[0:00] Loving Father, we are grateful for an occasion like this to be together. Thank you for the spiritual interest that you've placed in the hearts and minds of each of us. And we pray that today we'll be at least in some measure fed and used to stimulate us to further interest as well.
[0:15] Thank you for your gracious provision for us in each and every way. Thank you for the truth that you have been pleased to reveal that we'll be considering even this hour. We give this time to you with thanksgiving in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
[0:32] I think you all have sheets indicating that we are dealing with chapter 17 of the Revelation. And a couple of preliminary things I'd like to point out to you before we get underway is that chapter 17 and 18 can be somewhat confusing because if I understand this scenario correctly, and of course that's a big if, but if I understand it correctly, we are not seeing a chronological progression in chapter 17 and 18.
[1:06] So what I am suggesting is that these two chapters, which are very important and very key because they deal with spiritual and religious Babylon and commercial Babylon, both of which we are up to our eyeballs in to this day and have been ever since Genesis chapter 11.
[1:25] These are very, very important chapters. And the content does not move the narrative forward. And that's an important thing to keep in mind.
[1:36] So what I am suggesting is the material that is in chapter 17 and 18 that we will be looking at, at least 17 today, is descriptive of what has been taking place during the opening of the seals, during the revealing of the trumpet judgments, the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the vial judgments.
[2:04] The content in 17 and 18 has been in vogue during all of those revelations. And that's important to note.
[2:16] In other words, this is what is taking place during the whole spate of the time of the tribulation period. And we are going to see what has been the real, what shall I say, the real nemesis, the real enemy of all of humanity from time immemorial, even up to and including this present day, which of course we tend to identify as sin or the fallen nature, etc.
[2:51] And it is that, but it is more specifically one particular thing. And it is perhaps, I don't know if there is such a thing as an ultimate sin or not, but if there is, this would probably qualify.
[3:07] And the sin is idolatry. It is not coincidental that it begins the list of commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
[3:20] That is the big problem of humanity. Always has been, and it is to this day. I don't know if you are aware of it or not, and perhaps you've never made the connection, and I must be honest and say I never made the connection either.
[3:33] Until I really started thinking about these messages, and I am persuaded that the thing that was behind the 9-11 catastrophe that this nation experienced 10 years ago is idolatry.
[3:56] And the idol is none other than Allah, the God of Islam. He ranks right up there with Baal, with Ashteroth, with Chemosh, with Dagon, with Molech, with all of the other pagan deities that are found in the Old Testament and referred to in the New.
[4:19] Allah is just one more. Now, of course, that would be fighting words for any respectable Muslim, but we are convinced that this is precisely what the Scriptures teach. And I think you will see this unfolded as we move on.
[4:34] I scarcely know where to begin, but we do have a number of references that we've got to pull in to create a base for what is going to follow. So I would ask you, first of all, to turn to Jeremiah 51, and verses 24 and 25.
[4:50] And if you don't have your Bible, you'll just have to listen along as I read the text. Jeremiah 51, and beginning with verse 24.
[5:02] And the key player is Babylon. After all, this is what is going to be introduced as the mystery in Revelation 17.
[5:16] It is Mystery Babylon, the mother, or if you will, the originator, the mother, the originator of spiritual harlotry, which, of course, is another term for idolatry.
[5:33] And we will see how that is traced all the way back to Genesis chapter 11, where it first surfaces under the personality of a man by the name of Nimrod, whose name means rebel, and his wife Samarimus.
[5:54] And they have had an enormous impact on all of human civilization from that time to the present. The globe is infected with Babylonianism, which is spiritual harlotry and idolatry, and it is the nemesis that is addressed in Revelation chapter 17.
[6:19] And as John opens it, and he talks about this woman who is seated on the beast. The woman is this mother of harlots. And it is as if John is saying, I am revealing a secret.
[6:36] This is the word mystery, the meaning of the word mystery. The secret of who and what has been behind it all. Chapter 17 is an enormous expose of the real culprit.
[6:53] And it is represented in this woman who is riding on the scarlet beast. She is the harlot, the mother of harlotry. And in Jeremiah 51, God is speaking through the prophet, and he says, But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes, declares the Lord.
[7:25] Now, that limits it to their influence in the land of Israel, in Zion, because that is the apple of God's eye, and that is a particular concern to the deity.
[7:38] But then look at what he goes on to say. Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain. Many times a nation or a national entity is described as a mountain.
[7:54] I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroy the whole earth, declares the Lord. Now, how is that? Certainly, we can dismiss the idea of it being a physical kind of destruction.
[8:12] That's not what he's talking about. But he is talking about the influence of Babylon that has brought ruination to the whole globe, to the whole planet.
[8:25] The seeds of idolatry and rebellion were sown in Genesis chapter 11 in Babylon.
[8:36] Now, I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and I will make you a burnt-out mountain.
[8:47] And they will not take from you even a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations. You will be desolate forever, declares the Lord. Well, it hasn't happened yet, but it certainly is going to.
[9:00] And this will be the ultimate doom of Babylon. I cannot emphasize how much the Babylonian influence has pervaded the entire globe, and it manifests itself in different false deities worshipped throughout the ages, throughout the planet.
[9:19] And we see that surfacing time and time again in the Old Testament. And it begins, as I've referred to this a number of times, let's go there, to Genesis chapter 11.
[9:30] This is where it really gets kicked off, with this individual by the name of Nimrod and his wife Samarimus. She is not mentioned here, but you'll find these, by the way, mentioned in secular history, both Nimrod and Samarimus, because they are documented in secular history, and what is ascribed to them in the Bible is voiced as well in that.
[9:56] Now, let us begin, if we may, with Genesis. Let's see. Genesis.
[10:16] Boy, it's hard to know where to begin. Well, in Genesis 10, we've got the table of nations that are the descendants of Noah listed here.
[10:35] And what I'm looking for is... Well, where did he go? Well, where did he go? Where is Nimrod?
[10:57] Right. Cush. Okay. Cush. Ham is the grandfather. Verse 8. Thank you. Cush. Cush became the father of Nimrod. He became a mighty one on the earth.
[11:10] He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. And I want you to understand, please, that this is nothing to do with a compliment. This is a detraction.
[11:22] It is before the Lord conveys the idea of in the face of God. In a rebellious-like mode. He was a mighty hunter.
[11:33] This does not mean he was proficient at hunting game, that he was an expert marksman with a bow and arrow. It's got nothing to do with that. The man was a recruiter. He was a recruiter of others like himself.
[11:47] He was a rebel from the heart, and he sought to recruit rebels for the sole purpose of opposing the deity. And this is where so much of the idolatry that we are going to see stems from.
[12:00] And if you will come over to Genesis, let's take a look at 31. And we find an early surface of idolatry in a very unexpected place.
[12:14] Genesis chapter 31. And what seems to be completely unrelated to this is very much related.
[12:27] And it has to do, bald people, with Jacob and one of his wives, Rachel. You'll recall the story of how Jacob labored 14 years for these two wives, Leah and Rachel.
[12:43] And how he was cheated several times by his uncle Laban. And finally, with his wives, who of course were Laban's daughters, with his wives' consent and approval, they decided to extricate themselves from Laban.
[13:02] And when Laban went a far distance off to a sheep-shearing kind of situation, Jacob chose that as an opportunity to abscond with his material and his wives and their children in Laban's absence.
[13:19] So he did. He took off in the middle of the night. Laban was gone. Didn't know a thing about it. He came back. Where is everybody? And of course, they told him what happened. He was furious. And he got a group of men and they pursued them and finally overtook them.
[13:34] And when they did, they had a big showdown that is described here in Genesis 31. And this is one of the famous in-law battles in all of Scripture between Jacob and his father-in-law.
[13:46] And the thing that surfaces here that is very mysterious is very easily passed over. But I want you to note that in verse 17 of chapter 31, Then Jacob arose, put his children, his wives upon camels, and he drove away all his livestock and all his property, which he had gathered, his acquired livestock, which he had gathered, and paid an arum to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac, when Laban had gone to shear the flock.
[14:24] Then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father's. And Jacob deceived Laban, the Syrian, by not telling him that he was fleeing.
[14:43] And Rachel did not tell her husband Jacob that she had stolen the idols. Question. What are they doing with idols? These are the people of God.
[14:56] But you've got to understand the root here. Where is this place where they were with Laban? This is the same place that Abraham came from.
[15:08] Laban is Abraham's nephew. And when Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, the people were steeped in the worshipping of the god of the moon, the moon god, and the idols that went along with it.
[15:27] And if you understand the household idols and the significance of it, the idea in that culture was that those who possessed the household idols was like owning the deed to the farm.
[15:44] It had legal property rights involved with it. And what Rachel is doing here is taking these valuable assets that not only had pagan religious significance, but had legal significance in that culture.
[16:01] And she stole these because, no doubt, she was thinking, well, my husband, Jacob, deserves this anyway.
[16:11] And she stole them. And, of course, Laban is just furious about that because that's to be his decision as to what's to be done with the estate. And she hides them in her saddlebags. And Laban, Jacob doesn't know that she took them.
[16:25] And Laban catches up with them. And he says, okay, so you took off without saying goodbye. You didn't give me a chance to kiss my grandchildren goodbye and have a decent farewell and all the rest of it.
[16:35] And I can understand that. And you left and you were upset. But why did you take my household idols? And Jacob said, didn't take your household idols. We didn't take your gods. And he was so sure that he said, search.
[16:50] Search all my possessions. And wherever and whoever you find the household gods on, you do unto them as you please. Well, he didn't know that Rachel had taken them. Rachel had them hidden in her saddlebags.
[17:00] He searched everywhere. He came to Rachel's camel and said, Rachel said, well, if you want to search, you must. But I need to advise you that I am with the manner of woman now.
[17:14] And I don't know if that meant she was pregnant or if she was having her monthly cycle. In either case, for religious reasons, he would not want to pursue that.
[17:27] So he didn't. And they left with the idols. But the point is this. Here is idolatry recognized and supported in what we would consider a patriarchal family.
[17:42] And what are they doing with idols? And what's the big deal about idols anyway? All right. Now, before we go to Genesis or before we go to Revelation 17, I want you to come back to Exodus chapter 20.
[18:00] Boy, I bought a foreign Bible.
[18:15] And I don't know when I'm going to learn not to do that. Okay. Genesis, Exodus 31, 32, I'm sorry.
[18:27] Exodus 32. Now, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a God who will go before us.
[18:44] As for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me.
[19:01] Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he took this from their hand and fashioned it with a graven tool and made it into a molten calf.
[19:14] And they said, this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Now, doesn't that just bowl you over? That is just incredible. And why a golden calf?
[19:26] What's the significance of that? Do you not recall that on occasions prior to this, the children of Israel had registered second thoughts about having ever left Egypt?
[19:38] Remember that? When they complained, when we were in Egypt, at least we had leeks and onions and garlic to eat out here. We've got nothing. Why did the Lord bring us out here to let us die of thirst, to let us die of hunger, blah, blah, blah.
[19:49] And some of them wanted to get up a delegation and go back. Remember? No doubt these people, at least this element, was concerned that in fleeing Egypt, they had offended the God of Egypt.
[20:10] One of the gods of Egypt was called Apis, A-P-I-S. He was the bull god. They associated deity with animals.
[20:21] They had a crocodile god. They had a bull god. This is a makeshift image of Apis, the Egyptian deity, into a golden calf, ascribing this one as giving the credit for coming out of Egypt.
[20:38] And in making this image, they were paying obeisance and honor to this god with the intent of trying to appease it, which is as pagan as you can get, of course.
[20:48] But this is exactly what they were doing. And you know the long and the short of the story. Moses had this golden calf ground up into dust, gold dust, mixed it with water and made them drink it as a punishment for that.
[21:05] And it's right there in the text. And you go on and read it. They had the god Isis and the sun god Ra that is still recognized in Egypt even to this day in a historical, sentimental kind of way.
[21:22] And all of this goes back as far as Genesis 11, and it is continued on through Exodus. And what was the principal sin for which the nation of Israel was judged and brought into Babylonian captivity?
[21:40] Idolatry. Idolatry. Why were her sister tribes, the northern ten tribes, carried into Assyrian captivity? Idolatry. God said he was going to take them to a foreign land because of their worship of other deities.
[21:57] He told them when you come into the land, don't give your sons and daughters to the Canaanites. Don't take theirs because if you do, they will lead you astray. They will lead you away from me and following their deities.
[22:09] And that's exactly what they did. Now, let's get a good firm fix on this because this is really, really important. What's the big deal about idolatry?
[22:21] Why in the world would anyone fashion an idol and worship it and bow down to it and make offerings to it? And why do they do this today?
[22:33] Are you aware that in India, and this number completely slaves me, I've asked questions about it. I've never gotten any answers. It is mind-boggling. Do you know how much a million is?
[22:45] No, you don't. Neither do I. But can you imagine 330 million? gods?
[22:58] My first question is, how in the world would they know? Who could ever count them? If there were that existed, who could count them? And yet, this is what Hinduism insists on.
[23:11] The presence of 330 million gods. How about 330? No. 330 million. Well, that's, of course, an incomprehensible number.
[23:24] Nobody knows how they arrived at it. But every decent Hindu insists on it, that there are 330 million gods. And if you go to India, you can see different representations of them on display and carted around.
[23:35] And one of the chief ones, of course, is the cow, the sacred cow. And you've got children on the streets of New Delhi and Bombay who are dying from starvation.
[23:49] And there are cows wandering around all over the place that nobody can touch and nobody can harm because they are sacred cows. This is paganism at its worst.
[24:00] What's the big deal behind idolatry? How and why could anybody be led into that? You fashion something with your own hands out of wood or stone, proclaim it to be a god and worship it?
[24:19] Is that rational to you? What's behind that? Why would anybody do anything like that? What's the benefit of idolatry? There's two things.
[24:32] And they are always in play anytime, anytime idolatry surfaces, whether it is obvious or whether it is not seen to be all that obvious.
[24:46] There are always two things. And one of them is power and the other is possessions. That is at the basis of all idol worship.
[25:01] It is the acquisition of power or the acquisition of possessions. The god of fertility that is mentioned so many times in the Old Testament.
[25:13] He's called Baal. B-A-A-L. And sometimes they are in a plural. These are the gods of fertility. And the idea was if you made offerings to the god of fertility, to Baal, he would increase the womb of your wife and would increase the womb of your livestock and they would bear plenty.
[25:39] They would have offerings that they would make to the god or the goddesses of agriculture, of the crops, for the idea, of course, of obtaining a bumper crop.
[25:54] Now, I want you to turn to another reference that we've got to use here for background. Jeremiah 44. Jeremiah 44.
[26:07] And the prophecy of Jeremiah. This is a remarkable passage. Let's begin with verse 7.
[26:24] Jeremiah 44 and 7. Now then, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, so as to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant, provoking me to anger with the works of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are entering to reside.
[26:59] This is not to be confused with Egypt back in the book of Exodus. This is hundreds and hundreds of years later when they are on better terms with Egypt. They were using Egypt as a sanctuary or as a refuge.
[27:11] And, of course, they were thinking in terms of Egypt siding with them, protecting them from Babylonian invasion. Burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are entering to reside, so that you might be cut off and become a curse and reproach among all the nations of the earth.
[27:33] Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
[27:49] But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in my law or statutes which I have set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am going to set my face against you for woe, even to cut off all Judah.
[28:12] And read on, scan down with me, if you will, to verse 14. So there will be no refugees or survivors for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt.
[28:22] Again, that's for refuge. To reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are going to return, longing to return and live, for none will return except a few refugees.
[28:35] Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods. This is the idea of appeasing them and obtaining from them what they hoped would be and abundance of either possessions or power.
[28:53] That's always at the base of it. Along with all the women who were standing by as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Patros in the land of Egypt, responded, they responded to Jeremiah saying, now, Jeremiah has just lowered the boom on them.
[29:08] He's been saying, your idolatrous practices are going to end up in divine judgment. You need to abandon this stuff and get your act together and repent of your idolatry.
[29:23] And his message was loud and clear. And here was their response to Jeremiah. Verse 16.
[29:34] As for the message, Jeremiah, that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you.
[29:49] But rather, we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths by burning sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out libations to her just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings, and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.
[30:15] For then, we had plenty of food and we were well off and saw no misfortune. When we gave these gods their due, they took care of us.
[30:30] They blessed us. They provided us. But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine.
[30:50] And, said the women, when we were burning sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and were pouring out libations to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out libations to her?
[31:07] Now, what they're saying is this. We honored these gods. We made sacrifices and poured out libations to them and you know what?
[31:20] It paid off. They produced. And when we stopped doing that, the bottom fell out. Now, what is this but leveling an indictment against the true God, Jehovah?
[31:37] We're supposed to be His people. He didn't care for us. The only action that we got, the only benefit that we got, the only provision that we got was when we made sacrifices and poured out libations to these idols and they came through for us.
[31:53] So, what do you think we ought to do? We're going to stick with the winner. This is what's getting results. And you know something?
[32:03] In one way, shape, or form, this has been the conflict all through the ages from Genesis up to the present time.
[32:13] Now, let's go back to Revelation 17. Thought we'd never get there. In your text that you've got before you. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me, saying, Come unto me, come hither, I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication.
[32:52] Since when? Since the beginning. Since Genesis 11. Since Babylon. This that he is describing is mystery Babylon.
[33:08] This has been behind it all. This is that underlying evil that sometimes was obvious and sometimes was not obvious but was always there.
[33:21] This is God's number one competitor. Idolatry. And that is precisely why the Ten Commandments begins with this.
[33:33] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This is the one, verse 2, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. This is spiritual idolatry.
[33:46] Everybody knew what physical fornication was and physical adultery was. It was a husband or a wife being unfaithful to their mate and engaging in relations with another party.
[34:00] And this is exactly what God is saying that mankind has been guilty of doing in rejecting him and instead taking unto themselves this one who is described as the mystery Babylon.
[34:17] Committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. This is a spiritual intoxication.
[34:29] It is worldwide. It permeates all cultures. It's all over the globe. It always has been. It continues to be. And here is where it is going to meet its demise.
[34:44] That's what this chapter is all about. Continuing on. She has been.
[34:55] She has. The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk. That is put in a spiritual stupor with the wine of her fornication to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
[35:13] I'm sorry. Verse 3. I read it right up to the top of the page. Verse 3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns.
[35:34] And we've already seen this surface before in chapter 13. This is the Antichrist and the false prophet. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color decked with gold and precious stones and pearls.
[35:47] In other words, she is made to really look good. Very alluring. Very attractive. Very appealing. Which of course this kind of thing is. And, continuing on in verse 5, or having a golden cup in her hand full of abomination and filthiness of her fornication.
[36:09] This is all a spiritual thing. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
[36:25] This is another way of saying this one represents the beginning of the world's evil. It all flows from this. and it all started in what is known as modern Iraq or the land of Babylon.
[36:42] It all was engineered out of the mind of Nimrod and Samarimus and the establishment of idolatry and the attractiveness that they made it and the way the world is picked up on it.
[36:53] And here's the confusing thing about idolatry. It takes so many different forms. It can be materialism.
[37:05] That's the thing that humanity is given to today. Materialism as opposed to the spiritual. And this one is described as the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
[37:28] This idolatry extends itself into every and any way of opposing the truth and the truth as it is revealed in Christ.
[37:39] The truth as it is revealed in anything. And she has an influence that is so pervasive that it engulfs every society and every culture that has ever surfaced anywhere in the world.
[37:54] You can equate this almost with a humanistic materialistic bent with demonism at the base of it. It makes man the measure of all things and anything but the truth.
[38:07] It is a remarkable expose that is being given here. It is as if John is saying you know the world as long as man has been here has been engaged in conflict and war and ruination and bloodshed and deceit and everything that gobbles up humanity this is at the base of it all.
[38:36] This is where it all comes from. This is what it all goes back to. This is what humanity has been struggling with from the time there has been humanity.
[38:47] This is the underlying culprit. It is indeed an expose of and the angel and John says when I saw her I wondered with great admiration.
[39:03] This is not a positive admiration. This isn't a oh isn't she beautiful isn't she gorgeous. His admiration I think is limited to wow I can't believe the impact and the extent that this thing has carried out.
[39:25] This is amazing. This is overwhelming and it permeates every culture and the angel said wherefore didst thou marvel I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her which has the seven heads and ten horns.
[39:47] This is religious Babylon. This is spiritual idolatry and this woman is riding the beast. with seven heads and ten horns and what that signifies is she is in control.
[40:02] She's in the saddle. She's calling the shots. She is the one who is directing the activities of the beast with seven heads and ten horns and who is this?
[40:14] This is the Antichrist. Religious Babylon is going to dominate and control and influence the Antichrist. She's going to call the shots but guess what's going to happen later on?
[40:27] The text will reveal this. The Antichrist bucks her, throws her off the saddle and turns on her. He is going to allow her to think she is in control as long as she serves his purpose and when she ceases to do that he will turn on her.
[40:51] So this is a militaristic Antichrist that is going to turn on and consume the religious influence and it will, well let's read on, the story becomes pretty apparent.
[41:11] I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that you saw was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition.
[41:26] We've seen him surface in Revelation 13. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is.
[41:44] And here is the mind which has wisdom. the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. Now a number of scholars have identified this right off the bat as being Rome.
[41:59] We know that Rome sits on seven hills and seems to answer to this description. But there are more than seven hills in Rome and that complicates things. So if there were just seven that would be different.
[42:11] But is Rome involved in this? Absolutely. Is Roman Catholicism involved in this? Absolutely. And so is apostate Protestantism and so will Islam and so will Hinduism.
[42:24] They are all going to be in it. This woman represents a one world church. A one world religious entity.
[42:35] This is ecumenicity at its finest. And it is going to succeed in pulling all faiths together. But they will be faiths that have no particular doctrinal affinity.
[42:51] They will be willing to surrender whatever belief or whatever doctrine they have for the sake of unity. Because with these people truth is not the big item.
[43:03] Getting along will be the big item. Cooperation will be the big item. And they will be willing to sacrifice whatever they need to because they don't hold them with real convictions anyway.
[43:15] And this will be a hodgepodge of ecumenicity. It will include apostate Roman Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, apostate Islam, apostate Hinduism.
[43:27] All of these things will be part and parcel of this congregation. And this of course is all after the church is gone, raptured out, off the scene. This is tribulational content.
[43:38] And there are seven kings, five are fallen, one is, the other is not yet come. And we've identified these time and again in Daniel and in Revelation as Greece, Persia, Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt, Rome is, and the revived Roman Empire, constituting the states of Europe, etc., and some others, will once again, I suspect, be on the front scene.
[44:05] And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seventh. This is the Antichrist, and we saw him surface in chapter 3. So it is going to be satanic plus human religiosity plus the cults and isms.
[44:22] It is going to be the most incredible hodgepodge of religiosity that has ever been assembled, and it will be very powerful and very influential, and the time will come when the beast that she is writing feels that she has served her purpose and he will turn on her.
[44:41] So let's read on. And the ten horns, next page, and the ten horns which you saw are ten kings which have yet received no kingdom, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
[44:57] This is a very short period of time, of course, before they meet their demise. And these have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast, and they shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them, for he is lord of lords and king of kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful.
[45:23] And he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes nations and tongues.
[45:33] How many? All of them. All of them. This is the world's population that will be under this domination at that time. And the ten horns which you saw 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.
[46:00] I don't know how to interpret this other than to say that this is a complete kind of politicism and militarism that is going to overthrow and reject entirely everything spiritual, whether it is phony or whatever, everything that is religious, all of these conglomerates, all of these ecumenicists all together are going to be repudiated, rejected, and overpowered in favor of crass militarism and the political entities.
[46:36] And God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God should be fulfilled.
[46:46] And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. what is that great city? It is Babylon.
[46:58] It is Babylonian ism. It is a mindset. It is an attitude. It is a worldwide cult. And the whole world buys into it.
[47:12] And you know something? The whole world buys into it today. The whole world is always bought into it. This is the darkness that pervades the world out of which men come when they are brought to light in Christ.
[47:25] Everybody comes from this mindset, from this background. This is that which permeates the entire globe. It is in every continent, in every culture, in every language, in every race.
[47:40] It is epidemic. And it is systemic to humanity. This is the big expose. We have a few minutes for Q&A. I suspect that you have some.
[47:51] I know I do. But I will be glad to entertain any of yours. Anyone? Marietta?
[48:04] This great ecumenical movement we see going on is actually a pretty way to this. It could very well be, and it probably is.
[48:14] It is rather slow growing, but it is picking up steam. And I don't know if you recall or not, but that which gave this a real push forward was Pope John XXIII with the ecumenical council that he convened that brought people from all faiths and religions all over the world in, and they just had a big love fest that wouldn't quit.
[48:41] And that is contributory to it. But I think it is a big mistake to say that this is all about Roman Catholicism. This is all about religion in general, including Roman Catholicism, including Protestantism, including Hinduism, including Buddhism, including Islam.
[49:02] All of these are going to be in this curious mix, and they are going to have an enormous impact in the latter days. Carolyn?
[49:13] It's kind of hard to think that the Islam could ever be looking for you with all of the other, they are so strong and pushing themselves away from and everybody else is going to take control of something.
[49:28] That's true. That's true. I would agree with your assessment about that, except to say that we are still talking about spiritual blindness, and there's no blindness like spiritual blindness.
[49:42] Islam and its leaders are going to do whatever they think is in the best interest of their people.
[49:54] They've got their apostates too. They really do. Marvis? Speaking kind of to that, I was thinking the whole idea from the book Israel Stein is so, if that is how things turn out, and it looked, if I remember correctly, the Muslim religion eventually would be attacked and kind of fall apart there, except you would have these other Muslims who are what we call more moderate now, who want to say, yeah, we love everybody, and we're not trying to push our religion on you, they would be the ones that could end up in this ecumenical movement, and the more radicals would have been already done away with.
[50:49] You need to remember that every religion, all the false religions, they all have their radicals, they all have their moderates, and they all have their apostates, and Christianity is no different, and Islam is no different, Judaism is no different, there are people who subscribe to those particular faiths, and they take them very seriously, there are others who are more middle of the road, there are others who are the Sienese, we call them, preachers call them the Sienese, they're people you see in church on Christmas and Easter, and every faith has, every faith has Sienese, Islam has them, Judaism has them, everybody has them, you know, so that's all across the board, yeah.
[51:44] Regardless of what their religious background is, many people, most people, I think, fall into the category of following what they're shown to follow, and never investigate the foundation.
[52:03] Oh yeah, that's very true, that's very true. So they're easily persuaded to anything. Yeah, yeah, you're right, absolutely, absolutely.
[52:14] Mike? It's another way of saying I think that all the moderates during the tribulation are going to be the easy ones to fall for whatever is presented.
[52:24] Yeah, the people who will be most vulnerable are the people with the least convictions. They are the wishy-washy ones, they go, they just, these are the ones that hold their finger to the wind, see which way it's blowing, and that's the way they go.
[52:40] Yeah, and you'd be surprised how many people are like that, even in Christendom. It's hard to imagine the 144,000 when we go out and evangelize and win.
[53:00] It's hard to imagine how they're going to survive, and I guess the answer is that most of them do not. No, they will survive, but the only reason they do survive, as revealed in chapter 7 of Revelation in 14, is that they have the seal of God upon them, otherwise they would have a bullseye on their back and they'd never survive, but they are virtually indestructible, the 144,000 have the seal of God in their foreheads, and they will not be subject to what others will be.
[53:34] People are going to be dying right and left around them, believers and unbelievers. Believers are going to be martyred, and I take it by horrible numbers, horrible numbers.
[53:48] Yeah, I was referring to the believers who are listening to the 144. I understand that the 144 are protected, but those who are convinced by the 144, their message, they won't survive.
[54:02] many of them will not. No, many of them will not. And you got to remember, they won't be able to transact any business. They won't be able to buy food or water. They won't be able to subsist.
[54:15] They'll just have to scrounge and try to keep body and soul together as best they can. And a lot of them will probably die of starvation and disease. There's going to be a horrible price for these people to pay who come to face during the tribulation period.
[54:32] Many of them are not going to survive that. Yes? When you get to the great white throne judgment, by that time and all this has passed, are there going to be some believers still alive at that moment?
[54:46] And does the great white throne judgment speak about that? Well, I think the great white throne judgment is described in Revelation 19 is after all of these events are history.
[54:59] And everything is wrapped up. And the only thing that remains is this judgment. And that's when the books are opened and everyone is judged out of those books.
[55:13] And... Are you Christians of our... Those who have been believers and have somehow survived, they are with the Lord at that time? Oh, yeah. Those who are not... Yeah. Are... They're dead in waiting judgment?
[55:23] Yeah. So the great... Okay. And the sea gave up the dead which were in them, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every one according to their works. And this is entirely different, of course, from the believers' appearance before the awards from the judgment seat of Christ.
[55:41] It's radically different. Yeah. This whole world is really in for something, I'll tell you. And we're heading that way at breakneck speed. Any other?
[55:54] Yes, Mike? Getting back to the discussion about moderates, you know, pre-tribulation moderates that are surrounding us now. Unless they become radical in their beliefs and accept Christ, they're also people.
[56:17] Yeah, well, radical, I suppose radical is open to definition, interpretation. Someone said an extremist is someone who is more radical than I am.
[56:33] you know. But we seem to be in a situation now where anyone who lives in Christ are considered right.
[56:47] It's going to become more so, I think. You're right, and it's going to become more so. We are identified as the narrow ones. And some even call us bigots, you know.
[57:03] But I've told people in the past this whole idea of the exclusiveness of Christ being the only way of salvation is not something that Christians thought of.
[57:15] It wasn't our idea. We're just repeating what the one who devised the plan said. And the reason that Christ, of course, is exclusively the way of salvation is simply because he's the only way that God has provided.
[57:33] He hasn't provided any other way. That's why he's the only way. And that message and that insistence will become less and less tolerated as time goes on.
[57:50] We've seen even in our short lifetime the movement in that way, in that direction. anything else before we dismiss? John? Verse 17, for God had put it in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree.
[58:07] And that's talking about the power that's setting on the beast. Now, wait, I'm not sure what it was.
[58:19] To fulfill his will and to agree. is that like when God hardened Pharaoh's heart?
[58:30] I suspect that it is. Where they are predisposed to that anyway. Well, the text in Exodus talks about God hardening Pharaoh's heart.
[58:47] But he never does that until Pharaoh hardened his own heart on multiple occasions. And then it is as though God confirmed it and locked him in to that.
[59:02] And I suspect that that is what's going to be involved here too. I really think so. Good point. Yeah. You know, there's one thing that is always in vogue that is the coin of the realm as far as God is concerned in coming to him.
[59:21] And it has been this way from Genesis to Revelation and that is man's repentance. Man's acknowledgement of being wrong and being willing to come to the right.
[59:36] That's reversing yourself. That's repentance. And we saw going through Revelation that as a result of all of these calamities that are brought upon the planet and the enormous loss of life.
[59:54] And then John adds, and in spite of this, men did not repent or turn from their sin. And each time, it was another wake-up call.
[60:06] Each time, man has an opportunity to reverse himself. And of course, some will do that. Some will do that. Some do. And you did. you wouldn't be here.
[60:18] So not everybody refuses to repent. And we all have the capacity and the ability to do so. And it is our refusal to do so that will one day be the basis for our judgment.
[60:29] It's a really solemn thing. So the way to repentance is always open. Jonah did it and God reversed. And Nineveh did it and God reversed.
[60:42] God always relents when repentance is there. Because when you repent, you come over to God's side. You acknowledge that your side is wrong and you embrace his side.
[60:53] That's what repentance is. It's a change of mind. It results in a change of heart that produces a different behavior. That's what it's all about. Thank you all for being here today and appreciate your questions.
[61:07] Lord willing, next time we meet, we'll be right here. And it will be what will somebody tell me what Friday this is?
[61:21] This is the second? Okay. We'll be here second Friday in I can't believe I'm saying this, October? And we'll be in chapter 18 then.
[61:32] Thank you. Thank you.