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PERGAMOS: A MARRIAGE MADE IN HELL Ever since reading Blanshard's American Freedom and Catholic Power about forty years ago, I have viewed the Roman Catholic Church as being corrupt, and since reading Hislop's Two Babylons shortly afterwards, I have viewed the Roman church as the bride of Satan himself. The Roman Catholic Church claims to have started in Matthew 16:18 when Christ supposedly appointed Peter as the first Pope. However, the honest and objective student of the scriptures and history soon discovers that the foundation of the Roman church is none other than the pagan mystery religion of ancient Babylon that moved from Babylon to Pergamos and then to Rome. While enduring the early persecutions of the Roman government (A.D. 65-300), most of professing Christianity went through a gradual departure from New Testament doctrine concerning church government, worship and practice. Local churches ceased to be autonomous by giving way to the control of “bishops” ruling over hierarchies. The simple form of worship from the heart was replaced with the rituals and splendor of paganism. Ministers became “priests,” and pagans became “Christians” by simply being sprinkled with water. An unregenerate membership became common as SPRINKLED PAGANISM became the new "Christianity." The Pergamos ("much marriage") period of church history (Rev. 2:12-17) began when the Roman Emperor Constantine established himself as the head of the church around A.D. 313, which made this new “Christianity” the official religion of the Roman Empire. The first ecumenical council was held in A.D. 325, where the pagan Easter was accepted as a Christian holiday, and before the end of that century, God's second commandment was erased, the veneration of images became commonplace, and Mary was was being worshiped as the "Queen of Heaven." In the next century, she was titled the "Mother of God." The first actual Pope in Rome was probably Leo I (A.D. 440-461), although some claim that Gregory I was the first (A.D. 590-604). Over time, during this Pergamos age of "much marriage" between the world and professing Christianity, the Roman Senate became the college of cardinals, the vestal virgins became nuns, the pagan Venus became Mary, and the Roman Emperor became the Pope as the Roman Empire became the "Holy" Roman Empire. This ungodly system eventually ushered in the darkest period of history known to man, properly known as the “Dark Ages” (A.D. 500-1500). Through popes, bishops, and priests, Satan ruled Europe, and biblical Christianity became illegal. Throughout all of this, however, there remained individual groups of true Christians, such as the Waldensens and the Anabaptists who would not conform to the Roman system which was torturing and killing true Christians by the thousands. Rome has never been Christian, and she has never been a friend of Christians. She is the harlot daughter of Satan's ancient Babylonian system, and no serious Christian respects her as anything more.