200 The Revelation of Jesus Christ meated with the mystery religion that came from ancient Babylon. THE UNION OF THE MYSTERY RELIGION AND CHRISTIANITY Early in the Christian era Nero and others of the Cresars cruelly persecuted the Christians. Many were martyrs, in~ eluding Paul. the apostle. Then in the fourth century, Con~ stantine came to the throne. He professed conversion. With the eye of a politician, he saw that those first Christians had made wonderful strides: and instead of persecuting them they now numbered about four million-he thought it would be to his advantage to favor them. But he was never saved, was never a real Christian. If you should go to the British Museum, you would be shown coins that were put into circu~ lation at the time of Constantine. On one ~i_.'1.b._there is a cross: on the other side, a picture of the Tem~W'J3el and one of the sacred symbols of Tammuz. :\:>'- This is what Constantine did{wh~ he came to the throne, thus bringing about a unio)!\._~}Ye mystery religion and the professing church of Je~~rist. The pope of Rome, the first bishop of Rome, vta~ven the title "Pontifex Maximus," and every pope from thdt· day to this has borne that name upon his mitre. To quote Dr. H. A. Ironside: "The very fact that he bears that title is a declaration that he is not a sue~ cessor to Simon Peter, but is rather the successor to the high priest of the heathen mysteries that began away back there in Babel. When Constantine came to the throne and the first pope assumed the title, "Pontifex Maximus," all those heathen associations and ceremonies that had their beginning with Nimrod-the worship of the Queen of the Heavens, the eat~ ing of the wafer, the doctrine of purgatory, the wearing o'f vestments, and the observance of a thousand and one lesser mysteries-all these were brought into the church, and for a thousand years they pervaded all Europe." Thus the Roman Catholic Church as it is now known, with all its God-dishon oring doctrines and practices, came into existence. Then men like Luther and Wycliffe began to study the Word of the living God. They could see that there was no harmony between what they were teaching and what God had revealed in His Word. They began to preach in their cathe-
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