Drunken With The Blood Of The Saints

 Temple Baptist Church - 10-17-2021

Revelation 17:6

 

A.  As we continue to look at and identify the end-time religion called "The Great Whore … MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," we come to verse 6 and its description of this anti-God, anti-Bible system that will come to be accepted by those on earth during the Tribulation Period: called Jacob's Trouble or Daniel's Seventieth Week. 

 

B.  Anyone with spiritual discernment can come to a right conclusion by simply reading Revelation, chapter 17, with an open mind.  Not a mind blinded to the Word of God by religion; not a mind blinded to the Word of God by Satan; but a mind that reads what the Bible says and accepts it.

 

C.  This religious system is an extension of Babylon the Great.  A system that has systematically martyred the people of God from the beginning.  I say from the beginning because Cain killed Abel.  Cain killed Abel because Abel's words were righteous, and Cain's works were of the flesh.

 

D.  All seven world powers have been anti-God and persecuted God's people.  In the Old Testament, they persecuted and fought against Israel.  In the New Testament, they persecuted the Church as well as Israel.  Most of the persecution has been covered up as history is constantly being re-written to make the end-time religious system of good repute.  There is an old saying: "History is always written by the survivors."  A good example is the Holocaust that took place in Germany during WWII.  Adolf Hitler, a Roman Catholic, was often seen with Cardinals and priests when he spoke in public. 

 

E.  I want to look at the persecution of God's people by Rome and then by the Roman Church.

 

F.  Rome:  the last world power of Rome conquered Israel in 63 BC.  They ruled Israel with a strong hand and in a very cruel manner.  In the early days of the New Testament Church, their persecution centered upon the believers as they followed Christ.  I will not spend a lot of time here but will give you some historical information on the persecution.  Here is the "short list" of persecutions that occurred during Rome's power against the Church:

 

1.  From 30 A.D.-100 A.D. During the years of the Apostles, persecution was normally sporadic and directed more at individuals.  Things were rapidly changing after the death of the apostles.

 

2.  107 A.D. - Emperor Trajan visited Antioch and forced the Christians there to choose between death and apostasy.

 

3.  110 A.D. – In a letter to the Christians in Rome, Ignatius asked them not to try to stop his martyrdom. “The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.”  Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, bravely met the lions in the Circus Maximus in Rome. 

 

4.  112 A.D. - The first organized persecution, which brought Christians into the courts as defendants, took place in Bithynia during the governorship of Pliny the Younger.  When someone informed on a Christian, Pliny brought the Christian before his tribunal and asked him whether he was a Christian and was given three opportunities to renounce Christ.  If he still admitted the charge after three such questions, he was sentenced to death.

 

5.  155 A.D. - Another persecution took place at Smyrna about the middle of the second century. It was at this time that Polycarp (6 A.D.-155 A.D.), bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of John the Beloved, was martyred as an enraged mob brought the Christians before the authorities.  He was bound, burned, and then stabbed when the fire failed to consume him.

 

6.  165 A.D.- Justin Martyr (100 A.D.-165 A.D.) was one of the early Apologists.  In the early days of the church, we will look at two groups of men: Apologists and Polemicists.  Apologists were writers who stood for the truth of God’s Word and wrote “Apologies” or explanation of doctrine.  Polemicists (comes from the word polemic, which means to attack or fiery rhetoric) who were powerful “hell and damnation” preachers of the day.  Justin Martyr, the great apologetic writer, suffered martyrdom in Rome because of his writings.

 

7.  180 A.D. - Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, writes the apology Against Heresies.

 

8.  196 A.D. - Tertullian begins writing.  Tertullian is the author of many apologetic and theological works and is one of the most quotable of the Early Church Fathers. His is the famous phrase "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

 

9.  230 A.D. - Earliest known public churches built.  This is of major interest.  In both the Old and New Testaments, the Tabernacle, Temples, Synagogues, and Local Churches were NOT OPEN to the public.  The local church is not a public place.  It is a place where God’s people assemble for worship, teaching, and fellowship!

 

10.  249-251 A.D. – Great persecution took place under Decius when he was emperor of Rome.

 

11.  250 A.D. - Decius issued an edict in 250 that demanded, at the least, an annual offering of sacrifice at the Roman altars to the gods and the genius of the emperor. Everyone was commanded to come to Rome once a year and sacrifice to the Roman gods.  Those who offered such sacrifices were given a certificate called a libellus.

 

Libelous - A libellus (plural libelli) in the Roman Empire was any brief document written on individual pages (as opposed to scrolls or tablets), particularly official documents issued by governmental authorities.

 

12.  303 A.D. - “Great Persecution” begins under Diocletian and lasted until 313 A.D.  Diocletian ordered the cessation of meetings of the Christians, the destruction of the churches, the deposition of officers of the church, the imprisonment of those who persisted in their testimony to Christ, and the destruction of the Scriptures by fire.

 

13.  306 A.D. – 337 A.D. - Constantine the Great became the Emperor of Rome.

 

14.  312 A.D. - Constantine is said to have seen a cross in the sky with the Latin words for “in this sign conquer” before the battle at Milvian Bridge near Rome in 312. He won the battle.  Constantine supposedly converted to Christianity in 312 A.D.

 

15.  313 A.D. - The Edict of Milan.  Constantine the Great granted freedom of worship, ending the persecution of the Christians.

 

G.  The passing of the "baton of persecution" from political Rome to religious Rome.

 

1.  325 A.D. - The Council of Nicaea.  The First Council of Nicaea ( / naɪˈsiːə /; Greek: Νίκαια [ˈnikεa]) was a council of "Christian" bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all Christendom.  This "council" was the official beginnings of the Roman Church, an extension of Rome.  The Roman Emperor called for the council and oversaw it.

 

2.  For the next 1260 years, under the reign of the Papal Church of Rome, an estimated 50,000,000+ Christians were persecuted and killed because they refused to bow to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church!  A fact well documented as well as one well covered over.  This persecution will be reinstated in the Tribulation Period when the mark of the beast is implemented and enforced.

 

St. Bartholomew's Massacre – 1572 – over a period of a few weeks, Roman Catholics killed an estimated 30,000 Protestants in Paris.  Great books to read are "Fox's Book of Martyrs" and "Trail of Blood."

 

The researcher David B Barrett puts the number of Christians martyred since the time of Jesus at 70 million.

 

It puts the number of Christians systematically exterminated in Nazi Germany at a million, while the number of Orthodox Christians and others murdered in Russia between 1917 and 1950 at 15 million.

 

H.  The end-time religious system, the Roman Catholic Church, is an extension of Rome and is "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." 

 

J.  The Jesuit Priesthood.  Founded in 1540 by the Spaniard Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556). In 1553,  the Jesuit Constitutions, written by Ignatius, were adopted, which created a centralized organization and stressed acceptance of any mission to which the pope might call them. His main principle became the unofficial Jesuit motto: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam ("For the greater glory of God").  The Jesuit Priests were the instrument of Counter-Reformation and the enforcers of the Roman Church.

 

K.  The Jesuit Priesthood became a powerful force within the Roman Church.  There are at least 29 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States today.

 

Boston College, Canisius College, College of the HOLY Cross, Creighton University, Fairfield University, Georgetown University, Gonzaga University, John Carroll University, Le Moyne College, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola University-Chicago, Loyola University-Maryland, Loyola University-New Orleans, Marquette University, Regis University, Rockhurst University, Saint Joseph's University, Saint Peter's University, Saint Louis University, Santa Clara University, Seattle University, Spring Hill College, University of Detroit Mercy, University of San Francisco, University of Scranton, Xavier University, Boston College School of Theology, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University.

 

L.  The Roman Church, started in 325 A.D. by Constantine—a heathen Roman Emperor—became the persecuting, killing arm of Roman Empire: Babylon the Great.

During the Tribulation Period, tens of millions will once again die for their faith.