The falling away had been foretold as the truth was being carried to all parts of the Roman Empire and beyond and Christians were daily being baptized as the gospel spread and the great apostasy from a power was identified in scripture, but its important to understand how it happened also. So look in scripture and let it unveil what it has:

Lets take a look at 2 Thessalonians 2:7

2 Thessalonians 2:7King James Version (KJV)
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.


So what is this mystery of iniquity, this lawlessness already at work secretly, and what is holding it back. Well lets start with the power holding it back:

It foretells that when the empire of Rome is taken away, the seat that falls away from God will succeed and hold its place, as the old writers, Tertullian, Chrysostom, and Jerome explain and interpret it... He who is now in authority and rules all, that is, the Roman Empire.
For more than 500 years, half a millennium, Rome was invincible. Its laws and legions stretched out from Rome and crushed those who would challenge it, but it too finally faded and it stopped holding back what prophecy had foretold.

So we see the deep, secret power of iniquity, just opposite to the power of godliness, coming after the Roman Empire. The Patriarch of Alexandria and Alexandria itself became powerful centers of Christian influence and schools much sooner than the Christian center in Rome. But as soon as it was allowed by the declining Roman Empire the Bishop of Rome became even more powerful than the Patriarch of Alexandria and competed and surpassed Alexandria and the other centers of Christian influence. By the time of Emperor Constantine, the Christian religion received imperial sanction and the bishop of Rome became more than just another bishop.
At the time of the Council of Nicea (325), Rome was still seen as the capital of the empire, although the emperor rarely lived there. With the establishment of a new fixed capital in Constantinople , there arose a new center, which quickly grew in prominence, rivaling those in Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, which previously had been the most important centers of Christianity. But with the capital shifted to Constantinople the bisho of Rome was given much more freedom and power to rule and intervene in the affairs of other church centers and was seen as much more influential as there were much more manifestations of authority over other churches.

After the fall of Rome, the Bishop of Rome served as a source of authority and continuity at that center, so how did it fall into apostasy. Well Rome had also been the center of the pagan priests and their temples during the Roman Empire, and they did not go away. The Bishop of Rome, to bring in more converts brought what they were familiar with and allowed the traditional Roman mysteries and deities of solar monism such as Mithras and Sol Invictus and idol worship back into the church, along with its Pagan doctrines, graven images and ceremonies. It renamed the mother godess and others that were worshiped and brought them into the church at Rome, then with its influence it spread into the other centers of Christianity. So next lets take a look at the Roman mysteries and the changes to the day of worship and how they were brought in.

The Christians at Rome had been faithful as they were persecuted for many years but as they became accepted and persecution stop, other challenges faced them. Greek philosphy and Ghonosticism had been picked up and in Rome the old beliefs and festivals were still followed by the Romans and many Christian and leaders didnt see a problem with it. The first issue began when early in the life of the Church, disputes arose as the bishop of Rome allowed the celebration of the Pasch or Passover to continue till the following Sunday so Christians could also celebrate Spring Equinox festival as they had done before. Now the danger of allowing the Christians to join in pagan solistice celebrations was overlooked as the new pagan 'converts' joined the church and swelled the numbers under the bishop of Rome. But other Christian leaders saw the danger of worship according to the old pagan festivals and tried to stop it in what came to be known as Paschal/Easter controversies. The first recorded such controversy came to be known as the Quartodeciman controversy.

Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, V, xxiii) wrote:

"A question of no small importance arose at that time [i.e. the time of Pope Victor I, about A.D. 190]. The dioceses of all Asia, according to an ancient tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon [of Nisan], on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch (epi tes tou soteriou Pascha heortes), contending that the fast ought to end on that day, whatever day of the week it might happen to be. However it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this point, as they observed the practice, which from Apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the Resurrection of our Saviour." So the bishop of Rome began the practice of fixing the celebration of Passover for Christians on Sunday and it spread through the old areas of the Empire.Polycarp the disciple of John the Apostle who was now the bishop of Smyrna, came and confronted Anicetus, the Bishop of Rome who had allow the changes in the Passover and other changes to bring in converts.According to Irenaeus, around the 150s or 160, Polycarp visited Rome to discuss the differences that existed between the other centers of Christianity in Asia and Rome "with regard to certain things" and especially about the time of the Pasch or Passover which in Rome were now the Easter festivals. Irenaeus says that Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, observed the fourteenth day of the moon, whatever day of the week that might be, following therein the tradition which he derived from John the Apostle. Irenaeus said that on certain things the two bishops speedily came to an understanding, while as to the time of the Pasch and the change to Easter, each adhered to his own custom. Polycarp following the eastern practice of celebrating Passover on the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Jewish Passover, regardless of what day of the week it fell while the bishop of Rome let it be observed on Sunday.

So the Bishop of Rome ignore the warning and contined to allow the Passover to be observed on Sunday at the pagan Spring Equinox festival connected to the goddess Eostre the "goddess of sunrise" so this is how the Pasch was change to the festival of Easter. But not only was it just the festival as more pagan converts came in, they were allowed to worship on the pagan day of worship which they were used to, while Christians continued to worship on Sabbath. When Polycarp was martyrd for standing against the pagan worship, the Smyrnaean letter known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp states that Polycarp was taken on the day of the Sabbath and killed on the Great Sabbath, so we see that he observed the Sabbath.Scholar William Cave wrote, "...the Sabbath or Saturday (for so the word sabbatum is constantly used in the writings of the fathers, when speaking of it as it relates to Christians) was held by them in great veneration, and especially in the Eastern parts honoured with all the public solemnities of religion. But in the Western part of the Empire, Sunday had entered in through the back door celebration of the Pasch or Passover.



But it gets even worse, as later, one of the bishops of Rome, around 195, which some call Pope Victor I attempted to excommunicate the Christians who continued correctly to celebrate the the Pasch or Passover, turning the divergence of practice into a full-blown ecclesiastical controversy. According to Eusebius, synods were convened and letters were exchanged, but in the end, having over-stepped his mark Pope Victor was rebuked and backed down.

Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, V, xxiv) notes:

"But this did not please all the bishops. And they besought him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are extant, sharply rebuking Victor. Among them was Irenæus, who, sending letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be observed only on the Lord’s day. He fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom."

So now you see where the 'Lord’s day' comes in and it wasnt from the disciple of John the Apostle or John himself....

Now as the Bishop of Rome gained more converts his area and influence grew, and people naturally looked to Rome as they had during the Empire as the center of authority. It used Easter as a tool to bring more pagans into the church, but instead of having them shed their pagan ways and ceremonies, it allow them into the church. Lets take a look at Easter which was an ancient pagan festival and the pagan solstice celebrations were brought in and given a Christian veneer so pagans could join and continue as they had during the Empire. The pagan festival or Spring Equinox festival was characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death and has been connected to the goddess Eostre the "goddess of sunrise" . In Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm speculates on the nature of the goddess....

"Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the christian's God. Bonfires were lighted at Easter and according to popular belief of long standing, the moment the sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps, he dances for joy...Water drawn on the Easter morning is, like that at Christmas, holy and healing.. "

Easter is nothing else but Ashtarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the Queen of Heaven. The Easter “buns” were used in the worship of the queen of heaven, the goddess of Easter. As early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens, fifteen hundred years before the Christian era. The prophet Jeremiah takes notice of this offering when he says,

“The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven.” ( Jer. 7:18 )

The hot cross buns were given as offering on the festival of Astarte.The origin of the Easter egg, was from ancient times were they were used in religious rituals throughout Egypt and Greece. Eggs were hung for mystic purposes in temples. These sacred eggs can be traced to the banks of the Euphrates and Babylon paganism. Pagan priests were celibate, tonsured, and received the power of sacrificing for the living and the dead. The goddess in ancient religions was worshipped as the life giver and nurturer and as such, this religion was imbued with sexual undertones. Phallic symbols, as well as symbols of femininity and divine intercourse, were common in ancient temples (as they are in some modern churches and temples). Other symbols of sun worship include the solar wheel dating back to the Chaldeans, halos, various pagan crosses, lightning bolts, hand-signals from sun worship cults, tridents, fleur-de-lis, sexagesimal triangles with the eye of Hathor, coptic shells which in paganism served as a symbol of the cosmos, astrological signs, globes as symbols of rulership of the universe, sacred hearts as used in many sun cults, sacred animals (many of them mythological such as dragons, the serpent, unicorn and the phoenix), fertility symbols such as pine cones (pagan deities wore the pine cone on their crosier), sacred trees (symbols of the suffering and resurrected sungod) and prayer beads for repetitive prayers even though the Bible admonishes:


But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Matthew 6:7

The Babylonian system of worship has essentially been maintained even is hidden as mysterys or ceremonies or otherwise to modern day and can be seen in some form or another. The ancient Chaldeans worshipped a pantheon of male and female gods representing the sun god and there were largely three aspects to this system of sun worship, representing the father, mother, and the son. These were the god Bel or Merodach, Ninus the son, who was also worshipped as Tammuz, and the female goddess Rhea who was also worshipped as Ishtar, Astarte, or Beltis representing the mother. She was also referred to as the ‘queen of heaven’, and the ‘wrath subduer’. So we see the connection to Easter and its true origin, and the church at Rome was at the center and the change from Sabbath to Sunday was slowly introduced at Rome about the middle of the second century, and it was not from the Apostles or scripture, but for another reason of pagan origin. It arrayed in a Christian garb the beliefs that had dominated during the Roman Empire. For example, it reinstated the ceremonies and obligations of the Collegium Pontificum and the position of Pontifex Maximus of the ancient Roman polytheistic religion and created Christian orders to replace the ancient Roman ones such as the Vestal Virgins and the flamines. We shall take a look at that next..

The Romans established a college of pontiffs (Collegium Pontificum) to regulate worship and perform the higher ceremonies, which were complicated and minute. The pontiffs were presided over by one called Pontifex Maximus, and they practised pagan worship and ceremonies, also superstitious rites such as examining the entrails of beasts and birds for good or bad omens.

Now just looking at the pagan ceremonies and obligations of the Collegium Pontificum which came into the church, we can see this is a false pagan religious system that can be traced back to Babylon, as many facets of the pagan religions of ancient Babylon found their way into the Greek and Roman empire, and into the church at Rome. Some Christians did not even realize that they had simply adopted the pagan customs of the ancient mystery religions from Babylon through the Collegium Pontificum. The bishop of Rome insured that the common man was studiously kept in the dark, as all the people who worshiped in this religious system all the way back to Babylon. By later discouraging the reading of the scripture in the common language of the people, the church was able to keep a hold on the 'truth' it dispensed and discouraged personal Bible study among its members. This in turn has tended to teach the laypersons to become very dependent upon the priests for truths from Gods word, and even for access to God.


Even the confessional had its roots in Babylon. All the people were required to make secret confessions to the priest in a prescribed form, if they were to be admitted, or initiated, into the "mysteries" of their religion. They were commanded to keep secret about these mysteries. In Babylon, baptism was required before any instruction of the mysteries could be received. It provided the necessary washing and purifying. Merits and demerits are measured in the balance of God's justice by Anubis, the god of the scales, in ancient Babylon, and by St. Michael, the Archangel, in Catholicism. The priests were the judges, and the people had to pay to compensate for their demerits. This led to the "fear of the scales" in the Catholic Church, as well as to the practice of absolution by paying indulgences Like Moloch, the god of barbaric blood, in ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, Egypt. All this things the Church of Rome picked up and began requiring the same type of confession for admission to the sacraments. Now this mystery pagan religious system had been pick up and continued during the Roman Empire within the Collegium Pontificum.

Now the tradition the church at Rome was following did exist, but it wasnt the tradition of the Apostles as we can see from the changes. But there was a tradition, the corruption from the Gnostic sect had brought about what is called the Disciplina Arcani or Discipline of the Secret or Discipline of the Arcane, which was a restriction imposing silence upon Christians with respect to their rites and doctrines. It was a theological term used to describe the custom which came in and prevailed in the church, whereby knowledge of the more 'intimate mysteries' of the Christian religion was carefully kept from non-Christians and even from those who were undergoing instruction in the faith. The church in the early stages picked up pagan oral teachings from Greek and Hellenistic sources which formed the basis of this secret oral tradition, which in the 4th century came to be called the disciplina arcani. It is believe that it contained liturgical details and certain other pagan traditions which remain a part of Christianity, for example, the doctrine of Transubstantiation is thought to have been a part of this.

No lets take a closer look at the College of Pontiffs or Collegium Pontificum which was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the pagan religion. It consisted of the Pontifex Maximus, the Vestal Virgins, the Rex Sacrorum, and the flamines.

The Pontifex Maximus was the head and most important member of the college and held the sole power in appointing members to the other priesthoods. There were four chief colleges of priests in ancient Rome, the most illustrious of which was that of the pontifices. The others were those of the augures, the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, and the epulones. The same person could be a member of more than one of these groups, including the Pontifex Maximus, who was president of the college. By the third century B.C., the pontiffs had assumed control of the state religious system. So we see where the title "pontiff" and its position was in the pagan priesthood.

The Rex Sacrorum, during the Roman Republic, the rex sacrorum was chosen by the pontifex maximus from a list of patricians submitted by the College of Pontiffs. The rex sacrorum wore a toga, the undecorated soft "shoeboot" (calceus), and carried a ceremonial ax; as a priest of archaic Roman religion, he sacrificed capite velato, with head covered.At Rome, the Rex Sacrorum priesthood was deliberately depoliticized; the rex sacrorum was not elected, and the comitia or the legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic merely witnessed his inauguration. Like the flamen Dialis but in contrast to the pontiffs and augurs, the rex was barred from a political and military career. It is not clear if the position carried over into the church as the Cardinals from what I can see, but the early on, Cardinals wore a violet or blue cape unless granted the privilege of wearing red, scarlet garments — the blood-like red was said to symbolize a Cardinal's willingness to die for his faith. But the Rex Sacrorum priesthood were appointed to counsel the Pontiff much as Cardinals which also were appointed to counsel the Pontiff in Rome. Historically, Cardinals were the clergy of the city of Rome, serving the Bishop of Rome as the Pope, but in the twelfth century the practice of appointing ecclesiastics from outside Rome as cardinals began, with each of them being assigned a church in Rome as his titular church, or being linked with one of the suburbicarian dioceses, while still being incardinated in a diocese other than that of Rome. There was created the College of Cardinals which is a body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church and a function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory.If you check, you will find that Rome's College of Cardinals coincides with the Babylonian Council of Pontiffs and as we see the Pagan College of Pontiffs. The word "Cardinal" comes from the word "cardo" which meant hinge. Janus, the god of doors and hinges, Patulcius and Clusius, was the opener and the shutter, controlling the door of heaven. Peter's chair, similar to that of Hercules and Mohammad, is where the ancients were carried in pomp and state in Egypt. Janus was the incarnation of Noah, half man and half fish. The Pontifical crosier corresponds to the magic of Nimrod, so its now hard to figure out how Babylon was the source of what had been picked up.



Now lets take a look at the Vestal Virgins who were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The College of the Vestals and its well-being was regarded as fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome, as embodied by their cultivation of the sacred fire that could not be allowed to go out. Around age 6 to 10, girls were chosen for this position and were obligated to perform the rites and obligations, including remaining chaste, for 30 years. The chief Vestal (Virgo Vestalis Maxima or Vestalium Maxima, "greatest of the Vestals") oversaw the efforts of the Vestals, and was present in the College of Pontiffs. The Vestals were freed of the usual social obligations to marry and bear children, and took a vow of chastity. Now we see where the nuns and there position and duties came from.


Then there were the flamens who were priests in charge of fifteen official cults of Roman religion, each assigned to a particular god. The three major flamens (flamines maiores) were the Flamen Dialis, the high priest of Jupiter; the Flamen Martialis, who cultivated Mars; and the Flamen Quirinalis, devoted to Quirinus. When a vacancy occurred, the persons were nominated to it and consecrated (inaugurabatur) by the Pontifex Maximus. So we see where the position and duties of the priests come from, and you can see why they were divided into orders, each devoted for a particular god. The clerical tonsure, a circular haircut around the temples, used at ordination ceremonies was started in Babylon, in the mysteries religion.


So the bishop of Rome basically took the Collegium Pontificum and imposed it at will and the original teachings and practices of the original Christian church as depicted in the Acts of the Apostles was set aside or subtly shifted to allow the changes to take place. The bishop of Rome soon had no other bishop held at the same level, from the patriarch of Alexandria to the one in Jerusalem and he was pushing for more converts so allowing the pagan beliefs and ceremonies to come into the church. So it was the fulfilment of prophecy that there would be a falling away from the truth given by Jesus Christ and his apostles. The 2 Thessalonians prediction regarding the "falling away" or the apostasy that was to come from Rome and says, " 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. "

As prophecy had foretold, the bishop of Rome was the power that arose after the Roman Empire and slowly corrupted the church as it strove to attain great dominion and authority, civil and ecclesiastical, and retain the pagan beliefs held during the Empire.

Now at the same time as the bishop was making changes, anti-Jewish sentiments had become strong in Rome, since Hadrian the Roman Emperor from 117 to 138 fought against the Jews when they rebelled. Many of the pagans who had converted had became prominent in the church in Rome. Because of the emnity that arose from the Jewish rebellion, it began to separate Christian gentiles from the Christians who were Jews and the keeping of the Sabbath. The Sabbath began to be derided, as Sunday festival was still kept by pagans, and so its followers were put down as Judaizers. Consequently the gentile Christians gradaully began to keep only Sunday as a day of worship as Sabbath keepers were seen as almost traitors and the Christian gentiles adopted the venerable day of the Sun from pagan sun worship as a substitute to the Sabbath.

In 274, the Emporer Aurelian created a new cult of the “Invincible Sun.” Worshipped in a splendid temple, served by pontiffs who were raised to the level of the ancient pontiffs of Rome, celebrated every fourth year by magnificent games, the Sol Invictus was promoted to the highest rank in the divine hierarchy and became the official protector of the Sovereigns and of the Empire. Aurelian placed in his new sanctuary the images of Bel and Helios, which he captured at Palmyra. Then as Sunday become widespread as the day of worship the Emperor Constantine came to power in 313 and legalized Christianity. But the Emperor Constantine also enacted a Sunday Law, and it was not on a Biblical basis...

"On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost."(Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].
Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p. 380, note 1.

At this point the religious and political powers came together and the persecution of the true believers soon began. In my opinion, we are soon going to see a repeat, and all it will take will be a 'event' like 9/11 or the appearance of someone which can only be Satan in disguise, doing great wonders that will pull the whole world to believe he is the long awaited messiah, the christ.