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Contents Revelation 18 Next Study
No.25
We will leave Revelation 17 for another time and continue with Rome’s destruction. But first we must go back prior to the close of human probation.
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; 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.” Revelation 18:1.2.
This is the final warning to go to the inhabitants of the earth under the latter rain power of God’s Spirit, and by this time, the cup of Rome’s iniquity is full. However, now it will include all professors of Christianity who have not responded to the three angels’ messages.
When John wrote the Revelation, he drew from the books of the Old Testament. Many of the prophets warned of the fall of Babylon because the city refused to heed the warnings of God’s messengers. Nebuchadnezzar repented, but his grandson rebelled and during his reign, the city fell.
“Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.” Jeremiah 51:11. (You will remember that Babylon burnt the temple in Jerusalem to the ground)
Much is carried across from literal Babylon to spiritual Babylon, as you will see. There are also warnings to Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Mt Seir, Jerusalem, and these warnings are used by God as a type of the destruction of spiritual Babylon and the nations of the world.
Thus their words are very broad, far broader than would normally apply to a single city. For instance, relating to Babylon, “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.” Isaiah 13:6. (In this text “the day of the Lord” is used as a type of the destruction of the world, which it does mean it most cases)
In the setting of literal Babylon, the message was given, “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 recompense.” Jeremiah 51:6.
God does not punish until the cup of iniquity is full, and in the case of ancient Babylon, the brim was reached when Belshazzar commanded his servants to “bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem… (that)…. his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.” Daniel 5:2.
This was a blasphemous act, as “they drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone.” Daniel 5:4. (Remember the four metals of the image of Daniel 2)
That very night Darius the Mede drained the Euphrates and entered the city. “A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images and they are mad upon their idols.” Jeremiah 50:38.
The prophet cried out, “O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come….” Jeremiah 51:13.
Prior to the close of probation, the final step will be taken by spiritual Babylon that will fill her cup --- the passing of legislation to kill the saints if they refuse to obey the universal Sunday law, especially after it becomes a crime to keep the Sabbath.
The remnant, inspired by God’s Spirit will cry out with holy boldness, their faces lit with His glory, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…. Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:2.4.5.
And Babylon falls completely.
“Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed; howl for her…. for her judgment reacheth… to the skies.” Jeremiah 51:8.9.
The prophet John says, “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.” Revelation 18:6.
John is not being vindictive. He is inspired by the Spirit to write these words. This is a church “clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls.” Revelation 18:16.
Remember, a ‘woman’ in Bible prophecy represents a church, and this ‘church’ is arrayed in costly garments and valuable jewels. Is this true?
Let us take a glance at the treasures of Rome.
First, look at what are called the ‘intangible billions’. These are the assets owned by the Church. It is a fact that the Catholic Church is the largest owner of historic, architectural and artistic buildings in the world. Considering the Church owns hundreds, indeed thousands of such historic and artistic buildings throughout Europe, it can be imagined that the wealth they represent in actual dollars is beyond calculation.
Certainly the value of properties, lands, industrial and commercial concerns owned and controlled by the Catholic Church in Italy, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia is immense.
When Pope Paul VI celebrated Mass in the famed Yankee Stadium, New York, a comment was made by a prelate in answer to questions by European press correspondents, ‘What? Don’t they know that the stadium’s ours, too?’
The Catholic Church in America actually owns more real estate than any other body, second to the United States government.
Then there are the sacred objects, such as gold chalices, in every major and even minor Catholic churches and monasteries around the world, valued in the thousands, not so much for their gold, but the historic value.
“Add the numberless statues of saints, angels, martyrs, which adorn most Catholic churches everywhere. Some of them are beautified with crowns of solid gold, silver and precious stones, rare pearls, diamonds and other valuables. The prices which such items would collect at any contemporary antique auction would run into hundreds of millions of dollars, at the lowest possible estimate.” The Vatican Billions. Avro Manhattan. p280.281.
Again, add to these the most celebrated painters, sculptors and artists of the western world, from the first centuries of the Christian era down to our times – Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, to mention three.
This type of art would sell in the millions.
Avro Manhattan “calculated that paintings worth at least a million dollars exist in perhaps over 600 churches, cathedrals, monasteries, convents, basilica and the like in Italy alone. If we add France, Germany and, above all, Portugal and Spain, at least another 400 masterpieces worth one million dollars each are in existence. The monetary value of these one thousand pictures is, to say the least, startling: 1000 million dollars…
One single work by Leonardo was priced at three million dollars, what would the other masterpieces by Raphael, Michelangelo, and the others be worth? Can any art dealer or museum value the Sistine Chapel for instance? In an open market this would be worth, at a modest estimate, between 250 and 500 million dollars. Then what about the Roman and Greek sculptures of the Vatican galleries?” Ibid p280.282.
In 1972, a Gutenberg Bible sold for a million pounds, almost three million dollars. The British museum paid more than this for an ancient manuscript, and the Vatican owns thousands of ancient manuscripts, some unique.
In 1971, the Vatican ordered a worldwide census of all the Church’s art treasures. The bishops were instruction to see that all parish priests drew up accurate inventories of the works of art in their respective churches, with the help of experts, describing each object and estimating its financial value.
The Vatican warned that “any priest selling art treasures of his church” without permission would lose his office and, indeed, be excommunicated. One of the reasons for this census was that certain bishops and cardinals were advocating selling such riches to raise funds to help the poor.
Cardinal Heenan, the Archbishop and Cardinal Primate of England at the time said the Vatican should take the lead. “There would be great value in the example of the Holy See selling some of the masterpieces of art in the Vatican.” Ibid p283.
Needless to say, it did not happen.
Remember, this is a church that has persecuted and martyred more men, women and children than every other organisation combined, in fact, there is evidence of her involvement in all of them.
“How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” Revelation 18:7.
Look what Isaiah says of literal Babylon.
“And thou saidst, I shall be a lady forever…. I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood… For the multitude of thy sorceries and for the great abundance of thine enchantment.” Isaiah 47:7.8.9.
Note the parallel. “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.” Revelation 18:8.
In the previous booklet we saw that Rome is punished with the fifth plague of painful darkness, the sixth plague with her support drying up, and the seventh plague where she is completely destroyed with the nations.
No doubt the “burning with fire” will take place when Rome actually falls at the 7th plague. Many are still alive to see it, as you will see in the following verses.
“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more… And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall 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 thy judgment is come.” Revelation 18: 11.9.10.
Isaiah wrote, “Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them…. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants…” Isaiah 47:14.15.
Here we see that the kings and business men of the world mourn the loss of the Papacy.
“For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! For in one hour is she made desolate.” Revelation 18:17-19.
The lament of Rome’s merchants is repeated many times in this chapter, no doubt to help us understand the immense involvement in business dealings.
And what did she trade?
“The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.” Revelation 18:12.13.
You need to translate some of these ancient wares into their modern counterpart, such as “odours” to perfumes; “chariots” to cars. But how does this list make you feel when you come down to the last two ‘commodities’?
Certainly there will be feelings of horror that the church we see parading in a supposed goodness before the nations is operating the biggest business in the world, including the bodies of men, women and children, both physically and spiritually.
Again, look at the lament of the business world.
“The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing.” Revelation 18:15.
What is the reaction of Heaven?
“Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” Revelation 19:1.2.
“Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.” Revelation 18:20.
The apostles and holy prophets are symbolically rejoicing, as they are yet in their graves. However, these words are a fulfilment of God’s promise to the martyrs of the 5th seal who cried out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:10.
There is another aspect not mentioned in detail in Revelation, except a small notation, “for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived”. Revelation 18:23.
Isaiah gives a fuller picture from ancient Babylon.
“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate… Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, ‘The lady of kingdoms’….
Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
Behold, they shall be as stubble; the first shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame….” Isaiah 47:1.5.12.13.14.
Notice the word “sorceries” again. The Greek word is pharmacia, the word from which we get pharmaceutical.
Today we know the pharmaceutical companies are controlled by the elite of the world, the men who are working towards the New World Order. These are the ones who are putting in place health care programs designed to kill the elderly, which is legalised euthenesia, a program no different to the eugenics of Hitler in Germany.
Is the Catholic Church involved?
What do you think?
“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” Revelation 18:24.
It is only when the Papacy is laid open at the judgment of the lost that we will know the full extent of her dealings, but simply reading or visiting her activities reveals much that can only be classed as sorcery and enchantments.
The most well-known example goes back to Martin Luther and his attack on the selling of indulgences. Finally he could take it no longer and nailed his 99 theses to the door of the Wittenberg cathedral.
According to a Catholic book teaching children the faith, an indulgence is “the remission granted by the Church of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven”, lessening their days in purgatory. My Catholic Faith p334.
In past ages, the Church gave severe penances, but these could be lightened by indulgences, permitting the penitent to “make atonement by means of alms-deeds, crusades or pilgrimages…. More and more indulgences came to be granted, as today they are granted, for reciting certain prayers, for visiting certain holy places, for fasting and almsgiving, for using certain sacred objects.” Ibid p335.
A plenary indulgence is the most prized, as it is “the remission of all the temporal punishment due to our sins… One who dies immediately after gaining a plenary indulgence goes straight to heaven, without having to pass through purgatory.” Ibid pp336.
The faithful can “gain a plenary indulgence as often as they perform the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross.” Ibid p338. A plenary indulgence is granted to those who receive the papal blessing, whether in person or given through the public media.
“All crosses for rosaries brought from Palestine, which have touched the holy places, have the Apostolic indulgences attached to them.” Ibid p339.
And finally, “The Church can grant indulgences for the dead, as an offering to God by way of suffrage, as an intercessory prayer for the departed souls.” Ibid p339.
Friends, if you have been a Catholic, these quotations will be repulsive to you, indeed, to all who are Christians. But I want to show clearly the spiritual deception placed upon the souls of the devotees.
Imagine you have a loved one in purgatory, would you not want to lessen their days in that horrible, but fictitious, place?
“We should be generous in helping the poor souls in purgatory, who long for God. The best thing we can do for them is to have Masses offered for them. If we cannot have a Mass said, we should at least hear Masses for our dear departed. If God so willed, a single Mass could release all the souls in purgatory.” (Really!!) Ibid p168.
As you know, the sale of indulgences was greatly abused by Tetzel, who was selling indulgences for sins not yet committed. But Luther’s protest was not just on the abuse, it was on indulgences as a whole.
“The immensity of the riches which indulgences brought to the papacy during the centuries is incalculable. Their use, abuse and misuse should not make us lightly condemn them as unimportant, nor their absurdity induce us to underestimate the tremendous power they had – or rather, the tremendous power of the cumulative effect of their employment by both the Church and the popes.” The Vatican Billions. Avro Manhattan p85.
Indulgences are still part of the Catholic faith “to atone for sins”. My Catholic Faith p169. (Pope John Paul II offered an indulgence between December 24, 1999 and January 6, 2000 to celebrate the new millennium)
Please meditate upon the wonderful words of Scripture.
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Romans 5:10.11.
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God… for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified…
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh… Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…” Hebrews 10:10.12.14.19.20.22.
This is the truth.
Rejoice! And again I say, Rejoice!
Rome’s spiritual deception upon the minds of the people is criminal, but we need to add to this the fact that everything costs money. Some things are purchased, such as asking for a Mass to be said for departed loved ones. Others are accompanied by offerings.
“Shrines, the contemporary Catholic scenes of alleged miracles, apparitions and portents, are functioning with the same efficiency as the belt conveyor of a Ford factory, and with the profitable results for the Church.
The consumers, i.e. the believers, will congregate upon these towns and cities to pray, to hope, to be satisfied that they too, have trod the ground upon which St Francis of Assisi walked, where the Virgin appeared and spoke. Who, upon glancing at the glossy advertisements of any travel agency, has not been offered a cheap voyage, return, to Lourdes or to Fatima, to mention only two of the most celebrated shrines of our times?
Lourdes, for instance, a Pyrenees town of barely 16,000 people, boasts more than 600 hotels. Of 710 businesses, no less than 600 deal exclusively in religious objects and souvenirs, which range from washable plastic Virgins to hourglasses in the shape of Benadette telling the Virgin how to time eggs. The water of the Grotto is sold in plastic bottles, while perfume, soap and candy are advertised as having been made from water blessed by the pope and by the Mother of God.” The Vatican Billions. Avro Manhattan p284.285.
And of course, there are legions of shrines, holy spots and holy waters around the world, all receiving gifts from the devotees.
Now to history.
“As the year AD1000 drew nearer, they (the Catholic men and women) got rid of their possessions with increasing speed. How? By donating them to what they were told was Christ’s bride on earth, the Roman Church. And so it came to pass that monasteries, nunneries, abbeys, bishops’ palaces and the like bustled with activity. Believers came and went, not only to confess their sins, to repent but also to donate and give to the Roman Catholic Institution all they had. They gave her their money, their valuables, their houses, their lands. Many of them became total paupers… by giving away everything they were gaining merit in the eyes of the Great Judge!” Ibid p55.
What prompted these actions?
A belief in the millennium and the end of the world.
It began with superstition, but the Church did nothing to quell the fears of the people. As a result, Rome became richer and richer.
Three centuries later a Jubilee was announced.
In the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed that from the previous Christmas to the next and on every hundredth year following, Roman Catholics visiting the basilicas of St Peter and St Paul in Rome would have the fullest pardon for all their sins. Thousands departed their homes and headed toward the Holy City.
“What had prompted Pope Boniface to create such a precedent so unexpectedly? What arcane revelation had induced him to fling wide open the gates to the treasures of heaven? The answer is but one: the allure of the treasures of earth.” The Vatican Billions p70.
In many parts of Christendom, coin offerings had dwindled to next to nothing. In fact, the Vatican, in the heart of Rome was becoming increasingly poor. St Peter’s coffers, the pope was told, were very low, indeed, they were well-nigh empty. Something had to be done to replenish them.
So the year 1300 became a Jubilee in which the faithful could receive remission of all their sins. It was the chance of a lifetime and the people did not hesitate. They left their villages, cities and countries by the thousands. Europe saw a mass movement, like had never been experienced.
A contemporary, Villani declared there were “at least 200,000 pilgrims daily in Rome.”
Ventura, another contemporary eye-witness said he saw men and women trampled underfoot, the crowds were so great. Even Dante spoke of the crowds of that year in his well-known ‘Inferno’.
A Flemish delegation said, “The court of Rome is insatiable, and its appetite for money is bottomless.”
As most would not live until the next Jubilee, Pope Clement VI issued a bull declaring that, in view of the shortness of human life, he had reduced the Jubilee’s span from one hundred to fifty years.
To offer further inducements, he told prospective pilgrims that he would order the angels of heaven to liberate from purgatory the souls of any of them who might die on the road to Rome.
Travelling was on foot. There were no hotels, hardly any roads, no food provisions, or banks or police. The trek was dangerous and many died along the way, in fact, only one out of ten pilgrims returned home alive.
But the Jubilee proved a tremendous success, and the coffers were replenished.
Girolama Savanarola of Florence, referring to the approaching Holy Year of 1500, summed up the true expectation of the pope of his time regarding the monetary gains of the event, and he thundered, “They ring their bells for coins and for candles… They sell their benefices, sell the sacraments, traffic in masses… No one need keep up appearances any more…” Ibid p268.269.
Is it all in the past? No.
Soon after his pontificate, Pope John Paul II proclaimed that Easter 1983 to Easter 1984 would be an “extraordinary Holy Year”. Although there was no hint to this extraordinary Jubilee announcement, the cardinals guessed its true objective was to ‘collect as much money as possible in the shortest time with the least effort’, to replenish the coffers of the IOR, of Vatican City, and of the Church, in that order. Ibid p270. (IOR stands for Institute for Religious Works)
Why?
Simply because there had been, during 1982, a financial debacle, in which the Vatican had lost millions. The up-coming Jubilee was designed to collect some of the Banco Ambrosiano-IOR missing millions. The announcement had been made on the same day Pope John Paul had said he was willing to repay some of the money.
The matter was urgent, as Italy’s Treasury Minister had sent the Vatican another threatening reminder that the IOR still owed the shareholders of the Ambrosiano more than one thousand million dollars, not yet paid. The discreet but relentless pressure of the 200 world banks involved in the IOR’s debit-credit ‘imbroglio’, although in the background, was no less effective. (The full details of this financial loss are involved, but the basic reason for the extraordinary Holy Year is given here as revealed in ‘The Vatican Billions’ p271)
Rome’s civic authorities and the Communist Mayor were not amused, as the announcement had been made without consulting them. The mayor knew that the Shopkeeper Association came only second to the true main beneficiary, the Vatican. The pilgrims were told of the generosity of the early Christians, and that they also should give “with generosity”. Ibid p272.
Of course, it was a great success.
Another means of gaining money is through what can be classed as pope-idolatry. This is the phenomenon of the travelling popes, especially John Paul II who travelled to over seventy countries. It was initiated by Pope Paul IV, and since then, has developed into an ecclesiastic-tour travel agency, centered at the Vatican.
Of course, it requires money, but it also generates money.
There are so many avenues of the papal income, it leaves one gasping, not to mention church offerings, wills, legacies, and bequests of the faithful.
Another source of income for the Catholic Church is its business dealings, and this is the main condemnation of Revelation 18.
The following is an abbreviated section of Malachi Martin’s book ‘Vatican’. It is a fictious story, but based on truth, which as you will see gives a good picture of the vastness of the Vatican’s business dealings.
“Helmut, who spoke from typewritten notes, was the star performer of the meeting in Guido’s large study. The vast transfer operation was his to direct, with advice from his uncle, and with extensive cooperation from the others wherever they could smooth his path – Francis Xavier Kelly and Jean-Pierre Duchesne in North America; Julio Montt, Ari Potamianos, and Claro Trujillo in Latin America; Michael Manley of Australia in Asia.
‘I cannot stress too much’, Helmut was saying, ‘that now more than ever we will all have to make treble use of our already hard-working and efficient team of international brokers. We now have some $180 billion abroad. The balance at home in Italy is $17 billion in round figures. Of that sum, at least $9 billion is anonymously held. You will find details in the usual reports in your folders.
‘Now, some of you are centrally located in areas where we are heavily invested. Most of us have considerable business interests, both personal and corporate, in those areas and in others we are now entering.
Again, details of our near-future plans are in your folders. The point I want to make now is that we will need much closer intercommunication than ever before, particularly in Latin America….
‘No one’, Helmut pointed out, ‘can have any factual foundation for saying we have not allowed the government a solid basis on which the cedolare can surely be levied.
‘For example, SII assets alone are over $300 million as of this month, and its profits are up to $8.2 million. It has a controlling interest in over seventy companies. Eleven of those companies specialize in investment and property holdings. The others are spread out over insurance, agricultural projects, general service companies, technical services, industry and manufacturing.`
‘Or take another example. Through RIS, in Rome alone, we own nine apartment complexes, five office buildings with commercial parking facilities and shopping arcades, and fourteen garden-villa developments.”
He flicked over a few pages. ‘You are all acquainted with what RIS has accomplished in Geneva, Milan, Bari, and Turin…’
Guido followed his nephew’s presentation, turning the pages of his copies of the various reports. He glanced down the summary of RIS projects and let his eye stop at the item detailing a shopping mall and a housing complex of seven buildings and 196 units built on Piazza Loreto in Milan… he quickly forced his attention back to Helmut’s summary….
‘The merger of the Montecatini and Edison companies… real estate value over $3 billion…. Profits nearly $1 billion…. Our RCO and ITS company in West Virginia… Holland… Spain… Italy… Brazil… ‘Romacmenti is up to $7.2 million’. Helmut’s voice forced itself back into the forefront of his uncle’s attention. ‘Romaceramica’s assets over $17 million… Profits from Hungary and Tunisia, $3.8 million….’
The list went on through mining, pasta, steel, automobiles, passenger ships, telephone and telegraph, credit institutions, motion pictures, insurance, reinsurance, banking…” Vatican by Malachi Martin p375-377.
In 1969, the ‘Wall Street Journal’ said the Vatican’s financial deals in the U.S. alone were so big that very often it sold or bought gold in lots of a million or more dollars at one time." Wall Street Journal. Sep 14. 1969.
A Vatican official, when asked to make a guess at the Vatican’s wealth replied, ‘Only God knows’.
The Vatican also had investments in war industries. A substantial quote reveals much.
“A Communist Italy or France or Germany would mean one certain thing: the dispossession of all the wealth of the Catholic Church within the country…
It was with this in mind that Pius XII founded the Instituto, a clever move to safeguard the Vatican’s financial interests. For the Instituto, while cleverly integrated within the ecclesiastical machinery of the Roman Church, and to all appearances and purposes a purely religious institution, plausible and logical, in reality – at this stage, at any rate – was nothing more than a ‘flexible instrument for arranging multiple financial activities’.
What did all this mean in the middle of the war? It meant, as an authoritative organ explained, that: ‘this bank allowed the Holy See to undertake transfers across closed frontiers, and it profited richly from the rare privilege of being able to transfer foreign exchange in a partitioned world.
The partitioned world was truly partitioned. By millions of armed men. By closed frontiers. By barbed wire. By bombers. By tanks. By submarines. Nobody could pass, and that applied by generals, politicians, diplomats, heads of state. There was one exception, however: the representatives of the Vatican.
For them, there were no such restrictions. As the envoys of a religion and the delegates of a sovereign state – the officially neutral Vatican City – they could come and go at their pleasure, from one belligerent country to another, from one continent to another. From battling Europe to Canada, the U.S., and South America. The carriers of spiritual comfort – but, even more, the carriers of bank notes, stocks, bonds, gold and silver.
For that is precisely what the Instituto did. It transferred increasingly large sums of money from the Vatican to Canada and the U.S.A. The valuables were drawn, not only from the coffers in Rome, but from all over Italy, from France, even from inside Hitlerite Germany itself. The pope saw to it that certain very trusted individuals within the national hierarchies – uomini di figucia, as they were and are still called at the Vatican – were charged with this very delicate task.
As operation ‘transfer of money from Europe to the Americas’ progressed, more and more interested parties became involved in it. European and American interests jumped on the Vatican bandwagon, particularly since Hitler’s military fortunes continued to plunge downward. American individuals and corporations with stocks and shares in Germany asked the Vatican to help them save what they could from the impending debacle. The Vatican helped, directly and indirectly.
It began in earnest to exert increasing pressure upon certain politicians and even the military to ensure the ‘saving’ of certain factories, buildings or installations in various parts of Hitlerite Europe.” The Vatican Billions p141.142. (I.G. Farben was one of those buildings)
God’s final words of the Papacy in this chapter are of its demise.
“And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” Revelation 18:21-23.
God is calling His people out while there is still time.
“Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4.
Do You Want to Know the Future?