Murders & Martyrs

REV 17:6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: The great harlot “filled herself with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. She intoxicated herself with it; and it was so pleasant to her, that she never was satisfied. We cannot but wonder at the oceans of Christian blood shed by men called Christians; yet when we consider these prophecies, these awful deeds testify to the truth of the gospel.”

This commentary chooses the word “oceans” to describe the bloodshed. Oceans of spilt blood, shed for bearing witness to the truth of the Messiah.

The spirit of antichrist hates the truth. Persecution is a way of life for the Jews as they believe in YHWH, the Creator of all. Because, we as Christians are people of the Truth of Christ, we also will suffer persecution and maybe martyrdom. But the LORD has assured us:

JOHN 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

MARTYRS

This is the central theme of the Book of Revelation.

REV 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

A testimony is a witness for Christ. The Greek word for “testimony” is where we get the word “martyr”.

μαρτυρίας – martyrias

WHO IS THE GREAT HARLOT?

The purpose of these articles is to establish evidence from Scripture that the great harlot is the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and those that would be included as “children” as she is the “the mother of harlots”. (But there are true Christians amongst the RCC and other denominations.)

Therefore, I am not concentrating on other martyrdoms from various sources, such as Islam. (It is considered a “conspiracy theory” but some say Islam was a creation of the RCC, to persecute Jews and true Christians. Is this church again the “mother of harlots”? Now, however, it seems that Islam is out of control, killing Catholics as well!)

THE INQUISITION

The Roman Catholic Church was in control of countries and had religiously subjugated many countries, particularly much of Europe. Therefore, they had the power to manipulate kings and queens and other high officials. The actual penalty of those who dared to disagree with the RCC was carried out in the hands of the secular court. But it was the RCC that named them as “heretics”.

“The horrors of the Inquisition, ordered and maintained by the Popes, over a period of five hundred years, in which unnumbered millions were tortured and burned, constitute the MOST BRUTAL BEASTLY AND DEVILISH PICTURE in all history. It is inconceivable that any Ecclesiastical Organization, in its mania for power, could have distorted and desecrated and corrupted, for its own exaltation, the beautiful and holy religion of Jesus, as the Papacy has done. But Facts are Facts. And, most amazing of all, it seems exactly pre-figured in Revelation. No wonder John’s vision made him sick at heart (10:10).” Henry H. Halley, “Halley’s Bible Handbook,” published by Zondervan.

In answer to my question, “How many Christians did the Inquisition kill?”, this was from ChatGPT:

“Across all Inquisitions, most modern scholars estimate the number of executions to be between 5,000 and 10,000 people over several centuries. The majority of those executed were at least nominally Christian, as the Inquisitions primarily targeted heresy within the Christian community, including converts from Judaism or Islam accused of insincerity.”

While those numbers alone are tragic, modern scholars, maybe not wanting to seem too extreme, may be inaccurate. This quote highlights just 40 years! But the Inquisition was over 500 years!

“… calculates that papal Rome, between A.D. 1540 and 1580, slew more than nine hundred thousand Protestants.” Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on REV 18:24.

“Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” reported that in Spain alone the number of martyrs exceeded three million! 300,000 were burned at the stake during the length of the Spanish Inquisition. (updated version of 2001; p 259; Publisher: Bridge-Logos.)” It was the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, that had control of these trials.

But many “heretics”, though they were not murdered, were imprisoned, tortured, or forced to give up their property. Seizure of property was especially aimed at the wealthy “conversos”, Jews who took on “Catholicism” but may have remained secretly Jewish.

One instance is that of the Carvajals. This family’s wealth and estates were seized by the Inquisition. Part went to the Spanish Crown. Part of the wealth was used to finance the Inquisition’s activities. Also, Inquisition officials, many friars, likely personally benefited from the forfeited property.

Luis de Carvajal the Younger is considered a Jewish martyr. He, and six members of his family, were burned at the stake through the Mexican Inquisition in 1596. His story is here. (Just for Carvajal minutes 34 – 49, and movie min. 55 – 1:02; other parts on the Inquisition and conversos.)

MURDERING POPES

Popes, many who want to control the masses, have persecuted true Christians, those faithful who stood for the truth of the Word of God. In many places it was “illegal” to have a Bible, because the hierarchy didn’t want people to know the truth. The truth sets one free! But you can’t keep a good book down! The Truth is in the Scriptures and it disagreed many times with Catholic doctrines. The RCC fought back against these truth-seekers. Anyone who didn’t see eye to eye with the RCC was considered a “heretic”. And many “heretics” ultimately became martyrs.

Pope Urban II (1088-1099) ruled that all “heretics”, those that didn’t agree with the Roman Catholic Church, including those who were truly Christians, were to be tortured and put to death.

Pope Lucius III (1181-1185) in his Ad Abolendam of 1184 condemned the Waldensians and others so-called “heretics”. Much later, as a repercussion, in 1655, a massacre, known as the Piedmont Easter, an estimate of some 1,700 Waldensians were killed brutally.

Gregory IX (1227-1241) officially established the Papal Inquisition in 1231 to persecute anyone who did not agree with the Roman Catholic doctrines. He named Dominican and Franciscan friars as the authorized inquisitors.

Pope Innocent IV (1243–1254) approved the use of torture with the bull Ad Extirpanda (1252).

Pope Martin V (1417-1431) ordered the Polish king to slaughter the Hussites, followers of Czech reformer Jan Hus.

Pope Paul III (1534–1549) founded the “Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition” in 1542 which became the Roman Inquisition which was run directly by the Vatican. Its main purpose was to combat Protestantism.

Pope Pius V (1566–1572), an enforcer of the Counter-Reformation,
expanded the Roman Inquisition. He supported persecution of “heretics” and Protestants and declared Queen Elizabeth I of England a “heretic”.

20th/21st CENTURY POPES

In these days of instant news, a pope could not get away with all the murders and tortures of days gone past. The popes today play a nice and “respectable” role, but they may have someone else do the dirty work, such as the Jesuits. Recent popes may still hold to the deception and the unscriptural doctrines.

“‘Ah but,’ you say, ‘has not the Roman Catholic Church changed? You are simply looking back, you are speaking as if you lived in the 16th century– don’t you realize you are living in the 20th century?’ My answer is quite simple. The proudest boast of the Roman Catholic Church is this, that she never changes, Semper eadem. How can she change? If she changes she will be admitting that she was wrong in the past — but she was saying then that she was infallible, and that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ and that he cannot make a mistake.” D. Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981), physician turned preacher

Just some questions about change: Will this new pope, LEO XIV (2025 till …) rescind the many doctrines of the Roman Catholic church to come into the Truth of Scripture?

Yet, will he tear down the idolatrous Egyptian obelisk that stands there in St. Peter’s Square? Will he condemn the pagan rites that have entered their church? Will he condemn the idolatry to the pagan “queen of heaven”? (See Jeremiah 7:18; and chapter 44:17-)

Pope Leo stated “It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda or by means of power. Instead, it is always and only a question of loving as Jesus did.”

However, through the many centuries, the RCC has “converted” people by force and by means of power.

THE JESUITS

The Society of Jesus, which was founded by a former soldier Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, is the largest religious order in Roman Catholic Church. Loyola instituted another vow for Jesuits that they would have complete obedience to the Pope. They are totally loyal to him.

It may be said that the Jesuit “priests” are secretly a military order. It states in the Extreme Oath the Jesuits that they are: “the Militia of the Pope and Jesus Christ”.

These quotations are from Wikipedia:

“The Jesuits were temporarily banished from France in 1594 after a man named Jean Châtel tried to assassinate the king of France, Henri IV. Under questioning, Châtel revealed that he had been educated by the Jesuits of the Collège de Clermont. The Jesuits were accused of inspiring Châtel’s attack.“

“In England, Henry Garnet, one of the leading English Jesuits, was hanged for misprision of treason because of his knowledge of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. The Plot was the attempted assassination of James VI and I, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack, by blowing up the Houses of Parliament. Another Jesuit, Oswald Tesimond, managed to escape arrest for his involvement in this plot.”

“As in many European countries, Jesuits were being banned or heavily restricted in many of the German states … [19th century] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulturkampf

The Jesuits, under Pius IX, was possibly involved in the death of Abraham Lincoln, on “Good Friday”, April 14th, 1865. (The Suppressed Truth about the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 1922)

So is this so improbable? This is classified as a “conspiracy theory” but how many “conspiracy theory” have proven to be correct? (Think COVID.) Some say the Jesuits and other instrumental agents were involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Though JFK was a Catholic, he and the Pope disagreed about the separation of church and state, birth control, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. We can never be sure of these plots because they are covered in secrecy.

“That when the same cannot be done openly, I [the Jesuit] will secretly use the poison cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet …” from the Extreme Oath of the Jesuits

This is part of the oath taken by high-ranking Jesuits only:.

A. —With a naked dagger, I kneeling upon the cross beneath the banners of the Pope and of our sacred order.
Q. —Did you take an oath?
A. —I did, to destroy heretics and their governments and rulers, and to spare neither age, sex nor condition. To be as a corpse without any opinion or will of my own, but to implicitly obey my Superiors in all things without hesitation of murmuring.
Q. —Will you do that? A. —I will.
Q. —How do you travel? A. —In the bark of Peter the fisherman.
Q. —Whither do you travel? A. —To the four quarters of the globe. Q. —For what purpose?
A. —To obey the orders of my general and Superiors and execute the will of the Pope and faithfully fulfill the conditions of my oaths.
Q. —Go ye, then, into all the world and take possession of all lands in the name of the Pope. He who will not accept him as the Vicar of Jesus and his Vice-regent on earth, let him be accursed and exterminated.” – “Subterranean Rome” by Carlos Didier, translated from the French and published in New York in 1843. The Jesuit Oath of Induction is also recorded in the Congressional Record of the U.S.

How many persons have been assassinated by the Jesuits? Only the LORD knows!

MARTYRED REFORMERS

It was the customary and cruel practice during the Reformation to burn at the stake “heretics”. Jan Hus, William Tyndale, John Rogers, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Patrick Hamilton and Thomas Cranmer all suffered this fate.

Though the Roman Catholic Church put the actual penalty many times in the hands of the secular court, it was their decision to name the prisoners as “heretics”. But these reformers were faithful to God!

William Tyndale (1494 – 1536). According to some sources, his last words were “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes.” (King Henry VIII)

Cranmer stated at his last sermon, “And as for the Pope, I refuse him, as Christ’s enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine.”

(My opinion: The popes may have a spirit of antichrist, especially those involved in the murder of Christians and Jews, but THE Antichrist during the tribulation is a political leader. That pope then would be the false prophet.)

CONCLUSION

The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, throughout its inception, has been “drunk with the blood of the saints”.

REV 6:10 And they [the martyrs] cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

But Babylon will be judged by fire!

REV 18:8b And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.

The LORD calls to His people, “Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, lest you take part in her sins…” (Rev 18:4)

Christian music by Carolyn Anne Venable may be heard on Spotify, Pandora, Apple and other music apps.

Part of a series:

The LORD’s Warning: “Come Out!”

The GREAT HARLOT is an apostate religion.

#1 – “On Many Waters” – worldwide influence

#2 – Mother of Harlots – some denominations

The Great Harlot & Kings

#3 – the kings of the earth committed fornication

#4 – nations made drunk