The beloved editor of the prophecy podcast, Pam Dewey, pointed out as she edited Friday’s post that I had not mentioned an important aspect to Romney’s charitable giving. Romney gives most of his money to the LDS church, better known as Mormons. I have never met a “bad” Mormon, they all seem quite nice. I even dated one. However, I have said in the past that to join the LDS church, one had to be on LSD. Here is Pam’s Wild World of Religion profile on Mormonism.
As it usually does, this leads me to ask myself a question. “How does this relate to Babylon the Great?” As my friend Eric commented on Facebook, “Only Dennis could see Babylon the Great in a chicken sandwich.”
But the corporate church world is talked about, in type, in the section of Revelation on which I have been basing a lot of what I do here—chapters 17-18.
John in Revelation 17 tells us of a woman he saw:
3-6In the Spirit he carried me out in the desert. I saw a woman mounted on a Scarlet Beast. Stuffed with blasphemies, the Beast had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, festooned with gold and gems and pearls. She held a gold chalice in her hand, brimming with defiling obscenities, her foul fornications. A riddle-name was branded on her forehead: great babylon, mother of whores and abominations of the earth. I could see that the woman was drunk, drunk on the blood of God’s holy people, drunk on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
The primary reference here is the corrupt religious organization that Jesus talked about in Matthew 23, the leadership in Israel at that time. My approach to prophecy is to understand what it meant when it was given, and then think about how to apply it to our situation. Many churches throughout the ages fit this description well. This is still true today.
A man I admire very much, Billy Graham, even got caught up in this. He was “court prophet” to many presidents. This was not good. I understand from what I read that he regretted it later, especially with regard to Nixon. When you as a religious leader “ride the beast,” no good can come of it.
It is like the song my mother taught me. If you ride a beast, it will eat you.
Sooner or later the religious leader/church will be eaten by the beast.
Here is one additional piece of data that John gives us:
9-11”But don’t drop your guard. Use your head. The seven heads are seven hills; they are where the woman sits. They are also seven kings: five dead, one living, the other not yet here—and when he does come his time will be brief. The Beast that once was and is no longer is both an eighth and one of the seven—and headed for Hell.
This tells us several things. First the beast is Rome, and the woman is associated with Rome. The Jewish leadership of the time had such a relationship with Rome. Nero even wanted to marry one of Herod’s daughters.
But in history there are other cities that have seven hills. Jerusalem, Washington, and even Rome, Georgia! The pattern of false religion in cahoots with government has continued through the ages as sinning people repeat the same mistakes their fathers made.
In any event, the point I am making is that any church as it grows in size will inevitably risk becoming a daughter of the Great Whore, the mother of all prostitutes. The Mormon Church is one of the largest in America.
In a June 2011 cover story, Newsweek magazine stated that the LDS Church “resembles a sanctified multinational corporation-the General Electric of American religion, with global ambitions and an estimated net worth of $30 billion.” The PBS special, “The Mormons” estimated the LDS Church’s worth at over $80 billion. Other estimates have placed it in excess of $100 Billion, as it is the wealthiest per capita religion in the world with annual, mostly tax-free revenues estimated to be $6 billion per year (per Time Magazine in 1997).
Why do people build such buildings? Even in my tradition such monstrosities have been built. Wealth by itself is not proof of corruption, but as we have seen it is a good indication of it. While I am critiquing Romney for his choice of where he gives his money, most Christians who tithe do give it to their church.
It seems to me that each of us would be better off in our charitable giving if we avoid giving to big churches. There is nothing wrong with a portion of our giving going to churches, but you need to look at the big picture. It would not surprise me at all if Obama giving a much smaller total to charity might be doing more good than Romney’s large contribution to a large church.
Avoid Babylon the Great by avoiding the Great Whore and her daughters.