The Wine of Babylon


The evils which have grown out of the union of church and state in the third and fourth centuries will never be fully realized until the day of judgment. There is something in the nature of such a union which seems to make it desirable to many, even to professed Christians. Yet it is controlled by a spirit which is deceptive in its nature, active in its working; and whose end is evil and only evil.

That union of church and state was what formed the papacy-- a persecuting power-- seen by the prophet John, and with which the kings of the earth had committed fornication, and by the wine of the wrath of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth had been made drunk. Rev. 17:2. This corrupt church is described as representing great wealth. "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." Rev. 17:4. Her iniquity is thus described in the fifth and sixth verses: "And upon her head 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."

In forming this union with the state, the church entered upon a road which could lead only to destruction; for when the nations of the earth are represented as giving their power to the beast, their end is forcibly portrayed in the following words. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." At the conclusion of the battle of the great day, the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, which were gathered together to make war with Him that sat upon the horse, are described as being cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Rev. 19:20. Consequently the forming of this union was the final fall which thrust them upon that downward road which prepared, for final destruction, all who, whether professing Christianity or not, had partaken of the spirit of persecution. It was one of those sins which are generative in their nature, and in the end, place the soul beyond the reach of hope.

How important it is that we not only have correct views ourselves as to what are the proper claims of God upon us, and what those of Caesar, but that we may correctly present them to others. It is not infrequently that when we have spoken of the evils of a union of church and state, as applied to Sunday legislation, men of intelligence have remarked to us that it could not be possible in our day that any such bill would pass Congress; and yet in the 1880's it was shown that those very kind of men signed the petition for the National Sunday Law [Blair Sunday Rest Bill of 1888], not realizing anything of its true nature. It is true that in our secular society a National Sunday Law, abridging the free exercise of religion, appears to be unlikely. However, "Congress is only too eager to interfere with religion. In February 1981, 280 delegates representing almost all the organized religions in the country met in Washington to complain that the government was interfering in church activities far more than ever in the nation's history." (God Cares, vol. 2, pp. 347-48.) The Federal courts are making decisions that set the stage for state-protected religion. There are thousands, and even millions, of people around us who only need to be enlightened as to the nature of this work, to be aroused to oppose it. The true spirit of Protestantism must be renewed.

To worship God by civil power or through civil power, is like praying by machinery,-- only ten thousand times worse. The early Reformers brought with them, from the Roman Catholic Church, much of its spirit in this respect; and it was only for want of an opportunity that they did not practice it more than they did. John Calvin ever believed in it. Melancthon, an intimate friend of Luther and Calvin, endorsed the doctrine and recommended it. John Knox, who was associated with Calvin for years, instilled the same spirit into the Scottish Reformers. In a work written by Calvin refuting the supposed errors of Servetus, among the many questions discussed, is "whether it is lawful for Christians or magistrates to punish heretics. The affirmative is maintained by Calvin, and subscribed to by all the ministers, as follows," --and then is given Calvin's name, with fourteen others. It was Calvin who acknowledged himself to have recommended the condemnation of Servetus. In a letter written in February, 1546, he says that Servetus had written him a letter, and pointed it with a large list of his extravagant ideas and hectoring views, and proposing that "I should see extraordinary and un-heard-of things, if I were willing that he should come hither; but I was unwilling to give my pro-mise; for if he had come, I should have used my authority in such a manner as not to suffer him to depart alive." Calvin wrote to the king of England recommending that heresy to the faith they had espoused should be restrained by the arm of the civil power. (See Life of John Calvin, by Theodore Beza.)

The Protestant Reformers of England, even some of those who suffered martyrdom, advised inhibiting heretics by civil power. The children of the Reformers, who came to the United States for freedom of conscience, brought with them the same spirit,-- and the whole world became intoxicated with this wine of Babylon. They are in this age thoroughly deceived as to the effect upon the people; and when the persecution came upon the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, it was not called religious persecution, any more than it was in the days of papal rule. It was only the law of the land; therefore, only a "police regulation." The Washington Post, May 28, 1995 reports, "Two years later, it [the Waco siege] still haunts prominent participants, such as Dick DeGuerin, one of Texas's leading defense attorneys and one of only two people allowed inside to speak with Koresh during the siege, and Catholic priest Jim Deaconson, who ministered to the ATF agents, heard their confessions, and now believes the entire episode amounted 'to the persecution of a church.' In the heathen islands which have been Christianized, the idea also prevails among religionists that they must have Christianity established by law.

It is thus that the peaceful reign of Christ is looked for throughout the world, and thus that the gospel is to be established in heathen countries. If the Christians of the United States of America favor legalizing "Christianity," then it is no marvel that their missionaries should partake of the same spirit. Is it not marvelous that a nation like ours, the only one on earth founded on laws leaving religion where Christ placed it [separate from the civil government],-- a nation which has had an unparalleled prosperity, should ever think it safe to follow in the footprints of the papacy, whose bloody trail, drenched by the blood of Christian martyrs, is so easily traced down the march of the ages? Is it not far more strange that when a few God-fearing men and women have entered a heathen country, and many of them have sealed their testimony with their blood to gain the victory of the cross,-- that the only way to retain the victory gained at such a price, is by a union of church and state, depriving the people-- the descendants of these pioneers-- of their liberty of conscience, and compelling them by law to worship God, and become Christians? Did Christ design that the heart should be softened by civil law, in order that His Spirit might enter and dwell therein? Experience has taught us, in every instance, that when men take this work in hand, it is necessary to employ the thumb-screw, rack, and many other instruments of torture, in order to extort confessions; while for the crime of differing in conscientious belief and practice, the stake, and death in numerous ways, was the punishment thereof.

There is power in the Gospel to attain victories over idolatry and superstition. Then why do men throw off the power which enabled them to achieve the victory, and rely for their future success upon the strength of the finite civil arm? It seems that when those who have suffered and died for the promulgation of Christianity, have passed off the stage of action, their children, who take their places, think they need the civil arm to throw around them the "garb of piety."

It is the "wine of fornication" (Rev. 14:8; 18:3) that leads to fornication itself. The word "fornication" means unlawful intercourse between the sexes. The church became corrupted through apostasy and imbibing various unscriptural errors. This resulted in her confused state called "mystical Babylon." And then Babylon, though she denied the name, was still espoused to Christ, and God had not forsaken her. In fact, He desired to heal and restore her wholly. She belonged to Him, and professed to do so. But when she turned from His remedy, choosing rather the errors of the world, she fell. When God in mercy sends His truth, in the eyes of her followers and of the world, Babylon must either give up her errors and accept the truth or attempt to justify the errors she holds. Contemporary churches have, for the most part, chosen the latter course. Now and then honest souls have, compelled by conviction of duty, sacrificed all and heeded the Shepherd's voice. But the church organizations have not done this. Their representatives have sought to defend their position, in what they consider a test, based on perversions of Scripture. Falling into this, they have relied on tradition, creeds, and worldly policy. Lying tradition and human wisdom having failed, they have turned and are turning more and more to the nations of the earth and imploring them to use civil power to enforce their unscriptural institution(s). In other words, they have turned from the power of the Gospel of Christ to civil law; from Christ, the lawful husband, and have committed fornication with the rulers of the earth. Breaking her union with Christ in her wantonness leads to unlawful union with the world. Rejecting Christ within the heart by faith,-- "the mystery of godliness,"-- means enthroning in His place "the mystery of iniquity." Rejecting the Gospel, His armor of righteousness and the Word of persuasion leads to the acceptation of the law of man, the carnal weapons, and the word of compulsion and tyranny.

The whole world is drunken with THE WINE of BABYLON. The only hope and answer for this confused state is the instruction of the mighty angel of Revelation, chapter 18: "And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power [Gospel power, Rom. 1:16]; and the earth was lightened with His glory. And He cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations [peoples] have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication [Church and State union], and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:1-4.

How is it in your religious establishment? Are you confused? Has your church joined with the world? Are you tired of being deceived and led astray? Have you all but given up on Christianity? Then come to the Good Shepherd. He will guide you safely home to His sheep-fold and the mind-state of sober understanding. The gates of hell shall not prevail against Him or His Church.


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