This is the continuation of the series, Antichrist And His Ten Kingdoms – By Albert Close and the previous post, The Character of Antichrist and Papal Persecution of the Saints.

This section is interesting in that the author submits historical evidence that the prophecy of the destruction of “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” may be already partially fulfilled. The Catholic Church doesn’t have the prestige today as it had before the Protestant Reformation. It suffered lots of scandals in recent years. It could be the Pope, the Jesuit General, and the Roman Curia are planning something different for their New World Order, perhaps a New Age Church comprised of all the world’s major religions. But on the other hand, I just heard that a famous pastor, Francis Chan, is promoting Catholic doctrines and challenging Protestant ones such a Sola Scriptura! The Church of Rome may have a comeback. We shall see.

THE KINGS OF EUROPE FOR CENTURIES OWN SUBMISSION TO THE POPES.

Revelation 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

These ten Western European kings soon owned the Pope as their temporal sovereign, or King of kings, i.e., “gave their power” to him. This continued until the Reformation, when Britain was the first kingdom of the ten to throw off the Pope’s temporal yoke, or, in other words, abrogated his supremacy and authority over the king or government of the country. All the other European kings followed suit during the succeeding centuries. In 1870 Italy was the last to throw off the yoke, when Victor Emmanuel dethroned the Pope and became king of Italy, and the Temporal Power fell. Now, at the present time, no kingdom in Europe acknowledges the right of the Pope to interfere in the political affairs of the nation. It is true his emissaries do interfere by stealth, in the same manner as the Jesuits are said to have done in fomenting the Franco-Prussian war, with the object of crushing the first Protestant Power in Europe. When that terrible war broke out the Roman Catholic Empress Eugenie is said to have exclaimed to members of her suite, “This is my war!” In France the Jesuits are blamed for using the Empress as their tool, to bring about what proved to be a great disaster to France. No kingdom, however, now acknowledges the Pope’s right to dictate to the Sovereign or Government as they did in past ages.

THE PAPAL PERSECUTIONS FORETOLD.

Revelation 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

During those terrible Papal persecutions during the Dark Ages, when millions of Christians were slain for protesting against the idolatry and abominations of the Church of Rome, this Church, by compelling the European kings to war against and exterminate those faithful saints, fought not only against the saints, but, like Saul of Tarsus, also against Christ, the Lamb of God. Saul of Tarsus, when persecuting the early Christians, found he was not merely persecuting the poor Christians, but was actually fighting against Christ. So likewise the the European kings in the Papal persecutions. See Acts 22:7, 8.

THE TRIUMPH OF PROTESTANTISM FORETOLD.

The saints, however, overcame all opposition and triumphed in the end, as predicted. In 1513, Rome boasted at the great Lateran Council, held in Rome, that all opposition was at an end, that there was not a “heretic” to be found, all had been exterminated. Four years later the Reformation rent Europe asunder, and today there over 160,000,000 whom Rome calls ‘heretics.’ Of course, multitudes of Protestants are anything but “saints,” but they belong to the nations that Christ has employed to crush the power of the Church of Rome and give the Scriptures and gospel light and liberty again to the world. The Papal nations are dying, politically and morally, while the “heretic” nations, Britain, Canada, North America, etc., constitute the most righteous, powerful, progressive, philanthropic, and enlightened section of the human race today. Surely this is a victory, seeing these nations dominate, and are a blessing to the world today. Contrast the condition today, after 400 years of fruit-bearing, of Protestant North America, with her sister continent, Papal South America. The one has been blessed and the other blighted, yet both started on their voyage down the course of history together.

PAPAL ROME’S MANY NATIONS AND TONGUES.

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

The Church of Rome has her 230,000,000 disciples in more than thirty nations, and in many more tongues in these nations. In 1825 Pope Leo XII. struck a medal representing the Church of Rome as a woman with a sacramental cup in her hand sitting on the globe. Three-fourths of the globe’s surface is covered with waters, so in this way the Pope has represented her as a woman sitting on the waters with the cup in her hand, as predicted, and as she appeared to St. John in the vision. A specimen of this medal is now in the British Museum, and also in Vatican Coin Room.

THE OVERTHROW OF ROME PAPAL BY THE NATIONS SHE FORMERLY DOMINATED.

Revelation 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

This prediction has only been partially fulfilled as yet. Still, since the Reformation nearly every one of the once ten Papal kingdoms of Europe have hated, stripped, and burnt the Church of Rome. Britain was the first in 1586, when thousands of monasteries and convents were destroyed. France burnt, hated and stripped her in the Revolution, when 40,000 churches, chapels and oratories were destroyed, 24,000 priests and monks were killed, and the Roman Catholic religion abolished thronghout the country. In 1798 the French captured Rome and dethroned the Pope; the French soldiers even tore the rings from his fingers as they dragged him from the altar in St. Peter’s, and plundered and stripped the Vatican to its naked walls. They even burned the sacred robes of the Pope and Cardinals, to obtain the gold with which they were adorned.

THE DOWNFALL IN 1870.

In 1870 Italy dethroned the Pope, and put an end to his Temporal Power. In 1907, France separated the Roman Catholic Church from the State, appropriated her estates, and expelled thousands of priests, monks, and nuns from the country.

In 1910, Portugal confiscated the estates of the Roman Catholic Church, and drove the priests, monks and nuns from the country. The growing fierce anti-papal feeling on the Continent seems to indicate that the world may soon witness the complete and final fulfillment of this prophecy on a stupendous scale. The Continental nations are growing thoroughly disgusted with the counterfeit of Christianity which the Church of Rome has for centuries palmed off on them as the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are only beginning, in a measure, to realize, now that Bibles are being circulated extensively by Bible Societies, that Images, the Mass, the Host, Confession, Penance, Extreme Unction, etc., formed no part of the teaching of our Lord and the apostles. They are beginning to realize that these are mere priestly inventions, or borrowed from the ancient heathen Babylonish religion, and tinted and varnished with Christian names and titles.

THE KINGS OF EUROPE UNCONSCIOUSLY EXECUTE DIVINE JUDGMENT ON THE PAPACY.

Revelation 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

By hating, tearing, burning and desolating the Church of Rome as they have, the nations of Europe, whatever may have been their own designs, were actually executing Divine judgment on this apostate church. These kingdoms were to own submission to the Pope only until “The words of God” were fulfilled, or in other words until the Divinely appointed time has been reached. This was reached in 1870, when the temporal power fell.

ROME THE ONLY GREAT CITY WHICH REIGNED OVER THE KINGS OF THE ROMAN EARTH IN ST. JOHN’S DAY AND FOR CENTURIES AFTER.

Revelation 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

These last words in this great prophecy leave no doubt as to the city intended. “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.” What great city seated on seven mountains reigned over the kings of the earth in St. John’s day? It was Rome. Rome is the only city which fits the description in every detail.

BOSSUET AND CARDINAL BELLARMINE ADMIT THAT “BABYLON” MEANS ROME.

Even the great Roman Catholic controversialists have been driven to admit that Rome fits the description in this prophecy. Cardinal Bellarmine says: “St. John in the Apocalypse calls Rome Babylon; for no other city besides Rome reigned in his age over the kings of the earth, and it is well known that Rome was seated upon Seven Wills.” Cardinal Baronius says: “Rome is signified in the Apocalypse by the name of ‘Babylon.’” The French Bishop Bossuet says: “The features are so marked, that it is easy to decipher Rome under the figure of ‘Babylon’.”

Of course they are driven to admit this much, common sense compels them, but they deny that Babylon the Scarlet Woman is Papal Rome. Babylon, they say, is Rome Pagan. To this the reply is that only a very few of the features of this prophetic portrait can be found in Rome Pagan, whilst, on the other hand, every one of the features are found in Rome Papal. Only one person will resemble in all details a portrait—the original sitter. Only one church or religious system in all history presents all the features mentioned in this great xvii. chapter— the Church of Rome.

When a detective officer confronts a criminal wanted by the authorities with a portrait of himself, it is only natural that he should indignantly deny that he is the man. In like manner, it is only natural that the clergy of the Church of Rome, and of the High Churches of England and Scotland, should indignantly deny that guilty Babylon and her daughters prefigure the Church of Rome and her High Church daughters.

THE CHURCH OF ROME CONDEMNS HERSELF BY HER CLAIMS.

To conclude. The Church of Rome holds in her hand, in her own Bible, the Apocalypse, the Revelation of Jesus Christ; she acknowledges it to be Divine. Wonderful to say, she founds her claims on those very grounds which identify her with the faithless Church, the Apocalyptic “Babylon,” as follows:

1, The Church of Rome boasts of being a universal Church. The harlot is seated on many waters, which are nations, and peoples, and tongues. (See Union with Rome, Wordsworth) Rev. 17;15.

2. The Church of Rome boasts that she shall never be overthrown. The harlot says that she is queen for ever. Rev. 18:7, 8.

3. The Church of Rome claims supremacy over all kings. The harlot has kings at her feet. Rev. 17:12,13.

4, The Church of Rome prides herself on working miracles. The minister of the Beast “deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.” Rev. 13:14.

5. The Church of Rome claims to be the Mother and Mistress of Churches. The Great Whore in this prophecy is stigmatized “The Mother of Harlots,” i.e., of the other apostate churches. Rev. 17:2.

6. The Church of Rome points to the unity of all her members in one creed, and to their subjection under one supreme visible head. During the Dark Ages all were required to receive the mark of the Beast, and to drink of the harlot’s cup. Rev. 13:16; 17:2.

7. The Great Whore is seated on many waters. The Church of Rome on her medals, struck by Leo XII, is seen seated on the globe, the greater part of which is covered with water. Rev. 17:9.

8. The Great Whore is clad in purple and scarlet. The Church of Rome robes her cardinals, bishops and priests in purple and scarlet. Rev. 17:4.

9. The Great Whore is decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. The Church of Rome adorns her chief bishops and her principal images, such as the Bambino in Rome, with gold and precious stones and pearls. Rev. xvii. 4.

10. The Great Whore extends to the nations a beautiful golden cup of drugged wine. The Church of Rome, on her medals, pictures herself as a woman extending from Rome, as her seat of power, a beautiful golden cup containing her strange sacramental doctrines—the pretended real presence of Christ in the sacrament. Rev. xvii. 4.

11. The Great Whore has a name, “Mystery,” on her forehead. The Church of Rome’s High Priest, the Pope, wore the title, “Mystery,” in Latin, on his mitre until 1553—1555 A.D., when Pope Julius III. removed it, because the Reformers pointed to it as an identification with “Mystery, Babylon the Great.” Rev. 17:5.

12. The Great Whore is drunken with blood of martyred saints. The Church of Rome on the St. Bartholomew medal, pictures herself as an avenging angel slaying the “heretic” Huguenots, offering them the alternative of the Crucifix or the Sword. The dead lie all around at the feet of the blood-drunken slayer. Rev. 17:6.

13. The Great Whore is seated on seven mountains. The Church of Rome rules from Rome, the City of the Seven Hills. Rev. 17:9, 18.

14. The Great Whore made the nations drunk with her drugged wine. The Church of Rome has made all the Papal nations of Europe, and of the New World, drunk with idolatry and superstition. Rev. 17:2.

15. The Great Whore is stripped, desolated, and burnt with fire by nations which were formerly her friends. The Church of Rome has been stripped, desolated, and burnt, in turn, by every Papal and formerly Papal nation in Europe during the last 400 years. Portugal, in 1910, furnished the latest example, and the growing fierce anti-Papal feeling on the Continent, indicates that the world may soon witness a far more complete and final fulfillment of this part of the prophetic Scriptures. Rev. 17:16. Hence it appears that Rome’s evidence of being the true Church are marks of the harlot.

Rome’s trophies of triumph are stigmas of her shame. The very claims which she makes to be Zion confirm the proof that she is “Babylon, the Scarlet Woman.”

These facts explain why the Roman Catholic “Truth” Societies, the Jesuits, and other Roman Catholic controversialists, always avoid all challenges and controversy on this subject. Rome always has been, and still is, more afraid of this subject than all other controversy. As previously mentioned, she fought shy of it altogether for half a century after the Reformation; then the Jesuit Ribera invented the “Futurist” theory, i.e., that the Antichrist and his ten kingdoms are to arise in the future.

(Continued in The Church of Rome Ignores the Challenge to Disprove She is the Great Whore of Revelation Chapter 17.)

All sections of Antichrist And His Ten Kingdoms by Albert Close