BABYLON AND THE LAW OF GOD
One of the most prominent features of Modern Babylon is her war against God’s people— “I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:6). This is a continuation of the war waged by Babylon of the Middle Ages (the beast of Revelation 13) which “was granted to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Revelation 13:7). The enmity of Babylon is simply a reflection of the wrath of her invisible ruler, the great dragon, Satan— “the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”(Revelation 12:17). Here we see that a major reason for Satan’s rage against God’s people is that they keep His commandments. As was pointed out in 13: The Beast’s Agenda, Satan has always warred against God’s commandments because they expose and condemn his ambition to take God’s place and receive worship himself. This is why he “(persecutes) the saints of the Most High, and…(intends) to change times and law” (Daniel 7:25).
Although most of the Ten Commandments, such as prohibitions against lying, stealing and adultery, are clearly in the interest of society in general, the Catholic Church has institutionalized the transgression of two[1] of the commandments.[2] The second commandment prohibits the making, bowing down to or serving of any “likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth”. But Catholic churches are full of statues and images of “saints” who have died, and the Catholic people are taught to bow, kiss and offer prayers to images of the saints, and liturgies and holidays are devoted to them. Some of the images themselves have special miraculous powers so that people make pilgrimages to visit well-known images, hoping to gain a special dispensation of grace. Although theologically the miracles may be considered a manifestation of God’s grace, everyone involved gives credit to the saints themselves.
Chapters 13 and 14 have already dealt with the attempt by the Papacy to change the fourth commandment by substituting Sunday for the Seventh-day Sabbath. It was pointed out that this change will become an international issue, which will culminate in the Mark of the Beast and the death decree. It is interesting to note that Catholic writers have pointed to this change and its acceptance by the Protestant churches as a mark of her authority— “by keeping Sunday strictly they (Protestants) acknowledge the (Catholic) church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin”.[3]
Continue to next section: WORSHIP OF THE “MOTHER OF GOD”
[1] It is interesting to note that the two longest commandments (the second and the fourth) that have the most words of explanation are the ones that are broken, as if God made a special effort to try to prevent their transgression, knowing in advance that they would be the points of attack. In her catechisms the Catholic Church has even tried to hide the second commandment, combining it with the first and then giving an abbreviated form (you shall have no other gods before Me) that completely leaves out the mention of images.
[2] James points out breaking one of the commandments is equivalent to breaking them all (James 2:10,11).
[3] “Abridgment of Catholic Doctrine” quoted in White, EG “The Great Controversy” chapter “God’s Law Immutable”, Pacific Press.