A large part of the book of Revelation is written about the apostasy and the false prophet and this is particularly so in Rev 16 – 18.

Why does Revelation show how much God and Christ are repulsed by the apostate church? To name a few reasons –

• pagan like worship
• its history of child sexual abuse
• money laundering
• the politicization of religion

Pagan traditions

Catholic Church makes tradition above or equal to Scripture, but in actuality many of its traditions stem from pagan sun worship. Its teachings, beliefs and practices come from Mithraism—a form of paganism that existed in Babylonian times.

These pagan practices are symbols of apostasy against God. Of this, the Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism says the following:

The missionary history of the [Catholic] Church clearly shows her adaptability to all races, all continents, all nations. In her liturgy and her art, in her tradition and the forming of her doctrine, naturally enough she includes Jewish elements, but also elements that are of pagan origin. In certain respects, she has copied her organization from that of the Roman Empire, has preserved and made fruitful the philosophical intuitions of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, borrowed from both Barbarians and the Byzantine Roman Empire—but always remains herself, thoroughly digesting all elements drawn from external sources…In her laws, her ceremonies, her festivals and her devotions, she makes use of local customs after purifying them and “baptizing” them.

The Papacy claims that its system of worship has been handed down through tradition. They are absolutely correct. But these are not the teachings of Jesus, but rather the traditions of Babylon.

Roman Catholic doctrines such as infant baptism, sprinkling during baptism, teachings on death and immortality, tonsured and celibate priests with power over the dead, prayers to the dead and to relics, repetitive prayers with the use of beads, doctrines on forgiveness of sins, teachings on hell, the mass, and Sunday worship are doctrines actually derived directly from ancient Babylon, not the Bible.

When Constantine married paganism and Christianity, the door was opened for false doctrines to creep into the early Christian Church, and they were gradually introduced into the system. The Church became divided into the Catholic Church who accepted the pagan doctrines, and those who resisted Constantine’s indoctrination.

Like the successive strata of the earth covering one another, so layer after layer of forgeries and fabrications were piled up in the Church.

The church historian Philip Schaff says, “No church or sect in Christendom ever sank so low as the Latin church in the tenth century.”

---

This article is adapted from Truth Matters by Professor Walter J. Veith