Mystery Babylon. Introduction. Series

SOME PRELIMINARY NOTES

1. The tracing of Babylon turns out to be the study of the human race, with its obvious and not so obvious byways and lanes that, after awhile, tend to overwhelm rather than edify. After months of plodding through these paths, I finally must force myself to stop and turn over the rest of this project to my readers.

2. When you have completed this study, please exercise caution about sharing it with others. To the unsaved world we preach Christ crucified and risen again. Edification is reserved for believers. In this series of books there is some of both, but its message is delicate enough to demand prayer about those to whom you will pass it on. It might be especially helpful for the person who wonders why he does not feel at home any longer in Romanism, or Orthodoxy, or even quite a number of "Protestant" churches...

3. For all true believers, though, I offer the following reasons for a careful study of this subject.

a. If one has any doubt that the Babylonian system is dead, there will be a temptation to avoid confrontation with Babylon's modern adherents, thinking they are safe.

b. Such a study will produce compassion for all persons bound by religious systems, a growing hatred for the enemy of our souls, and a stronger discernment of good and evil.

c. The times continue to worsen; knowing what is to come upon us, and the sources of those circumstances, cannot help but be beneficial to the end-time saint. God has not called us to walk in darkness, and thus gave us the glorious light of his Word, upon which the following study is built.

4. I have attempted to speak the truth in love, and humbly point out the truths I have discovered. At times, though, it was difficult to be reserved and calm, looking into the face of this evil.

We are warned, and I tried to heed the warning, that wheat and weeds will be mixed in this world. They are often so close. Ultimate judgment belongs to God, and yes, the Church must stop destroying all with whom she does not agree. But we must discern. And if Christ is not in what we are observing, we must warn. And as the Lord leads, we must also "come out from among them, and be separate."

September 1, 1992

FOREWORD

To the reader:

As a Hebrew Christian I have been confronted many times by fellow Jews, and accused of being converted to Catholicism, a Roman religion that they know to have been responsible for the beating and murder of millions of victims, Jew and Gentile alike.

Of course, their accusations are correct, as far as Romanism is concerned. The historical evidence of crimes and atrocities committed against my people in the name of Christ, is well documented. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Nazi Holocaust, are examples.

I had a tough time convincing them that my personal faith in the Messiah, Jesus, had nothing to do with Catholicism, and that I had not suddenly become a Roman Catholic. I knew, of course, that their own confusion did not originate from the teachings of Jesus, but was brought about by the anti-Semitic actions of a people, both Catholic and Protestant, who, throughout history, claimed to be Christians but in fact were not.

This study has increased my faith by opening my eyes to a clearer understanding of this false religious system, steeped in deception that has plagued mankind from the beginning of time.

My prayer is that this book will help end your confusion, too.

Ron K.

Jewish believer

Chicago

PART ONE: BABYLON IN BIBLE DAYS

B.C. 4000 to A.D. 100

INTRODUCTION

Three things will help you in the study of this lesson:

1. What Isaiah calls a "garment of praise" (Isaiah 61:3), to combat the inevitable "spirit of heaviness" that comes when dealing with the things of Satan.

2. An open Bible, to check for yourself that the account I give is a true one.

3. A heart hungry for God and open only to Truth.

There is a trail of scarlet that wends its way through the pages of God's Word, and history.

There is, for example, the scarlet cord that Rahab was asked to hang from her window, so she could be saved by Joshua at his return.(Joshua 2:17-18)

A scarlet thread was to be interwoven throughout the garments of Israel's priests.(Exodus 39:1)

Red is the color of wine, as in the new wine promised by Jesus. (Matthew 9:17)

And above all there is the stream of blood that flows from our greater Joshua, our great High Priest, the One called Jesus.

Prostitution, the royal priesthood, the blood. Scarlet threads somehow woven into the fabric of the plans of God.