To show how eager Satan was to destroy God’s New Testament Church, two years after it came into existence in 31 A.D. a revolution designed to destroy it sprang up in Rome.  Today this process is called “cancelling.”  God’s original church was “cancelled” and almost obliterated by a man named Simon Magus (Simon the Magician), a heathen priest living in the northern part of the Promised Land called Samaria.  This area was the home of the ten northern tribes of Israel–called “Israel.”  The three southern tribes–called “Judahites”–lived in the area known as Judea.  These people were nicknamed “Jews” by the King James translators.  Because of Israel’s rebellion against God’s Law He raised up the Assyrians to conquer her and take the survivors to Assyria as slaves.  The Assyrians then replaced the Israelites in Samaria with heathen people whom they (the Assyrians) had conquered.  Simon, a powerful heathen priest, upon hearing Philip preach and watching him perform miracles,  tried to buy God’s power and was rebuffed by the Apostle Peter.

Secular history records that Simon, having been sent packing by Peter, traveled to Rome where, posing as the Apostle Peter, he established what came to be known as the Catholic “universal” Church.  Using a combination of Christian and pagan beliefs and customs, he built a church that would appeal to all people regardless of their religious beliefs, who or what they called their god and how they worshiped him, her or it.  All were welcomed into Simon’s church.  The only stipulation was that they align themselves with him.  This heathen organization, calling itself “Christian,” soon became a haven for all manner of people and all manner of religious beliefs and customs.  Their various religions, theologies and gods were embraced and absorbed into the church’s catechisms, usually with a slight change in order to make it fit in with Simon’s protocols.  For example, the church celebrates the sabbath on Sunday because many of her “converts” were sun worshipers who paid homage to their god–the sun–on Sunday–“the venerable (holy) day of the sun.”  To please them Pope Sylvester I changed the church’s sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in 364 A.D. at the Council of Laodicea.  Sun worshipers also honored the sun god’s mother in the spring.  What they called her depended on the group involved.  One of her names was Ishtar, which when Anglicized became Easter.  The church changed God’s holy day observance called Passover to Satan’s holiday named after her.  She became the goddess of fertility, also known as the “Queen of Heaven.”

In spite of strong opposition from the Catholics, God’s people continued to obey the Lord by observing Saturday–the 7th day of the week as their Sabbath.  They also celebrated His Holy Days, Passover being one of them.  The Sabbath controversy was one of the main points of conflict that arose between Catholics and God’s people.  The celebration of the Lord’s Sabbath and Holy Days remain points of contention between God’s people and Satan’s people to this day.

Simon’s rapidly-growing church began to cause problems for God’s people early on as Satan sent his servants into the true church where they talked up his any-way-you-want-it brand of religion.  When compared to the Lord’s strict, one-way gospel, Satan’s any-way-is-okay gospel enjoyed wide-spread appeal.  It still does.  For proof, look up “churches” in any phone book, and count.  The apostles were continually correcting, chastising and teaching those church members who were being influenced by Satan’s infiltrators.  One will notice that the apostle’s writings contained many rebukes.  For example, in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the churches scattered throughout Galatia he voiced his shock at how soon they had abandoned God’s gospel and embraced another.  He noted that they were actually not following a different gospel, but rather a perversion of God’s true gospel (Gal. 1:6-9).  In Galatians 2:4 Paul warned that such men, whom he called “false brethren,” would try to bring them into “bondage” in order to destroy them.  Jesus warned us about these deceivers in Matthew 24:4,5 where He noted that they would come in His name declaring that He, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Christ, then, having gained the people’s confidence, they would “… deceive many.”  Paul, aggravated at some in the church at Corinth told them that if someone came declaring another Jesus they would follow him (2 Cor. 11:4).  Which is exactly what happened throughout the church world.  Again, check any phone book.

Secular history confirms that by the end of the first century Catholicism had gained the upper hand among those who called themselves God’s people.  The reason is obvious.  Catholic parishioners were allowed to do whatever they wanted to do provided they remained in the church, showed up, paid up, performed the rituals, etc.  It did not matter who or what one worshipped or what doctrines one believed and practiced.  The Introduction to this website lists a number of heathen beliefs and customs that were brought into the Catholic church by her “converts.”  Over time they were embraced, altered to fit Catholic dogma, then declared to be God’s Truths.  These and other Satanic beliefs and customs continue to form the foundation of the Catholic/Protestant religious system to this day.

Contrary to popular opinion, the so-called Protestant Revolution brought about no real change in the operations, beliefs and practices of the church–like mother, like daughters.  See Revelation 17:1-5.  Martin Luther and his followers did not rebel against the core beliefs and practices of Catholicism which they took with them when they departed.  The protesters left the mother church because of the atrocities being practiced by the priests in their personal lives–selling indulgencies, etc.  Concerning the “truths” of “the church,” the carry-over from Catholicism to Protestantism was total.  Nothing has changed.  The Catholic/Protestant system has remained the same over the years.  As a result, the only real difference between Catholicism and Protestantism involves form, not substance.  This website’s Introduction shows that Protestants are in reality closet Catholics.  Just before Christ returns they will officially reunite.  Mother and daughters will again be one.  See The Ingathering: The Rise of the End-time Church.

Satan’s revolution has been an unmitigated success.  He has won the numbers war.  Today only the Lord’s tiny church, numbering only a few thousand, continues to stand in opposition to Satan.  Though the battle appears to have been lost, I do not fear.  I believe God’s Word.  I’ve read the last chapter.  We win.  L.J.