There are over 33,000 Christian denominations in the world, and yet all of them say that they are the “church”. The word church does not mean Ecclesia, that is the called-out ones; but it comes from the word Circe.
According to Greek mythology Circe was a witch goddess who turned all who drank from her cup into swine. Circe lived on Aeaea what would later be known as Italy. She was the daughter of the sun. The Bible speaks of a woman with a golden cup in her hand: Jeremiah 51: 6-7 says “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.” The book of Revelation let’s us know who Babylon was and is: Revelation 17: 5-6 says “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT 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.” This woman was first century Jerusalem that killed the prophets of old; from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah that was killed between the temple and the altar (Matt. 23: 35). The word ‘church’ down through the centuries always meant the building, but the Ecclesia referred to the people in the building. In the beginning of English translated Bibles, some translators took careful attention to not translate Ecclesia as the word ‘church’, but they became synonymous the one with the other. Scholars say the word ‘church’ in the Greek comes from the word Kuriakos which means belonging to the Lord, but the word ‘church’ is not in this definition.
Zechariah lets us know that this “church” had its beginning before Christ appeared in the first century. And if this church was before Christ appeared, then it is not his: Zechariah 5: 7-11 says “And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” Babylon had already fallen by the time Zechariah was writing this prophecy. This passage is speaking of another ‘Babylon’, not a literal Babylon, but Mystery Babylon. As stated before, ‘Mystery Babylon’ was first century Jerusalem. After the Babylonian exile Judah mingled their practices with ancient Babylonian customs. But Peter gives us more insight on this spirit of Babylon: 1Peter 5: 13 says “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.” It is known throughout history that Peter was in Rome when he wrote his letter, but he calls Rome ‘Babylon’, letting us know that Rome would become the new Babylon. At the time Jerusalem was Babylon. Even though it had not happened yet, Rome like Babylon would destroy the Jewish Temple, the Jews as well as Christians would be under the yoke of the Romans like Babylon. But unlike Babylon, Rome would not be conquered from without, but divided from within into fragmented nation states.
Revelation 9: 13-15 says “And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” They were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year. Revelation 18: 8-10 says “Therefore shall her plagues come IN ONE DAY, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! FOR IN ONE HOUR is thy judgment come.” (Rev. 18: 17,19). What’s in view here is the destruction of first century Jerusalem. Rev. 17: 1,2, says “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” This verse tells us how the whore of Babylon would be judged, verse four describes how she is dressed. “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:” Listen to what Pro. 7: 10,11, says “And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and subtle of heart. (she is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:” Purple is emblematic of rank or authority, specifically that worn by Roman Emperors, Imperial or regal rank or power. Scarlet is a bright red color. The Bible says that the ten horns would hate the whore, eat her flesh, and burn her up (Rev. 17: 16). Is. 21: 9c, says “… Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.”
The Roman Catholic Church is the extension of the Rome that was divided. Before the stock market crash of 1929, there was a government established after WWI. This government was proclaimed on a very important date: Nov. 9th, 1918, it was called the Weimar Republic, and it was held in Weimar Germany. This government was hated by right wing, and left wing alike. Joseph Goebbels was the false prophet of Revelation 13. He spoke against the Weimar system: he called the Reichstag “a stinking dung heap”, and also “what do we care about the Reichstag? We have been elected against the Reichstag, and we shall use our mandate in the spirit of those who gave it to us.” Another statement says “Times were changing and so aggravating the wide spread hostility towards the Weimar Republic as the ‘state of the old’.” The Reichstag was a parliamentary building for the Republic. It was made of social democrats, the catholic center party, and the left wing national liberals. This government was very shaky from its start, right down to the beginning of its end in 1929, when the U.S. stock market crashed. By the end of 1929, this effected Germany very greatly and the world. The Bible says that the ten horns would eat up her flesh, and burn her with fire. So did the ten horns or ten kings literally burn up the whores flesh? No! the Reichstag building was burned up in 1933. Like Titus, and Antiochus IV before him, Hitler had it burned up; it was destroyed but those ten kings that aligned themselves symbolically with Hitler were partakers when they gave their kingdoms over to him. Democracy was the enemy of National Socialism. The style and the way Weimar operated was destroyed by Hitler. The Catholic center party were members of the Weimar Republic parliamentary system in Germany. This group represented the Catholic Church mingled with corrupt leadership.
The beginning of this intermingling happened in the third church age which was “Pergamos”. The name Pergamos is derived from two Greek words: “pergos” meaning tower or elevation and “gamos” meaning married; combined it means “married to the tower”. The spirit of what was destroyed in 70 A.D. was carried over into the churches of Asia Minor; namely Pergamum and Thyatira. Pergamum or Pergamos was the church and the age that married the world. It was a period lasting about 277 years; from 313 A.D. to 590 A.D. They rejected the counsel of God for the council of Constantine in 325 A.D. The church then became the state religion. They adopted pagan ritual in the state given Basilicas of Rome. They missed the door of the sheep and entered through the spirit of the whore; for Pergamos name means married to the tower. For they entered Babylon. The Bible says Satan’s seat dwelled in Pergamum. The Pergamum altar was moved to Berlin Germany in the time of Hitler. Hitler’s stage had been set.
The two women that had the wings of a stork in Zechariah carried the ephah and looked after it as a bird would nourish up her young. But Storks were considered unclean in the Old Testament, so this represents demonic activity aiding the growth and rise of the new Babylon. The Catholic Church is the extension of the Rome that was divided, and has become the place where the ‘ephah’ is housed, the Vatican. The ‘ephah’ in Zechariah is an unjust balance before God. It measured a talent of lead. The Hebrew word for talent is kikkar, that is a disk, a circle, or Sun worship. The Sun was worshipped as Baal by a full circle of pagan worshippers.
Earlier I said the Hebrew word for talent was ‘Kikkar’, that is a circle, a circumjacent, a loaf, a morsel, a talent, a round thing. Do you remember the word ‘church’? It comes from the Greek word ‘Kirke’, and the word ‘Kirke’ is a word whose root goes back to circle or ‘Circe’ the false goddess. 1Corinthians 10: 20-22 says “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” The table of the Lord is Holy and you cannot be a partaker in witchcraft, sorcery and murder and eat and drink of the Lord. You cannot consecrate devil worship to the Lord! You will drink damnation to yourself.
A generation before the destruction of Jerusalem Jesus warned the disciples that when they see Jerusalem surrounded with armies know that the desolation was near. He warned them to flee out! Chapter 18 of the book of Revelation explains that Babylon, Jerusalem was fallen and became a habitation of devils to come out from her and be not a partaker of sins. Because they wanted to be justified by their sacrifices, and works of the law they rejected the Messiah. And their house was brought to destruction. The Lord is saying today to come out from those that want to be justified by the Law of Moses! Come out from legalism! Be ye separate! No mixture!
Anthony D. Booker
The GATHERING Place 