The Babylonian Roots of Roman Catholicism
"And upon her forehead was a name written MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." These words,
written by John in Revelation 17:5, are given to describe the woman
who is symbolic of the one world church system set up by the Antichrist.
The fact that she is of the Antichrist is obvious. First, she is said
to be the great whore in verse 1 of chapter 17. The true churches of
God are known as the Bride of Christ. "Babylon is designated a harlot
because of her unfaithfulness to Christ the bridegroom through her
friendship and unholy alliance with the kings and inhabitants of the
earth.'' Thus, because of the designation of "whore", it is obvious
that the woman is a false religious system. Secondly, it is obvious that
the system is of Antichrist because of the description of the woman in
verse six. She is said to be "drunk with the blood of the saints, and
with the blood of the martyrs." Thus, it is seen that the false religious
system of Antichrist has been one that has persecuted the Christians down
through the centuries. It is this type of religious system that is called
Babylon The Great.
What is meant by the name, Babylon The Great? Some would say that this
refers to the city in which this wicked ecclesiastical system shall be
errected. However, it should be obvious from verse six that this is not
the correct interpretation. The city of Babylon by the Euphrates river
has never been drunk with the blood of the saints. In fact, quite contrary,
Babylon is nothing more than stones and rubble piled up. It has been
completely destroyed, and has not through history lived up to the
definition of verse six. Also, it is interesting to note that the
inscription on the forehead of the woman referred to MYSTERY, BABYLON
THE GREAT. This indicates that the name Babylon should not be taken
literally, but rather that it is a secret name which stands for something
else.  It is commonly believed that the name of Babylon thus refers to
the ecclesiastical system of Babylonianism founded in Genesis chapter ten,
which has existed in one form or another up until this present age and
will continue until the return of Christ.
The religious system known as Babylonianism received its name from the
city in which it was founded: Babylon on the plain of Shinar. The founder
of this city was Nimrod. Nimrod appears for only a brief time in the Bible.
His name is mentioned only in Genesis chapter ten, verses 8-10. Verse eight
teaches that Nimrod was begotten "by Cush, and that he was a mighty one in
the earth." Verse nine expands to tell that he was a mighty hunter before
the Lord. On first glance this description appears innocent enough, but a
closer examination will show the true nature of this individual. First of
all, the name Nimrod comes from the Hebrew verb"nimrode" which is translated,
"let us revolt." This in itself indicates the type of individual that Nimrod
was. He is referred to as a "mighty one." This phrase comes from the Hebrew
word, "gilor" which means "tyrant." So it becomes evident that Nimrod was
not just a powerful man on the earth at that time. Rather he was a tyrannical
leader of men. The phrase "a mighty hunter before the Lord" has interesting
connotations as well. First of all, it is interesting to question why the
hunting exploits of one individual would make the Lord take special notice
of him. The Hebrew phrase "liphne yahweh", which can be rendered "in the
estimation of Jehovah", carries with it the idea of a superlative, but
"a superlative that bears the meaning that even Yahweh was impressed
by this hunter's prowess and achievements."  There must have been
more to Nimrod's hunting than would be evidenced in the life of any
other hunter. Secondly, the word translated "before" in Genesis 10:9
carries with it a hostile meaning, and could probably be translated
"against". Putting this all together, it becomes plain that it was not
wild beasts that Nimrod was hunting, but men. Having hunted them he
would enslave them and have a tyranical hold over them. And all this
was done in direct opposition to the Lord. The Jewish Encyclopedia
sums up the life of Nimrod by referring to him as "he who made all the
people rebellious against God."
The Bible teaches that the beginning of the Kingdom of Nimrod was at
Babel, or in other words, Babylon. The wickedness of Babylon is evidenced
by the story of the tower of Babel, which is related in Genesis chapter
eleven. The people of Babel determined that they would build a huge tower
in their city in direct defiance to God. They were in defiance toward
God because they did not want to be scattered across the face of the
earth as God had commanded Noah and his descendants in Genesis 9:1.
In order to avoid this, they wanted to build this tower that would
make a name for them. They felt that this would help to bind them
together and keep them from scattering. But all this was in disobedience
to God. God forced them to do His will by confounding their language and
forcing them to disperse and try to regroup according to a common tongue.
But this small incident is very indicative of the people who followed
after Nimrod in his rebellion against God.
Following the death of Nimrod, his heathen form of worship was continued
by his wife, Queen Semiramis. She claimed that her husband had become the
Sun god, and was to be worshipped. Some time after this, Queen Semiramis
conceived through adultery and gave birth to an illegitimate son whom she
named Tammuz. It is interesting to note here that Ezekial 8:14 records
the incident of women weeping in lamentation for Tammuz. The prophet is
told that he will someday see greater abominations than this one, which
indicates that even sorrow for Tammuz was wicked and idolatry. Upon the
birth of Tammuz, Semiramis declared that he was actually Nimrod reborn.
In addition to this, she also claimed that her son was supernaturally
conceived. Now Semiramis undoubtedly knew of God's promise of a Redeemer.
Satan used her knowledge of this to enduce her to set up a counterfeit
plan of God's redemption by having her claim that Tammuz was to be the
saviour of the world.   However, even though Semiramis claimed to have
given birth to a saviour, it was she that was worshipped, not the son.
She was worshipped as the mother of the gods. So from this point on
the principle role of the woman as opposed to the Son is seen.
Many different ideas from the Babylonian religion have come down through
the generations. Probably the key doctrine is that of the mother-son
relationship. As the Babylonian people were scattered throughout the
world, they took with them the idea that Semiramis had miraculously
conceived and given birth to Nimrod reincarnated. Thus, all through
the world, men began to worship a divine mother and god-child, long
before the birth of Christ. The woman appears in different ways, and
is called by different names, but she is always the same person. The
Chinese called her Shingmoo. The Germans worshipped Hertha. The
Scandanavians worshipped Sisa. In India, she was known as Indrani.
But the woman was really Semiramis, the queen of Babylon. Even Israel,
when it fell into apostasy, worshipped Ashteroth, who was known to the
Jews as the "queen of Heaven" as told in Jeremiah 44:17-19. The spread
of this doctrine was great at the time of Christ.
The worship of the Great Mother,.. was very popular under the Roman
Empire. Inscriptions prove that the two (the mother and the child)
received divine honors... not only in Italy and especially in Rome,
but also in the providences, particularly in Africa, Spain, Portugal,
France, Germany and Bulgaria.
So it is apparent that the whole world was aware of, and probably
worshipped the Mother-Son relationship.
It was into this time period that Christ was born. As He accomplished
His ministry, and as the apostles went out and started churches, the
Word of God spread throughout the world. However, as the centuries
passed, many of these churches fell into apostasy. Paganism began
mingling with "Christianity". Constantine professed to become a
Christian and began to push Christianity on the pagans; not by
conversion, but simply by letting them join. Many of these pagans
who joined the "church" brought with them their beliefs about the
Great Mother. They had grown up with this belief so long that they
did not want to give it up. So the "church" compromised. Rather than
force the pagans to give up the Babylonian idea of the Great Mother,
they decided (in order to increase their numbers) to adopt this belief
into the church. Mary, the mother of Jesus, became the Great Mother to
the pagans. This satisfied both sides. The "Christians" were happy
because the pagans were "worshipping" the Christian God. The pagans
were happy because they had their Great Mother to worship. Thus,
little by little, the worship of Mary worked its way into the "church"
which is known today as the Catholic Church.
>>> Continued to next message
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ As many as were ordained to eternal life believed
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