"And there followed another angel. saying. Babylon is fallen, is fallen, the great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of her fornication." Rev. 14:8.

We have identified Babylon previously, in our article on `The Fall of Babylon, Scarlet Woman'. After the death of the apostles, Babylon again asserted itself and corrupted the Apostolic Church through seducing church leaders to fornicate the truth of Jesus by mixing Pagan error and false traditions with the pure teachings of Jesus. They were motivated in their efforts by the desire to become great and popular. By doing this, Satan succeeded in causing the world to be confused as to what Jesus' true way of salvation and Jesus' true way of living really is. Therefore God is calling His people out of Babylon's confusion.

"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Revelation 18:1-4.

The Babylon from which God is calling His people is the same Babylon spoken of in this scripture.

"And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth." Rev. 17:5.

Here God names the great whore or church sitting astride a beast or political power dominating the peoples of the earth.

"And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Rev. 17:15.

This harlot, is the church which became the Roman apostasy, for she rode to power on the back of the Pagan Roman Empire through an unholy alliance with Rome's kings. But notice Babylon is also a family name for she is called "Mother of Harlots." She has daughters who came out from her that have also fornicated God's truth by clinging to the false pagan deceptions of their mother. And as we saw already, have even added some new twists of their own.

Daughter Churches

Today there are many daughters fulfilling the meaning of the family name `Babylon'. Refusing to "Live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Matth.4:4. Churches have left and are leaving the Bible platform even today. The name Babylon means confusion and all the confusion existing in today's Christianity is the result of leaving the Bible platform.

The world today is drunk with the confusion resulting from Babylon's fornications of truth with error. We look out into a world containing an array of over 200 distinct denominations of Christians. And while God has clearly made it plain there are good people in all churches by declaring, "Come out of her my people," still the perplexing question before us is this,

Is it possible that there could be a true church in the world?

If so, how would we recognize it among all the confusion of Babylon?

If we can find the answer to that question, we will have settled a multitude of other intensly gripping issues.

We read:

"The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Acts 2:47.

What is that church to which the Lord "was adding" those who were to be saved?

Is it a visible or invisible church?

Does it have membership roles and a governmental system of organization with leaders holding positions of authority or is it an invisible church with no organization or constituted leadership recognized by God or recognizable to man?

The Book of Acts, along with the epistles of the New Testament clearly provide the answer to this question. Throughout the New Testament the idea of an invisible, unorganized church is totally unknown and unhinted of. The facts are that every life and every organization and every thing God even touches in any way becomes organized. Life forces are the result of God's organizing them, the stars are organized into a split second time clock, the angels are organized to save men. So how can people conceive of God's church not being organized?

The Organization of the Early Church

Jesus began the organization of His church even before His death as shown in Mark 3:14 when he ordained the twelve apostles.

"And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach." Mark 3:14.

The night before His crucifixion He reminded the Apostles of His purpose in their ordination.

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." John 15:16.

Again, after the resurrection Jesus reminded them.

"And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Luke 24:48-49.

Also

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ... Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." Acts 1:8,22.

As He makes clear in a parable in Mark 13:34, Jesus intended that the Apostles have authority in His house and as faithful stewards to maintain the integrity of His teachings until the Second Coming.

"For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch." Mark 13:34.

Therefore as Acts chapter 2 shows, it was the Apostles in particular that the Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost to give them power as witnesses of Christ's life and resurrection. Three thousand believed and were "added unto them." Acts 2:41.

These people continued "stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine" showing fulfillment of their mandate from Christ to teach with authority in His name under the witness of the Holy Spirit. They knew who believed and who didn't, they could count and record for us 3000 believers. Obviously this is a visible body of believers.

The Bible clearly states that

"the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."

Evidently then, being added to the church was a saving work then and so it must be still today. And there can be no doubt but that this church was a visible church over which the Apostles exercised authority. It was the spiritual Israel all of which "shall be saved" by the Deliverer of Zion (Rom. 11:26). It is the `ship of Zion' which will arrive in the heavenly harbor. That truth is brought out over and over again throughout Acts (Acts 27) and the Epistles of Paul.

After their cross-examination before the rulers of Israel, Peter and John are spoken of as going to "their own company." Acts 4:23. Soon after we read a verse which shows how closely knit the fellowship and membership of the Apostolic church was.

"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common." Acts 4:32.

In Acts chapter 6 we find the account of the appointment of the seven deacons and therefore a growth outward from the Apostles in the organized structure of the visible church. Because of the growth of the church, the physical necessities of taking care of the needy had grown to a point where the Apostles could no longer administer it properly by themselves. The church was growing very large and was obviously very visible because they knew exactly who were believers and who were not. They must have had a church roll because verse 2 speaks of the "whole multitude of the disciples" were called unto the Apostles. But let us not forget that God never put men in authority to "Lord it" over His people and rule them as in earthly governments. Jesus put it plainly that those in authority were to be servants of all.

"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." Matthew 20:25-27.

And again this was the point of Jesus' words to Peter when after the resurrection and by the Sea of Galilee He commanded, "Feed my sheep." John 21:17.

Notice also that here in Acts it is the "multitude of believers" who democratically appoint the seven deacons and not the twelve Apostles. Instead, it is the twelve who recognize the authority of the whole church body and the leadership of the Spirit within it by laying their hands on them and thereby sharing their own Christ-given leadership authority with them.

"And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid [their] hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Acts 6:1-7.

Elders were also ordained to leadership, for Acts 14:23 states that Paul ordained elders in "every church." According to Paul it is the Holy Ghost who set these men as "overseers of the flock." Acts 20:28.

However, there is also centralized authority for according to Acts 15, it is the whole church at Jerusalem under the leadership of the twelve Apostles who reach the decision that Gentiles need not be circumcised. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and after reviewing the teachings of Scripture and the manner of God's past guidance it is James, evidently under special appointed leadership who expressed the final judgment or conclusion of the general discussion as his "sentence."

"Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God." Acts 15:19.

This could not be the Apostle James who had already been killed by the sword according to Acts 12:2, but another James, who most scholars identify as a brother of Jesus and the writer of "The Epistle of James." [1000]

Thesse are but a few of the New Testament texts, mainly from Acts which show the authority and visible structure of the early Christian church founded and still directed by Jesus but terribly splintered by divisions made possible by man's continued refusal to accept the authority of Scripture.

Identifying the Visible Church

Since we have established that Christ established a visible church, what test shall we apply in order to identify it?

There are two outstanding facts we should understand at the very beginning of our search.

First. The true church cannot be identified by the name it has chosen to call itself. There are scores of name combinations (in fact, different names are given even in the NT for the same church), but none of those names reveal the spiritual or unspiritual nature of the organization.

Second. Do not feel that you must minutely examine every detail of doctrine taught by those over 200 Christian bodies in order to find the right one.

Remember this: None of these many Christian churches, even the true one if there is one, can save you merely by receiving your name as a member. You will have no guarantee of heaven simply by "joining" any one of those organized groups. The one way even the true church could help save us if we can find it, is by teaching us the Word of God so that we ourselves can understand and believe it and thereby showing us God's daily path of truth for our life as revealed in His Word, the Bible.

Only One Way

Then what does that mean?

It means if we do not find a church that holds the true doctrine of the Word of God as God has shown us in careful, prayerful study, then we would be better off not belonging to any church.

Obviously, we could not identify with a church which teaches what we know to be biblical errors. It is not a "form of Godliness" that we need, but "Godliness" which means complete loyalty to God's truth by precept and example as Jesus showed us how in His own life example.

But how can we find the church which holds the truth of Jesus in all respects as taught by Christ and His Apostles?

There is only one way which applies to all people.

First. Find out what real truth is on Bible authority, Scripture with Scripture. Search out the doctrine as it is in the example of Jesus. Be sure to follow every ray of truth-filled light as God shows you as soon as He shows it -- at that very moment.

Then He can show you more. Finally, look for a church that measures up to this great measuring rod, the Bible, as we find it in the life of Jesus and the gospel of His apostles.[1200]

Don't join a church and then study their doctrine. Study the Bible and find the church which most closely matches it. That is the method which will not fail.

By a quick comparison of doctrinal positions with the clear Bible teaching, all 200 + churches can be examined very quickly. The measuring rod of the Word of God will reveal in a moment what weeks of denominational study might fail to reveal.

Searching for God's Church

Now we are going to set out on a thrilling search for the visible church in these last days which meets all the spiritual tests of the great Bible measuring rod. If we find one that does meet the requirements, we should certainly join it, and thank God for leading us to it.

Now let us read the text which gives us a picture of the true church of the ages. It is symbolized by a woman,

1. standing on the moon,
2. clothed with the sun,
3. having twelve stars on her head.

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Revelation 12:1.

We remember, a pure woman in symbolic prophecy represents God's true church, a fallen woman is a false religious system which is a corruption of the true. But who is it that is wondering about this woman?

Is it those on earth? No. The woman herself stands on the moon. [1290] So those who wonder must be those in heaven. The beings in heaven wondered with admiration when they saw the plan of salvation unfold and the Savior step in to cut short the reign of sin.

"I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman." Jeremiah 6:2; 2.Sam. 5:7.

"... say unto Zion, Thou art my people." Isaiah 51:16b.[1300]

The twelve stars are the twelve tribes before the birth of Jesus, but eventually they represent the twelve Apostles who carried that pure gospel to the people of their day and recorded it for us in the NT. But the woman is standing on the moon, from which we get the title of this article. This indicates the foundation on which the church stands.

The question we want to ask is this:

Does the moon have any glory of its own or does it only "reflect" the sun's glory?

Obviously it only reflects. --- But the woman is clothed with the sun.

The reflected light of the moon under her feet represents the fading, reflected glory of the Mosaic Age radiating from the Old Testament and contrasting the coming exceeding glory of the Christian Age which shines like the sun from the witness of the New Testament.

In other words, the OT Mosaic system of leading men to salvation had no glory of its own for it could not truly save anyone, it could only lead to the Savior who in fact had not yet come.

But the OT did contain and illustrate promises of Christ's coming as taught by Moses and all the OT prophets. It was the fulfillment of these promises in Christ on which the OT was founded, eagerly looking forward to their fulfillment. This is the reflected glory symbolized by the moon, so the symbol refers to the OT Scriptures.

In demonstration of this truth, Jesus told the woman at Jacob's well

"... Salvation is of the Jews." John 4:22.

When the Saviour did come, and did succeed in living a sinless life and dying a substitutionary death for all sinners, and when He received the proof of His Father's approval and acceptance of that atonement by His resurrection and ascension and the gift of the Spirit to the church; this became the good news of the church, or the "gospel", which word means "good news."

This "good news" was what the church was to preach in Christ's name to all the world for a witness to all men. The "good news" was that God had at last fulfilled His promises and given the precious gift of His only begotten Son to restore a fallen race of men to oneness with Himself!

No wonder the message was given with such rejoicing and no wonder the Bible symbolizes the church being clothed in the glorious purity and brightness of light like that of the sun itself for Jesus is "the light of the world." John 8:12.

This church is clothed with Jesus, who Malachi calls the "sun of righteousness with healing in his wings" Malachi 4:2, and who John has twice before, in Revelation, referred to as shining with the radiance of the sun, Revelation 1:16 and 10:1.

So the church stands on the sure foundation of the OT Scripture promises, which is the only Bible Jesus and the Apostles had to preach from, while being clothed with the bright glory of the assurance of oneness with God through Jesus' gift of sacrificing Himself, by dying for us all on Calvary. Christ died for us because the law condemns sinners. But God provides for "healing in his wings".

What does `healing in his wings' that mean?

In the Bible these `wings' refer to the borders of the garment for we read that Moses was to explain it by saying, "... bid them (Israel) that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them: and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye mey remember, and do all my commendments, and be holy unto your God." Numbers 15:38-40.

Healing results when we follow the procedure outlined for us in the Word of God. When we keep God's commandments, the guard rails which lead us save on the road to heaven, then God's grace can save us for God's grace is a companion to His law. Grace and the law of God function side by side as the law points out our sins and grace saves us.

The twelve Apostles testify as witnesses to these truths, which witness is recorded as a statement of truth in what we call the New Testament. The NT glorifies the Old which in turn radiates and reflects the coming glory of the New. They stand together as inseparable witnesses, God's two witnesses, fundamental to the wholeness of the church.

Let us trace the history of the true church from its inception right down to the present as God unfolds it here in Revelation 12. We read:

"And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne." Rev. 12:2-5.

But who tried to put Jesus to death when He was born?

Herod appointed by Caesar as his Roman king.

So this dragon is Satan as he rules through earthly governments to corrupt justice, this time through Pagan Rome. Satan sought in every way possible to stamp out the truth through the cruel Roman Empire.

When persecution failed, he developed a gigantic counterfeit system of blended paganism and Christianity. This system of blended truth with error has been a continual challenge to Bible religion throughout the ages. This great war of Satan against the truth has continued down through the ages to our own day.

When Satan found that Jesus could not be overcome and destroyed, he began to wreck his vengeance on the Christians who held the pure faith of Jesus, in other words, His true people or church.

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child." Rev. 12:13.

Thousands of martyrs died at the stake, or were torn limb from limb by savage animals in the great amphitheaters of Pagan Rome. But still the truth survived. Then the counterfeit system arose with its attempt to suppress the Bible and stifle the apostolic faith. Once more the dragon's power was manifested in the tortures and persecutions which held sway during the papal reign.

But what happened to the "truth" or Bible religion during those Dark Ages when the Papacy ruled the earth? Let us read the answer:

"And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." Rev. 12:14.

How long is 3 and 1/2 times of this prophecy?

The answer is in the same chapter.

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days." Rev. 12:6.

Now we are ready to apply the prophetic rule of "a day for a year" in symbolic prophecy (Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34) which was also endorsed by Jesus [1998], and learn that the woman was in the wilderness for 1260 years.[2000] That is exactly the same period that the beast of Revelation 13 held power over the earth. The beast, or Papacy, ruled from 538 to 1798 AD., so during that same period the true people of God were not to be seen before the world. Being persecuted they had to flee back into the mountainous Alps and hide out in the caves of the earth.

Several refugee groups held out against the counterfeit doctrines at the risk of their lives. The Nestorians, Waldenses, Huguenots, Albigenses are examples of those faithful ones who represented the true church during those dark years of suppression.

They loved the truths of Scripture and not the doctrine of men. They represent the survival of Bible religion. Verse 15 tells us how fiercely the dragon sought to destroy them so that the truth might perish from the earth.

"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." Rev. 12:15.

Revelation 12:17 tells us these waters represent "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues." Here is represented this vast popular movement of religion embracing most people but those masses of humanity could not change God or His truth or destroy either.

The armies of the Papal authorities marched into the mountains to try to extirpate the faithful ones, but they were, for a time, guarded and aided by heavenly beings.

To stem the tide of persecution, God provided a new land for the persecuted of the old world, over there in Europe for we read,

"And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." Rev. 12:16.

Now, what have we learned about the true church so far? We have learned that it could not appear before the world until after the 1260 years, or until after 1798 AD. During the time of Papal reign it was hiding out in the wilderness to survive the persecution. Just as a train disappears into the railroad tunnel, one coach at a time, so the truth disappeared in hiding for 1260 years, one truth at a time.

But, just as surely as it went into the wilderness, just so surely was it to appear at the end of the period. The same train that enters a tunnel must emerge on the other side. The same apostolic faith that disappeared in 538 AD, like the coaches of the train must slowly emerge after 1798.

For hundreds of years the truth had been trampled down. The fight to rise again was started by Luther, Huss, Jerome, and many others, but the full truth was not to appear until after 1798.

Does the Bible tell us what the true church would look like when it came out of the wilderness after 1798? Yes, and that is the text we are going to read right now.

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17.

What is a remnant?

Let us break the text down and paraphrase it so that every word will be understood.

But first a few simple questions.

1. Who is the dragon?

Answer: According to Rev. 12:9 primarily the devil.

2. Who is the woman holding the whole truth as it is in Jesus?

Answer: The true Apostolic church.

3. What does it mean to be wroth?

Answer: It means to be angry.

4. What is a remnant?

Answer: The last part of something.

5. How did God bring back the truth?

Answer: God brought recognition of Bible truths back gradually and slowly.

1. From the Waldensis the world learned that the Bible only is the rule of faith.
   
2. In a sense we are Hussites, because we believe in obedience to God's word.
   
3. In a sense we are Lutherans, because we believe in salvation by grace through faith.
   
4. In a sense we are Calvinists, because we believe in Christian growth. That Christians should continue to grow in Christ.
   
5. In a sense we are Anabaptists, because we believe in baptism by immersion.
   
6. In a sense we are followers of Wesley, because we believe in Christian holiness, that there should be standards within the Christian church.

6. What are the commandments of God?

Answer: Obviously the Ten Commandments spoken and written by God, including the Sabbath.

7. What is the testimony of Jesus?

Answer: We read:

"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Rev. 19:10.

So the last church, the brethren, should have a restored gift of prophecy.

Now consider this last point: The true church of the last days would certainly give the last warning message of God as is symbolized by the three angels of Revelation 14:6-12. When that message has gone to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, then Jesus will come, Rev. 14:14ff.

Who is giving that message to all the world in these days?

There is only one church on the face of the earth of the earth that preaches that three-fold message today. Let us briefly review that warning message.

The 1st angel said:

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:2-7.

This is the message on the See Judgment to be dwelled on in a separate article.

The 2nd angel said:

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Rev. 14:8

This message you can read here.

Note: We speak humbly when we say that there is only one church giving the call to come out of Babylon. You will hear it nowhere else for the reasons we present.

Our review of the true church established first by Jesus Christ shows, it is to be reestablished toward the end of time:

First. It must arise after 1798.

Second. It keeps all the 10 Commandments of God, including the Seventh-day Sabbath.

Third. It has the Spirit of Prophecy.

Fourth. It will preach the last warning messages of Revelation chapter 14. [2200]