Tape Four: The Secret Society at the Church of Thyatira

and Their Infiltration of the Seven Churches of Revelation
by John Daniel

Philologos Religious Online Books
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Secret Societies and
Their Infiltration of the Seven Churches of Revelation

Transcription of seven 1-hour audio cassette messages
by John Daniel, author of "Scarlet and the Beast"

Tape Four
The Secret Society at the Church of Thyatira

John Kreigel:
Hello, I'm John Kreigel, President of JKI Publishing. Before we begin this series of seven messages on the seven churches of Revelation, I want to give you a brief overview of God's plan for mankind as recorded in Scripture. This will help you better understand the purpose behind these seven messages.

There is a battle between God and Satan. It's not an eternal battle for Scripture prophesies the end of Satan. God is the victor over evil in the past, the present and the future. The devil knows this, but he continues the war against God anyway in hopes of putting off the inevitable. His mode of operation is to form secret societies to conspire against God and man.

Satan was once Lucifer, the mighty archangel. Scripture tells us that he first conspired with 1/3 of the angels to dethrone God. As a result, there was war in heaven and God cast Lucifer and his angels out of heaven onto the earth where Lucifer became Satan, the Adversary. On earth, the Adversary's battle continued for the souls of mankind. God warned Adam and Eve in advance not to join Satan's rebellion or they would die. Satan deceived Eve with the promise of godhood; Eve recruited Adam and together they joined Satan's rebellion. Because of their disobedience, God could no longer fellowship with Adam and Eve, hence the human race was doomed to both a physical and spiritual death unless God intervened.

In love of, and infinite mercy for His creation, God set in motion a redemption plan. In Genesis 3:15 God announced His plan to Satan; God would destroy Satan through a Redeemer born of the seed of a woman which is interpreted to mean, born of a virgin. The development of the seed plot is recorded throughout the entire Old Testament. The Redeemer would be of Hebrew race, born of the tribe of Judah, through the kingly line of David. To the Jews of the Old Testament, he was known as the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah. The New Testament records the culmination of God's plan. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God's seed was miraculously placed in the womb of a virgin, her name was Mary, of the lineage of King David.

When the Messiah ("Christ" in Greek) was born, Mary named him Jesus which means "Savior." Jesus Christ, the Savior Messiah of the human race was both deity and man, God incarnate. In this form, God would pay the penalty for mankind's sin of rebellion by His own death. Christ's ministry on earth, His life, His death, burial and resurrection, completed the redemption plan for mankind.

However, the redemption plan is not a blanket amnesty for mankind. Every person must choose to accept or reject the plan. Only those who accept the plan are redeemed to eternal life. To carry the good news of this redemption plan throughout earth, Jesus Christ founded the Church. The Church is not a building, it's not a corporation. It is a body of believers in Christ who have been given the task to spread the good news that the human race is no longer doomed to eternal separation from God, that if they repent of their rebellion against the Almighty and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, they will have eternal life. The finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary defeated Satan.

Satan's ultimate doom, however, is prophesied not to occur until after the end of the Church Age. Therefore, to prolong his life, the Adversary fights to extend the Church Age. With those who rejected the redemption plan, Satan conspired to form secret societies to infiltrate the Church for the express purpose of slowing the progress of evangelism. The record of this conspiracy is recorded in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

John Daniel, author of the best-selling trilogy "Scarlet and the Beast" is both author and narrator of these series of seven audiocassette messages entitled "Secret Societies and Their Infiltration of the Seven Churches of Revelation."

Now, here is John Daniel.

John Daniel:
Turn in your Bible to Revelation chapter 2, I'll be reading from the old King James version.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy of the end-times as revealed to the apostle John in a vision given him by Jesus Christ when John was exiled to the island of Patmos about the year 96 AD. The apostle was to write down what the risen Saviour showed him and send the messages to seven select churches in the Asia Minor cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Why were these seven churches selected in this order to receive our Lord's prophetic end-time message? Bible prophecy scholars have concluded that Christ chose these seven cities to represent the future church age for within the defined name of each city, and within the characteristic nature of each church, we recognize seven historic church periods from John's day to our day. Each church will have its own broader time slot for future domination as well as its own future Western headquarters. Christ's prophecy also reveals that all seven church periods will be plagued by secret societies which will attempt to impede the progress of spreading the gospel worldwide. So far we have witnessed the fulfillment of this prophecy in the first three church periods that have spanned the first 600 years of church history. What is most significant in our study is that at the end of each letter Christ personalizes his message to individual Christians with this statement "to him that overcometh I will give" a specific eternal occupation. This suggests that not only are there seven church periods within the church age with seven distinct characteristics, there are also seven types of Christians defined with these same characteristics who are being prepared to manage God's creation throughout eternity.

Our study of each of the seven churches is therefore divided into three segments: (1) we shall discuss the historic characteristics of each local church in each Asia Minor city, (2) we shall connect those characteristics to a church period that from our perspective today we can prove historically had those same characteristics, and (3) we shall apply those characteristics to individual Christians. As a Christians where do you fit into the prophetic picture? The answer is found in your Christian characteristic, therefore, of that characteristic which best fits you in your own spiritual walk with our Lord and Saviour, take particular note for that characteristic is developing you for your eternal occupation in the New Heaven and New Earth so long as you overcome the obstacles that the secret societies have placed before you to hinder your part in the spread of the gospel.

Before we begin our study of the fourth church period as described in the church at Thyatira, I want to make a few comments about recorded history. If you read four history books from four different societies all written on the same subject, you won't recognize in any one of them the history you were taught in school. Likewise, if you listen to the secular news networks today then listen to Christian news networks you'll find a vast difference in what is not reported in the one and what is reported in the other. My point is this, when history is written for any society the historian is biased by that society. A contemporary example is found in the history written for Arab nations. In the summer of 1993 when Israel was preparing to make peace with Jordan, newspapers in our country reported that if Jordan was willing to sign a peace treaty with Israel would Jordan also be willing to change its history textbooks which reflect the pre-WWII viewpoint of Nazi Germany toward the Jews. As it is with Arab history today, so it was in writing the Western world's secular history of the Dark Ages and Middle Ages which history was prejudiced by the Protestant Reformation. There is a Catholic viewpoint of that same period of history, as well as an esoteric viewpoint. The Catholics alone have included the esoteric in their church history while Protestant history and secular history have both remained strangely silent about the historic role played by secret societies. We shall learn the reason for their silence in this study.

In the course of writing my book "Scarlet and the Beast," I spent 20 years reading and researching the four historic viewpoints of Protestants, Catholics, seculars and esoterics. I discovered that I could only rely on prophetic scripture as my guide to ferret out historic truth. I have used this same technique in this series of studies on the seven churches of Revelation. Consequently, what I shall reveal about both the Thyatira and the Sardis church period will be new to most of you because you haven't had the opportunity to read Catholic or Masonic history. What you will learn in this study of Thyatira and the next study of Sardis may upset, offend or anger some of you. That's okay, all I ask is that you be open to what Christ prophesies about the Thyatira and Sardis church period and compare it to what actually happened historically. I offer four suggestions that will assist you: (1) don't let your secular, Masonic, Jewish, Protestant or Catholic backgrounds bias you as you study Christ's prophetic message to each church period; (2) don't ignore historic viewpoints of others; (3) accept no viewpoint without exposing it to the light of prophetic scripture, and (4) don't make an eisegetical interpretation of what Christ says. Eisegetical means reading into the text what is not there.

Now follow me as I read about the church at Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29. I'll be reading from the old King James version.

"And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

Since this period of church history was dominated by both the rise and decline of the Roman Catholic Church, the headquarters of the broader Thyatira church period was in Rome for a millennium. We date the beginning of this church period at 606 AD with the crowning of Boniface III as the first universal pope. Prior to that date, the bishop of Rome had authority only over Western Europe. We date the end of the dominance of the Thyatira church period at 1648 AD with the Treaty of Westphalia which established the first legal basis for the existence of Protestants. Just as Christ had done in the previous three churches, he first addresses the work of the Thyatira church period: "I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first." There are two references to works in this verse, one at the beginning and one at the end and the last works are more than the first works. Notice that Christ doesn't condemn Thyatira for its works but instead commends it. Good works are not bad so long as they are done in the name of Christ. In verse 26, Christ refers to the works of true believers at Thyatira as his works and told these faithful Christians to continue his works unto the end. One author informs us that Christ's commendation is stated in such a manner as to suggest that the good works performed during this church period went above and beyond the call of duty. On the other hand, if the Thyatira church goer has not accepted Christ as Saviour yet thinks he can do good works to gain and maintain salvation, his works are not of Christ but of self. Christ addresses this person in verse 23— "I will give unto every one of you according to your works." Notice these are not Christ's works but your works. We shall later learn that verse 23 is speaking to members of a wicked secret society that had infiltrated the Thyatira church.

Secret societies are noted for doing an abundance of good works and God will judge them according to their works at the Great White Throne Judgment. Ironically, secret societies know this and during the investiture of the Masonic apron, they actually prepare their initiates for the Great White Throne Judgment day. Thirty-third degree Freemason Albert Mackey explains:

Let the apron's pure and spotless surface be to you an ever present reminder of the purity of life, of rectitude of conduct, a never ending argument for higher thoughts, for nobler deeds, for greater achievements. And when at last your weary feet shall have reached the end of their toilsome journey and from your nerveless grasp forever drop the working tools of a busy life, may the record of your life and conduct be as pure and spotless as this fair apron which I place within your hands tonight. And when your trembling soul shall stand naked and lone before the Great White Throne, there to receive judgment for the deeds done while here in the body, may it be your portion to hear from him who sitteth as judge supreme these welcome words 'Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord.'

Even when good works are misplaced, Christ does not condemn them but rather is fair and just in his judgment of them. We shall now take in order each of the good works for which Christ commended the Thyatira church and compare them to the historic characteristics of good works in the Catholic Church. First, Christ says "I know thy works." The Catholic Church is noted for its doctrine of good works to gain and maintain salvation. However, in Ephesians 2:8-9 we read "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." If matters not what a person believes about works and its relationship to salvation. If he repents of his rebellion against God, then accepts Christ as Saviour and believes he must do good works to maintain salvation or simply does good works as a natural result of his salvation, Christ doesn't condemn him. Christ simply tells the faithful Christian to continue his good works unto the end.

Second, Christ addresses the charity of the Thyatira church. Charity can be translated "love." There was brotherly love in the Catholic Church which probably exceeded that of all the other church periods for this is the only church that received commendation for love. In fact, other than that sometimes vicious clamoring of bishops in their struggle to rise to the papacy, there was no division in the layman for almost 700 years until the Protestant Reformation.

Third, Christ commends Thyatira's service. The Greek word for service is where we get our word for deacon and indicates voluntary service focused on the needs of people. The Roman church, even in ancient times, was characterized as humanitarian. Hospitals and sanitariums were almost exclusively the work of the church through its nuns and priests. Likewise, the only education in those days was through attending Catholic schools.

Fourth, Christ commends Thyatira's faith. Faith can be translated "faithfulness to the work of the church." History bears record that Catholic Christians in those days were unbending in their faithful devotion to the church. This was due in part to their concept that faithfulness to the work of the church was required to maintain salvation.

Fifth, Christ commends Thyatira's patience. The patience of the Catholic Church means endurance and may apply to the length of the church period being as long as the other six combined. It could also apply to the church's patience toward the blasphemous secret societies that infiltrated the church which took 700 years to root out. I shall reveal the historic names of these secret societies in the course of our study.

Sixth, Christ commends Thyatira for more works. As Christ says it, a I paraphrase, "As for your faithfulness in doing my works, the last are more than the first." When the Catholic Church lost nine million members to the Protestant Reformation, it didn't give up on good works but instead sought to serve the Lord more. For example, when the discovery of the New World was made in the 15th century, the Catholic Church was faithful in setting up mission works throughout North and South America. It was the Catholic Church that first encouraged Indians to burn their witchcraft books and other pagan paraphernalia. We can also credit the Catholic Church for almost single-handedly civilizing the Indians by making them abandon human sacrifices. In a short period of time, the Catholic Church completely replaced with Latin American and South American Indians the nine million Protestants lost to the Reformation in Europe thus doubling overnight Christ's good works.

Now let's take a look at other characteristics of ancient Thyatira which prophesy that period of church history dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. First, Thyatira was an industrial city renowned for its many trade guilds. Citizens of the city had to join these guilds to gain employment and membership required their participation in the annual company party that all employees were expected to attend. This was the same city-wide revelry celebrated throughout all Asia Minor, the Bacchanalia, after which meat sacrificed to idols was eaten followed by a sexual frenzy. Christians living righteous lives were self-employed. Acts 16:14 may be record of such a righteous Christian. Her name was Lydia, a seller of purple. When we compare the industrial city of Thyatira with the broader Thyatira church period which historically was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, we find it was likewise marked by an industrious building boom. For a millennium trade guilds of carpenters, draftsmen and stone masons traveled Europe and England building massive cathedrals for the Roman Catholic Church as well as erecting various fortifications, abbeys and castles. Without the convenience of modern heavy equipment, it took these trade guilds decades to complete one cathedral. Therefore, workmen were required to live onsite in lodges surrounding the construction project. These dwelling-places became known as Masonic Lodges. Each lodge housed one particular class of worker. The entry level worker lived in the entered apprentice lodge. Today he would be called a trainee. The second level worker lived in the fellow craft lodge. These were the craftsmen who actually did the work under supervision. The third level lived in the master mason lodge. They were the managers, supervisors or foremen. Since the Catholic Church was the largest customer of these trade guilds, workmen were required to adhere to the Christian faith. Consequently, initiation ceremonies for advancement into each of the three degrees of work were of a Christian character. Trade guilds also went to great length to protect their craft from exploitation by imposters. For example, workmen sent from one project to another were tested by an elaborate system of grips and passwords before entry was permitted into the receiving lodge. And to protect themselves from eavesdroppers during initiation ceremonies, inductions were conducted by night and in secret.

Another characteristic of ancient Thyatira that prophesied the same characteristic in the Roman Catholic Church is found in the definition of the city's name. Thyatira means "continual sacrifice." To this day, the sacrifice of the Mass is a continual ordinance within the Catholic Church. To connect Mass with the definition of Thyatira as continual sacrifice we must first understand Catholic theology behind the Mass. "Mass" in Latin means "good gift." The gift is the eucharist or sacrament. The eucharist according to Catholic theology literally turns into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, whenever the sacrifice of the Mass is observed by Catholics, it represents a continual sacrifice of our Saviour. Before we delve into the historic events that precipitated the development of this doctrine, we shall consider how the RCC views Christ's function today. Christ is not the victorious risen Saviour that Protestants recognize, the Christ of Catholicism is viewed as the suffering Saviour. This theology is visibly recognized in the crucifix where Christ remains on the cross. According to this doctrine, when Christians sin Christ immediately suffers for that sin. To assist Christ in his suffering, God afflicts a few saints with stigmata. Stigmata is Latin for our English stigma. The stigmata are identical to Christ's wounds. These suffering saints actually bleed from either their hands, their feet, their side or from wounds around their forehead. Each stigmata is thoroughly investigated to make sure they are not self-inflicted. If found authentic, it is approved of by the Catholic Church. This paranormal activity has been tested by scientists who agree that it does happen but can't tell how it happens. However, when I hold the doctrine of continual sacrifice up to the light of scripture, 1 Peter 3:18 informs us that our Saviour suffered once for sins and as Christ hanged dying on the cross in John 19:30, his final words were "It is finished." Our Saviour bowed his head and died once, therefore, there is no more need for a suffering Saviour, nor need of human beings to assist Christ in suffering. The danger in the doctrine of assisted suffering is that it turns one's focus away from Christ and towards suffering saints and ultimately to the practice of idolatry by worshiping and praying to these saints. The Catholic Church began the process of canonization of dead saints in 995 AD and Christ condemned both the Pergamos and Thyatira church period for this idolatry.

Now the roots of the continual sacrifice doctrine of the Thyatira church period are buried in the previous two church periods of Smyrna and Pergamos. During the Smyrna church period Christians were given the opportunity to live if they would renounce their faith. When the Pergamos church period emerged Christ commended the church for not renouncing its faith even during those days of persecution. From this prophesy we can conclude that historically the majority of Christians during the Smyrna church period did not apostatize. However, history records that some did. When persecution subsided these apostates made an attempt to renew repentance and be accepted back into fellowship. At first the church refused to accept them understanding that Hebrews 6:4-6 teaches that an apostate cannot renew repentance. Follow me as I read this scripture: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." In this Hebrew congregation was a person the church considered a believer because he passed the five point test of fellowship. First, he had been enlightened which in Greek literally means he had heard and understood the plan of salvation. Second, he had tasted the heavenly gift which in Greek figuratively means he had experienced salvation. Third, he was made partaker of the Holy Ghost which in Greek literally means he shared the Holy Spirit. Fourth, he had tasted the good word of God which in Greek figuratively means he had experienced the application of scripture on his life. Fifth, he had witnessed the powers of the world to come which in Greek literally means he witnessed an abundance of miracles. Having experienced all this, he fell away which in Greek figuratively means he apostatized. Now apostasy is making a conscious decision to repudiate, recant, renounce or deny one's faith. The theological debate at this Hebrew church centered around the question, Can a person who renounces his faith renew repentance? The debate at this Hebrew church is not whether this person was saved or not, the debate is about the eternal state of an apostate. If he was saved then renounces his faith he cannot renew repentance. If he was not saved yet experiences the five-fold life of a Christian then renounces it, he cannot renew repentance; the effect is the same whether saved or not. If this person makes a conscious decision to renounce Christ, he is not given a second chance to repent.

This is not a debate between Calvinism and Arminianism. Calvinism holds to the doctrine that once saved, always saved even when we sin. Arminianism holds to the doctrine that we lose our salvation each time we sin and must ask forgiveness to get saved again. The debate in this Hebrew church is not about losing salvation if we sin, the word "sin" never entered the debate. The debate is about a person who repents, accepts Christ then renounces Christ, can he repent again. Now the salvation message is replete with the requirement to repent before one can get saved. In the original Greek "repent" means "to go in reverse." To go in reverse from what? Certainly to reverse from our sinful lifestyle, but more specifically to reverse from our self-sufficiency which is rebellion against God. Then and only then are we in a position to accept God's sacrifice of his son as payment for our rebellion. The debate at this Hebrew church is about a person who after repenting accepted Christ's sacrifice for salvation then later renounced his faith in Christ, can this apostate renew repentance? In the original Greek the question is, Can this apostate repeat a former reversal? The writer of the Hebrews stops the debate with this statement "an apostate cannot repeat a former reversal for it would have the effect of crucifying Christ again which would put Christ's finished work on the cross to open ridicule."

Old Testament scripture gives a type of Christ's crucifixion and what happens to a person who tries to sacrifice Christ a second time. It's found at the beginning of Israel's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. As recorded in Exodus 17:5-6 the Israelites are complaining of thirst which is symbolic of a sinner's rebellion. God told Moses to strike a rock out of which would flow a river of water to quench their thirst. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 states that Christ was that rock. Striking the rock was symbolic of Christ's crucifixion. John 4:13-14 informs us that the water that flowed out of the rock is symbolic of eternal life. When the Israelites knelt down to drink, the act of kneeling was symbolic of repentance. When they drank it was symbolic of receiving eternal life. Their 40 years of wandering is symbolic of our days on this earth. When they entered the Promised Land it was symbolic of entering heaven after our life on earth is finished. But something happened just before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the scene is recorded in Numbers 20:8-12. Once again the Israelites were thirsty. When they complained this time it was symbolic of apostasy because as stated in Numbers 20:10, they had returned to their original rebellion. God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would bring forth water. Speaking to the rock is symbolic of prayer to Christ. Instead, Moses struck the rock in anger as he had done 40 years earlier. Now if striking the rock the first time is symbolic of crucifying Christ, then striking the rock a second time is symbolic of crucifying Christ again which according to Hebrews 6:6 puts Christ to open ridicule. As a result, God condemned Moses' action with these sobering words "Because you believed me not, you cannot enter the Promised Land" which is symbolic of being denied entry into heaven. This analogy does not mean that the man Moses is eternally lost, it is simply a type of Hebrews 6:4-6 which states that an apostate cannot renew repentance, therefore, will be denied entry into heaven. Christ confirms this in Luke 12:8-9 "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." This scripture does not merely apply to the unsaved who have rejected Christ but also applies to the apostate for the word "denieth" in Greek means "a verbal or written disavowing, rejection or renunciation" of Christ.

The apostolic church understood this because history records that the early church fathers refused apostates to return to the church. This is confirmed by Dr. Malachi Martin, a former Jesuit professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. Martin writes that not until midway into the period of the ten persecutions did the church fathers begin to relax their stance on apostasy. The dates were 217 AD to 236 AD during a time of peace between the fifth and sixth persecutions. Christians who had renounced Christ during the fifth persecution wanted to return to the church and for the first time in church history, they were welcomed back. The three bishops of Rome who authorized this practice were Callistus, Urban and Pontian. Dr. Martin tells of the Christian character of these three bishops: "They would not permit any deviation from the basic belief in Jesus as sole Saviour, as the sole means of salvation but they continually adapted the church in Jesus' salvation to changing circumstances." Callistus, Urban and Pontian had decided that apostasy did not warrant perpetual exclusion from the church. After all, during a time of peace the church should be lenient to those who could not withstand the torture. Although they had renounced Christ before men to save their temporal lives, the church should be loving enough to permit them to renew repentance. "Blasphemy!" thundered their critic Hippolytus, "once you're out, you're out!" Hippolytus with his followers dethroned Callistus and Hippolytus was appointed bishop of Rome. The Catholic Church refers to Hippolytus as the first in a long line of antipopes. Hippolytus himself was soon dethroned and the next two bishops Urban and Pontian followed in the steps of Callistus. This dispute abruptly stopped on September 27, 235 AD with an edict from the new emperor Maximinius to renew persecution of the church. The emperor arrested both Pontian and Hippolytus and threw them into the same prison. Four months later they were both martyred. Not until the beginning of the Pergamos church period when Constantine declared Christianity the state religion was the debate renewed. The church had just emerged from ten years of the most intense persecution under Diocletian. Dr. Martin tells a story:

Emperor Diocletian had instituted a widespread and thorough persecution of Christians during which many Christians, priests and bishops as well as lay-folk, had sworn in front of Roman officials with a copy of the gospels on the ground in front of them that they renounced Jesus, his church, his teaching and the whole Christian religion. As a reward they were allowed to go about their business in peace. When Constantine became emperor, he ended all that persecution and the crypto-Christians and the renegade Christians came out into the open again in droves to ask forgiveness and to rejoin the church.

The bishop of Rome at that time was Miltiedes. He and his predecessors were still of the mind of Hippolytus the old antipope who said, "Whoever sinned against the faith by renouncing it when faced with the alternative of death, should not be forgiven for it would have the effect of crucifying Christ again." But that changed when Sylvester succeeded Miltiedes as bishop of Rome. Sylvester forgave apostates and appointed some as bishops over other territories. One man was called Cecillianus (ph) who during the Diocletian persecutions had renounced his faith. When peace had returned to the church, he renewed repentance, begged forgiveness and asked to be accepted back into the church in good standing. Sylvester acquiesced and appointed Cecillianus bishop of Numidia which is modern Tunisia. The result was a bloodbath in Northern Africa led by a man named Donatus (ph). Donatus was of the mind of Hippolytus; he preached "Apostates should never be forgiven, they are lost forever, the church is to be spotless and pure in waiting for Jesus who is due to appear at any moment." Here is where the doctrine of continual sacrifice enters the Thyatira church. When the Catholic Church welcomed back the apostates, it introduced the liturgy of that sacrifice of the Mass to represent a continual sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ so that apostates could renew repentance. While persecution purified the church by getting rid of apostates, the Catholic Church permitted them to return. Therefore, the church did not remain spotless and pure. Within two centuries its leaders were living in open adultery. In fact, the church became so immoral that Christ himself had to intervene and cleanse it which brings us to Christ's condemnation of and warning to the Thyatira church period.

Found in Revelation 2:20-23 it reads:

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebl, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Many Protestants have such a vitriolic hatred of the Catholic Church that they make an eisegetical interpretation of this scripture. Eisegetical means reading into the text that which is not there. For example, instead of Jezebel being a vile person or pagan system that has infiltrated the Catholic Church, they make Jezebel THE Catholic Church. Their logic continues since Revelation 2:22 states that Jezebel will go into great tribulation, Jezebel must be the same Mystery Babylon as Revelation 17 and 18 which is destroyed during the tribulation and since Jezebel is both the Catholic Church and Mystery Babylon, then the Catholic Church will be destroyed in the tribulation. We should be careful not to go beyond Christ's commendation of the Thyatira church period. Christ never referred to the Thyatira church as being an apostate. Yes, apostates were permitted to renew repentance and come back to the Catholic Church, but the Catholic Church itself has never denied the Trinity, nor Christ's position in the Trinity as the Son of God, nor Christ's deity as God. Moreover, Christ never referred to the Thyatira church as a whore. Yes, Christ did accuse the church of permitting Jezebel, a symbol of the whore of Babylon, to teach idolatry in the church but turning the Catholic Church into the whore of Babylon because of the description given in Revelation 2:21-23 is not using grammatical structure correctly for the "her" in this text refers to the antecedent Jezebel, not the Thyatira church. Let's read the warning again. This time I shall insert the word "church" for the word "thou" and "those" and insert the word "Jezebel" in place of the word "her." With this understanding, Christ's condemnation and warning reads like this:

The church suffereth the woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants in the church to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave Jezebel space to repent of her fornication and Jezebel repented not. Behold I will cast Jezebel into a bed and them in the church who commit adultery with Jezebel into great tribulation except they who are in the church repent of their deeds. And I will kill Jezebel's children with death.

According to the correct reading of this scripture, the Catholic Church is not Jezebel nor is the Catholic Church Mystery Babylon. Therefore, the Catholic Church is not cast into great tribulation. Christ's condemnation to the church was that it permitted a Jezebelic system to enter the church but Christ's warning is not to the church but to the whore Jezebel and to those individuals within the church who go to bed with her. In the course of our study I shall prove that the harlot Jezebel is a type for the various secret societies that had infiltrated the Catholic Church. These ancient secret societies as children of Jezebel, are the same secret societies that Christ named Mystery Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18. However, the great tribulation that Christ will cast Jezebel and her lovers into during the Thyatira church period is not the end-time great tribulation. Jezebel's great tribulation is the now historic Inquisitions and I shall prove this with scripture.

This brings us to Christ's characteristic found in Revelation 2:18— "These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass." In all the book of Revelation this is the only place where we find the title "Son of God." Our Lord's selection of this title of himself is significant for this church period in light of the fact that the previous church period had a council to debate his deity. The Roman Catholic Church can be accused of many errors as we shall see, but it cannot be accused of teaching a false concept of the personal deity of Jesus Christ.

The second characteristic of Christ are eyes like unto a flame of fire. In Greek, "flame of fire" literally means "a lightning flash." Taken in context with Jezebel teaching fornication in the church, it's as if Christ were hidden in a dark bedroom with a flash camera where the adulterous acts were taking place. He sees it all as if a flash bulb were triggered. In verse 23, Christ says that after he performs the exorcism of Jezebel from the Catholic Church, all the churches will know that it is Christ who searcheth the reins and hearts. The word "searcheth" in Greek means "to investigate through inquiry." "Reins and hearts" figuratively mean "the thoughts or feelings of the inmost mind." This entire phrase "searcheth the reins and hearts" can be translated in one word "inquisition." The thoughts or feelings of the inmost mind is precisely what the Catholic Church did during the Inquisitions. Therefore to condemn the Catholic Church for the Inquisitions, is to condemn our Lord Jesus Christ for doing what he prophesied he would do, namely cast secret societies and those Christians who had gone to bed with the secret societies into great tribulation. The Inquisitions as we shall see, were investigations of Jezebel's pagan secret societies that had infiltrated the Catholic Church. Protestants did not come into the equation until the end of the Thyatira church period but Protestants were not innocent for they had gone to bed with those same secret societies. This fact is what Protestant and secular historians have kept out of our history books. When Christ's eyes like a flame of fire pierced the dark places, he saw Jezebel in two aspects: (1) as a literal whore in her offspring who defiled the beds of popes for 300 years; (2) as a spiritual harlot in the form of secret societies operating within the Catholic Church, teaching a blasphemous and adulterous doctrine. Of all the seven churches, Thyatira is the only one that makes mention of a woman, and rightfully so for the historic heresy that was brought into the Catholic Church was brought in by a woman. In the course of our study we shall learn who this Jezebel was, as well as several historic names of a spiritual Jezebelic group of secret societies that had infiltrated the church.

The third characteristic of Christ are feet like fine brass. This typifies judgment such as the judgment at Armageddon in Revelation 14 and 19 where Christ returns to the earth with his feet like fine brass and treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of wrath of the Almighty God. Like future Armageddon, Christ did judge through inquisition both a literal whore and a spiritual harlot of secret societies that had infiltrated the Thyatira church period as well as judge those individuals who went to bed with her. To find out who this Jezebel is we shall first connect the Asia Minor city of Thyatira to a profile of this harlot; second we shall consider a literal woman who introduced to the leaders of the Catholic Church the vile practice of adultery and third, we shall consider the spiritual aspect of several Jezebelic secret societies that introduced to the Catholic Church spiritual adultery and apostasy. Now let's visit Jezebel at the local church in Thyatira of Asia Minor.

As stated earlier, Thyatira was an industrial city renowned for its many trade guilds. To gain employment, Christians had to join the guilds. This created a problem for the church, a problem centered around the annual company party that all employees were expected to attend. It was the same city-wide revelry celebrated throughout all Asia Minor, the Bacchanalia, after which meat sacrificed to idols was eaten followed by a sexual frenzy. In this regard, there was one significant difference between Christ's condemnation of the Pergamos and the Thyatira Christians. At Pergamos the church permitted a licentious doctrine to be taught that Christians could attend the Bacchanalia and participate in the sexual orgies that followed. At Thyatira, the church allowed a prophetess to join their congregation and teach a Sunday school class on systematic licentiousness. The rendering systematic licentiousness comes from that portion of scripture in verse 24 of chapter 2 which reads: "as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak." The word "depths" in Greek means "profound mysteries." The phrase "as they speak" means "as they systematically teach." We know that the profound mysteries of Satan that are systematically taught in mystery religions is fertility worship which is a euphemism for the worship of the penis or rather the worship of homosexuality. Saint Augustine confirms that the penis was worshiped in Rome during his day. As a young man, he took pleasure in the shameful games which were celebrated in honor of the gods and goddesses. Effeminate men who were consecrated to the great mother and in the rites of Liber, the god of the seeds of fruits and animals, the devotees worshiped the private parts of man. This is the same Gnostic doctrine systematically taught today with each successive initiation in secret societies. One commentator made this analogy: "Gnosticism taught that in order to defeat Satan one had to enter his stronghold, that is experience evil deeply."

The church at Thyatira allowed a prophetess named Jezebel to systematically teach the profound mysteries of licentiousness. "Prophetess" in Greek means "female fortune-teller." Thyatira was renowned for these sorceresses. For example, in Acts 16 the apostle Paul rebuked a demon possessed sorceress who for days followed his group of evangelists saying "These men are the servants of the Most High God which show unto us the way of salvation." The late Walter Martin explained that THE way of salvation should be translated A way of salvation. Hence, this sorceress was teaching that all religions lead to God and that these preachers of the gospel were just teaching another way. Later when a sorceress named Jezebel actually joined the local church at Thyatira she apparently taught that having sex with her was just another way to gain salvation. This was the same doctrine taught by the false apostles in the Ephesian church and the same doctrine taught by the Nicolaitanes and the Balaamites in the Pergamos church. But those doctrines were taught by men; at Thyatira it is taught by a licentious woman.

Now let's consider several suggestions of who or what could have been this harlot heresy that entered the broader Thyatira church period headquartered in the Catholic Church at Rome. Clarence Larkin, the first prophesy scholar to suggest that the seven churches of Revelation were prophesies of the church age, compared the Jezebel in the Thyatira church with a pagan Jezebel that married King Ahab of Israel. Larkin writes that Jezebel the wife of Ahab, was not by birth a daughter of Abraham but a princess of adulterous Tyre at a time when its royal family was famed for cruel savagery and intense devotion to Baal and Ashtar. Ahab, king of Israel, to strengthen his kingdom, married Jezebel and she, aided and abetted by Ahab, introduced the licentious worship of Baal into Israel and killed all the prophets of the Lord she could lay her hands on. Larkin continues:

There is no question that whether Jezebel was a real person in the Catholic Church or not she typified a system and that system was the papal church. When the papal church introduced images and pictures into its churches for the people to bow down to, it became idolatrous. And when it set up its claim that the teaching of the church is superior to the Word of God, it assumed the role of prophetess.

Notice that Larkin makes an eisegetical interpretation that the Catholic Church is Jezebel. He states that Jezebel of the Old Testament killed all the prophets of the Lord she could lay her hands on which is a true statement. But he fails to mention the inquisitions of the prophets of Baal by Elijah in 1 Kings 18:17-40 after which Elijah had them all slain. Now if Jezebel of the Old Testament is a type of Jezebel in the Thyatira church as most prophecy scholars agree, we must not omit Elijah's inquisition of Jezebel's prophets for it is a type of the inquisitions of the Catholic Church against those same prophets of Baal who with her pagan secret societies had infiltrated the Catholic Church. Now let's see what historically happened in the papal church as written by former Jesuit Dr. Malachi Martin.

Martin tells of a period of 101 years from Pope Leo III in 795 AD to Pope Boniface VI in 896 AD where a total of 17 popes were raised to the throne of Peter through sexual subversion. On the heels of this century-long debauchery was another 200 years of sexual subversion in Vatican City promoted by two women and their offspring. It began with Theodora, a wealthy woman from the ruling house of Theophilate (ph) in France who herself led an army against Rome and later controlled nine popes. Theodora was the mistress of Bishop John of Ravenna, Italy. She and her daughter, Marosia (ph), were responsible for most of the sexual encounters with these nine popes. In 906 AD at age 15, Marosia became the mistress of Pope Sergius who had been pope only two years, and by him had a son she named John. Dr. Martin gives us details on the result of this union:

Marosia was the mother of one pope whom she conceived by another pope and who was the aunt of a third pope, the grandmother of a fourth pope and with the help of her own mother, the creator of nine popes in eight years of whom two were strangled, one suffocated with a cushion and four deposed and disposed of in circumstances that have never come to public light.

Remember Christ's warning? "Behold I will cast her into bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation." On March 8, 914 AD Theodora by force of arms, put her lover Bishop John of Ravenna on the throne of Peter as Pope John X. Marosia, now replaced by her mother, moved out of the Vatican and became the mistress of several local bishops. Theodora died shortly thereafter. Marosia married for the first time a Lombard Prince, Albrecht, who conquered Rome unchallenged. Their son which was Marosia's second son, was named after his father. Albrecht Sr. was killed in battle and Marosia married a second time. During that marriage she had three popes suffocated in succession to get her 16 year-old illegitimate son on the throne of Peter, who was consecrated Pope John XI in March, 931 AD. When her second husband died, she was married a third time to King Hugo of Tuscany. Her illegitimate pope-son performed the marriage ceremony. In 932 AD her second son, Albrecht Jr. revolted with Rome against her third husband Hugo and Albrecht Jr. became ruler of the city. Her illegitimate first son, Pope John XI, was arrested and imprisoned by her second son Albrecht Jr. Albrecht then arrested his mother Marosia and had her thrown into prison with her first son the pope. The pope died five years later. Marosia was aged 40 when she entered prison; she would remain there until age 94 at which time Christ's prophesy of her as the wicked Jezebel would be recognized by the Catholic Church. Again I remind you of Christ's warning "Behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation."

Now Christ is merciful, always giving sinners ample opportunity to repent and so he did with Jezebel. In Revelation 2:21 he gave Jezebel space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. Even at age 94 when Marosia's death sentence was pronounced, she refused to repent. We also see this lack of repentance in her offspring when the curse fell once again on Vatican Hill 23 years after her imprisonment. In 955 AD her grandson Octavian became Pope John XII at age 15. His reign was the absolute low point of the Catholic Church. For the next eight years this vile pope operated a whorehouse within Vatican City. He also dabbled in witchcraft, was bisexual, sodomized animals and ordered murders. While living in this sinful state, he compounded his error by demanding that the monks at Suviaco (ph) Monastery daily chant forgiveness for his soul. Instead, they prayed for his speedy death. At the turn of the first millennium, Saint Peter Damian wrote a famous book entitled "Book of Gomorrah" in which he graphically described the open corruption, unrestrained promiscuity, bestiality and homicidal incompetence of his fellow Roman clerics. So abhorrent was their debauchery to the Greeks that when Vatican ambassadors were sent to the Byzantine Empire the following four questions were ritually put to them: "1. Have you sodomized a boy? 2. Have you fornicated with a nun? 3. Have you sodomized any four legged animal? 4. Have you committed adultery?"

On May 25, 986 AD, the Catholic Church recognized Marosia as Jezebel and put an end to her miserable life. That day Pope Gregory V and Otto III, successor of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, went to the prison where 94 year-old Marosia had been incarcerated in a filthy dungeon for 54 years. There they read her death sentence:

Marosia, daughter of Theophilate, inasmuch as you did from the beginning and at the age of 15 conspire against the rights of the See of Peter following the example of your Satanic mother Theodora, plotted to take over the whole world, dared like Jezebel of old yet again to take a third husband and with your illegitimate children did pollute the church. We now condemn you to death by suffocation.

The Catholic Church recognized Marosia as Christ's prophesied Jezebel. With her death began a century long process of cleansing the church. Finally in the year 1079 the church decreed celibacy of the priesthood so that this debauchery would never return.

With the death of Marosia, the physical aspect of Jezebel was removed but there remains a spiritual aspect of a Jezebel as a Satanic secret society that had infiltrated the Catholic Church much earlier than the escapades of Marosia. Again, this harlot religious system fits the description of the synagogue of Satan that plagued the Smyrna church since its founder was a Jewish woman who claimed her children were fathered by Jesus Christ. This blasphemous heresy was hardly known outside the Vatican until our modern era of 1982 when it was exposed by three secular authors in a book entitled "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." Today their research is praised by Freemasonry and their book sits on the shelf of every Masonic library in America. I won't be quoting from their account but I shall quote from an account written by Rev. J. R. Church who took the research and connected it to Christ's prophesy of the Jezebelic secret society that had infiltrated the Catholic Church. Now listen to this secret society's blasphemy. It claims its founder was Mary Magdalene, the harlot out of whom Jesus cast seven demons, the same Mary Magdalene to whom Christ first revealed himself as risen in Mark 16:9. Rev. Church writes according to the tenets of her secret society, Jesus Christ did not die on Calvary but merely pretended to die, was taken from the cross, stolen from the tomb and was believed to have married Mary Magdalene and even produced children by her. Mary Magdalene's secret society claims that when the Romans destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Magdalene fled with her sacred children by boat across the Mediterranean to France. There she found refuge in a Jewish community. Future generations of her offspring were said to have married into the royal Frankish family and by the fifth century produced a king, his name was Merovy. He was the first in a series of kings called the Merovingian Dynasty. It is said that the offspring of Merovy were noted for a birthmark above the heart, a small red cross. This cross was a splayed cross, shaped like the cross Emperor Constantine saw in the sky when he was told by a voice 'In this sign conquer.' This symbol eventually became the emblem of the grail, then the Knights Templar, then the Rosicrucians and finally Freemasonry. Merovy, King of the Franks from 447 to 458 AD, was an adherent to the religious cult of Diana. His son Childric I (ph) practiced witchcraft. His son Clovis adopted Christianity. Mary Magdalene's blasphemous secret society entered the Catholic Church in 496 AD when the bishop of Rome made a pact with Clovis, the grandson of Merovy and king of the Franks, calling him the new Constantine, giving him authority to preside over a Christianized Roman Empire. The term Holy Roman Empire was not officially used until 962 AD. The so-called offspring of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ were thus established as the leaders of the Roman Empire. Not until this time did the Vatican begin to erect churches in honor of Mary. At first they were not erected in honor of the virgin Mary, but rather in honor of Mary Magdalene patron saint of Southern France. Rev. Church believes that the Merovingian bloodline and the secret society that protects it is an arm of Mystery Babylon, if not the spiritual form of the whore herself.

The religion of Merovingian bloodline is not new but rather the revival of the old religion of Babylon altered to deceive the church. Initially the Vatican was ignorant of the holy blood heresy that had entered its domain. In time it would be discovered and an excise first attempted in 666 AD but the Merovingians would secretly buy their way back into the Roman church through simony which is a term used to describe the practice of buying and selling ecclesiastical appointments, pardons and benefits. In 1090 AD just eleven short years following the end of the Marosia family debacle, the Merovingians founded a secret society called the Priory of Sion in preparation to take Jerusalem by crusade and place their counterfeit Jewish king on a Jewish throne. On the papal throne in 1095 AD was Urban II who was a Merovingian. He with Peter the Hermit, who was a member of the Priory of Sion, began to preach the deliverance of Jerusalem from the Arab infidels. In 1098 the Crusades began. In 1099 the Merovingian mission was accomplished; a Merovingian king with the so-called holy blood of Christ flowing through his veins sat on the throne in Jerusalem.

In 1118 the Priory of Sion founded the Knights Templar to protect its counterfeit Jewish blood line. The Knights Templar, or Templars for short, took their name from where they were headquartered at Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. They also took the symbol of the Merovingian birthmark, the splayed red cross. In 1128 a church council convened and the Templars were officially recognized and incorporated as a religious military order within the Catholic Church. In 1188 the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion parted ways and became bitter enemies. This was due in part to a secret alliance made 35 years earlier with the Cathars living in Southern France. In that year of 1153, a Cathar nobleman became fourth Grand Master of the Knights Templar. We can date the Templars descent into apostasy from that date.

Although a few modern Bible scholars would have us believe that the Cathars were Christians, the preponderance of evidence reveals otherwise. The Cathars held the Gnostic doctrine that Freemasonry would embrace 500 years later, that salvation comes through knowledge. In seeking knowledge, the Cathars practiced meditation, believed in reincarnation and recognized the female principle in religion. The Cathars received their Gnostic doctrines from the same source that ancient and modern secret societies received theirs, from the Jews, who preserved ancient esoterica in their Kabbalah and like Freemasonry today, the Cathars practiced religious tolerance. The Cathar priesthood frowned upon any type of sexual union that would result in childbirth. Sex for procreation was tolerated only for sustaining the race. Therefore, to control population they experimented with various methods of birth control including abortion, homosexuality and bestiality. In time, the Templars picked up these practices. The Cathars most serious heresy was their apostasy. They denied that Christ was the son of God. They considered our Lord a prophet no different from any other, simply a mortal being. And they vehemently repudiated the significance of both the crucifixion and the cross.

The Templars followed the Cathars in this apostasy and like the Cathars, the Templars practiced meditation to reach an altered state of consciousness. To arrive at that altered state more rapidly they experimented with mind expanding drugs. As the Templar descended deeper into drugs and witchcraft, they saw Jesus Christ as their enemy and began to hate the Catholic Church. In time, they were worshiping the Baphomet, a pagan symbol of Satan pictured as a goat head within an upside down star. The Templars also adopted the Satanic symbol of the skull and crossbones. According to the Gnostic dualism of Templar doctrine, God had two sons, Jesus and Satan, with Jesus the younger. Since the Templars once embraced Christianity they understood Jesus as good and Satan as evil, however, because of their animosity toward the Priory of Sion and its Merovingian kings who were the so-called offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the Templars directed their most fervent worship to Satan who alone could and did enrich them.

In the year 1165 in the town of Albi in Southern France, a local ecclesiastical council of the Roman Catholic Church did an inquisition of the Cathar religious doctrine and condemned it as heresy. From then on, the Cathars were known as the Albigensians, a name derived from the town of Albi. By the year 1200 Rome itself had grown distinctly alarmed at Cathar heresy. Rome finally charged the Cathars with unnatural sexual practices which was taken to mean homosexuality and bestiality. Although these charges were true, there purpose was to incite the northern nobles of France against them. Pope Innocent III ordered a Crusade. The heresy was to be eradicated once and for all by the temporal powers of France. The slaughter of the Cathars began in 1209 and continued to 1244. The number killed went unequal until WWI and WWII.

Remember Christ's warning to Jezebelic secret societies: "Behold I will cast her into bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation." Christ also says in Revelation 2:23 that all the churches are to know that it was the Lord Jesus who searcheth the reins and hearts. In Greek this phrase can be translated "inquisitions." Christ says that the churches are to be resolved, that the Inquisitions were directed on his command alone to rid the church of apostasy. The Catholic Church then focused it Inquisition on the Templars. At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307 many Templars were arrested and charged with homosexuality. The King of France, Philip the Fair, extracted confessions of unnatural vice from the Templars. These confessions were made under torture. Two years later Pope Clement V began his own Inquisition without the use of torture. The same admissions from the Templars were obtained in writing. At the same time, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Order, along with the preceptors of the order was examined by three cardinals and four public notaries. They, too, confessed without torture to denying Christ, spitting on the cross and to the practice of homosexuality but later retracted these admissions. Nestor Webster, authoress of "Secret Societies and Subversive Movements" concludes that "the Templars were bound with such terrible oaths that on one hand they were threatened with the vengeance of the order if they betrayed its secrets and on the other hand with torture if they refused to confess. Thus, they found themselves between the Devil and the deep blue sea." Webster concludes, however, that the Templars were in fact guilty as charged. She writes:

It is certainly difficult to believe that the accounts of the ceremony of initiation given in detail by men in different countries all closely resembling each other yet related in different phraseology, could be pure invention. Had the victims been driven to invent, they would surely have contradicted each other, had cried out in their agony that all kinds of wild and fantastic rites had taken place in order to satisfy the demands of their interrogators. But no, each appears to be describing the same ceremony, more or less, with characteristic touches that indicate the personality of the speaker and in the main all stories tally.

In the year 1314 Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake. Over the next decade the Catholic Church confiscated all Templar documents and stored them in the Vatican archives. Before Christ brings judgment on a people he always gives them a chance to repent. Here are our Saviour's words to these Jezebelic secret societies: "I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. Behold I will cast her into bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds." In Greek, the word "fornication" figuratively means "idolatry." The word "cast" literally means "to be thrown into sudden violence." The two words "commit adultery" figuratively means "an apostate." And the two words "great tribulation" literally means "an exceedingly fearful persecution."

With this understanding Christ says that Christians who join secret societies and apostatize he will suddenly throw the apostates into an exceedingly fearful and violent persecution unless they repent. The Templars never repented, instead they planned a day of reckoning for the future destruction of both crown and church. To keep vivid their memory of the Inquisitions, the Templars who fled to Scotland adopted the legend of the death of Hiram Abif, the alleged builder of the Solomon's Temple in Freemasonry. This legend is symbolic of the destruction of their order and the death of their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay. Today the Inquisition of Jacques de Molay under the legend of Hiram Abif is acted out during the initiation into the Master Mason degree called the third degree. The Inquisition of both the Cathars and the Templars is in fulfillment of Christ's prophecy in Revelation 2:23 where our Saviour says "And I will kill Jezebel's children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts." I cannot stress enough the meaning of Christ's words in the original Greek. He says so plainly that the churches are to be resolved, that the Inquisitions were ordered on his command to rid the church of idolatrous apostates.

Why the Inquisitions spilled over to the Reformers I can only speculate. Perhaps the Protestants themselves needed purifying, maybe they were involved in these secret societies. If so, Christ was justified in permitting them to be persecuted for he says "I will kill Jezebel's children with death." To find the answer, we turn to Masonic history. Thirty-third degree Freemason John Robinson gives an overview of those times:

In the century before the suppression of the Templars, a pope crusading an army over 30,000 men had butchered tens of thousands of people of all ages in both sexes in the Albingensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics in Southern France. The only guarantee of maximum security for the Cathars was maximum secrecy and many of the Templars' minds had been trained in exactly that direction. Where the Inquisition had power to do so, Freemasons in Catholic countries were imprisoned, deported and even tortured. In that atmosphere the Masonic willingness to accept the holder of any belief or mode of worship in bonds of brotherhood was a capital offense and made Freemasonry a very high risk organization in which to belong. What the secret society needed was men who would affirm their belief in God with a desire for brotherhood strong enough to accept any man's personal religious persuasion as secondary to their principle goal of survival. Hence, Protestants flocked to Freemasonry for protection.

In 1314 when the remaining Templars fled to Scotland, they infiltrated the Christian trade guilds in Northern England and imposed their pagan rituals on the workers. In time the Templars would use these trade guilds to found Scottish Rite Freemasonry and with it make a successful bid for the English throne in the person of Templar Mason King James I. A century later, the Scottish Templars were exiled to France where they founded French Freemasonry and with it engineered the French Revolution. One of the revolutionaries was Templar Freemason Napoleon Bonaparte. When he became Emperor of France he had a personal goal to capture the Roman church and confiscate all Templar documents which he accomplished in 1810. That year, the entire archives of the Vatican, more than 3,000 cases of material including all the documents pertaining to the Templars, were brought back to Paris. In the 1830s French Freemasonry was given the task of cataloguing these Templar documents. As a result, French Freemasonry today has taken on the apostate character of the medieval Templars. Meanwhile, the Priory of Sion, creator of the Templars, was still secretly operating within the Catholic Church. In 1188 when the Priory of Sion and the Knights Templars parted ways, Sion founded Rosicrucianism and like the Templars adopted the red cross of the Merovingians. Rosicrucians were most responsible for the Age of Enlightenment which was esoteric in regards to alchemical and scientific experiments.

The Age of Enlightenment was first manifested in the Italian Renaissance which moved North into Europe and then into England. Rosicrucians who dabbled most in the art of alchemy infiltrated competing trade guilds in Europe and in Southern England, and like the Templars, imposed the rose croix rituals on the operative Masons. In time, the Rosicrucians founded English Freemasonry and used it to dethrone the Templar Stuarts. In 1717, the Stuarts and their Templar Freemasonry were both exiled to France. That same year seven Protestants, two of whom were clergy, united English Freemasonry under the Grand Lodge of England. As I document in my book "Scarlet and the Beast," from then until our day all revolutions of the past three centuries and both world wars of the 20th century were wars fought between English and French Freemasonry. Masonic history confirms that medieval trade guilds were the embryo of Freemasonry. Thirty-third degree Freemason Albert Mackey writes: "This period of ten centuries is one of great importance to the Masonic student because it embraces within its scope events intimately connected to the history of our order such as the rise of the guilds and the company of Freemasons of England."

While both Templar and Rosicrucian Freemasonry sowed the seeds of political protest, reformers flocked to both types of Freemasonry for protection. In my book "Scarlet and the Beast" I document that Rosicrucian Freemasonry funded the Protestant movement on the continent of Europe. Moreover, Protestant leaders and their followers were protected on the estates of these Rosicrucians. Consequently, Protestant reformers were not innocent for many key leaders and sub-leaders of the Reformation joined both the Rosicrucians, the Knights Templar and finally Freemasonry for protection. In time, many apostatized. In our next study of the Sardis church period I shall name a few of these apostates.

This brings us to the conclusion of our study. Are there Thyatira churches in America today? If your church practices the ordinance of the sacrifice of the Mass as a means to maintain salvation, it has passed the first test of being a Thyatira church. If your church welcomes back into its fellowship known apostates, it has passed the second test. If your church teaches a salvation by works doctrine, it has passed the third test. If your church is oriented to do Christ's good works, that is your church is full of charity and service, faithful to its denomination, patient when the denomination goes astray yet your church increases its good works, it has passed the fourth test. If your church leaders are living licentious lives yet refuse to repent when given ample time to do so, or if your pastor or priest is caught in a sexual sin and does not repent but rather is transferred to keep it quiet, your church has passed the fifth test. If the hierarchy in your church or denomination is practicing spiritual prostitution by joining secret societies such as Freemasonry and refuses to repent or renounce Freemasonry but instead blatantly and willfully keeps their names on Masonic membership roles, your church has passed the sixth test. If your church realizes that its leadership are Masonic infiltrators sent to impede the progress of evangelism and your church conducts an inquisition and casts them out, your church has passed the seventh test. If your church has a righteous few who remain in the church when nothing improves yet they stay faithful to Christ's good works, your church has passed the final test of being a Thyatira church. All of Christ's commendations, condemnations and warnings will also apply to your church.

Now take a look at your own spiritual walk with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If you find yourself continually living a defeated Christian life and you return time and again to the altar of continual sacrifice to renew repentance, you have passed the first test of being a Thyatira Christian. If you are maintaining your salvation through good works, you have passed the second test. If in your Christian walk the Lord calls you to a life of good works and you are faithful in that gift without expecting anything in return, you have passed the third test. If you claim to have accepted Christ as Saviour yet you live a licentious lifestyle without remorse or repentance, you have passed the fourth test. If you have accepted Christ as Saviour yet you have spiritually gone to bed with a harlot religion by being initiated into Freemasonry or the Oddfellows or the Moose Lodge or the Elk Lodge or the Rainbow Girls or the Eastern Star or Job's Daughters or the Order of de Molay or any secret organization that performs secret initiations, you have passed the fifth test of being a Thyatira Christian. All of Christ's commendations, condemnations and warnings will also apply to you.

This brings us to the eternal occupation of the Thyatira overcomer. Found in Revelation 2:24-28 it reads "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star." This is the only church period that Christ specifically mentions what the Christian must do to be an overcomer. The overcomer must stay faithful to the church yet never participate in any licentious activity; he must never join any of the many secret societies that infiltrate in the church nor participate in Satan's profound mysteries of fertility worship that are systematically taught by secret societies in the church. Finally, he must remain faithful in carrying out the good works of Christ in his church. Thyatira overcomers may be Catholic missionaries in remote parts of the earth, perhaps they are in Catholic hospitals caring for the sick, maybe they are monks or nuns in monasteries devoted to the life of prayer, or simple lay-folk living righteous lives while eking out a living. Christ never once told them to leave the Catholic Church, to the contrary he simply said "I will add no other burden on you, just keep doing my good works until I return." Thyatira overcomers will have the eternal occupation of kings over the nations. In the Sermon on the Mount Christ said "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." Isn't it interesting that the meek servant who stayed faithful to Christ's good works in the Catholic Church will for all eternity rule in the same temporal capacity that the Catholic Church itself wanted to rule. To this overcomer Christ will give the morning star. "Give" in Greek can be translated "bestow or grant." Christ will bestow on the overcomer the title of morning star.

In Job 38:4-7 God gives a clue as to what a morning star is. As he was creating the heavens and the earth observing him were morning stars and sons of God singing and shouting for joy. It's believed by many Bible scholars that morning star is the title of the highest angelic rank which is the rank of archangel. In Revelation 22:16 we know that Christ holds this top ranking position for he says of himself "I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star." Christ will bestow the rank of morning star on all Thyatira overcomers and for eternity and under Christ's authority, they shall rule the nations.

In our next study we shall learn the eternal occupation of the Sardis overcomer. May God bless you as you read these scriptures in advance of each study.

Narrator:
We trust you have been blessed by the study presented by John Daniel. Mr. Daniel is also the author of another work, a trilogy of books entitled "Scarlet and the Beast." If you are interested in ordering "Scarlet and the Beast: A History of the War between English and French Freemasonry" write to us at JKI Publishing, PO Box 131480, Tyler, Texas 75713 or call toll free 1-800-333-5344 for an order form and a free chapter-by-chapter review.

Tape 3 | Introduction | Tape 5

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