Reviving the Holy Roman Empire
“The [European] Community is living largely by the heritage of the Holy Roman Empire, though the great majority of the people who live by it don’t know by what heritage they live.”—Otto von Habsburg
It is July 13, 2015. Last night, Europe’s leaders pulled another all-nighter trying to agree on a solution to prevent Greece from going bankrupt, leaving the eurozone and hurling the entire European Union into the abyss. As it stands right now they seem to have found a plan. But if recent history is any indicator, that solution will either fall through or precipitate another crisis within the next few days, or hours, or minutes.
This is 21st-century Europe: disordered, disunited and, increasingly, despondent.
Amid all the uncertainty, one reality seems absolutely certain, at least to most observers: The European Union is dying—slowly, painfully and publicly. The hope of European countries forming a united, stable, democratic, geopolitically consequential entity is vanishing. The goal of European integration, noble as it may be, is doomed. The future of global politics and power, many believe, belongs to the likes of China, Russia, Iran and the United States. The EU, assuming it can survive the current crisis, is destined to remain, at best, a secondary power.
This book forecasts a different future for the Continent.
Europe will unite and it will become a formidable global dynamo. The unity Europe attains will not be perfect, it will not come about easily or peacefully, and it certainly will not endure. But Europe is going to become a united superpower and a serious, daunting global power. The emergence of this new Europe will have far-reaching and dramatic consequences for us all.
This forecast is underpinned by two basic proofs. First, like the goal of European unity itself, it is supported by more than 1,500 years of European history. Second, it is supported by Bible prophecy.
Founded in 1951, initially as the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Union was created with the fundamental goal of reviving the ancient Holy Roman Empire. This might be hard to envision, considering what a debacle the EU is today. Nevertheless, the cherished and publicly stated goal of some Europeans, especially European leaders, is to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire.
What was the Holy Roman Empire? What would a resurrected Holy Roman Empire look like?
This empire—its composition and character, its behavior and accomplishments—was prophesied, repeatedly and in vivid detail, in the Bible. Where are these prophecies? Have they been fulfilled? What do they mean for the future of Europe, and for mankind?
Some of the answers are not pleasant, but we need to know.
Reviving the Holy Roman Empire
Brendan Simms is a historian and a professor of history at Cambridge University. In 2013, he wrote an article in the New York Times titled “The Ghosts of Europe’s Past.” “The cheerleaders of the European Union like to think of it as an entirely new phenomenon, born of the horrors of two world wars,” he wrote. “But in fact it closely resembles a formation that many Europeans thought they had long since left to the dustbin of history: the Holy Roman Empire .…”
Not all Europeans, however, confined the Holy Roman Empire to the dustbin of history. Here is how Otto von Habsburg, a descendant of that famous line of European royalty, put it in 1989: “The [European] Community is living largely by the heritage of the Holy Roman Empire, though the great majority of the people who live by it don’t know by what heritage they live.”
These are important words from an important man. Together with other leading figures such as Konrad Adenauer, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, this man built the European Community, which today we call the European Union. Habsburg died in 2011. He was a descendant of the Habsburg line of European royalty and former crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was one of the leading architects of modern Europe—and his statement discloses the vision that underpins modern Europe.
To appreciate the significance of this truth, we need to understand the history and nature of the Holy Roman Empire—particularly the identity of the “holy” in its name.
Among historians, it is generally accepted that the Holy Roman Empire was the cyclical reincarnation of the ancient Roman Empire, presided over in each instance by the Catholic Church. Oxford Dictionary defines it as the “empire set up in Western Europe following the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor in the year 800. It was created by the medieval papacy in an attempt to unite Christendom under one rule.”
These descriptions are accurate, but are woefully incomplete.
Mr. Habsburg lived in Vienna, Austria, the heart of the ancient Holy Roman Empire, and he often spoke about an illustrious crown on display in Vienna’s Hofburg Palace. “We do possess a European symbol which belongs to all nations equally,” he once said. “This is the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which embodies the tradition of Charlemagne.”
The founders of the EU, and many European leaders today, readily acknowledge that the supreme goal of the European Union is to live “by the heritage of the Holy Roman Empire.” European politicians regularly declare their admiration for Charlemagne and publicly admit that they seek to create a united Europe that “embodies the tradition of Charlemagne.”
What is the “heritage of the Holy Roman Empire”? Who was Charlemagne? What is the “tradition of Charlemagne”? We need the answers to these questions if we are to understand modern Europe and anticipate its future.
Modern Europe wants to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire. That means this history is also prophecy of the imminent future—and that makes this a subject of paramount importance.
Revealing God and the Gospel
The purpose for this book is twofold. First, it aims to provide a glimpse into the immediate future of both Europe and the world by examining the history that is informing the modern revival of this church-state combine.
The second purpose of this book is truly inspiring: It is to show how the history and prophecy of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire reveal God and the gospel.
In order to grasp this wonderful truth, you must be willing to consider what the Bible says about this subject. Considering the topic of this book, referring to Scripture shouldn’t seem unusual; after all, the term “holy” in Holy Roman Empire implies religion, which implies (or at least should imply) the use of the Bible. Any attempt to discuss the Holy Roman Empire without employing Scripture is doing this subject injustice.
It is a sad fact that many people have little tolerance for the Bible. Invoking it, they believe, makes a person simpleminded, unreasonable, irrational or uneducated. But the Bible is Western civilization’s most important and defining piece of literature. It is also a widely recognized and valuable history book. Isn’t closing your mind to what this book says illiberal, unreasonable and simpleminded?
Note some statements in Scripture that begin to reveal the way God uses the Holy Roman Empire to declare His presence and supremacy.
In Isaiah 46:9-10, He says, “… I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand .…”
In Isaiah 40, He says, “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things .… Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance .… All nations before him are as nothing …” (verses 25-26, 15, 17).
The God of the Bible is the ultimate authority in the affairs of mankind. Few realize it today, but God sanctions the rise and fall of human empires and nations. He decides the borders of nations. He oversees all major developments in international relations. God reigns supreme in the affairs of men.
Another important truth that might surprise the reader is this: The Bible clearly shows that this is not God’s world. Most of the customs and traditions, cultures and societies, lifestyles, governments and economies of human civilization were not designed by God, and He does not endorse them. The Bible teaches that this world is under the control and influence of Satan the devil, a former archangel who rebelled against God (e.g. 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 12:9). This explains the presence of so much evil and unhappiness in our world.
But the profound influence of the devil on this world does not preclude God’s involvement in world events.
Psalm 33:10-15 say, “The Eternal wrecks the purposes of pagans, he brings to nothing what the nations plan; but the Eternal’s purpose stands for ever, and what he plans will last from age to age. … The Eternal looks from heaven, beholding all mankind; from where he sits, he scans all who inhabit the world; he who alone made their minds, he notes all they do” (Moffatt translation).
Any person who has the humility to meditate on that scripture will see that it is astonishingly hopeful and inspiring.
The tendency of human nature is to focus on the self, to behave as if the universe revolves around oneself. Thus blinded by vanity and self-absorption, individually and collectively, most people fail to see and accept that God is the ultimate authority in the affairs of humanity.
This is why God gives Bible prophecy: to prove that He exists and that He reigns supreme.
Though this world and human nature are under the influence of the devil, God steers world events to ensure that every word He has uttered is fulfilled exactly as He said. God monitors everything, and He sanctions every major and even many minor decisions and developments.
This is one of the most hopeful, assuring truths a person can know. And the Catholic religion and the Holy Roman Empire are important because they provide quantifiable, living, irrefutable proof of this truth.
How?
How Relevant Is Prophecy?
In this world—even in much of Christianity—Bible prophecy is almost universally ignored and rejected. But did you realize that fully one third of the Bible is devoted to prophecy? To discard prophecy is to discard one third of the Bible.
Of all the prophecy in the Bible, it is easily provable that the great majority revolves around the time we are currently living in and the months and years ahead. Author and educator Herbert W. Armstrong taught that 90 percent of the Bible’s prophecy is for our time. This is an astounding truth when you consider that the final canon of the Bible was finished more than 1,900 years ago.
Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, which comprise the Pentateuch, roughly 1,400 years before the lifetime of Jesus Christ. The major and minor prophets, which are filled with so much prophecy, were written between 400 and 800 years before Christ. The Apostle John wrote his gospel, his epistles and the book of Revelation in the final decade of the first century, and authorship of the Bible was completed by a.d. 100.
Now think on this.
If the Holy Roman Empire was discussed in the Bible long before it even existed—in some instances, more than a thousand years prior to it coming on the scene—then this would surely prove the existence of a higher power, a divine architect, a supreme being capable of intervening in human affairs and shaping world history.
If the Holy Roman Empire is indeed fulfilled prophecy, then it is dramatic, tangible, undeniable proof of God’s existence. And if the prophecy of the Holy Roman Empire is accurate, then other biblical prophecies and truths would surely also be accurate. This would make the Bible a valuable resource for forecasting world events—even for preparing for them.
So, was the Holy Roman Empire prophesied in the Bible?
Holy Roman Empire Prophesied
The Holy Roman Empire is spoken of in multiple prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments. This book will explore many of these prophecies. Let’s review one specific chapter now. Written more than 400 years before the Holy Roman Empire came into existence, this chapter gives a detailed, thorough explanation of this empire’s nature and motives, its leadership, and its accomplishments.
The book of Revelation is about “things which shall be hereafter,” or events that would occur after John’s time (Revelation 1:19). Revelation contains prophecy of end-time events. Revelation 17 was written by the Apostle John around a.d. 90. The specific purpose of this pivotal chapter, as verse 1 plainly states, is to describe the “judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” This “great whore” symbolizes a specific institution. In this chapter, God gives John a vision, beginning in verse 3, in which He gives the apostle insight into the character and conduct of this institution, and a look at its final judgment and its end.
John’s vision contains three primary characters. The first two are revealed in verse 3: “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” The third is revealed in verse 6: “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”
The first character of Revelation 17 is the “whore” or “woman,” which in biblical language represents a religion, or church (e.g. Ephesians 5; 2 Corinthians 11:2). The second is the beast that has seven heads and 10 horns. The third is the “saints” or “martyrs,” a group of people the “woman” lives to persecute and destroy.
Revelation 17:4 says this “woman” is “arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls .…” She is conspicuously wealthy, overflowing with material splendor. She is a famous religion known and revered by people across the planet (see also verses 2 and 15 and Revelation 18:3).
The scene in Revelation 17:3 of the woman riding, or guiding, the beast depicts a religion brandishing political power. Verse 2 says the “kings of the earth have committed fornication” with her. Verse 18 says, “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” This religion enmeshes itself with the affairs of kings and empires. It is a power player in international relations.
Revelation 17 is clear. This religion is incredibly wealthy; it has a global presence and influence; it is a potent force in politics and international relations; and it uses the beast to pursue its grim ambitions.
Now look at the beast it rides. Verse 3 says this creature has seven heads and 10 horns. Verse 9 says that the “seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” In biblical language, a mountain is a symbol for a nation or kingdom (e.g. Isaiah 2:2-3). Here, each “head” signifies a distinct kingdom, or empire.
Revelation 17:10 reveals that these seven heads are also “seven kings,” or seven individuals, each ruling a kingdom. The seven heads represent seven distinct empires, or kingdoms, each with its own king. Verse 10 shows that these empires, or kingdoms, are successive, not concurrent.
All of these kings, or kingdoms, are inspired and led by the woman. To Catholics, the Holy Roman Empire is secular history, with the Vatican trapped in the middle as a reluctant and unwilling participant. That is not true.
Finally, what do the 10 horns represent? Again, Scripture reveals the answer. Verses 12-14 show that the 10 horns represent 10 kings, or 10 nations, that coalesce around and submit themselves to the superior king ruling over the seventh kingdom. We will discuss these 10 horns in greater detail in the final chapter of this book, where we return to Revelation 17.
Now let’s summarize the prophetic message of Revelation 17. This vision is obviously about a towering church—a wealthy, imperialistic, ambitious religion—presiding over the rise of seven distinct empires, or kingdoms, each ruled by a specific king. And this woman uses her influence over each empire to try and destroy the true “saints” of God.
If you read to the end of this book, you will come to appreciate how perfect this description of the Holy Roman Empire is. The Holy Roman Empire that is recorded and discussed in countless history books. The Holy Roman Empire whose history is still plainly evident in the cathedrals and castles, the ruins and battlefields, the symbols and memorabilia, the customs and practices of Europe today.
Most significantly, you will see what an apt description it is of the Holy Roman Empire currently being resurrected in Europe.
And to think, Revelation 17 was written more than 400 years before the first manifestation in Europe of the Holy Roman Empire.
Fulfilled Prophecy
This book has barely begun and already it implies some pretty harsh truths: that the Catholic religion is the “woman” of Revelation 17; that the Holy Roman Empire is the seven-headed beast ridden by the woman; and that together these two seek to undermine, persecute and destroy the true religion of God.
The natural reaction, particularly if you are Catholic, European or an intellectual, will be disgust, perhaps even fury. Some might feel this is an unwarranted attack on the Catholic Church or the European Union. But it is important for the reader to set aside these emotions, even if only for a moment, and be willing to have his thinking and beliefs challenged.
Remember the twofold purpose of this book. First, we are exploring the history of the Holy Roman Empire in an effort to warn the reader about its imminent resurrection in Europe. The better we understand what this entity did in the past, the better we will recognize what it plans to do in the future.
The stakes are too high to make a mistake. Bible prophecy says the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire will cause global devastation that will affect every person on Earth. The destruction and suffering will be exponentially worse than World War ii. Are you sure, totally convinced, 100 percent certain that the Bible is wrong, that the Holy Roman Empire was not prophesied, and therefore there is no need to consider the ramifications of it being revived today?
This is a life-or-death question.
The reader must not allow emotion, habit, family tradition or the crowd mentality to prevent him from at least considering this history and what the Bible has to say about the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire.
Let’s be honest. The contemporary Western mind has developed the destructive habit of preferring heartwarming platitudes over hard truth. Most people dislike hearing the truth about their flaws and weaknesses, about threats and dangers. Most ignore or reject truth they find distressing or unappealing.
Two weeks ago from the time of this writing, there was a horrific terrorist attack in Tunisia. Thirty-eight people were killed, and most of the victims were British. This is a great tragedy; one’s heart aches for the victims and their families. But was it surprising? Radical Islam has been devouring North Africa for half a decade. Islamist terrorists regularly threaten Western tourists, and multiple terrorist cells are known to operate in Tunisia. Just a couple of months ago, 21 people, mostly tourists, were killed and more than 50 were injured when terrorists attacked the Bardo National Museum, just a few miles from the beach where this latest attack occurred.
The facts strongly suggest Tunisia might not be the safest place for a vacation. Yet many Western tourists ignored this truth and took holidays in what is known to be an increasingly dangerous part of the planet for Westerners.
The lesson is: It’s best to face the truth, even if it makes one upset or uncomfortable. And even if it means one might have to change his habits or thinking.
Second, and most importantly, remember that the history of the Holy Roman Empire proves God’s existence and the veracity of His Word. This is a truth that every person on Earth will have to come to understand and that every reader would do well to think seriously about. Please, read this book all the way to the end. The message, if you really get it, is important, wonderful and life-changing.
Consider it. If God prophesied in the first century that a great false religion would preside over seven distinct empires, and subsequent history shows a great religion presiding over seven distinct empires, this is fulfilled prophecy. Surely there is no other rational explanation.
If a prophecy is obviously and quantifiably fulfilled, that proves that a supreme power capable of bringing that prophecy to fruition also must exist. No man could forecast something like the Holy Roman Empire, and certainly no man could influence world conditions over the course of two millennia to bring it to pass. If the Holy Roman Empire exists, and if it looks and behaves exactly as God prophesied it would, then God must exist.
Now think about the consequences of proving God’s existence.
If God really does exist—if He is alive and living, all-powerful and supreme—then you can now start answering life’s most perplexing, most fundamental questions: What is man? What is the purpose of man? What is man’s future? The answers come only after one has proved God’s existence.
If God exists, then mankind, despite the chaos and hopelessness that engulfs us, has a bright future. If God exists, and if what He teaches in the Bible is true, then there is reason to be optimistic. If God exists, then there is cause for hope.
Doesn’t the world right now—don’t you—need some hope?
Let’s see in stirring detail just how the Holy Roman Empire fulfills Bible prophecy—and is destined to do so again in your lifetime.
Chapter 1: The Origins of the Roman Catholic Church
“And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” —the Apostle John
Have you ever seriously considered the origins of the world’s largest religion?
The Roman Catholic Church is the most recognizable and illustrious religion on Earth. Worldwide, it has more than 1.2 billion followers, roughly 400,000 priests and some 221,000 parishes. Catholicism has a presence on every continent and in every nation. Tens of millions of Catholics dutifully attend services each week. Around the world, Catholic priests and authorities are invited to contribute to conversations, public and private, on religion, politics, culture, morality and virtually every other subject.
More than 5 million tourists flock to Vatican City annually. They visit to admire Michelangelo’s legendary frescoes, to attend mass in the Sistine Chapel, and in the hope of catching a glimpse of the most venerated figure on the planet: the pope.
Yet despite its global ubiquity, colossal fame, material splendor and long history, the Catholic Church is an enigma. Even to lifelong Catholics.
Each summer more than 20,000 visitors—tourists presumably interested in Catholic history—walk through the Vatican’s museums every day. But if you stood outside these museums and asked people to explain the true origins of the Catholic religion, most couldn’t give a satisfactory answer. Even most devout Catholics are unable to provide a clear, convincing explanation of the identity of their religion. Most Catholic priests and historians will stumble when asked to reconcile what they believe about their religion and its doctrines with what the Bible teaches. Very few can clearly explain when Catholicism came into existence, where the religion began, who its earliest forefathers were, or the origins of its major practices.
The Catholic religion is the most famous Christian religion on Earth, yet it is shrouded in mystery.
Isn’t that remarkable? No institution, government or religion has shaped European history—which comprises a significant chunk of Western civilization—more than the Roman Catholic Church. As historian Thomas Woods wrote, “Western civilization owes far more to the Catholic Church than most people—Catholics included—often realize. The church, in fact, built Western civilization” (How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization).
It is inaccurate to imply that the Catholic Church is solely responsible for building Western civilization. The influence of English-speaking civilization, which had a distinct anti-popish, anti-Catholic identity, is responsible as much as if not more than the Catholic Church. But Woods’s fundamental point is correct. Catholic leadership and teaching has had a decisive and far-reaching influence on Western religion, politics, culture, science and education, often in ways most people fail to recognize.
The Vatican has presided over the rise and fall of kings and governments, the emergence of political and ideological movements, and the discovery and colonization of new lands and peoples. The Catholic religion has influenced every facet of Western society, from art and music to science to the measurement of time to the annual holidays we celebrate. Its influence over Europe is even more extensive: It has shaped Europe’s justice systems, its educational institutions, many of its most prominent cities, its economies and even agriculture.
When it comes to religion, every Christian denomination—except one—can directly or indirectly trace its lineage back to Roman Catholicism.
The Roman Catholic Church is the most defining and influential institution in Europe’s history—yet somehow it remains a total mystery!
This chapter provides a thorough, logical explanation of the origins of the Catholic Church. Unlike most works on this subject, the Bible forms the foundation of this study. After all, the Catholic Church invokes the authority of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles to support its claim that it is God’s true Church. Isn’t it reasonable, then, to ask what the Bible says about the origin of this church?
‘Mystery, Babylon the Great’
We have seen how a church is pictured symbolically in Revelation 17 as a woman. In verse 4, God prophesies that this woman, or church, would have an international presence, and would come to possess incredible wealth: “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls .…” She would be unmistakable among the world’s religions. Her wealth and influence would be unmatched; she would truly be a religion to behold.
John also prophesies that this “woman” influences the “kings of the earth.” She has a habit of forming relationships with and ruling over secular governments. Verse 2 says the “inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” She is an imperialistic religion with a habit of intertwining herself with secular governments. If you study history, only one church can consistently be described this way.
Verse 9 says this church sits atop “seven mountains.” Only one city on Earth is famously situated on “seven hills” and is home to the headquarters of a colossal religion. Verse 18 says, “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
Only one city has historically fulfilled this criteria: Rome.
Many Bible scholars and historians agree on the identity of the woman of Revelation 17.
Matthew Henry’s commentary says, “Rome clearly appears to be meant in this chapter. Pagan Rome subdued and ruled with military power, not by art and flatteries. … [I]t is well known that by crafty and political management, with all kinds of deceit of unrighteousness, papal Rome has obtained and kept her rule over kings and nations.”
Clarke’s Commentary explains, “Therefore the 10 horns must constitute the principal strength of the Latin empire; that is to say, this empire is to be composed of the dominions of 10 monarchs independent of each other in every other sense except in their implicit obedience to the Latin [or Roman] church” (emphasis added throughout).
The Scofield Bible says, “Two ‘Babylons’ are to be distinguished in the Revelation: ecclesiastical Babylon, which is apostate Christendom, headed up under the papacy; and political Babylon, which is the Beast’s confederated empire, the last form of Gentile world-dominion.”
Some will find it hard to accept that the woman in Revelation 17 is the Roman Catholic Church. But it wasn’t all that long ago that this truth was widely accepted, even by biblical scholars—some of whom were Catholic.
The Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation in the first century, long before the term Catholic, which means universal, came into existence. If we are to discover the origins of the Catholic Church in the Bible, we cannot search for the term Catholic. We must search for it using the name given to it by God. What does God call the “woman” of Revelation 17? Verse 5 reveals the answer—and, emblazoned on her forehead, it couldn’t be more explicit:
“And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, babylon the great .…” (Isn’t it interesting that John, as early as the first century, prophesied that this religion would be a mystery? “Mystery” is part of this woman’s name!)
Consider the biblical name of the church discussed in Revelation 17: babylon the great. Babylon literally means confusion, which is an apt description of this religion and its doctrines. The term Babylon also refers to the city of ancient Babylon. God inspired the use of this term to describe the world-dominating religion discussed in Revelation 17 for a reason: The Catholic Church, including many of its teachings, traces its heritage all the way back to ancient Babylon.
That is where we must now visit.
Ancient Babylon
Genesis 8:4 says that after the rains of the great Flood stopped and the waters receded, the ark in which Noah and his family resided “came to rest on the mountains of Ararat” (English Standard Version). These mountains are today located in eastern Turkey. Following the Flood, Noah and his growing family—the seed of post-Flood humanity—migrated eastward into the “land of Shinar,” which means the “country of the two rivers,” referring to the Tigris and the Euphrates. Shinar is another name for the region of Babylonia.
The epicenter of post-Flood human civilization was the region of Babylon, the capital of which was the city of Babylon, which sits beside the Euphrates River. It is to this city that nearly all of this world’s nations—and religions (with one exception)—can trace their earliest beginnings. For more information about this ancient civilization, request a free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book Mystery of the Ages.
The history of ancient Babylon is covered in Genesis 10 and 11. The Bible doesn’t furnish many details, but those it does give are profound and enlightening. Many individuals are listed in these chapters, but one man in particular is given a comparatively detailed biography. He is described as having a “mighty” influence over ancient Babylonian civilization. He was the king of Babylon. His name was Nimrod, which in Hebrew means rebellious and lawless.
Nimrod was the son of Cush, and thus a great-grandson of Noah. Genesis 10:8 says Nimrod emerged as a powerful leader in his day and that he “began to be a mighty one in the earth.” Biblical record shows that Nimrod promised people protection from dangerous wild animals. This protection mostly came in the form of walled cities, the first of which was Babylon. It didn’t take Nimrod long to establish total control over the people. Ensconced within his city, and dependent on him for survival, the people effectively belonged to Nimrod.
Thus Babylon, the capital of Mesopotamia and seat of human civilization, came to reflect Nimrod’s character and ambition—morally, politically and religiously.
What was Nimrod’s character? The words “mighty one” in Genesis 10:8 are translated from a Hebrew word that connotes a tyrant. Verse 9 records that he was a “mighty hunter before the Lord”; the Hebrew word translated before should more accurately be translated as against. Nimrod was a tyrant whose primary motivation in life was working against God. Nimrod constructed the city of Babylon and established the entire Babylonian kingdom—which included most of the world’s population at the time—in an act of rebellion against God!
Nimrod set himself up as the supreme, infallible religious authority. He put himself before God. To his followers, Nimrod was God!
This explains why, in the Bible, Babylon is generally synonymous with rebellion and lawlessness.
Genesis 11 records Nimrod’s construction of the city of Babylon. His motive for building this city is noteworthy. Verse 4 records that it was an attempt to “make us a name”—to gain eminence and renown. Neither God nor His servant Noah had authorized Babylon’s construction. Moreover, the fact that the people constructed a tower “whose top may reach unto heaven” shows that the people knew they were disobeying God. Nimrod and his rebellious followers remembered the Flood—which was punishment for mankind’s rebellion—and were building a gigantic tower to try to escape another flood that might come as a result of their wickedness.
Babylon’s construction represented an attempt by Nimrod and the people to separate themselves from God—and to counterfeit the work God was performing through Noah.
Babylon was the headquarters of Nimrod’s campaign to oppose God. As Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, it was Nimrod who “started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now” (The Plain Truth About Christmas). Together with his wife, Semiramis (who was also his mother), Nimrod concocted, then imposed on his followers, his own system of finance, politics and education.
Nimrod exalted himself as the religious leader of the people. He established himself as the chief spiritual authority in place of God and God’s servant Noah. As the priest of Babylon, and in league with Semiramis, Nimrod conceived the Babylonian mystery religion, which included a multitude of pagan religious doctrines and practices. Today many of the practices and symbols associated with Christmas and Easter, for example, can be traced back to ancient Babylon. (For proof, read Alexander Hislop’s book The Two Babylons, available in bookstores.)
Nimrod was eventually killed by Shem. But the false and rebellious political and religious system he created did not die with him. It thrived, thanks to the work of Semiramis. With her son dead, as Hislop explains, Semiramis convinced her followers that Nimrod now lived as an immortal spirit being. In death, Nimrod was worshiped as a god. He became known as the messiah. Together, Semiramis and Nimrod—the original mother and child duo—became chief objects of worship in ancient Babylon.
The doctrines of the immortal soul and mother-child worship—to name only two Catholic teachings—can be traced directly back to Nimrod and Babylon.
By the time he died, Nimrod’s false system was entrenched in mankind. One cannot overstate what Nimrod and Semiramis achieved in Babylon. It was from this rebellious civilization that all other civilizations emerged. The Bible clearly records the confusion of the languages and the dispersion of the various peoples from the region of Babylon (Genesis 11). As the various races and peoples dispersed, they took with them the beliefs and practices of the Babylonian mystery religion, many of which remained ingrained—though they were often altered—in the new religions developed by the various races.
“Semiramis was actually the founder of much of the world’s pagan religions, worshiping false gods,” Mr. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages. Many mainstream symbols and holidays, even Christian doctrines and practices, still in common use today can be traced back to the Babylonian mystery religion. Christmas and the Christmas tree, Easter, Sunday worship, the trinity, the “sacred” mother-child relationship—these beliefs and practices are all rooted in ancient Babylon.
The Bible is clear that the name Babylon is synonymous with Nimrod, his act of rebellion, and his post-Flood establishment of the Babylonian mystery religion. In Revelation 17:5, when God associates this “woman,” or church, with Nimrod and ancient Babylon, He is showing us that this religion is the offspring of the Babylonian mystery religion, a continuation of the pagan religious system created by Nimrod in blatant rebellion against God.
There are similarities in doctrines and practices between the Babylonian mystery religion and the Catholic religion. But this could be coincidence, unless there is something to directly connect ancient Babylon to the Roman Catholic Church.
That key piece of evidence exists, and is, yet again, clearly revealed in the Bible.
Mystery Religion Relocates
The events described in 2 Kings 17 take place about 720 years before the time of Christ. By the eighth century b.c. the nation of Israel had split in two. The 10-tribed kingdom of Israel existed in Samaria, a region north of Jerusalem that encompasses parts of modern Lebanon and Syria. The kingdom of Judah existed in the south with Jerusalem as its capital.
2 Kings 17 recalls God’s punishment on the 10-tribed nation of Israel for rejecting His law. “For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God,” verse 7 says. Under the leadership of the Ephraimite king, Jeroboam, Israel was embracing pagan gods, erecting heathen statues, and disobeying God’s command to keep the Sabbath. God had warned them extensively through a series of prophets. But the people remained staunch in their rebellion.
In the late eighth century b.c., God punished the Israelites by having the Assyrians, a cruel and war-loving people from the region of Mesopotamia, invade Samaria. “Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years” (verse 5). This besiegement and invasion occurred between 721 and 718 b.c.
Now notice: “In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria …” (verse 6). The Israelites were picked up and relocated. (To learn where they went, request a copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, and we will send it to you at no cost.)
After the Assyrians removed the Israelites from their towns and cities, they did not leave Samaria uninhabited. The Bible records that “the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah [near Babylon] … and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof” (verse 24).
This explains the perpetuation of Nimrod’s Babylonian mystery religion.
At this moment, around 718 b.c., tens of thousands of Babylonians, perhaps more—people steeped in the teachings and practices of Nimrod’s Babylonian mystery religion—were planted in the region of Samaria. The Babylonians and the false religion of Nimrod and Semiramis became entrenched there.
It was in Samaria, roughly 750 years after this transplant, that the Catholic Church was formally created. And, as we might expect, this history too was recorded in the Bible.
The Catholic Church Is Born
Acts 8 explains how the Babylonian mystery religion was institutionalized, how many of its pagan practices were blended with doctrines counterfeited from those taught by Christ and the disciples, and how false “Christianity” was born. When it comes to the origins of Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church, Acts 8 is the key that unlocks it all.
The chapter opens with Philip, a faithful deacon in the true Church of God, journeying to the region of Samaria where he “preached the gospel” to the residents of the city of Samaria. Philip’s work there was a huge success. The Bible records that many Samaritans “with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake” (verse 6). Miraculous healings occurred. Many of the evil spirits, or demons, that filled this region were purged as a result of the presence of the true gospel. A large number of Samaritans were awed by the truth of God and especially the miracles, and “there was great joy in that city” (verses 7-8). This is a beautiful picture: the truth of God transforming an entire city and region.
Then we are introduced to a certain Samaritan, a powerful man who controlled the minds of many of the people there. “But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the nation of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great” (verse 9; Revised Standard Version). Like Nimrod, this individual, a magic-practicing sorcerer, considered himself “somebody great.”
This was Simon Magus, or “Simon the sorcerer.”
Simon was the religious leader of the Samaritans, a people who originally came from Babylon. He was steeped in the Babylonian mystery religion. He “bewitched the people of Samaria” with the pagan doctrines and practices of ancient Babylon. This man was heavily influenced by demons and relied on them to empower his religion. Simon’s control over the people was so strong, his pagan religion so virulent, that “all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God” (verse 10). Simon the sorcerer had established himself as the unquestioned, infallible spiritual leader of the Samaritans. Many actually believed Simon Magus was God in the flesh.
For an egotistical tyrant like Magus, the arrival of the gospel of God was a serious threat.
At first, Simon considered the arrival of Philip and the true Church in the region as an opportunity. Read it yourself: Acts 8 says Simon listened to the gospel Philip preached and watched the miracles of God, and was enthralled and inspired. Magus was amazed and perplexed as to how this deacon was able to perform such mighty miracles as healing the sick. As he witnessed Philip, his vanity was aroused, his imagination awakened, and his mind began to turn.
Mr. Armstrong surmised Magus’s thoughts brilliantly: “[Simon Magus] knew that all pagan religions were controlled by kings or heads of state. Their religions were used to hold a grip over the people and to keep the rulers in power. Whoever controlled the religion in a country also controlled the government. Simon saw in Christ an opportunity to head up a universal religion—he saw visions of ruling the world, if only he could lead out in a universal religion that would sweep into all countries. He had to do something, or see his followers all turn Christian” (member letter, February 21, 1974).
During his campaign, Philip baptized many Samaritans, including Simon Magus (verse 13). After baptism, Simon “continued with Philip,” following the deacon around, studying and learning, and wondering in amazement at the “miracles and signs which were done.” Thus, Simon grew familiar with the teachings and doctrines of the true Church.
Philip was only a deacon and was not vested with the spiritual authority to lay hands on the newly baptized and pray that they receive the Holy Spirit. Although he had baptized hundreds of Samaritans by plunging them under water, not one of them had had hands laid on him by an ordained minister. This is why the apostles Peter and John, upon hearing of the success of Philip’s work, set out for Samaria (verses 14-16). When the apostles arrived, they immediately set about laying hands on those who had been baptized and praying that God would give each a measure of His Holy Spirit (verse 17).
Imagine the scene. Simon Magus was in line waiting for Peter to lay hands on him. As he waited and watched, he marveled at how “through [the] laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy [Spirit] was given” (verse 18). His vanity welled and his imagination ran wild. Finally, the moment arrived for Magus to be given the Holy Spirit. He stepped before the Apostle Peter, giddy with excitement and bursting with ambition. But what he did next derailed the ceremony—and turned the tide of Western civilization.
“And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy [Spirit] was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit” (verses 18-19). This man tried to buy God’s Holy Spirit and the ability to give it to others!
Isn’t it interesting that Simon Magus attempted to purchase a spiritual favor from God? Can you think of an institution that grew incredibly wealthy by selling spiritual favors? (see “Selling Spiritual Favors,” page 88).
Immediately a red flag went up in Peter’s mind. Something wasn’t right with the man standing before him. God’s true Church would never sell spiritual favors. A man who wanted to be baptized for the right reasons would understand that. Sensing Simon Magus’s evil, selfish motives, the apostle delivered a blistering reprimand: “Thy money perish with thee .… Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God” (verses 20-21).
Simon’s attempt to receive the Spirit of God was thwarted. This man never became a member of God’s true Church. Simon Magus’s ambition was frustrated by God’s apostle. What would this sorcerer do now?
False Christianity Is Born
What happened next is crucial. Instead of simply rejecting Simon and his money and moving to the next convert, Peter took the time to deliver a strong prophetic warning to Simon Magus. “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness …” he stated. “For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” (Acts 8:22-23). Bitterness means extreme wickedness, bitter hatred, or the capability to produce bitter fruit.
Remember, Simon Magus was already a powerful religious leader in Samaria. He was rooted in the practices and teachings of the Babylonian mystery religion, under demonic influence, and a master at deceiving people. Peter was cognizant of Simon’s abilities, as well as his extreme vanity and ambition, and knew he was capable of producing bitter fruit. Peter knew this man was a threat to the true Church.
Lange’s Commentary explains, “Peter’s words, literally, mean: ‘I regard you as a man whose influence will be like that of bitter gall [poison] and a bond of unrighteousness [lawlessness], or, as a man who has reached such a state.’”
In The True History of God’s True Church, Gerald Flurry says, “Peter’s rebuke of Simon was a grave prophetic warning. … Acts 8:23 contains the seed of the prophecy in Revelation 17 about what that false church does on this Earth!”
After being exposed and strongly corrected by the leader of the true religion of God, Simon Magus was at a crossroads. Facing the possibility of losing many of his followers, Magus “had to do something, or see his followers all turn Christian,” Mr. Armstrong wrote (op. cit.). Rather than accept failure, Magus resorted to Plan B: If he couldn’t become a member of the true Church established by Christ, then he would simply create his own brand of Christianity.
After he was denied the Holy Spirit and entrance into God’s true Church, Simon Magus devoted the rest of his life to creating his own counterfeit Christianity!
What did this new religion look like? What city did Simon use as his headquarters? How large did his counterfeit religion become—did it grow into the universal religion he hoped and dreamed it would be?
And, as Simon’s religion grew in size and power, what happened to the true Church—the one established by Christ, and to which Philip, Peter and John belonged?
A New ‘Christianity’ Born
In creating his own religion, Simon Magus did not receive revelation from God, and he didn’t bother searching God’s Word for truth and doctrine. So where did his teachings and practices come from?
First, he retained some of the practices, ideas and symbols of his own Babylonian mystery religion. But in order to hold his followers, many of whom had witnessed God’s true religion, he claimed to be an apostle of the true religion that Philip had brought. He counterfeited much of the truth taught by the true Church—stealing and then perverting it. Remember, he had followed Philip for days learning and studying the gospel.
“He appropriated the name of Christ,” explained Mr. Armstrong. “He changed the name of his Babylonian religion to ‘Christianity.’ He offered free grace—forgiveness of sins—which no religion had ever offered. But he turned grace into license (Jude 4); he did away with God’s law” (ibid).
Here is what the New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language states about Simon Magus: “Rebuked by Peter, he begged him to intercede with God on his behalf, and appears no more in Acts. Later literature showed him reappearing in Rome in the time of Claudius in a new movement of his own, curiously combining Christian and pagan elements, and in which he figured as God.” That is a powerful quote from Webster’s, a secular source.
This truth will surely come as a surprise to most readers: Mainstream Christianity today—which grew either directly or indirectly out of Catholicism—is an outgrowth of the religion of Simon Magus.
Of course, the Catholic Church vehemently rejects this history. Catholic history recognizes Simon Magus, but says that he was an apostate, a false Christian, and certainly not a man who was ever affiliated with the Catholic religion. The Catholic Church recognizes events recorded in Acts 8—but it inverts the history and teaches that the Catholic religion was the one Magus was trying to infiltrate, and that Philip and Peter were members of the Catholic Church.
How can we know who is right? Is the Catholic Church indeed the true Church of the New Testament—the religion Philip, Peter and John belonged to and that Magus attempted to infiltrate? Or is the Catholic Church the institution conceived by Simon Magus after he was rejected entrance into the true Church?
Finding the correct answer is not difficult. All we have to do is study the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. If those doctrines and practices align with the doctrines taught in the Bible and taught by Peter and the other apostles of the New Testament, then indeed the Catholic Church is the true Church. But if the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church cannot be found in the Bible and were not practiced by Jesus Christ and the first-century apostles, then clearly it received those false doctrines from someone else.
Go ahead: Look at some of the major doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church, and then take out your Bible and see if they were taught and practiced by Jesus, Peter and the true Church. Search the Scriptures for evidence of the divine mother-son relationship, the immortal soul, Catholic confession, the trinity, Sunday worship, Easter and Christmas—all fundamental Catholic doctrines.
Not one is endorsed in the Bible or was practiced by Peter and the apostles.
If these “Christian” beliefs are not in the Bible, then where did they come from?
Further study will prove the link between these false teachings and those promoted by Simon Magus. Adolf von Harnack, a German theologian and historian, wrote that Simon “proclaimed a doctrine in which the Jewish faith [referring to the religion of biblical Israel, given to that nation by God Himself and recorded in the Old Testament] was strangely and grotesquely mixed with Babylonian myths, together with some Greek additions. The mysterious worship … in consequence of the widened horizon and the deepening religious feeling, finally the wild syncretism [that is, blending together of religious beliefs], whose aim, however, was a universal religion, all contributed to gain adherents for Simon” (The History of Dogma, Vol. 1).
This prominent theologian recognizes that Simon Magus created a false Christianity that was a blend of ancient Israel’s laws, Babylonian customs, and doctrines stolen from the true Church and perverted to suit his own ambitions. Can you?
A ‘Lost Century’
After rebranding and renaming his Babylonian mystery religion and successfully counterfeiting the religion of Peter and John, Simon Magus began a regional and eventually global campaign to market his brand of Christianity. “Before the end of the first century, his new universal (Catholic) religion had gained great strides,” Mr. Armstrong wrote (op. cit.).
The hundred years between a.d. 70 and 170 was a critical period in the history both of God’s true Church and of the one founded by Simon Magus. However, the record of that time is extremely sparse. “It’s like a curtain had been rung down on that stage of history,” Mr. Armstrong explained. “When that curtain lifts, a hundred years later, we see a ‘Christian church’ professing Christ, administering grace, but otherwise almost the very antithesis of the Church of Christ’s apostles a hundred years before.” What history does plainly show is that the Christianity of the late second century was very different from that of the original Christian Church.
Here is how Mr. Armstrong explained this phenomenon in his book The Incredible Human Potential: “[T]his Simon appropriated the name of Christ, calling his Babylonian mystery religion ‘Christianity.’ Satan moved this man and used him as his instrument to persecute and all but destroy the true Church of God. Before the end of the first century—probably by a.d. 70—he managed to suppress the message Christ had brought from God.
“There ensued ‘the lost century’ in the history of the true Church of God. There was a well-organized conspiracy to blot out all record of Church history during that period. A hundred years later, history reveals a ‘Christianity’ utterly unlike the Church Christ founded.”
Historians agree with Mr. Armstrong’s assessment. Edward Gibbon wrote in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, “The scanty … materials of ecclesiastical history seldom enable us to dispel the cloud that hangs over the first age of the church.” And in his book The Story of the Christian Church, Jesse Lyman Hurlbut wrote, “For 50 years after St. Paul’s life a curtain hangs over the Church, through which we strive vainly to look; and when at last it rises about a.d. 120 with the writings of the earliest church fathers we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul.”
Thus, even secular historians recognize that the mainstream Christianity of the second century was different from that of the first-century Church—the Christianity established by Christ and taught by the apostles. They see that the main Christian Church of the second century was not the Church founded by Jesus Christ. It was different because it was not the true Church, but a different, counterfeit Christian religion.
The New Testament is full of evidence of this false Christianity emerging in the first century. For example, when the Apostle Paul wrote to his congregation in Galatia, stating, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel,” he was lamenting the loss of members to Simon Magus’s “Christian” church (Galatians 1:6).
Paul delivered a similar warning to the Corinthians: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” About Magus’s ministers, Paul wrote, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-14).
The New Testament contains many such passages in which the apostles warned the true Church about Simon Magus and his deceptions. As Mr. Armstrong explained: “After a.d. 33, as the work of this Simon the sorcerer spread, the opposition to the true Church became Gentile [centered in Rome]. The writings of Paul, as well as 1 and 2 Peter, of James, of 1, 2 and 3 John and Jude show the Gentile opposition was primarily aimed against the law of God” (The Plain Truth About Healing).
Peter the First Pope?
The Catholic Church teaches that the Apostle Peter was the first pope. The Petrine doctrine, which establishes the primacy of the pope, is a fundamental Catholic teaching. According to Catholic tradition, Peter moved to Rome around the same time that Simon Magus did, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius (a.d. 41-54).
According to the third-century Roman historian Eusebius, Simon Magus lived in Antioch for a while before traveling to Rome. Catholic historians Justin Martyr and Irenaeus also record that Simon journeyed to Rome and gained great influence with Claudius. Catholic history says that the Apostle Peter, the leader of the true Church (Matthew 16:18), battled Simon Magus in Rome until Peter eventually destroyed Magus and augmented the Catholic Church as the sole religion of Rome.
As reasonable as this version of events may sound, it has a major flaw: The Bible does not mention even once that the Apostle Peter ever performed a work in Rome. In fact, plenty of evidence proves Peter never performed a work in Rome.
First, Christ’s commission to Peter, outlined in Galatians 2:7, says that the chief apostle’s work was to the Jews, not to Gentiles. Rome did not have many Jews. Second, in Romans 15:18, the Apostle Paul told the Gentile Romans that he was the apostle to the Gentiles, not Peter. Third, Romans 1:11 shows that Paul, not Peter, founded the church in Rome. Fourth, in Romans 16, Paul greets 28 individuals in Rome by name, and he doesn’t mention Peter. (How rude of Paul to blatantly ignore Peter, the chief apostle.) Fifth, the Bible clearly indicates that Peter spent his early ministry in Jerusalem. This is logical, considering Peter was the chief apostle and would have worked out of headquarters, which was in Jerusalem.
Search high and low and you will never find a jot of evidence that the Apostle Peter ever performed a great work in Rome. So if Simon Peter did not do the work of the Church there, then who did? Who is the “St. Peter” that Catholics believe established the “Christian” church in that ancient city? Who was the first pope?
It was, in truth, the Gentile Samaritan with a long record of selling himself as “some great one”—Simon Magus.
Magus’s Religion Grows
The Bible shows that the Apostle Paul struggled to hold back the heresy of Simon Magus as it poured into the Greek world in the latter half of the first century. When Paul died, an enormous number of true Church members defected to Magus’s religion.
Meanwhile, back in Rome, the successors of Simon Magus (“St. Peter”) continued to steadily lay the foundation of his universal “Christian” empire. We know very little about Pope Clement i, a late-first-century pontiff (roughly a.d. 88-97). However, a letter from him to the church in Corinth is believed to be genuine. In this letter he asserts his authority over the church, and specifically the appointing of bishops. The writings of Irenaeus indicate Pope Sixtus (also spelled Xystus), who ruled around a.d. 120, was the first pope to observe the pagan festival of Easter inste