A Woman Rides the Beast
by Dave Hunt Ó 1994 Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon.
Reviewed by Jackie Alnor, The Christian Sentinel Ó 1995

Dave Hunt is once again on target in sounding a much-needed alarm to a sleeping, apathetic church, reminding us to hold fast to the principles of the Reformation for which our spiritual ancestors fought and many shed their blood rather than recant the truth.

He has demonstrated once again in his latest labor of love that he is not afraid of controversy for the sake of truth even if it puts him out of favor with the academically correct evangelicals who are compromising the Gospel for the sake of unity with the Roman Catholic Church.

A Woman Rides the Beast flies in the face of the ecumenical movement that is trying to break down the barriers that separate the evangelical church from the Roman church. Such documents as "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the 3^rd Millennium," signed by leading figures in evangelical Christianity such as Pat Robertson, Charles Colson and J. I. Packer, whitewash the timeless truths of the Reformation for the sake of temporal political and societal expediency. History is being ignored and sometimes rewritten in an effort to see Catholicism as merely another Christian denomination and the Reformation as a semantical misunderstanding.

This timely book is a lesson on the historical past, the prophetic future and the perilous present. The premise is that the historic Roman Catholic Church fits all the characteristics of the woman who rides the beast in the 17^th chapter of the book of Revelation. The text gives many clues as to her identity and Hunt makes a solid case for believing that it is describing the Roman Catholic Church. No other entity yet known fits the description and it seems highly unlikely that such an entity will arise out of a vacuum some time in the future.

Some of the clues gleaned from Revelation concerning the woman are examined in detail, including:

She is a city built on seven hills or mountains (Rome has historically been called the City on Seven Hills).

She is called "Mystery Babylon" (Catholicism uses the term "mystery" often in its dogma).

She is in league with earthly kings and reigns over them (The Catholic Church is the only religious organization with ambassadors and a city that is a sovereign country).

She is called a "whore" in a spiritual sense, so she must be a religious entity that claims to belong to God.

She is clothed in purple and scarlet. (Cardinals all wear red and so does the pope in his finery.)

She’s identified as a woman. (Catholics call themselves the "Mother church" and give a woman, Mary, a prominent position.)

She has a golden cup (chalice) in her hand. (Need I elaborate more?)

She’s clothed with gold and precious stones. (There is gold on every Catholic altar even in the poorest parishes. Rome’s real estate holdings and art collections are too costly to estimate.)

She is the Mother of harlots. (Rome’s priests are frequently involved in immorality due to the difficulty in keeping their celibacy vows.)

She is drunk on the blood of the saints. (Remember the Inquisitions? How many people like John Hus has the Roman church killed for upholding the Word of God? Rome would have us forget.)

She is the mother of abominations. (Abominations is a term used in the Old Testament to describe idol worshippers; what church has more idols and bows down to a host?)

Hunt does a thorough job of dissecting the doctrines and dogmas of the Catholic Church to prove that she has a gospel of sacramental works and does not teach salvation by grace through faith though evangelicals today try to say she does.

One of the doctrines he takes on is that of apostolic succession and papal infallibility. The two go hand in hand. He spends a large bulk of time documenting papal atrocities down through the centuries. It is a good lesson is history. Although I studied this in the church history courses in Bible college, I am dumbfounded to read some of the horror stories of popes with mistresses and illegitimate offspring, of the papal office being bought and of all the immoral unconscionable edicts that were put out to eliminate any opposition to Rome’s hold of both religious and secular power.

Some say this may be stretching it a bit (I don’t agree), but did you know that the term, "Vicar of Christ" that is used to describe the pope actually means anti-Christ. Vicar, taken from "vicarious," is the Latin equivalent of the Greek "anti" and antichrist means another Christ or instead of Christ, which is the same meaning the Catholics give to it. (Yet Hunt thinks a future pope will be the false prophet, not the antichrist). The pope is also called "Holy Father" and his subjects bow down to him in homage, something Hunt points out that the apostle Peter did not allow anyone to do to him, yet they claim to sit in the seat of Peter, whom they falsely claim was the first pope.

Other Roman heresies Hunt takes apart that fit the description of "abominations" include Purgatory, indulgences, relics, and the Mass (which is the core of the Catholic church), and a continual blasphemy that they call the "unbloody sacrifice." Hunt points out that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sins and that Jesus never would have told us to literally drink His blood because the drinking of blood was forbidden in the Jewish sacrifices which were prototypes of His sacrifice. Can any evangelical be in fellowship with those who put Jesus to open shame daily on thousands of altars every day?

Rather than agreeing not to proselytize Catholics (which is what was signed by both sides in their covenant), Hunt encourages evangelicals to share the true gospel of grace with them and tell them to trust in Jesus (not through Mary) and give their lives over to Him, not trusting in their false church for their salvation. To do otherwise is to disobey the Lord Himself who told us to make disciples of all the nations and to teach them to observe all that He commanded us.

This book is a valuable lesson for us in these perilous times. It is a wake-up call to stand firm for the truth and to shun the folly of the academically correct propaganda being rammed down our throats from so-called theologians. The ecumenical movement is gaining steam and is leading the way in these last days toward the long ago prophesied great falling away and a false one-world religion.

Hunt puts it this way: "Paul wrote: ‘Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed’ (Galatians 1:8). He was referring to those of his day who ‘pervert the gospel of Christ’ (verse 7). These ‘Judaizing’ legalists, while partly affirming the true gospel, also declared that, in addition, one had to be circumcised and keep the law (Acts 15:24). That addendum perverted the gospel and brought Paul’s curse upon them. Catholicism has had 15 centuries to add things to the gospel that the Judaizers never imagined. It merits Paul’s curse."