Coming
Soon –
A Modern Roman Empire?
Where is “modern Babylon
the great”? What is the End-
time “city of
Babylon”? What nation, today, most
represents
the modern equivalent of
ancient ROME, and the ROMAN
EMPIRE? Could modern America be an integral part of a
modern ROMAN
Empire? What part does the Roman
Catholic Church
play? A careful study and review of
history and Biblical
prophecy reveals the
shocking answers. Here is amazing new
insight, on where the
world stands, today!
William F. Dankenbring
Ancient Babylon on the Euphrates
ruled the world with an iron thumb.
Babylon was the world master in economic and military power, a
cosmopolitan center of banking and trade.
It sent armies plundering, pillaging, and uniting the world in one vast
sprawling empire, sustained and governed by its military might. It ruled the world from 607 to 539 B.C.,
when Babylon was suddenly attacked, and the city seized, by Cyrus the Great and
the Persians.
The new world empire was known as
the Persian empire, lasting from 539 to 331 B.C., when it fell to the onslaught
of the Greek troops under Alexander the Great.
The Greco-Macedonian empire ruled the known world next, until the death
of Alexander, when the kingdom was divided into four. The Roman empire arose in the west, with the victories of Julius
Caesar in Gaul and Pompey in Asia. It
became an empire under Julius Caesar, and finally fell in 476 A.D.
Ancient Rome, was world famous for
its administrative laws, government, trade, military might, and civil
engineering – aqueducts and roads and buildings. It was, however, a brutal government at times, and finally fell
amidst corruption, heavy taxes, bread and circuses, alliances with other
powers, and social upheaval. It was at its
height for about 200 years, before decline set in. During its hey-day, the world enjoyed “Pax Romana,” the “Roman
peace,” and no nations were strong enough during that time to contest Roman
rule in the empire.
Will there be another “Roman” or
“Babylonian” Empire in our day?
The
United States – Modern Rome?
Writes Jonathan Freedland,
“The word of the hour is empire. As the United States marches to war, no
other label quite seems to capture the scope of American power or the scale of
its ambition. ‘Sole superpower’ is accurate enough, but seems oddly modest.
‘Hyperpower’ may appeal to the French; ‘hegemon’ is favoured by academics. But
empire is the big one, the gorilla of geopolitical designations -- and suddenly
the US is bearing its name.
“Of course,
enemies of the US have shaken their fist at its ‘imperialism’ for decades: they
are doing it again now, as Washington wages a global ‘war against terror’ and
braces itself for a campaign aimed at ‘regime change’ in a foreign, sovereign
state. What is more surprising, and much newer, is that the notion of an
American empire has suddenly become a live debate inside the US. And not just
among Europhile liberals either, but across the range -- from left to right.
“Today a
liberal dissenter such as Gore Vidal, who called his most recent collection of
essays on the US The Last Empire, finds an ally in the likes of
conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer.
Earlier this year Krauthammer told The New York Times: ‘People
are coming out of the closet on the word “empire”.’
“He argued that
Americans should admit the truth and face up to their responsibilities as the
undisputed masters of the world. And it wasn’t any old empire he had in mind.
‘The fact is, no country has been as dominant culturally, economically,
technologically and militarily in the history of the world since the Roman
empire.’
“Accelerated by
the post-9/11 debate on the US’s role in the world, the idea of the US as a
21st-century Rome is gaining a foothold in the country’s consciousness. The New
York Review of Books illustrated a recent piece on US might with a drawing
of George W. Bush togged up as a Roman centurion, complete with shield and
spears. Tom Wolfe has written that the US of today is ‘now the mightiest power
on Earth, as omnipotent as . . . Rome under Julius Caesar.’
“But is the
comparison apt? Are the Americans the new Romans? In making a documentary film
on the subject over the past few months, I put that question to a group of
people uniquely qualified to know. Not experts on US defense strategy or
American foreign policy, but Britain’s leading historians of the ancient world.
They know Rome intimately -- and, without exception, they are struck by the
similarities between the empire of now and the imperium of then.
“The most obvious is overwhelming
military strength. Rome was the superpower of its day, boasting an army with
the best training, biggest budgets and finest equipment the world had ever
seen. No one else came close. The US is just as dominant -- its defense budget
will soon be bigger than the military spending of the next nine countries put
together. Throw in the country’s global technological lead, and the US emerges
as a power without rival” (The Guardian Newspapers, Nov.15, 2002).
No one can deny that the leading super-power in the world today, of course, is the United States of America. How does it compare with ancient Rome and Babylon?
The United States is far more
“Roman,” than most people begin to suspect!
F. Tupper Sauasy points out, in Rulers
of Evil, “Consider: the land known
today as the District of Columbia bore the name ‘Rome’ in 1663 property
records; and the branch of the Potomac river that bordered ‘Rome’ on the south
was called ‘Tiber’” (p.4).
Says Sausay, “The American Capitol
abounds with clues of its Roman origins.
‘Freedom,’ the Roman goddess whose statue crowns the dome, was created
in Rome . . . We find a whole pantheon of Roman deities in the great fresco
covering the dome’s interior rotundas: Persephone, Ceres, Freedom, Vulcan,
Mercury, even a deified George Washington” (p.5).
The term “Capitol” itself bespeaks
Roman influence. Claims Saussy, “No
building can rightly be called a capitol unless it’s a temple of Jupiter, the
great father-god of Rome. . . . Jupiter’s mascot was the eagle, which the
founding fathers made their mascot as well.
A Roman eagle tops the governing idol of the House of Representatives, a
forty-six inch sterling silver and ebony wand called a ‘mace’ . . . America’s
national motto, ‘Annuit Coeptus,’ came from a prayer to Jupiter”
(p.5).
Another symbol of ancient Rome, is
the fasces. A pair of fasces
“commands the wall above and behind the speaker’s rostrum in the Chamber of the
House of Representatives. . . A fasces is a Roman device . . . It’s an ax head
whose handle is a bundle of rods tightly strapped together by a red sinew. It symbolizes the ordering of priestly
functions into a single infallible sovereign, an autocrat who could require
life and limb of his subjects. If the
fasces is entwined with laurel, like the pair on the House wall, it signifies
Caesarian military power” (p.6).
Thus much of America can be subtly
traced back to ancient ROMAN influence!
Interestingly, even the religious
side of American life and influence can be traced directly back to pagan (and
so-called “Christian”) Rome.
In ancient Rome, public servants were priests of the various gods and goddesses. Monetary affairs were controlled by priests of the goddess Moneta. Hundreds of priestly orders known as the Sacred College managed hundreds of governmental bureaus.
Writes Saussy, “By the fourth century, one half of the lands
and one fourth of the population of the Roman Empire were owned by the
priests. When the Emperor Constantine
and his Senate formally adopted Christianity as the Empire’s official religion,
the exercise was more of a merger or acquisition than a revolution. The wealth
of the priests merely became the immediate possession of the Christian
churches, and the priests merely declared themselves Christians. Government continued without interruption.
The pagan gods and goddesses were artfully outfitted with names appropriate to
Christianity. The sign over the
Pantheon indicating ‘To [the fertility goddess] Cybele and All the Gods’ was
rewritten ‘To Mary and All the Saints.’ The Temple of Apollo became the Church
of St. Apollinaris. The Temple of Mars was reconsecrated Church of Santa
Martina, with the inscription ‘Mars hence ejected, Martina, martyred maid /
Claims now the worship which to him was paid.’”
Isn’t it astonishing
how pagan influence dominated the early Roman Catholic Church in the ancient
Roman Empire? Saussy continues:
“Haloed icons of Apollo were identified as Jesus, and the crosses of
Bacchus and Tammuz were accepted as the official symbol of the Crucifixion.
Pope Leo I decreed that ‘St. Peter and St. Paul have replaced Romulus and Remus
as Rome’s protecting patrons.’ Pagan
feasts, too, were Christianized. December 25 -- the celebrated birthday of a
number of gods, among them Saturn, Jupiter, Tammuz, Bacchus, Osiris, and
Mithras -- was claimed to have been that of Jesus as well, and the traditional
Saturnalia, season of drunken merriment and gift-giving, evolved into
Christmas.
“Bacchus was popular in ancient France under his Greek name Dionysus --
or, as the French rendered it, Denis. His feast, the Festum Dionysi, was
held every seventh day of October, at the end of the vintage season. After two
days of wild partying, another feast was held, the Pestum Dionysi Eleutherei
Rusticum (‘Country Festival of Merry Dionysus’). The papacy cleverly
brought the worshipers of Dionysus into its jurisdiction by transforming the
words Dionysus, Bacchus, Eleutherei, and Rusticum into a group of Christian
martyrs. October seventh was entered on the Liturgical Calendar as the feast
day of ‘St. Bacchus the Martyr,’ while October ninth was instituted as the
‘Festival of St. Denis, and of his companions St. Eleuthere and St. Rustic’ (Rulers
of Evil, p. 10-11).
The Roman Catholic
Church became the state religion of the Roman empire. It brought paganism into the church wholesale, thus becoming
powerful and very popular. No
repentance from sin was required – only acts of “penance” and “confession” to a
priest. Indulgences were sold giving
parishioners “forgiveness in advance” of committing any sins whatsoever –
including murder, adultery, rape, or theft.
Declares Saussy, “Playing loose with truth and Scripture in order to
bring every human creature into subjection to the Roman Pontiff is a technique
called ‘missionary adaptation.’ This is
explained as ‘the adjustment of the mission subject to the cultural requirements of the mission object’ so that
the papacy’s needs will be brought ‘as much as possible in accord with existing
socially shared patterns of thought, evaluation, and action, so as to avoid
unnecessary and serious disorganization.’”
The original faith of Christianity became perverted and subverted in
the Roman Empire. Speaking of the Roman
Catholic Church, historian Will Durant, in The Story of Civilization, volume
3, “Caesar and Christ,” puts it this way: “Christianitiy did
not destroy paganism: it adopted it. The Greek mind, dying, came to a
transmigrated life in the theology and liturgy of the Church; the Greek
language, having reigned for centuries over philosophy, became the vehicle of
Christian literature and ritual; the Greek mysteries passed down into the
impressive mystery of the Mass. Other pagan
cultures contributed to the syncretist result. From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity, the Last
Judgment, and a personal immortality of reward and punishment; from Egypt the adoration
of the Mother and Child, and the mystic theosophy that made Neoplatonism
and Gnosticism, and obscured the Christian creed; there, too, Christian
monasticism would find its exemplars and its source. From Phrygia came the worship of the Great Mother.”
Durant adds, “The Mithraic ritual so closely resembled the eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass that Christian fathers charged the Devil with inventing these similarities to mislead frail rninds. Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient pagan world” (page 595).
Christmas is one of those pagan “creations.” It traces back to paganism and beneath its “Christian” façade beats a truly pagan heart. The “mass” itself derives from paganism, and the worship of December 25 as a “birthday” of Christ proves its pagan core, because Christ was born nowhere near December 25, the winter solstice, and the birthday of the pagan sun god! Read our free article, “When Was Christ Born?” for the proof.
In a similar vein, Alexander Hislop in his book The
Two Babylons, clearly proves the pagan origin of the Roman Catholic Church,
its dogmas and creeds, disguised as “Christianity.” Hislop wrote, “In the Apocalyptic visions, it is just before
the judgment upon her that, for the first time, John sees the Apostate Church with the name Babylon the
Great ‘written upon her forehead’ (Rev.17:5). What means the writing of that
name ‘on the forehead’? Does it not naturally indicate that, just before
judgment overtakes her, her real character was to be so thoroughly developed,
that everyone who has eyes to see, who has the least spiritual discernment,
would be compelled, as it were, on ocular demonstration, to recognize the
wonderful fitness of the title which the Spirit of God had affixed to her. Her
judgment is now evidently hastening on; and just as it approaches, the
Providence of God, conspiring with the Word of God, by light pouring in from
all quarters, makes it more and more evident that Rome is in very deed the
Babylon of the Apocalypse; that the essential character of her system, the
grand objects of her worship, her festivals, her doctrine and discipline, her rites
and ceremonies, her priesthood and their orders, have all been derived from
ancient Babylon; and, finally, that the Pope himself is truly and properly
the lineal representative of Belshazzar.
“In the warfare that
has been waged against the domineering pretensions of Rome, it has too often
been counted enough merely to meet and set aside her presumptuous boast, that
she is the mother and mistress of all churches -- the one Catholic Church, out
of whose pale there is no salvation. If
ever there was excuse for such a mode of dealing with her, that excuse will
hold no longer. If the position I have laid down can be maintained, she must be
stripped of the name of a Christian Church altogether; for if it was a
Church of Christ that was convened on that night, when the pontiff-king of
Babylon, in the midst of his thousand lords, ‘praised the gods of gold, and of
silver, and of wood, and of stone’ (Dan.5:4), then the Church of Rome is
entitled to the name of a Christian Church; but not otherwise. This to some, no
doubt, will appear a very startling position; but it is one which it is the
object of this work to establish; and let the reader judge for himself, whether
I do not bring ample evidence to substantiate my position” (page 3).
In his amazing book, Hislop
clearly traces the Catholic teachings of the mass, Christmas observance,
Easter, the Catholic holidays, Mary worship, images of “saints,” the trinity,
the worship of the cross, and every other basic Catholic teaching, to ancient
Babylon and the world cult of paganism!
How far has the
Catholic Church gone in its reinvention of pagan practice and belief? Incredibly, recently I took a walk and
happened to pass by a home beautifully decorated for the Christmas season, with
a multitude of lights, reindeer, manger scenes, angels, and all the Christmas
paraphernalia. On the lawn was a
depiction of the “Ten Commandments.”
What shocked me was the brazen rewriting of the Commandments. The second commandment – “Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image . . .” (Exodus 20:4-5) -- was left out, and the
tenth commandment was divided into two commandments – “Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor’s wife,” and, “Thou shalt not covet” anything else! This of course is
the Roman Catholic rewriting of God’s Ten Commandments – a brazen, haughty
attempt to change the commands of God to justify their worship of the images of
saints, and icons of Christ and Mary!
The worship of images and icons of course is pure unadulterated paganism
– sheer IDOLATRY!
What so few grasp,
however, is that the entire “Christianity” of the western world derives from
ROME! With the exception of small,
Bible-centered churches which follow the Scriptures, the whole professing
visible “Christian world” is patterned after the teachings of Rome – even every
major Protestant denomination!
Is the United States Really “Protestant”?
The question
arises, therefore – how pervasive is the Roman Catholic religion in the United
States, which most people view as a “Protestant” nation? Indeed, the answer is – far more than most
people begin to suspect!
Before the American Revolution, Roman Catholics were barred from voting or holding public office in the British colonies. The basis for this ruling was that Catholics owed their allegience to the “Pontifex Maximus,” the Pope of Rome. To the British he was considered a foreign ruler who regarded the British king and the Church of England as heretics to be destroyed.
When the
colonists fought and gained their independence from Great Britain, they established
a Constitution that guaranteed “freedom of religion” to all people, including
Roman Catholics. In so doing, they
undermined the very foundation of the republic, and potentially surrendered
their country to a foreign “lord” – the papacy. With the first amendment to the Constitution, the fledgling new
nation welcomed with open arms the agents of popery – the “Pontifex Maximus” –
into the hallowed halls of American government.
Says F. Tupper Saussy,
“Of the 2,500,000 enumerated inhabitants in 1787 America, the Roman Catholic
population consisted of no more than 16,000 in Maryland, 7,000 in Pennsylvania,
1,500 in New York, and 200 in Virginia.
Once the Constitution was in place, a steady influx of European immigrants
transformed Roman Catholicism from America’s smallest to largest religious denomination. By 1850 the higher powers at Rome could view
the United States as a viable tributary,
if not another papal state” (Rulers
of Evil, p.86).
Ever since the
beginnings of American independence, the Jesuit branch of the Catholic Church,
has had the “unrelenting Jesuit mission” of extirpating the Protestant church
as an independent branch of “Christianity” and to bring all Protestants back
into the Roman Catholic flock – or else to utterly destroy them. The growing ecumenical movement shows how
effective their propaganda has been.
Even America’s evangelical churches have been seduced to seek reunion
with the Catholic Church, despite its doctrines which they would normally hold
as heresy and wickedness.
How powerful and
influential is the Roman Catholic Church in America, today?
Saussy declares, “Rome
has so seamlessly adapted its mission to American secularism that we do not
think of the United States as a CATHOLIC SYSTEM. Yet the rosters of government rather decisively show this to be
the case” (p.13).
Incredible as it may
sound to most Protestants, or most Americans in general, America has become a
major ROMAN CATHOLIC POWER in the world!
Most of the vital committees of the U.S. Senate and House are run by
Catholic laymen! Most of the members of
the Supreme Court are Roman Catholic.
Virtually every aspect of secular life in America has come under the
chairmanship of various Roman Catholic laypersons whose primary allegiance is
to the Roman pontiff.
Vatican II confirmed the doctrine that dates back to Pope Boniface VIII
in 1302 which states “it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every
human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” With this goal in mind, says Saussy, it was the primary Roman
Catholic mission to CREATE the United States of America, as an independent
nation free from the rule of Great Britain, which was under the control of the
Church of England, a church born in rebellion against the papacy. So early Catholics fostered, aided and
abetted the American Revolution as best they could, hoping to create a CATHOLIC
CONTROLLED POWER in North America.
They have succeeded
beyond their wildest dreams!
U.S. foreign policy, and domestic policy, is thoroughly integrated with the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. It has happened quietly, surreptitiously, clandestinely, secretly, by stealth and subtle connivance, intrigue, and plotting.
Casting Out the Bible
In ancient times,
when the Roman Catholic Church gained power, the first steps taken were to
wrest control of the Scriptures away from lay people, and to place them under
the control of priests.
In ancient Rome, says
Saussy, “The Sibyllines and the Aeneid were open only to priests and
certain privileged persons. The people learned their sacred content by the
trickle-down of priestly retelling. When the Old and New Testaments were
adopted as the Empire’s official sacred writings they, too, were given to the
exclusive care of the priests. And in accord with Roman tradition, the people
learned sacred content from discretionary retelling. This had to be, for the
sake of the Holy Empire. For should the people acquire biblical knowledge, they
would know that Pontifex Maximus was not a legitimate Christian
entitlement. Knowing this, they would not bow to his supremacy. The Empire
could collapse. And so the monarchial Roman Church forcibly suppressed the
Bible’s intelligent reading. This is why the millennium between Constantine and
Gutenberg is known as the ‘Dark Ages.’
“Sprinkled throughout the Empire, however, were isolated Christian assemblies who had preserved Scripture from the days of the early Church. For them the Bible invited an ongoing, personal communion with the creator of the universe. They lived by the writings of which Rome was so jealous. By the thirteenth century, these assemblies had grown so vibrant that Pope Gregory IX declared unauthorized Bible study a heresy. He further decreed that ‘it is the duty of every Catholic to persecute heretics.’ To manage the persecution, Gregory established the Pontifical Inquisition.”
The Dark
Ages and the Pontifical Inquisition
Saussy continues:
“The Inquisition treated the slightest departure from the life of the community as proof of direct communion with the Bible or Satan. Either instance was a sin worthy of death. Cases were prosecuted according to a strict routine. First, the inquisitors would enter a town and present their credentials to the civil authorities. In the pope’s name, they would require the governor’s cooperation. Next, the local priest would be ordered to summon his congregation to hear the inquisitors preach against heresy, which was defined as anything the least bit opposed to the papal system. A brief grace period followed the sermon, wherein the people were given an opportunity to step forward and accuse themselves of crimes. Those who did were usually punished mildly. Later, the inquisitors would receive at their lodgings unverified accusations, guaranteeing in the pope’s name the anonymity of informants. Many innocent lives were ruined by false testimony.
“Trials were conducted arbitrarily and secretly by tribunals consisting of the inquisitors, their staffs, and their witnesses, all concealed under hoods. The accused were never told the charges against them, and they were forbidden to ask. No defense witnesses were permitted. The accused had but one option: to confess guilt and die. Those who refused to confess (and witnesses who balked at testifying) were carried to the dungeon for torture sessions (boys under fourteen and girls under twelve exempted). Inquisitors and executioners were commanded by papal edict to show no mercy. No acquittal was ever recorded. Every fully prosecuted case ended in the death of the defendant and the forfeiture of his or her property, since it was assumed (as in American forfeiture cases since 1984) that the property was gained in sin. Sometimes the property of family members for generations to come was forfeited. These forfeitures were paid out in expenses to the scribes and executioners, half of the remainder going into the papal treasury and half to the inquisitors. Although popes and inquisitors amassed great fortunes from the Inquisition, its greatest beneficiary was, and has been, the Roman system.
“The Inquisition was most effective against the isolated truth seeker in an ignorant community. As communities became more literate, the Inquisition grew subtler. What brought literacy to communities was the epidemic of Bible-reading made possible by the perfection of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of movable type” (p.16-17).
Few people today have studied this historical subject. It is glossed over or ignored in mot textbooks. But those who may think that this is just “ancient history” and has no bearing on the future, and on our “enlightened day,” today, are seriously in error. Human nature has not changed, nor has human pride, evil, wickedness, and lust for power. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!
The Roman Catholic Church still seeks world dominion. Nothing has changed. When it is not in power, it seeks its objectives by behaving outwardly as a lamb. But when in power, it reveals its true nature – that of a ravening lion!
The arm of Catholic militancy is the Jesuit order. Every Jesuit, when accepted into the order, must take a very solemn vow. The head of the Jesuits is the Superior General, often referred to as the “Black Pope.” He shares with the Pope the title “Vicar of Christ,” which means “holds the place of Christ.”
Those trained to be Jesuits are taught total obedience to the Superior General and the Pope. As stated in their spiritual “Exercises,” they affirm, “We must put aside all judgment of our own, and keep the mind ever ready and prompt to obey in all things the hierarchical Church.” According to the Exercises, Section 365.13 states: “We must hold fast to the following principle: What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines” (Saussy, p.47-48).
The Jesuit Society does not open its extreme oath of obedience to public purview. However, a script alleged to be a true facsimile of the extreme oath of obedience of the Jesuit order was deposited in the Library of Congress, number BX3705.S56, translated by Edwin A. Sherman. It reads, in part:
“I _______ now, in the presence of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. Paul and all the Saints and
sacred Hosts of Heaven, and to you, my Ghostly Father, the Superior General of
the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola, in the Pontificate of Paul
the Third, and continued to the present, do by the Womb of the Virgin, the
Matrix of God, and the Rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that His
Holiness the Pope is Christ’s Vice-Regent and is the true and only Head of the Catholic and Universal
Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and
loosing, given to His Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to
depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all
being illegal without his sacred confirmation, and that they may safely be
destroyed.
“Therefore, to the utmost of my power, I
shall and will defend this doctrine and His Holiness’ right and custom against
all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the
Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and the now
pretended authority and churches of England and Scotland, and branches of the
same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere;
and all adherents in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the
sacred Mother Church of Rome.
“I do now renounce and disown any allegiance
as due to any heretical king, prince, or state named Protestants or Liberals,
or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates or officers. I do further declare that the doctrines of
the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others
of the name Protestants or Liberals to be damnable, and they themselves damned
and to be damned who will not forsake the same.
“I do further declare that I will help,
assist and advise all or any of His Holiness’ agents in any place wherever I
shall be, in Switzerland, German, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England,
Ireland, or America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and
do my uttermost to extirpate the heretical Protestants or Liberals’ doctrines and
to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise.
“I do further promise and declare that,
notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume any religion heretical, for the
propagating of the Mother Church’s interest, to keep secret and private all her
agents’ counsels from time to time, as they may entrust me, and not to divulge,
directly or indirectly, by word, in writing, or circumstance whatever; but to
execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge or discovered unto me, by you, my Ghostly
Father, or any of this sacred convent” (Saussy, Rulers of Evil, p.48-49).
How far will Jesuits go in
pursuit of Catholic world objectives?
The oath continues:
“I do further promise and declare that I will
have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation whatever, even as
a corpse or cadaver, but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I
may receive from my superiors in the Militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ.
“That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions of the North, the burning sands of the desert of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the centres of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America, without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever communicated to me.
“I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex, or condition; and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants’ heads against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poinard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus.
“In confirmation of which, I hereby dedicate my life, my
soul, and all my corporeal powers, and with this dagger which I now receive, I
will subscribe my name written in my own blood, in testimony thereof; and
should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow
soldiers of the Militia of the Pope cut
off my hands and my feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and
sulphur burned therein, with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me
on earth and my soul be tortured by demons in an eternal hell forever!
“All of which I do
swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed Sacrament, which I am now to receive,
to perform and on my part to keep inviolably; and do call all the heavenly and
glorious host of heaven to witness these my real intentions to keep this my
oath.
“In testimony
hereof I take this most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and
witness the same further, with my name written with the point of this dagger
dipped in my own blood and sealed in the face of this holy Covenant” (p.50-51).
The Jesuits were the arm of the
papacy in instituting and managing the Great Inquisition of the Middle
Ages. Their fingerprints were all over
it. Millions in Europe were tortured, imprisoned,
whipped, scourged, beheaded, burned at the stake, and martyred at the behest of
the Pope, by the militant arm of Catholicism.
Could such things happen once again? Bible prophecy says YES! Unfortunately,
most Americans are naïve and ignorant of the study of real history. These things are left out of most history
books, which only skim the surface of ancient events, plots, conspiracies, and
the intricacies of political and religious warfare. For a real insight into the true face of Roman Catholicism, I
strongly suggest you read Fox’s Book of Martyrs.
The modern United States of America has become a major part of a modern rendition of the ancient ROMAN empire, which itself was a descendant of the original BABYLONIAN empire, with the same religious icons, idols, gods and goddesses – the SAME religious tenets, organization, priesthood, sacred Babylonian “mass,” and even the same SACRED DAYS OF OBSERVANCE!
True saints of God will once again be persecuted by the “whore” of Revelation – the great false Church of Rome and its far-reaching emissaries!
There can be no
doubt about it! We are a PAGAN people –
pagan to the core – under the subtle influence of a PAGAN RELIGION, which
cleverly disguises itself as “Christian,” while doing away with true Christian
beliefs, doctrines, and teachings!
What does God Himself
say about these matters?
How does Almighty God view a nation
such as the United States which has allowed pagan religious influence to
permeate its civic institutions and religious bodies? What does God think about the moral slide in the United States
and Western world, from the highest political offices down to the teenagers in
the high schools?
The word of God thunders: “Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with
iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, they have
provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head [politically] is sick, and
the whole heart [the churches] faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head [from the bottom to the top
of society], there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment”
(Isa.1:4-6, NKJV).
God Almighty describes the JUDGMENT
He will execute upon this End-Time world “Babylonian-Roman” system, this “New
World Order” – a political and religious world empire -- which exploits the
poor and downtrodden, and makes slaves of nations and peoples, and which even
trades in the bodies and “souls” of men.
The apostle John writes:
“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.
“I
saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the
martyrs
of Jesus. And when I saw her, I
marveled with great amazement. But
the
angel said to me, Why did you marvel? I
will tell you the mystery of the
woman
and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten
horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and
will ascend out of the bottom-
less
pit and go to perdition. And those who
dwell on the earth will marvel,
whose
names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the
world,
when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Here is the mind
which
has wisdom: The seven heads are seven
mountains on which the woman
sits”
(Rev.17:1-9).
This impressive scene of the future depicts a great GLOBAL
CHURCH which sits upon a MIGHTY EMPIRE called the ‘beast.” It is an end-time world kingdom. Notice!
It is “drunk with the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus”!
This “woman” sits on “seven mountains.” Historians know that ancient ROME was
referred to as the “city of seven hills.”
Says Alexander Hislop, in The Two Babylons, “There has never been
any difficulty in the mind of any enlightened Protestant in identifying the
woman ‘sitting on seven mountains,’ and having on her forehead the name
written, ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great,’ with the Roman apostacy.” Hislop refers to pagan poets who called Rome
“the seven hilled city.” Virgil spoke
of its “seven heights,” and Propertius declared Rome as “the lofty city on
seven hills, which governs the whole world” (page 2). Rome was well known in ancient times as the city on “seven
dominating mountains.”
This passage is, therefore, speaking
of an end-time RELIGIOUS ROMAN CHURCH sitting on a WORLD EMPIRE called the
“beast.” It is drunken with the spilled
blood of the true saints of God!
Will this system persecute and
martyr the saints of God? Notice that
she is “drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus.”
The prophecy of the fifth seal in
Revelation, chapter 6, also alludes to this coming time of incredible martyrdom
of God’s people. We read: “When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and
for the testimony which they held. And
they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until
You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them;
and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both
the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed
as they were, was completed” (Rev.6:9-11).
A future martyrdom of saints – at
the hands of New World Religious Order – under the control of a revived,
resuscitated, resurrected Vatican with worldwide Catholic POWER!
The “beast” kingdom itself is
described in the 18th chapter of Revelation. John asserts:
“And I heard
another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people,
lest
you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins
have
reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. . . .
“In
the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her TORMENT
and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as
queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow. Therefore her plagues will
come in one day -- death and mourning and famine. And she will be
UTTERLY
BURNED WITH FIRE, for strong is the Lord God who
JUDGES
her.
“The kings of
the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously
with
her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her
burning,
standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas,
that
GREAT CITY BABYLON, that mighty city!
For in one hour your
JUDGMENT
has come.
“And
the MERCHANTS of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no
one
buys their merchandise anymore:
merchandise of gold and silver,
precious
stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every
kind
of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of
most
precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon, and incense,
fragrant
oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and
sheep,
horses and chariots [automobiles], AND BODIES AND SOULS
OF MEN