Participants: Pr. Stephen Bohr
Series Code: MMJ
Program Code: MMJ000002
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00:40 Shall we bow our heads for prayer?
00:41 Father in heaven, we thank You for the awesome privilege of 00:47 being here again to study Your Holy Word. 00:49 And as we study about the cult of the virgin mother, 00:53 we ask that Your Holy Spirit will be here to guide our minds 00:58 and our hearts into all truth. 01:00 I not only ask for those who are gathered here, but I also ask 01:04 for those who are viewing on the many television 01:08 sets across the world. 01:09 I ask that You will open minds and hearts, 01:12 and I thank You for hearing my prayer 01:13 for I ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. 01:17 I'd like to begin our study today by turning to a verse 01:21 which is very close to my heart. 01:23 I'm referring to Genesis 3:15. 01:28 So please turn with me to Genesis 3:15. 01:33 This is actually the Bible in miniature form. 01:39 And we've studied this verse many times before, 01:42 but now we want to look at it from a new perspective. 01:45 That verse says: 01:55 That is between the serpent and the woman. 02:01 That is the serpents seed and her seed. 02:08 The seed of the woman. 02:16 Now you notice here that the enmity runs three ways: 02:21 between the serpent and the woman, 02:23 between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, 02:28 and between the seed of the woman and the serpent. 02:31 The primary enmity, however, is between the seed of the woman 02:36 and the serpent, because the last part of the verse says, 02:40 he, the seed of the woman, shall bruise your head, the serpent's 02:46 head, and you shall bruise his heel. 02:49 So the primary enmity is between the serpent 02:53 and the seed of the woman. 02:55 Now there's a Greek translation of the Old Testament which 03:01 is known as The Septuagint, or the version of the seventy. 03:05 It's abbreviated, in fact LXX, which is the number 70. 03:10 And in this translation something very peculiar happens. 03:16 Even though the word seed in this verse in Greek is sperma, 03:21 which is neuter, it's interesting that the pronoun 03:28 that goes with the word seed in the Septuagint is masculine. 03:33 That's very unusual, because usually the pronoun 03:37 and the noun must agree. 03:39 Now in Hebrew it says, it shall bruise your head. 03:44 In other words, because it's a seed it is an it, 03:48 it's not a he or a she. 03:49 But the Septuagint changes that to from it to he, 03:54 even though the noun is neuter. 03:57 And this is the only time in the Greek Old Testament, 04:01 in the book of Genesis, where you find this phenomenon 04:04 in the Septuagint. 04:06 Interestingly enough, the Latin Vulgate, which was translated 04:12 by Jerome in the early 300's, was a Latin translation 04:19 from the Greek Septuagint. 04:21 And Jerome, instead of translating as the Septuagint 04:27 had it, He shall bruise your head. 04:30 He actually changed the pronoun to she shall bruise your head, 04:37 in spite of the fact that he was translating the Old Testament 04:42 from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament. 04:47 In other words, in the Vulgate we find that it is a she, 04:52 the woman who is going to crush the head of the serpent, 04:55 instead of the seed of the woman crushing 04:59 the head of the serpent. 05:00 Now it's very interesting to notice that in all of the 05:05 genealogies of Scripture, the job of procreation 05:10 is attributed to men. 05:13 You look, for example, at the genealogy of Genesis 5 05:17 and you'll notice a list of ten men there in that genealogy. 05:21 And it said there that they begot the person 05:26 that came after them. 05:28 In Genesis 11 we have another genealogy, 05:31 or list of descendents. 05:33 Once again it is the men who are doing the procreating. 05:37 You look at the genealogy in Matthew 1, 05:40 the genealogy of Jesus. 05:41 Once again it is men who are doing the begetting, 05:44 even though four women are mentioned, 05:46 the men who are connected with those women are also 05:50 mentioned in the genealogy. 05:52 In other words, the work of procreation in Scripture, 05:55 the work of begetting is attributed to men. 05:58 But interestingly enough, in Genesis 3:15 we find 06:02 an exception to the rule. 06:04 Because we're told in this verse not that this seed would be 06:10 begotten by a man, but that this seed would be 06:13 born from a woman, the seed of a woman. 06:17 We seem to get the impression that this particular seed 06:22 is going to come into the world born of a woman, 06:26 without the intervention of a man. 06:30 That's why we're told that the seed is born of the woman. 06:36 Now these words were pronounced by God to Satan. 06:41 And when Satan heard these words he said, 06:43 So God is going to send a seed, born of the woman, 06:47 to the world that is going to do battle with me. 06:50 God is saying that He's going to crush my head, 06:53 and I am going to bruise His heel. 06:56 I wonder how that's going to happen? 07:00 We need to go to Genesis 3:21 to understand how 07:06 this was going to happen. 07:08 You remember that when Adam and Eve sinned, the first result of 07:11 their sin is that they discovered that they were naked. 07:14 I don't have time to go into it, but really before this they were 07:18 covered with the glorious robe of light, 07:20 such as that which clothes God. 07:23 In fact Psalms 104:1, 2 says that God clothes Himself with 07:28 light as with a garment. 07:29 The woman, which represents the true church 07:32 in Revelation 12, we're told that she's clothed with the sun. 07:35 When Jesus was transfigured His robes shone like the light. 07:39 In other words, Adam and Eve were covered with light. 07:42 But when they sinned the first result was that the robe 07:45 of light left them and they noticed that they were naked. 07:49 And so we're told in Genesis 3:7 that they tried to cover 07:53 their nakedness with fig leaves. 07:55 But even after covering their nakedness with fig leaves 07:58 they still felt naked. 07:59 Because God came to the garden and He said, 08:01 Adam and Eve, where are you? 08:04 And Adam says, Well, we hid in the garden 08:07 because we were naked. 08:08 The fact is that they weren't naked anymore, 08:10 because they had covered themselves with fig leaves. 08:12 This shows that their nakedness was not primarily a nakedness 08:16 of body, it was a nakedness of soul. 08:19 And the devil is observing what is happening. 08:21 He's saying, When they're innocent, when they're holy 08:24 in the sight of God, when they're loyal to God 08:27 they have a robe of light. 08:28 They sin, suddenly they're naked. 08:30 The robe of light is gone. 08:32 And then the devil sees how they cover themselves with fig leaves 08:36 and they're still naked. 08:38 The devil is saying, I wonder how they're going to be restored 08:41 to their original condition. 08:42 Notice Genesis 3:21. We find here: 08:58 So the devil is watching and he's saying, Look at what a 09:02 peculiar way that God clothes Adam and Eve 09:06 and covers their nakedness. 09:07 Animals die! He takes the skins of the animals and He clothes 09:13 their nakedness so that they're no longer naked in His sight. 09:17 The devil is thinking, Hum, the seed is going to be born 09:21 of a woman without the intervention of a man. 09:24 Is it perhaps the case that He is also going to suffer death, 09:30 and in this way He's going to cover the nakedness of Adam and 09:34 Eve and they're going to be restored 09:35 to their original condition? 09:37 Now Scripture makes it very clear that Jesus was born into 09:42 this world through the work of a woman without the 09:46 intervention of a man just like Genesis 3:15 says. 09:51 Notice, for example, Matthew 1: 16, Matthew 1:16. It says: 10:11 Now do you notice in this verse that Joseph is excluded 10:15 as the father of Jesus? 10:17 Notice once again, reading carefully, it says that Joseph 10:21 was the husband of Mary, and that of Mary was born whom? 10:27 Jesus, who is called the Christ. 10:30 Notice also Galatians 4:4. 10:34 Very explicitly the apostle Paul explains that this seed 10:38 was going to be born of a woman without the 10:41 intervention of a man. 10:43 And, of course, we've studied that He was going to die. 10:46 He was going to suffer death, and in this way the nakedness, 10:50 the Spiritual nakedness of man was going to be covered. 10:53 Galatians 4:4 says: 11:07 Now let me ask you this question. 11:10 Against whom is the wrath of Satan particularly guided? 11:15 Is it against the woman, or is it against the 11:19 seed of the woman? 11:20 Well, if you read the Vulgate it would seem to indicate that the 11:25 enmity is between the serpent and the woman, 11:27 because supposedly the woman is going to 11:29 crush the serpent's head. 11:30 But Scripture makes it very clear that the target of the 11:35 devil's attacks was going to be not the woman but the seed. 11:39 The center, in other words, is the seed. 11:43 You say, How do we know that? 11:44 Well, you remember the story of Cain and Abel? 11:47 They were born; Cain first, Abel afterwards. 11:50 And the Bible tells us, to make a long story short, that Cain 11:55 killed his brother Abel. 11:57 You see, the devil saw something special in Abel. 12:00 He said, Perhaps this is the seed, or perhaps from him is 12:05 going to come "the Seed", and so he feels the necessity 12:08 to cut the life of Abel short. 12:11 Notice that his attack is not against Eve. 12:15 His attack is against whom? 12:18 His attack is against Abel, the seed. 12:21 Also we notice, very interesting, that when Abel 12:25 died we're told in Genesis 4:25 that God gave Eve another seed 12:33 in place of Abel whom Cain had killed. 12:36 Once again the emphasis does not fall upon the woman. 12:42 The enmity between the devil and the woman, 12:44 the enmity is between the devil and the seed. 12:48 The center of focus is the seed. 12:50 Notice also Revelation 12:4. 12:54 This is speaking about the birth of Jesus. 12:56 And notice that the woman is not the primary target 13:00 of the devil's wrath. 13:01 It is the seed of the woman. 13:03 Notice Revelation 12:4. 13:06 Speaking about this seven headed dragon, we're told: 13:24 Notice that the enmity isn't between the serpent 13:27 and the woman primarily. 13:28 The serpent is not interested, at least in the first instance, 13:33 of destroying the woman. 13:35 The serpent is interested in destroying the seed, 13:38 because the seed is going to give him a 13:40 death blow on his head. 13:42 Now notice this very interesting comment in the book, 13:46 Patriarchs and Prophets, page 66. 13:49 You know the devil is a quick learner. 13:51 The devil knew very well what was going to happen when he saw 13:55 that first sacrifice, and when he heard God say that He was 13:59 going to send a seed born of the woman. 14:01 We find this very interesting statement: 14:41 Did the devil already know, in the Old Testament, that he was 14:44 going to bring Jesus down to this earth to save man? 14:48 According to this statement, absolutely. 14:50 And we're going to notice, as we study history, 14:52 that this is the case. 14:53 She continues saying: 15:13 And so the devil had this clear picture in his mind as the plan 15:18 of salvation developed. 15:19 He says, The seed is going to be born of a woman without the 15:24 intervention of a man. 15:26 Because this is not speaking about a man begetting this Seed. 15:31 It is a woman who is bringing the Seed into the world. 15:33 This Seed obviously is going to live a perfect life, 15:37 and He is going to suffer death in place of His creatures. 15:41 Obviously, He's going to be born of a virgin, as I've mentioned. 15:46 And His Father is going to be God. 15:49 It's not going to be any human man. 15:51 And so the devil formed this clear picture in his mind 15:55 about what God was planning to do to redeem the human race. 16:00 And so the devil made up his mind that he was going to plant 16:06 a counterfeit in every nation of Planet Earth of this plan that 16:14 God had revealed that He was going to implement. 16:17 Go with me to Genesis 10:8-10, Genesis 10:8-10. 16:25 This is describing the story of the establishment of the nation 16:32 of Babylon, ancient Babylon. 16:34 And it says there: 16:38 Nimrod means rebellion, incidentally. 16:59 In other words, the builder of the Tower of Babel was a man 17:04 called Nimrod, rebellion. 17:06 Now I want you to notice what happened at Babel. 17:10 You know that the languages were confused there. 17:12 But something interesting happened at this Tower of Babel 17:16 whose builder was this rebellious man, Nimrod. 17:19 Notice Genesis 11:8, 9, Genesis 11:8, 9. It says here: 17:54 Did you notice here that every nation on Planet Earth 17:59 had its origin at Babel? 18:02 This is extremely significant, because we're going to find 18:07 that what the devil did at Babel, (he established this 18:10 counterfeit religion), and through this counterfeit 18:13 religion, because these nations went all over the earth 18:18 from Babel, they took this counterfeit or apostate 18:22 religion to every nation on Planet Earth. 18:25 Now you're saying, which counterfeit religion? 18:28 The ancient records show that Nimrod became 18:33 a legendary figure. 18:34 In fact it was believed back then than when Nimrod died 18:39 he went to heaven and he became the sun god. 18:43 Now he had a wife whose name was Semiramis. 18:47 And Semiramis was still alive on Planet Earth after Nimrod 18:52 had gone to heaven and became the sun god. 18:56 And it just so happens that by a supernatural miracle 18:59 Semiramis became pregnant. 19:02 Not by the work of any man, but she was actually 19:06 inseminated, according to their ideas, by the sun god Nimrod. 19:11 Does this begin to sound a little bit familiar? 19:15 You know, you have a god in heaven and he inseminates 19:19 a virgin on earth, and of course she had a son, and the name of 19:26 her son was Tamus. 19:28 Interestingly enough, Tamus was born on December 25th, 19:32 according to the ancient records. 19:34 Now when Semiramis died, interestingly enough, she also 19:41 ascended to the heavens, and she became the moon goddess. 19:45 In other words, after her death she also had an 19:48 assumption to heaven. 19:49 Now you say, where in the world did the devil get this 19:53 phenomenal idea about a god in heaven inseminating a woman 19:59 on Earth, and a child, a supernatural child being born 20:04 from this woman on Planet Earth, and that the woman eventually 20:08 was assumed to heaven and became the moon god. 20:12 Where would the devil create such a scenario? 20:14 The fact is that the devil knew very well the prophecy 20:19 of Genesis 3:15 where it spoke about a woman, 20:24 obviously a virgin, that was going to bring a child 20:28 into the world, not through the beginning of a man, 20:31 but by a supernatural work of God. 20:33 And interestingly enough, later on we find in the Christian 20:38 church the idea that Jesus went to heaven, and then His mother 20:44 later was assumed to heaven as well. 20:47 Do you know that many nations in antiquity had this idea of a 20:52 mother god and her child? 20:54 Let me just mention some examples of this. 20:57 The Samarians had a mother god called Nanna. 21:01 In Egypt the goddess was Isis and her son was Horus. 21:06 In Canaan you have Baal and Ashtoreth. 21:10 The Greeks had a woman called Aphrodite. 21:14 The Etruscan's had a goddess called Nutria, a mother god. 21:19 In Asia the mother was called Cybele, and her son was Deoius, 21:24 or her child was Deoius. 21:26 In Rome you had Venus or Fortuna, who was the mother. 21:30 And you had Jupiter, who was the child. 21:33 Even in China the mother god's name is Shing-mu, 21:37 which means Holy Mother. 21:39 And she's depicted as having a child in her arms, 21:43 and there are rays coming forth from her head. 21:47 In other words she has a halo around her head. 21:49 In India you have the goddess Indrani, and she's also 21:54 portrayed in ancient art as having a child in her arms. 21:59 The Germans had the virgin Hertha that they worshipped, 22:03 and her child also in her arms. 22:06 The Scandinavians had Isa, and she also in the artwork 22:11 has a child in her hands. 22:13 The Druids had Vergo Partitura, and worshipped her 22:17 as the mother of god officially. 22:20 And, of course, Ephesus had Diana. 22:23 By the way, Paul had no love for this goddess Diana. 22:28 He told exactly what should be done in the case of a 22:31 goddess like this. 22:32 He had no idea of Christianity blending or mixing with 22:36 this apostate religion. 22:37 Notice Acts 19:24-27, Acts 19: 24-27. 22:45 Here we find the following description of 22:49 the religion of Diana. 23:02 Notice he made statues of this goddess Diana. 23:08 It became a real good business. 23:52 Interesting that the apostle Paul would have nothing to do 23:55 with this idea of an apostate pagan goddess. 24:00 And those who worshipped Diana knew very well the perspective 24:05 that the apostle Paul had. 24:07 Now I'd like to go for a moment back to the Old Testament, 24:10 to God's people Israel. 24:13 Because this has something very important to tell us about the, 24:18 how would I say? almost veneration of Mary 24:23 in the Christian world today, particularly in the 24:25 Roman Catholic Church. 24:27 I want you to notice what God told Israel before they entered 24:30 the land of Canaan. 24:32 Deuteronomy 7:1-6. 25:53 Notice that God told Israel, Don't you have any contact with 25:58 pagan nations and with their pagan practices. 26:00 Don't have anything to do with their altars, with their icons, 26:04 with their ceremonies. 26:06 Remain totally separated from them. 26:09 And yet Israel did not listen to the counsel of the Lord. 26:13 Notice Judges 10:6, Judges 10:6. It says: 26:45 So notice that instead of remaining separate from these 26:49 pagan nations, and from their practices, 26:52 and from their images, and from their altars, they mixed and 26:56 they blended with these nations. 26:58 Now we might ask the question at this point, 27:01 before we continue looking at the story of Israel, 27:04 Would God give the same counsel to His Christian church today? 27:09 Would He allow the Christian church to adopt practices from 27:15 pagan nations, and altars from pagan nations, and icons from 27:20 pagan nations, and ceremonies, and rites, from pagan nations? 27:25 Absolutely not! If God said to Israel, Remain separate. 27:29 Do not adopt anything that has to do with them. 27:32 God would give the same counsel to the Christian church. 27:36 He would not give the Christian church the opportunity of 27:40 baptizing pagan practices, and adopting them into 27:45 the Christian church. 27:46 Things became really terrible in Israel. 27:49 Notice Ezekiel 8:6, 14, Ezekiel 8, and I want to read 27:57 verse 6 and also verse 14. It says here: 28:23 And now notice verse 16. 28:37 Do you remember we spoke about Tammuz? 28:40 Tammuz was the son, the supernatural son of Nimrod. 28:44 Israel at this point is actually lamenting Tammuz. 28:50 And, by the way, what's happening here is that it was 28:53 believed that, and this is by the way astronomically true, 28:57 in December the days get shorter, and shorter, 29:00 and shorter. They believed that that meant that Tammuz was 29:03 drying, and dying, and dying. 29:04 And then on December 25 the days become longer. 29:07 And so now he was suddenly resurrecting from the dead. 29:11 And so we find here that they're actually practicing one of the 29:16 rites and ceremonies that was established by Nimrod 29:20 way back in Babylon. 29:22 Now notice also Jeremiah 7:18, 19, another one of these 29:28 deplorable practices that Israel had that they adopted from 29:32 the pagan nations. 29:33 It says there in Jeremiah 7:18, 30:08 Notice that they were worshipping, according to this, 30:11 the queen of heaven. 30:14 I want you to remember that specific terminology. 30:17 They were worshipping the queen of heaven. 30:19 By the way, they did it through silver. 30:23 Gold was used to worship the sun god, 30:27 because the sun is yellow. 30:28 Silver was used to depict the moon goddess, 30:31 because it is the color of the moon; which the moon is white, 30:35 or silver. And so Israel here is making cakes 30:39 to the queen of heaven. 30:40 They're worshipping the queen of heaven. 30:44 They're bowing before her. 30:46 They've adopted the pagan practices of the 30:49 surrounding nations. 30:50 For this reason God decided that He needed to send Israel 30:56 into captivity for seventy years. 30:59 And so king Nebuchadnezzar came in the year 605 31:02 and he overcame Jerusalem. 31:06 There were three captivities. 31:07 Jerusalem was destroyed, and God's people were taken captive 31:12 to Babylon for a period of seventy years. 31:15 In Babylon they were cured of their idolatry. 31:20 In other words, they made up their minds that they were not 31:22 going to worship idols ever again. 31:25 They were not going to worship Tammuz. 31:26 They were not going to worship the queen of heaven. 31:28 They were not going to make cakes to her. 31:30 They were not going to pour out drink offerings 31:33 to the pagan gods. 31:34 They were going to be faithful to God in not 31:36 practicing idolatry. 31:38 Now the question is, how could the devil continue proliferating 31:43 this apostate religion that began in Babel, if the children 31:47 of Israel had decided that they would remain separate from 31:51 the practices of the surrounding pagan nations; if they had 31:55 isolated themselves from these pagan nations? 31:58 Well, let me give you a little bit of history about what 32:01 happened after the Babylonian captivity, when Israel had been 32:05 cured once and for all from this idolatry, from adopting 32:09 the pagan practices of the surrounding nations. 32:12 Go with me to Ezra 1:2, 3. 32:16 It's speaking here about Cyrus, king of Persia. 32:20 He's the one that came, by the way, and conquered Babylon 32:23 along with Durias the Mede. It says there: 33:00 I find it rather remarkable that Cyrus, this king of 33:04 the Medo Persian empire would actually say, God has told me 33:09 to build Him a temple in Jerusalem. 33:12 Now the question is, How did he know that God was telling him 33:16 to build Him a temple in Jerusalem? 33:17 Well, the fact is that the name of Cyrus had been given in 33:23 Bible prophecy over a hundred years before he was 33:26 born, in Isaiah 45:1. 33:28 And it's very likely that when Cyrus dried up the river 33:33 Euphrates and entered into the city of Babylon he met Daniel 33:37 there, because Daniel was in the banquet room. 33:39 And Daniel probably opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, 33:44 and said, I've been waiting for you. 33:46 Your name has been prophesied. 33:49 One hundred years before you were born, God says that you 33:53 are going to be a shepherd. 33:55 You are going to be the deliverer of His people. 33:58 And so, undoubtedly Cyrus, seeing this providential sign 34:03 said, I must fulfill the will of God. 34:06 And you know what's interesting, there are two individuals, 34:10 two ancient kings, which became monotheistic. 34:14 In other words they came to the point of believing 34:15 that there was only one true God. 34:17 One of them was Tutankhamun. 34:20 And I believe that has to do with the Exodus. 34:24 And the other king was Durias, and Cyrus, 34:28 and the Persian rulers. 34:30 In fact they established a new religion called Zoroastrianism, 34:36 where you had a good god, and you had a evil god 34:39 in constant conflict or controversy; very similar to the 34:43 idea that we find of the conflict between God and 34:46 Satan in Scripture. 34:48 And they believed in only one true God. 34:50 Where do you suppose that Durias and Cyrus 34:53 got that idea from? 34:55 It must have been from Daniel, and from the Hebrews. 34:59 Now interestingly enough, in Babylon there remained 35:03 some pagan priests that had proliferated the religion 35:09 of Babylon; those Chaldeans as they're called in Daniel 2. 35:13 And Durias I, who is not the same Durias the Mede, in the 35:17 year 520 he said, I'm not going to put up with these pagan 35:21 priests in Babylon. 35:22 And so what he did, he massacred these pagan priests. 35:26 And the ones who were able to survive actually fled to the 35:31 city of Pergamum in Asia Minor. 35:34 In the year 482 king Xerxes did the same thing. 35:39 There were still some priests left over in Babylon, 35:42 and so he once again massacred these pagan priests 35:45 of the Babylonian type, not the priesthood of the Zoroastrian 35:49 religion, but the priesthood of the Babylonian religion. 35:52 And once again these priests fled to Asia Minor 35:56 to the city of Pergamum. 35:58 By the way, you can read this fascinating story in the book, 36:03 The Mysteries of Mithra, written by a Roman Catholic scholar 36:07 whose name is Franz Cumont. 36:09 He's also written several other books on religions 36:14 in Asia Minor, and in the Roman empire. 36:16 Interestingly enough, these pagan priests that went to 36:21 Pergamum rooted their religious, their Polytheistic religious 36:26 ideas in Pergamum. 36:28 In this way the pagan polytheistic religion of Babylon 36:33 was transferred to Pergamum. 36:36 And you say, Why is this important? 36:37 It's very important for the reason that according to Virgil, 36:42 the Latin poet, and other Roman writers like Homer, 36:47 they say that Roman civilization and religion was an import 36:54 from Asia Minor, specifically from Pergamum. 36:58 You can read it in this book that I made reference to. 37:01 Interesting that the religion of ancient Babylon went to Pergamum 37:07 and from Pergamum it was imported into Pagan Rome. 37:12 In other words, it became the official religion of pagan Rome. 37:16 Perhaps this is the reason why in 1 Peter 5:13, if you go with 37:23 me there, 1 Peter 5:13, Rome is called Babylon. 37:29 Notice it says there: 37:41 Most scholars believe that this is a reference to Rome. 37:45 In other words Rome is being called Babylon. Why? 37:49 Because the religion of Babylon was transported from 37:54 ancient Babylon, from the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar 37:57 to Pergamum, and from Pergamum, or through 38:00 Pergamum into pagan Rome. 38:03 But now we must go one step further. 38:06 And I must go quickly here. 38:09 I don't have time to go into all of the ramifications of this 38:12 prophecy, so I'm only going to describe it. 38:14 In Revelation 13 we have a composite beast. 38:19 This beast has the characteristics of a lion, 38:22 a bear, a leopard, and a dragon beast. 38:29 And the dragon beast has ten horns. 38:31 And then we're told that that dragon beast with ten horns 38:36 gives his throne, his authority, and his power to this beast. 38:42 In other words, the dragon gives his power to this beast, 38:45 to this composite beast. 38:47 Now the question is, what does this composite beast represent? 38:51 Actually, it's very simple. 38:53 The lion represents Babylon. 38:55 The bear represents Medo Persia. 38:59 The leopard represents Greece. 39:01 The dragon beast is Rome, because the dragon beast in 39:05 Revelation 12 tried to kill the child when the child was born. 39:08 So the dragon beast is Rome. 39:10 And then Rome was divided into ten kingdoms. 39:13 Those are the ten horns in the year 476. 39:17 And then it says that this dragon beast with ten horns 39:21 gives his seat, his power, and his authority 39:25 to this composite beast. 39:27 In other words, after the Roman empire would arise a power that 39:32 would receive the seat, and the authority that existed in pagan 39:37 Rome, along with its civilization, and its religion. 39:40 The question is, which was this power which arose after pagan 39:47 Rome that proliferated the religion of the 39:50 ancient Roman empire that Rome received from Pergamum, 39:54 and that Pergamum received from Babylon in unbroken chain. 39:59 Folks, I wish I could say otherwise, but it was the 40:02 Roman Catholic Papacy. 40:04 Even writers of the Roman Catholic Church, scholars, 40:08 for example, like Cardinal Gibbons, very clearly say that 40:13 most of the practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic 40:17 Church were imported from paganism: Sunday, the idea of 40:23 nuns, vestal virgins, the idea of incense, the idea of icons, 40:30 the idea of idols in the churches. 40:33 In fact I don't know whether you're aware, but there in the 40:36 Vatican you have in Saint Peters Cathedral, 40:41 you have an image of Jupiter. 40:44 You say, No, it's not of Jupiter, it's of Peter. 40:47 Yes, it was of Jupiter, and they adopt it, 40:49 and they converted Jupiter into Peter. 40:51 I mean the Roman Catholic Church doesn't hide this. 40:54 They actually acquired their religion, 40:57 and their organizational structure, and their political 41:01 structure from ancient Rome. 41:04 And Rome had received it from Pergamum, and Pergamum had 41:08 received it from Babylon. 41:09 Now, I find it very interesting that Pergamum is also involved 41:16 in the transfer from pagan Rome to Papal Rome. 41:20 Go with me to Revelation 2:13, 14. 41:25 This is going to get more and more fascinating. 41:27 By the way, as you're looking for Revelation 2:13, 14, 41:31 allow me to tell you something about the seven 41:33 churches of Revelation. 41:34 The seven churches, according to most scholars, 41:37 represent seven periods of the history of the Christian church 41:40 from apostolic times till the end of time. 41:43 Most scholars that I have read believe that the church of 41:47 Ephesus represents the apostolic church. 41:49 The church that went out conquering and to conquer; 41:51 that set the world on fire with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 41:55 The second church, the church of Smyrna, 41:57 is the persecuted church. 41:59 There's a lot of death language connected with 42:01 the church of Smyrna. 42:02 And, in fact, most scholars believe that it represents 42:06 the period of the church under the period of the Roman 42:09 emperors, the early Roman emperors who persecuted 42:12 Christians, and threw them to the lions, and made them fight 42:15 with animals in the coliseum, and with gladiators, etc. 42:19 And so Smyrna is the persecuted church. 42:22 It's where the devil tried to destroy the growth 42:26 of the church by persecution. 42:28 But the devil soon discovered that instead of stomping out 42:33 the church by persecution, the church grew all the more. 42:36 And so he had to use a different method. 42:39 And so now you enter the third church. 42:41 The third church is called Pergamum. 42:44 Interesting! Now lets read about Pergamum. 42:48 Revelation 2:12-14, And to the angel of the church in Pergamus 42:53 write, these things says he who has the sharp two edged sword. 43:05 Remember that this dragon beast gave his throne 43:10 to this next beast? 43:12 It continues saying: 43:26 But now notice verse 14: 43:48 Notice that the problem with the church of Pergamum 43:51 is that Balaam is there influencing the church. 43:55 Now in order to understand why this is important we have to go 43:58 back to the story of Balaam in Numbers 22 to 24. 44:02 Lets notice Numbers 22:12. 44:06 It just so happens that Balak wants Balaam to curse Israel. 44:10 It says: 44:19 God says to Balaam, You can't curse Israel. They're blessed. 44:22 The question is, Why was Israel blessed? 44:25 Notice Numbers 23:21-23: 44:34 This is Balaam speaking. 45:10 You see, Israel was in a proper relationship with the Lord, 45:14 and therefore the devil could not destroy Israel 45:18 through persecution, through warfare. 45:20 But the devil soon discovers that there's a better way 45:24 to destroy Israel. 45:25 You see, just like the early church grew phenomenally, 45:29 the devil tried to destroy the church by persecution, 45:32 but he couldn't because the church was in a good 45:34 relationship with the Lord. 45:36 Now the devil says, I have to implement plan B. 45:40 And what was that plan B? 45:42 Plan B was if you cannot fight them, or destroy them from 45:46 outside, then infiltrate them with the practices, 45:51 with the pagan practices of the nations, 45:53 and then they will be destroyed. 45:56 Notice Numbers 31:16 on how Balaam 46:01 was successful in his endeavor. 46:04 It says there in Numbers 31:16: 46:09 The women of Moab. 46:25 And so what the devil did was to use Balaam to entice Israel 46:31 to adopt the practices of the Moabites to follow their 46:36 idolatrous practices, their worship practices, 46:40 and as a result they broke their covenant with the Lord, 46:43 and there was great decimation among the people of God. 46:47 The same thing happened in the early church when Ephesus went 46:52 out conquering and to conquer the early church, 46:54 the apostolic church. 46:56 It grew phenomenally. 46:57 The devil says, I have to destroy this church 47:00 because it's winning subjects for Jesus Christ. 47:03 And so now comes the church of Smyrna; 47:06 the church that is persecuted. 47:08 But the more the devil persecutes 47:09 the more the church grows. 47:11 And so the devil says, I have to do something. 47:13 And so you enter the church of Pergamum 47:16 where Balaam is influencing. 47:18 And what the devil does through an emperor called Constantine; 47:23 he introduces into Christianity idolatrous practices 47:29 of the Roman empire. 47:30 You know, even Constantine the Great, he claimed to be a 47:36 Christian, but he actually worshipped the sun god, 47:39 Dies Sol Invictus, the Invincible God. 47:41 He actually had coins printed that said to The Invincible God, 47:45 and it had a sun on it. 47:47 In other words, Constantine was a sun worshipper. 47:50 He was only converted nominally to Christianity. 47:52 And all of these ideas from pagan Rome were transferred 47:57 via Pergamum into the Roman Catholic Church. 48:02 And many scholars in the Roman Catholic Church today admit 48:05 that many of the practices that now exist in the church actually 48:10 were imported directly from the religions of the 48:14 pagan Roman empire. 48:15 Among those things that we're going to study, 48:18 which were imported into the Christian church was the 48:22 veneration of the virgin mother. 48:25 That which had originated all the way back at the 48:29 tower of Babel, which was transferred from Babel to 48:33 Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. 48:35 Because Nebuchadnezzar actually boasted that he was 48:38 re-establishing the kingdom which existed at Babel. 48:42 And then it was transferred from the Babylon of 48:45 Nebuchadnezzar to Pergamum through the apostate priesthood. 48:49 From the city of Pergamum it was transferred to Rome. 48:55 And through the church of Pergamum it was transferred 48:59 from pagan Rome to Papal Rome in unbroken chain. 49:05 Now in our next study together we're going to take a look at 49:10 a topic which I have chosen to title, Mary the Rival of Jesus. 49:16 You say, How in the world could you title a lecture, 49:19 Mary the Rival of Jesus? 49:21 We're going to see how all of these ideas that originated back 49:27 with Nimrod, and Semiramis, and Tamuz, that were transferred 49:32 to Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, and then transferred to Rome, 49:37 and then transferred to the Roman Catholic Church, 49:40 have proliferated today in the Christian church. 49:43 And we're going to see how the mother is venerated to such 49:48 a great degree that the child is practically placed 49:53 on a second plain. 49:55 Now I would like you to notice in Revelation 12:1 that God is 50:02 going to have a true church in the end time; a church that 50:06 upholds the truth of God as it's found in Holy Scripture. 50:10 This woman is depicted as clothed with the sun, 50:14 and standing on the moon. 50:16 Notice Revelation 12:1. It says: 50:32 Now we're going to find that the Roman Catholic Church believes 50:35 that this woman actually is symbolic of Mary. 50:40 But the fact is for reasons that we studied in our first lecture, 50:44 this woman actually is a representation of the 50:49 Old Testament church and the New Testament church. 50:52 In other words, Jesus was born from the woman. 50:55 Yes, He was born from the Old Testament church. 50:59 And then later on the woman flees to the wilderness. 51:02 That means that the church in the New Testament period 51:05 flees to the wilderness when she's persecuted by the serpent. 51:09 In other words, God is going to have, according to this verse, 51:13 a true church which will bring the Messiah into the world 51:16 and this true church, after the Messiah is caught up to God 51:21 into His throne, is going to be persecuted by the serpent, 51:26 is going to be persecuted by the dragon to try and destroy 51:29 her, because she upholds the truth of God. 51:32 But do you know that in Revelation the apostate religion 51:37 is also represented by a woman? 51:39 Notice Revelation 17:1-6, Revelation 17:1-6. 51:47 This will be our final passage in our study. 52:06 By the way, if a pure woman represents a pure church, 52:10 a harlot must represent a what? must represent a fallen church. 52:16 Notice that she's seated on many waters. 52:19 Verse 15 explains that the many waters represent multitudes, 52:24 nations, tongues, and peoples. 52:26 So this is an apostate system of religion that sits, or governs 52:30 on nations, tongues, multitudes, and peoples. 52:33 And now notice verse 2. 52:39 Notice that she's involved in the political 52:42 systems of the world. 52:43 She fornicates with the kings of the earth according to this. 52:53 By the way, the wine represents false teachings. 52:56 It represents false doctrines. 52:58 In fact a little later on in this passage we're going to 53:01 notice that it represents her abominations. 53:04 If you want to look up in Scripture the word abominations 53:07 in a concordance, you'll find that abominations are composed 53:10 of many things: worshipping the sun, thinking that you can eat 53:14 unclean foods, thinking that you can be saved in violation of 53:20 the law of God, and many other things as well. 53:24 So notice that she gives the wine; she makes the nations 53:28 drunk with the wine of her fornication. Notice verse 3: 53:46 And notice how this woman is arrayed. 53:51 Interesting colors, right? purple and scarlet. 54:01 Notice that this is a system that majors in gold, and silver, 54:05 and precious stones, and pearls. 54:08 And she's clothed in purple and scarlet. And it says: 54:22 By the way, fornication means that you are married to Jesus, 54:27 but at the same time you're married with paganism. 54:29 In other words you're adopting pagan practices into the church 54:34 like ancient Israel did. 54:36 Let me ask you, why would God rebuke ancient Israel 54:39 for adopting pagan practices, and He would not rebuke the 54:42 Christian church for importing pagan practices? 54:45 Would you expect God to keep the Christian church just as 54:49 pure as He wanted to keep ancient Israel? Of course. 54:52 It continues saying in verse 5... Notice her name. 55:06 What is this system of apostate religion called? 55:09 Babylon, interestingly enough. 55:18 And then you'll notice that this is a persecuting power. 55:21 She persecutes those that don't agree with her teachings. 55:24 It says in verse 6: 55:37 Now I would like to read one final text. 55:40 I know I said that this was the last one, 55:42 but I need to read one more before we draw this to a close. 55:48 Jeremiah 51:7, 8. We began with Babylon and we said that 55:54 these teachings of paganism were transferred from Babel to 56:00 the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, to Rome through Pergamum, 56:04 and then to papal Rome through the church of Pergamum. 56:09 In other words, Babylon is found all the way through. 56:14 These ideas come from antiquity. 56:17 You know, sometimes I've wondered why so many religions 56:19 in the world, for example, use a rosary. 56:22 It's not only in the Roman Catholic Church 56:24 that a rosary is used. 56:26 Muslims use rosaries. 56:29 Hindus use rosaries. 56:31 You know that what I'm saying is true. 56:33 Where would they all get the idea of saying prayers 56:36 and using beads for their prayers? 56:38 It's because all of these practices ultimately 56:42 come from one source. 56:44 They ultimately come from where? from Babylon, which is Satan's 56:49 apostate system of religion. 56:51 Notice Jeremiah 51:7, 8. 56:59 And notice what she did. 57:12 So we need to beware of the religion of Babylon. 57:17 And God actually says in Revelation 18, 57:21 Come out of her my people. |
Revised 2015-02-17