13.Solving The Riddle of Religious Confusion
The Book of Revelation presents two women: one in white, chapter
12, and one in scarlet,
chapter 17. The Bible presents these women as symbolic representation
of two separate churches - one pure, the other corrupt.
The Woman in White. "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely
and delicate woman." Jeremiah
6:2. Who is Zion ? "Say unto Zion, thou art My people." Isaiah
51:16. Israel was God's chosen people in the Old Testament.
The church which is faithful to Jesus Christ and His teachings is God's
people in the New Testament. "Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her ... that she should
be holy and without blemish." Ephesians
5:25,27.
God's church, the woman in white, suffered persecution : first under
the rule of Pagan Rome and second under Papal Rome. The Bible predicted
that for a 1,260 year period (538 A.D. - 1798 A.D.) the true church had
to flee into the wilderness (go underground and hide) to survive. But after
this period of persecution by the established church, the true church -
a remnant church obedient to God's commandments - would emerge again.
The woman in white of Revelation
12 represents God's New Testament church made up of all the faithful
believers who have loved Jesus, kept His commandments, and been obedient
to Him down through the ages to Christ's Second Coming.
The Woman in Scarlet. "And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet
beast which was full of names of blasphemy .... The woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet ... having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations
and the filthiness of her fornication." Revelation
17:3,4. This corrupt woman represents a corrupt church. Scripture
calls her a "harlot" and she rides on a beast which represents a king of
kingdom. Daniel
7:17,23. So this woman rides or controls the beast (dominates
the nations of earth). "And on her forehead a name was writted: Mystery,
Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots ... " Revelation
17:5.
The scarlet woman (the false church) revise the pagan teachings of
ancient Babylon in the New Testament era. She baptizes these false
teachings and brings them into the Christian church. And there is
confusion, for that is what Babylon means (babel - confusion).
Note just a few of the non-biblical teachings introduced into Christianity:
1. Tradition (writings of church fathers) of
equal, or superior, authority with the Bible.
2. Sunday as the day of worship instead of
the seventh-day Sabbath.
3. That the body dies but an imortal soul
lives on.
4. That God can be approached only through
human mediators.
God warns us, "Babylon the great is fallen ... " Revelation 18:2. God says, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and ... receive of her plagues." Revelation 18:4. Come out of the confusion of man-made religion. Come to Jesus. Surrender to Him and do His will. Become a part of His last-day Remnant Church.