THE VATICAN IS NOT THE HARLOT OF BABYLON IN REVELATION. GOOD ARTICLE HERE BY THEODORE SHOEBAT.

Vatican as the Harlot of Babylon: Debunked

By Theodore Shoebat

Is the Vatican the Hatlot of Babylon? Where did this idea originate from? Most will be shocked to find that some of the greatest enemies of Christianity were the ones who developed or supported this idea: Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism; Muhammad, founder of Islam; John Huss, founder of the Hussites; and many of the most depraved heretics in Church history.

So why do many Evangelicals believe them? The shocking truth from history should help us rethink one of the most tainted ideas in Protestant theology. Many Protestant and Evangelicals think that it was first said by the Protestant Reformers, such as Luther or Zwingli. But this is false. This idea actually can be traced all the way back to the Middle Ages, from a gnostic sect in southern France called the Albigensians. These held a doctrine first contrived by one heretic from the third century, named Mani. He lived in Mesopotamia and started a cult called Manichaeism, which held–amongst numerous beliefs–that they were two gods, one of evil and one of good; that Christ never came in the flesh and that the crucifixion was a fantasy.

In other words, they were an antichrist, and so dangerous were they that St. John warned:

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (I John 4:3)

They also believed that the Incarnation of Christ never occurred; the sufferings of Christ and the Eucharist were an illusion, and even life itself was considered by Mani to be an abomination from which all of humanity should seek to be free.

This antihuman doctrine spread to Armenia where its subscribers called themselves Paulicians, and then this sect made its way to the Balkans where it influenced a man in Bulgaria named Bogomil, who would start his own cult in his country. Though Bogomilism went underground, it continued to grow like bacteria growing stronger in static murky water in the summer heat. It spread to Italy and by the twelfth century it made its way to France where its followers would call themselves Cathars, from the Greek word “pure.”

In a council conducted in Toulouse in 1119, presided by pope Calixtus II, the Cathars were anathematized as heretics. By 1165 the Cathars had become so numerous that they began to preach in the open, with the Catholic bishops too fearful to protest. They soon commenced to form their own church separate from Roman Catholicism, establishing as their own bishop one Barthelemy in their city of Albi, where they built the Cathar community–the strongest in southern France. It was because of this community in Abli that these heretics were called Albigensians. (1)

It was these Albigensians who affirmed the belief that the Roman Church was the Harlot of Babylon spoken of in the Book of Revelation. Because of this belief, the Albigensians sought out ways to utterly uproot Christianity from Europe. But for the sake of brevity I cannot describe all of their crimes, so I will mention one of the most significant. The head of this heretical group, Raymond of Toulouse, wanted the Muslims to destroy all of Christendom, and so sent his emissaries to the king of Morocco to give this request. (2)

We have heard many a time that it was the Catholic Church who collaborated with Muhammad, but the reality is that it was the Catholics who combated Islam while the heretics worked with the Muslims.

Who else taught that the Harlot of Babylon is the Catholic Church? There was another sect that came about in Bohemia in the 15th century called the Hussites, or followers of John Huss.

To read this in-depth article in full, please go to:
http://shoebat.com/2013/06/25/vatican-as-the-harlot-of-babylon-debunked/