For the persecuted church, down through the centuries, the identification of the Catholic church as Antichrist, was beyond question.

IT IS NOT ENOUGH! The prophecy by Jesus is that MANY would come. Our identification is valid but it is not the only one we need to make. It was easy for those in earlier times and it would be too easy for us also, to make this identification and look no further.

THE DAUGHTERS OF BABYLON
John's prophecy, in Rev. 17:1-5, describes a woman who is "a city", a "harlot" and "Babylon". This woman, who we have already identified as the Roman Catholic Church, was to be the mother of other harlots and of earth's abominations.

The use of the words, "harlot" and "abomination", suggests the appearance of other churches, whose behaviour would be inherited from their Roman mother and just as offensive to God. The daughters of this prophecy are the State churches. It is a fact that, to this day, Rome speaks of herself as the "MOTHER CHURCH" and that she claims as her daughters, both the State Protestant churches and also their dissenting fellow travellers. Like their mother, they have broken their betrothal promises to the King of Kings and defiled themselves, committing spiritual fornication with the kings of the earth.

In return for the protection by the State and freedom to practise their religion, these State churches have sold themselves to support the State in its politics, wars and other activities, without which the State cannot exist. Some of these churches have become so bound to the State, that they cannot appoint a bishop without the approval of the Government, or change their constitution without an act of Parliament. In a few cases, the union between State and Church is so complete that the salaries of ministers are paid by the State.

For those who follow the real Christ, any alliance with the State is an unequal yoking, requiring allegiance to another Lord, with an impossible division of loyalties.

The values, goals, and methods of human kingdoms are in total conflict with those of the Kingdom of God. No man who serves the real Christ can, at the same time, give unreserved allegiance to a human kingdom. The daughters of Rome have resolved this impossible conflict by adopting a false Christ whose character and teaching are compatible with the interests of the State. The Antichrists of the first century were "of the world". So too are their successors.

Christians are, of course, commanded to respect and obey the authorities of the State for, ultimately, all authority is instituted by God. (Romans 13:1-7) However, for those who follow the real Christ, there is a higher authority than the State. In the many areas where the requirements of the State are in conflict with the values of the Kingdom of God, obedience to God must come first. This also is a divine institution. (Acts 3:19 & 5:29)

From the very beginning of the church, followers of the real Christ have found a need to confront authority at this point.

Their response to the Gospel was a believer's baptism in which they declared themselves separated from the corrupting influences of the world.

Their preaching threatened the security of earthly kingdoms by its rejection of :-

- participation in war,
- the use of force,
- involvement in civil office,
- recourse to lawsuits,
- the swearing of oaths.

Their insistence on believers baptism as a sign of real repentance, was a threat to the security of a church which demanded the baptism of infants without either belief or repentance.

Their persistent call for men to forsake their sinful ways, love each other and actually live out the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, stirred consciences and stripped away excuses for sin.

In all of this they declared the complete incompatibility of the true church with the State. They stood apart from the spiritual harlotry of the church whose false Christ allowed them to join forces with the State.

For this testimony they were hated.

THE SAME CHRIST WHO IS NOT REALLY A MAN
The creeds of these daughter churches perpetuate the confusion of the Nicene and Athanasian creeds about a Christ who, on one hand, is said to be human, but whose description is so different to that of other men, that he cannot possibly be a real man.

Like their mother, they insist that belief in this Christ is necessary for salvation and that those who do not accept their Trinitarian creeds are not true Christians.

THE SAME PERSECUTIONS
In many ways, the religious world owes a great debt to those fearless men whose names are revered as "reformers" of the church. (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox) It is therefore sad to discover that some of them, and the Protestant churches they founded, have been, at times, fierce persecutors of those they called "heretics"

Calvin was directly responsible, in 1553, for the burning of the anti-trinitarian Servetus, in which he was actively encouraged and supported by other leading reformers of his day. The following year he wrote at some length justifying the death penalty for heresy. Under the Swiss reformers, who followed his lead, Anabaptists were banished, imprisoned, drowned, beheaded, hanged and burned.

In Germany it was no different. With political power in Protestant hands, religion was forced upon men by State decree in exactly the same way as had formerly been done by Catholics. Luther sanctioned the use of the sword, imprisonment and banishment against Anabaptists and in 1543 he wrote against the Jews, advocating that they be banished from "Christian" lands and that their books, synagogues and houses should be burned.

In other European countries the Lutherans and the Calvinists have also engaged in the same wicked persecution of Anabaptists, Arians, Unitarians, Jews, Catholics and other lesser known groups.

In England and Scotland, the Anglicans and Presbyterians did the same. In England it is a matter of recorded history, that from time to time laws were passed in futile endeavours to force dissenters to conform to the state religion. Some of these laws included the death penalty for those who did not obey.

Many were burned alive under Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. The last two burnings of Englishmen for heresy, took place in 1612, under the fanatical Calvinist, James 1.

After this time the burnings ceased, but persecution continued in the form of imprisonment, excomnunication or loss of employment, and it was not until 1669 that the Religious Toleration Act gave official relief to dissenters from the state religion. Even then laws against heresy which had become dormant, remained on the statute books until the Trinity Act of 1813 was passed, giving relief to Arians and Unitarians.

We remember, in passing, that the founding of what is now the United States of America, was stimulated mainly by the English religious persecutions of the early 17th century, against both Puritans and Catholics.

In the name of their false Christ, the daughters committed the same terrible crimes as their Roman mother. They share her guilt for the blood of the martyrs and they will share her judgement.

THE SAME FALSE TEACHING
It is in what men teach about obedience to God, that they reveal most clearly, the true nature of the Christ they follow. Most Protestant churches have inherited much of their teaching and tradition from Rome. They have tolerated, justified and lived by the same standards of disobedience to the real Christ. In some cases this disobedience is so obvious that it has been necessary to "explain" it away in the church's statement of its "faith"

For example, the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion at the back of the Australian Prayer Rook of the Anglican church, specifically deny the teaching of the real Christ on the following fundamental
points :-

- Infant baptism is substituted for believer's baptism

- The bearing of arms in war is justified

- Christians are required to swear oaths in the cause of "justice, judgement and truth".

The Anglican church is not the only church to deny the real Christ on these issues. Other churches also fail in these three things. Even amongst churches which practice "believers baptism" instead of infant baptism, there is disobedience in the other two areas. Nor is disobedience limited to these few things. In one way or another the daughters are as quick as their Roman mother to ignore, or compromise, or reject, the Sermon on the Mount and the real Christ who taught it.

It is rare to hear preaching in these churches which upholds this teaching, without compromise. It is rarer still to find honest hearts who will respond to the challenge of this high calling to absolute purity of heart; to a love which returns nothing less than the highest good in return for the worst evil; and to a perfection which is measured by that of God himself. (Matt 5:48)

THE SAME ANTICHRIST IDENTITY
The things above clearly show that the Christ of the daughters is the same as the one followed by the mother. Their Jesus does have the same name as the real one and is claimed to be the son of God. There are enough similarities to provide a cloak of authenticity. However the truth is that the differences in the things that really matter will prove to be, in the day of judgement, the differences between life and death.

The daughters are as much Antichrist as their mother!