Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast - Pete Garcia - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8294

 

"She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes; She can ruin your faith with her casual lies; And she only reveals what she wants you to see; She hides like a child but she's always a woman to me." ~Billy Joel  "She's Always a Woman to Me"

 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and all therein.  He made man in His own image, and then made a help-mate for Adam, and he named Woman, since she was taken from his own flesh and bone.  We know that according to Scripture that Satan came to Eve in the Garden in the form of a serpent.  And after their subsequent betrayal, rebellion and murder (the day they ate thereof they would die), we see that God then pronounces curses on the Serpent, the Woman, the Man, and the ground.  In Genesis 3:20, we see that Adam had named her Eve, since she was the mother of all who would eventually come henceforth from the human race.  We see that the dominant theme in the cursing process between the three parties had to do with offspring and child birth;

 

To the serpent, enmity would be between his seed and her seed.  And a 'Seed' would come which would crush his head, and he would bruise His heel.

 

To the woman, there would be pain and sorrow in childbirth. I imagine that at that particular point, she had not yet ever felt pain, but the very idea of it didn't sound good.

 

And it is at this point, Satan begins actively plotting against the "Seed" of Woman.  First, he influences Cain to kill Abel. (Gen. 4:1-15)  He then devotes the next 1,600 years or so, attempting to corrupt the genetic blood-line of mankind, by intermingling his fallen angels with human women to the point that only Noah and his family remain untainted. (Gen. 6:1-10)  God then wipes out the earth by the Great Flood and preserves only Noah and family to repopulate the earth once the waters subside.  Now, consider the math on this.  It is estimated that from Adam and Eve until the Floodwas around 1,656 years and the population at the high end reached seven billion, and at the low end, two billion. 

 

Now fast-forward to the post-flood world and we already start off with three pairs of couples; Shem and wife, Ham and wife, and Japheth and wife.  Needless to say, the world didn't take long to start getting crowded again.  It's estimated that the Tower of Babel incident occurred as early as 106 years after the Ark landed on Mount Ararat, and as late as 339 years with Noah being 940 years old.  Either way, mankind was growing rapidly and already back in a state of rebellion by not doing what God had instructed them to do, which was to multiply and 'fill the earth' (Gen. 9:1).  Instead, they all seemed to congregate in the plains of Shinar under the leadership of a man named Nimrod.  But the story only begins with Nimrod; from Harry Ironside on the birth of the Babylonian Religion;

 

Ancient lore now comes to our assistance, and tells us that the wife of Nimrod-bar-Cush was the infamous Semiramis, the First. She is reputed to have been the founder of the Babylonian mysteries and the first high-priestess of idolatry. Thus Babylon became the fountainhead of idolatry, and the mother of every heathen and pagan system in the world. The mystery-religion that was originated there spread in various forms throughout the whole earth, and as we shall see in a few minutes, it is with us today. It is identical with the mystery of iniquity which wrought so energetically in Paul's day, and shall have its fullest development when the Holy Spirit has departed and the Babylon of the apocalypse holds sway.

 

Building on the primeval promise of the woman's Seed who was to come, Semiramis bore a son whom she declared was miraculously conceived, and when she presented him to the people he was hailed as the promised deliverer. This was Tammuz, whose worship Ezekiel protested against in the days of the captivity. Thus was introduced the mystery of the mother and the child, a form of idolatry that is older than any other known to man. The rites of this worship were secret. Only the initiated were permitted to know its mysteries. It was Satan's effort to delude mankind with an imitation so like the truth of God that they would not know the true Seed of the woman when He came in the fullness of time. To this Justin Martyr bears definite witness.

 

From Babylon this mystery-religion spread to all the surrounding nations, as the years went on and the world was populated by the descendants of Noah. Everywhere the symbols were the same, and everywhere the cult of the mother and child became the popular system. Their worship was celebrated with the most disgusting and immoral practices. The image of the queen of heaven with the babe in her arms was seen everywhere, though the names might differ as languages differed. It became the mystery-religion of Phoenicia, and by the Phoenicians was carried to the ends of the earth. Ashtoreth and Tammuz, the mother and child of these hardy adventurers, became Isis and Horus in Egypt, Aphrodite and Eros in Greece, Venus and Cupid in Italy, and bore many other names in more distant places. Within 1,000 years, Babylonianism had become the religion of the world, which had rejected the Divine revelation.  End Quote- Harry A. Ironside

 

Satan had not forgotten the curse God placed on him in the Garden that day.  He was 'hell-bent' on thwarting God's plan.  Thus, when Christ came at the appointed time, (Gal. 4:5-6), being born of a virgin, and living out the Father's plan perfectly to include His death, burial, and resurrection...Satan finally knew it was all over but the crying.  Unfortunately, his long-term defeat would not deter his short term schemes.  Satan redoubled his efforts and in his anger and fury at the growing "Christ-followers" an evil planned hatched in his mind.  He would take what he formed at Babel, and apply this to this new growing Christian movement, mixing paganism with Christianity, and hell followed with it.

 

Assessment

 

In 1994, the late and sorely missed Dave Hunt released his best known literary work entitled, "A Woman Rides the Beast".  In it, he systematically lays out the historical, political, and religious connections that tie the 'woman/harlot' of Revelation 17, to the institution we know today as the Roman Catholic Church (RCC).  The Bible identifies this religious system as the one in which the Antichrist uses to promote global ecumenism that ultimately leads to his global domination.  Dave points out in painstaking detail that this isn't an attempt at a modern day witch-hunt against Catholics.  It's not castigating all Catholics as evil globalists, but that the history of the RCC as an institution itself, is undeniable in resemblance to what the Apostle John is foretold in the Revelation. 

 

Facts

 

The RCC portends to be the 'original' Christian faith and the word Catholic itself means 'universal'.  It is headed by a single man, the Pope, who serves as the "vicar" (or physical representation) of God on the earth.  Aside from all the other troubling theological and doctrinal issues the RCC promotes the ongoing one which seems to revive itself every few years, is the one which wants to cement Mary's role in salvation as 'co-redemptrix', equal to Jesus Christ, with her being commonly referred to as 'the Mother of God'.  The RCC places prominence of Mary (the Queen of Heaven) and the infant Jesus as its iconic imagery above all else.  In fact, no other Christian section/faction/denomination places as much prominence on Mary as does the RCC.  Can you see the revival of the 'mother-child' Babylonian religion being injected here?

 

The RCC reached its zenith of power between the centuries of the 800's -1500's.  No other single religion has for so long, had one foot in the political/economic/military world, and the other in the 'divine'.   No other religion comes close to the amount of blood shed she has participated in...estimated thus far in the realm of 50 million.  From the Crusades to the Inquisitions...the Roman Catholic Church has had blood on her hands...a lot of blood. She has maintained powerful political and economic connections going back over 1,700 years to the time of Emperor Constantine.  She has at many times, throned and dethroned kings and queens over disagreements on who is actually in control.  As for being a religion of means, she has become exceedingly prosperous, at times being the single wealthiest entity on the planet. 

 

Given the fact that she mercilessly persecuted the Waldenses, Albigenses, Josephists, Lollards, Henricians, Arnoldists, New World Indians, Jews, Saracens and countless others that posed a challenge to her authority, it's no wonder how such an entity could accumulate so much land and wealth over the centuries.  Not even the bloody banner of Islam comes close to the political, economic, and religious clout the Roman Catholic Church has wielded over the last two millennia.  Islam does spread quickly, but it can only spread and keep its newly held gains by force and by deception.  On the other hand, Roman Catholicism has shifted away from force to infiltrating schools, hospitals, charities, media, movies, banking, and other religions (see Emerging Church/ Ecumenicalism) to diversify its influence and wealth. 

 

Conclusion

 

In light of all the historical considerations of the RCC over the last 1,700 years, is it reasonable to believe that the Roman Catholic Church could fill the shoes of this coming harlot (the Beauty) which rides the final system of government (the Beast) into total power as described to the Apostle John in the Revelation?  I believe that the answer undoubtedly is yes.

 

The Puritans and early Protestants believed that the Pope then was the Antichrist.  They saw the corruptions and violence the RCC was capable of, and convinced them that he (the Pope) and they (the RCC) were the very system we know of as the Antichrist and the Beast.  Granted, their eschatology is what we would consider today as historic pre-millennialism in that they attributed the events of their day as fulfilling the pages of eschatological writ.

 

But what I believe we are witnessing today, is clearly not the final form of this 'Mystery Babylon' harlot who has the whole world drinking her blasphemous Kool-aide.  Rather, what we are witnessing today that has so many troubled, particularly with Pope Francis, more than any of his predecessors, is the speed at which he seems to be implementing these rapid changes in positions and allegiances that are not only anti-Biblical, but now seem anti-Roman Catholic.  So much so, that many within his own organization are leery of the broad brush approaches he is using to accept atheists, homosexuals, divorcees, and others whom the RCC had for millennia, condemned as heretics. 

 

The RCC's efforts and undermining and undoing the 500 years of Protestant Reformation seems finally to have found traction...and listening ears.  Many from the Word-Faith and Emergent Church movements want a reunification back with this RCC system, perhaps because they see Christian Evangelicalism's dwindling influence in a post-modern culture.  Perhaps they want to return because they share this common "Amillennial/Post-Millennial" eschatological view that they have to be the ones to "usher in the Kingdom".  What better than to partner with the 'Vicar of Christ' himself?

 

I'm also of the belief that Pope Francis is not the "Petrus Romanus" or the "False Prophet" of Revelation 13 and 17 per say, primarily because he's much too old and frail to fill that position.  But I do believe that he is a precursor to that man.  Extraordinary times calls for extraordinary measures...and I believe a younger pope will come and he will be the one to expedite what John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis have already started...but only after one key event occurs; the Rapture of the Church.

 

At the Rapture of the Church, the Holy Spirit's ministry here on earth will be changed, for lack of a better word.  He will be withdrawn in the sense that His removal, forces the removal of all true, born-again believers from the earth, who are both indwelt and sealed by, the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor. 1:21-22, Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30).  The Holy Spirit Himself is omnipresent, and similar to His involvement in the earth before the day of Pentecost, His removal doesn't mean He won't be operating on the earth in the 70th Week of Daniel.  All it means is that His role will have changed into a different role.  With the Church removed, the world will embrace this final, apostate, blasphemous form of the RCC.

 

I also get that the world is in chaos at the moment and only getting worse.  People are scared, and are searching for answers.  Knowing that the RCC is the instrument by which this coming Antichrist rides to power on, might seem like trivial information at the moment, but think about it as being ahead of the information curve.  The RCC is the instrument that helps bring about the physical and spiritual deaths of billions of people...so identifying now, who that is, is relevant.  If you are in that church, get out.  If you have friends or family in that church, encourage them to read an unbiased history about it and see for themselves all the damage that corrupt, works-based, pseudo-Christian religion has done.  Also remember, that God loves the Catholic people.  God hates the Catholic religion.  It is a harlot that has fornicated with the kings of this earth, and has upheld blasphemy, as toxic cup mankind has drank for far too long.  While she is not in her final stage now, she is getting ready.

 

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.  And on her forehead a name was written:

 

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS

OF THE EARTH.

 

Even so, Maranatha!