Welcome once again, friends, to this very important presentation from our Landmarks of Prophecy series. Welcome those who are watching or if you're watching the video stream from around the world and it's very exciting and a privilege to be able to open God's Word with you. Tonight's presentation is a very important one and it can be a very difficult one. Not just maybe for me to present in the right spirit - make it clear - but to receive and to hear. And so I pray that we'll all be praying in our hearts that, as it says in Revelation, the Lord will give us ears to hear what the Spirit says to the church.
Now we're going to begin, as we do, with our title for our lesson tonight is called 'The Daughter's Deadly Dance.’ And it's based on a story you'll find in several gospels, in particular, Mark chapter 6, verses 17 through 29. It's about John the Baptist and how he met his end. King Herod, who was the son of the king who tried to kill Jesus as a baby, he believed John the Baptist was a prophet, but what happened was Herod ended up basically stealing his brother Philip's wife - her name was Herodias. Philip had the territory to the north of Galilee and Herod had the area of Galilee and the surrounding region down to Jerusalem. And John the Baptist had the audacity to call that adultery. Well, this is the king and now his wife that he took from his brother - he was a wealthier king - she was more attracted to be with a younger brother. John the Baptist began to say that was a sin and it was adultery and he did it publicly because he's calling the whole nation to repent and he thinks the king needs to be a better example. Well, that really infuriated Herodias. She pushed her husband to have John imprisoned.
You find that mentioned in Luke 3, verses 19 and 20. "But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him...for all the evils which Herod had done, ...shut up John in prison." But he just left him there in prison. He was afraid to do anything to him because not only - he knew the people loved and respected John, but he believed that the power that John had - that he might be a prophet of God and it doesn't go well if you kill prophets. And so, he was sparing John.
Well Herodias hatched what she thought was a fool-proof plan. Herod's birthday was coming up and she planned a big party and invited everybody in his realm to come. And after he had had a few drinks - he used to like to watch her daughter - young Salome - come out and dance. And she came out and she did this provocative, seductive dance and as she had expected - I guess he was in the habit of making, kind of, bombastic promises, he said, 'What do you want? Up to half my kingdom and it's yours.' - He was showing how generous he was in front of the other party guests - 'Up to half my kingdom. Anything you want, it's yours.' She didn't know what to ask for. She went to her mother and said, 'What should I ask for?' She didn't ask for a gift card to Nordstrom or something like that - or Macy's - her mother said, 'You want, right away, the head of John the Baptist on a platter.' And the king, when he heard that, he was very sad and - but there were all the guests and, you know, a king, when he makes a promise he needs to keep his word. And so after this counsel from the mother, Herod had to keep his promise. An executioner was sent to the prison and with no fanfare or formality, the prophet was killed there in prison - alone. And his disciples came and retrieved his body.
So what I want you to especially notice here is that, during the period of Christ's ministry - Jesus had begun His ministry - there was a mother-daughter team that persecuted the prophets of God. Not only did Herod do this to John the Baptist, but later Herod was involved in trying Jesus, himself.
You know, the Bible tells us there was another Old Testament team - that's the first question in our lesson. Question #1: What other mother and daughter team persecuted God's people in the Old Testament? You read your answer - 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 13 - that infamous queen of the northern kingdom - her name was Jezebel. When you hear the name 'Jezebel' does that conjure up good images in your mind or is it usually somebody that's evil? Not too many people name their daughter Jezebel. Not too many people name their sons Nero. It's kind of what you save for your dog, right? It was a person who went down in biblical history in infamy because she was guilty of killing the prophets of God - and she tried to kill Elijah several times - killed many other prophets.
Now the thing I want you to notice about Jezebel, she had a daughter whose name was Athaliah, and here you have Jezebel, who lived during another three and a half-year period. Now I want you to notice this number, because this number appears in the book of Daniel. You may not know it appears in the book of Esther. This number appears in the book of Revelation, and it appears during the life and ministry of Jesus. That number is 1,260 days, alias: forty-two months - a Jewish month - thirty days - forty-two months - 1,260 days or a time, a times and the dividing of time. A 'time' in Hebrew was a complete circle of the seasons or one year. A times meant a couple or a pair of years - you've got a time - that's one, and a couple - that's two, and a half. I can't do that with my fingers. Three and a half, right? So that number must be very important to God because He says that number every way you can think of saying that number.
During that 1,260 day period there was a famine during the time of Elijah. It's mentioned, also, in the book of James. Then you have 1,260 days during Jesus' life when He preaches during a time of persecution. John the Baptist - persecuted. You've got Herodias and her daughter persecuting the prophets. You've got jezebel and her daughters persecuting the prophets, and then Revelation says there is a prophetic 1,260 years where Babylon and her daughters persecute the prophets. All of it starts coming together when you take that in.
Alright, let's do Question #2, then we're going to read something out of the Bible. Question #2 - this is the third time we've mentioned this, but we're really going to drill down into it tonight, what is the second angel's message in Revelation 14? You read in Revelation 14:8, "And there followed another angel, saying," - what is it? - 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." It's a she - Babylon - fallen. Why does it say 'fallen, fallen?' Because Babylon fell in the Old Testament. During the time of Nebuchadnezzar God's people were free to come out of Babylon and go back to the Promised Land. This is now spiritual Babylon falling in New Testament times. You've got two falls happening here. Again, God's people will now be free to come back to the Promised Land.
Alright, Question #3: How does God symbolize Babylon in Revelation 17? We're going to prepare to read this - Revelation 17, verse 18, "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." So let me go ahead and - go to your Bibles - I'm going to go with you to Revelation chapter and we're going to read this together. I won't read it all, but the first few verses anyway. Now, you know, we've taken time, we've read Revelation 12, 13, half of 14, now we're going to 17. "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls" - these are the vials of wrath that are being poured out - "he came and he talked with me saying, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the Kings of the earth" - or governments - "have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away" - that's some strong language - "so he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast" - though your sins be as? Scarlet. It's talking about sin here - "woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy" - we'll find out what blasphemy is - that's also in Daniel - "having seven heads" - how many heads? Seven. "Seven heads and ten horns" - very similar to the beast that we find in Revelation 12 - "and the woman is arrayed" - she's wearing - "purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And on her head" - on her forehead - "a name written:" - interesting how many have names written in their forehead in Revelation - "mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, 'Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns."
He goes on then and he gives the interpretation, but I want to jump to that verse we just read a moment ago. Go to verse 18, last verse in this chapter, "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Now when John was writing Revelation, what city was reigning over the kings of the earth? Rome. Rome is the one who imprisoned him. That was the empire back then. And what does a woman represent in prophecy? A church. A church. So here you have a woman - a what? Church in Rome with great power.
Now, I want to be as gentle as I can - as I should. You want me to tell you what the Bible says, right? You weren't very enthusiastic with that response. I already shared with you that I think the first beast in Revelation chapter 12 - and what I'm sharing with you is not new. This is actually very old. But most people have lost it - with all the modern, evangelical preaching that you hear these days - some of it is good, some of it is just foam, cotton candy stuff. But you don't hear these great prophetic protestant truths anymore, but the first beast in Revelation chapter 12 was symbolic of a beast as a nation or a power - the Roman Catholic church. Second beast it's talking about North America and Protestants. Here you have Babylon now in chapter 17 - same power - and her daughters - same power - talking about the daughters are the churches that have come out of Catholicism when there was this great divide, but they still bear resemblance to the mother in some of the theology. That's just a quick overview of that. Yeah, I'll share that with you in a minute. I've got to let you digest that before I give you too much more.
Alright, so there's a list of criteria that are given here that tell us about who this woman is. For one thing, we read, and I'm going to go through just A on through the letters here, it says she's guilty of what? Verse 3 - blasphemy. This is review. We gave you several cases and quotes, that are in an earlier lesson, of the claims that are made by the Roman Catholic power, of their divine prerogatives. Here's just another one: "The Pope is of so great a dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God." And a biblical definition for blasphemy would be to claim the prerogatives or the personage of God. It's called blasphemy - putting yourself in the place of God. What's the sin that cannot be forgiven? Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying - there's going to be Popes, no doubt, in Heaven - I'm not saying that they're - once a person claims this, they can't be forgiven because it's not just blasphemy. God doesn't say blasphemy can't be forgiven, he says 'Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven.' There's a difference, right?
And it will tell us something about the attire here - answer B - what is she wearing? - "She is dressed in purple. . . And scarlet." And I don't know if you've seen a Vatican enclave - or conclave - but the bishops are wearing scarlet and the cardinals are wearing - or the cardinals wear scarlet and the bishops wear purple. I might have gotten that backwards. But those - well, let me get it straight. I've got it in my notes here. At official functions, they are told what they are supposed to wear. Yeah, scarlet for the cardinals and bishops wear purple - is the official colors. That's - fits that definition. What else does it go on to say? What is the woman wearing? Gold, pearls, precious stones - are you aware that the Roman Catholic church is, by far, the wealthiest religious institution in the world and it ranks right up there with the wealthiest corporations in the world, with its annual budget? In real estate alone, are you aware that in most of the major cities in the world they have prime real estate? Because one of the first things that would happen, especially in South America, first thing that would happen - a town would grow around - the church was the center of town. There would be a big plaza and everything from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City to St. Peter's basilica in the middle of Rome - and you go around the world - just in property. How many people do you know that own multiple pieces of art by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci? Not to mention, I don't know if it's still true, a few years ago they were the largest holder of silver in the world and many other priceless treasures. And so it is a very wealthy organization, in spite of the terrible wrath of lawsuits that have come against them in recent years because of some of the improprieties that we know have happened.
Answer C: She is called the mother. Now you may not know, but the Pope is actually the pastor of a particular congregation - not just the whole church at large - but in Rome, they've got the Lateran church. That is the Pope's official congregation church there. And you can see the inscriptions in Latin here on the marble in front of that church. This is what it says in translation: "The sacred Lateran, mother and the head of all churches of the city and the world." Meaning city of Rome and the world. And so, frequently, they use the title that they are the mother church and they freely admit that the Protestants that came out of the Catholic church are straying children that need to come back. I don't know if some of you saw - I did a video that turned into a YouTube a few months back, where Pope Francis made a very heartfelt appeal to Protestants. It was played at a Kenneth Copeland Evangelical conference. Any of you see that video? It's got like 600,000 - over a million views, actually, because it's on a few different sites. And it's a very direct appeal that these wandering children come back - that we embrace again. And it was so well done, it made me have second thoughts. I thought, 'Wow, that's such a nice appeal.' And then I look at the Bible and I said, 'Wait a second now, there's theology problems here. It won't work.
Answer D: It says she has harlot daughters who also are fallen. Now, I probably ought to say this quickly just so that nobody misunderstands. I am not picking these words. God picks these words. Do you know, not only does God say that there are Protestant and Catholic churches that fill the role of harlot, he says his people, in the Old Testament, he called them a harlot. So don't think that we're trying to be derogatory. This is the language God uses both for Israel in the Old Testament - you ever read the book of Hosea? He compares His church to a harlot. Why? Because He said, 'I married you and you are going after other lovers by worshiping other gods' - they got - His people in the Old Testament got involved in idolatry and they got involved in worshiping other gods and mingling the worship of Baal with the worship of God. That's why Elijah said, 'How long do you halt between two opinions? Because His people were - they were, you know, like being an unfaithful wife. They kept going out with the other pagan religions around them. God said, 'Do not let your children marry their children.' He called it adultery. He called it harlotry. So the language in Revelation 17 - I know it's strong, but it's the same language he used for His people in the Old Testament. So is that clear? It's that - I'm not trying to be hard on any Protestant - I'm a Protestant, technically - or Catholic, I'm just saying whenever God's people stray from the Word of God, He calls it harlotry.
So children typically look like their parents. There's going to be some similarities - between one parent or another - and, in the same way, if you have daughters there are going to be similarities between the daughters and the mother. And so you're going to find that there are certain relics of the Roman religion that many Protestants took with them when they separated because they did not completely separate. They still held to some things that had no biblical foundation. It says this power - talking about Revelation 17 still - that she persecuted and martyred the saints. So this was a persecuting power and, you know, friends, from the time that - 538, when the Pope really received an army and political power, until 1798, conservative estimates say 30 million to 50 million people died directly as a result of the church and its persecutions. Because they sent armies into - you've heard of the Crusades. You've heard of the Inquisition. And this is not something, again, I'm not trying to be hard, I'm just interpreting prophecy - this is what the Bible says. Guilty of the blood of the saints. Did God's people in the Old Testament kill prophets? What did Jesus say? 'Woe unto you Jerusalem who kill the prophets that are sent unto you.' So, again, they were His people but they were doing terrible things.
This has also happened, historically - not just before Christ with the Jews, it's happened after Christ with the Christians. And genuine Christians had to flee into the wilderness. That same period of time: 1,260 days, while you've got that mother-daughter team that is persecuting the prophets. It says the woman went into the wilderness and God fed her there. When Elijah went into the wilderness - now I'm jumping back to Revelation 12 - when Elijah went into the wilderness during that 1,260 days, did God miraculously feed him? When the children of Israel came out of Egypt and went into the wilderness, did God feed them? When Jesus fasted for forty days, at the end of the forty days, did God feed Him? You know, it says angels ministered unto Him - after the devil left him. If you've been fasting forty days, how do you think the angels ministered to Him? They gave Him food - just like the angels gave Elijah food after he had been in the wilderness.
And so now you have God's people going into the wilderness and God feeds her with what? The bread of life. Some of you have heard of the Waldenses and the Hussites and the Albigenses - these were whole nations and people that had to flee into remote places in the Italian Alps and other regions because their religion - biblical religion - was outlawed. They would copy out the Bible by hand. They taught it to their children. Their children had entire books of the Bible memorized so that the people would not lose it. They would go into the villages and share the Word of God and started a revival. But it was a persecuting power. Matter of fact, here's a quote from the history of the Popes, "Great numbers were driven from their habitations with their wives and children, stripped and naked ...many of them inhumanely massacred." And so, this is what happened during that time.
One more feature, that we read in Revelation 17, to know who is this woman - scarlet, purple, precious stones - it says she sits on what? Seven mountains. You look up 'seven hills' - guess what's going to come up when you Google that? Rome is the city of seven hills and this is just right out of an online dictionary here. "Rome was founded in 753 B.C." - By, of course, the brothers Romulus and Remus - "on 'the seven hills' - a term used for centuries to describe the" - then it goes on and names those seven hills. I always struggle with their Italian pronunciations. The seven hills of Rome. She sits among what? 'Seven hills, the great city that reigns over the Kings of the earth,' scarlet and purple - not done yet. It's hard to miss what this group is - what this power is.
Answer G: It says she ruled over the kings of the earth. Now, there I just captured a picture from this last year, I believe, where Pope Francis, after making a trip to the Holy Land, knowing that the Palestinians and the Israelites were having such troubles - I think it was in the news again today, that there was an attack in a synagogue - did you hear that? It's been going on a long time. He invited the presidents of Palestine and Israel to come to Rome to talk about peace and they came - and to pray together - and they came. The Pope will meet with the United Nations. It was announced since this seminar began, he's making his first trip to Philadelphia, the United States, next year - how many of you heard that? - To discuss the family. And I understand he's going to meet with Congress during that time. He's received an invitation to meet with both - a joint House of Congress and the Senate.
That's a lot of power for a religious leader. They usually don't have Billy Graham address the United Nations. You see, we have an ambassador, in America, to the Vatican. Why would we have an ambassador to a church unless it's more than a church. The Bible says it's a political power. That's why the term 'beast' is used. Beasts were used to describe kingdoms and powers like this. Let me just - I want to reiterate - this is not something that Pastor Doug or my church happens to have conjured up. What we're sharing with you was the belief of history for hundreds of years. I'm going to give you a few quotes and I hope you check on me. I hope you'll study and find out what was the original belief regarding the great reformers about what is represented by Revelation 17.
Okay, here is a quote from Martin Luther. Of course, you know what he believes. Based on the prophetic studies of Martin Luther he finally declared, "We are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and the real antichrist." I can give you a hundred quotes by Luther alone. John Calvin, Presbyterian - of course, Martin Luther, Lutheran, I guess. John Calvin, Presbyterian, "Some persons think of us as too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that if they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul, himself," - the apostle Paul - "after whom we speak and whose language we adopt. Paul's words in 2 Thessalonians are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the papacy." That's taken from his book Institutes of the Christian Religion, which is a classic. John Knox, Presbyterian - that great Scottish reformer. It says, "John Knox sought to counteract what he called the tyranny, which the Pope, himself has, for so many ages, exercised over the church."
See, he's not talking about any particular Pope, he says 'ages.' It's the office we're talking about. Pope Francis might be a wonderful man. As with Luther, he finally concluded that "The papacy was the very antichrist, the son of perdition of whom Paul speaks." Roger Williams - are you an American? - One of the founders. He's the one who established separation of church and state in the United States - Baptist pastor, he said, 'The pretended vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the temple of God, exalting himself, not only above all that is called God, but over all the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea, over the Spirit of Christ and over Heaven, thinking to change times and laws, but he is the son of perdition."
The Westminster confession - do you know how many churches adopt the Westminster confession? It used to be about fifty percent of the churches thought that that was a valid confession that virtually all Christians could buy into. Here's what's said there. "There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be the head thereof. But is that antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalts himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God." Cotton Mather, Congregational theologian. "The oracles of God foretold the arising of an antichrist in the Christian church. And in the Pope of Rome, all the characteristics of that antichrist are so marvelously answered, that if anyone reads the Scriptures and doesn't see it, there is a marvelous blindness upon them." John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church. Speaking of the papacy, he wrote, "He is, in an empirical sense, the man of sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. He is, too, properly styled the son of perdition as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his oppressors and followers. He is that exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped claiming the highest power and the highest honor, claiming the prerogatives that belong to God alone."
And here's from the book 'Great Cloud of Witnesses' - Wycliff? You ever heard of the Wycliff translators? You wouldn't have an English Bible if it wasn't for Wycliff. Tyndale - you've heard of the Tyndale Bible translators? You wouldn't have an English Bible if it wasn't for Tyndale. Luther, Calvin, Kramer, John Bunyan, author of 'Pilgrim's Progress,' Jonathan Edwards, the American reformer, Charles Spurgeon, Bishop Riley, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones. These, among many others, all saw the office of the papacy as antichrist. That's from the book 'All Roads Lead to Rome.' And I cut, honestly, I cut a number of the references out because this has already been tedious. But how often do you hear that these days? It's not popular. It's certainly not politically correct. The question is, is it biblical? Why do you think so many of these prophecies have been distorted and aren't being shared? Makes you wonder. But this is what God tells us is going to create a confederacy in the last days.
Question 5: How do the beasts of Revelation 13 - you remember Revelation 13 is where you find the mark of the beast. How did the beasts of Revelation and Revelation 17, that we just read compare? Let's look at Revelation 13, verse 1, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, ... And upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Now you jump to Revelation 17, verse 3, "I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns." And so if I were to tell you, 'Oh, you'll never believe what I saw on my way to the meeting tonight. Scarlet-colored dragon with seven heads and ten horns.' And you would say, 'Oh, that's no big deal. I see those all the time. They've got crossing signs all around New Mexico. Watch" - I mean, how often do you see something like that? Isn't this the same creature? Do we all agree it's the same one? What's the difference between Revelation 13 and Revelation 17? And in Revelation 12 you've got this scarlet dragon trying to devour the man-child. There's a woman sitting on it.
So you've got the power of the Roman empire - they started to lose their power about 400 A.D. when Constantine moved the empire to Constantinople - I'm sorry, Justinian moved it to Constantinople, gave an army to the Pope, said, 'You are now the bishop of the Christian church. You are now head of the Christian church.' so that he could maintain control over it. Now the woman, a church, is sitting where the Roman power used to be. When someone sits on a horse, who is supposed to be in control? Any of you ever ridden a horse where you were not in control? I used to break broncs that we adopted from Arizona - wow. But you're supposed to be in control. That's what that means.
Alright, and then you have, again, Revelation 12, verse 3, again you get this dragon. "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." We learned what the seven heads represent. The seven hills of what city? Rome. Rome. You all still with me? Are we still friends. Are you my enemy because I tell you the truth? That's what Paul said.
Question #6: What is the meaning and the origin of the word 'Babylon?' Genesis - and you find this in Genesis chapter 11. It says in Genesis 11:4, 6, 7, and 9 - you remember they said, "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven. ...and the Lord said, ...Let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech...therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound" - or confuse - "the language of all the earth." Why do we call babies baby? Because they babble. That's where you get the word 'babbling' from. At the Tower of Babel when they couldn't understand each other, they started what appeared to be barbaric babbling to each other and, don't miss this point, it's going to come up later in our lesson tonight. At the Tower of Babel, when there was a confusion of tongues, they were building this tower to ostensibly save themselves in case God flooded the earth again - make a name for themselves. They probably were going to have an altar on top and do it connected with worship. And God confounded their language. There was a confusion of tongues, right?
Is a confusion of tongues a good thing? Does the Bible say that God is not the author of confusion? You read 1 Corinthians chapter 14, 'God said, 'If you're going to speak in another language in church, make sure you have a translator and do it in order, because God is not the author of confusion. Let him who speaks, speak five words with your understanding that you might instruct others than ten thousand in an unknown tongue. Paul said, 'If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound' - I'm still in 1 Corinthians 14 - 'how shall you prepare yourself for the battle?' So, if you're going to speak, speak words that are easy to be understood. Better to prophecy than speak in tongues because by prophesying you're being edified.
There's just Scripture after Scripture, yet do you see now a lot of Protestant churches and charismatic Catholic churches where people are babbling in an unbiblical way in churches, where they don't know what they're saying and no one else knows what they're saying and there's no interpretation going on. And I don't want to be critical but that's - I believe in the gift of tongues. I believe in all the gifts of the Spirit. That's a lot of babbling that's come into some of the churches and it's different from what they did on Pentecost. At Pentecost, what you had was the Lord gave the disciples the ability to speak in the languages of these visiting Jews from all over the Roman empire for the purpose of giving understanding. It says, 'We do hear them speak, in our tongues, the wonderful works of God.' They knew what they were saying. That's why they were converted. That's why they repented. They could understand. There was - that's the blessing of God, understanding - curse of God, confusion - not understanding. Does that make sense? But that's sweeping the churches as well, today.
Question #7: How does God describe Babylon in urging His people to leave? Revelation 18, verse 2, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen," - and it goes on to say - "and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit." - And then he goes on to say, - "...come out" - do what? - It's on the screen - "...come out of her," - what's a woman? - "My people, that ye" - why? - "That ye be not partakers of her sins, and" - here's the part I don't want you to miss - "that ye receive not of her plagues." God is calling people out of Babylon before the seven last plagues in Revelation fall. That's serious.
Now, let me just give you a Bible story that helps illustrate why this is important. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - the three great patriarchs - came out of Mesopotamia - that's where Babylon is - they brought their wives out of Babylon into Canaan, the Promised Land. God said, 'I'm going to give you this land.' When it came time for Abraham to find a wife for Isaac he said to his chief servant, Eliezar, 'Do not let my son marry one of these local pagan gals. I know that we're in the Promised Land. We're still surrounded by pagans. But he is to marry a girl that worships Jehovah. Go back to Mesopotamia, get a wife for Isaac - her name was Rebekkah, bring her out.' And you know the story, she watered the camels and it was a miracle story about how God answered a prayer and she's chosen to be the mother of Israel, so to speak - quite literally the mother of Israel - because she gave birth to Jacob who later was called Israel. Comes out of Mesopotamia into the Promised Land.
Time for Jacob to get married. Rebekkah says to Isaac, 'It's breaking my heart that Esau has married these pagan girls. My life will mean nothing.' She said to Isaac, ‘if he marries one of these local girls. He's got to marry a girl that believes in Jehovah.’ He goes back to Mesopotamia, gets a wife - Jacob gets four wives, actually, they were on sale. And he brought them all back to - not exactly how it happened, but he brought them back to the Promised Land. Then you have the children of Israel are carried off to Babylon during the time of Nebuchadnezzar.
You know, there's no people like the Jews. They are the most - if you don't believe the Bible for any other reason, the Jew should be a reason for you to believe the Bible, because there are no other people in the world that have been conquered and dispossessed from their land three different times, and come back to their land, and still have their language and their culture. I mean, that's a miracle. I don't know how people can deny that. And they've got the book that's changing the world. They were carried off to - went off to Egypt, came back - went off to Babylon, came back - got dispersed by the Romans and came back again in 1948. That's amazing how this country's surrounded by all these enemies that would love to annihilate them; still is such a major force in the world. Smaller than California and - anyway. So, they're in Babylon, but they're not there just for a little while, they're there for seventy years.
Now, how comfortable would you be - I've been here about four weeks and man, I'm set now. I've got everything. You know how it is when you go on a campout and you bring enough for the millennium, right? So they've been there seventy years - they've got friends, they've got jobs, they've got their roots down, their fruit trees are producing, they've seen grandmas and grandpas pass away and buried in this country, then all of a sudden God says - Babylon fell. The Persians conquered them. God says, 'Come out of Babylon back to the Promised Land.' They said, 'Oh, wait a second. Yeah, I know we came from the Promised Land, but we've got roots here. We're established. We've got family. We have jobs. God said, 'I am going to visit plagues on this country and if you stay, you will be part of the plagues. Come out.' They had to endure great hardship to tear themselves away from their familiar - they spoke the language - from their familiar language and go back to the Promised Land. It's a struggle for people today.
But you read the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. They had incredible courage. They came back to a land where the cities were all broken down and they started from scratch and they said, 'Why? Because this is the land God gave us. This is where we're supposed to be.' And they came back. Started all over again.
Bad things happened in Babylon to those that stayed behind. God says, 'Come out of her My people.' Jesus said, 'Many sheep I have that are not of this fold. But them also I must call and there will be one fold and one shepherd.’ When Jesus comes back, how many folds? One. Why? Because His people are going to come out of Babylon. God has dear people in many different churches. And the Lord raised up this movement that's bringing you this seminar, because we are calling people back to the Scriptures for the last days, to prepare for the return of Christ. We're seeing the final events happening all around us. This is the message of prophecy. 'Come of her that you receive not of her plagues and you're not responsible for her sins.' A lot of dear people don't know. But when we know and we choose to stay in Babylon, that's different. When you know - sin is knowing to do good and not doing it. Come out of her my people.
Question #8: Jesus repeatedly indicates - oh, I'm sorry, Jesus repeatedly indicts Babylon for making the world drunk with her wine. What is this wine? You know, it's interesting that, if you read back in Revelation 17, it talks about the woman has what in her hand? A golden cup. That's interesting, having a golden cup in her hand. If you look in the Catholic encyclopedia, it'll tell you "...the chalice" - speaking of the gold chalice that's held by the Pope and often by priests "...the chalice is the most important of the sacred vessels." Because there they put the wine - and it is fermented wine - that's supposed to represent the blood of Jesus.
Let me park on that for a minute. If you're a Christian, you know about the Lord's supper. Jesus, in the Bible, is extremely explicit that the bread that is to represent the body of Christ - his sinless life - is to be unleavened bread because it represents the sinless life of Christ. That blood is to be unfermented grape juice. Jesus said, at the Lord's Supper, 'Drink ye all of this,' - he passed out the grape juice and he said, 'I will not drink it until I drink it with you new in my father's kingdom.' The word 'wine' is used interchangeably in the Bible for both grape juice and the fermented stuff. They didn't have the phrase 'grape juice,' it was all called wine because it came from the vine. And Jesus used unfermented grape juice at the Lord's supper. And so, the idea that Jesus would want everyone to get drunk putting something that - you know what? You know what the number one most deadly drug in the world is? Alcohol by far. Alcohol kills more people every year, breaks up more families, causes more car accidents than cocaine and marijuana and crack and LSD and heroin - all the others combined. So how much should a Christian support that? Should we be passing that around and calling it the blood of Christ, when it turns into a drug? Unleavened bread. Unfermented grape juice. But what does Revelation say? 'She has made all nations drunk.'
Now, it's not just the issue of being alcoholic, though you can tell I have a problem with that. It's also because that represents the doctrines, the blood represents the theology of Babylon, which goes into both protestant and Catholic churches. There's a lot of unbiblical things that have divided the churches. We need to come back on what the Word says.
Let's give an example of what some of the specific doctrines of Babylon would be. Start with something simple I hope you won't argue with, that the Ten Commandments are not binding. That you really don't need to worry about keeping the Ten Commandments. 'They're just recommendations.' Or 'They're good ideas.' 'They're ten suggestions.' If you're in a church that's teaching you don't have to keep the Ten Commandments, I would classify that as a doctrine of devils. Because sin is the transgression of God's law. That's what the Bible says. If a church is telling you it's okay to break one of God's commandments, whether it's the Sabbath or bowing down to idols, the Bible calls it a sin. And the job of a good pastor is to tell you what sin is. The pastor's job is to make those who are comfortable uncomfortable and make those who are uncomfortable - comfort them. You've got to do a little bit of both.
So, if you're in a church that's saying you don't have to keep the law - and I've seen people say, 'Oh, we're not under the law.' What Paul means by that is we're not under the penalty of the law because of Jesus. He doesn't mean we're not under the obligation to obey. Paul says, 'Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid!' He's not saying that. Paul's saying, "It's not the hearers of the law that are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified." That's Romans 2:13. Connected with that would be Sunday sacredness - calling a day holy that God didn't make holy.
I picked this picture in particular, because if you ever go to Rome - and a lot of the churches - there's a reason Sunday is called Sunday. It's not s-o-n, it's s-u-n - it's connected with sun worship. And like that - right under the cross you'll see a solar disc. All throughout Catholicism and a number of the Christian churches, they've - you've got solar - why do you think all the Bible characters had halos? Does it ever say anything in the Bible about 'Hey, he had a halo around his head.' But they all - those were solar discs that used to be behind the heads of all of the pagan paintings and deities. And it's not in the Bible, it's connected with ancient sun worship.
We talked about the second coming of Jesus. Did we make it clear that the second coming of Jesus is going to be the loudest, most vivacious - it's going to appeal to all of your senses. And so, the idea that He's coming secretly - do you know where that teaching came from? A Jesuit doctor named Francisco Ribera wrote that hundreds of years ago, after the Reformation. After Protestants began to look at Revelation and point to the church. They went flowing out of the church. So the Catholic church had one of their Jesuit doctors write what they call, 'The Futuristic Interpretation of Prophecy' that was eventually adopted by a man named Scofield who has the Scofield Bible that made it popular for Hal Lindsey, who wrote the book 'The Late, Great Planet Earth'. And it has become the theology about the Second Coming that sort of spread with the 'Left Behind' books, all through Christianity, but it's not what the Christians believed for 1,900 years. They believed in a literal, visible, loud, climactic coming of Jesus at the end of a great tribulation, not before the tribulation. And - we get Bible questions frequently during our radio program and we've had people call in and say, 'Pastor Ross, Pastor Doug, we're looking for Scriptures to explain the secret rapture and we can't find them. Can you help us?' And we say, 'No, we can't help you.' 'What?' We say, 'They're not in there.'
Everything about the Second Coming says He's - a loud roar, a trumpet, an earthquake, a shout, a resurrection. It's - the heavens are dissolved. 'The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.' True. What happens that day? The heavens dissolve with fervent heat, the earth and the things that are in it are burned up. The elements melt. Does it sound like life goes on seven more years when Jesus comes like a thief? No, but - Babylonian teaching. The immortality of the soul - the idea that you're going to live forever in Hell or live forever in Heaven. God said, 'You sin and you will die.' The penalty for sin is death. The devil said, 'You won't really die.' That's what he said to Eve, remember? Who are we going to believe? Immortality is a gift. The Bible says, 'God and God only has immortality.' And yet, the Christian church are - and many sincere people, even pastors are sincere - they don't know. And then the idea of eternal torment - that people, right now, are burning in Hell before the resurrection - before the judgment and that they're going to burn for zillions of years.
Pick the biggest number. I guess Google was supposed to be a big number. I don't know what it is. A Google is a number with a whole bunch of zeros. Take a gazillion and then realize that if you've got a person blistering and burning for a gazillion years - some 15-year-old kid that died lost. Churches teach they're going to burn forever and after a zillion years go by they have not even begun yet. You think about what eternal burning is really like - what does that do to the character of God? For the sins of a fraction of a fraction of a second they're going to burn forever. The Bible says there is a lake of fire. There is a Hell. Don't misunderstand. I tell my Baptist friends, 'My Hell is hotter than your Hell. Your Hell just burns forever, mine burns 'em up.' Right? That's what it says, 'The wicked will be burnt up.' So if you're in a church that's teaching this that came out of Greek mythology, you may be in Babylon. It distorts the character of God. You're in a church that says you're supposed to call your religious leader a father and Jesus said 'Call no man father. You have one father, which is in Heaven.' Or confess your sins to them? Confess your sins to God, confess your faults to one another. A man does not have the power - the only sins I can forgive for you are the ones you commit against me and you for me. But when it comes to our sinning against God, a man can't forgive that.
And then we discussed all the different counterfeit methods of baptism that are not found in the Bible. These are serious issues, friends. These are some of the very popular divisive doctrines that are out there.
Answer H: There is a confusion of tongues that are in a lot of the churches. And I believe, again, in the gift of tongues. I'll tell you some night - I believe I received the gift of tongues in a miraculous way. I picked up a Mexican hitchhiker - I guess this is the night I'm telling you - in Deming, New Mexico - right here in this state - driving to California. He didn't speak any English. I didn't speak any Spanish. I had just prayed and said, 'Lord,' - I'm just driving along by myself - two-day drive - this old truck. I said, 'It'd be nice to have someone to talk to.' I didn't even have a radio that worked. It was a 1954 Chevy truck. I saw this man on the highway. I picked him up. He got in and I realized he didn't speak any English. I said, 'Oh, Lord, you've got a sense of humor.' I mean, you know, my Spanish was ordering at Taco Bell. I mean, I didn't speak any Spanish. And as we rode along, I was just praying, I found out he didn't - figured out somehow he was looking for work and by the time I got to California I was talking to him. I shared with him. He came to live with us. Ended up getting baptized. You're probably not surprised because I preach to everybody. And - but I was speaking Spanish. And today, I still remember a good part of my Spanish from that. That's the gift of tongues - when the Lord gives you the ability to speak another language you didn't formerly know or study for the purpose of spreading the Gospel.
Question #9: What power will support the beast in the end time? Revelation 13, verses 11 and 12, "I beheld" - now we're in Revelation 13:11 - "another beast coming up out of" - what? - "the earth;" - that first beast came up out of the sea. Multitudes of people - great civilization - all roads lead to Rome. But now we've got a new great nation that rises. A nation that would somehow figure prominently into the Christian faith. It became a stronghold for primitive Christianity - the Puritans and the early Christians came to this country looking for freedom to worship. But it starts out with two horns like a lamb. That's Christ. Good thing. But before it's over it speaks like a dragon.
Keep in mind, prophecy, in a few words, will cover hundreds of years. Our country is, compared to Rome, still a young country. But we're getting to the part where we're getting ready to speak like a dragon. It says here, the waters, the angel said, represent a multitude of people. Then what would dry earth represent? A comparatively unpopulated area is where this creature comes from. It's going to appear after that 1798 date. You know, even though 1776 is when we had our declaration, we weren't recognized, by the other countries of Europe until 1798, as an independent country. Because we were in the middle of a Revolutionary war. They didn't know who was going to win. By 1798 they said, 'Yep, sure enough, they're an independent country.' And it became the stronghold for protestant Christianity.
But things are changing. "And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him," - he starts doing what that other beast did - making the same mistakes - unfaithfulness - "and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." That means this second beast has to be a strong enough power to be able to tell the rest of the world what to do. Now, I know that we've got the Chinese and some of the other countries are nipping at our heels as a world power, but when it comes to military spending, America outpasses China and we are still the superpower in the world when it comes to our technology and our military power though we don't use it sometimes.
Do you know, a few years ago - some of you remember what brought down Communism? The Time magazine came out that had a blockbuster story about how Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II conspired together to bring about the demise of communism. You go to Poland you can even see where they've got a statue of Ronald Reagan walking and talking with Pope John Paul II. They recognized they worked through solidarity - the Polish unions there - to help bring down Communism in Europe. And it's interesting that when Pope John Paul II died, how often do you see three living American presidents kneeling before a dead Pope. That was really an epic picture, I'll tell you. And I told you, I think it was even curious that when you look at the architecture between Rome and the Vatican and you get the Washington monument and you've got the obelisk in front of the Vatican.
There are so many similar - the days of our week that we use in our country - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday - Roman. The calendar - we don't use an Incan calendar. We don't use a Mayan or even a Jewish calendar, we use a Roman calendar. Why do we have a month called 'July?' Julius Caesar. Why do we have a month called 'August?' Augustus Caesar. You know why February is short? Because Augustus Caesar didn't want July to be longer than August. He took days off February. That's right. The Roman influence - the senate - our government - is all based on that Greco-Roman foundation - makes an image to the beast - begins to follow - and is starting to tell people to worship.
Question #10: according to the prophecy, what drastic change will take place in America? Now this is where it gets interesting. Revelation 13, verses 11 and 14 - starts out like a lamb but "...he spake as a dragon." How does a nation speak? A nation speaks with what it legislates - through its laws - the rules that it makes its people obey. '...saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword" - the Word of God is what wounded the beast - the sword - but it came back to life. Deadly wound was healed.
Question #11: What three powers will unite against God's people in the end time? Revelation 16, verse 13, "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon...the beast, and...the false prophet." You notice God has the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? The devil's got his trinity too: the dragon, the beast and the false prophet are going to be working together to deceive. Where's a frog's power? Any of you ever been bitten by a frog? Or is the frog's power in his tongue? Isn't that right? How does a frog catch something? It's his tongue. You've never been kicked by a frog - not very hard. Its weapon is its tongue and it's going to be through false spirits speaking things - false messages.
Question #12: Will these diverse organizations ever effectively unite? Revelation 16:14, "For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God almighty." Better known as the battle of Armageddon. These are the things that are just before us. We've got another study. Someone ask me, 'What is the battle of Armageddon?’
Question #13: What effective methods will this end-time coalition use? This is why we need to know our Bibles, because the devil said he's going to use signs and wonders. Jesus said if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. Revelation 16:14, "For they are the spirits of devils," - doing what? - "working miracles." There will be real miracles. Even in our cynical society today that's so scientific, when they see miracles, they're going to be blown away. It won't be special effects. Revelation 13 and 14, "He doeth great wonders" - not any wonders, great wonders - "so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and" - he does what? - "and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do." You cannot believe what you see with your eyes, you need to go by the Word of God. That will be our only safety, friends.
Question #14: What will prevent God's end-time people from being deceived? What's going to be our only safety? You can read about it in Isaiah :20 "To the law and the testimony: if they speak not according to His Word, it is because there is no light in them." This is talking about the Bible - God's Word. We need to be able to say why we believe what we believe. This is the rock that's going to stand. Paul said - I'm sorry, Peter said we need to be ready always to give an answer, to anyone that asks, the reason for what we believe. Jesus said, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.' He's wanting us to have the courage to say, 'Lord, I'm going to go to the promised land. I'm ready to leave Babylon.’ It's not just coming out of something, it's coming into something. God has His people and He wants you to be part of His people.
That's going to be this last-day movement that is giving the three angels' messages to the world. Jesus said, ‘If you're not with Me, you're against Me.' There's no neutral ground. And I wonder if, before we close with prayer, you'd like to just say, 'Lord, I want to be with Jesus. I want to be in His ark. I want to be in His fold in the last days. Is that your prayer friends? Is that your desire? Why don't we ask Him together now? Let's pray.
Father in Heaven, Lord, we've discussed and studied a difficult subject today. Help us to have the courage to make the decisions to follow Your Word. We believe Jesus has brought us to hear and to see these things and I pray, Lord, You'll also give us Your spirit to take our stand - to stand up when others are bowing down and say, 'It's the truth.' And we're going to follow the truth in Your Word, knowing the truth will set us free. We thank You, we bless You, and we ask this all in Christ's name. Amen.