THE SECOND ANGEL’S MESSAGE OF REVELATION 14

BABYLON IS FALLEN

REVELATION 14:8

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

THIS NEW TESTAMENT BABYLON TRACES ITS SPIRITUAL LINEAGE BACK TO ANCIENT BABEL IN GENESIS 11, ON THE PLAIN OF SHINAR, WHERE THE INHABITANTS BUILT A CITY AND A TOWER WHOSE TOP WOULD REACH UNTO HEAVEN.

THIS WAS AN ATTEMPT TO SECURE A SAFE HIDING PLACE IN CASE THERE WAS ANOTHER FLOOD. THIS WAS ALSO IN DEFIANCE OF THE COVENANT THAT GOD MADE IN GENESIS 9:11, SAYING:

“Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.”

There are two important points to consider in the above Scripture:

1. Babylon is a great city and is currently fallen.
2. She uses coercion or force to cause all nations to submit to her dogmas.

POINT #1: “THAT GREAT CITY BABYLON”

Revelation 17:18 gives us some help:

“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

The angel who guided the prophet John through the vision told him that “that great city Babylon” is a woman who controls the affairs of kings, emperors, sultans, caliphs, presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and others.

The symbolism of a woman is rendered as a church in prophetic and apocalyptic interpretation.

SO THE OBVIOUS QUESTION IS:

WHAT CHURCH-CITY REIGNETH OVER THESE LEADERS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE TERRITORIES?

C. Mervyn Maxwell, the Christian theologian, chairman of the Department of Church History, and professor of church history at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, remarked in his book God Cares: The Message of Daniel for You and Your Family, page 131:

“The Pope’s power and his religious and political claims increased for centuries. In 1076, Pope Gregory VII informed the subjects of Henry IV, Emperor of Germany, that if Henry would not repent of his sins, they would not need to obey him. Henry was the most powerful monarch in Europe at the time, but he nonetheless made a pilgrimage to Canossa in the Alps, where the Pope was residing, and waited three painful days, barefoot in the snow, until Pope Gregory forgave him.”

Taking his cue from Gregory VII, Pope Pius V issued the papal bull—or decree—Regnans in Excelsis in 1570. This Latin title means, “He who reigns in the heavens.”

This document officially excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England from the Catholic Church, labeled her a heretic, and freed her subjects from their oath of allegiance to her.

THE PAGES OF HISTORY ARE FILLED WITH DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE TO SUBSTANTIATE THE BIBLE’S CLAIM THAT “THAT GREAT CITY BABYLON” IS NONE OTHER THAN VATICAN CITY.

Vatican City became an independent country on February 11, 1929, when the Lateran Treaty was signed, reinstating the Pope’s temporal power as sovereign head of state. That power had been lost when Napoleon’s general, Louis-Alexandre Berthier, took Pope Pius VI captive on February 15, 1798, ending a long period of 1,260 years of papal persecution against the true believers who would not submit to Rome’s dogmas.

POINT #2: “SHE MADE ALL NATIONS DRINK OF THE WINE OF THE WRATH OF HER FORNICATION”

DRINKING OF ROME’S WINE

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, page 153, under the article “Commandments of God,” states:

“The Church (Roman Catholic), after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept as the Lord’s Day.”

LUKE 4:16 STATES THAT JESUS’ CUSTOM—OR HABIT—WAS TO WORSHIP ON THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH.

BOTH MATTHEW 12:8 AND MARK 2:28 RECORD JESUS DECLARING THAT HE IS LORD OF THE SABBATH—THE SEVENTH DAY.

HEBREWS 4:4 UNMISTAKABLY POINTS TO GOD RESTING ON THE SEVENTH DAY AS THE SABBATH.

WHO IS YOUR MASTER?

IS IT JESUS, OR IS IT THE POPE?

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