In this daily Bible reading John sees another Angel coming down from Heaven saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” I believe that this angel is speaking of a great and powerful religion that has had a powerful influence over many people. I believe this angel is speaking about the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Emperor Constantine created the Roman Catholic Church in 300 A.D. Its foundation was a combination of paganism and Christianity. This church became extremely powerful. It used superstition to control the masses and hold people in bondage to the religion.
It also became wealthy because of non-Biblical proclamations from its leader, the Pope. For example, Pope Leo proclaimed that people could purchase ‘indulgences’ to atone for sin. Pope Leo said that these ‘indulgences’ would forgive people of their sins. These included sins they had committed and even sins that they wanted to commit. The Pope also proclaimed that people could purchase ‘indulgences’ that would ensure their departed loved ones would go to Heaven.
This religion has corrupted the Word of God, the Bible, in so many ways. For example, it prevented people from understanding the Bible. The Bible was only allowed to be printed in the Latin language. The people did not understand the Latin language. Therefore, the priests had to teach the people. Much of this teaching was distorted.
In the 1400s, some people attempted to print the Bible in English. This church deemed them to be heretics and burned them at the stake. Eventually, the Bible was translated into the English language. As a result, false teachings were exposed. Many people were finally freed from bondage to this religion.
