catholic Church have anything to do with seven mountains or seven hills?

Well, Rome is known as the city of seven hills. The Vatican sits on one side of the Tiber River, facing the seven hills.

-- Wikepedia
 – AmazingDiscoveries

The Reformation View

I think I do not need to say much more about this. It is pretty obvious and the bible gave all the details about it, and we just looked at some of them.

But do not think this is something new or just my opinion, as many of you may know, this is what the reformers discovered and therefore left the Roman Catholic Church, this is main stream history.

Identifying the pagan Rome referred to in the Book of Revelations with the Vatican is nothing new. It was invoked in the past by reformers such as the Catholic friar, Girolamo Savonarola, as well as by Luther and Calvin. The Catholic Church as “whore of Babylon” with the pope as Anti-Christ is in the Smalcald Articles of Luther's time and the 1646 Westminster Confession of Calvinists. – The WashingtonPost

Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other Reformation leaders... identified the papacy as the Antichrist and the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon. – Catholic Culture

Historicist interpreters commonly used the phrase "Whore of Babylon" to refer to the Roman Catholic Church. Reformation writers from Martin Luther (1483–1546) (who wrote On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church), John Calvin (1509–1564), and John Knox (1510–1572) (who wrote The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women) taught this association. – Wikipedia

Dear friend, it isn't my intention to offend anybody, and I surely hope nobody felt so. The bible doesn't speak against a group of people, but against a false system that is deceiving many.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that the bible is very clear about this. Jesus warned us about this infiltration into His flock so we would recognize it and not be deceived by it. We need to study God's word and understand the warnings He left for us.

We are at war! A spiritual war, intellectual, and our main weapon is the Holy Bible, let's learn how to use it by studying it. And wear the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-18).

I pray that God will give you wisdom and understanding.

May our God bless you all and guide you towards truth, because the truth shall set you free.

Jude 1:20 Dear friends, use your most holy faith to grow. Pray with the Holy Spirit's help.

21 Remain in God's love as you look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life.

Amen.