REVELATION 17:3-7........
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. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 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. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns."
This figure represents an ungodly approach to religion and spirituality, as Scripture often uses the concept of sexual sin as a parallel to spiritual infidelity. The imagery here is meant to be seen just that way: as symbols.
The Mingling of Babylonianism and Christianity:
1. Now that we have identifies the Babylonian religion, how did it get into the Christian faith????
A. From Christs's resurrection in 33 AD until approx. 300 AD, Christianity had won the victory over paganism (Babylonianism in its
raw form)
B. Paganism had tried to stamp out Christianity but the more the persecution, the more it grew.
C. Persecution was not working so Satan came up with, "If you can't beat'm...join'm".
D. In 313 AD a new emperor came to power in Rome. Constantine! He realized that if the power of Christianity could be combined with the temporal power of the Roman Empire, the whole world could be conquered.
E. Under his direction, a truce was called. A courtship began and ended with the marriage of the Church and the State!
F. In 314 a call went out for an "Ecumenical Council" in Rome. This meeting had several ramifications.
1. Christ was removed as head of the Church.
2. Constitine was now placed as the head of the church or as we now it the POPE!
3. This was the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church.
Not ALL churches attended this meeting. One that did not was called "ANABAPTIST". An excellent book on this is "Trail of Blood".
Now comes the problem. The Romans had conquered the known world and FORCED the people who had been involved in Babylonian religion into Christianity. These people became dissatisfied and unwilling to go on. They were NOT changed or convicted in any way so they had NO desire to follow through.
So a 2nd Council was called to fix it. Several changes were made and then incorporated into the Christine doctrine to appease those Babylonian people. These were NOT Bible doctrines but were in fact "COMPROMISES" made to keep the peace.
Since the church had not been persecuted at that time, it actually seemed the right thing to do. Hence the beginning of compromise with the world led the church of Jesus Christ into Spiritual Idolatry.
Changes made at the 2nd council to appease the Babylonians were :
1. The practice of worship to Semiramis was changed to MARY.= Source =
2. She was declared to be the Queen of Heaven.
3. The Babylonian statue of Jupiter was renamed as "Peter". (
https://ezinearticles.com/?How-the-Temple-of-Jupiter-Became-the-
Church-of-St-Peter&id=9751071)
4. Prayers for the dead was established.
5. The sign of the cross ("T") was established as a part of the allegiance.
6. The entire doctrine of Purgatory was established.
Source: John MacArthur,
Exposing the Idolatry of Mary Worship: Catholic Dogma, Pt. 1
All of this is background on verses 1-7 and my aim is to help explain the "Mystery Babylon". Please do YOUR own study.