“Hiroshima is bitter, noisy, highly political, leftist and anti-American. Its symbol would be a fist clenched in anger. Nagasaki is sad, quiet, reflective, nonpolitical and prayerful. It does not blame the United States but rather laments the sinfulness of war, especially of nuclear war. Its symbol: hands joined in peace.” – Song for Nagasaki, pg. 257-8
BACKGROUND: CATHOLIC HISTORY OF JAPAN
August 15th, coincides with the Catholic Feast of the Assumption of Mary and on this day, in 1549, Francis Xavier, a Jesuit Priest, arrived in Nagasaki, Japan. Over the next thirty years, Jesuit missionaries would convert an approximate 200,000 Japanese. These included Japanese civilians of high nobility, such as the Samurai and feudal lords.
However, by 1587 Emperor Hideyoshi no longer viewed the ‘Christian’ missionaries with acceptance. Fearing the new religion would destabilize his rule, coupled with the rumors that the Jesuits were persecuting Buddhist and Shinto believers and that the Portuguese were selling Japanese abroad as slaves, Hideyoshi expelled Christians from Japan and made the Japanese renounce their Christian religion.
The beginning of the persecution was only halfheartedly enforced under Hideyoshi. But not ten years later Hideyoshi ordered twenty-six Japanese to march from Kyoto to Nagasaki where they were crucified on February 5th, 1596.
Hideyoshi’s successor Tokugawa would ensure the edict was followed. In 1610, Tokugawa Ieyasu banned all Christian missionaries from entering Japan. In 1614 all churches and missionary centers were destroyed and priests executed. In 1622 another 56 Christians were burned alive or beheaded.
Japan closed its borders in 1638 to the outside world. It enacted the sakoku policy (literally chained country): complete isolation from foreigner influences. Foreigners were expelled, any who came ashore were killed, and the Japanese who left were never to return.
The last Jesuit was dragged out of hiding and killed in 1644. Japanese Catholics were forced underground and remained hidden, worshiping in secret, for 250 years. Any who were caught clinging to the western faith would be brutally tortured and executed. Many torture tactics were too severe and too disturbing to be recounted.
The Tokugawa dictatorship kept a firm grip on the spread of Catholicism in Japan. In the spirit of the Mark of the Beast, the Japanese government required all its citizens to receive a certificate from the Buddhist hierarchy, confirming their religious affinity.
Even after Commodore Perry’s arrival, the Japanese government held to their views that the Catholic Japanese were traitors. With threats from the west, there was a push for unity in Japan. A rally for nationalism, which would include keeping with domestic-forms of religion and traditions. The acceptance of a western religion would undermine the national identity and power of the country. The Emperor was the sole dictator over the Japanese, no God in Heaven nor Pope in Rome would be allowed to disempower him.
In addition, the Japanese practiced rampant homosexual acts. Emperor Toyotomi Hideyoshi, himself, had more than likely engaged in these abominable acts. With Christianity as a whole condemning homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22; 1 Corinthian 6:9; Revelation 21:8) the prospect of being thrown into the Lake of Fire offended the Japanese.
Shudo or nanshoku (male-male love) has been documented in Japan for over a thousand years and has connections to Buddhist monastic life as well as samurai traditions. Hideyoshi was a samurai and more than likely engaged in the ‘tradition’. During the Tokugawa shogunate, several Shinto gods were seen as guardians of the aforementioned abomination. As for the Samurai, it was customary for boys, apprenticed to a master, to be loyal and affectionate in all matters of training. While not every mentor may have abused its apprentice, the practice was common enough for historians to be able to say that homosexual relations and nationalistic pride were cornerstones of the Samurai creed.
The Tokugawa shogunate was increasingly controlled by Samurai who rose to various positions of courtiers, bureaucrats and administrators in the government. And since nationalism and homosexuality were, quite simply, inseparable codes of the Samurai, as mentioned previously, a Catholic presence was a threat to their leadership and their traditions.
Japanese Catholics would continue to be persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and murdered until the 1872 when the Meiji dynasty abandoned its predecessors sakoku policy in order to improve foreign relations with the west and thus increase foreign trade, especially with the United States. Around this time of Westernization, homosexuality was declared unnatural by rulers of the Meiji dynasty.
Starting in 1895, the Japanese began work on what would become the largest cathedral in East Asia: the Urakami Cathedral. After twenty-two years of on and off work it was finally completed in 1917. Over half of all Catholics living in Japan, lived in Nagasaki.
With Japan’s Catholic history established, let’s now fast forward to May 1945. The Manhattan Project’s Target Committee narrowed down their top four strategic Japanese cities for bombing: these cities were Kyoto; Kokura; Yokohama and Hiroshima.
On July 16th, 1945, the Trinity Test was conducted and successful. Harry S Truman was informed that the atomic bombs were ready for use. U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson, however, convinced Truman to remove Kyoto from the list of target cities, arguing that it was a culturally significant city and cherished by the Japanese. The fact that Stimson had honeymooned there was apparently irrelevant . . . or so they say.
Kyoto was removed from the list and Niigata added. It wasn’t until the day before the bombing orders were given that “and Nagasaki” was hand-written onto the mission’s strike orders. The following day July 25th 1945, Nagasaki became an official target.
Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, which ironically coincides with the Catholic Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, (2) And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. (4) Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. (5) While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Exodus 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
Timothy 6:16 “He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”
August 8th.
The day before the bombing of Nagasaki.
Assembly of the Fat Man Unit 031 with the plutonium core was completed in the early morning. However, in the rush to complete the bomb, the firing unit cable was installed backwards. Barney O’Keefe had to cut the connectors and reinstall them at the last minute.
From June through early August the city of Yahata, which neighbors Kokura, was firebombed.
August 9th: the day of the bombing.
In the early morning hours, Flight Engineer John Kuharek noticed that the fuel pump for one of the 640 gallon reserve tanks was not functioning. The crew deplaned and deliberated over the situation, but ultimately decided to continue with the mission.
(Japanese Time)
2:47 a.m. B-29 Bomber Bockscar departed Tinian Island on its way to Kokura.
2:51 a.m. Observation and Instrumental plane, The Great Artiste piloted by Captain Fred Bock takes off.
2:53 a.m. Camera Plane, Big Stink piloted by James Hopkins takes off.
7:50 a.m. An air-raid warning sounded over Nagasaki when American bomber planes were spotted in the southern region of Japan. Forty minutes later at 8:30 a.m. citizens of Nagasaki were given the all clear and left their shelters.
8:10 a.m. Bockscar reached rendezvous point and immediately spotted The Great Artiste, but Big Stink was no where to be spotted. They slowly circled Yakushima Island, but Big Stink failed to reach the rendezvous point. Weather planes reported cloud cover over Kokura and Nagasaki, but reconnaissance claim that visibility should be sufficient enough for bombing. After circling for forty minutes, Bockscar and The Great Artiste head to Kokura without Big Stink.
Satoru Miyashiro who worked at a steel mill in Kokura heard from his coworkers about the bombing of Hiroshima. When air-raid sirens sounded over the city their fears that they would be the next victim of the American bomb prompted his boss to order him to turn on the incinerator, which contained a cache of oil drums filled with coal tar.
Burning coal tar from the steel factory; smoke and ash from the firebombing of Yahata the day before; and cloudy weather and haze from a storm the night before obscured visibility over Kokura. The Americans circled Kokura three times in a desperate attempt to find an opening to drop the Fat Man. Although the Americans got slim glimpses of the city through all the wafting smoke, ash, tar, and clouds, they couldn’t locate the city’s arsenal, which was their target. Japanese flak and fighters also made things ‘a little hairy’, according to Major Sweeney. After ‘animated’ discussions among the crew as to what to do next, the Americans decided to move forward to their next target: Nagasaki.
10:56 a.m. Bockscar arrived at Nagasaki.
11:00 a.m. The Imperial Supreme War Council gathered to discuss unconditional surrender.
10:58-11:02 a.m. To the dismay of Major Sweeney, clouds also obscured Nagasaki, and Bockscar was running out of fuel. There was only enough fuel for one pass over the city. Major Sweeney was prepared to turn around and head back to Okinawa, when a hole opened in the clouds. Bombardier Captain Kermit Beahan visualized a target. Recounting, “The target was there, pretty as a picture.”
Capt. Beahan released the Fat Man.
Bockscar and The Great Artiste took a 155 degree dive to their right and left, respectively.
Saburo Nishida, a parish priest, was heading into the Urakami Cathedral to receive the sacrament of penance and reconciliation in preparation for the upcoming Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Meanwhile, Fusayoshi Tamaya was inside the cathedral’s confession room.
Whenever the students of Junshin Jogakuin, an all-girls Catholic school, were afraid of being firebombed, they were taught by the principal nun to sing: “Mary, my mother, I offer myself entirely to you and to show my devotion to thee, I offer thee this day: my eyes, my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve. Wherefore, good Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me as thy property and possession,”
Detonation
Fat Man detonated at altitude of 1,650 feet above the city. It had a blast yield equivalent of 21 kilotons of TNT: in contrast, Little Boy, which detonated over Hiroshima, had a blast yield equivalent of 15 kilotons of TNT.
The Fat Man was dropped over the city’s industrial valley, midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works in the north. The Urakami Cathedral was located a little over a quarter of a mile away (1640 feet/500m) from the epicenter of the blast. Everyone inside the Cathedral, including Saburo Nishida and Fusayoshi Tamaya were vaporized instantly.
Roughly 57% of all Catholics living in Japan lived in Nagasaki. Of the 12,000 Catholics who were present in vicinity at the time, 8,500 of them were killed by the atomic bomb. The Urakami Cathedral was destroyed as 30-some members prepared for mass. Twenty-seven nuns from a nearby convent were all dead, horribly burnt and the convent demolished. 214 students from Junshin Jogakuin were killed and the school turned to rubble.
Those nuns and little girls who survived the initial blast wandered about the apocalyptic city, singing “Mary, my mother I offer myself entirely to you. . . .” before dying in the streets.
Japanese Catholics have tried to reconcile why Nagasaki was the second victim of the atomic age. They were a faithful and prayerful community which withstood hundreds of years of persecution; maintained the ordinances underground despite no Catholic priest from Rome officiating services; re-emerging in 1864 with the arrival of a French priest Bernard Petitjean; they built the largest Catholic Cathedral in all of Asia thirty years later; they were known as the Rome of Japan or The Little Rome.
Until trumpets sound, mankind will debate and argue over the morality of dropping the second bomb. Many claiming it was unnecessary as Japan was ready to surrender. According to author Victor Gaetan, “It was impossible for military planners not to know the area’s history and Catholic significance.” So why would American leaders drop a bomb on a Christian community? For many in the religious and pacifist circle this is inexcusable and, perhaps, even unforgivable.
Dr. Takashi Nagai, a doctor of radiology, survivor of the atomic bomb, Catholic convert, and author of Bells of Nagasaki wrote:
“It was not the American crew, I believe, who chose our suburb. God’s Providence chose Urakami and carried the bomb right above our homes. Is there not a profound relationship between the annihilation of Nagasaki and the end of the war? Was not Nagasaki the chosen victim, the lamb without blemish, slain as a whole burnt offering on the altar of sacrifice, atoning for the sins of all the nations during World War II?”
Song for Nagasaki, pg. 186 Paul Glynn & Shusaku Endo
His extrapolated reasoning, though done from a confused-state of mind, is entirely and wholly blasphemously, incorrect:
Micah 6:6-8 “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
To equate Nagasaki as a ritual burnt offering and a lamb without blemish is idolatrous.
Roman 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”
Mark 10:18 “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”
Deuteronomy 12:31 “You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.”
Hebrews 10:5-13 “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure . . . . By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.
No, Nagasaki was not a ritual burnt offering; it was not a lamb without blemish, for no one is good, no, not one; nor was it for the atonement of the sins of WW2. It was the non-Catholic Japanese who half-accurately interrupted the destruction of their city:
“In Hiroshima, ninety percent of which was annihilated by the first atomic bombing, the survivors cried out, ‘Hiroshima got bombed!’ In contrast, the Shinto/Buddhist residents in Nagasaki cried, ‘Not Nagasaki, but Urakami was bombed [because] the Kuroshu live there.’ The literal translation of Kuroshu is ‘the people of the cross’, which refers to the Catholic community in Urakami. However, Kuroshu has a derogatory connotation. Nagasaki’s non-Catholic population claimed that the Kuroshu had been punished for worshiping a foreign god in the Land of Kami (Japanese deities), and that the rest of the city had been saved because they were Shinto/Buddhists.”
– God and the Atomic Bomb: Nagasaki’s Atomic Bomb Memory and Politics of Sacrifice, Forgiveness and Reconciliation by Tomoe Otsuki
Their Shintoism and Buddhism didn’t spare their lives, but like the story of the Tower of Siloam, unless they repent they likewise will perish. (Read Zechariah 14:12-19)
Dr. Takashi Nagai was correct in that Nagasaki was chosen.
Nagasaki was not an intended target. It failed to pass the Target Committee because of its mountainous and irregular terrain, also allied prisoners of war were being held in Nagasaki. Nagasaki had already seen numerous firebomb attacks; the committee wanted virgin terrain to show the utter annihilation that the nuclear weapons could unleash, resulting in top-tier A-bomb candidates escaping firebomb attacks.
When Fat Man detonated, the blast was confined to the Urakami Valley. Its steep hills range from 650 to 1180 feet high. Hence the Shinto and Buddhist worshipers claiming ‘Urakami was bombed’ and not ‘Nagasaki was bombed’. Also, to note, those four hundred prisoners of war were, indeed, killed by the blast.
Nagasaki wasn’t suppose to be the target. It’s unknown who added ‘Nagasaki’ to the list, but those invisible hands which scribbled ‘and Nagasaki’ to the draft orders, changed history, as did Stimson vying for the protection of Kyoto. Had Stimson not honeymooned there would he have still felt so strongly about getting it removed from the list? An inoperative fuel pump transfer also changed the way in which the mission was carried forth. Big Stink failing to reach rendezvous created a long enough delay for visibility over Kokura to go from sufficient to poor. The failure of Big Stink to arrive at rendezvous also gave Satoru Miyashiro and his boss time to set the oil drums of coal tar ablaze, helping to obscure the city, thus changing history.
Fuel was running out. They were on a time crunch. And then, at the last moment, when Sweeney was over Nagasaki and ready to head for Okinawa, the clouds opened up over Urakami. The heart of the Catholic Church in Asia became a visualized target and was as pretty as a picture in view.
Man did not choose Nagasaki, Invisible Hands chose Nagasaki.
THE FORESHADOW
December 7th, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. A little over four months later on April 25th, 1942, the Holy See established diplomatic relations with Japan.
The U.S. State Department as well Great Britain sharply criticized the Vatican’s acceptance of diplomatic relations with Japan. With Pearl Harbor fresh in the minds of Americans, even Catholic Americans supported the State Department’s view that such an alliance was ‘deplorable’.
Japan has never been represented at the Vatican. But its recent conquests have swelled the number of Catholics in its territory from a few hundred thousand to some 20,000,000 (largest group: the 13,000,000 Catholics of the Philippines), give Japan a good surface reason to ask for an exchange of envoys. And the Vatican, which has long had an Apostolic Delegate in Japan, will have a hard time finding a good excuse for declining.
TIME: Religion: The Vatican & Japan
Monday, Mar. 23, 1942
Monsignor Vagnozzi handed me the attached memorandum. When I had read the memorandum I said that I felt it necessary to state with all of the emphasis of which I was capable and with the utmost sincerity that I felt that this decision on the part of the Holy See was deplorable in as much as, in my judgment, it would create a profound reaction on the part of the people of the United States, and a similar reaction on the part of the people in many other countries including all of the United Nations.
I said that at the very moment when the Japanese were committing unspeakable atrocities on the civilian populations throughout the regions they were now ravaging, when in the Philippines they had desecrated and violated churches and Catholic communities, and when the announced purpose of Japan’s military leaders was to drive the influence of the white race from the Far East, including, obviously and principally, the influence of Christianity among the populations of Asia, for the Holy See for the first time in its history to receive a diplomatic mission from Japan seemed to me an incredible step.
Monsignor Vagnozzi evidently agreed with me in toto. He said he feared a disastrous effect on public opinion in this country.
I said he was by no means understating the case. I said that I hoped, if it was not already too late, that the Holy Father and the Cardinal Secretary of State would reconsider this matter.
Monsignor Vagnozzi went on to say that the step had been taken by the Vatican upon the urgent recommendations of the Apostolic Delegate in Tokyo and members of the hierarchy in occupied China who insisted that if the agreement of the Vatican was not given, Catholic Japanese and particularly Catholic Chinese would be massacred by the thousands and missions and churches would be destroyed.
I said I had no evidence, judging from the history of the past few years, that measures of appeasement of this character would have the slightest effect.
Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, Europe, Volume III:
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
The Catholic Church, in a spirit of whoredom, conducted the interstate diplomatic mission with Japan. The Church argued that it had a moral responsibility to protect its followers who were being conquered and absorbed by the expanding Japanese empire, and thus diplomatic ties and alliances were necessary.
America, however, disagreed. The Japanese invaded the Philippines nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. To note: the Battle of Baatan occurred from January 7th to April 9th, 1942 ending with the Baatan Death March.
BABYLON’S FATE
Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51 are worth reading in totality, but to be succinct, this author will select the most pertinent excerpts.
Jeremiah 50:1 “The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. 2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.” 8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. 9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. 28 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD. The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. 29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD. 40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. 41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. 44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Jeremiah 51:6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense. 7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10 The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. 11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. 28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. 29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. 30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken. 31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, 32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. 33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. 58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Isaiah 13:1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received: . . . 16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished. 17 Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold. 18 Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children. 19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isaiah 47:9 But these two things shall come to you [Babylon] In a moment, in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries, for the great abundance of your enchantments. [14] Behold, they shall be as stubble,
The fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; it shall not be a coal to be warmed by, nor a fire to sit before! [15] Thus shall they be to you with whom you have labored, Your merchants from your youth; they shall wander each one to his quarter. No one shall save you.
In Review:
- Flee Out of Babylon (Jer. 50:8 & 51:6)
- Babylon is SUDDENLY fallen and DESTROYED (Jer. 51:8)
- In a moment; in one day Babylon is destroyed (Isa. 47:9 & Rev. 18:8)
- The Medes (Russians) and those in North Countries are raised up against Babylon (Jer. 50:3, 9, 41 & Jer. 51:11, 28 & Is. 13:17)
- The Russians will invade Rome and will take the city (Jer. 50:2, 9, 28-30 & Jer. 51:31 & Is. 13:17)
- The Beast Power and Alliances will burn Rome (Rev. 17:16 & Rev. 18 & Is. 13:19) Compare to:
- Babylon will be overthrown as Sodom and Gomorrah (Jer. 50:40 & Is. 13:19)
From these verses we can get a clear picture that the Russians, possibly along with Slavic allies, will invade Rome–Italy. It is likely the Russian army will break through the ‘eastern front’ and storm through Europe like a flood, into Germany, into Austria and down into Italy.
The Beast Power and the Ten Horns come to hate the whore at this time.
Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, betrayer, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed. [NIV]
The question is: does the Pope make an agreement with Eastern Empires, i.e: Russia and China. The same way the Vatican made a deal with Japan when Catholic populations fell under their control during WW2, will the Pope make similar agreements with Russia and China during end-times?
The Catholic Church is both a political and religious entity. Her allegiance remains with the Beast Power for a time. But if Catholics are being absorbed by the Chinese and/or Russians, for the sake of ‘her children’ and ‘pursuing peace’, will the Vatican make a backdoor deal, as with what happened with Japan?
The League of Cognac is yet another instance in which a pope made back-door dealings. With a French defeat in the Italian War of 1521 and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, growing in power, Pope Clement VII perceived that Charles V wished to dominate the Catholic Church and Italy.
The Pope, behind the Emperor’s back, formed an alliance with Charles V’s arch-enemy: King Francis I of France (as well as the Republic of Venice, Florence and Duchy of Milan) in order to resist the Habsburg Dynasty in Italy. This betrayal led to the Sacking of Rome in 1527 by Charles V mutinous troops.
Stepping back in history further: Pope John XII, called upon Otto I to depose Berengar II of Italy. Of which Otto was successful. However, fearing the rising power of Otto the Great–now the Holy Roman Emperor–Pope John XII sent envoys to the Magyars (whom Otto defeated at the battle of Lechfeld in 955), the Byzantine Empire, and Berengar II’s son, Adalbert to form an alliance against Otto.
When the pope’s plot was uncovered, Otto the Great besieged Rome in 963. Pope John XII confronted Otto’s army, dressed in armor and was able to repel them back to the Tiber River. However, realizing a battle engagement with the emperor would be unsustainable, he robbed the papal treasury and fled. Otto the Great then deposed him and elected Leo VIII. In continued soap-opera-like drama, John XII returned to Rome; Leo fled to Otto; John re-established himself as pope, but died shortly thereafter when a jealous husband threw him out a window for catching John in bed with the man’s wife.
Never trust a pope.
Another question is: if the Pope does make an agreement with eastern powers, is it done after the invasion of Europe or does the Pope make in agreement before the invasion of Europe. If the future Pope feels threatened by the rising and insurmountable power of Holy Roman Emperor, will he make alliances with the Emperor’s arch-enemies: Russia and China? Does this alliance cause the invasion of Europe?
There are many scenarios as to why the Beast and its ten horns will come to hate the whore, but she is called a whore for a reason. With power struggles between the Holy Roman Emperors and the Pope being commonplace, this author suspects the pope to betray the Beast Power in some political form; Isaiah 33:1 confirms that the destroyer, identified as ‘Assyria’ in the New Living Translation, will be betrayed.
Betray: Strong’s 898, bagad
Bagad: deal deceitfully; treacherously; unfaithfully; transgressor; depart
Strongs 989
A primitive root; to cover (with a garment); figuratively, to act covertly; by implication, to pillage — deal deceitfully (treacherously, unfaithfully), offend, transgress(-or), (depart), treacherous
But if the ten horns also come to hate the whore and are in agreement with the Beast to burn her with fire, then the Catholic Church hasn’t offended just one entity, but has offended ten more heads-of-state, which means this is a large-scale political betrayal.
These will be an agreement to burn her with fire. An angel–or a messenger–will descend from heaven and the earth will be lightened with its glory. Babylon will become a desolation. Kings of the earth will see the smoke of her burning and will stand afar off for fear of her torment.
The characteristics of an atomic bomb is first a brilliant, ethereal light that will cause blindness to any who look directly at it; the iconic mushroom cloud (the smoke of her burning); utter desolation; and radioactive fallout (fear of her torment).
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
In the entire course of human history there will be only three uses of the atomic bomb: Hiroshima; Nagasaki; and Rome. If Christ delayed His coming, there would be more. But thank God who has sent His Son to intervene before mankind annihilates itself.
During the Transfiguration of Christ, a bright cloud overshadowed those around him. On August 6th, 1945, on the Catholic ‘Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ’ a bright cloud overshadowed those in Hiroshima.
Three days later, while the Catholic citizens were preparing for the Feast of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary, Urakami–not Nagasaki–was bombed. The little girls of Junshin Jogakuin who chanted to Mary, offering up their souls to her; were killed–‘offered up’.
On August 15th, on the very day of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven: a holy day of obligation to all Catholics: Japan surrendered. Exactly 396 years when Francis Xavier, a Jesuit Priest, first arrived in Nagasaki, Japan.
Invisible hands chose Nagasaki: The Little Rome–The Little Babylon. Within a short amount of time, those same Invisible Hands will set in motion the decree against Rome, itself–against the Whore of Babylon: to take vengeance and the vengeance of His Temple.
Revelation 18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you his judgment against her.”
Citations
- https://quizlet.com/170976220/history-flashcards/
- https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/atomic-bombing-in-nagasaki-and-the-urakami-cathedral-nagasaki-atomic-bomb-museum/QRfpvy4V?hl=en
- https://www.mic.com/articles/95204/the-untold-story-of-how-japanese-steel-workers-saved-their-city-from-the-atomic-bomb
- https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-bombing-timeline
- https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4258
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/twists-fate-made-nagasaki-target-atomic-bomb
- https://www.globalzero.org/updates/the-atomic-bombings-why-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/
- https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/bombing-nagasaki-august-9-1945
- https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/99963/1/Otsuki_Tomoe_201606_PhD_thesis.pdf
- http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,802290,00.html
- https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1942v03/d665
Laodicea Rises 