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Nimrod and the Tower of Babel
RV174-02© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)
This evening, we look at "The False Prophet." This is segment number seven in Revelation 13:11-18.
Last week, we found that the gentile nations of the world have forced upon the nation of Israel an agreement to participate in a peace conference
with her Arab enemies. This is a dramatic development on the world scene. It's not likely that any significant agreement is going to be reached
by this conference to settle the Israeli-Arab conflict. But it is significant that the issue is finally being discussed after over 40 years
of antagonism and wars. Finally, the Arabs and the Jews, who avowed never to sit down and talk peace with another, are actually going to do that.
The significance of this is that, again, nations, people, and minds are being acclimated to a line of action to a course of conduct – peace
with the Arab world on the part of the Jews. Israel cannot survive as a nation without financial help and protection from the non-Arab world,
especially the United States. Therefore, she is reluctantly being drawn and forced into a peace conference. So, the ice has finally been broken
for Israel to consider making a deal for peace with the Arab countries.
The Antichrist's Peace Treaty
Those of us who know prophetic Scriptures are aware of the fact that, in time, this peace settlement, which has now been put into motion, will be
brought to fruition by the antichrist himself. Under his assistance, and under his protective agreement, Israel will come to peace with the Arab
world. The Israelis will accept the peace treaty negotiated by the antichrist, and they will enter, in fact, into a treaty with the antichrist
himself at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period. The Bible tells us that at the middle of the tribulation, the antichrist will break
his treaty with Israel, and demand that they now cease their ancient worship system which has been restored, and that they are now to worship the
antichrist himself as their god.
The antichrist will create a world church under the leadership of the false prophet. When the Jews hear this, they will by and large refuse to
worship the antichrist, and they will be persecuted unto death. The false prophet himself will exercise superhuman power which will have been
given to him by Satan for the purpose of convincing people of the world to worship the antichrist as their god. And in worshiping the antichrist,
they will indeed be worshiping Satan himself. The ecumenical movement, which is afoot in the liberal religious world today, has made great
strides in uniting the religions of the world. The ultimate union of liberal Christian denominations and world religions will be brought about
by the false prophet in the tribulation. The world church, which will then be formed, is called by God a harlot institution because it will be
the epitome of spiritual adultery.
Worldwide religious unity is being sought for the purpose of establishing political peace on this earth. Conflicting religious groups have to
come to peace among themselves before there can be political peace on the earth. A religious or philosophical unity is essential then to world
political peace.
The Roman Catholic Church, as we have pointed out, is in the forefront of the ecumenical movement as the foundation for this political peace.
The antichrist is going to achieve both religious and political peace. All religions are accepted, and will be accepted, by the ecumenical
movement as pathways to God and to heaven, and the Lord Jesus Christ is not given the central place in the universe as the unique God-man and
Savior of mankind.
The Mystery Babylon
The state religion of the ancient Roman Empire was the expression of the religious mysteries (or secret) of ancient Babylon. This is the
counterfeit religion and the approach to God which was begun by Nimrod following the worldwide flood. Nimrod was a rebel who chose to lead
people in rebellion against God's authority and against God's directive to spread out on the earth; to form nations; and, to repopulate the
cleansed earth.
The Tower of Babel
Nimrod, instead, brought people together at the Tower of Babel to create a first international organization – a United
Nations where people would be united in one government. And as God had viewed this, it was among, it was observed among Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, if they had permitted this to continue (this one-world government), there would have been no limitations upon the evil which mankind
could descend into, and the flood had just used to cleanse the world of that kind of gross evil. So, God confounded the languages. He caused
them to speak all the multiplied different languages of the world, and that forced them to break up and to move out across the world.
However, that Tower of Babel was not only to be a political center. It was also a religious center. And the religion of Nimrod organized at
Babel, which became the city of Babylon, was a religious system which was based on the concept that man himself is a potential god. That pagan
religion, with all of its rituals, and all of its form, and all of its holidays, was amalgamated into Christianity when Constantine made that
department of religion of the Roman Empire. We know that system today as Roman Catholicism. As the ancient Roman Empire then had a unified
state religion, centered in the worship of the emperor, so too the revived Roman Empire of the tribulation era, this seemingly dead empire,
which is going to come back indeed to life, will also have a world religion which centers upon the worship of the emperor. The religion of
Babylon was basically expressed eventually in Hinduism, which has all the demon spirits, and which has all the demon powers, and which has the
basic thesis that man is an evolving god. In ancient Rome, the emperor was deified. In the tribulation, the antichrist will be deified.
Secrets
The ancient records that have been preserved over the centuries tell us that the religion of Babylon was called Mystery Babylon because the
system had secrets. You had to be inside before you learned the true meaning of some of the symbols, to come to an understanding of the
significance of the religious system. This is much like in Mormonism. As you come into the inner circle of Mormonism, you learn more and more
of what the religious system really believes, and what it teaches, and what it stands for. You don't get that up front. This is even clearer
in Masonry. Until you get up to about the 16th, 17th, or 18th degree of Masonry, you're not told about the occult meaning of many of the symbols
that are involved in Masonry. So, Babylon was called "mystery" (the word "musterion" in the Greek), which means "a secret." It was something
that had not been revealed until you were on the inside.
So, it's important for us to understand the historical background, because what we're doing is coming full-circle back to Mystery Babylon. And
all the things practiced there are what are going to be practice once more. We see these coming together before our very eyes.
In Revelation 17, this world church and this world religion is described, and we will in time look upon that in some detail. I only direct your
attention to Revelation 17:5 for God's evaluation of this world church of the antichrist. This is called a mystery religion: "Babylon the Great:
the Mother of Harlots and the Abomination of the Earth." This verse is saying that all false religions are spiritual adultery. They are untrue
to the creator God. And these all have secrets that are revealed only to the people who are its devotees on the inside. And this system that
began in Babylon has spawned a variety of expressions of the same concept that began with Nimrod – man is his own god.
Hinduism vs. Christianity
That is why we say
there are only two religions in the world: Hinduism, which descended from the Babylon pagan system, and which is expressed in a variety of other
religions – Buddhism, Shintoism, and so on; and, Judeo-Christianity. They are the only two religions in the world. Every other religious
system is a branch of one of those. On the one hand, man is god. On the other hand, God is God. That's the big difference.
The church that is to come in the tribulation is going to be an expression of this false Babylonian mystery system. It will be worldwide, and it
will be the final an ultimate expression of this system.
Nimrod
Nimrod was a descendant of Cush. Cush was a descendant of Ham. Ham, one of the sons of Noah, was the one upon whose posterity was placed the curse
of God. Ham is the one who made fun of his father, and ridiculed his father as he lay in a drunken stupor in his tent, and for that
disrespectful treatment of parents, there is always a very serious divine judgment. That principle is still true today. Even if your parents are
wrong; even if your parents are evil; and, even if your parents deserve judgment, to treat them with disrespect and with dishonor is to bring upon
yourself the judgment of God. Ham now had upon himself, and all those descendants from him, the judgment and the curse of God. It was from Ham
that the basic Canaanite civilizations descended. And from Ham, through Cush, came Nimrod.
A Hunter
This line of descent is recorded for us in Genesis 10:8. We have the specific connection of Nimrod: "Now Cush became the father of Nimrod. And
he became a mighty one on the earth." Nimrod became a mighty man; a leader; a mover; and, an opinion-maker. Genesis 10:9 says that he was a mighty
hunter before God: "Therefore, it is said, Nimrod, a might hunter before the Lord." A hunter was characteristic before ancient kings. Have you
ever seen Assyrian carvings? On the walls you will see almost routinely that the king is presented out in a field, impaling a wild beast on his
spear. To be a mighty hunter of animals implied that you could handle people. If you could handle ferocious beasts, you were a leader. And to be
might hunter then was a way describing a person who was really up front, and a leader to contend with. So this is a very simple way that the
Bible tells us about this man Nimrod.
Genesis 10:10 says that one of the kingdoms (one of the political entities) that her began was the one at Babel, which became Babylon. He built
the Tower of Babel. The word "Babel" actually means "the gate of God." He built this tower as an approach to God. This was not the God of the
Bible, and not the God that had been taught to mankind from the Garden of Eden. Remember that people like Adam lived for hundreds and hundreds of
years, and then Seth lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. He was the son that replace the murdered Abel. These men were the watchdogs of the
true faith, and of the Word of God. People had the information; but, people made their choices.
Cain and Abel
Why do people make these kinds of choices? I don't
know. I'm aware of the fact that the first two sons of Adam and Even lived in the same home, and had the same instruction. Both Cain and Abel had
the same instruction about God. They had the same family treatment. They had the same traditions and the same value systems. Yet, one (Cain)
rejects the Word of God. He's never saved. He does not accept the gospel of a coming Savior. He is a total unbeliever, and he is a total rebel
against God. Yet, the other son responds readily to the things of God. Abel becomes a Christian, and is an example of what can happen in a godly
home. The result is that the ungodly son kills the godly son.
Election
Seth comes along. He is a powerful testimony for centuries, and a guardian of the truth. Yet, people in their volition move off, away from God.
To us, it seems insane. But that's the way people are, except for the calling of God. That's why you know that there has to be an election of God.
And it's an election into salvation, as Paul says, "For the purpose of God." It is not because of the individual: "Why me?" There is no explanation.
It is the purpose of God that: "I want you, out of the mass of condemned humanity, who do not deserve salvation," and to whom God is not obligated
to give any salvation. But He says, "I want you to be with Me forever in My family, for His purpose.
This tower of Babel was a false gateway to God. It was a false approach to God because it rejected the truth of God and the revelation that had
been given. This was the fourth generation since the flood. That's how far men had come. A generation was longer, of course, in those days –
probably at least 100 years, but they had drifted far off. They have found these kinds of towers which were built in steps. They are called
ziggurats. They weren't the smooth towers like you have in Egypt. There were several of these places, and they were all astrological observatories
with little temples on the top, because they were places to worship. They were worshiping the sun; the stars; and, the moon, and the main thing
they were worshiping was indeed the sun, that they considered to be the giver of life.
Indeed, they think that may have found what may be some of the remains even of the very Tower of Babel. When they built these towers, every brick
had inscribed on it the name of their chief god, Marduk. As you know, Saddam Hussein has been rebuilding Babylon. And it had bricks that have been
reproduced similar to the bricks which were used in ancient times when the city originally was built. And can you guess whose name is on every
brick? Saddam Hussein has put his own name on every brick. Once it was their god. Is he telling us that he is the new god?
This tower was an observatory because the Chaldeans were experts on astronomy. They perverted the signs of the zodiac, which originally had
spiritual meanings – signs of spiritual lessons in the sky, into astrology, and made it a perverted form of fortune-telling.
Nimrod's goal was, of course, to unify everybody, and to create a world government. That's why he said, in Genesis 11:4, "'We're going to
do this, lest we be scattered abroad.' And they said, 'Come let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and
let us make for ourselves a name (that's pride), lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the earth.'" They said, "We're somebody." They have
a great pride: "We don't want to do what God says. We don't want to scatter out. We don't want to go all over the world. We want to stay together.
We want to be unified. Nimrod is our leader. We will follow him." But God's plan is national entities, so that there is no one great power which
can control all of mankind.
So, God confused the languages, and because they could not speak to one another, the system of the gateway to God became a gateway of confusion.
It became "Babel," which also connotes the confusion of languages.
So, Nimrod had organized the first idolatrous religious system in the word. And that is why, in the book of the Revelation, Babylon is identified
as "the Mother of Harlots," meaning the mother of all false religious systems, which basically and ultimately say, "Man is his own god." Idolatry
is spiritual adultery, and in the Bible, these terms are used interchangeably.
We find from ancient records that Nimrod's religion spread rapidly over the world of his day. As people spread out, they took the religious system
with them. And down through the centuries, they spread out even further.
Genesis 3:15
The primary thing that Satan was trying to imitate, because he ultimately wants to be worshiped, was to set up a system that was based upon
Genesis 3:15 promise of a coming Savior. Adam and Eve were told by God, "I'll put enmity between you and the woman (that is, between Satan and
the woman), and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head (a mortal blow to Satan), and you (Satan) shall bruise Him (the
coming Messiah Savior) on the heel (a non-mortal blow)." The bruise on the heel was the crucifixion on the cross, from which Christ was raised
again.
The Mother-and-Child Cult
So, Satan had to put a system together, because (you must remember) this information was known. People were constantly informed over the centuries.
They knew all this about God. So, Satan came up with what was known as the mother-and-child cult. The mother goddess and her infant son. And they
became the main objects of worship in Babylon. The symbol of this cult was a little image of a mother cradling an infant child in her arms.
Semaramis
Nimrod taught that this mother, who was really his wife, had born this child miraculously. It was a miraculous conception. The Tower of Babel was
probably the center of this cult. The ancient records tell us that Nimrod was killed. Some records say that Seth is the one who executed him for
his apostasy. Semaramis, the name of his wife, sometime after Nimrod's death, was pregnant, and Nimrod could not have been the father. So, she
claimed that it was a supernatural conception by the gods – that the gods had impregnated her. And she bore, therefore, this supernatural
son, who was also a god. Thus, there was the establishment of the mother-child cult. In fact, the child was said to be Nimrod reincarnated. So,
he becomes both the husband and the son.
Ashteroth and Tammuz
The Babylonian cult of the mother-child moved, in time, to Phoenicia. There, the names were changed to Ashteroth and Tammuz. It is important to
remember that the names changed, but that the religious system is the same. In time, they centered the worship upon a round circle of the sun.
So, the sun became the center god, and this represented the ultimate deity. They worshiped the mother-child cult under the Baal system. The
Baal system, of course, was a religion of sec worship. Baal was the fertility god. So, associated with Baal worship was enormous sexual immorality.
Pergamus
From Phoenicia, the cult moved to Pergamus in Asia Minor. In Revelation 2:13, Pergamus is called "Satan's throne." The reason for this is that,
when Babylon fell, the mother-child cult moved to Pergamus. And it became the world center of this religious system.
Isis and Horace
From Pergamus, the system went to Egypt. There, the names of the mother and child were Isis and Horace.
Aphrodite and Eros
In Greece, the names were Aphrodite and Eros.
Venus and Cupid
And guess what the names were in Rome, all of you Valentine's Day experts? The names were Venus and Cupid.
Archaeology has uncovered hundreds and hundreds of these little terracotta clay images of a mother cradling her child. I have seen these in
the British museum at London. And within a 1,000-year, Babylon was the worldwide religion, and it had replaced the divine revelation of Scripture.
So, there was only a small smattering of people who really worshiped the true God, and they through the tributary of humanity known as the Jews.
The Teachings of Babylon
The teachings of the Babylonian religion are also important. The only way to God in the Nimrod system was through the mother goddess. You did not
approach God directly. You went to her through Semaramis the mother, which is exactly the way Roman Catholicism teaches – the approach to
God through Mary. When the system was amalgamated into Christianity at the time of Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, Mary became the
mother, and Jesus became the infant Son. And the pagans could readily relate to this. It was not problem for them to switch gears. This was the
mother who gave life. She had the title, under the Babylonian system, of "queen of heaven." This is the title by which the Roman Catholics now
refer to Mary, and which indeed we find in the Bible. She gave salvation through a series of rituals. Theses rituals included sprinkling holy
water for ceremonial cleansing. They included the promise of Purgatory, if one was not worthy enough to enter heaven after death. It included a
system of priests who, just at the moment of your death, would give you extreme unction of final absolution to wipe away your sins.
Those of you who are acquainted with Roman Catholicism know that every one of those rituals are in Catholicism. The babies are sprinkled to wash
away their original guilt; holy water is sprinkled for ceremonial cleansing as you come into the church; purgatory is your final opportunity to
make it into heaven; and, extreme unction, at the moment of your death, is what every Catholic is most concerned that should be performed, because
it has to be done within something like 15 or 30 minutes to be valid. So, when the Catholics find somebody in the family that is dying, they are
very concerned that they get the priest there immediately.
Tammuz
The son Tammuz was killed by a wild boar. Three days later, he miraculously came back to life.
Lent
The temple virgins in the ancient world would
celebrate the anniversary of Tammuz's death with a period of mourning for 40 days before the celebration of his death day, and when he came back
to life. In the religious world today, that 40 days is called "Lent." This 40 days ends on the feast day which commemorated the resurrection of
Tammuz.
The Feast of Ishtar
That day was called "the feast of Ishtar." It was the day that Tammuz was resurrected. I don't know what the connection is with the wild
boar, as being the instrument that put him to death, but some of you may be aware of the fact that it is customary to celebrate Easter, which is
what the feast of Ishtar became, with ham and hardboiled eggs. In the ancient world, an egg was the sign of life. The little chick comes out of
the egg. ... It is common in some religious systems that you celebrate Easter with hardboiled eggs and ham.
The guys in the ancient Babylonian system would have understood perfectly the hardboiled egg bit. They would have understood the coloring of the
eggs, and all that. That was something that they were well acquainted with. They understood mourning for Tammuz 40 days before the feast of Ishtar,
and celebrating it with the Ishtar eggs. This was a symbol for life from death.
The birth of Tammuz was also a big event. It was celebrated with the evergreen tree. The people of the ancient world couldn't figure out why some
trees were green all the year around. They considered that those trees must have some kind of supernatural sacredness about them, that they could
remain green through the midst of winter. So, the ancient world would take this green tree, and on the feast of Saturnalia, which was December
25th, they would put up this tree and decorate it as the Saturnalia tree. They would celebrate, here in midwinter, the birth of Tammuz.
This, of course, has come down to us as the Christmas tree which is decorated. It doesn't have that meaning. I hope that none of you are worshiping
your Christmas tree. In time, with Christianity, these simply became symbols of decoration, and completely divorced from the original purpose and
use of it.
Semaramis, as the queen of heaven, was worshiped by women baking little round cakes. Do I have to tell you why they had to be round? Because they
symbolized the sun-god. That is why, in the Roman Catholic Church, the little piece of bread that is supposedly turned into the body of Christ has
to be round, because it is the symbol of the sun. That is what it came from originally. Semaramis, as the queen of heaven, was worshiped by these
little round cakes that were baked in the ancient world. They would be marked with the letter "T" for Tammuz.
In the Phoenician alphabet, the "T" is an "X." That would be put on these little cakes. Throughout the ancient world, on altars and monuments, the
sign of Tammuz (the "X") is found, and it's well-known what that stands for. Today, we call these "hot-cross buns." Again, at Easter time, women
bake these little round buns, and they take icing, and they make an "X" on them. That is an "X" on the hot-cross bun to remember Tammuz. Please
keep making the hot-cross buns, but just put a different letter on them. Don't quit making the hot-cross buns, but that's the origin and the
meaning. All of this was part of Nimrod's system of supposed supernaturalism that was divorced from God.
Jezebel
The problem for the people of Israel was the mother-child child cult came into their culture. King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel
married Jezebel, a girl you know so well, and who, in Scripture, is described as the lady who colored her face. Jezebel was a foreigner. She was
brought up in the Babylonian system. She was a part of the Baal fertility sex cult system, with Tammuz as the object of their worship as the
sun-god. Abraham himself came from a home in Babylon which worshiped the mother-child queen of heaven cult. In Joshua 24:2, the statement is made
that, on the other side of the river, they worshiped. Abraham came from a family that worshiped these ancient gods.
Jeremiah tells why God is bringing judgment upon the Jewish people, because as they watched this ancient worship of Nimrod in their day, they
became enamored with it. And they began following this Baal system. When Jezebel brought it into Israel, it was prominent. Jeremiah 44:16: "As
the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you." So much for Jeremiah's testimony to the
people. The people said, "We're not going to listen to you about your talk about Yahweh, and about His judgments toward us, and how He's going
to send us off into captivity into Babylon. We're not going to pay attention to you, Jeremiah. We think you're an alarmist."
Verse 17: "But rather, we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven."
Who was that? Semaramis of Nimrod's system: "And pouring out libations to her." One of the ways you sacrificed was pouring out drink offerings:
"Just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings, and our princes did in the city of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then we had
plenty of food and were well-off, and saw no misfortune." They are saying, "When we were worshiping the queen of heaven, things were going well
for us. They very stupidly didn't realize that God had blessed them when they were faithful to Him, and as they veered off from Him, His grace
continued, waiting for them to come back, and then the judgment came upon them. They associated their good times, while they were worshiping the
queen of heaven, and God's grace was patiently waiting for them to come back, as being the result of their worship of the queen of heaven.
Verse 18: "But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything, and have
met our end by the sword and by famine. And said the women, "When we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, and were pouring out libations
to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image, and poured out libations to her?" The women themselves
defended themselves and said, "We were worshiping her like that. Yes, we were making the little hot-cross buns, but we did it with our husbands'
approval. Are you telling us that we were wrong?"
It was amazing that here in Israel, people that should have known better were actually worshiping this queen of heaven. Jeremiah 44:25: "Thus
says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: 'As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands,
saying, 'We will certainly perform our vows that we have avowed to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven, and pour out libations to her. Go ahead
and confirm you vows, and certainly perform your vows.'" And there you have God, in sarcasm, saying, "Fine. If that's what you want to do; if you
want to worship the queen of heaven of the Canaanites; if you want to worship the Baal god; and, if you want to worship the sun and pour out your
libations, then fine. Go ahead and do it, and see where it's going to lead you."
Ezekiel also was another prophet who tried to bring them back from what they were doing. By the time they had come to Ezekiel's day, the thing had
become horrendous. In Ezekiel 8:6, God is going to show Ezekiel what is going on among the people in their worship system: "And He said to me,
'Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, that I should far from
My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.' Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold a hole
in the wall. And He (God) said to me, 'Son of man, now dig through the wall.' So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance." He comes into
a secret inner chamber where the leaders of Israel are worshiping, thinking that God will not see them.
"And He said to me, 'Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.' So, I entered and looked, and behold, every form of
creeping thing, and beasts, and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel were carved on the wall all around." They had
carvings of the animals that they were bowing down before and worshiping, just exactly as was done in the ancient cults.
Verse 13: "And He said to me, 'Yet you will see greater abominations which they're committing.' And He brought me to the entrance of the gate of
the Lord's house, which was toward the north. And, behold, women were sitting and weeping for Tammuz." Now, do you understand that? There are 40
days of weeping for Tammuz before the celebration of the feast of Ishtar, his day of Resurrection: "And He said to me, 'Do you see this, son of
man? Yet you will see greater abominations than these.'"
Notice verse 16: "Then he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the
porch and the altar, there were about 25 men with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the East." Here were 25 leaders
that Ezekiel sees worshiping. They're out in the courtyard. Their backs were toward the temple of God, and they're facing east. What do you think
they're worshiping in the East? They were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. One thing after another was being done in Israel which
was an expression of this harlot religion of Babylon.
The Pontifex Maximus
Finally, in the time of Jesus, when Rome ruled the world, the Caesars were crowned as both the civil and the religious head. As the head of the
Babylonian mystery religion, which was the religion of Rome, the emperor was called "Pontifex Maximus." He was called the chief bridge builder.
He was the chief contact between the world of the gods and the human world. He was the "PM" – "the Pontifex Maximus." If you ever visit the
Vatican, and you walk around, keep your eyes down on the marble inlays. Everywhere you will see the cross "X" of Tammuz's sign, and "PM" between
them, because the Pontifex Maximus today, which was the title of the high priest of the Babylonian mother-child cult, is the title of the Roman
Catholic Pope. He is the Pontifex Maximus.
Dagon, the Fish-God
When the Caesars were the head of the state religion, they bore that title. When Christianity was amalgamated with the pagan system, then the
bishop of Rome took this title. And along with it came everything else that was part of the Babylonian system, including their worship of the
fish-god "Dagon." If you watch the Pope when he wears that hat, that has the opening at the top, it looks like the mouth of a fish. And that is
exactly what it is. He wears the hat of Dagon the fish-god. He wears the ring that he calls the fisherman's ring, as the ancient Babylonian priests
did, but their fisherman was the Dagon fisherman, the god of fish. And when you kiss the ring of the Pope, you're kissing his fisherman's ring.
But they have associated it with Peter and the apostles as the fishers of men. It has all gradually been amalgamated with Christianity, so that
Christianity became a hybrid system.
The Emperor Constantine, in 312 A.D., authorized Christianity to exist. And he incorporated the mother-child cult, and all of its practices,
and gave them Christian meanings. All the statues of the gods became saints. And all the citizens were required to worship. The temples that
were once devoted to the gods of Rome now became dedicated to the God of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church is a direct descendant of
Nimrod's religion. The end is going to be the super church. The end of this whole system will come right back to what Nimrod began, to dominate
the whole world, in one form or another, in the tribulation.
Revelation 17:6 says that when that system does come into power, it will persecute all genuine believers. John himself, as he views this, is
simply amazed that the church, the body of Christ, that which is the bride of Christ, that group which has such a precious and intimate
relationship with the Son of God, is going to be degenerated into what God calls a harlot. John demonstrates his awe about that in Revelation 17:6:
"I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints," because the Roman Catholic Church has put millions to death who were true believers who
rejected the system of Nimrod: "Drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus." And John says, "And when I saw
her, I wondered with a great wonder." He was absolutely amazed that Christianity was going to go into such a perverted form.
The apostate super church will claim to be the true church representing God, but God says that it is not the bride of Christ. It is a harlot
institution. The antichrist, however, himself, will in time become fed-up with this organization, and in the middle of the tribulation, he will
destroy the super church, and will make himself the god that they are to worship.
This is where the world is moving. This is where the outcome is going to be for the peace conference with Israel and the Arabs. It is going to
lay the final groundwork for Israel to be able to come back to its own worship system. Then that system will be taken over by the antichrist.
The Jews' temple in Jerusalem will be the place where he sets himself up, and the Babylonian system will be once more fully instituted. Only
those who, by the grace of God, have had their eyes opened to the salvation to be found in Christ are going to escaper this. The rest of the
world at that time will be blinded, and they will all rush to it enthusiasm. The New Age movement today is deeply associated with the occult, and
the areas of real power (the forces of power) such as the false prophet will exercise, are preparing mankind (on a wholesale level) for this kind
of acceptance.
It doesn't matter if you live in a country like France, where people are openly indifferent toward the Bible and toward God, or if you live in a
country like the United States, where they pretend to be interested in the Bible and in God, but are just as indifferent toward Him. Our world is
a world that no longer has any use for walking with God. It is pretty tough, even for Christians to want to be close to the Lord. It is pretty
tough for Christians to be on intimate terms with their heavenly Father for the things that they would like to pursue in life, or the things
they would like to achieve. Instead, they go it on their own, as if they had powers to call on beyond themselves.
I have to be in touch with people periodically who suddenly are faced with desperate physical life-and-death situations. It is amazing the change
that comes over people. These people are very self-confident; very secure in their power system; and, very arrogant. All of a sudden, they get
the bad news: "You have something within you that can take your life. We're going to try to hold it off. We're going to try to correct it. But
you have problems that are now beyond the medical world's absolute capacity to treat." Suddenly, people have a whole new perspective on what's
important. It is a pity that we can't get our perspective right ahead of time so that, when the time comes to face our Creator, we can do that
with joy; with anticipation; and, with confidence, and we can come into His presence, instead, and say to Him, "I fought the battle." I have kept
the faith. I have fought a good fight."
What I am observing is that so many young people who, while they're under our wing; while they're in clubs; while they're part of our operation;
while they're associated with our leaders; and, while they're moving along on a track of godliness – suddenly, they get out of high school,
and they move into college, and they're on their own, you would think that they had never been told the truth about God. They are out there,
thinking that there are important things that they have to do, and things that they have to pursue. They'll do anything for a job. They will
stay away from church night and day for a job, as if nobody had ever warned them: "You take a job and you throw it away if that's what it requires
of you. The first thing you do is to delight yourself in the Lord."
Why can't everybody be smart enough to do that? Delight yourself in the Lord, and you don't let anything stand in your way of delighting yourself
in the Lord. And I guarantee you that if you're not in here, in the presence of God's people, and the sounding of the Word of God, you're
delighting yourself in something else. And I also can assure you that if suddenly you find that you're not going to live as you think you are,
and you are suddenly facing God, you're going to have a lot of regrets that you delighted yourself in so many trivialities instead of making
your time count for eternity.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1993
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