through doctors and drugs. Luke 11:15 shows the real power behind Baal-zebub -- it was the "chief" of the demons -- Satan.
These are the pagan customs which have passed into the churches as Christian customs. They are labeled with the name of Jesus -- but they originated among the pagans as a means to help them worship the FALSE MESSIAH!
Peter warns you today that there is no other way to be saved than through the NAME AND PERSON OF THE TRUE MESSIAH! (Acts 4:12).
History's Secrets Unfold
God had promised Israel -- the people He chose for a special mission -- that if they obey Him, the greatest earthly blessings any nation ever had, would be theirs. But He did not promise the nation, as a whole, eternal life. In Egypt, they had lost much of the knowledge of the True God their ancestors had possessed. In bringing them out of Egypt, God performed many miracles, showing them His power (Jer. 32:21).
Were they going to obey the True God who could and would make His promise of material wealth and power come true if they obeyed Him? Or were they going to be misled by the Devil-inspired idols of Semiramis, which were, as we shall soon prove, all about them?
Were they going to believe the Devil's lie -- that they could obtain eternal life by following the doctrines taught by the Mysteries of Semiramis, who falsely promised eternal life (a thing she could not bestow)? Or would Israel see through this deception and follow God's commands instead and obtain the material wealth of this earth, and ultimately, through God's promise to Abraham, eternal life? (Recall that Adam and Eve lost the material garden of Eden and eternal life at that time by following Satan's deception.)
Baal and Ashtoroth
Scarcely over sixty years after God led Israel out of Egypt, God says: "They forsook the Eternal and served Baal and Ashtoroth" (Judges 2:13). We find these two names used in many places in connection with the Israelites.
Who were they? Why are they so important in Scripture?
The word "baal" means master or lord (New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 820). As first and mightiest of the lords of the earth, Nimrod, became Baal or Bel (Peloubet, p. 80). He was recognized as the chief Babylonian deity (Halley's Pocket Bible Handbook, p. 95). Ashtaroth, as we have previously shown, was Semiramis. Israel was soon worshipping these two under these names.
Israel also worshipped Baal-berith (Judges 8:33). Nimrod, as Mediator and head of the covenant of grace, took this name or the name of Mithras (Hislop's The Two Babylons, p. 70). "Solomon went after Ashtoreth" (I Kings 11:5, 33). For a short time Israel "did put away Baal-im and Ash-ta-roth and served the Eternal only" (I Sam. 7:4), but they returned to this pagan practice (I Sam. 12:10). Please recall that Ashtaroth is just another form for the word "Ishtar" or "Easter" which the Christ-professing world observes today!
We, today, just as Israel was, are "in Babylon" or "in Egypt" which continued Babylon's pagan practices! "Jeroboam . . . served Baal, and worshipped him" (I Kings 16:31). You have heard of him. Is modern Israel -- the United States of America and the British Commonwealth -- not worshipping Baal (Nimrod) by observing his birthday, Christmas?
The priests of Baal (remember, Nimrod was the first and mightiest of baals, or gods) were the official representatives of Israel's religion (I Kings 18:26), while Ahab and Jezebel were the rulers. These priests, in their rituals, "leaped" or, properly translated, "limped," or "went sideways" just as their god Baal (Nimrod) is said to have done when he, through Semiramis' Mysteries, was identified as Adam who "went sidewise" or turned aside when he disobeyed God.
The official representatives of Israel's religion in the reign of Ahab and Jezebel were the Priests of Nimrod! Nimrod had become Israel's god!
Do the representatives of modern Israel's religions not encourage us to keep Nimrod's Sun-days and birthday? Who is our national god today? Among all the millions in those days who followed Baal under Ahab and Jezebel, only seven thousand did not follow him (I Kings 19:18). How many are not keeping these days today in our nation?
Other Names of Nimrod
Israel worshipped Milcom "the god of the children of Ammon." Who was this? None other than Molech whom we have identified as Nimrod (New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 824). Judah was worshipping this god just before her captivity (II Kings 23:13). Jeremiah 7:17-20 warned Judah against her practice of worshipping the Queen of Heaven, who was Semiramis.
Now please notice II Kings 17:17, Jeremiah 8:18-22, and Deut. 4:16-19. Alexander Hislop, in his book, page 309 says: "As Baal (Nimrod) the Lord of Heaven had his visible emblem -- the sun, so she (Semiramis) as Beltes, Queen of Heaven, must have hers also -- the moon." Josiah (II Kings 23:11) "burned the chariots of the sun with fire."
With regard to Israel's and Judah's gods being represented by stars, the New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 827, says "The stars formed a class . . . corresponding to the Igigi or 'heaven gods' of the Babylonians."
High places, elevations used in the main for idolatry, were all over Israel and Judah (II Kings 23:13, Micah 1:3). Bel (Isa. 46:1) was Baal or Nimrod, as we have seen, and Nebo (same ref.) was Nimrod as the prophetic god (Hislop, p. 34). Dagon (I Sam. 5:2-5) was the fish god of Babylon, whom Semiramis created in order to associate the dead Nimrod with Noah (Hislop, p. 264). Recall that Semiramis associated her dead deified husband with great personalities for prestige.
As we saw (earlier), Israel continued to worship the golden calf. God said He would cut off the horns of the altars at Bethel (Amos 3:14). Israel had a golden calf there (Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, p. 87). God warned Israel just before her captivity which He brought upon her for such practices, "Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as . . . the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind" (Hosea 13:2-3). God warns Israel today -- the U.S. and Britain, "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off . . . they shall return to Egypt" (Hosea 8:5, 13).
Samaria was the capital of the ten northern tribes of Israel. They never returned to the land of Egypt after Moses' time but we, their descendants, will do so, as this prophecy shows -- and soon!
We have seen that Molech was a title applied to Nimrod in one of his god forms and that in order to "purify" themselves, people, usually children, were made to "pass through the fire to Molech." In Leviticus 18:21, God warned Israel: "Thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech." Again, "whosoever . . . giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death" (Lev. 20:2).
But they went right ahead and disobeyed God, for "Ahaz . . . the king of Judah . . . walked in the way of the kings of Israel . . . and made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen" (II Kings 16:1-3). That this practice was picked up from pagan nations is evident. "Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations . . . that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire" (Deut. 12:30-31 and 18:9-10).
Note carefully that the heathen -- the gentiles -- were doing these practices of Nimrod and Semiramis as the Bible affirms.
Solomon built a high place for Molech (I Kings 11:7). Israel and Judah were both being deceived by the Babylonian worship. They, like the other nations, were infected with it! More evidence: Josiah, one of Judah's good kings, "defiled Tolpheth (a place where Molech was worshipped) . . . that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech" (II Kings 23:10).
This destruction of a worshipping place of Molech had no lasting influence, for Judah continued in idolatry. This was happening eight hundred years after God led Judah and Israel out of their Egyptian captivity.
What does God say of this practice? "Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain My children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire?" (Ezek. 16:20-21). God says this worship of Nimrod was a great sin. "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils" (Psalm 106:37). It is Devil worship.
We have now seen Bible proof that Israel worshipped the pagan gods of this "Mystery" system. What about the customs used in the observance of these pagan gods? Does the Bible speak of these? Let us examine.
Israel's Pagan Customs
God says of the days set aside by Israel on which to worship -- days which had not been commanded by Him: "Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth . . . I am weary to bear them" (Isaiah 1:14). God had not appointed these days and customs Israel had been observing.
But God did give Israel His days and His feasts -- times which keep God's people in remembrance of His GREAT PLAN OF SALVATION. And the keeping of these times instills the habit of obedience to the True God!
What about today? Has God, through His Bible, appointed the days which churches now observe? God, we have seen, specifically condemns the observance of Christmas (Jer. chapter 10), which actually commemorates Nimrod's rebirth as Horus but what we say is Christ's birthday -- a day which was observed by Israel, our forefathers, as the birthday of Nimrod long before Christ was born.
Israel had their picture of the image of jealousy -- Tammuz, the counterfeit of Christ -- hung upon their walls (Ezek. 8:5, 10, 14). Who knows what the actual Christ looked like, who men say was born on Christmas Day? We hang his supposed picture on our walls today.
Israel, our forefathers, worshipped the sun, as the United States and the United Kingdom, modern Israel, do today when they observe Easter sunrise service: "Their faces toward the east . . . they worshipped the sun" (Ezek. 8:16, Jer. chap. 8). God says, "I gave them My statutes and . . . My judgments . . . also My sabbaths . . . but the House of Israel rebelled against Me" (Ezek. 20:11-13). God said, "I will turn your (not God's) feasts into mourning" (Amos 8:10).
"I hate, I despise your feast days, and . . . your solemn assemblies . . . ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity " (Amos 5:21-27).
What a duality! Moloch we have identified as Nimrod, the fire god of Babylon, and Chiun was Nimrod in his hidden form as Saturn (New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 823). They were setting aside days for the worship of Nimrod, and God said He would scatter them into captivity.
Today, modern Israel, the United States and the democracies of northwestern Europe, are doing the same thing in our Sunday, Christmas, and Easter observances, and our captivity is foretold!
Read Ezekiel, chapter 5. Note that verse 4 says the prophesy is to the house of Israel and remember that this prophesy was given about 600 B.C. This was long after ancient Israel was scattered. This prophesy is for us! It is the same old story -- Israel today is deceived by the same old means the Devil used to deceive ancient Israel!
It is evident by now that the pagan gods that the ten and two tribes of Israel and Judah worshipped, were none other than those that the Devil inspired Semiramis to concoct for the deception of the world. They were believing the lie of the Devil -- that they could obtain eternal life and material benefits through the worship of these gods. All through the history of Israel, while she was worshipping these gods which we have identified as those composing the Mysteries, God was warning her not to follow the way of the heathen. The heathen were following these same gods (see II Chron. 28:3, 33:2, 36:14; II Kings 17:15, 21:2). Here is Bible proof that the Gentiles were being deceived by this same system. The whole earth, at the time that Israel existed under the rule of God as a nation, was deceived by these mysteries. Israel itself finally refused to be under God's direct rule and became deceived!
Why is it that God calls attention to only this system of deception -- the Mysteries of Semiramis -- and never mentions the many demon gods of Asia? Because Semiramis' counterfeit way is patterned after the true way of salvation so closely that God knows that, if it were possible, it would even "deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24:24). God has warned the few that follow Him about these "Mysteries." Other pagan practices they are able to recognize without Divine revelation. He knows this one will deceive the earth!
New Testament Mentions Mystery System
Paul warned the Churches of his time against these same practices when he said, "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you" (Gal. 4:10-11).
When Paul visited Athens in his day, "he saw the city wholly given to idolatry" (Acts 17:16). The Greeks did not know the true God (verses 23-28). Paul stood on Mar's Hill to talk (verse 22). Mars was Nimrod as the Roman god of war (Hislop, p. 153). He was a well-known god. Diana, who was Semiramis as the "Bruiser of the Serpent's Head" (Hislop, p. 76) was worshipped by "all Asia and the world" in Paul's time (Acts 19:27). The Devil, the hidden head of this Mystery system, is not an evil-looking person with a pitchfork and a tail, as we have been led to believe. The New Testament shows us he "is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14).
Why Israel was Deceived
Why did God allow Israel, which He Himself had called out of "Babylon" (Egypt), to be deceived? In Leviticus chapter 26, God said He would bless Israel above all nations if they would obey Him -- five would chase a hundred of their enemies and one hundred would put ten thousand to flight (verse eight); they would dwell safely (verse 5) and have much material wealth (verse 10). He reminded them that He had brought them out of Egypt, the land where they had learned the Devil-inspired worship of old Babylon, and had been in captivity both to this pagan religion and to the Egyptians.
God, bringing them out, warned them that if they would not obey Him, He would punish them more than other nations of the earth; they would be slain before their enemies (verse 17), suffer famine (verse 25), and be scattered among the heathen (verse 33). He would punish them "seven times" (verse 18) -- each "time" a year of 360 days, and each day a year -- a total of 2520 years.
We have seen that they were deceived by the Devil into worshipping his idols. God says, "They rebelled against Me . . . neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt . . . they walked not in My statutes . . . My sabbaths were greatly polluted . . . I lifted up Mine hand . . . that I would scatter them among the heathen" (Ezek. 20:8, 13, 23).
God did "scatter them among the heathen." The ten tribes, Israel, "worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal . . . therefore the Eternal was angry with Israel, and removed them" (II Kings 17:16-18). Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians, the ancestors of modern Austria and Germany. And as the Assyrian king was ruler of Babylon and other areas, he repopulated Israel's country with people from these countries (II Kings 17:24). Israel later migrated from Assyria. She was scattered into the "Babylonish" world -- the pagan world that was saturated with the customs of old Babylon and the Mysteries of Semiramis -- they were scattered in the world of Babylon the Great (Rev. 18:2). The two tribes (Judah) were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon about a hundred and thirty-five years later because of the same sins.
Why did God allow all of this? We need not guess -- the Bible, as usual, tells us. It is explained hundreds of years later in the New Testament times. Stephen, speaking to the Jews, the present-day descendants of Judah, said: "Our fathers would not obey, but thrust Him (God) from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt . . . then God . . . gave them up to worship the host of heaven" (Acts 7:39, 42). Continuing with verse 43 in the Moffatt translation, "So now I will transport you beyond Babylon." God was doing this. God says He has fixed the nations allotted periods, and boundaries of the nations (Acts 17:26).
Why then did He remove Israel? Paul says of Israel, "with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters . . . and they are written for our admonition" (I Cor. 10:5-7, 11). Idolatry is defined as worship of anything that is not God (Webster's Columbia Reference Dictionary ). God is building historical examples of the great penalty of worshipping anything other than Him, and of the great reward for worshipping Him only!
Remember, Abraham worshipped God only after God called him. Through these many historical examples, God was building for the time when He will really start to save the people of this earth. He was then using Israel as this example to the world, just as He had used the people existing at the time of the Flood!
Satan Knows He Has But a Short Time
God has allotted six thousand years for Satan to rule and deceive this earth. The demons knew this time was not up when Christ came the first time. They asked Christ, "Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matt. 8:29).
Satan was well aware of the importance of Christ's first coming to this earth. He knew hundreds of years in advance what it would do to his own rule! Note this prophecy! "A great red dragon . . . stood before the woman . . . to devour her child as soon as it was born" (Rev. 12:3-4). It was primarily Satan's idea to destroy Christ and save his own kingdom. Herod, who sought to slay the infant Jesus, was only a tool of Satan. Later Satan tried to influence Christ to worship him when he tempted Him in the wilderness (Matt. 4:8-9). Had Christ yielded, the devil could have retained his rule! Christ would not have ruled this earth as God's representative, for He would instead have been serving Satan (verse 10). Had Christ yielded to Satan's temptation, Christ would have had to pay with His own life for His own sin (Rom. 6:23).
But Christ resisted! And He thereby made salvation possible for humanity.
When Satan saw Christ "caught up unto God" (Rev. 12:5), he knew he was defeated.
Satan became wrathful with Christ's Church. And especially is he angry today! God warns of Satan's deceptions now! "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth . . . for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time . . ." (Rev. 12:12).
The Devil knows his period of rule is now almost up -- he has but a short time. He is even now casting out a torrent of false doctrines. He would have succeeded in destroying the early True Church entirely, had it not been for divine, supernatural, intervention (verse 6). Even so, only a "remnant" -- a very small number -- are to be left keeping the commandments of God. "The Dragon" (Satan, see verse 9) "was wroth . . . and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17).
God watches over this earth in as far as His overall plan and immutable laws are concerned. But Satan is allowed to rule it through suggestion until Christ's second coming. Satan now is intensely active and he has all but a remnant -- a very small number -- deceived!
Perversion of the True Church Teachings
Have you ever noticed Ephesians 2:19-20? This scripture tells us that the household of God is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone."
Do you really grasp the meaning of this? Whatever Christ or the apostles of this original Church taught or did, we must do today if we are going to belong to the household of God! If Satan could counterfeit or otherwise delude people from following these original, true Church practices, he would destroy their hope of salvation! He would thus strike at the very foundation of the purpose of God's creation -- Sons of God who are to rule with Him! No wonder Satan started to strike at the teachings of God from the very time of Adam and Eve!
We have already seen how the Mysteries of Semiramis -- the pagan counterfeit of Christianity -- were everywhere when the true Church was founded. Did these seep in? Paul wrote the Thessalonians "the Mystery of iniquity doth already work" (II Thes. 2:7). Semiramis' Mysteries had started to infiltrate the teachings of Christ and the apostles. But they did not infiltrate the headquarters Church at Jerusalem during the time the apostles were there. This Church of God, whose practices are recorded in the New Testament for our benefit, became the example for all to follow. Both Christian Gentile and Jew scattered abroad "became followers of the Churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus" (I Thes. 2:14).
Yet notice what happened!
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 389, says, "It was natural that the primitive tradition of a Church which was founded [little more than] forty days after the death of Christ, and was governed almost as many years under the immediate inspection of His apostles, should be received as the standard of orthodoxy."
The Bible tells us, as we have seen, that this Church was to be the standard or foundation for all future Churches of the True God. What they did, we are to do. Gibbon, the authoritative historian, discovers this same fact.
Where, then, were the Mysteries creeping in? In the outlying Churches. In the Church at Ephesus -- idolatrous practices (Rev. 2:6); in the church at Pergamos -- the doctrine of Balaam (Rev. 2:14); in the Church at Thyatira -- idols (Rev 2:20). These are a few of the examples pointed out to us by the Bible.
How did this perversion of the Gospel come about? Here is the answer of history! "The Jewish converts who laid the foundations of the Church, soon found themselves overwhelmed by the increasing multitudes that from all the various religions of polytheism [religions having many pagan gods] enlisted under the banner of Christ" (Gibbon, vol. I, chap. 15). Edward Gibbon further states that these pagans, when they first associated with members, asked the upright Christian members to tolerate their pagan practices. Later, after they became greater in number, they became INtolerant of the true teachings. Thus paganism crept in.
Are Majority Deceived Today?
Are all to enter the Kingdom of God now? Doesn't the Bible say, "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16)? "Doesn't this mean all must be saved now or be lost forever?" some ask. This would be true if the Bible did not have other scriptures amplifying this same subject. Scripture shows that God, as part of His great purpose, has allowed the spiritual blindness of the vast majority now. God has given the Gentiles over to a reprobate, or blinded, mind (Rom. 1:28). The god of this age -- Satan -- has been allowed to blind the minds of those who do not believe (II Cor. 4:4). All of Israel (except a very small number) are now blinded (Rom. 11:7) and have been given over to their own laws that are not good (Ezek. 20:25).
Did you know that Christ spoke in parables lest this blindness should be removed from the people of His day? (Mark 4:11-12). But in the 1000 years of the world tomorrow, God says He will remove all blindness. "He will destroy . . . the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations (Isa. 25:7). But you personally can, if you are repentant, pray to God that He will remove this blindness from you (Matt. 7:7).
Since the beginning of this world, God has called only a few in various times. God removed the blindness from them and they saw the truth and accepted salvation. Enoch, Abraham, and David are examples. The few are called now (I Cor. 1:2). For what purpose were they called? Christ will use them -- as well as the New Testament Church -- to rule and instruct the unsaved when He comes (Rev. 2:26, 5:10).
How False Churches Arose From Apostatizing Congregations of True Church
"Just how, step by step, did the pagan customs get into the churches of today?" you ask. We shall now see the unbelievable answer. The professing Christians of apostolic and post-apostolic times " . . . found a new occupation in the government of church . . . The ambition of raising themselves or their friends to offices of the church was disguised by . . . laudable intention" (Gibbon, vol. I, chap. 15). Selfishness was beginning to assert itself in a strong way within the early Church.
Gibbon shows that the Churches and their daughter congregations which had been founded through the work of the apostles began to form themselves into larger and larger groupings. Faithful members were ex-communicated. The size of the town within the boundaries of a group of churches had much to do with the power exercised by this group.
Naturally Rome, being the largest city, became the headquarters of this system of pseudo-Christianity. In the struggle for influence there arose among the elders at Rome, a Roman "pontiff" who gradually became the supreme head of these congregations. In order to increase church membership and power, a patronizing attitude was taken toward both pagans and "Christians." "Worship, at first very simple, was developed into elaborate, stately, imposing ceremonies having all the outward splendor that belonged to the heathen temples . . . The Imperial church of the 4th and 5th centuries had become an entirely different institution from the persecuted Church of the first three centuries. In its ambition to rule, it lost and forgot the spirit of Christ" (Halley's Pocket Bible Handbook, p. 671). The true teachings of Christ were cast aside!
"To conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get paganism and Christianity -- now far sunk in idolatry . . . to shake hands" (Hislop's The Two Babylons, p. 105).
The parent of present-day religion was taking form!
The famous advice of Pope Gregory I was that "by all means they should meet the pagans half-way, and so bring them into the Roman Church" (Hislop, p. 113). Note this was to be done by a fusion of fragments of truth with overwhelming error.
"If, in the beginning of the fifth century, Tertullian or Lacrantius [early Catholics] had been suddenly raised from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a Christian congregation" (Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. V, chap. 27).
Indeed, the forerunner of present day churches had departed far from the practices of the Church in Judea which the New Testament describes for us. But let us consider more evidence of the paganism of this Transition Church which stands midway in the path of development of Protestants and other churches of today. These contradicting and competing churches claim they go completely back to the original New Testament Church, but they hide the facts that they observe festivals and practices derived from paganism which are found in the Roman Church.
Paganism supposedly "disappeared" in the Roman area about 450 A.D. "So rapid, yet so gentle was the fall of paganism, that only twenty-eight years after the death of Theodosius, the faint and minute vestiges were no longer visible to the eye of the legislator" (Gibbon, vol. V, chap. 28). Where did paganism go? Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History, vol. II, p. 40, 45, has the answer. "In exact proportion as paganism has disappeared from without the church, in the very same proportion it appears within it."
Hear what Hislop (p. 224) has to say: "The system, first concocted in Babylon, and thence conveyed to the ends of the earth, has been modified and diluted in different ages and countries. In Papal Rome only is it now found nearly pure and entire." The system is a "Mystery" as we have seen. How does it masquerade? "It (Rome) . . . admits Christian terms and names; but all that is apparently Christian in its system, is more than neutralized by the malignant paganism that it embodies" (Hislop, p. 282).
Mankind on earth today is deceived by Christian-sounding names that Satan has put on practices of his own devilish system! Indeed Satan is active -- more active than ever!
Small Church of God and Great False Church
We have now seen how the old Babylonian system of Semiramis and Nimrod engulfed the true teachings of Christ and the apostles within a relatively short time after Christ's death. We have read that only a remnant -- a very small number -- are to keep the commandments of God (Rev. 12:17).
Down through the centuries have come two different churches, side by side, described by the Bible. One is the true little Church, always persecuted -- "If they persecuted Me they will also persecute you" Christ said in John 15:18-20. It has been so scattered, that it has seemed almost invisible -- the members often not knowing each other (Acts 6:1, 8:1; Rev. 12:6, 15; Dan. 12:7; Ezek. 34). These are they who keep the commandments of God.
But the other is the Great Church -- that Great False Church described as a great whore (Rev. 17:1) who has wielded great power in this, Satan's world (verses 2, 15). She will continue to do so with suddenly increasing power, now for a short time (verses 12, 18). She is described as the mother who has given rise to many protesting denominations (verse 5).
Daughter Churches Blinded
The woman sitting on the beast in Revelation 17:3 is a world-ruling church. On her forehead is the name "Mystery Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots" (verse 5).
Who are the Harlots? What offspring has the mother church given rise to? It is well-known that they are Protestants -- "a name given to the party who adhered to Martin Luther during the Reformation in 1529 and protested, or made a solemn declaration of dissent, from the decree of Emperor Charles V and the Diet of Spires . . . The name now applied generally to those Christian denominations that differ from the Church of Rome and sprang from the reformation" (Roach and Robertson's New Practical Reference Library, vol. IV, subject, "Reformation").
This same source says of this Reformation that it "is a term applied to a revolt in Europe in the Sixteenth Century against papal supremacy and certain doctrinal tenets of the Church of Rome."
This started similar movements in Hungary, France, England, and Scotland at that time. From these, the various modern Protestant groups have arisen. This, then, is where the Protestant churches of today have originated. They did not begin with Christ!
The Protestant churches come out from Papal Rome where the system, first concocted in old Babylon, is "now found nearly pure and entire" (Hislop, p. 224). By protesting against "certain doctrinal tenets" (Roach and Robertson's New Practical Reference Library, vol. IV, "Reformation") they claimed to get back to the teachings of the New Testament. But they did not do so!
The matter is easily proven. All one has to do is take his New Testament and check point for point what the true Church kept, and what these competing churches are now keeping. Satan has the world's churches deceived now!
Many a church today claims to be founded on "the ancient, original, apostolic Christian Church in its present-day form and appearance" (Karl Kreuschmar's What Lutherans Teach, p. 3). But doctrines foreign to the original true Church are followed, and doctrines followed by the original Church are not observed.
We have seen how Satan, knowing that his time for ruling this earth is now short, quickly substituted the deceptive doctrines of Semiramis' Mysteries for the true doctrines that Christ and His apostles taught. But we have also seen in Scripture, the way by which the few now called can recognize deception.
Satan, using the churches that arose after the apostles' time, was able to deceive the world, but the original Church at Jerusalem has given us The Bible despite all Satan's attempts to have it stamped out.
What God Requires of You
Are you fulfilling God's requirements for salvation? The very fact that you are reading this shows that God is revealing Himself to you. What should you now do?
Consider these facts! The household of God is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesian 2:19-20). Note that what Christ and the apostles said or did was the foundation for the household or Kingdom of God. If one desires to enter the Kingdom of God, composed of spirit beings, he must build his actions on this foundation. God has commanded it! Paul, inspired by God, commanded this to the Ephesians -- converted Gentiles -- after the death of Christ. It is for everyone and is for us now.
Make this comparative "spot check." Beginning with the Book of Acts, there is much concerning how the disciples of Christ founded and conducted the New Testament church. Obtain a Bible concordance and try to look up the words "Christmas" or "Sunday" or "Halloween." (You need not look up these words for they do not appear once in your Bible!) By contrast, look up the word "Sabbath." Then look up the word "Pentecost." Was it being kept? As Christ formed the chief part of this "foundation," the things that He observed are to be kept also. So include the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in this word research. The practices observed by Christ and the apostles were the final instructions to this world. It is time you quit being deceived by false teachers! It is time to wake up to the shocking fact that the churches of today have departed from the doctrines of the ancient, original, apostolic Christian Church!
And it is time to do something about it. Quit these foolish, heathen customs masquerading under Christ's name and begin to OBEY YOUR BIBLE!
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR -- This is a collection of a series of eleven articles originally published in The PLAIN TRUTH in November, 1959 through September, 1960. It was put together in its present form in March, 1996, and revised in September, 1998. The recap (summary) information beginning each of the original articles was the only omissions. May God open your eyes and your heart, and light the way for your feet to follow Him to salvation. God Bless!
